5.2.9. Climate, Legal and Institutional Reform Tools (CLIR)

MicroCLIR

MicroCLIR is a process developed to assess micro-level policy, regulatory, and institutional constraints impacting the performance of specific value chains. The MicroCLIR process was designed to examine how laws and policies, institutions, political economy, and social dynamics impact commercial activity within specific critical sectors. The MicroCLIR process combines the established Commercial Legal and Institutional Reform (CLIR) framework with the Competitiveness Impacts of Business Environment Reform (CIBER) methodology to emerge with a comprehensive yet value chain specific analysis.  MicroCLIR applies the four-part CLIR framework to organize constraints at each level of a value chain for a comprehensive treatment of constraints.  

To further prioritize constraints, additional information is then gathered to develop cost models that enable practitioners to better approximate the burden of these constraints distributed across the value chains. This empowers stakeholders to engage in informed debate on the merits of specific policies, and informs advocacy approaches for reform.   The essential elements of MicroCLIR include:

  • Value chain analysis from a regulatory perspective.
  • Prioritization of constraints through analysis of the political and administrative feasibility of reform.
  • Examination of key value chain constraints from four perspectives: Legal Framework, Implementing Institutions, Supporting Institutions, and Social Dynamics.
  • Development of constraint specific quantitative cost models.

MicroCLIR can be used to diagnose value chain specific enabling environment constraints to growth for both agriculture and non-agriculture.  MicroCLIR has been successfully applied in Tanzania to identify key constraints to the Maize and Rice value chains, the results of which will be integrated into new policy support programming to improve the value chain performance in these two commodities key for Tanzania’s food security.

The MicroCLIR process comprises six steps:

  1. Value chain analysis;
  2. Develop a long list of policy, regulatory or institutional constraints;
  3. Prioritize constraints using a set of criteria;
  4. Analyze each constraint from four dimensions - legal framework, implementing institutions, supporting institutions, social dynamics;
  5. Quantitatively model the impact of the constraint; and
  6. Develop actionable recommendations.

Read about these steps in detail here.

BizCLIR 

The Business Climate Legal and Institutional Reform (BizCLIR) tool is a quantitative and qualitative methodology designed to rapidly assess the legal, policy, institutional, and societal dimensions of a country’s business enabling environment.  It provides a 360-degree review of the institutions and actors that contribute to the overall business enabling environment, and it builds upon the commercial legal and institutional reform (CLIR) diagnostic capabilities developed for USAID, which has been successfully applied in over 40 countries to date. After a Baseline Review and In-country Diagnostic, BizCLIR produces a report targeting reforms for private sector business enabling environment support which could be used in a number of ways, including helping to shape and prioritize the policy reform agendas of governments and donors alike.

The BizCLIR assessment methodology reviews selected business enabling environment through four “lenses” – four dimensions: the legal framework, implementing institutions, supporting institutions, and social dynamics. Read more about the BizCLIR tool framework here.

AgCLIR

In 2008, Booz Allen developed the AgCLIR diagnostic to provide an in-depth analysis of the agribusiness-enabling environment by looking at the various constraints to profitably starting and running an agribusiness, including farming, processing, exporting, and other agriculture-related businesses. AgCLIR focuses on the systemic limitations that inhibit productivity improvement and limit profitability in the agricultural sector, such as export delays, input monopolies, excessive regulation, and inappropriate taxation.

AgCLIR Topics:

  • Starting a Business 
  • Dealing with Licenses  
  • Access to Credit  
  • Trading Across Borders 
  • Registering Property  
  • Protecting Investors 
  • Employing Workers 
  • Paying Taxes 
  • Enforcing Contracts
  • Competing Fairly
  • Food Security
  • Climate Change
  • Women in Society

HealthCLIR

Booz Allen utilized the CLIR framework to focus analysis on the enabling environment constraints facing the private health sector. Like BizCLIR, HealthCLIR’s indicators provide a multi-sectoral analysis of the health climate based on four dimensions: written or black letter law, implementing institutions, supporting institutions, and social dynamics. The definition of private sector, as identified by HealthCLIR, is quite broad. Along with private medical practitioners, the assessment covers non-profit organizations that provide health care such as religious or goodwill institutions, importers and exporters of medical devices, etc.

In order to carry out the multi-sectoral analysis of the HealthCLIR assessments, the assessment team is composed of an array of experts ranging from health practitioners, strategy experts, and common law attorneys among others. The diverse make-up of the assessment teams ensures that solutions identified by the assessment are realistic and bind the existing commercial legal system with the health sector in country. HealthCLIR assessments have been conducted in the Philippines and in Uganda.

HealthCLIR Topics

  • Delivering Goods
  • Developing Human Capacity
  • Accessing Finance
  • Providing and Maintaining Facilities
  • Governing the System