Working Paper 55 - Strategic Considerations for Building a Healthy Pipeline for Bank Group Operations

The African Development Bank has, since 1982, experienced a problem withbunching of projects towards the fourth quarter of each year’s Lending Program.Contributing factors include both systemic and endogenous constraints as well asexogenous constraints. This paper proposes a holistic approach, that recognizesall the forces at work in the development of Public Investment Programs (PIPs) atthe RMC level as well as the Bank’s internal processes that help to guide andgenerate the pipeline.At the RMC level, the paper examines the need to build the capacity of NationalPlanning Commissions (NPCs) to administer the PIP process. It also advocatesfor sensitizing RMCs, through intensive and persistent dialogue, to decentralize thePIP process in order to minimize the risk of marginalizing the poor and vulnerablegroups of society in the PIP process.At the Bank Group level, the paper examines the existing processes for bothlending and non-lending services and explores areas where the Bank’s lendingoperations need to be streamlined to enhance efficiency and cost-effectiveness.To this end, the need to promote and reward good Economic and Sector Work(ESW) is highlighted along with the need to formalize Country Teams and strengthentheir roles. Furthermore, the concept of a Task Manager (TM) is re-examined andproposals are made that will assure greater responsibility and accountability ofTMs and allow them to play a leadership role in building up the Bank’s pipeline. Amore objective and easily monitorable classification of “bankable” projects isproposed along with a more flexible set of lending instruments that are necessaryto secure a smoother implementation of the Bank’s pipeline beyond the three-yearplanning horizon engendered by the three-year lending cycle.