Last week I started my new role as Director-General of the World Bank Group’s Independent Evaluation Group (IEG). It is great to be back. As many readers of this blog might know, I worked at the World Bank earlier in my career.

What I bring to the role is over 30 years of experience in research, policy and evaluation. From multiple vantage points, and most recently at the UK government’s Independent Commission for Aid Impact, I have developed a deep appreciation for the role of evaluation in strengthening accountability and improving what we do and how we do it.  

As the world’s largest development institution, the World Bank Group plays a leading role in galvanizing action towards ending extreme poverty, reducing inequality, fighting climate change, and a host of other critical global agendas. The world needs a strong World Bank Group. To this end, IEG plays an extremely important role in helping the World Bank Group learn where it is succeeding and where it needs to improve its effectiveness and impact.

I am particularly interested in exploring how we can create even more value for our stakeholders through evaluation; how we can maximize the impact of our work.

I am, therefore, excited to lead IEG and look forward to engaging with you all in the coming months in order to gain a better understanding of how independent evaluation can best serve the World Bank Group; its Board, shareholders and clients; and the broader development community. I am particularly interested in exploring how we can create even more value for our stakeholders through evaluation; how we can maximize the impact of our work.

Within IEG, I am going to be looking carefully at how we build on the good work of my predecessors while also taking a close look at what we evaluate, making sure we are answering the burning questions our stakeholders are asking, innovating our approaches and methodologies to deliver timely, credible evaluations without losing rigor, and using technology innovatively to enhance both the impact and cost-effectiveness of our evaluations.

Let me know in the comments below how you think IEG should evolve to meet today’s challenges.

I hope to meet many of you soon. I invite you to connect with me on LinkedIn and Twitter.

More about Alison Evans:

Comments

Submitted by James on Wed, 01/09/2019 - 14:54

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Dear Alison,
Congratulations on your appointment -I wish you much success and enjoyment in your role at IEG. Evaluations conducted by MDBs are often lengthy, costly and the recommendations at times difficult to implement due to the prevailing culture which has been embedded in an institution over many years and to some extent politicised and faced with resistance from management, board and the staff. What are your thoughts on this and what would your approach be in seeking to maximise impact in the Bank’s operations and ultimately to its shareholders?

Secondly, and related to the above, do you envisage that fostering a more robust monitoring and evaluative results based approach in the bank (as well as other DFIs) where lessons can be shared transparently and incorporated back into project design on a quicker basis, could play a role in improving delivery and impact?
Best, James

Thank you very much James and for your observations about the evaluation function of MDBs. I am already thinking about these and other issues, and listening to views from stakeholders. I plan to share my thoughts in a future post for this blog.

Thank you Alison, looking forward to reading your insights. I do feel that ex post evaluation and results based management and monitoring can and should be more closely linked together so that implementing sector/country teams identify themselves what works well and what doesn’t and adapt approaches into operations accordingly. There is in theory more buy in into these design lessons as they have come from their own projects they have executed and thus less remote. I don’t believe such rigorous systems are sufficiently in place and staff are not incentivised to do so and potentially a lot of development gains and enhanced results are not being achieved consequently. This has been highlighted by a number of senior economists and development practitioners. Best wishes.

Submitted by Liz Larson on Wed, 01/09/2019 - 15:38

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Welcome, Allison! What a great background you are bringing to the World Bank. I am excited to see the upcoming work under IEG under your leadership.

Submitted by Sheikh khalid on Thu, 01/10/2019 - 06:26

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Great Allison
We are proud of you God as blessed you with knowledge & wisdom and you are sharing it for betterment of mankind
Such people are called Angel among Pharos
Stay blessed
Aameen

Submitted by Iman Nurhakim on Thu, 01/10/2019 - 10:20

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Great Allison
Kami bangga padamu, Tuhan, memberkatimu dengan pengetahuan & kebijaksanaan dan kau membagikannya demi kemajuan umat manusia.
Orang-orang seperti itu disebut Malaikat di antara Pharos.
Tetap diberkati
Aameen.

Submitted by Cynthia Ifueko… on Thu, 01/10/2019 - 14:30

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Congratulations on your appointment. I wish you the best on your new role .
Thank you
Cynthia
From Nigeria

Submitted by Adube on Wed, 01/16/2019 - 12:44

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Hello Alison,
Congratulations on achieving this important post. May I ask please how you define development effectiveness? There seems to be many definitions around and means different things tp different people. Thank you. Kind wishes,
Adube in Johannesburg, SA

Submitted by Veena Siddharth on Thu, 03/14/2019 - 17:41

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Dear Alison,
I am delighted to see you taking leadership of the IEG! We were office mates at the Bank way back in the 1990s and I remember your thoughtfulness and openness to different viewpoints. As the Bank is taking on more responsibility in fragile states, evaluation must adapt to provide answers in real time. It would be exciting to see that shift happen in this next phase. Do let me know if you are ever in Costa Rica!
Warm regards,
Veena

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