1. History of Evaluation at the World Bank Group
Patrick G. Grasso
American Evaluation Association
Orlando, November 2009

2. World Bank Group
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)
International Development Association (IDA)
International Finance Corporation (IFC)
Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA)
International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)

3. World Bank Group Governance
International cooperative with 185 member countries (varies among WBG institutions)
Board of Governors, made up of finance or development ministers of member governments
24-member Board Executive Directors, (the Board) each with an Alternate Director, resident in Washington
Board of Executive Directors approves budgets, policies and loans/credits
Management headed by Board-appointed President
Five-year renewable term
Sits ex officio as Chairman of the Board
Broad discretion in managing WBG
Executive VPs head IFC, MIGA

4. The Concept of Development Has Changed
Physical
Social
Human
Natural
Development
Decades
Major Objective
Main
Instruments
Dominant
Discipline
Changes in the world over time have also influenced thinking about development.
This slide is an over simplification—sort of a cartoon—but it tries to highlight major decadal themes in development.
50s and 60s: Technical information and economic resources. Provide the blueprints, increase domestic savings and investment, fill the remaining gaps.
70s: Basic needs, sectoral investment, linear programming applied to industry planning, urban and rural development linked to poverty reduction.
80s: Energy crises; recycling petrodollars; liberalization and adjustment; the Washington consensus.
90s: Country focus and CAS; private sector development; financial reform; governance; legal reform; Transition economies.
00s: Emergence of global programs; focus on results; Millennium Development Goals; reconsideration of private/public division of effort, emphasis on partnerships.
Fifties
Sixties
Seventies
Eighties
Nineties
Oughts
Reconstruction
Growth
Basic Needs
Adjustment
Capacity Building
Results
Technical Assistance
Projects
Sector Investment
Adjustment Loans
Country Program
Partnerships
Engineering
Finance
Planning
Macroeconomics
Multidisciplinary
Political economy

5. Initiating performance measurement at the World Bank
Ex-post evaluation inaugurated in a series of stages in 1970s, leading to independent evaluation unit
Performance indicators for ongoing operations developed at about the same time
Bank policy documents promoting monitoring and evaluation from the late 1970s

6. Development Thinking, Evaluation, and WBG Outcomes, 1970-2008
IEG-WB
Independent DGE
Wapenhans Report
IEG-IFC
IEG-MIGA
One IEG
Large dams report/
commission
Country and
sector
evaluations
Evaluations
Influencing
Strategy
Focus on
project
evaluations
First steps
on ECD
Project Bank
Policy Bank
Poverty Bank I
Poverty Bank II
New
Multilateralism

7. The quality crisis and the Bank’s response
Dramatic decline in performance of lending operations during 1980s
Bank developed indicators and tracking system to monitor progress, but Evaluation Department found lax enforcement
Quality Assurance Group established in 1995
Working Group on Monitoring and Evaluation, 1999
Monitoring and Evaluation Improvement Program, 2001

8. Policies and guidelines
Requirement for monitoring and evaluation, but with latitude in implementation
Guidelines set out information requirements
Detailed instructions on how to apply ratings standards
Management and the Evaluation Department have worked since the mid-1990s to reach consensus on standards; more consistent application of criteria

9. Moving to the higher plane of country, sector, global evaluation
Shift from project to country as unit of account meant changing evaluation focus
Country program evaluation beginning in 1990s
Adapted project evaluation standards in new context
Sector/thematic evaluation program to assess WBG policies expanded
Evaluation of global/regional programs in 2000s as these proliferated
WBG led in developing international guidance for evaluating global/regional programs

10. Methodological development
Moving from objectives-based to results-based evaluation
Increased use of impact evaluation
IEG impact evaluation program
DIME initiative, Spanish Trust Fund
Mixed methods
Better integration of quantitative and qualitative methods

11. Evaluation Now Matters More
For accountability: Shareholders want to know whether they are getting “value for money”
For World Bank management and staff: Need to enhance professional excellence and get results on the ground through organizational learning
Move to results focus and concentration on effectiveness means that evaluation matters more than ever.
Concern about impact of aid. Waste of money. Results-orientation.
Shareholders and taxpayers want to know what they are buying.
For MDBs, focus moves to lessons of experience, best practice, systematic learning through evaluation.

12. External demand for evaluation
Pressures growing for more systematic evaluation of the impacts of aid
Donor country parliaments/voters want to see evidence of results for money invested
Especially evident in US from both government and research/evaluation community
Pending legislation requiring evaluation of all foreign aid
2009 OMB memo on evaluation
Often linked to demand for external, impact evaluation
Meltzer Commission in 1990s
3IE, Poverty Action Lab, Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy

13. Impediments to improving monitoring and evaluation
Poor incentives to conduct good monitoring and evaluation
Diffused accountability, unclear roles and responsibilities within the Bank and between the Bank and borrowers
Weak capacity for monitoring and evaluation both in the Bank and among borrowers.

14. What has been constant in this history?
A premium on quality
Unique value of independence
Need for engagement with Management
Scrutiny from donors
Drive for development results 14

15. What has changed? Responding rapidly to emerging issues
Inclusion of prospective evaluations
Inclusion of advisory and analytical work, technical assistance
Forging stronger links with WBG directions
Input for sector strategies
Aspects of WBG organization
Full IEG integration
Links across WB, IFC, MIGA
Work with public and private partners

16. Thank you For more information go to: http://www.worldbank.org/ieg/