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The World Bank Group Outcome Orientation at the Country Level

Glossary

Adaptive management An iterative approach to decision-making where approaches are adjusted based on evidence and evolving context.

Attribution The expectation that results considered for accountability purposes are directly caused by World Bank Group interventions.

Country engagement cycle The Bank Group’s country engagement cycle is made up of four country reports: the Systematic Country Diagnostic, the Country Partnership Framework, the Performance and Learning Review, and the Completion and Learning Review.

Country-level results system The World Bank Group’s results system for the country engagement cycle, above the project-level results system that covers individual engagements and below corporate-level results systems that cover whole institution(s).

Country outcomes Development outcomes that take place in client countries, and are at a higher level than a single intervention.

Country Partnership Framework (CPF) The main strategy document for the Bank Group, which lays out the main country development goals that the Bank Group aims to help the country achieve and proposes a selective program of indicative Bank Group interventions for this purpose. It also contains a results framework, which includes specific objectives and indicators against which the program is monitored and evaluated.

Country team The core staff working on strategy and operational management for a World Bank Group country engagement. It includes the Country Management Unit (in particular country director, country manager or operations manager, country officers, country program coordinator, and resident representative, where applicable) but also key sector staff who drive strategic direction above the level of an individual engagement, such as program leads or sometimes senior/lead technical staff who play similar roles. It includes International Finance Corporation (IFC) staff, particularly the IFC country manager and country officers.

Completion and Learning Review (CLR) A self-assessment carried out at the end of the country engagement cycle that assesses the lessons emerging from the cycle and whether the intended objectives were achieved. The CLR is then validated by the Independent Evaluation Group in a Completion and Learning Report Review (CLRR).

IFC country products A new set of internal documents used by IFC to support its contribution to the country engagement cycle. They include the joint IFC–World Bank Country Private Sector Diagnostic to inform and complement the Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD), the IFC Country Strategy to lay out strategic priorities and reinforce IFC’s position in the CPF, and a country-level business plan and its subsequent reviews.

IFC Country Strategies A new internal document used by IFC to improve IFC’s inputs to the CPF and better guide its investment decisions within countries, and to help target World Bank programs aiming to support private sector development. The strategy lays out IFC’s strategic vision in a country by elaborating IFC’s delivery capacity and strategic priorities under different policy reform scenarios.

Monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) plan An alternative country-level results system proposed by this evaluation.

Outcome orientation The organization’s ability to generate feedback on what works, what does not, and why, use this feedback to engage clients and adapt country programs, and ultimately bolster its contribution to country development outcomes.

Performance and Learning Review (PLR) The midterm review instrument for country strategies, through which the Bank Group takes stock of progress and decides on needed changes and course correction.

Results framework CPF results frameworks, also referred to as results matrixes, assign a set of indicators and targets to CPF objectives. Results frameworks are introduced in the CPF at the beginning of the country engagement cycle, can be revised midway through the cycle in the PLR, and are used to rate the Bank Group’s results and performance at the end of the cycle in the CLR.