On the Long-Term Holistic Development Framework Principle of the CDF : An Evaluation

Abstract

The Comprehensive Development Framework
 (CDF) is an initiative by the World Bank's President
 James D. Wolfensohn (1999), to enhance the effectiveness of
 the partners of development of the developing countries in
 bringing about desired development outcomes. According to
 the CDF Secretariat (2000) the CDF is 'an approach by
 which countries can achieve more effective poverty
 reduction. It emphasizes the interdependence of all elements
 of development, social, structural, human, governance,
 environmental, economic and financial.' The framework
 is articulated around four major principles: long-term,
 holistic development framework; country ownership of
 development programs and policies; country-led partnership
 among various stakeholders; and, results orientation. The
 remainder of this paper is organized in five sections.
 Section two offers an analytical framework suitable for the
 formulation of a holistic, long-term poverty reduction
 strategy. The framework is used as a benchmark against which
 the implementation of the CDF principle on the long-term
 holistic development framework (LTHDF) is evaluated. Section
 three provides a cursory and highly selective reading of the
 implementation of the CDF long-term holistic development
 framework in the six pilot countries. In this section it is
 assumed that the poverty reduction strategy papers provide
 the embodiment of the CDF principle irrespective of whether
 countries state this explicitly or not. Section four
 provides an evaluation of the implementation of the CDF
 principle while section five provides an evaluation of the
 response of donors to the CDF principle on the long-term
 holistic development framework. This section is based on a
 survey instrument that has been designed to elicit these
 responses. Section six offers a few concluding remarks and
 proposes a number of hypotheses that can be tested in future
 evaluation of the CDF.