Workforce Resilience and Institutional Memory in Government Managed World Bank Operations
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: The article examines workforce resilience as the ability of a government organization to preserve critical management functions in a World Bank operation when staff, consultants, or organizational arrangements change. The empirical basis includes the Strengthening the Social Protection System Project implemented by the Ministry of Employment and Labor Relations, the RESILAND CA Plus Uzbekistan Resilient Landscapes Restoration Project implemented by the national forestry authority, and additional World Bank operations in Uzbekistan. Comparative documentary analysis shows that training individual specialists does not create institutional memory unless knowledge is embedded in decision rights, work products, information systems, and a formal handover procedure. Four mechanisms of workforce risk are identified: vacancy in a critical role, concentration of knowledge in one consultant, combination of incompatible duties, and loss of context during reorganization. A role-based capacity model is proposed in which learning concludes with a reviewed product from an actual operation rather than a certificate of attendance. The model includes a mandatory function handover package and indicators covering backup ownership, recovery time, first-time-right quality, and the share of exceptions resolved without external substitution. It preserves the value of specialist expertise and does not assume that complex operations should eliminate consultants altogether.
DOI: 10.36713/epra32096
Author: Abduazizov Doniyol Nazrullaevich
Language: English
Subfield: Development
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7225778237
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