Decide

Outset

Following the assessment of trade facilitation bottlenecks, policy makers and managers are called to decide on the adoption of appropriate remedial actions, which respond to stakeholders needs and with a focus on priority areas. In order to take informed decisions, it is recommended that the results of all available studies and diagnosis are considered. For each intervention area, clear objectives, expected achievements, as well as corresponding indicators and sources of verification to measure results, will need to be identified.Key stakeholders will need to be involved in order to gain wide constituency for the decision taken.

Methodology

• Collect and utilize information from all available sources to ensure informed decision making:when it comes to deciding which facilitation measures are to be undertaken and in which area (e.g. rationalization of documents and data requirements, automation of processes), receiving information from different perspectives it’s of key importance. Different ministries and government authorities as well as traders and service providers, should be consulted to provide their views. Structuring and analyzing such information will ensure that decision makers will base their decisions on actual needs and realities
• Make use of existing requests, rankings, studies and diagnostics:In order to take informed decision making, it is recommended that the results of all available studies, diagnosis are considered. Examples are the analysis and rankings provided in the Trading Across Borders section of the WB Doing Business Report and in the WB Logistics Performance Index (LPI).
• Clearly identify program objectives and assess possible impact areas:Decision making should always aim at being as precise as possible and that applies also to decisions concerning trade facilitation. Policy objectives like “increase foreign trade” are good from a political perspective, but need to be braked down in more immediate objectives for trade facilitation implementers. Therefore it is recommended to identify, as clearly as possible, areas to be reformed and to assess such areas from the perspective of necessary implementation measures. For instance, if the adoption of electronic customs declarations is the objective and no means exist to actually manage such declarations, the process will be longer than expanding already existing areas, i.e. include more authorities in a Single Window.
• Indicate expected achievements: For each intervention area, policy makers and managers will need to identify clear and measurable objectives, expected achievements, as well as corresponding indicators and sources of verification to evaluate results. So, for instance, if the objective is to expand the coverage of the national Single Window scheme, the expected achievement will be measured in terms of number of additional authorities that became part of the scheme.

Tools

The European Union has developed a useful Guide on Project Cycle Management, which supports good management practices and effective decision making throughout the project management cycle – from programming, through to identification, formulation, implementation and evaluation.