China - Tri-Provincial Highway Project, and Hubei Xiaogan- Xiangfan Highway Project
Web Resource
This is the Project Performance Assessment Report (PPAR) for two highway projects in China: Tri-provincial Highway Project and Hubei-Xiaogan-Xiangfan Highway Project. The projects help finance the ambitious program of completing the 44,000km of the National Trunk Highway System (NTHS) by 2020. In addition to the highway development, both projects included a rural roads component to improve access Show MoreThis is the Project Performance Assessment Report (PPAR) for two highway projects in China: Tri-provincial Highway Project and Hubei-Xiaogan-Xiangfan Highway Project. The projects help finance the ambitious program of completing the 44,000km of the National Trunk Highway System (NTHS) by 2020. In addition to the highway development, both projects included a rural roads component to improve access to poor counties as well as a road safety component.
IEG rated the overall outcome of both projects as satisfactory. This rating is also supported by substantial relevance and high ratings for efficiency with economic rates of return of over 25 percent. Risk to development outcome is rated negligible to low. Bank performance was satisfactory. The Borrower performance rating is also satisfactory for both projects. There was effective cooperation between the Borrower and the Bank throughout preparation and implementation.
Guatemala - Enhanced Fiscal and Financial Management for Greater Opportunities DPL Series
Web Resource
This Project Performance Assessment Report (PPAR) evaluates a series of two development policy loans (DPLs) to Guatemala: Fiscal Space for Greater Opportunities ($200 million, P131763), and Enhanced Fiscal and Financial Management for Greater Opportunities ($340 million, P133738). The assessment aims to verify whether the operation achieved its intended outcomes, to understand what worked well Show MoreThis Project Performance Assessment Report (PPAR) evaluates a series of two development policy loans (DPLs) to Guatemala: Fiscal Space for Greater Opportunities ($200 million, P131763), and Enhanced Fiscal and Financial Management for Greater Opportunities ($340 million, P133738). The assessment aims to verify whether the operation achieved its intended outcomes, to understand what worked well and what did not, and to draw lessons for the future. The objectives of the series were to (i) strengthen tax administration and tax policy, (ii) strengthen budget management and increase the results orientation of public spending, and (iii) improve the management and coordination of social policies.
Ratings are as follows: Outcome was moderately satisfactory, Risk to development outcome was high, Bank performance was moderately unsatisfactory, and Borrower performance was moderately unsatisfactory. This Project Performance Assessment Report offers the following lessons: (i) Tax administration and tax policy reforms in the face of major governance issues and long-standing opposition from influential interest groups are unlikely to be successful, even if backed by the World Bank’s analytical support, policy dialogue, and financing. Under these conditions, directly and indirectly targeting the governance issues over a longer period is necessary. (ii) Achieving progress on results budgeting requires strengthening of capacity, political commitment, sound monitoring and evaluation indicators, and cross-agency collaboration. (iii) Achieving results in policy lending requires a sound results framework, a credible theory of change, close linking of objectives with policy actions, and outcome-oriented target indicators.
Nigeria - Second Primary Education Project; and Universal Basic Education Project
Web Resource
This is the Project Performance Assessment Report (PPAR) for the Nigeria Second Primary Education Project and the Nigeria Universal Basic Education Project. The first operation was financed through IDA in the amount of US$55 million (SDR40.1 million) and with planned government contribution of US$3.5 million. The second operation was financed through an IDA Credit in the amount of US$101 million Show MoreThis is the Project Performance Assessment Report (PPAR) for the Nigeria Second Primary Education Project and the Nigeria Universal Basic Education Project. The first operation was financed through IDA in the amount of US$55 million (SDR40.1 million) and with planned government contribution of US$3.5 million. The second operation was financed through an IDA Credit in the amount of US$101 million (SDR76.3 million), a grant of US$l5.0 million from the United Kingdom Department for International Development, and with planned contributions of government (US$13 million). These two projects were chosen for a PPAR because of their importance to Nigeria's development strategy and to Africa's achievement of Education for All (EFA).
The main lessons from the experience of PEP2 and UBEP are as follows: 1) good performance during implementation cannot make up for fundamental design flaws in a project in which component activities are not well aligned with the project development objectives (PDOs). UBEP suffered from too much complexity and spread limited resources too thinly among the 16 states and numerous federal agencies. The states did not have the capacity to implement such a complex design and spreading the resources too thinly did not allow for reaching the critical mass needed to have a catalytic impact upon the system; 2) lack of readiness for implementation cannot be compensated for by imposing many conditions of effectiveness. In hindsight the UBEP was not really ready to start implementation at the time of Board approval and the introduction of conditions of effectiveness could not make up for this lack of readiness; 3) technical assistance (TA) needs to be closely aligned with the project development objectives and institutional capacity gaps, and closely supervised by the Bank and co-financiers to prevent it from drifting away from PDOs. Although the TA was implemented by the Department for International Development (DFID) contractors, the Bank did not exercise close monitoring and evaluation initially. The broadly stated TOR led the TA providers to focus initially on school development and not on the strategic management competencies needed to manage a Bank supported project; and 4) effective monitoring and evaluation of learning outcomes require a long lead time to design and develop and thus need to be addressed early in project design along with PDOs. A major shortcoming in the UBEP design was its failure to build upon the measures of learning assessment built into PEP2. Learning assessments, or other measures for monitoring quality of outcomes, can be used to feed back into the improvement of curriculum, teaching and school management.
