IEG Independent Evaluations & Annual Reviews
438 items available
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Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) publications assess what works, and what does not; how a client plans to run and maintain a project; and the lasting contribution of the World Bank Group to a country's overall development. The goals of evaluation are to learn from experience, to provide an objective basis for assessing the results of the World Bank Group's work, and to provide accountability in the achievement of its objectives. IEG superseded the former Operations Evaluation Department.
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Publication
World Bank Group Support to Somalia, Fiscal Years 2013–22 - Country Program Evaluation (Approach Paper, March 2, 2023)
(Washington, DC, 2023-03-22)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). -
Publication
An Evaluation of World Bank Group Support to Jobs and Labor Market Reform through International Development Association Financing (Approach Paper, March 2, 2023)
(Washington, DC, 2023-03-22)The International Development Association (IDA) has included jobs as a special theme since the 17th Replenishment of IDA (IDA17) in 2014, when it explicitly recognized the role played by labor markets in intermediating between growth and inclusion. This acknowledgment of jobs marked a shift in IDA’s inclusive growth strategy. Before the IDA17 strategy paper, IDA emphasized growth and the use of social safety nets to mitigate the effects of poverty. Beginning in 2014, however, jobs became more central to IDA’s strategy for inclusive growth and for achieving the twin goals. IDA17, the 18th Replenishment of IDA, and the 19th Replenishment of IDA established specific policy commitments and results indicators under the jobs-related special theme. At the same time, the World Bank Group expanded and deepened its attention to jobs, resulting in an increasingly multidimensional jobs agenda characterized by a growing body of lending, technical assistance and diagnostics, and a strong focus on IDA-eligible countries, including through use of the Country Private Sector Diagnostic and IDA’s private sector window. This evaluation will assess IDA’s support for jobs-related objectives over fiscal years (FY)14–22, the period covering three IDA replenishments during which jobs became an IDA special theme (IDA17, the 18th Replenishment of IDA, and the 19th Replenishment of IDA). The objectives of this assessment are to interrogate the contribution of IDA’s Bank Group financing to improving outcomes related to more, better paying, and more inclusive jobs; the role of IDA’s jobs strategy at the corporate, country, and operational levels in this context; and the analytical underpinnings of jobs-related interventions. The evaluation will provide lessons and recommendations to inform the design of the Bank Group’s future multidimensional jobs support and enhance IDA’s effectiveness in this space based on eight years of strategic, diagnostic, and operational experience. -
Publication
The World Bank Group in Mozambique, Fiscal Years 2008-21 - Country Program Evaluation
(Washington, DC, 2023-03-22)Between 1993 and 2013, Mozambique became one of the fastest-growing economies in Sub-Saharan Africa boosting incomes and living standards. Political and macroeconomic stability provided the foundation for robust growth led by a rebounding agricultural sector and significant donor support. Growth, however, decelerated beginning in 2016 in the face of low commodity prices, a hidden debt crisis, and natural disasters. In FY18, Mozambique was formally classified as a fragile country. The Covid-19 pandemic further eroded growth. In light of the country’s evolving context, this Country Program Evaluation (CPE) reviews the World Bank Group’s engagement in Mozambique over the period FY08 into FY21. The CPE assesses the extent to which the Bank Group’s support was relevant to Mozambique’s main development challenges and drivers of fragility as well as how Bank Group support evolved and adapted over time. The evaluation delves into four themes that are relevant to Mozambique’s pursuit of the Bank Group’s Twin Goals of Poverty Reduction and Shared Prosperity: (i) low agricultural productivity; (ii) unequal access to basic services; (iii) weak institutions and governance; and (iv) vulnerability to climate change and natural disasters. The evaluation presents findings from each of the four themes covered and distills lessons from Bank Group experience in Mozambique to inform future strategies and engagements. -
Publication
Evaluation Insight Note: Implementation Lessons from World Bank Operations in Supporting Indigenous Peoples
(Washington, DC, 2023-03-22)This Evaluation Insight Note builds on Independent Evaluation Group evidence to identify lessons for working with Indigenous peoples who live in poverty. Extreme poverty—measured as living on less than US$1.90 a day—is apparent among Indigenous peoples in developing countries. Indigenous peoples have lower levels of employment, living standards, health, and housing. Geographic isolation, linguistic barriers, and lack of political representation affect education and employment opportunities for Indigenous peoples. Yet, Indigenous communities are often highly resilient. A recent study surveying 15 Indigenous communities in six countries in Central America highlights three critical factors—natural capital, cultural capital, and social capital—that account for the resilience shown by these communities in the face of recent extreme climate events and the COVID-19 pandemic. To identify lessons from World Bank operational experience in addressing implementation challenges in reducing poverty among Indigenous peoples, the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) synthesized findings in Project Performance Assessment Reports (PPARs). Additionally, we referenced select academic literature focused on Indigenous peoples and analytical reports by the World Bank and other international organizations. We also drew on Implementation Completion and Results Report Reviews (ICRRs) from Vietnam for an earlier, focused, analysis on Indigenous peoples. This Evaluation Insight Note provides a limited perspective that can be expanded by drawing from other evidence, such as data from community-level civil society organizations engaged with Indigenous peoples. The methodology is summarized at the end of this paper. -
