Seminar Report
Moderator: Eleni Giokos, Business Africa Correspondent, CNN
Opening remarks:
Carla Grasso, Deputy Managing Director, International Monetary Fund
Panelists
Diwa C. Guinigundo, Deputy Governor, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
Steven Radelet, Director of the Global Human Development Program, Georgetown University
Alain Hervé Rasolofondraibe, Governor, Madagascar Central Bank
Cecilia Sharp, Assistant Director General, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida)
Accounting for close to a third of the IMF’s activity, capacity development (CD) is critical to foster economic stability and growth amongst its members. A panel of thought leaders and policy makers discussed the challenges facing CD, including building necessary political support, improving donor coordination, providing the adequate technical expertise, and ensuring country ownership.
Key Points:
· Importance of CD. Panelists agreed on the important role in which CD plays to ensure long‑term sustainable development. Rasolofondraibe attributed the recent strong economic growth of Madagascar to the reform and institution building that had been implemented with the assistance of the IMF. Guinigundo highlighted the role that institution building had played in contributing to the 20 years of consecutive strong economic growth in the Philippines, as well its resilience to economic shocks.
· Designing and implementing CD programs. Radelet outlined the three levels at which capacity development can focus, either through core skills at the individual level, at the organizational level to carry out essential functions, and at the institutional level to set norms and best practice. He also emphasized that capacity building is a long-term process and that result measurement is challenging. Guinigundo underlined the importance of incorporating flexibility as well as country tailoring into CD programs.
· Country ownership. Panelists agreed on the importance of strong country ownership for sustainable institution building. Guinigundo stated that authorities should define both the ambition and scope of CD, as well as provide sustained commitment to the CD program. Sharpe outlined the key role that the authorities should play in developing the CD plans, as well as the importance of building trust between all stakeholders.
· CD in fragile states. Radelet highlighted the significant challenges of weak or even non-existent institutional capacity in most fragile states, yet it is exactly in these contexts CD can have the most impact. Radelet noted that, without strong commitment and leadership, achieving success in these contexts are extremely challenging. Rasolofondraibe emphasized the importance of a stable national CD strategy and retaining trained staff in a fragile context.
Quotes:
“Successful capacity building requires going beyond sharing technical expertise: Political support, country ownership, community engagement, and coordination across stakeholders are equally important.” Carla Grasso
“Building Capacity is not a one, two, three-year process. It’s a generational process.” Steven Radelet
“Capacity building should be flexible, adapted to local needs…[it is] critical that there is consensus, that there is public ownership”. Diwa C. Guinigundo
“As outsiders your role is to assist, not to tell.” Steven Radelet
Contributor: Alex Lalor
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The seminar will explore the challenges and hard choices involved in developing institutional capacity. Strengthening state institutions, such as central banks and finance ministries, can contribute to economic stability and growth, but often requires a coherent change-management reform agenda and strong political leadership. What does “building institutions” really mean for those who implement changes on the ground? What can countries and development partners do to strengthen institutions? How can capacity development efforts become more conducive to sustainable development?
Join the conversation: #IMFcapdev
Opening Remarks
Carla Grasso
Deputy Managing Director, IMF
Ms. Carla Grasso assumed office as IMF Deputy Managing Director on February 2, 2015. Ms. Grasso is a dual national of Brazil and Italy.
In her new role at the Fund, Ms. Grasso oversees all the Fund’s administrative functions, coordinates the budget, human resources, technology, general services, and internal audit, to ensure the efficient, effective, and comprehensive management of these functions, which are vital to the Fund’s overall effectiveness. She also oversees the IMF’s capacity-building and training work.
Before coming to the Fund Ms. Grasso worked for fourteen years, at Vale S.A., one of the world’s largest mining companies, serving as Vice President for Human Resources and Corporate Services from 2001 to 2011. During that time, she led efforts to modernize the company—with operations in 38 countries and involving 138,000 people—in the areas of human resources, IT, procurement, communications, and health and safety.
Before joining Vale S.A., Ms. Grasso served as Secretary of the Brazilian Supplementary Social Security Office from 1994 to 1997, and also held several positions as Advisor and Coordinator in the Ministries of Social Security, Finance, and Planning, as well as in the Office of the President of Brazil. She participated, inter alia, in the creation and proposal for social security system reform and assessment of the funding needs of the public sector in Brazil, with a focus on fiscal and tax areas.
Ms. Grasso holds a Masters degree in Economic Policy from Universidade de Brasília and was Professor of International Economics and Monetary Economics at the Pontifical Catholic University of Brasília, and of Economy Mathematics at the Centro Universitário do Distrito Federal. In 2014 she was Professor of Business Education at Insper (Instituto de Ensino e Pesquisa) in Sao Paulo.
Moderator
Eleni Giokos
CNN Business Africa Correspondent
Eleni Giokos is the CNN Business Africa Correspondent, based in the network's Johannesburg bureau. Born in Greece and raised in South Africa, Giokos has a decade's experience working across TV, radio, print and online media. As a broadcaster she has interviewed a range of heads of state and business leaders, including South African President Jacob Zuma, former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, Virgin founder Richard Branson, and IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, amongst others. She has reported from key global events such as the World Economic Forum in Davos and the United Nations General Assembly. She has chaired debates at the World Economic Forum, International Monetary Fund, African Finance Corporation and the Africa CEO Forum. Giokos has an Honors Degree in Journalism and Media Studies from the University of Witwatersrand and is an International Monetary Fund Fellow—selected to join the programme in 2014.
