Practical ideas for better decisions.

A strategy becomes useful when it changes choices, responsibilities, resource decisions and measurable action.

1. Does it make real choices?

Leadership should know what matters most, what will not be pursued now, and how competing objectives will be handled.

2. Is accountability visible?

Clarify who decides, delivers, coordinates, provides evidence and resolves constraints.

3. Are resources and capabilities connected to ambition?

Skills, systems, procurement routes, data, partnerships and management capacity can become binding constraints.

4. Is there a clear route from strategy to delivery?

Translate priorities into programmes, projects, workstreams, milestones and clear decision points.

5. Can leadership tell whether it is working?

Measurement should distinguish activity from progress and support intervention or adaptation.

Related service Request a strategic diagnostic

Delay can be a schedule problem, but it can also be the visible effect of weaknesses in governance, scope, procurement, decision-making, resources or management information.

Seven diagnostic areas

Governance and decision rights: owners, escalation routes and decision times.

Scope and requirements: stability, ambiguity and change control.

Procurement and contracting: packaging, market engagement, evaluation, contracting and administration.

Schedule and controls: real dependencies, constraints and reporting connected to decisions.

Resources and capability: skills, authority, vendor capacity and management attention.

Risk, issues and interfaces: ownership of uncertainty, active issues and interfaces.

Stakeholders and external dependencies: approvals, utilities, communities, financing and partner institutions.

Recovery should target the actual constraint; schedule acceleration is one intervention, not the default answer.

Related service Request a recovery diagnostic

Procurement is a delivery system

Define the need, understand the market, package deliberately, evaluate for delivery, design the contract before award, manage performance and learn from results.

Reference: World Bank Procurement for Borrowers ↗.

PPP readiness comes before transaction structuring

Test public value, technical and demand credibility, affordability and fiscal exposure, risk allocation, market appetite, institutional capacity and governance before choosing a PPP route.

Reference: World Bank PPP project-development guidance ↗.

Policy approval is not implementation

Test mandate and accountability, delivery-chain design, resources and capability, incentives and behaviour, sequencing and dependencies, coordination, monitoring and adaptation.

References: OECD sound policy implementation ↗ and World Bank institutional capacity perspective ↗.

Policy advisory Projects & PPP advisory

A useful MERL system begins with the questions management needs answered and works backwards to the evidence, indicators, thresholds, review routines and adaptation required.

Six elements

Results logic: assumptions visible enough to test.

Management signals: distinguish compliance metrics from indicators of delivery, reach, quality, cost, risk and outcomes.

Multiple evidence sources: administrative, qualitative, financial, operational and stakeholder data explain different parts of performance.

Thresholds and triggers: define when variance or risk requires action.

Management routine: evidence enters a regular review process that assigns actions and checks follow-through.

Learning into adaptation: findings have a route into budgets, work plans, procurement, staffing and design.

Related service Discuss a MERL assignment

AI readiness is an institutional question before it becomes a software question.

1. Mandate

Does the institution have authority to perform the function and use automated or AI-supported processes within it?

2. Use case

What specific problem should AI improve, for which users, with what intended benefit, and where must human judgement remain?

3. Data

Is required data available, reliable, governed, representative and usable?

4. Procurement

Can procurement requirements protect performance, data access, security, interoperability, auditability, continuity and public value?

5. Technology

Can the technology architecture support integration, hosting, cybersecurity and operational resilience?

6. People

Do staff understand changed roles, workflows and review responsibilities?

7. Oversight

Who monitors performance, errors, bias, incidents and model or system change?

8. Redress

What happens when an output is wrong or someone is adversely affected?

Related service Assess AI readiness

Before technology selection, establish the waste stream, recovery hierarchy, collection and segregation system, environmental controls, energy offtake, institutional responsibilities and project economics.

Eight questions

Waste stream: quantity, composition, moisture, calorific characteristics, seasonality and current disposal routes.

Recovery hierarchy: prevention, reuse, recycling, organics recovery and material recovery before defining residual waste.

Feedstock reliability: whether collection and segregation can supply a consistent residual stream.

Technology fit: local waste characteristics, scale, skills, maintenance, emissions controls and residue management.

Environmental and health controls: monitoring, ash handling, worker protection and enforcement.

Offtake: grid connection, tariff or contract structure, payment risk and demand.

Institutional model: ownership, land, collection contracts, performance standards, data rights and disputes.

Economics: capital and operating cost, tipping fees, energy revenue, financing, downtime and downside scenarios.

Reference: UNEP Waste-to-Energy: Key Considerations ↗.

Related service Discuss a WtE opportunity