The Bank Group has succeeded in making citizen engagement a top priority and creating awareness and buy-in. However, aspects related to quality are typically not given sufficient attention at the design and monitoring stages. To sustain and deepen the effectiveness of the Bank Group’s citizen engagement efforts, the evaluation proposes the following recommendations:
Recommendation 1. As it defines future corporate priorities for citizen engagement, the World Bank should reflect in those priorities the need to achieve greater depth and quality of the citizen engagement activities it supports. This will entail building on the progress achieved under the strategic framework to promote a more strategic approach that incorporates deeper citizen engagement where opportunities arise. These future corporate priorities will need to be clearly communicated to staff and stakeholders.
Recommendation 2. The World Bank should encourage and support efforts of its regional, country and Global Practices teams to establish, where appropriate, “thick” citizen engagement that is regular and continuous, uses multiple tools, and is embedded in country systems. This could be achieved by more systematically using existing channels of dialogue and stakeholder engagement (such as Systematic Country Diagnostics, CPFs, and DPFs) and applying tools (such as roadmaps and indexes) to plan, monitor, and assess results achieved at the various levels (Region, country management unit, Global Practice). This would entail better synergies between Bank operations and other programs that support citizen engagement, including GPSA-financed activities; mobilizing adequate expertise to support Bank teams; investing in training for staff and stakeholders; and improving knowledge management.
Recommendation 3. The World Bank should strengthen the monitoring of its citizen engagement activities by systematically adopting results framework indicators that are results oriented. This will entail tightening the alignment between the citizen engagement mechanisms used in projects and the indicators that measure their quality and results, with special emphasis on indicators that show how feedback loops were closed and how diverse groups of stakeholders were included.
Recommendation 4. The World Bank should seize the opportunity of the implementation of the ESF to leverage citizen engagement mechanisms—beyond consultations and GRMs—to reach the objectives of managing social risks, strengthening country systems, and promoting social inclusion. This will entail better drawing on the existing expertise on citizen engagement and making citizen engagement more prominent in the ESF trainings, both for staff and for project implementation units.
Recommendation 5. IFC should ensure that its clients’ stakeholder engagement activities required by PS 1 in projects with affected communities are carried out during appraisal and supervision of the projects and systematically documented. This will entail mobilization of adequate expertise to systematically support clients and reporting that is comprehensive and results focused.
See Chapter 5, Conclusions and Recommendations