Operations evaluation

Development effectiveness

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Operations evaluation is overseen by the director general (DGO), who reports directly to the executive directors through the Committee on Development Effectiveness (CODE). In addition to monitoring the large volume of self-evaluation work undertaken by the regional offices and other departments, independent evaluation is undertaken by the Operations Evaluation Department (OED). While CODE, Bank management, and OED maintain their distinctive institutional roles and perspectives, they work collaboratively to encourage learning, dissemination, and organizational change.

In fiscal 1997, OED shifted its emphasis from mainly project-by-project reviews to more country program evaluations (the country assistance reviews) and assessments of the Bank's overall contribution to global development priorities.

Participatory evaluation. The Bank's ongoing transition toward a full-service institution requires a self-evaluation system for nonlending services as well as increased involvement of borrowers and stakeholders in evaluation. To measure development effectiveness properly, the views of people affected by a project are considered.

In Sri Lanka, two rural development projects were evaluated using stakeholder participation. Evaluators obtained the views of principal stakeholders, direct beneficiaries, line agencies, project managers, and the government through interviews and focus groups. Conclusions of the resulting report were discussed at a workshop organized by the Sri Lankan authorities. Similar techniques were used to evaluate two projects in support of Bolivia's successful social investment fund.

Lending. While much of the evaluation of completed operations in the Bank is decentralized and is based on self-assessments, such as implementation completion reports (ICRs) prepared by the regional offices, these assessments are subject to independent OED review, and a sample of operations is subjected to field performance audits. In fiscal 1997, OED reviewed 313 ICRs and reported on their quality to the Bank's board and management; issued Project Performance Audits for seventy-nine completed operations; and completed impact evaluation reports for eighteen projects and two sectors along with six sector policy evaluations and two country assistance reviews. The cumulative total of operations subjected to ex post evaluation totaled 4,442 at the end of the fiscal year. Several studies were completed during the year, including a synthesis of the Bank's experience with fifty agricultural adjustment operations since 1979.

OED's country assistance reviews evaluate the relevance of the Bank's overall country assistance strategy and the efficacy of lending and nonlending instruments. The Zambia country assistance review, for example, examined the Bank's focus on policy-based operations and its effects on the country's adjustment efforts over the last decade. It recommended continued attention to coordination with other donors, an increased role for the Bank's resident mission, and more economic and sector work and portfolio management. The OED country assistance review for Morocco identified obstacles to stabilization and recommended a stronger focus on fiscal problems. Many of the recommendations made in an OED study of the Bank's assistance to Poland were reflected in the 1997 country assistance strategy. And an OED study of the Bank's relationship with Argentina led to greater focus on the fiscal performance of provincial governments, the level and efficiency of social sector spending, and the financial sector in the CAS.

A workshop on large dams, held in fiscal 1997, is a model for OED's efforts to use Bank evaluation of projects to engage in participatory workshops to ensure that lessons do not simply remain on paper but lead to action for improved policies and projects (see box 4-1).