Building Capacity for PSIA in Partner Countries

Most Poverty and Social Impact Analyses to date have been conducted by the World Bank or other development partners, some in collaboration with government agencies, academia or civil society organizations. However, in order to effectively mainstream PSIA in policy formulation processes in country, greater country capacity along three different dimensions is required:

1. The regular, systematic use of the analysis of distributional impacts can materialize only if there is strong in-country demand for analysis. Such demand will be more likely if there is growing interest in evidence-based policy making. This will require greater ability and engagement by policy makers to formulate their analytical needs and guide the analysis.
2. Mainstreaming the analysis of the poverty and social impact of reforms requires greater in-country capacity to effectively analyze and monitor reforms than is presently available in many countries. For this, research and analytical capabilities among borrower countries and the information base necessary for the analysis need to be strengthened.
3. Finally, for decision makers to use information on alternative policy options effectively, there is a need for greater in-country capacity to interpret the findings and their implications, as well as greater efforts at disseminating results to all stakeholders.

Ongoing efforts to build capacity for PSIA

A new Multi-Donor Trust Fund to support PSIA is presently being set up at the World Bank. One of its objectives is the building of capacity for PSIA in partner countries.

Thanks to the financial support of the Belgium Government, a Trust Fund facility, jointly managed by UNDP and the World Bank, supports PSIAs designed and directly implemented by government units. The Trust Fund seeks to raise awareness and build the capacity of national stakeholders to conduct PSIA and utilize its results for national policymaking processes. The project regularly offers PSIA training courses for government officials and civil society representatives in Africa and the Middle East and issues calls for PSIA proposals.

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