• The principal implementing actors
• Criteria for selecting Government implementing agency
• Criteria for selecting implementing partners
• Strengths and weaknesses of different types of implementing partners
• What types of capacity-building should the project plan for?
• When and how to organize an Advisory and Selection Committee
  

What criteria should be used in selecting the appropriate Government implementing agency for an OVC project or component?

• An agency that the government considers best suited for the task.
• An agency that is respected and heard within the Government.
• An agency that has a reputation for getting things done.
• An agency that has a record of caring for OVC, such as an OVC agency within the Ministry of Social Affairs or in the Ministry of Women, Children and Families.
• An agency that has a presence in the geographic areas where the project will be implemented.
• Ideally, a multi-sector agency capable of addressing the complex range of problems that OVC confront.
• An agency with good experience managing international financing in an efficient and transparent way.

Admittedly, it may be difficult to find a government agency that meets all of these criteria. Focus on finding an agency that is well respected both inside and outside government and that has the clout required to move ahead decisively with the project or component. Agencies with the official mandate for OVC, such as Ministry of Social Affairs, unfortunately tend to be among the weakest government agencies. Yet, excluding them would make them even weaker and, in the end, hurt their intended beneficiaries. A compromise solution would be (a) to chose them but require that a highly skilled technical assistance provider work hand-in-hand with them, thus strengthening their capacity, or (b) to give them a prominent role on a multi-sector oversight committee while delegating the day-to-day management functions to a stronger agency.

Before making any definitive decisions about where to house your OVC project or component, you should consult with the key partners involved in the stakeholder analysis to get a sense of the reputation of the proposed project agency. If funds are available, you may also want to contract an organizational assessment specialist to analyze the organizational capacity of this agency. This is likely to cost $2,500-8,000 and take 3–5 days (see sub-section on "What types of capacity-building should the project plan for?", The Organizational Capacity Assessment Tool (OCAT) and its' annex).

When there doesn’t seem to be a government agency with the appropriate qualifications to successfully carry out the OVC project or component, you might consider entering into a tripartite agreement between the World Bank, the Government, and a private implementing agency, such as an NGO. In this case, the government would retrocede the financing received by the World Bank to the implementing agency, which would then be responsible for project implementation. Three legal agreements would sanction this arrangement: a Development Credit Agreement between the World Bank and the Government, a Project Agreement between the Bank and the Implementing Agency and an “Retrocession Agreement” between the Government and the Implementing Agency. The World Bank Legal Department would draw up the first two agreements, while the third would be the responsibility of the government. Regardless of the role to be played by the government agency with the official mandate for OVC, it is strongly advised to include funding to strengthen its capacity, since, in the long-term, the welfare of OVC will depend upon this agency.

If the agency selected to manage the programmatic aspects of the OVC component is different from the agency managing the overall project, as would likely be the case if a non-social sector project invested resources in activities to benefit OVC, it will need to work hand-in-hand with the Project Management Unit (PMU). Respective roles and responsibilities should be spelled out in a sub-contract or other formal agreement. Particular attention should be paid to the flow of funds. A 90-day advance account would probably be the most practical solution and could be set up and spent in accordance with the work plan and budget attached to the sub-contract.