(Washington, DC, 2023-03-22)
World Bank; Independent Evaluation Group
Somalia is today among the poorest
and most fragile countries in the world, facing myriad
development challenges related to ongoing conflict, climate
change, food insecurity, natural disasters, and
displacement. Overlapping crises related to the COVID-19
pandemic, a prolonged drought, and macroeconomic shocks from
rising food and fuel costs have worsened socioeconomic
conditions (World Bank 2022). Seventy-one percent of Somalis
lived in extreme poverty in 2021, compared with 28 percent
for Sub-Saharan Africa (World Bank 2021). Average life
expectancy was 57.4 years, and maternal mortality stood at
734 for every 100,000 births (World Bank 2018d). The
country’s Sustainable Development Goal ranking was 160th out
of 163. The Somalia Country Program Evaluation (CPE) will
assess the evolution of the World Bank Group’s support over
fiscal years (FY)13–22 and the extent to which the Bank
Group adequately prepared for an eventual normalization of
relations with Somalia, tailored its support to the conflict
and fragility situation in Somalia and evolving
circumstances and country priorities, and learned from
experience. It will seek to inform the preparation of the
next Somalia Country Partnership Framework (CPF) and may be
relevant to broader Bank Group engagement in countries
affected by fragility, conflict, and violence (FCV).