Publication: Learning and Results in World Bank Operations: Toward a New Learning Strategy, Evaluation 2
Loading...
Date
2015-01
ISSN
Published
2015-01
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
This report is the second in a program of evaluations that the independent evaluation group (IEG) is conducting on the learning that takes place through World Bank projects. Learning and knowledge are treated as parts of a whole and are presumed to be mutually reinforcing. The evaluation program addresses the following overarching questions: how well has the World Bank learned in its lending operations?; and what is the scope for improving how it generates, accesses, and uses learning and knowledge in these operations? Evaluation two includes findings from seven country case studies and interviews with Bank staff about their early experience of working within the Bank’s new global practices structure, which became operational on July 1, 2014. The aim is to assess the pre-FY2015 evidence in light of the new structure and roles, and to ask how long-term trends are likely to be modified as reforms evolve. Surveys and interviews reveal that, when it comes to managing projects, Bank staff rely first and foremost on a process of informal learning, leading to a gradual accumulation of tacit knowledge. Informal learning and tacit knowledge are built on the behaviors that flow from mindsets and from the characteristics and operating rules of the groups that individuals belong to. These behavioral underpinnings are mediated by incentives that institutions like the Bank provide to staff. The Bank has launched several important learning initiatives, such as the operational core curriculum. Chapter one presents approach. Chapter two mines the academic and management literature to examine the behavioral underpinnings of informal learning and tacit knowledge. Chapter three examines how individual and team behavior is mediated by the incentives that the Bank offers staff. Chapters four, five, and six examine three operational orientations of particular relevance to the new Bank: balancing of global and local focus, adaptiveness, and results focus. Chapter seven presents recommendations.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Independent Evaluation Group. 2015. Learning and Results in World Bank Operations: Toward a New Learning Strategy, Evaluation 2. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/22818 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Debiasing on a Roll : Changing Gambling Behavior through Experiential Learning(World Bank Group, Washington, DC, 2015-02)This paper tests experiential learning as a debiasing tool against gambling and lottery behavior in South Africa. The study implemented a simple, interactive dice game that simulates worsening winning odds of rolling sixes as more dice are added to the game. The analysis exploits two levels of exogenous variation, first from random assignment into the debiasing game, and second from the number of rolls it takes to obtain the sixes. Treated individuals who needed above-median number of rolls to obtain simultaneous sixes are significantly less likely than the control group to gamble or play the lottery in the following year. The converse is true for individuals who needed below-median number of rolls, suggesting a perverse treatment effect among this group. The analysis also finds suggestive evidence that the debiasing affected the sensitivity to varying winning odds. Changes in entertainment utility or risk preferences cannot explain these findings, rather the results are consistent with changes in risk beliefs.Publication Knowledge Sharing : A Review of the Literature(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2003)A successful knowledge-sharing effort requires a focus on more than simply the transfer of the specific knowledge. Instead, many of the activities to be undertaken need to focus on structuring and implementing the arrangement in a way that bridges both existing and potential relationship issues, and examining the form and location of the knowledge to ensure its complete transfer. In other words, while the activities used to share knowledge, such as document exchanges, presentations, job rotations, etc., are important, overcoming the factors that can impede, complicate and even harm knowledge internalization are equally important in determining the ultimate results of a knowledge-sharing effort. Accordingly, any evaluations of the Bank s knowledge-sharing efforts need to incorporate assessments of its use of activities related to understanding the form and embedded knowledge, establishing and managing appropriate administrative structures, and facilitating the transfer of the knowledge.Publication Open Data for Resilience Initiative : Field Guide(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014)Credible information about risk is an essential element of Disaster Risk Management (DRM). Thousands of times each year, disasters reveal decisions about how to apply this information to the management of risk. When a school collapses during a moderate earthquake, citizens may point to the failure of the construction firm to adhere to building standards, or to the failure of a government to enforce building codes, or to the education ministry that should have retrofitted the structure to better resist known seismic risks. In each case, critical information was missing, information that might have driven a different choice about architectural designs, building materials, the site for the building (siting), or actions to remediate a known vulnerability. Across the disaster risk management cycle, institutions are now engaged in a process to build this stock of information. The aim is to improve the chain of decision making across an entire system, from the donors who fund retrofitting of schools to the parents who need to know how safe their local schools are.Publication The Black Box of Governmental Learning : The Learning Spiral - A Concept to Organize Learning in Governments(World Bank, 2010)There are more poor people and poverty reaches further into middle-income countries around the world than ever