Management of the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) thanks the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) for the report An Evaluation of World Bank and International Finance Corporation Engagement for Gender Equality over the Past 10 Years. The evaluation assesses the evolution of the World Bank and IFC engagement to address gender inequalities between fiscal year (FY)12 and FY23 and presents lessons from results achieved over that period. The evaluation is timely as the World Bank Group is working toward finalizing the implementation plan for its newly launched FY24–30 gender strategy. Management thanks IEG for continued collaboration.

World Bank and International Finance Corporation Management Response

Overall

Management welcomes the report’s recognition of the commitment to gender equality and the progress made by the World Bank and IFC over the 2012–23 period. By establishing gender as a corporate priority, both institutions raised awareness among staff and advanced actions to better integrate gender equality into projects and programming. Through the new Bank Group gender strategy and its accompanying implementation plan, management will build on the achievements of the last decade. Key areas of focus will include integrating gender analysis in core and country analytics to influence policy and private sector dialogue, prioritizing gender equality outcomes, advancing the strategy’s outcomes coherently and holistically as One World Bank Group in alignment with country priorities, and expanding efforts to strengthen the Bank Group gender architecture.1

Management appreciates the finding that World Bank and IFC activities have become more “gender relevant” and supports the invitation to further deepen gender engagement. The evaluation focuses on the extreme high and extreme low values of IEG’s gender relevance metric; consequently, it does not fully account for the fact that the entire portfolio was significantly more gender relevant at the end of the evaluation period than it was at the beginning. For example, the share of World Bank projects in the medium to high range of the gender relevance metric grew by four to five times, IFC investments in that range tripled, and total IFC investment with a gender lens grew by approximately nine times in the latter part of the evaluation period. The evaluation recognized that IFC advisory services grew tenfold in the share of projects inhabiting the extreme right tail of the distribution.

Management recognizes that measurement of results for gender activities reflects the heterogeneity in country priorities that is inherent in the country-led model yet sees room for further systematization. Institutional differences in business models and instruments and variation in client needs and priorities often yield tailored operational approaches with customized results measurement and standards of success. When tracing Bank Group contributions to country-level outcomes, management aims to work within national data frameworks, rather than setting up parallel structures for Bank Group monitoring and reporting. IEG acknowledges that the World Bank has found success in working with governments to leverage local opportunities to improve gender equality. Reflecting all the aspects of gender equality found in the Bank Group gender strategy may not be appropriate for every project; management reaffirms that the Bank Group will consider it as an overall goal at the country level across relevant Bank Group projects.

Recommendations

Management welcomes the report’s three recommendations, which have implications for implementation that will differ by institution. Management appreciates the suggested pathways to achieving those recommendations and notes that the pathways undertaken by the World Bank and IFC may differ by institution and context, according to available resources, needs, opportunities, and support. Management notes that the Bank Group 2024–30 gender strategy and its accompanying implementation plan are well suited to embrace the recommendations of this evaluation.

Recommendation 1: Management agrees with the need to strengthen systematic and strategic country-driven engagement for gender equality. The new Bank Group gender strategy and accompanying implementation plan have a strong focus on achieving more ambitious gender equality outcomes through strategic country engagement as One World Bank Group. An initial focus on Bank Group gender strategy implementation in selected countries will provide valuable lessons on fostering more strategic and impactful country engagement. The strategy implementation plan will also identify joint country-level World Bank–IFC gender collaborative platforms to remove barriers to women’s economic inclusion. This will build on significant progress already realized with respect to country strategies that discuss gender inequalities, development policy operations that focus on policies to address them, solutions that target private sector engagement, and knowledge generated on gender equality that leads to better design and implementation of operations. Priority gender entry points identified in core and country analytics, including gender assessments, will inform the prioritization of specific gender equality outcomes and influence how selected Country Partnership Framework outcomes can advance gender equality. This in turn will promote more coherent country programming. Regional gender action plans will provide further guidance on regional priorities and entry points. A new dashboard will facilitate the exchange of good examples of gender outcome results chains in Country Partnership Frameworks. The Bank Group Gender Strategy Results Framework will monitor the share of Country Partnership Frameworks that include results to track gender outcomes.

Recommendation 2: Management agrees with the recommendation to enhance World Bank and IFC monitoring and evaluation systems with the aim to track gender results, incentivize achievement of outcomes, and report on progress. The strategy implementation plan calls for the use of data and analytics to underpin institutional and policy reforms to address gender constraints (including through fiscal and sector reforms, strengthening of national systems, and leveraging the private sector). The strategy and its implementation plan introduce new metrics that incentivize Bank Group teams to prioritize gender outcomes, strive for transformative change, and focus on implementation and results. Furthermore, the World Bank and IFC are planning a “refresh” of the gender tag and the gender flag. This refresh, in conjunction with the Scorecard, will deepen the gender intensity of operations by encouraging replication and expansion of gender transformative evidence-based approaches across sectors. The new Scorecard encompasses gender-related indicators that can help measure progress on the main strategic objectives of the new strategy. Alongside the Bank Group Gender Strategy Results Framework, the gender implementation plan will consider the selection of country actions to facilitate learning and knowledge sharing across country programs, and a reporting framework drawing on the Bank Group Scorecard indicators to track and support implementation, and ultimately help accelerate gender outcomes.

Recommendation 3: Management agrees with the recommendation to redefine the gender architecture and specify roles and responsibilities to improve efficiency, better support country engagement, and improve capacity. The implementation plan highlights the challenge of more clearly defining roles and responsibilities in the organizational setup for gender specialists to provide effective support to task teams and clients and to support strategic country engagement. It also suggests that better alignment of incentives and investment in technical skills and expertise are needed to deliver impact at scale. The World Bank will invest in developing capacity and skills, particularly within Global Practices and at the country level, through trainings that will include gender accreditation and tailoring for specific technical families. It will also build on the new knowledge academies. A working group will be established to elaborate plans to strengthen staff skills and capacity. IFC has expanded regional staff presence over the entire evaluation period and has embedded gender experts within each of the industry teams. Going forward, IFC will continue to build its regional capacity and gender expertise, mainstream and prioritize scalable gender solutions across sectors, advance thought leadership and spearhead innovation on gender equality, and better measure impact. Finally, Bank Group management aims to further strengthen accountability and delivery.