One area where we heard you clearly is the need to continue generating applicable development insights and lessons from our evaluation work. This was a common thread across all stakeholder groups. 

As evaluators we must "walk the walk" and hold ourselves to the same standards we expect of others. I often mention the importance of being heard and knowing it, that is, the importance of feedback. One part of the evidence trail that tells us what difference we make is feedback from the users of our evaluations.

In April, we asked our clients at the World Bank Group (including members of the Board of Executive Directors, World Bank Group management, and staff) and outside stakeholders (including academics, representatives of governments, international organizations and NGOs) to tell us what they think of our work.

Thanks to the many of you who responded!

Here’s who responded, and here's what you had to say:

Who Responded?

 

Respondents included: 1,166 Staff, 708 External stakeholders, 22 Board members.

Responses by Organization Type

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Responses from the World Bank Group, by Institution

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What They Said

 

How familiar are we to our stakeholders?

  • Familiarity with IEG’s mandate and products remains strong, particularly among Board Members. Over 90 percent of Board members surveyed said they were familiar with IEG’s work and either occasionally or frequently read our reports Among Staff, familiarity is highest with senior levels and lowest with mid-level operational staff. However, familiarity levels for the latter group grew considerably over the past year (15% growth), which suggests our outreach efforts are bearing results. Among external stakeholders, familiarity with IEG is strongest among academia and those who work in international organizations.

What is the perception of IEG’s independence?

  • Stakeholder perceptions of IEG’s independence remain high across all audiences (85% among World Bank Group staff, 90% among World Bank Group Board members, and 82% among External stakeholders)

Are we getting the balance right between accountability and learning?

  • Board members and external stakeholders are more satisfied than staff with the balance we achieve between accountability and learning in our work. Staff, particularly senior staff and those most familiar with IEG's work, believe we are overly focused on the accountability remit at the expense of learning.

How satisfied are our stakeholders with our evaluations?

  • Satisfaction with overall quality of IEG reports is highest among External stakeholders (94%). Among Staff, satisfaction remains highest with mid-level operational staff, and lowest with senior-level staff.  Overall, staff are least satisfied with IEG’s process of engagement, the extent to which IEG incorporates all relevant information, and how well we  link conclusions to evidence in our reports.

How impactful are IEG’s evaluations?

  • 85% of Board members, 84% of Externals and 72% of Staff, rank IEG’s work as impactful. Relative to last year, the Staff rating of IEG’s impact increased by a noteworthy 9 percent.

To what extent are our products being used?

  • Among respondents from the Board, the percentage reaches 90% for the use of our work in assessing country strategies, for reviewing projects, policies and procedures, sector strategies, giving inputs to the work of others or proposing a course of action.
  • A question that remains for us: if our authorizing environment, the Board, is such an avid user of insights from independent evaluation, how do we get others to take those lessons on board earlier and more readily in the process?

Overall Use of IEG Products

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How well do we communicate with you?

  • Email announcements, our website, as well as events and presentations provide the main access route to our product, particularly for external stakeholders who also appreciate our growing social media outreach efforts.

Where improvement is needed

  • We received over 1,000 comments in the survey, including several suggestions for what we could do better. One area where we heard you clearly is the need to continue generating applicable development insights and lessons from our evaluation work. This was a common thread across all stakeholder groups. We also heard from many of you that we should continue to improve our process of engagement, do more to reach out, especially in client countries and that you would like IEG to play a stronger role in promoting and supporting evaluation capacity development.
  • We are also committed to continuing efforts to improve the quality of our reports and to make the insights more accessible and applicable to your needs.

And where do we go from here?

The client survey is an important part of a range of structured feedback that we are about to receive regarding what works at and for IEG. We are currently discussing the best ways to respond to your feedback so that, next year, we'll be even better.

Access the full set of results