The World Bank Group's Support for Agriculture and Agribusiness (Approach Paper)
Web Resource
The World Bank Group has provided support for agriculture/agribusiness operations amounting to about 19 percent of Bank lending and for food and agribusiness operations amounting to about 7 percent of IFC investment between 1998 and 2008. Past reviews have looked at aspects of effectiveness of this support, especially in Africa. But crucial to plans for greater support are lessons from the World Show MoreThe World Bank Group has provided support for agriculture/agribusiness operations amounting to about 19 percent of Bank lending and for food and agribusiness operations amounting to about 7 percent of IFC investment between 1998 and 2008. Past reviews have looked at aspects of effectiveness of this support, especially in Africa. But crucial to plans for greater support are lessons from the World Bank Group's past experience in this area that can help ensure that its stepped up engagement will generate results. The evaluation will look at what has worked and what has not worked in the World Bank Group's past effort at promoting agricultural/agribusiness growth and productivity in countries of operation, what were the key determinants o f performance and how these findings can strategically inform the Bank Group's engagement in the sector in the years to come.
Brazil - Goias State Highway Management Program Project
Web Resource
This is the Project Performance Assessment Report (PPAR) for the Brazil: Goias State Highway Management Project, aimed to help Goias improve the efficiency of the state's road transport system.
IEG rated the outcome of the project as satisfactory. Project activities did raise the efficiency of Goias' road transport system. The project-financed investments, together with the program of outsourced Show MoreThis is the Project Performance Assessment Report (PPAR) for the Brazil: Goias State Highway Management Project, aimed to help Goias improve the efficiency of the state's road transport system.
IEG rated the outcome of the project as satisfactory. Project activities did raise the efficiency of Goias' road transport system. The project-financed investments, together with the program of outsourced maintenance, substantially improved the condition of the state road network. Improved roads mean less use of resources in the provision of road transport services. The values of most of the outcome and output indicators met the targets. The risk to development outcome is rated moderate. Bank performance is rated moderately satisfactory. Borrower performance is also rated moderately satisfactory.
Timor-Leste - Completion and Learning Review : IEG Review
Web Resource
This review of the Timor-Leste’s Completion and Learning Review (CLR) of the World Bank Group’s (WBG) Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) covers the original CPS period (FY13-FY17), and the Performance and Learning Review (PLR) of 2016. The PLR extended the original CPS period by one year to FY18 in order to synchronize the CPS strategy with the country’s political cycle. Timor-Leste is a lower Show MoreThis review of the Timor-Leste’s Completion and Learning Review (CLR) of the World Bank Group’s (WBG) Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) covers the original CPS period (FY13-FY17), and the Performance and Learning Review (PLR) of 2016. The PLR extended the original CPS period by one year to FY18 in order to synchronize the CPS strategy with the country’s political cycle. Timor-Leste is a lower middle-income country, with an oil dependent economy. With oil reserves running low, the key challenges facing Timor-Leste are to achieve greater economic diversification and diminish reliance on public sector spending. At the beginning of the CPS period,
the political environment was stable and oil prices high. The country was affected by a significant fall in oil prices that started in 2013, and political uncertainty adversely affected economic activity in 2017 and for most of 2018, as public expenditures fell by over one third. On the whole, growth was modest compared to East-Asia Pacific region peers, reflecting both the fall in oil prices and the political uncertainty towards the end of the program period.
Translating the Principles of the Global Compact on Refugees into Concrete Actions
Web Resource
Four lessons, based on evidence from evaluation, can inform future efforts to support countries hosting refugees and internally displaced persons.Four lessons, based on evidence from evaluation, can inform future efforts to support countries hosting refugees and internally displaced persons.
Measuring up: When “what works” doesn’t
Web Resource
What an essay about closing the achievement gap in US public schools tells us about “what works” in international developmentWhat an essay about closing the achievement gap in US public schools tells us about “what works” in international development
Higher Impact Adjustment Lending (HIAL) in Sub-Saharan Africa
PDF file
This study reviews the HIAL initiative introduced in the Africa Region in 1995. HIAL is aimed at enhancing adjustment lending (AL) through improved country selection and better program design. This study evaluates the effects of the initiative on country performance.This study reviews the HIAL initiative introduced in the Africa Region in 1995. HIAL is aimed at enhancing adjustment lending (AL) through improved country selection and better program design. This study evaluates the effects of the initiative on country performance.
Poverty Assessments - Maximizing Impact
PDF file
In its second review of poverty assessments since the Bank set the goal of completing a poverty assessment for each borrower - 101 have now been done - the Operations Evaluation Department (OED) reports
that there has been an improvement in their quality, but that there
is substantial room for improvement.In its second review of poverty assessments since the Bank set the goal of completing a poverty assessment for each borrower - 101 have now been done - the Operations Evaluation Department (OED) reports
that there has been an improvement in their quality, but that there
is substantial room for improvement.