Managing for Development Results

Central to the entire aid effectiveness agenda is managing for development results (MfDR), an approach focused on development outcomes throughout the management cycle. The goal of MfDR is tangible and sustainable development.

MfDR promotes informed decision making by integrating a results focus across the four core management functions:

1. Planning—defining outcomes and outputs with measurable indicators and time-bound targets, and agreeing on associated activities,
2. Budgeting—allocating resources to agreed activities,
3. Implementing and monitoring—implementing agreed activities and monitoring progress against targets, and
4. Evaluating—assessing performance against agreed targets and identifying actions for improvement.

Regular reporting to stakeholders to increase accountability and promote learning is intrinsic to effective MfDR.

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Managing for Development Results at ADB

To help realize its vision of an Asia and Pacific region free of poverty, ADB is pursuing a deliberate, structured program of managing for development results (MfDR). This program provides the process and tools needed to deliver optimal results and ensure transparency and accountability. ADB embeds MfDR in its work at the following levels:

Corporate

ADB has been using a corporate results framework and a performance scorecard to manage performance since 2008. Its latest corporate results framework consisting of 60 indicators aligns with Strategy 2030 and tracks the development progress of the region, ADB's contributions to the seven operational priorities of the new strategy, and its operational and institutional effectiveness. The scorecard, which rates ADB's performance against the targets, drives decision making and informs work planning and budgeting process.

S2030-Aligned Results Framework Architecture

By publishing the scorecard in the annual Development Effectiveness Review, ADB holds itself fully accountable for the results it has promised to deliver.

ADB works to increase staff commitment to MfDR through systematic communication and training in the use of MfDR tools and methods. ADB also ensures that work plans at all levels of the organization are results focused and aligned with the corporate results framework. An independent evaluation of this process showed these efforts have resulted in greater staff commitment to and engagement in MfDR.

Country Operations

ADB’s country and regional partnership strategies incorporate results frameworks to ensure that they are managed to achieve their intended development outcomes. ADB will soon launch a revised country partnership strategy results framework and reporting templates to improve results planning, periodic monitoring, and reporting, and to demonstrate clearly their alignment with country development priorities.

Country development effectiveness briefs distill and communicate ADB’s development contribution at the country level. These publications are a blend of performance data and development stories that describe how ADB’s operations help improve people’s lives.

More information:

Projects

ADB designs and implements projects using project-level results frameworks. ADB conducts regular assessments, staff training and coaching, and project management training for implementing agencies in our developing member countries to ensure that project management is driven by quality results frameworks.

ADB’s e-Operations—an online system for processing and implementing sovereign operations launched in 2010—enables the systematic capture and recording of ADB’s outputs and outcomes in each of the 7 Operational Priorities defined in ADB's Strategy 2030.

More information:

 Results of ADB-Supported OperationsAggregate amounts of contributions to Strategy 2030