Measuring Donor-Supported Business Environment Reform Results

The Donor Committee for Enterprise Development (DCED) has just published guidance for donor and development agencies on how to measure the results of business environment reform support programmes. I prepared these guidelines along with members of the DCED’s Business Environment Working Group. The guidance can be downloaded from here.

In 2008 the DCED published guidance for donor and development agencies on how to support business environment reform in developing countries, entitled Supporting business environment reforms: practical guidance for development agencies.

Since the publication of this guidance, increasing attention has been given to a number of specific and closely related topics, which have been produced as annexes to the original Donor Guidance. This annex describes the challenges facing agencies in their attempts to measure the impact of their business environment reform support programmes and presents a series of principles that can guide practice in this field. It is based on the DCED’s continuing engagement with the donor community and its programme partners.

A series of case studies on measuring the results of business environment reform have also been prepared as a separate document, dealing with key reform product lines: business registration and licensing, taxation reform, public private dialogue, and trade and customs reform.

As an annex, this document does not attempt to repeat any of the key messages or principles contained in the Donor Guidance. Readers are encouraged to refer to the guidance for this information. Similarly, this annex does not repeat the general principles for measuring the impact of private sector development programmes that are outlined in the DCED Standard for Results Measurement in Private Sector Development. More details on these and other related documents can be found in the reference list at the end of this document.