Delivery Challenges

Taxonomy & Examples

Cluster: Stakeholders

Category: Coordination & Engagement

Subcategories Examples
Roles & Responsibilities  In this project, all line ministries implemented HIV/AIDS workplace
Challenges that emerge when roles and plans, but uneven progress and lack of coordination hampered efforts.
responsibilities of different  High-level and sustained borrower commitment and clarity about the
stakeholders are not clearly defined. roles and responsibilities are needed to overcome problems
 Clearly delineated roles and responsibilities of center and states and
follow up to ensure that these roles and functions are being adequately
executed will ensure better results.
Stakeholder Engagement  Keeping key political and bureaucratic stakeholders in the loop is
Challenges stemming from failure to essential so that when the time comes they will provide crucial support.
adequately and actively engage  The experience stresses the need for an implementing agency that, in
beneficiaries or relevant stakeholders. addition to strong ties to the research community, has effective private
industry ties.
 In middle-income countries with highly skilled government counterparts,
it is critical to adopt a social participatory and consultative process in the
preparation of operations.
Awareness & Communication  The "rules of the game" need to be fully and clearly explained to the
Strategy participants in community-managed projects. Delays in explaining the
Challenges stemming from inability to rules may make beneficiaries reluctant.
raise awareness or  A dialogue which is not sufficiently rigorous or frank, can result in the
unwillingness/inability to share neglect of critical constraints to sector performance.
relevant information with beneficiaries  An awareness-raising component can build better communication
and/or the general public. between project committees, municipal authorities, and beneficiaries.
Bureaucratic Structure  Complex structures and processes that slow activities and disbursements
Administrative barriers or should be avoided.
bureaucratic structures that impede  Avoid intermediate management layers.
and/or slow down coordination or  The Bank's rather ponderous procedures for approval and supervision of
engagements. projects.
Inter & Intra-governmental
 Decentralization does not leave all municipalities equally able to
Relations
implement projects.
Challenges caused by the difficulty of
 Support to multiple decentralized entities with varying institutional and
coordinating among different levels
technical capacities.
and structures of government with
 It is important to cover all relevant levels of government in seeking
differing priorities and/or mismatches
decentralization. This operation improperly excluded an intermediate
of resources, responsibilities, and/or
level of government.
expectations.

1
Delivery Challenges
Taxonomy & Examples

Category: Commitment & Leadership

Change in Leadership &  Reform programs that rely excessively on a key few individuals are at
Administration risk if governments or personnel change.
Challenges caused by leadership  Slowdown in the project because of change in leadership in the Ministry.
change in the government or relevant  Changes of governments along with changes in key players may result in
stakeholders. slow physical and financial implementation.
Opposition or Lack of Consensus  Strong resistance from the Borrower to hiring foreign firms.
Inability to find a solution that is  Government ownership is essential, especially concerning
acceptable to all major stakeholders, or implementation of unpopular but necessary programs.
opposition from stakeholder groups or  A well prepared and far-reaching civil service reform program was
individuals to a proposed intervention. derailed following opposition from trade unions.
Change in Priorities or Lack of  There was no Government commitment and in real value terms no
Commitment progress was made.
Issues caused by sudden changes in  In the few areas where government commitment was lacking
organizational priorities or the degree implementation was delayed.
of commitment to a particular  Ensuring sustainability for politically sensitive projects that require
intervention. continuing political support.

Category: Human Resources & Organizational Capacity

Skilled Manpower  Successful project implementation depends upon dedicated agencies
Challenges caused by lack of adequately staffed by skilled personnel.
appropriately skilled project staff.  For cost control and timely implementation procurement and safeguards
personnel need engineering experience.
 Inadequacy of the staff in the centralized procurement agency.
Skill Transfer  In order to improve the quality of instruction, there is need to place
Challenges caused by difficulty of greater emphasis on the quality of training programs.
imparting or acquiring new skills  Ample investment in training is important to enable a shift.
needed.  An approach is likely to be effective when implementers are provided
needed technical and pedagogical support.
Staff Turnover  Lack of continuity on the Bank side compounded matters.
Challenges caused by short tenure  High rates of turnover of political and ministry leadership and personnel.
of staff on projects.  Public financing of advanced training overseas involves high risks that
the trainees will not return or will leave the service.
Organizational Capacity  Governance and institutional capacities are very weak.
Challenges caused by inability of an  Limited NGO capacity and difficulties in contracting procedures remain
organization to execute interventions major constraints to expanding service coverage of high-risk groups, and
due to its overall institutional the efficacy of NGO-delivered interventions has not been evaluated.
arrangements.  A country with weak capacity in public service.

