| Grant Profile: |
| Project Title: |
Tajikistan Leadership Seminar on Strategic Directions for Development |
| PCF/LICUS/SPF: |
PCF |
Status: |
Closed |
| File Number: |
350
| Region: |
SA |
| Sector: |
Multisector |
Country: |
Tajikistan |
| FY approved: |
2007 |
Grant Theme : |
Public sector governance |
| Keyword(s): |
Leadership training;Development reform |
Approved Amount: |
$70,000.00 |
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Grant Recipient:
Bank-Executed |
Grant Purpose:
The seminar was an integral component of on-going discussions in the country on the reform agenda process. It aimed at sharing with the Government of Tajikistan experiences from other countries of the region and elsewhere in moving forward a large and complex development reform agenda. The objective of the event was thus to assist high-level government officials in their efforts to strategically think through a set of key priority reforms, including thinking through the sequencing and management of these reforms.
The seminar focused on the strategic approach to achieve sustainable growth, with special attention to private sector development, governance (social inclusion) and human development (health and education), priority areas outlined in the Country Partnership Strategy and the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper.
The seminar will also help further the partnership between the Government and the donor community, as it aims to prepare the government to be more efficient in its future consultations on governance reforms.
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Grant Activities:
In order to create an environment for an open and frank discussion to take place, the seminar allowed significant time for debate, interaction and exchange amoung the participants. For the purpose, the seminar engaged the participants in round-tables and working group sessions.
The structure of the workshop agenda was anchored in a selected number of case studies presented by senior practitioners or experts from other countries whose cultural and political context had been perceived by the Tajikistan participants as relevant and appropriate. Each session included a presentation followed by a discussion on the usefulness and content of international best practices, and their applicability to the environment in Tajikistan. The format of the seminar was innovative in the context of Tajikistan, as it focused on an experiential peer-to-peer knowledge sharing approach and encouraged as much participation from the audience as possible.
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News:
Representatives of the Government of Tajikistan conveyed their appreciation of discussions of the country’s development challenges, objectives and initiatives, organized by the World Bank as part of the Post-Conflict Fund grant for a Leadership Seminar on Strategic Directions for Development. The Seminar took place in April 2007, in Istanbul, Turkey, and provided more than 20 high-level Government officials with a forum for discussing Tajikistan’s development agenda.
The objective of the Leadership Seminar was to engage government officials in a dialogue on a set of key priority reforms, including sequencing and management of the development agenda, and to present international best practices in linking cross-sectoral development issues to strategic reforms. The focus of the event was placed on the approach of achieving sustainable growth, with special attention to the priority areas outlined in the Country Partnership Strategy and the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper. The Seminar also presented the Government with an opportunity to consider follow-up measures to some of the reforms which have already been undertaken in the country.
The event was preceded by a visit of an expert Russian mission on strategic directions for development in Tajikistan. The mission advanced the formulation of key strategic development themes by the Government, including investment climate, human development, infrastructure, private sector development, public administration, and public expenditures and finance management.
The Seminar also paved the way for the Tajikistan Development Forum, held on June 2, 2007, in Dushanbe, as it assisted the Government in preparing for the event and led to a coherent development strategy discussion during the Forum. The Development Forum represented a significant donor community meeting, as it brought together government representatives, development partners of Tajikistan, and civil society, in an effort to assess the implementation of the Tajikistan first Poverty Reduction Strategy and the National Development Strategy currently prepared by the Government.
A study conducted by the World Bank in 2004 revealed that using a experiential peer-to-peer format with abundant unstructured face time between visitor-leaders and participant-leaders presented a more efficient learning approach than technical lectures alone. Based on this notion and the success of previous leadership seminars, the event in Istanbul represented an experiential knowledge sharing approach characterized by interactive disclosure of best practices, lessons learned, as well as insights and new ideas. As a result, the Government of Tajikistan requested subsequent workshops, in an effort to continue the discussion of other, substantive, development topics in the country.
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