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on Project, Program and Portfolio Management |
| By: | Manabu Fujimura; Ramesh Adhikari (Asian Development Bank Institute) |
| Abstract: | This paper attempts to fill gaps faced by policymakers and practitioners in the evaluation of cross-border infrastructure projects. It first defines what constitutes cross-border infrastructure projects, and then outlines an analytical framework and criteria to evaluate them. The criteria identify additionalities and externalities specific to cross-border infrastructure projects that need to be stressed in covering broader and indirect impacts that are not usually captured in the analysis of national projects. Then the paper examines to what extent the defined criteria are applicable in evaluating recent cross-border infrastructure projects. It also reports on emerging impacts patterns evidenced in relevant studies. The paper draws lessons and implications for design and implementation of cross- border infrastructure projects. |
| Keywords: | cross-border infrastructure, additionalities, externalities |
| JEL: | H41 O22 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eab:develo:2262&r=ppm |
| By: | Chauvet, Lisa; Collier, Paul; Duponchel, Marguerite |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effectiveness of post-conflict aid at the project level and aims to identify post-conflict situations as a window of opportunity for project success. The Independent Evaluation Group dataset provides extensive information on the characteristics of World Bank projects including an independent rating of their success, supervision and evaluationquality. The paper estimates the probability of success of aid projects depending on the characteristics of the intervention and looks for possible special patterns in post civil war situations. The results suggest that the probability of success of World Bank projects increases as peace lasts. Supervision appears to be a crucial determinant of the success of projects, especially during the first years of peace. Although the results of the sector-level analysis need to be taken with caution, the authors find that projects in the transport sector and in the urban development sector appear more successful in post-conflict environments. On the contrary, education projects seem less successful and therefore need to be highly supervised. Projects in the private sector should wait as they face a higher probability of failure in the first years of peace. |
| Keywords: | Post Conflict Reconstruction,Post Conflict Reintegration,Social Conflict and Violence,Peace&Peacekeeping,Housing&Human Habitats |
| Date: | 2010–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5418&r=ppm |
| By: | Wang, Hua; Fang, Ke; Shi, Yuyan |
| Abstract: | One of the major difficulties in doing cost-benefit analysis of a development project is to estimate the total economic value of project benefits, which are usually multi-dimensional andinclude goods and services that are not traded in the market. Challenges also arise in aggregating the values of different benefits, which may not be mutually exclusive. This paper uses a contingent valuation approach to estimate the economic value of a non-motorized transport project in Pune, India, across beneficiaries. The heads of households which are potentially affected by the project are presented with a detailed description of the project, and then are asked to vote on whether such a project should be undertaken given different specifications of costs to the households. The total value of the project is then derived from the survey answers. Econometric analysis indicates that the survey responses provide generally reasonable valuation estimates. |
| Keywords: | Transport Economics Policy&Planning,Environmental Economics&Policies,Roads&Highways,Housing&Human Habitats,Economic Theory&Research |
| Date: | 2010–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5422&r=ppm |
| By: | Hall, Andy (UNU-MERIT, Research Into Use (RIU)); Clark, Norman (Research Into Use (RIU)); Frost, Andy (Research Into Use (RIU)) |
| Abstract: | Over the last 10 years much has been written about the role of the private sector as part of a more widely-conceived notion of agricultural sector capacity for innovation and development. This paper discusses the emergence of a new class of private enterprise in East Africa that would seem to have an important role in efforts to tackle poverty reduction and food security. These organisations appear to occupy a niche that sits between mainstream for-profit enterprises and the developmental activities of government programmes, NGOs and development projects. This type of enterprise activity is not corporate social responsibility, but an altogether new type of business model that is blending entrepreneurial skills and perspectives with mission statements that seek to both serve the needs of poor customers and address their welfare. The ethos is both "bottom-up" and "bottom-line". This paper classifies these organisations as Development-Relevant Enterprises (DevREs).The experience of the Research into Use (RIU) programme discussed in this paper suggests that supporting these types of entrepreneurial activity may form the basis of a new mode of development assistance aimed at using innovation for both social and economic purposes. |
| Keywords: | Development-Relevant Enterprises, Agricultural Research, Agricultural Innovation, East Africa |
| JEL: | N5 N57 O13 O19 O31 Q13 Q16 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2010042&r=ppm |
| By: | John Gilbert; Nilanjan Banik (Asian Development Bank Institute) |
| Abstract: | Although the overall economic performance of economies in South Asia in recent years has been impressive, there is concern that an aging and increasingly inadequate infrastructure may limit the potential for further growth and economic development. A critical infrastructure component is the transportation network, and there are currently several transportation infrastructure projects in the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) region, connecting Nepal, eastern India, Bangladesh, and Bhutan. This paper uses computable general equilibrium (CGE) methods to address how these infrastructure developments might affect the broader economy in SASEC, and in particular impact on income distribution and poverty. The paper describes a new CGE model for South Asia, covering India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan, which incorporates modifications to household structure in order to capture the implications of reform for changes in intra-household income. The scenarios that are considered reflect proposed investments in land transport infrastructure in the SASEC region. These should result in reductions in the land transport component of international transport margins, which vary bilaterally by commodity. We found that all SASEC economies would benefit from the reductions in terms of aggregate welfare, with the largest gains accruing to India in absolute terms, but the largest relative gains to Nepal, followed by Bangladesh and Sri Lanka when the margin reduction is prorated to intra-South Asian trade rather than just SASEC. In terms of household level distribution, the picture was mixed, with clearly pro-poor outcomes in some countries, such as Nepal, but more ambiguous impacts in others. In terms of potential adjustment costs, examination of the extent of predicted structural changes suggests that these would be minor, although somewhat more significant for the smaller economies in the region. |