2
Delivery Challenges
Taxonomy & Examples

Cluster: Context

Category: Legislation & Regulations

Subcategories Examples
Lack of Regulation & Legislation  This Project was doomed to fail for lack of an enabling legal and
Challenges stemming from lack of or regulatory environment that could promote financial and institutional
inadequate laws, regulations, or an autonomy that could make the project sustainable.
appropriate legal framework.  A clear regulatory sector framework is still absent.
 Social enforcement activities involving women's groups and NGOs are
good options in the absence of an effective legal environment.
Unsupportive Legal & Regulatory  Judicial reform is a long-term process, fraught with difficulties
Process  Passage of laws that mandate extensive reform may encounter resistance.
Challenges that result from excessive  Do not underestimate the complexity of introducing new laws and
and complicated legal or regulatory enabling legislation or the time required for this to occur.
processes.

Category: Conflict & Instability

Subcategories Examples
Crime & Violence  Attempts to pilot market-assisted approaches to reform are unlikely to
Challenges stemming from criminal work when the government is unable or unwilling to protect rights and
violence and insecurity. there is escalating rural violence.
 Post-election violence and coalition government consensus- building
efforts took a long time to settle and resulted in unnecessary delays,
while fiduciary weaknesses and leakages in government adversely
affected procurement schedules.
 The context is extraordinarily difficult and risky, with violence increasing
and no end in sight.
Civil Unrest & Armed Conflict  Areas of civil unrest risking difficult security situations should not be
Challenges caused by protests, included as project component.
contentious mobilization, disputes, or  Civil unrest may compromise the capacity of a project for learning, even
active conflict within a country. if other elements of the project continue in execution.
 The outbreak of the war could not have been anticipated at the time of
project approval.
Post-Conflict Situation  In a post-conflict situation, a quick and flexible response is needed to
Challenges stemming from instability country situations.
after armed conflict.  In low-capacity post-conflict countries delivery of basic services is an
issue.
 The project should have been restructured after the conflict to more
clearly delineate the revised scope of the project from one laying the
foundation for a follow up project to one that simply helped to keep the
system together in a post-conflict environment.

3
Delivery Challenges
Taxonomy & Examples

Category: Governance & Politics

Subcategories Examples
Voice & Accountability  Allocating resources in strict adherence to a pre-agreed map can help to
Challenges caused by the inability of ward-off political pressures and promote transparency.
citizens to actively express their  Agreed-upon actions for improving implementation may not take place
opinions and/or insufficient in the absence of an accountability mechanism.
mechanisms to ensure transparency  Flexible and decentralized procedures for channeling funds can improve
and hold service providers accountable. accountability.
Corruption & Patronage  To avoid conflicts of interest do not involve the persons affected in the
Challenges stemming from the abuse of valuation of assets.
public power for private gain and/or  Despite the understandable desire to channel funds as quickly as possible
favoritism toward in a crisis environment, only careful and deliberate preparation can
patrons/clients/associates. prevent both inefficiency and the possibility of fraud and corruption.
 Though controls have been tightened on resources within the formal
PFM system, informal patronage systems are still the route for significant
resources.
Political Interference  Clear and concise guidelines for accessing funds helps guard against
Challenges caused by steering political manipulation.
decisions or projects for political  Programs provide limited leverage vis-à-vis is deeply entrenched vested
purposes. interests.
 Planned reforms may be significantly altered by lobbying from various
interest groups, undermining their intended objectives.
Electoral Cycles  The Bank and donors knew from experience of previous elections that
Challenges caused by elections and the governments will to reform declines significantly in pre-election
electoral processes. circumstances.
 The Bank team should have been aware that to proceed without a
supporting legal framework at election time would a risky strategy.
 The government's election-year agenda also prevented the Bank from
waiting until a similar pilot had been completed.
Rule of Law  Different approaches may be necessary in countries with a large number
Challenges caused by stakeholders not informal producers and distributors, and/or with weaker regulatory
abiding by the rules and/or issues with capacity.
contract or regulation enforcement,  When engaging technically in concession system reform in countries with
including judiciary problems. weak regulatory and enforcement capacity.
 A project designed to enhance the influence of market forces has little
chance of success in a poor business environment characterized by weak
corporate governance, inadequate enforcement of the rule of law, weak
financial sector regulation, and inflexible factor markets.

