An Independent Review of World Bank Support to Capacity Building in Africa

The country study follows a framework that examines three dimensions of capacity building in the public sector: (1) institutional capacity, the framework of goals, incentives, rewards, and sanctions within which organizations, groups, and individuals operate; (2) organizational capacity, groups of individuals bound together for a specific purpose, with objectives, internal mechanisms, procedures, and resources; and (3) human capacity, people with the ability to analyze development needs, define objectives, design and implement strategies, policies, and programs, and raise resources to meet those needs and deliver services. There are four focal sectors reviewed: roads, health, education, and public financial management. On measures of both relevance and effectiveness, the Bank's support has been strongest in the roads sector, stronger in education than in health, and weakest in public financial management. Overall, its support has also been more effective at building organizational and human resource capacities than building institutions, though there is considerable variation in the effectiveness of its support for these dimensions of capacity across the four sectors.