01. Annual Reports & Independent Evaluations

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The Global Invasive Species Program

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2009-09-03) Independent Evaluation Group

The Global Invasive Species Program (GISP) is an independent, not-for-profit association whose mission is to conserve biodiversity and sustain human livelihoods by minimizing the spread and impact of invasive alien species (IAS) and which is presently located in the Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI) in Nairobi, Kenya. Its current membership is limited to the four founding members of GISP. GISP was supported for three years (FY04-FY06) by the World Bank through funds made available through the Development Grant Facility (DGF) and continues to receive Bank support through the Bank-Netherlands Partnership Program (BNPP). Although GISP is a relatively small program, the World Bank's DGF contribution of US$1.7 million accounted for 72 percent of the program's financing during this three-year period. GISP is governed by an Executive Board which at the time of the Global Program Review (GPR) was composed of seven persons, including in some cases the most senior ranked members of the represented member organizations.
GRI Index FY09

(Washington, DC, 2009-06-30) World Bank

The response to the GRI Indicators presents a glimpse into the World Banks (also known as the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development or IBRD in the capital market) complex suite of activities. Topics that are of interest to sustainable investment communities, NGOs, and country clients determine materiality for the purposes of this report. Reporting priorities are determined annually based on the corporate priorities of the given year and queries by the SRI community. Stakeholders are also identified with the assistance of relevant departments throughout the Bank. This Review encompasses World Bank operations globally. The World Bank consists of two agencies: IBRD and IDA (International Development Agency). Except for the terms of lending to member countries, the agencies are tightly integrated and work as a single unit. Therefore, staff of the World Bank, are considered ‘IBRD’ staff, even if they work on IDA funded projects or for other donor-funded initiatives, through hundreds of trust funds. Similarly, World Bank manages the buildings that house staff that work on IBRD, IDA, MIGA, and GEF projects. GRI indicators for EN apply primarily to performance of Washington, D.C. facilities (which house 60 percent of World Bank staff) with country office data noted, when relevant.
Earnings Growth and Employment Creation: An Assessment of World Bank Support in Three Middle-Income Countries

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-06-01) Independent Evaluation Group

The primary aim of this evaluation is to develop lessons from the Bank’s experience in the three selected countries of Columbia, Tunisia, and Turkey regarding assistance aimed at employment creation and earnings growth. The evaluation focuses on employment creation and earnings growth because these have a strong bearing on the extent to which the central objective of poverty reduction is achieved. The evaluation assesses the impact of the Bank’s assistance on employment outcomes and focuses on relevance and effectiveness of Bank engagement on employment issues. Two findings in connection with outcomes across the three countries are highlighted. First, progress in economic growth and earnings was better than progress in employment and unemployment. Second, although the availability of statistics on employment and earnings outcomes has improved, there are still significant deficiencies. These findings suggest a number of implications for Bank support during the global unemployment crisis as follows: (a) deploy the Bank’s integrative capability to provide support in the different areas affecting employment outcomes; (b) focus on the classical, cyclical, and structural sources of unemployment; (c) update and improve employment and earnings data; (d) adjust programs to emphasize support with strong employment earnings effects;(e)advise countries on affordable fiscal stimuli; (f) support the development of unemployment insurance mechanisms; and (g) develop strategies to advance job flexibility and worker protection. IEG recommends that the Bank continue focusing on advice and projects to improve coverage and quality.
The World Bank Annual Report 2009: Year in Review, Volume 2. Financial statements

(Washington, DC, 2009) World Bank

The World Bank group, among the world's largest development institutions, is a major source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world. In fiscal 2009, the World Bank group sponsored 767 projects with a total commitment of $58.8 billion, distributed in credits, loans, grants, and guarantees. This fiscal year's funding marks a 54 percent increase over the previous fiscal year and a record high for the Bank group. The Bank group's investment projects are aimed largely at improving infrastructure services associated with poverty reduction and enhanced growth. In fiscal 2009, the Bank group committed $20.7 billion to infrastructure, a critical sector to provide the foundation for rapid recovery from the crisis and to support job creation. The sustainable infrastructure action plan, launched in July 2008, will leverage up to $72 billion to provide additional financing of up to $149 billion in public and private investments over fiscal 2009-11. The Bank group's investment projects are aimed largely at improving infrastructure services associated with poverty reduction and enhanced growth.
The World Bank Annual Report 2009: Year in Review, Volume 1

(Washington, DC, 2009) World Bank

The World Bank group, among the world's largest development institutions, is a major source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world. In fiscal 2009, the World Bank group sponsored 767 projects with a total commitment of $58.8 billion, distributed in credits, loans, grants, and guarantees. This fiscal year's funding marks a 54 percent increase over the previous fiscal year and a record high for the Bank group. The Bank group's investment projects are aimed largely at improving infrastructure services associated with poverty reduction and enhanced growth. In fiscal 2009, the Bank group committed $20.7 billion to infrastructure, a critical sector to provide the foundation for rapid recovery from the crisis and to support job creation. The sustainable infrastructure action plan, launched in July 2008, will leverage up to $72 billion to provide additional financing of up to $149 billion in public and private investments over fiscal 2009-11. The Bank group's investment projects are aimed largely at improving infrastructure services associated with poverty reduction and enhanced growth.
Improving Effectiveness and Outcomes for the Poor in Health, Nutrition, and Population : An Evaluation of World Bank Group Support since 1997

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2009) Independent Evaluation Group

