The profound changes to our world caused by COVID-19, political uncertainties, and accelerating climate change call for a new, more nimble approach to development. The World Bank’s Evolution Roadmap, which included inputs from the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG), lays the foundation for a new way of operating. In fiscal year (FY)24, IEG will seek innovative ways to provide timely recommendations and lessons learned so that the World Bank can respond quickly to changing crisis situations while supporting the long-term development agenda.

Evaluations will aim to deepen understanding of where the Bank Group can improve to provide the biggest impact for development outcomes. The FY24 evaluations will build on earlier evaluations to identify questions on development effectiveness while complementing each other to distill larger lessons across multiple works.

Although evaluations fall into six work streams and three cross-cutting themes, IEG’s evaluations in FY24 will focus on and expand attention to the Bank Group’s climate work. Climate change is one of the most universal, urgent, and powerful development challenges. The theme of water and the multiple related development challenges will be central, with evaluations on the protection and development of ocean resources and the management of fresh water. Another omnipresent development challenge is gender, and we will continue the two-pronged approach of delivering gender-focused evaluations and including an exploration of gender effects in other topics that demand it.

The FY24 work program will remain flexible, in keeping with the need for faster, more timely lessons as the Bank Group and international development space rapidly evolve. In line with the Bank Group’s outcome orientation agenda, IEG will focus on country outcomes and lessons of high relevance to Bank Group teams and clients.

We will continue to refine our methods of data analysis and knowledge dissemination. In FY24, we will explore IEG’s comparative advantages to find more ways of swiftly gathering evidence and sharing important lessons as we remain strongly aligned with the strategic priorities of the Bank Group.

Learn more about our FY24 plans and goals in the FY24 Work Program & Budget and FY25–26 Indicative Plan.