Evaluation of the African Development Bank’s Human Resource Management: Rightsizing/Strategic Staffing and Incentive Structure

Independent Development Evaluation (IDEV) at the African Development Bank Group (AfDB or “the Bank”) is evaluating the Bank's Human Resource Management, focusing on rightsizing/strategic staffing and incentive structure. This evaluation (hereafter referred to as the HR2 Evaluation) is the second building block of a concurrent evaluation focusing on the related themes of recruitment, retention, career development, and performance management (HR 1 Evaluation). These evaluations follow the previous HRM evaluation conducted by IDEV in 2017, which examined the Bank's Human Resources Management policy and strategic directions during the period 2012-2017. 

The Bank's rightsizing process, which began in November 2019 includes analyzing existing staffing levels, assessing current and future requirements, and modifying workforce size accordingly, at the department/office level. Regarding its incentive structure, the Bank has since its 2008-2012 compensation framework, aimed at attracting, motivating, and retaining top talent while emphasizing results, equity, efficiency, competitiveness, and long-term sustainability. Currently, the Bank’s new Total Compensation Framework 2021-2024 emphasizes the need to attract the best candidates from all member countries, prioritizing those experts motivated more by development outcomes than the competitiveness of the AfDB's remuneration package.

The HR2 Evaluation will assess the relevance of the Bank's actions to address the rightsizing/strategic staffing commitments made under the Seventh General Capital Increase (GCI-VII) and the present People Strategy (2021-2025); and the comprehensiveness, competitiveness, and financial sustainability of the incentive structure, focusing on the design and implementation of the Total Compensation Framework 2021-2024. The evaluation will concentrate on the period from 2018 to quarter one of 2023. It will provide valuable lessons and recommendations that will facilitate the efficient implementation of the reforms while guiding the Bank’s future human resource strategy. 

This formative evaluation will employ a theory-driven approach as its analytical framework, mainly to help determine the causal relationships, contextual factors, outcomes and any unintended outcomes of the Bank’s HR policies and practices. It will deploy both quantitative and qualitative techniques for data collection such as document reviews, key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and an online survey targeting Bank employees.
The evaluation is expected to be delivered in the first quarter of 2024. 

Task Manager: Mirianaud Oswald Agbadome, Principal Evaluation Officer