Introduction and Context

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This report gives an overview of the proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the African Community of Practice on Managing for Development Results (MfDR) held in Mukono, Uganda from the 11th 14th December 2007. At the meeting members of the AfCoP were able to discuss and appreciate the concept of MfDR and its relevance to the development trends in Africa, developed an action plan that will guide the CoPs interventions and activities as well as built consensus on a management structure. Details on the proceedings are provided in the following sections.

Purpose of the Meeting

The meeting was aimed at bringing together key people for the first live meeting of the AfCoP on MfDR to;

• Strengthen trust, envision and build commitment for better development results through AfCoP,
• Sharing and learning from successes and challenges in MfDR,
• Collectively generate action plans and
• Clarifying the roles and structure to succeed.

Participants Expectations

• To Improve the knowledge and the performance of CoP MfDR
• To share experience on MfDR and how it can be practical in an organization,
• To understand what is a reasonable expectations for the community of practice in Africa,
• To witness the emergence of a coherent and committed CoP movement,
• Develop a good strategic plan for the CoP,
• Create a CoP that is an active reference point for RBM,
• Meeting colleagues from other countries working on same issues (MfDR),
• Improve resource optimisation using the existing capacity,
• Cooperation between Asia and Africa experiences in development,
• Better understanding the role of African CoP in promoting African Development, and
• What is the value added by the CoP MfDR to policy work?

Opening of the Meeting

Remarks from Peter Ssentongo, Interim Chair AfCoP The African Community of Practice (AfCoP) has been a journey that started in 2006 at the Mutual Learning Initiative in Uganda attended by Members of the African Community of Practice, Asian CoP and the World Bank.

The AfCoP should be based on and guided by a number of principles;

• Harmonization in approach to make processes simpler,
• Managing for development results to ensure that development goals and objectives are achieved,
• Accountability for all- all stakeholders are accountable for results,

The first African CoP workshop held in Jinja provided an opportunity for us to be introduced to the MfDR concept and to reflect on our countries situation. This time round we are meeting as a continental community of practice to plan for the future of MfDR in Africa. The current AfCoP membership though still small, is committed to achieving results. We need to get solutions to the African development challenges and set a continent wide development agenda. The AfCoP therefore offers us an opportunity to influence decisions; exchange information and direct/ drive the African development process. This meeting should help us to come up with a strategic plan that will guide our process of engagement in the next few years.

Opening Remarks by Martin Odwedo, Permanent Secretary, Office of the Prime Minister Mr. Martin Odwedo warmly welcomed Members of the African Community of Practice (CoP) in Managing for Development Results for African, Members of the Asian Community of Practice and representatives from the Development Partners to the meeting. He observed that Uganda was proud to host the first annual meeting of the African Community of Practice on Managing for Development Results.

Hosting this annual meeting is relevant to Uganda based on our experience in public sector reform. Uganda has engaged in a continuous process that has sought to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of government in delivering services to the public, keeping law and order and providing the conditions for investment.

Uganda has registered success and failures in this process. Through the implementation of the Poverty Eradication Action (PEAP) since 1997, poverty headcount has fallen from 56 percent in 1995 to 31 percent in 2005. The country has managed to maintain respective economic growth rates averaging 6 percent per annum over the last decade. Positive results are also noticeable in education with the implementation of the Universal Primary Education and decreases in infant and maternal mortality.

However, eradicating poverty is still a challenge. Poverty remains a rural concern and lifting the remaining 31 percent out of poverty requires new approaches, in particular controlling spending on public administration, enhancing the performance and accountability of public institutions and reducing the cost of doing business.

What are the key Issues and Lessons?

• Leadership and sustained commitment are key for determining the effectiveness of some reforms,
• Enhanced coordination of national statistical systems and coordination of results data stimulates informed demand for information on results,
• Accountability for change; it is not efficient enough in managing a bureaucracy but also responding adequately to the needs of the people.

What are the opportunities?

• Clarifying and redefining the role of the public sector based on African perspectives,
• Developing a clear roadmap to change that addresses the underlying constraints to increased efficiency and effectiveness.
• Public service must recognize and respond to the rapidity of global change and ensure that the gains of these changes are felt across the nations, and ICTs have a key role to play
• MfDR should provide the basis for evidence-based performance that will guide decision-making. I hope the community of practice will provide an environment for learning and sharing across continents.

Remarks by Susan Stout, Manager, Results Secretariat, World Bank on the History & Frontiers of MfDR MfDR is rooted in the cost-benefit requirements of the 1980s and1990s. Earlier donor focus was on donor money measurement. At the Monterrey Conference in 2002, donors agreed to double donor money going out but required that this money be accompanied by doubled results. Three pillars were established: country capacity, institutions, and the global agenda. In 2002, at the Washington meeting, donors strove to see how they could enhance their contributions through:

• Strengthening country capacity
• Increasing donor focus
• Harmonising the two efforts

At the 2nd round table conference in Marrekech participants went a few steps further and

• Outlined 5 principles for MfDR,
• Emphasised how donors can get better results, and
• Called for improvement to donor coordination.

Donor were concerned about how to provide information on donor projects if the projects cannot collect and provide such information internally. These issues were discussed at the 3rd Round table on MfDR in Hanoi, Feb 2007 and the HRT Conference, specifically dealing with issues of how countries themselves are deriving value from donor projects. Five major themes were identified:

• Leadership & Accountability
• Evaluation and Monitoring
• Mutual accountability and partnership
• Planning and budgeting
• Statistics

Discussion
There is a need for change among donor agencies themselves, to integrate planning, RBB, and PPS within donor agencies and to get citizens to engage in the process.

Opening Plenary Discussion

During the discussion, several issues were raised;

• The need to focus on tangible results, more on outcomes as opposed to outputs was emphasized,
• Need to redefine the concept of leadership in context of managing development results,
• As we discuss strengthening country statistical systems and institutions, it is important to focus on providing an enabling environment for citizens to participate and in particular giving them access to relevant information that will enable them to demand accountability from their leaders.