Over the past twenty years, the Development Impact Group has demonstrated that investing in local capacities for data, advanced analytics, impact evaluation, and artificial intelligence can effectively double the impact of policy investments. Collaborating with governments and international organizations, the Development Impact Group delivers data products and impact evaluations that significantly enhance the effectiveness of public policies. Its mission is to promote evidence-based and data-driven planning, programming, and implementation across the policy cycle.
Central to its approach is the Development Impact Group’s 'trial-and-adopt' technology, which revolutionizes development practices through a portfolio-based operational strategy, prioritizing continuous learning, scalability, and intervention adaptability. This methodology has proven to amplify the impact of development finance by learning from past mistakes, selecting cost-effective solutions, and optimizing policy and investment designs.
The core idea follows three principles:
Learn: Integrate rigorous trial-and-adopt technology into projects to test and learn what works to achieve impact.
Adapt: Wire in the flexibility for projects to adopt high-impact solutions, grounded in rigorous evidence.
Scale: Apply these approaches as a portfolio, replicating and scaling what works across the regions and beyond.
By engaging government counterparts throughout the policy cycle and embedding machine learning, events studies, and experimental research in projects, the Development Impact Group drives policy interventions towards their efficient frontier, maximizing cost-effectiveness and value for money.
The Development Impact Group seeks to broaden the application of this technology across World Bank operations and partner countries for maximum development impact, shaping a future where informed decisions pave the way for lasting positive change.
What are Impact Evaluations?
- Impact Evaluation (IE) is the study of causal relations between a program, policy or operation intervention and outcomes. IE employs counterfactual analysis to evaluate program, policy or operation interventions that are either Bank-financed or financed by governments and other institutions.
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