Methodology
Global PIM-PAM: Prosperity Through Better Investment
PIM-PAM helps countries get more from every public dollar invested — strengthening the policies and practices behind public investment and asset management, powered by digitalization, AI, and stronger domestic skills. We work with “beacon” countries already demonstrating tangible innovations, and with those pushing to reach the frontier.
From memos to demos
Reports, diagnostics, and assessments have long defined how this work gets done. PIM-PAM shifts the emphasis to functional online tools and learning-by-doing — so counterparts experience what good looks like, rather than just reading about it. This is how we break the bottlenecks that have stalled PIM-PAM reform for years.
Built for a changing World Bank
The WBG's operating model is changing. Traditional, contractor-heavy country technical assistance is no longer sustainable — just as demand grows across sub-national governments and state-owned enterprises through deeper IFC collaboration. PIM-PAM meets this moment with scalable global solutions, building on the cross-country results chain already established by the Financial Management Umbrella Program (FMUP).
pim-pam.net: prototype, then adopt
PIM-PAM IT projects are notorious for delays and disappointment, and AI raises the stakes further. Open-source prototypes and model resources let counterparts see success in digitalization and AI firsthand — cutting the time, cost, and risk of building real systems. Bank-executed activities can't implement government systems directly, but prototypes and learning-by-doing pave a faster, surer path to recipient-led adoption.
Adoption is the goal
Success means more than a pilot. Adoption means counterparts have built digital PIM-PAM tools into their standard budget processes — annual and medium-term. Our engagement tracker follows each partnership from inception to awareness, application, and adoption, focusing effort where demonstrations are most likely to succeed. The aim: a critical mass of countries with real improvements, enabling faster replication and lasting impact.
Results depend on the wider system
Better PIM-PAM can only do so much alone. What sits upstream and downstream matters — fiscal space, capital markets, and financing instruments determine whether investment can be mobilized; recurrent funding and institutional capacity determine whether infrastructure actually delivers services. Even a fiscal crisis can spur better portfolio management by forcing a long-overdue data rationalization.
Global and regional knowledge hubs
Peer learning drives the agenda forward. In ECA, the Vienna Development Knowledge Center (VDKC) anchors knowledge exchange — deepening collaboration with EU-27 members, Switzerland, and the UK on PIM-PAM, applied AI, and end-user-centric public sector skills.
The PIM-PAM country engagement progressions model
Each partnership progresses from Inception through three active stages — Awareness, Application, and Adoption — the same scale used to colour-code the engagement map. For each stage we set out the objective, the instruments we use, and the outcomes we expect.
| Awareness | Application | Adoption | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Objective | Colleagues and counterparts appreciate the value of global solutions. | pim-pam.net and pim-pam.ai tools are applied to a specific country context. | Decision-support is mainstreamed as part of policies and practices, including digitalization and AI. |
| Instruments | Regional units outreach and demonstrations. | ASA such as Public Finance Reviews (PFR), InfraGov 2.0, learning-by-doing, pim-pam.ai Country Policy Profiles, GPB CBA-CCS-LDT-PIA demos & sandboxes, and prototype applications. | Implementation of solutions as part of annual and medium-term decision-making (e.g. Georgia ePIM-CBA). |
| Outcomes | Options for application in ASA (e.g. PFRs) or future DPO / PfoR / IPF operations, and Partnerships / TF fundraising. | Decision-support insights for counterparts, Knowledge Exchange and Peer Learning offerings, and policy-practice reform prioritization and sequencing (including KPIs and data investments). | Mainstreaming into policies and practices, including public-sector staffing, skills, and digitalization. |
FMUP results framework for PIM-PAM
PIM-PAM contributes to the cross-country results chain of the Financial Management Umbrella Program (FMUP). Targets below are illustrative of the shared monitoring framework.
Module 1 Outcome — Improved strategic allocation and value-for-money of public resources deployed to achieve policy objectives that benefit citizens of target countries
| Indicator | Baseline | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 | FY26 | End Target |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outcome Indicator 1.1 — Number of governments that demonstrate strengthened institutional capacity to manage public budgeting more efficiently | 0 | 0 | 7 | 14 | 0 | 30 |
| Outcome Indicator 1.2 — Number of governments that demonstrate strengthened public investment or public asset management practices | 0 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 10 |
Component 1.2 — Public Investment Management and Governance of Infrastructure
| Indicator | Baseline | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 | FY26 | End Target |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indicator 1.2.1 — Number of countries with new or revised InfraGov, PIM, or PAM laws, regulations, procedures, practices, or systems | 0 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 1 | 10 |
| OutputNumber of knowledge or analytical products created, revised, or implemented to inform InfraGov, PIM, or PAM reforms | 0 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 10 |
| OutputNumber of governments that receive technical assistance to strengthen InfraGov, PIM, or PAM laws, regulations, procedures, practices, or systems | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 10 |