Panelists
Diwa C. Guinigundo
BSP Deputy Governor, Philippines
Diwa C. Guinigundo has been Deputy Governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas since 2005. He was previously Assistant Governor in charge of monetary policy and international operations. During 2001–2003, Mr. Guinigundo served as Alternate Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund. He was also Head of Research at The SEACEN (Southeast Asian Central Banks) Centre (1992–1994).
Mr. Guinigundo chaired and co-chaired various committees and groups, including the SEACEN Experts Group on Capital Flows, the ASEAN Senior Level Committee on Financial Integration, and the EMEAP’s (Executive Meeting of East Asia and the Pacific) Monetary and Financial Stability Committee of central bank deputies. He graduated, cum laude, from the University of the Philippines and holds a M.Sc. in Economics from the London School of Economics.
Steven Radelet
Director of the Global Human Development Program, Georgetown University
Steven Radelet is the Director of the Global Human Development Program at Georgetown University. His work focuses on economic growth, foreign aid, debt, and financial crises, primarily in Africa and Asia. Professor Radelet joined the Georgetown faculty in 2012 after serving as Chief Economist of USAID and Senior Adviser for Development for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury (1999-2002). He spent twelve years with the Harvard Institute for International Development, while teaching in both the Harvard economics department and Kennedy School of Government. He served as advisor to President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, and was also a resident advisor to the Ministry of Finance in Indonesia and the Ministry of Finance and Trade in The Gambia. Dr. Radelet is the author or coauthor of several books and dozens of academic articles, including The Great Surge: The Ascent of the Developing World(Simon & Schuster, 2015). He holds Ph.D. and master's degrees in public policy from Harvard University and a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Central Michigan University.
Alain Hervé Rasolofondraibe,
Governor of the Central Bank, Madagascar
Alain Hervé Rasolofondraibe has been appointed as Governor of the Madagascar Central Bank (Banky Foiben'i Madagasikara, BFM) in October 2014. Previously, he was Presidential Advisor on economic policy and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the local branch of Bank of Africa. He also was the Chief Executive Officer of an important company in the agri-food sector. Asthe head of the BFM, Rasolofondraibe launched an impressive reform agenda, starting with the adoption of the Central Bank Act in 2016, theimprovement of internal audit of BFM, the strengthening of the monetary policy framework, and the improvement of the financial sector regulation and supervision. Further progress is expected this year with a new banking law, and a law on financial stability.
Cecilia Scharp
Associate Director General,
Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency
Cecilia Scharp is currently Assistant Director General at the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) heading the Department for International Organisations and Policy Support since mid-August 2017. She left UNICEF New York in 2017 after five years at the WASH section where she was leading UNICEFs work on water and environment issues. Cecilia led the global consultation to develop SDG 6 on water and sanitation for UN-Water and was engaged throughout the process. Before leaving for UNICEF she held various positions at Sida and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs most recent as Assistant Director at Sida’s department for countries where Sweden is engaged in long term collaboration (PROGSAM) and as Head for Sweden’s development collaboration in Liberia. Cecilia has a MSc in civil engineering and holds a PhD in Land and Water Management from the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden.
Moderator: Eleni Giokos, Business Africa Correspondent, CNN
Opening remarks:
Carla Grasso, Deputy Managing Director, International Monetary Fund
Panelists
Diwa C. Guinigundo, Deputy Governor, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
Steven Radelet, Director of the Global Human Development Program, Georgetown University
Alain Hervé Rasolofondraibe, Governor, Madagascar Central Bank
Cecilia Sharp, Assistant Director General, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida)
Accounting for close to a third of the IMF’s activity, capacity development (CD) is critical to foster economic stability and growth amongst its members. A panel of thought leaders and policy makers discussed the challenges facing CD, including building necessary political support, improving donor coordination, providing the adequate technical expertise, and ensuring country ownership.
Key Points:
· Importance of CD. Panelists agreed on the important role in which CD plays to ensure long‑term sustainable development. Rasolofondraibe attributed the recent strong economic growth of Madagascar to the reform and institution building that had been implemented with the assistance of the IMF. Guinigundo highlighted the role that institution building had played in contributing to the 20 years of consecutive strong economic growth in the Philippines, as well its resilience to economic shocks.
· Designing and implementing CD programs. Radelet outlined the three levels at which capacity development can focus, either through core skills at the individual level, at the organizational level to carry out essential functions, and at the institutional level to set norms and best practice. He also emphasized that capacity building is a long-term process and that result measurement is challenging. Guinigundo underlined the importance of incorporating flexibility as well as country tailoring into CD programs.
· Country ownership. Panelists agreed on the importance of strong country ownership for sustainable institution building. Guinigundo stated that authorities should define both the ambition and scope of CD, as well as provide sustained commitment to the CD program. Sharpe outlined the key role that the authorities should play in developing the CD plans, as well as the importance of building trust between all stakeholders.
· CD in fragile states. Radelet highlighted the significant challenges of weak or even non-existent institutional capacity in most fragile states, yet it is exactly in these contexts CD can have the most impact. Radelet noted that, without strong commitment and leadership, achieving success in these contexts are extremely challenging. Rasolofondraibe emphasized the importance of a stable national CD strategy and retaining trained staff in a fragile context.
Quotes:
“Successful capacity building requires going beyond sharing technical expertise: Political support, country ownership, community engagement, and coordination across stakeholders are equally important.” Carla Grasso
“Building Capacity is not a one, two, three-year process. It’s a generational process.” Steven Radelet
“Capacity building should be flexible, adapted to local needs…[it is] critical that there is consensus, that there is public ownership”. Diwa C. Guinigundo
“As outsiders your role is to assist, not to tell.” Steven Radelet
Contributor: Alex Lalor
