The World Bank’s Development Impact Evaluation (DIME) department generates high-quality and operationally relevant data and research to transform development policy, help reduce extreme poverty, and secure shared prosperity. DIME develops customized data and evidence ecosystems to produce actionable information and recommend specific policy pathways to maximize impact. To do so, DIME has developed and implemented a model of co-production with agencies on the ground that transfers capacity and know-how to partners, enables them to make mid-course corrections and motivates the scale-up of more successful policy instruments to achieve policy outcomes and optimize development impact. In so doing, DIME secures increases in the rate of return of underlying investments by large margins, far exceeding the costs of the research. The department conducts research in 64 countries with 200 agencies, leveraging a US$180 million research budget to shape the design and implementation of US$26 billion in development finance. DIME also provides advisory services to 30 multilateral and bilateral development agencies. Finally, DIME invests in public goods to improve the quality and reproducibility of development research around the world. From DIME Wiki to toolkits, training, and summer schools, DIME is servicing the global community of researchers and, in so doing, improving the quality of global policy advice.
