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.

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