Publication: Independent Evaluation of IFC’s Development Results 2008 : IFC’s Additionality in Supporting Private Sector Development
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2008-07
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2012-08-13
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This year's annual Independent Evaluation of International Finance Corporation's (IFC's) Development Results (IEDR) reviews the development results related to 174 IFC-supported investment operations that reached early operating maturity during 2005-07. It also reviews, for the first time, preliminary results for IFC advisory services based on a pilot that evaluated 293 operations completed during 2004-06. As a second theme, the report provides a first ex-post look at the "additionality" (or unique role and contribution) of IFC's operations.
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“World Bank. 2008. Independent Evaluation of IFC’s Development Results 2008 : IFC’s Additionality in Supporting Private Sector Development. IEG Fast Track Brief; No. 1. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/10601 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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Publication Independent Evaluation of IFC's Development Results 2008 : IFC's Additionality in Supporting Private Sector Development(Washington, DC : International Finance Corporation, 2008)The Independent Evaluation of International Finance Corporations (IFC's) Development Results (IEDR) is the annual flagship report of the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG). It reviews IFC's effectiveness in supporting private sector development and its contributions to economic growth and poverty reduction, as well as to environmentally and socially sustainable development. The main purpose of the IEDR is to provide an independent assessment to the Executive Board, IFC Management, and the wider development community about recent trends in IFC's performance, and to stimulate debate and action on IFC strategy and operational processes going forward. The report also serves as a source of knowledge and learning about private sector development, in general, and about development impact, more specifically. This year's IEDR contains two main themes. The first is a review of the development results achieved by IFC-supported operations. On the investment side, this means looking at how well operations that reached early operating maturity during 2005-07 performed, in terms of their financial and economic results relative to specific market benchmarks as well as their environmental and social effects and contributions to private sector development beyond the project. For advisory services, the report presents some emerging results of 293 operations that were closed during 2004-06 and which were evaluated on a pilot basis as part of wider efforts under way to assess performance in this area. The second theme of the report is a preliminary, ex-post look at the 'additionality' or unique role and contribution that IFC brings to its clients through its investment and advisory services operations.Publication Independent Evaluation of IFC’s Development Results 2009 : Knowledge for Private Sector Development(Washington, DC, 2009-05)The independent evaluation of International Finance Corporation's (IFC's) development results 2009 assesses the development outcomes and additionality (unique role and contribution) of IFC interventions. It analyzes factors driving results, and reviews performance patterns on a thematic topic. This year's thematic is IFC's Advisory Services (AS), knowledge services that IFC provides to either private companies or governments in support of private sector development. To enhance development impact, the report recommends that IFC: i) effectively manage the tension between protecting the portfolio and responding to opportunities during crisis; ii) set out an overall strategy for IFC advisory services, addressing the need for a clear vision and business framework and more closely linked with IFC's global corporate strategy; iii) pursue more programmatic AS interventions; iv) improve execution of the AS pricing policy; and v) strengthen AS performance measurement and internal knowledge management.Publication Independent Evaluation of IFC's Development Results : Knowledge for Private Sector Development(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2009)Independent evaluation of International Finance Corporations (IFC's) development results 2009 takes stock of the development performance of IFC's investment operations, and examines, for the first time, the development effectiveness of its Advisory Services (AS), thus offering the first holistic review of IFC's development results. On Investment Services (IS), the report finds that 72 percent of operations reaching early operating maturity between 2006 and 2008 met or exceeded their financial, economic, environmental, and social benchmarks, and made contributions to private sector development beyond just the project. This is a significant improvement over the 63 percent achieved between 2005 and 2007. Meanwhile, 70 percent of AS operations reviewed between 2006 and 2008 achieved high development effectiveness ratings. But these development results do not yet reflect the sharp deterioration in global economic conditions, which has just now begun to affect the economic environment in most developing countries. Experience suggests there are considerable risks to development results but crises can also offer new opportunities that need to be grasped. Projects approved in the years prior to a crisis were about 15 percent less likely to achieve good results than otherwise. In the wake of past crises, investing was likely to lead to better results. But measures to protect the portfolio have tended to crowd out the proactive pursuit of new opportunities to broaden impact. This will need to change in IFC's response to the current crisis, so that the tension between protecting the portfolio and responding to opportunities can be effectively managed.Publication Results and Performance of the World Bank Group 2013 : An Independent Evaluation, Volume 2. Appendixes(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014)The global extreme poverty rate has fallen by half since 1990, but progress within the developing world has been uneven. Extreme poverty remains widespread in most low-income countries while many middle-income countries also continue to have substantial levels with many people there who have escaped extreme poverty remaining poor and vulnerable. Nor has there been robust progress in sharing prosperity: in many developing countries rapid growth has been accompanied by rising inequality, often with a geographic and ethnic dimension as progress in isolated areas has lagged behind. This appendix describes select elements of the evaluation systems in the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) that are the basis for this report. They illustrate commonalities as well as differences in evaluation practices across the institutions. The World Bank, IFC, and MIGA differ in the instruments and approaches they use to achieve development results. Each institution has an evaluation system tailored to its needs. In each organization, the evaluation system comprises different components, self-evaluation, independent evaluation, and validation of self-evaluation.Publication Decentralized Energy Services to Fight Poverty : Outcome Driven Engagement of Small and Medium-size Enterprises in the Provision of Energy Services in IDA Countries(Washington, DC, 2009-06)The Department for International Development (DFID)-Funded Energy Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Program was created to support SMEs by helping countries unblock the factors that prevent their potential in the delivery of energy services. With thirteen energy projects in twelve countries and one regional program in Africa, the implementation of the program started considerably slower than expected but has demonstrated potential to make an impact in a relatively neglected area of delivering energy services to the poor. Lack of access to sufficient and sustainable supplies of energy affects as much as 90 percent of the population of many developing countries. Some 2 billion people are without electricity; a similar number remain dependent on fuels such as animal dung, crop residues, wood, and charcoal to cook their daily meals. Widespread inefficient production and use of traditional energy sources, such as fuel-wood and agricultural residues, pose economic, environmental, and health threats. Uneven distribution and use of modern energy sources, such as electricity, petroleum products, and liquefied or compressed natural gas, pose important issues of economics, equity, and quality of life. The Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) Energy SME program focused on off-grid electrification and biomass use as many communities and households that have yet to be electrified are relatively isolated, and off-grid electrification may be the only economically rational choice. Pilot initiatives were launched in 12 countries to address specific economic, institutional, and technical characteristics of small medium size enterprises. Baseline assessments revealed that many of these enterprises will not be economically viable, unless they receive an initial direct or indirect capital cost support in the form of subsidies or grants. Even with such subsidies, the underlying economics of the enterprises remain fragile. The pilot programs focused on the following activities: 1) assessing the legal, institutional, and financial framework under which SMEs can function in the energy sector; 2) supporting training, pilots, and tests of technology or financial schemes; 3) assisting SMEs develop their investment plans, and 4) studies and analyses needed to promote SMEs in general as well as in the context of ongoing World Bank Group investment programs. One of the biggest challenges for SMEs is the need for further support to acquire investment loans from commercial financiers.
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