This evaluation aims to inform the implementation of the most recent the World Bank and International Finance Corporation (IFC) health, nutrition, and population (HNP) strategies to enhance the effectiveness of future support. It covers the period since fiscal year 1997 and is based on desk reviews of the portfolio, background studies, and field visits. The evaluation of the HNP support of the World Bank focuses on the effectiveness of policy dialogue, analytic work, and lending at the country level, while that of IFC focuses on the performance of health investments and advisory services before and after its 2002 health strategy. The themes it covers are drawn from the two strategies and the approaches adopted by international donors in the past decade. Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) has previously evaluated several aspects of the Bank's HNP support. IFC's support for the health sector has never been fully evaluated. Many lessons have been learned over the past decade about the successes and pitfalls of support for health reform: First, the failure to assess fully the political economy of reform and to prepare a proactive plan to address it can considerably diminish prospects for success. Political risks, the interests of key stakeholders, and the risk of complexity- issues the evaluation case studies found to be critical are often neglected in risk analysis in project appraisal documents for health reform projects. Second, reforms based on careful prior analytic work hold a greater chance of success, but analytic work does not ensure success. Third, the sequencing of reforms can improve political feasibility, reduce complexity, ensure that adequate capacity is in place, and facilitate learning. When implementation is flagging, the Bank can help preserve reform momentum with complementary programmatic lending through the Ministry of Finance, as it did in Peru and the Kyrgyz Republic. Finally, monitoring and evaluation are critical in health reform projects-to demonstrate the impact of pilot reforms to garner political support, but also because many reforms cannot work without a well-functioning management information system.
Improving Municipal Management for Cities to Succeed : An IEG Special Study

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2009) Independent Evaluation Group

The purpose of this Independence Evaluation Group (IEG) special study is to illuminate the scale and scope of Bank support for municipal development and to draw specific lessons from the achievements and failures of a sample of individual projects. The study focuses on three dimensions of municipal management: planning, finance, and service provision that figure repeatedly in Bank financed municipal development projects (MDPs). The planning dimension refers to the capacity of a municipality to forecast and oversee its own progress. It includes information systems, monitoring and evaluation (M&E), city planning, and investment strategies. The finance dimension refers to how a municipality manages the resources needed to provide services to its constituents. It covers financial management, own-resource mobilization, access to credit, and private funding. The service provision dimension refers to the capacity of a municipality to manage the services required by city residents and business people through the effective prioritization of investments, management of competitive procurement, and the ability to sustain services through operations and maintenance (O&M).
Annual Review of Development Effectiveness 2009 : Achieving Sustainable Development

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2009) Independent Evaluation Group

This year's annual review of development effectiveness (ARDE) is being written against the backdrop of a global financial crisis, declining growth, and massive fiscal stimulus efforts to revitalize markets. Demand for greater development support from the World Bank has grown, along with concerns that resources be used effectively and efficiently to achieve their development objectives. This ARDE focuses on the Bank's performance record in getting results from its projects and country programs and, as is customary, examines in depth one topic relating to development effectiveness. The focus of this ARDE is on the Bank's support for environmental sustainability, in response to a Board request for a synthesis of findings from recent Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) reports on the environment. This year's special focus getting results for sustainable development reflects the vital role of sound environmental stewardship for development and the grave threat that inaction poses of reversing gains in growth and poverty reduction. The Bank's record in implementing the 2001 environment strategy and advancing the results agenda is quite mixed. New sources of financing, including resources for global efforts, have helped lending and support for the environment to recover from the lows of the early 2000s; analytic work has fostered innovative approaches and enhanced environmental awareness; and direct support for environmental projects is showing improved performance, with tangible results. But implementation of the strategy in mainstream environmental work across sectors has been weak and must be strengthened. Project performance shows a clear improving trend.
GRI Index FY08

(Washington, DC, 2008-06-30) World Bank

The response to the GRI Indicators presents a glimpse into the World Banks (also known as the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development or IBRD in the capital market) complex suite of activities. Topics that are of interest to sustainable investment communities, NGOs, and country clients determine materiality for the purposes of this report. Reporting priorities are determined annually based on the corporate priorities of the given year and queries by the SRI community. Stakeholders are also identified with the assistance of relevant departments throughout the Bank. This Review encompasses World Bank operations globally. The World Bank consists of two agencies: IBRD and IDA (International Development Agency). Except for the terms of lending to member countries, the agencies are tightly integrated and work as a single unit. Therefore, staff of the World Bank, are considered ‘IBRD’ staff, even if they work on IDA funded projects or for other donor-funded initiatives, through hundreds of trust funds. Similarly, World Bank manages the buildings that house staff that work on IBRD, IDA, MIGA, and GEF projects. GRI indicators for EN apply primarily to performance of Washington, D.C. facilities (which house 60 percent of World Bank staff) with country office data noted, when relevant.
The World Bank Annual Report 2008: Year in Review

(Washington, DC, 2008) World Bank

The World Bank Group's work focuses on achievement of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The goals call for eliminating poverty and achieving inclusive and sustainable globalization. The MDGs lay out a blueprint for the World Bank Group, setting its priorities and measuring its results. The World Bank is the world's largest funder of education; the world's largest external funder of the fight against HIV/AIDS; a leader in the fight against corruption worldwide; a strong supporter of debt relief; and the largest international financier of biodiversity, water supply, and sanitation projects. The recipients of the World Bank Group's fiscal 2008 financial commitments are using the funds in more than 670 projects, many of them collaborative efforts of two or more of the affiliates. The projects are designed to overcome poverty and enhance growth by improving education and health services, promoting private sector development, building infrastructure, and strengthening governance and institutions. They are practical plans to help developing countries move from poverty and become more competitive in a globalizing world. The Bank Group is also preparing a strategic framework on climate change and development - a plan for integrating climate change and development challenges without compromising growth and poverty reduction efforts. The framework will include priorities, approaches, and a road map for action in helping countries mitigate or adapt to climate change. In addition, the Bank Group has set a goal of scaling up its portfolio of investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency projects by an annual average of 20 percent through 2010.