Management of the World Bank Group welcomes the Independent Evaluation Group's report An Evaluation of the World Bank Group Strategy on Fragility, Conflict, and Violence, 2020-25, and thanks the team for addressing the comments provided. The evaluation is timely and relevant as the Bank Group prepares its refreshed fragility, conflict, and violence (FCV) strategy. It also comes at a critical juncture, as underscored in the recent Global Economic Prospects report, which highlights the importance of FCV engagement for advancing the Bank Group jobs agenda and ending extreme poverty. Management thanks the Independent Evaluation Group for its constructive collaboration.

Overall World Bank Group Management Response

Management supports the main findings and recommendations of the report, which have the potential to inform the refreshed FCV strategy. Management appreciates the recognition of the FCV strategy's timeliness and relevance, as well as its contribution to enhancing the Bank Group's engagement in fragile and conflict-affected settings. The evaluation highlights important progress in diagnostics, financing, and partnerships, and acknowledges the strategy's role in maintaining engagement during crises. It also identifies gaps in the operational framework for FCV. Management agrees that further efforts are needed to align operational tools and resources with strategic intent and to strengthen results measurement and learning. Management acknowledges that further guidance and more regular updates to the Board of Executive Directors could address perceptions of inconsistencies in the application of Operational Policy (OP) 7.30, while recognizing the important differences in outcomes that depend on the specifics of each unconstitutional change in government and the peculiarities of different constitutional frameworks across member countries. Management, however, notes that the report contains some inaccuracies with respect to the application of OP 7.30 in specific situations, which appear to have influenced its conclusions. Given the discrepancy between the actual record of OP 7.30's application and any perceived inconsistencies, management recommends revising the language in the report that implies the existence of actual versus perceived inconsistency. Additionally, management proposes removing references to actual or perceived political or other bias in the report, as the report does not present analysis or facts to substantiate such claims.

To inform the new FCV strategy, management would have appreciated additional framing of One World Bank Group opportunities to complement the report's distinct delineation among the World Bank, International Finance Corporation, and Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency activities. This includes aligning with key corporate objectives, such as mobilizing private capital; reinforcing operating principles, such as pooled resources across the Bank Group; and highlighting the strategic and complementary roles of each institution, for example, the World Bank's role in enabling the rule of law and regulatory predictability to scale up private investment. Job creation and private sector development are central to the collective Bank Group engagement in FCV-affected contexts. The refreshed FCV strategy will reflect lessons on how to better adapt and systematize One Bank Group support through broader corporate efforts on the jobs agenda; sequence and coordinate Bank Group interventions (for example, public investment, private sector enabling reforms and advisory, private investment and guarantees); and leverage Bank Group flagship initiatives (for example, Mission 300 and AgriConnect).

Management acknowledges the valuable insights provided in the evaluation by focusing on the countries on the fragile and conflict-affected situations list, and would have further benefited from consideration of a broader range of country contexts. Expanding the scope to include middle-income countries, small island developing states, subnational conflict-affected areas, and those previously supported through FCV Envelope predecessors (for example, Madagascar under the Turn Around Regime and Guinea under the Risk Mitigation Regime) would have offered additional depth and relevance. Incorporating lessons learned before the strategy period would also have enhanced the evaluation's applicability. Additionally, broadening the number of case studies in the report would have strengthened the ability to generalize conclusions across the diverse spectrum of FCV contexts.

Recommendations

Management concurs with recommendation 1 to publish an implementation plan for the refreshed FCV strategy. This will articulate pathways to desired outcomes and elaborate measurable indicators to support the strategy's implementation and monitoring. In preparing the new FCV strategy, management will propose an implementation plan that outlines the shifts in thematic approaches necessary for operationalization, assigns responsibilities across Bank Group institutions, and defines timelines. Management is exploring a pragmatic approach to monitoring that builds on the Scorecard and uses results narratives.

Management concurs with recommendation 2 to enhance FCV-sensitive programming and approaches. Significant progress has been made in strengthening the Bank Group's analytical and knowledge base and incorporating FCV-sensitive considerations into country strategies and programs, including private sector projects. Management recognizes the need to take a more dynamic and risk-informed view of fragility that better reflects the complexity of the situation in the field and to ensure that these diagnostics inform operational decision-making. Along these lines, management is using the FCV strategy development process to explore ways to better identify countries at risk (of conflict or widespread violence), including the use of AI-enabled tools, to revamp the current backward-looking fragile and conflict-affected situations list methodology, and to ensure that this influences programming decisions. Management intends to further customize the operational tool kit to better deliver in FCV, use operational flexibility in the context of a new playbook, and review issues related to third-party implementation. In line with 21st Replenishment of the International Development Association discussions, management will also consider the opportunity to identify operations that address drivers of fragility and conflict more explicitly, with "FCV-sensitive" and "FCV-responsive" designations.

Management agrees with recommendation 3 to systematically revamp the Bank Group's financial and personnel resource frameworks and the corresponding data systems. The far-reaching corporate efforts to improve operational effectiveness are very relevant in FCV contexts, and management intends to further tailor these efforts to the specific circumstances of FCV settings, including through a more dynamic approach to risk and strengthened data systems. Furthermore, management concurs that changes in staffing models and incentives need to be considered as part of the refreshed FCV strategy.