01. Annual Reports & Independent Evaluations

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The World Bank Group’s 2018 Capital Increase Package - An Independent Validation of Implementation and Results

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-08-29) Independent Evaluation Group

This report presents the Independent Evaluation Group’s validation of the World Bank Group’s 2018 capital increase package (CIP). It assesses the World Bank Group’s progress in implementing the CIP’s policy measures and achieving its targets, as well as the quality of management’s CIP reporting. The 2018 CIP boosted the Bank Group’s financial firepower with a $7.5 billion paid-in capital increase for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), $5.5 billion paid-in capital increase for the International Finance Corporation (IFC), $52.6 billion callable capital increase for IBRD, and internal savings measures. The CIP also included a policy package that committed Bank Group management to policy actions linked to the Bank Group’s 2016 Forward Look strategy. The CIP committed to reporting annually on its implementation and an independent assessment after five years. This report fulfills the commitment to an independent assessment. This validation builds on management’s own reporting and other complementary evidence to assess the World Bank Group’s progress in implementing the CIP’s policy measures and achieving its targets. The report also assesses the quality of management’s CIP reporting. The report points to lessons on developing, implementing, and reporting corporate initiatives and commitments, such as the importance of having clear strategies or action plans, explicit buy-in from senior management, and accurate reporting with meaningful indicators and realistic targets.
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 Rigor of Case-Based Causal Analysis: Busting Myths through a Demonstration

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-05-02) Raimondo, Estelle ; Vaessen, Jos ; Hagh, Ariya

Several myths persist within research and evaluation circles about the power and limitations of evaluation designs that use cases (or case studies) as their primary empirical material (case-based evaluation designs). Using a real-world application, this paper busts two myths regarding the use of case-based designs in evaluations that aim to answer effectiveness questions and unpack the relationships between interventions and observed changes in outcomes (broadly known as causal analysis): that case studies cannot be used for causal analysis and that it is impossible to generalize from case studies. Through a detailed demonstration of how the evaluation of the World Bank’s support to carbon finance has been designed and implemented, the paper undoes these preconceived ideas about the inferential, explanatory, and generalizability power of case-based evaluation designs.
Enhancing the Effectiveness of the World Bank’s Global Footprint: An Independent Evaluation

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-04-11) World Bank

*May 5, 2022: New version includes Green Sheet* The World Bank aims to further expand and adjust its global footprint by the mid-2020s, especially in lower-income countries and those affected by fragility, conflict, and violence (FCV). This first-of-its-kind evaluation assesses the effectiveness of the World Bank’s past decentralization efforts in a systematic way to inform the new expansion of the World Bank’s global footprint. Decentralization refers to the World Bank’s efforts to expand its global footprint by moving more staff, especially staff with operational and decision-making duties, to the field. The report examines the benefits and challenges of staff decentralization and makes recommendations to improve its process and outcomes, while also preserving the Bank’s global nature, which is one of its comparative strengths.
The International Finance Corporation’s and Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency’s Support for Private Investment in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Situations, Fiscal Years 2010–21: An Independent Evaluation

(Washington, DC, 2022) World Bank

The World Bank Group estimates that, by 2030, up to two-thirds of the world’s extreme poor will live in countries characterized by fragility, conflict, and violence (FCV). The Bank’s FCV strategy emphasizes the critical role the private sector plays in providing jobs and income in fragile and conflict-affected situations (FCS) and its importance in contributing to sustainable development in FCS countries. Supporting investments in FCS has been a strategic priority for both the Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) for over a decade. In fact, IFC and MIGA adopted ambitious volume targets for investments and guarantees in International Development Association (IDA) and FCS countries. For instance, IFC committed to delivering 40% of its business volume in IDA and FCS countries, and 15–20% in low-income IDA and IDA FCS countries by 2030. MIGA committed to increasing the share of the volume of guarantees issued to projects in FCS and IDA countries to 30– 33% of its guarantee volume by FY23. But despite gradually deploying new tools and instruments in FCS, increasing investments in FCS has been challenging. This evaluation assesses IFC’s and MIGA’s effectiveness in supporting private investment and development impact in Fragile and Conflict-affected Situations (FCS) and identifies key factors constraining private investment in FCS and possible trade-offs that practitioners and policy-makers need to consider. Based on its findings, IEG makes three recommendations to strengthen the relevance and effectiveness of IFC’s and MIGA’s support to investments and private sector development in FCS.
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.