I am writing this at my desk on the 12th floor of the World Bank headquarters in Washington DC. It feels a long way from the hospitals where I began my career. I’m a doctor by training and I often get asked how I ended up running the president’s delivery unit at the World Bank.
In fact, my medical background prepared me for this role in three big ways: understanding the nature of triage means I can prioritise; formulating a diagnosis means I can troubleshoot; and I have always used data to track prognosis and outcomes. All three are fundamental to my role at the bank, as well as the new approach to development under the leadership of World Bank president Jim Yong Kim.
Our ambitions are to end extreme poverty by 2030 and boost shared prosperity. To help us do so, we are in the midst of a major reform programme to break down internal silos, transfer knowledge more easily, be more efficient, and spend our budgets in the most strategic way possible. Kim – who, like me, is a doctor by training – came in with a very strong belief in the science of delivery. Some see it as an art, others as a science, but personally I think delivery involves a healthy mix of both.
Delivery details
The PDU was established in August 2013. We monitor performance , setting out progress and results on an external website. This involves linking operations and processes to anti-poverty goals, bringing together resources and promoting co-ordination.
Of course, we are only a part of the story; we depend on our country members and our partners to deliver – they’re the ones who do the heavy lifting in the field. But we provide world-class knowledge, financial resources, convening power and help grow partnerships and do our best to track progress against what we actually do, by identifying metrics that highlight larger issues or represent the most important drivers of change.
Within the unit, we have internal targets to help demonstrate how we are taking steps to improve our own performance. But more importantly, we have targets to help us ensure we make progress towards our 2030 deadline to end extreme poverty. We track poverty-focused delivery commitments, such as financial access, climate change and Ebola crisis response, and reform-focused commitments like project preparation time and citizen engagement.
Data dashboard
So how does the delivery unit actually work? There are a little more than a dozen people on the executive team and we all work together in different ways to support the priorities, but the PDU itself has a different structure and function than similar units in governments.
We try to establish alliances and relationships with teams at the working level, while having constant dialogue with leaders. When we troubleshoot with the teams, we aspire to be a friendly voice. We try to collaborate, enable and encourage. We want to hear about problems before they reach a crisis point, advocate for great work as it evolves and provide a safe space for discussion.
For us, the magic happens when there is robust data. We collect some data quarterly, or even more frequently, which enables us to adapt our priorities when necessary.
Finding the right targets is critical, but we don’t see a downside to putting everything out there. We want our data to be open. The more we share the better, since more people tracking, sharing and learning together keeps us all honest and focused.
But man, this stuff is hard and there is always more for us to do. Ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity are the twin goals that act as the framework for our collective efforts. As a friend of mine at the Gates Foundation once told me, “If you’re not keeping score you’re just practising”. Well, we’re not practising – we are keeping score and we are serious about ending poverty.
Melanie Walker is director of the president’s delivery unit and senior advisor to president Jim Yong Kim at the World Bank. This blog will also be published by the Centre for Public Impact.
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