01. Annual Reports & Independent Evaluations

963 items available

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http://hdl.handle.net/10986/1

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An Evaluation of World Bank and International Finance Corporation Engagement for Gender Equality over the Past 10 Years: Approach Paper

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-11-14) Independent Evaluation Group

This Approach Paper proposes an independent evaluation of the results achieved by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in supporting countries (understood as governments, private sector, civil society, and citizens at large) to address gender inequalities and the contribution of the gender strategy for fiscal years (FY)16–23.
Independent Evaluation Group Validation of the Management Action Record 2023

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-10-30) Independent Evaluation Group

The report provides the Independent Evaluation Group’s (IEGs) validation of World Bank Group management’s report Learning and Adapting for Outcomes through the Management Action Record 2023: A World Bank Group Management Report on Implementation of IEG Recommendations for the period July 2022 to June 2023. The purpose of the Management Action Record (MAR) assessment system is to support accountability, learning, and adaptation for the Bank Group’s implementation of recommendations from IEG evaluations. This validation document presents IEG’s assessment of progress toward achieving the intended outcomes of evaluations and the evidence in management’s MAR report. The Bank Group made steady progress in implementing IEG recommendations through delivering internal products and adapting processes; in some cases, it has achieved meaningful change of direction that shows that the outcomes of recommendations are being achieved. The validation assessed the evidence for all 22 IEG evaluations included in the MAR, that is, all evaluations reviewed by the Board Committee on Development Effectiveness (CODE) between FY19 and FY22. These 22 evaluations contain 59 recommendations.
Financial Inclusion: Lessons from World Bank Group Experience, Fiscal Years 2014–22

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-08-28) Independent Evaluation Group

This evaluation explores how and with what effect the World Bank Group has supported financial inclusion for the microenterprises, poor households, women, and other excluded groups. Financial inclusion is defined as the use of financial services by individuals and firms. It encompasses financial access—owning an account—and the use of financial services. There has been an impressive growth in account ownership globally, from 55% of adults in 2014 to 71% in 2021, although usage is more limited as some accounts are inactive. Critically, both financial access and the use of financial services remain major challenges for microenterprises, poor households, women, and other excluded groups. The objective of the evaluation is to assess whether the Bank Group has been doing the right things and whether it has been doing things right on financial inclusion. The evaluation captures lessons from the World Bank’s experience supporting financial inclusion for microenterprises, poor households, women, and other excluded groups and updates a 2015 financial inclusion evaluation. The evaluation includes a retrospective look at the drive for universal financial access and examines progress and challenges in women’s access to financial services. The evaluation also assesses the Bank Group’s support for digital financial services as vehicles for financial inclusion. Finally, the report examines the World Bank’s response to COVID-19 as it relates to financial inclusion. The evaluation proposes three recommendations: (i) The World Bank and IFC should further encourage account use by underserved groups, including women and rural poor people, and emphasize this more in their strategies and projects. (ii) The World Bank and IFC should design and implement more comprehensive approaches that address constraints in the enabling environment for DFS to reach underserved and excluded groups. (iii) To enhance learning on what works to increase the beneficial use of financial services at the MPWEG, the World Bank and IFC should collect outcome data across different underserved and excluded groups, initially on a pilot basis.
The World Bank Group in Bangladesh, Fiscal Years 2011–20: Country Program Evaluation

(Washington, DC : World Bank, 2022) Independent Evaluation Group

This Country Program Evaluation (CPE) assesses the development effectiveness of the World Bank Group’s engagement with Bangladesh during the past decade (fiscal year [FY]11–20) and provides lessons to inform the next Bank Group supported strategy with Bangladesh and to countries facing similar challenges. The Bank Group made important contributions over the past decade to help Bangladesh address several of its development challenges. Most notable include increasing power generation capacity, improving access to clean energy, all season roads, primary and secondary education, reducing child and maternal mortality and improving financial inclusion. However, achievements fell short in several areas, including insufficient investment in data and measurement particularly on learning outcomes and limited progress on regional connectivity. In other areas, domestic vested interests prevailed resulting in little progress in improving the business environment, natural resource management, banking reform and tariff reform. Bank Group support adapted in response to changing circumstances following the Padma Bridge cancellation by reallocating resources to sectors in which the Bank Group had more traction and a long-standing history of effective engagement. However, rising fiscal vulnerabilities received insufficient attention. Despite a deteriorating trend in institutional quality and economic management and declining core IDA allocation, the Bank Group significantly increased financing to Bangladesh, including through IDA’s Scale Up Facility. Key lessons include: (i) Rebalancing the portfolio in the face of a difficult political economy helped the Bank Group remain relevant in Bangladesh; (ii) Where reform is deemed critical to sustain development progress but government commitment is weak or absent, continued targeted analysis of key development constraints can help prepare the ground for future action when a window of opportunity presents itself; (iii) Measuring improvements in the quality of education requires deliberate and ongoing investment in data collection; (iv) Increasing overall IDA financing in the context of deteriorating CPIA rating raises a question about the significance that IDA assigns to measures of institutional quality and governance; (v) Given underlying concerns with data quality and coverage, the World Bank might have been more qualified in its public statements about the quality of the macroeconomic framework; and (vi) Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) arrangements between the World Bank and the IMF constrain the ability of the World Bank to provide comprehensive and timely assessments of financial sector vulnerabilities in nonsystematically important economies.
Validation of Management Progress on IEG Evaluation Recommendations: An Independent Evaluation

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021) Independent Evaluation Group ; World Bank

The Management Action Record (MAR) is a key element of the World Bank Group’s accountability framework. The MAR supports accountability in the follow-up of Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) evaluation recommendations by enabling meaningful tracking, dialogue, and self-assessment of World Bank Group management’s implementation of IEG recommendations. There are 15 evaluations in this year’s MAR. The document covers IEG’s synthesis of progress toward achieving IEG evaluations’ intended outcomes and its assessment of the approach and evidence in management’s MAR report entitled Using Evaluative Evidence to Deliver Development Outcomes: A World Bank Group Management Report on Implementation of IEG Recommendations FY17-21.