4
Delivery Challenges
Taxonomy & Examples

Category: Social & Cultural

Subcategories Examples
Gender  Studies showed how girls in certain social settings were highly
Challenges related to gender issues, disadvantaged. To capture this, Programs need to nest the tracking of
discrimination, or disagreement over female participation and outcomes within ethnic or income groups.
appropriate gender roles.  The Bank needs to move beyond the first step of mandatory
representation of women and include more systematic gender awareness
and women’s leadership training programs to raise the voices of women.
 Women's representation at meetings does not necessarily translate into
women’s empowerment or investments that benefit them.
Language  Better results are achieved through strategies that respect local languages
Difficulties caused by language and customs.
barriers with partners or beneficiaries,  Countries in which few children speak the metropolitan language, often
or issues with linguistic find it difficult to implement established policies of using national
discrimination. language of instruction.
 In a multilingual environment where there are relatively few dominant
native languages, large coverage can be gained by focusing on them.
Culture, Religion & Ethnicity  In an ethnically diverse country Bank should consider efforts to mitigate
Challenges caused by prevailing group inequalities, a patient and painstaking dialogue can yield substantial
practices or accepted social norms. benefits in reform progress.
 When there is no tradition in involving communities in management, it
may be hard to convince stakeholders.
 When working with diverse indigenous groups, it is critical to work with
and strengthen indigenous organizations, respecting the culturally-
defined decision-making mechanisms of each ethnic group.

Category: Disasters & Emergency Response

Subcategories Examples
Natural Disasters  Response to natural disasters.
Challenges stemming from natural  Hurricane Mitch also played an important role in detracting
disasters. Government's attention from the ambitious and complex reform
program.
 Major floods occurred.
Man-made Disasters  Unexpected and catastrophic accidents at the Hydropower Plant, Bank’s
Challenges stemming from man-made flexibility in amending a project's legal agreements in a timely manner
disasters. can significantly contribute to a project's satisfactory outcome.
 All risks, including man-made should be fully and properly assessed,
and appropriate response scenarios should be evaluated and rated
realistically.
Epidemics  There is need for greater pragmatism and flexibility during emergency
projects especially if there is a threat of a disease outbreak.

5
Delivery Challenges
Taxonomy & Examples
Challenges stemming from disruptions  If emergency situations such as cholera outbreaks are linked to a seasonal
caused by epidemics. cycle, it is important to be proactive and train health workers before
potential outbreaks might occur in order to raise awareness within
communities.

Category: Business Environment

Subcategories Examples
Private Sector Regulation
 Programs must address the many interrelated constraints to private
Challenges caused by the absence of
sector development including an environment conducive to private
regulations, or restrictive regulations,
enterprise and the entry of new firms.
in the private sector.
Weak Private Sector  Training is likely to be successful only where the country has an
Challenges stemming from the established, diversified private sector.
insufficient volume and/or lack of  There needs to be a sufficiently large number of businesses in poor
service delivery capacity of private regions with the capacity to design and deliver training, and with the
sector entities, or the unestablished absorptive capacity to provide employment opportunities.
situation of the overall private sector.  Cost recovery mechanisms in place are rarely sufficient to cover all costs
because a stable tariff market does not exist.
Informal & Illegal Markets  Different approaches may be necessary in countries with a large number
Challenges caused by distortions of informal producers and distributors, and/or with weaker regulatory
high informality and shadow/parallel capacity
markets.  These include awareness about illegal sellers and managers.
 Financial and procurement procedures may need to be adjusted to
adapt to the reality of informal markets.

