Selected public references

Selected institutional publications describe Abyrint’s work in independent monitoring, financial governance and institutional analysis. Many engagements are confidential; this selection draws on material already made public by the institutions concerned.

The references show distinct parts of that work: specialist appointments, continuity across programme periods, independent assessment and analysis used in decisions. Each annotation connects the institution’s account with the relevant work and its significance for Abyrint.

For our background, see Operational Origins. For the responsibilities and their significance, see World Bank work in Somalia.

Independent assessment

Somalia Multi-Partner Fund mid-term review, 2019

Aleph Strategies Limited, independently authored for the World Bank-administered Multi-Partner Fund · September 2019.

The independent review identifies Abyrint as the Somalia Multi-Partner Fund’s monitoring agent and assesses the monitoring function as effective and essential to delivery and risk mitigation. It finds thorough, targeted analysis and useful practical recommendations. Although costs were significant and higher than comparators, the reviewers judged them “not out of scale.” They explain Somalia’s unusually high security costs and the rationale for working through country systems in reaching their value-for-money conclusion.

The independent review also identified Abyrint’s verification work, including checks on payroll exceptions, as an important contributor to making recurrent-cost financing and public-financial-management projects operational in Somalia. The review places this contribution alongside wider project controls and identifies continuing fiduciary risks and gaps in risk management across the portfolio.

The review also records donor concerns about access to monitoring reports and identifies limited opportunities for coordination between the monitoring agent and World Bank finance and procurement teams. These observations concern how the wider monitoring arrangement worked and how its outputs were shared.

Reference: Multi Partner Fund for Somalia Mid Term Review — Final Report. Performance assessment: §3.2.2, printed pp. 34–35 / PDF pp. 35–36; operational contribution: §3.2.1, printed p. 32 / PDF p. 33, with risk context on printed pp. 31–33 / PDF pp. 32–34. Agent identity: printed p. 30, footnote 49 / PDF p. 31.

Early monitoring and delivery

Recurrent Cost and Reform Financing Project completion report, 2015

World Bank · 30 October 2015 · Report ICR00003567, project P148428.

The World Bank’s 2015 completion report records Abyrint’s compliance with its monitoring-agent contractual requirements, including additional Bank-requested duties, and describes detailed field reporting on payroll controls and implementation constraints.

The agent was contracted by Norway under the arrangement described in the report. The Bank also raised questions about the breadth of the agent’s responsibilities and the fit between its advisory role and the assurance expected of it.

Reference: Implementation Completion and Results Report — Recurrent Cost and Reform Financing Project. World Bank report; copy hosted by the Early Warning System. Compliance and contractual arrangement: p. 20, paragraph 34; field reporting: p. 22, paragraph 40; role and assurance context: p. 23, paragraphs 44–46; Abyrint’s named monthly reports: p. 44, Annex 9. Printed and PDF page numbers coincide.

Recent assurance and analytical contribution

Somalia Multi-Partner Fund progress report, July 2024–June 2025

The World Bank’s report identifies Abyrint as the continuing Third-Party Monitoring Agent and explains how independent verification helps safeguard project resources, strengthen fiduciary oversight and support continuing improvements in public financial management. It says monitoring and analytical insights inform government reforms, project design and portfolio management.

The report describes approximately 140,000 government-executed transactions reviewed annually, principally payroll and eligible Federal Member State non-salary recurrent costs under RCRF III. Payroll includes civil servants, teachers and health workers. Separately from continuous reviews, 34 on-demand assignments had been completed out of 37 agreed to date.

Reference: Somalia Multi-Partner Fund Progress Report: July 2024–June 2025, printed pp. 34–35 / PDF pp. 39–40.

Somalia Multi-Partner Fund progress report, July–December 2021

World Bank · July–December 2021 reporting period.

The World Bank’s report identifies Abyrint as the Multi-Partner Fund monitoring agent and says its contract had been renewed. Its introduction dates a new Monitoring Agent contract as in place from 14 September 2021 and operational from 15 October 2021. The report describes Abyrint’s support for a joint public-financial-management assessment, procurement-probity advice and human-resources performance-management policies being piloted for project teams. It also says Abyrint’s strategic risk reviews informed government and World Bank Group strategy, portfolio management and implementation.

Reference: Somalia Multi-Partner Fund Progress Report: July–December 2021, contract dates: printed p. 4 / PDF p. 10; work: printed pp. 25–27 / PDF pp. 31–33; named renewal and use of analysis: printed p. 43 / PDF p. 49.

Special Financing Facility for Local Development restructuring paper

World Bank · 2017 · report RES30033, project P156257.

The World Bank’s 2017 restructuring paper cites Abyrint’s independent mid-term assessment of the Special Financing Facility for Local Development in its discussion of project progress and proposed management improvements. It provides a specific example of Abyrint’s analysis entering a formal institutional decision paper.

Reference: Restructuring Paper — Special Financing Facility for Local Development (P156257), §II, PDF p. 3.

