Commitment: The growing international consensus on key elements of the development agenda and the recent commitment to large increases in resource transfers to the developing world have not yet been matched by a clear and concentrated focus on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of program implementation. In this context, Dalberg has designed, and is in the process of convening a High Level Commission on Capacity for Program Delivery. The Commission aims to systematically address a number of key implementation issues that continue to hamper the ability of the development sector to scale up effective interventions. Ultimately, the Commission will address two broad, critical issues:

The need to improve the structure of program implementation, including:
1. The development of a finite set of program types for different emergency and development problems;
2. The creation of new standards for program implementation through use of bench-marks, lessons learned, peer review mechanisms, etc;
3. The introduction of new systems and incentives into the development sector to reward good performance in building capacity.

The need to more actively involve the private sector in program implementation, including:
1. The creation of guidelines on when and how to bring the best of the private sector to development through innovations in program implementation;
2. The design of processes and systems around program implementation and in building capacity to better leverage effective private sector practices.

The outcome of the Commission is three-fold: 1. to create awareness around the program delivery issues, 2. to provide guidance and direction on desirable operational outcomes; and 3. to design or highlight a number of practical tools and standards that can be adopted.

Background: Dalberg is a global development advisory comprised of professionals from top-tier strategy consultancies and focused on serving senior executives in multilateral institutions, multinational corporations, CSOs and governments on their most pressing development issues. As the Initiative Sponsor, Dalberg is urgently moving forward to begin convening the Commission in order to ensure that a report can be completed and actionable recommendations can be considered at the September 2006 meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative. Dalberg has secured two highly-respected co-executive directors for the Commission: R. Michael Barth, previously the CEO of FMO in Holland and Chairman of the European Development Finance Institutions, and Nissim Ezekiel, former IFC Director of Corporate Planning and Executive Director of the recent UN "Commission on the Private Sector & Development." Dalberg is now in the process of identifying funding and sponsors, as well as prominent, knowledgeable individual members to serve on the Commission’s Panel and Advisory Group.

Partnership Opportunity: Dalberg is seeking total external funding of $850,000 to support the work of the Task Force in addition to the $300,000 which has been committed internally by Dalberg (including $50,000 in kind by the Executive Director of the Task Force, Nissim Ezekiel). The feeling is that it would be most productive if the amount can be raised through contributions of up to $200,000 each from three or four core funders. As the work of the Task Force will result in tangible scalable initiatives, contributions can appropriately be routed through The Global Development Incubator, an independent non-profit organization with 501 c3 status.

Update:
January-March 2006:
A select group of six prominent individuals has already agreed to serve as Members of the Task Force and has begun to make active contributions:

1. Mr. Kurt Hoffman, Managing Director, Shell Foundation (London)
2. Mr. Assaad Jabre, Former Vice-President & Acting Executive VP, IFC (D.C.)
3. Mr. K.V. Kamath, Managing Director & CEO, ICICI Bank Ltd. (India)
4. Mr. Robert Litan, Vice President, Research & Policy, Kauffman Foundation (US)
5. Ms. Linda Rottenberg, Founder & President, Endeavor (New York)
6. Mr. Simon Zadek, Chief Executive, AccountAbility (London)

Discussions are underway to expand membership by up to two more to provide even greater breadth of experience and regional balance.

The First Meeting of the Task Force took place in Washington D.C. on March 9, 2006. Since convening in March, the Task Force and Dalberg are making strong progress in two primary areas. The first being the topographical scan of what is and is not being done in terms of effectiveness of the public delivery system and of the potential role of the private sector in the broad delivery of development services. The second is the development of a series of initiatives that will involve identification, expansion and scaling-up of innovative privately driven actions designed to address development challenges.

March-June 2006:
A second task force meetings was held on June 6, 2006. In addition, during this period the following have been the focus of the task force:

1. Developing an analytic framework and creating topography of development interventions;
2. Developing an “AccountAbility Framework” to guide development interventions; and
3. Creating an initial inventory of actionable initiatives for implementation.

The full report should be prepared by December 2006, but initial findings will be presented by September 2006