Enhancing capacity for strategic management of policy implementation in developing countries

IPC has worked with governments, the private sector, and nongovernmental organizations in more than two dozen countries on various aspects of policy management. Chapter 1 reviews the policy reform challenge in developing countries, and the key capacities needed for managing reform. Chapter 2 explores IPC"s definition of strategic management, whose roots are in U.S. business administration, and which includes four main principles: (1) look to the future, and know what markets you are in and want to be in; (2) pay attention to technological, economic, political, and social factors that affect the organization"s ability to get where it wants to go; (3) maintain a match between these external factors and internal variable such as finances, employees, special skills, etc; and (4) strategic management is not iterative, but entails feedback and learning. Chapter 3 explores IPC"s role in transferring strategic management techniques and tools to public managers and other stakeholders; the chapter considers IPC"s role as advisor, trainer, facilitator, and doer. Chapter 4 presents selected cases from IPC"s field interventions with public and private organizations; the chapter examines activities in Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, the livestock sector in the Sahel, and with the West African Enterprise Network. Chapter 5 discusses lessons for effective capacity building from IPC"s experience. Chapter 6 discusses crosscutting themes that emerge as central to strategic management capacity building and technology transfer, namely, how can outside resource (TA and financial) be effectively combined with host country resources to develop the capacity to achieve desired policy change? Includes bibliography.