Financial-sector responsibility

Dealing with de-risking: a tale of tenacity and creativity

Emile van der Does de Willebois, World Bank Private Sector Development Blog · 21 June 2016 · online article.

The World Bank’s June 2016 article identifies Abyrint’s appointment as Trusted Agent to assist the Central Bank of Somalia in regulating and supervising money-transfer businesses. A UK government communication from March 2016 separately describes Abyrint’s selection through a DFID-funded World Bank project. The mandate addressed oversight of an important channel for cross-border payments; “Trusted Agent” is the official role title.

References: Dealing with de-risking: a tale of tenacity and creativity, paragraph beginning “Recently, progress was made on this front”; UK Permanent Mission, Note No 072 — Annex: Information in response to UN Communication on MTOs and Somalia, 24 March 2016, PDF p. 5.

Financial governance in the security sector

UN Monitoring Group report on Somalia, 2017

Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea · UN document S/2017/924 · 2 November 2017; reissued for technical reasons on 15 November 2017.

In its 2017 report submitted to the UN Security Council, the Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea described constructive engagement by Abyrint, the World Bank and UK DFID in security-sector financial reform, particularly concerning the Somali National Army’s payroll.

For Abyrint, this work forms part of rebuilding public institutions, including security-sector payroll administration.

The report also records limited progress in financial reform within the Army and obstruction to reform efforts. These observations describe the reform environment in which the engagement took place.

Reference: Letter dated 2 November 2017 transmitting the Somalia report of the Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea, S/2017/924, paragraph 73 and footnote 61, printed/PDF pp. 22–23. UN Digital Library record.

Origins and continuity

Evaluation of Norway's engagement in Somalia, 2012–2018

Norad Evaluation Department; evaluation by Tana Copenhagen and the Chr. Michelsen Institute · 2020.

The Norad evaluation records that financial-agent services originally provided by PwC passed to Abyrint, including financial-management capacity building, payment verification and monitoring. It dates the transfer of the Special Financing Facility’s main salary-payment component to the World Bank fund to July 2014 and records Abyrint’s continued services with Norwegian in-kind support. The account places Abyrint’s work across that change in programme financing.

A 2020 evaluation commissioned by Norad records Abyrint’s technical assistance to Somalia in debt negotiations with the IMF and donors.

Reference: Evaluation of Norway’s Engagement in Somalia 2012–2018, Report 7/2020, Annexes 3–7, printed/PDF p. 7.

Building government institutions from the ground up

Blair Cameron, World Bank-published case study based on 2021–22 interviews; the publication states that the views are the author’s · undated.

Cameron’s case study identifies Ivar Strand and Ian Hawley in the early Somalia engagement and describes their establishment of Abyrint to continue monitoring after PwC withdrew for security reasons. Its account follows the early work through the 2013–14 transition into the Recurrent Cost and Reform Financing programme, connecting Abyrint’s origins with continuity of an institutional function.

Reference: Building Government Institutions from the Ground Up: The Recurrent Cost and Reform Financing Project in Somalia, printed/PDF pp. 9 and 14–16; authorship and disclaimer, p. 2.

Wider institutional work

World Bank Group Country Survey 2020 — Somalia

World Bank Microdata Library · Data collection: October 2020–February 2021.

The World Bank’s Microdata Library identifies Abyrint AS as the data collector for its Somalia Country Survey 2020, with data collection from October 2020 to February 2021.

The survey gathered stakeholder views on the World Bank Group’s work and future role in Somalia, drawing on government, development partners, civil society, academia, media and the private sector. The catalogue identifies the World Bank Group’s Public Opinion Research Group as the primary investigator.

Reference: World Bank Group Country Survey 2020 — Somalia, survey ID SOM_2020_WBCS_v01_M; “Data collection,” “Abstract” and “Producers and sponsors.” Catalogue created 12 October 2022; the survey dates are 2020–21.

Female Health Worker programme — launch support, 2019

The World Bank’s July–December 2019 report records Abyrint’s support to the Bank team and participating governments for the launch of the MPF-funded Female Health Worker programme.

The report places this work within support for implementation and expansion of social-sector initiatives. Its results framework records delays and schedules programme rollout from January 2020.

Reference: Somalia Multi-Partner Fund Progress Report: July–December 2019, “Portfolio-Level Monitoring — Strategic Reviews,” printed p. 31 / PDF p. 33. Rollout context: printed pp. 47 and 49, footnote 27 / PDF pp. 49 and 51.

WHO awarded contracts for services, 2020

World Health Organization · 2020 register; approved 16 November 2020.

WHO’s procurement register lists Abyrint AS, supplier country Norway, for a consulting and audit services contract under its Eastern Mediterranean Office, approved on 16 November 2020. This is an official institutional award outside the World Bank programme record.

Reference: 2020 Awarded Contracts for Services, PDF p. 2, contract reference 202610161.