Category: Environment & Geography

Subcategories Examples
Geographic Access  Geographical constraints to project implementation need to be factored
Challenges stemming from problems into the project planning.
accessing populations due to  Delivery to the populations of small islands may involve inherent
geographical barriers and remoteness. inefficiencies that cannot be remedied.
 Deploying NGOs in new and sparsely populated areas understandably
requires certain start up investments.
Ecosystem
 The Basin perspective is critical to address the key environmental issues
Challenges specific to the ecological
of large systems.
makeup of an area.

Category: Macroeconomic Environment

Subcategories Examples

6
Delivery Challenges
Taxonomy & Examples

Trade Barriers  The Bank needs to be proactive to mitigate the adverse impacts of
Challenges caused by international or contracting under third-party economic sanctions: The interconnection
domestic restrictions on cross-border project raised an important constraint in light of a force majeure event,
exchange of goods or services. such as the economic sanctions imposed on the Contractor’s country of
origin by a third country.
 The UN sanctions constituted an impediment to the smooth
implementation of the project since they impacted the transfer of funds
for project activities.
Financial Instability  Projects can achieve little in the absence of macroeconomic stability.
Challenges stemming from disruptions  Sudden economic and financial crises in a country could negatively
in the financial system. impact power demand and void development plans.
 When unforeseen events arose such as the financial crisis and during the
extended MP-mandated phase-down steps.
Market Deterioration  Elimination of market distortions and price dis-equilibriums can lead to
Challenges stemming from the higher than expected price increases in operations and maintenance.
shrinking of market size, or the price  Failed privatization efforts of the company show that lack of market
anomalies/distortions caused by demand can undermine privatization efforts, even when there is full
systematic market failures. commitment on the part of the government.
Forex Volatility  To monitor project costs in US dollars, it is important that any significant
Challenges caused by sudden currency shifts in exchange rates are taken into account.
devaluation/depreciation or  Local utilities, may not be suitable entities to bear the foreign exchange
restrictions relating to transfer of rate risk of a loan where there is a high risk of devaluation and where
forex. the revenue stream is in local currency.
 The weakness of the currency and persisting high real interest rates
were testimony to the prevailing lack of confidence in the durability of a
stable climate.

Category: Basic Infrastructure

Subcategories Examples
Information & Communication  Good management information systems are important in determining
Technology whether stakeholders are serving where they are supposed to.
Challenges stemming from deficiencies  Managing a large-scale decentralized program transparently and
or mismatches in ICT. efficiently requires strong management information systems, good
information technology infrastructure and adequate instruments to
compile data on implementation and outcome.
 It is important to consider and mitigate the risks associated with internet
connectivity and ICT capacity.
Energy & Electricity
Challenges caused by constraints on
implementation because of lack of
energy and electricity supply.

7
Delivery Challenges
Taxonomy & Examples

Transportation  Road rehabilitation had been neglected in the past and required urgent
Challenges stemming from under- attention, the uprising made village access roads even more critical.
developed transportation systems and  In a post-conflict setting constraints in terms of geographical coverage or
logistical networks. transportation links are particularly common so these should also be
factored in.
 Because of very difficult roads and mountainous terrain, living within 5
km of a health facility does not guarantee physical access.

