01. Annual Reports & Independent Evaluations

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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.
Evaluation Insight Note: Elements that Enhance Institutional Capacity Development in World Bank Projects and Country Partnerships in Sub-Saharan Africa
(Washington, DC, 2023-10-18) World Bank
Evaluation Insight Notes (EIN) offer new insights from existing evidence on important strategic and operational issues. This EIN draws on Independent Evaluation Group evidence to identify lessons for addressing institutional capacity development needs in Sub-Saharan Africa. Institutions shape how countries foster poverty reduction, support sustainable growth, and respond during crises. World Bank projects and country partnerships operating in challenging contexts in Sub-Saharan Africa routinely integrate and show results in institutional capacity development. Addressing institutional challenges in these and similar contexts involves multiple organizations and is like running through a labyrinth because of the need for quick decisions, unclear processes, shifting objectives, and trial and error. The cases reviewed for this EIN consistently supported institutional reforms in a variety of challenging contexts with, for example, compromised financial systems, corruption, and civil conflict. To help navigate institutional capacity development, this Evaluation Insight Note (EIN) answers the question: How can the World Bank help address institutional capacity development needs in Sub-Saharan Africa based on the body of work of the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) from 2008 to 2022 Although an overall framework has not been defined to guide institutional capacity, the World Bank has often usefully diagnosed and addressed institutional capacity development needs by applying the Institutional Change Assessment Method. Using this method helps harness four elements that can enhance both the process and the results of institutional capacity development: (i) Routine integration of institutional capacity development in World Bank projects provides multiple entry points for enhancing processes of institutional change. (ii) Interventions with better institutional capacity development results tend to have higher outcome ratings. This implies that analyses from the Institutional Change Assessment Method can be used to adapt country portfolios in a way that improves outcome ratings. (iii) Because strengthening the ownership of interest groups is the most important dimension of institutional change in World Bank projects and country programs, its prioritization can help enhance results. (iv) Support for commitment, coordination, and cooperation helps improve institutional capacity development processes. (v) Support for commitment, coordination, and cooperation helps improve institutional capacity development processes.
Creating an Enabling Environment for Private Sector Climate Action: An Evaluation of World Bank Group Support, Fiscal Years 2013–22
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-09-26) World Bank
The private sector has a critical role to play in addressing climate change by investing in low-carbon technologies, developing new technologies, and building climate resilience into its investments and operations. Private sector financing will also be critical for meeting the needs for global finance flows, but climate finance from the private sector has been very low. One reason for this is that most countries lack a conducive enabling environment for the private sector to engage in climate action. This evaluation assesses the World Bank Group’s efforts to improve the enabling environment for private sector climate action (EEPSCA). The evaluation defines the private sector enabling environment for climate action as the set of policies (laws and regulations), incentives, standards, information, and institutions that encourage or facilitate the private sector to invest or behave in ways that reduce greenhouse gas emissions or adapt to the current or anticipated impacts of climate change. The private sector includes large, medium, and small firms; domestic and international financiers; and smallholder farmers or other producers. The evaluation assesses the relevance and effectiveness of Bank Group support to EEPSCA and aims to identify lessons applicable to the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation to inform implementation of the Bank Group Climate Change Action Plan 2021 and subsequent Bank Group climate activities. The evaluation also aims to inform discussions on the evolution road map, which considers further increasing the prominence of the role the Bank Group plays on global public goods, such as climate change.
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.
The World Bank’s Early Support to Addressing Coronavirus (COVID-19) Health and Social Response - An Early-Stage Evaluation
(Washington, DC, 2022-11-15) World Bank
This evaluation assesses the quality of the World Bank’s early response to the COVID-19 crisis and the initial steps toward recovery, focusing on the health and social response. It concentrates on the relief stage and support to restructure systems in the first 15 months of the pandemic (February 1, 2020, to April 30, 2021) in 106 countries. A parallel Independent Evaluation Group evaluation looks at the World Bank Group support to address the economic implications of the pandemic. To assess the quality of the response, the evaluation is guided by a theory of action that synthesizes evidence in three dimensions: relevance of support to the needs of countries; implementation, learning, and adjustment; and operational policy and partnerships to support smooth responses in countries. As the response is ongoing, the evaluation does not assess effectiveness but considers early results and pathways that are expected to lead to outcomes. The findings from the evaluation inform four recommendations for ensuring stronger future preparedness: (i) Use the World Bank’s crisis recovery efforts to strengthen the resilience of essential health and education. (ii) Apply a gender equality lens to health and social crisis response actions across sectors. (iii) Help countries strengthen regional cooperation and crisis response capacities for public health preparedness. (iv) Build on the COVID-19 experience to strengthen the World Bank’s internal crisis preparedness so that it has the tools and procedures ready to respond in future emergencies.
2022 Independent Evaluation Group Validation of the Management Action Record
(Washington, DC, 2022-10-05) World Bank
This document is Independent Evaluation Group’s (IEG) validation of the report entitled “Enhancing evidence-based learning for outcomes through the Management Action Record: A World Bank Group Management Report on Implementation of IEG Recommendations”. The Management Action Record (MAR) system supports accountability and learning in the follow-up of IEG evaluation recommendations by enabling meaningful tracking, self-assessment, and validation of Bank Group management’s implementation of IEG recommendations. The validation 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.
Poverty Mapping: Innovative Approaches to Creating Poverty Maps with New Data Sources
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-08) Ziulu, Virginia; Meckler, Jessica; Hernández Licona, Gonzalo; Vaessen, Jozef
Geographically disaggregated poverty data are vital for better understanding development issues and ensuring development efforts are directed to the places where they are most needed. Poverty has traditionally been measured by data on consumption, income, or assets. However, recent advances in computing power and the emergence of new methods has made it increasingly feasible to produce reliable, cost-effective, and timely poverty maps by extracting features from novel data sources such as satellite imagery, call detail records, and internet connectivity indicators. This paper explores the methodological implications of using both traditional and novel data sources to generate poverty maps. Specifically, it examines the applications of (i) survey and census data; (ii) Global System for Mobile Communications, smartphone, and Wi-Fi indicators; (iii) call detail records; (iv) daytime and nighttime remote sensing imagery; and (v) the Survey of Well-being via Instant and Frequent Tracking for poverty mapping. Each section provides a brief overview of the data requirements, methodology, and applicability considerations of the data source under consideration. In addition, the paper discusses the usefulness and limitations of each approach in the field of evaluation, providing concrete examples of poverty maps created from each of the listed data sources.
Approach Paper, Country Program Evaluation - Papua New Guinea: An Evaluation of World Bank Support FY08-22
(World Bank,Washington, DC, 2022-06-28) Independent Evaluation Group
This Country Program Evaluation (CPE) will assess the World Bank Group’s engagement in Papua New Guinea between FY08 and FY22. The Papua New Guinea has an abundant resource endowment of oil and mineral wealth, but this wealth has not translated into significant welfare gains for most citizens. Papua New Guinea’s fragmented geography and frequent exposure to disasters caused by natural hazards present significant challenges for delivering services to citizens. The evaluation is designed to derive lessons from Bank Group engagement in Papua New Guinea to inform the next Country Partnership Framework (CPF). The CPE will also provide lessons on the implementation of the International Development Association special themes of climate change, gender, and fragility, conflict, and violence and of the cross-cutting issues of debt sustainability and governance and institutions. Lessons may also be of relevance to other resource-rich countries.