before. Adequate governmental capacity development is considered one of the critical missing factors in current efforts to reduce poverty and, by doing so, to meet the millennium development goals. If the development of sustainable capacity is not given greater attention in the near future, development efforts in the poorest countries are expected to fail even if they are supported with substantially increased funding. One effective way to improve the quality of democratic governments is by their learning from the past and from each other's experiences. But to what extent are governments capable of and/or willing to learn? And if they are, what are they supposed to learn-and how? Is the way they learn different from the way individuals or organizations learn? Under what conditions do they learn best, and to what extent can learning events enhance their capacities to improve the performance of their public sectors? These and many related questions are examined in the black box of governmental learning.Publication The Capacity Development Results Framework(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-06)The Capacity Development Results Framework (CDRF or the Framework) is a powerful new approach to the design, implementation, monitoring, management, and evaluation of development programs. Originally conceived to address well-documented problems in the narrow field of capacity development, the Framework can be profitably applied to assess the feasibility and coherence of proposed development projects, to monitor projects during implementation (with a view to taking corrective action), or to assess the results, or even the design, of completed projects. The framework can also be used as a step-by-step guide to the planning, implementation, and evaluation of projects and programs designed to build capacity for development at a national or sub-national level. That is how it is illustrated here. We chose this approach because such a guide was sorely needed, and because it allowed us to illustrate the full set of tools and processes provided by the framework. The framework is compatible with a broad range of situations and approaches to change management. But in all cases key actors in the change process must be identified and offered the knowledge and tools that they need to produce change in the direction of the desired goals. Critical points in the change path must be identified. At each such point, new information and experience must be assessed to guide subsequent decisions. Building capacity, driving change, and achieving development goals will typically be iterative processes.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication World Development Report 2006(Washington, DC, 2005)This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.Publication Argentina Country Climate and Development Report(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11)The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.Publication Lebanon Economic Monitor, Fall 2022(Washington, DC, 2022-11)The economy continues to contract, albeit at a somewhat slower pace. Public finances improved in 2021, but only because spending collapsed faster than revenue generation. Testament to the continued atrophy of Lebanon’s economy, the Lebanese Pound continues to depreciate sharply. The sharp deterioration in the currency continues to drive surging inflation, in triple digits since July 2020, impacting the poor and vulnerable the most. An unprecedented institutional vacuum will likely further delay any agreement on crisis resolution and much needed reforms; this includes prior actions as part of the April 2022 International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff-level agreement (SLA). Divergent views among key stakeholders on how to distribute the financial losses remains the main bottleneck for reaching an agreement on a comprehensive reform agenda. Lebanon needs to urgently adopt a domestic, equitable, and comprehensive solution that is predicated on: (i) addressing upfront the balance sheet impairments, (ii) restoring liquidity, and (iii) adhering to sound global practices of bail-in solutions based on a hierarchy of creditors (starting with banks’ shareholders) that protects small depositors.Publication The Journey Ahead(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-31)The Journey Ahead: Supporting Successful Migration in Europe and Central Asia provides an in-depth analysis of international migration in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) and the implications for policy making. By identifying challenges and opportunities associated with migration in the region, it aims to inform a more nuanced, evidencebased debate on the costs and benefits of cross-border mobility. Using data-driven insights and new analysis, the report shows that migration has been an engine of prosperity and has helped address some of ECA’s demographic and socioeconomic disparities. Yet, migration’s full economic potential remains untapped. The report identifies multiple barriers keeping migration from achieving its full potential. Crucially, it argues that policies in both origin and destination countries can help maximize the development impacts of migration and effectively manage the economic, social, and political costs. Drawing from a wide range of literature, country experiences, and novel analysis, The Journey Ahead presents actionable policy options to enhance the benefits of migration for destination and origin countries and migrants themselves. Some measures can be taken unilaterally by countries, whereas others require close bilateral or regional coordination. The recommendations are tailored to different types of migration— forced displacement as well as high-skilled and low-skilled economic migration—and from the perspectives of both sending and receiving countries. This report serves as a comprehensive resource for governments, development partners, and other stakeholders throughout Europe and Central Asia, where the richness and diversity of migration experiences provide valuable insights for policy makers in other regions of the world.Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.