8
Delivery Challenges
Taxonomy & Examples

Cluster: Context

Category: Project Design

Subcategories Examples
Overambitious Objectives  Avoid unrealistic project designs. A complex design with many activities
Challenges caused by setting targets is bound to ensure failure.
that are unrealistically ambitious, or  Projects need not be overly complex given the multitude of implementing
making the project design overly entities.
complex.  A very simple and limited design would have been more suitable.
Time Allocation or Task
 Initiatives should be sequenced properly.
Sequencing
 The long time is takes to recruit a private operator for a project, either
Challenges related to
prior to project approval, or during implementation, needs to be factored
insufficient/excessive duration of a
into project design.
component, or inappropriate timing
 The initial project period was patently unrealistic.
and sequence of task.
Stakeholder Selection  When civil society organizations have the technical, the Bank could
Challenges caused by problems consider using them as a potential partner.
identifying/selecting appropriate  When available, use local experts and let them lead technical assistance
stakeholders to engage. work. Doing so ensures continuity, ownership and recommendations
that government agencies tend to accept more easily.
 It is better to enhance the Ministry's normal services and have them
execute the functions of the PIU and other implementing institutions,
rather than establish the PIU as an independent body.
Beneficiary Targeting  The project could have formulated better targeting selection criteria.
Challenges with ensuring that the  Methods for allocating project resources to the poor and other vulnerable
appropriate beneficiary group is groups need to be monitored to ensure that resources flow to intended
targeted. target groups.
 Projects need to be flexible in their choice of target groups.

Category: Project Finance

Subcategories Examples
Procurement  Some Bank procurement guidelines are incompatible with local
Challenges caused by issues with procurement law.
procurement management systems,  Conflicting procurement procedures cause confusion and a large number
including poor contract management of donor-specific audits represents repetitive effort that may be highly
and delays. disruptive of regular operations.
 Failure to consider adequately the procurement environment
significantly impacted early implementation.
Financing Mechanism  Project demonstrated that design weaknesses can be effectively
Challenges related to the choice of addressed during implementation by using other Bank instruments.
financing mechanism or instrument.  The Bank should avoid adjustment loans with process conditions.
9
Delivery Challenges
Taxonomy & Examples
 For effective use of a budget support strategy, tranche release must be
explicitly linked to policy change, framed in a robust macro framework
and grounded in a long-term sector policy and financial plan.
Budgeting  When civil works are added to a project the recurrent costs implications
Challenges related to have to be estimated in order to assess and plan for the future burden on
insufficient/inappropriate budget the sector.
allocation, or caused by complex  There was much cost underestimation during appraisal.
budget processes and management.  A broad project scope can put the outcomes of secondary objectives and
small components at risk since they may not be provided sufficient
funding and government attention.
Financial Management &  The weak financial management and disbursement documentation were
Reporting important causes of project implementation delays.
Challenges related to disbursement,  The financial management design should be kept as simple as possible.
financial control, and financial  All of the delays in the grant implementation were due to the different
reporting. computer systems used by the Bank's accounting and disbursement
departments.
Auditing  Excessive reporting and audit.
Challenges caused by weak auditing  Development of an effective audit function requires full cooperation and
processes, or excessive auditing involvement of all levels of government.
procedures.  Some audit disallowances have still not been resolved.

Category: Project Data & Monitoring

Subcategories Examples
Indicators  Project indicators for output need to be defined at the outset.
Challenges caused by lack of realistic  None of the monitor-able indicators measured impact.
indicators, or duplicating/overlapping  Project design needs to define clear performance indicators which are
indicators, or poorly designed closely connected to project objectives and interventions. Further,
indicators that are misaligned with performance indicators of policy interventions in the area of innovation
project objectives. are often hard to identify because a long lag time is required before
results and positive spillovers can be fully observed.
Data Availability & Baselines  End-of-project data is meaningless for appreciating project performance
Challenges that stem from a lack of and outcome in the absence of baseline data.
current or accurate data, as well as  The importance and reliability of data and its collection should be agreed
inability to produce baselines. upon in detail and up-front with implementing agencies.
 Available data/service statistics were inadequate for program monitoring
and mid-course corrections.
Reporting & Supervision  Proactive Bank supervision and judicious project restructuring can pay
Challenges caused by obstacles in off in terms of ultimate development impact.
capturing relevant information and  There should have been greater Bank management oversight.
reporting it in a timely fashion.  Subprojects should routinely include a maintenance plan.

10