Publication
World Bank Group Support to Demand-Side Energy Efficiency: An Independent Evaluation March 2, 2023
(Washington DC, 2023-03-14)Improving energy efficiency—using less energy to do the same amount of work—has both supply-side and demand-side aspects. Improvements in energy efficiency are reductions in the energy required to maintain or improve energy services to households, businesses, and communities. Supply-side energy efficiency approaches target energy generation via grid infrastructure, utilities, and power producers. Demand-side energy efficiency (DSEE) focuses on the energy use of industries, commercial entities, and households. The Bank Group has committed to supporting DSEE which focuses on the energy use of industries, commercial entities, and households. DSEE is critical for energy savings and reducing greenhouse gases in line with the Paris Agreement and relevant sustainable development goals (SDGs) and increasingly for contributing to energy security. This evaluation focuses on the World Bank Group’s approaches to DSEE and opportunities to scale them up, and proposes four near-term actions the Bank Group should take: (i) Intensify DSEE support to middle-income countries (MICs) for decarbonization and wider socioeconomic benefits. (ii) Develop energy efficiency sector-specific approaches in a select group of lower-middle-income countries (LMICs) that seek productivity gains alongside or via DSEE, even if EE policy reforms are in early stages. (iii) Expand DSEE approaches by incorporating reduction of indirect emissions (Scope 3), including embodied and operational carbon, in DSEE project design. (iv) Exploit untapped DSEE opportunities and help clients develop innovative approaches that adapt digital and financial solutions from developed countries. -
Publication
The World Bank Group’s Early Support to Addressing the COVID-19 Economic Response, April 2020 - June 2021: An Early-Stage Evaluation
(Washington, DC, 2023)In the face of the global economic crisis caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the World Bank delivered the largest crisis response in its history. This evaluation assesses the Bank Group’s early response to the economic crises caused by COVID-19, and examines interventions over the 15 months from April 2020 through June 2021. The report considers two evaluation windows: the acute crisis phase (April 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020) and the incipient recovery phase (January 1, 2021 to June 30, 2021). The objective of identifying the two windows was to assess whether the Bank Group internalized learning from the first period of the crisis to address the challenges that were materializing in the (incipient) recovery phase. The evaluation assesses the relevance of the Bank Group’s interventions on three dimensions: the extent to which the Bank Group targeted its early response based on clients’ and sectors’ needs, the extent to which the Bank Group used timely diagnostics and lessons from past crises to inform its early response, and the extent to which the early response leveraged the Bank Group’s comparative advantages. The evaluation studies the quality of the Bank Group response on three dimensions: the extent to which the Bank Group early response influenced client strategies; the extent to which the Bank Group coordinated its early response among its constituent institutions and with development partners; and how well the Bank Group early response handled monitoring, safeguards, and governance. The evaluation offers two near-term recommendations to strengthen the role of the Bank Group as a crisis responder, which is now more critical than ever. -
Publication
The World Bank’s Early Support to Addressing Coronavirus (COVID-19) Health and Social Response - An Early-Stage Evaluation
(Washington, DC, 2022-11-15)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. -
Publication
Evaluation Insight Note: Transport Decarbonization
(Washington, DC, 2022-11)Transport is a priority action area under the World Bank’s Climate Change Action Plan. Climate action in the transport sector is essential as the sector emits approximately 24 percent of the global total of energy-related carbon emissions and, without aggressive measures, the World Bank expects emissions from transport to grow 60 percent by 2050. This EIN was guided by the overall question: How has the World Bank been approaching transport decarbonization To answer this question, the note uses existing evidence from the self-evaluation system of the World Bank, including Implementation Completion and Results Reports prepared by the project teams and the associated Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) validations, relevant information from other project documents, literature from policy and academic sources, advisory services and analytics, country strategies, and existing IEG evaluations. This systematic review provided the basis for four main insights into the current patterns of World Bank work on transport decarbonization and the identification of a range of potential actions to exploit opportunities for decarbonization: (i) The World Bank has steadily increased the number of projects with decarbonization content, especially in low income countries, and has recently put together a strong knowledge base on transport decarbonization. (ii) Nevertheless, transport decarbonization in World Bank lending remains timid against the needed contributions to the Climate Change Action Plan. (iii) Country-specific decarbonization diagnostics and analytical work has been limited, and transport decarbonization seldom makes it onto the World Bank’s strategic country agenda. (iv) The World Bank has rarely measured transport decarbonization directly. -
Publication
2022 Independent Evaluation Group Validation of the Management Action Record
(Washington, DC, 2022-10-05)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. -
Publication
Tanzania Country Program Evaluation: Approach Paper
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-10-03)The Country Program Evaluation (CPE) for Tanzania assesses the World Bank Group’s effectiveness and relevance in its work to help Tanzania address its key development challenges. The CPE will encompass two Bank Group strategy periods covering fiscal years (FY)12–16 and FY18–22. The evaluation aims to inform the next Bank Group Country Partnership Framework for Tanzania.