Implementing Recommendations from the External Evaluation of the IEO

When the IEO was established in July 2001, it was envisaged that it would be subject to periodic external evaluations.¹ In 2005, an independent panel of experts was appointed and, in April 2006, the Executive Board discussed the panel’s report—henceforth referred to as the External Evaluation Report.² The report assessed whether the IEO was meeting its goal to (1) serve as a means to enhance the learning culture within the IMF, (2) strengthen the IMF’s external credibility, (3) promote greater understanding of the work of the IMF throughout its membership, and (4) support the Executive Board’s institutional governance and oversight responsibilities. During the Board discussion of the report, IMF Executive Directors agreed that the IEO had served the IMF well and had earned strong support across a broad range of stakeholders, and that the IMF continued to need an independent evaluation office to contribute to the institution’s learning culture and facilitate oversight and governance by the Board. In its most recent communiqué, the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) reiterated its appreciation for the contributions of the IEO.

At the same time, Directors also welcomed the report’s recommendations for further strengthening the IEO’s effectiveness, and agreed that a more focused and strategic orientation, together with strong support from the Board and management, would help ensure the IEO’s continued usefulness and relevance.

Significant progress was made during FY2007 in this area, particularly in the setting of rules and procedures for the scheduling of Board discussion of IEO reports, the monitoring of implementation of Boardendorsed IEO recommendations, and the IEO’s outreach and communications strategy.

In late 2006, the Executive Board and management agreed on a guideline stipulating that Board consideration of an IEO report should generally be scheduled within six weeks of its circulation to the Board, and that Executive Directors should receive any comments on the IEO report by management and staff at least two weeks prior to the Board discussion. It was noted that, within the constraints within which management and the Executive Board operate, every effort would be made to ensure that this guideline is observed; should specific circumstances require a departure from the guideline, management would explain the reasons to the Executive Board in a timely fashion following consultation with the Chairman of the Evaluation Committee, who would also have an opportunity to present his or her views.

The External Evaluation Report had recommended a more systematic approach for following up on and monitoring the implementation of IEO recommendations approved by the Board. To this end, in January 2007 the Executive Board approved a framework requiring the following:

• Soon after the Executive Board’s discussion of each IEO report, management is to provide the Board with a forward-looking management implementation plan (MIP) for the recommendations endorsed by the Board.

• Management is to present the Board with a periodic monitoring report on the state of implementation contained in the MIP.

It was agreed that management will prepare the first periodic monitoring report following the delivery of this Annual Report and will also review the implementation of recommendations made in past evaluations.

As part of its efforts to follow up on the External Evaluation Report’s recommendations, the IEO revamped its outreach and communications strategy. It adopted a new logo for its communication and other public material, and strengthened communication channels beyond the evaluation reports. Most important, the IEO launched a new website—www.ieo-imf.org—prior to the 2007 Spring Meetings. The new website provides a more user-friendly interface with easy access to completed evaluations, issues papers for ongoing evaluations, Annual Reports, the IEO Work Program, and other IEO documentation. In addition, the IEO started to more actively manage its e-mail subscriber database and initiated the publication of a biannual newsletter to its stakeholders.

Additional work in response to the External Evaluation Report is being carried out within the IMF, including in the areas of human resources policy, the publication policy for IEO reports, and guidelines for the disclosure of information to the IEO.

Budget and Staffing

In FY2007 the budget was spent nearly in full (Appendix 2), with the execution rate reaching over 99 percent of the approved budget (similar to the outturn for FY2006). In FY2007 the IEO employed 12½ regular staff (in full-time equivalent terms), 5 of whom were seconded from IMF staff; the use of consultants and contractual staff was equivalent to some 9.2 staff years.

The budget approved for FY2008 stands at $4.6 million, a 2 percent nominal increase in line with Fundwide guidance for offices (a cut in real terms of about 1¼ percent). The IEO will maintain 13 staff positions and further reduce discretionary expenditures by over 1½ percent (about 4½ percent in real terms). The work plan underlying the approved budget assumes, consistent with the experience to date, that the office will work on three evaluations at any point in time; however, the number of projects actually completed over a period of time will depend on the complexity and scope of the evaluations and budgetary resources.

The budgetary reductions registered since FY2006, together with the medium-term (three-year) implications of the recently approved budget, will have a potentially significant impact on IEO resources going forward, with discretionary expenditures set to experience a large fall.

Outreach Activities

The IEO engages in external outreach activities to disseminate its evaluation findings to a wide audience. Various outreach events are organized to discuss each report after publication. To increase accessibility of the evaluation messages, a number of country case studies and report summaries are translated into relevant languages.³

In the year to April 2007, the IEO participated in a number of outreach seminars and mid-pipeline workshops, often at the invitation of third-party organizers. These included a visit to Accra in late June 2006 to seek the views of the national authorities, donors, and stakeholders on the IEO evaluation of “The IMF and Aid to Sub-Saharan Africa”; meetings in Beijing and Shanghai to meet with country officials and other financial sector representatives as part of the evaluation of exchange rate policy; and a seminar in Singapore during the 2006 Annual Meetings on “Strengthening IMF Surveillance.” A complete list of outreach activities can be found in Appendix 1.