| Keywords: | South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation, SASEC, South Asia, computable general equilibrium, infrastructure, structural changes |
| JEL: | F14 F17 D58 O53 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eab:develo:2264&r=ppm |
| By: | Dillon, Andrew |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates differences in household production and consumption among small- and large-scale irrigators to assess whether the scale of an irrigation project increases household welfare in Mali. Much of the evidence of the impact of irrigation does not use counterfactual analysis to estimate such impact or distinguish between the scale of the irrigation projects to be evaluated. In the dataset collected by the author, both a large-scale irrigation project and small-scale projects are used to construct counterfactual groups. Propensity score matching is used to estimate the average treatment effect on the treated for small and large irrigators relative to nonirrigators on agricultural production, agricultural income, and consumption per capita. Small-scale irrigation has a larger effect on agricultural production and agricultural income than large-scale irrigation, but large-scale irrigation has a larger effect on consumption per capita. This suggests that market integration and nonfarm externalities are important in realizing gains in agricultural surplus from irrigation. |
| Keywords: | Irrigation, program evaluation, |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1022&r=ppm |
| By: | Pant, Laxmi P. (School of Environmental Design and Rural Development, University of Guelph, School of Environment, Enterprise and Development, Faculty of Environment, University of Waterloo) |
| Abstract: | Enhancing impacts of international development interventions has become a central issue of the twenty-first century. Conventional monitoring and evaluation (M&E) tools either focus on efficiency (output-to-input relationships) or strive to demonstrate a logical progression from specific actors and factors of an intervention to development impacts (inputs => activities => outputs => outcomes => impacts). However, in complex adaptive systems there is neither such a linear results chain nor can impacts be unambiguously attributed to an actor or a factor. Therefore, alternative ways of doing M&E focus on outcomes - the changes in behaviour and social relations - rather than on impacts, such as poverty reduction, environmental protection and social inclusion. Innovation systems thinking, particularly in renewable natural resource, agriculture and rural development, informs that the dominant paradigm of impact assessment should be complemented by social innovation assessment, providing research and development actors with critical learning lessons. This paper integrates two distant bodies of literature - the literature on impact assessment of research and development interventions, and the literature on social psychology of assessing learning and innovations. Based on case studies of a series of projects implemented in India and Nepal under DFID's 11-year Renewable Natural Resources Research Strategy (RNRRS) programme between 1995 and 2006, a social innovation assessment tool was developed and implemented. The tool includes questions about critical incidents and modes of stakeholder interactions to be ranked on a four-point scale depending on how often the statements apply to the respondents' work environments. The social innovation assessment provides critical learning lessons for social innovation generation and overall performance improvement in collaborative research and development interventions at the organisational, network and system levels. |
| Keywords: | Agriculture, Systems of Innovation, Social Innovation, India, Nepal, South Asia |
| JEL: | C4 C12 O13 O21 O31 Q2 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2010043&r=ppm |
| By: | Lille, Maria; Prause, Gunnar |
| Abstract: | This paper will present results of the surveys and new trends which were related to e-governmental issues. A common understanding of e-government is usage of ICT means in the public sector for delivering information and services to its customers and enterprises. The objective is improvement of public services and strengthening democratic processes. E-government is a popular topic in the political agenda throughout the Baltic Sea Region (BSR) with all countries having ICT development strategies, policies or agendas. However, often are missing goals for thematic developments which would take into account the needs of potential users. The structure of the paper is ordered to present firstly, the overall objectives of e-governance and e-services. Secondly, the data about the satisfaction level of enterprises for e-services is given. As there are not many comparable results available about the needs of the enterprises, the paper is based on two main sources. One of the important outcomes of the LogOn Baltic project was to provide empirical data about satisfaction level of enterprises with existing eservices and about the needs for new services. The aim of the INTERREG III B project LogOn Baltic was to present solutions for improving the interplay between Logistics and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) competence and spatial planning, strengthening the small and medium-sized enterprises' (SMEs) competitiveness in the BSR. The ICT-related results of the LogOn Baltic project provide an overview of the existing ICT structures and services in the BSR, mainly based on a web-based scientific survey with nearly 1,100 responses. A second source is the survey on the satisfaction level with public services among enterprises in Estonia in the City of Tallinn, which shows similar trends with the LogOn Baltic project. The third part of the paper introduces some case studies on innovative e-services in Estonia and Germany together with the European initiative for the BSR to improve e-services for companies. -- |
| JEL: | L86 L96 R58 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:hswwdp:102009&r=ppm |