This report was prepared by an Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) team led by Bekele A. Shiferaw and Stefan Apfalter, senior evaluation officers, and was conducted under the guidance and supervision of Marialisa Motta, manager; Carmen Nonay and José Carbajo, directors; and Alison M. Evans, Director-General, IEG.

Extended team members included Aditya Balu (consultant), Amanda Aniston (consultant), April Connelly (senior evaluation officer), Ebru Karamete (evaluation analyst), Joao Claudio Rocha Baeta Leal (consultant), Joy Kaarina Butscher (evaluation officer), Songporne Tongruksawattana (consultant), and Hailemariam Teklewold (consultant). In addition, Alexandra Christina Horst (evaluation officer) and Joachim Vandercasteelen (young professional) contributed to the evaluation at the initial stages through the Approach Paper and the Portfolio Review and Analysis, and by conducting case studies and cross-case analysis. Hiroyuki Hatashima (senior evaluation officer) served as co-task team leader during the preparation of the Approach Paper and helped define the private sector–related issues for the evaluation.

Ariya Hagh (extended term consultant) contributed to NVivo analysis and cross-case analysis of case studies, and Jozef Leonardus Vaessen (adviser) and Estelle Rosine Raimondo (senior evaluation officer) provided valuable methodological contributions. Romayne D. Pereira provided excellent program assistant support, and Aarre Laakso provided structural editing and line editing. Lauren Kelley (lead evaluation officer) and Andrew Stone (lead evaluation officer) provided valuable guidance, comments, and inputs to the report.

This evaluation commissioned structured literature reviews and several expert background papers, including a review, “Access to Agricultural Finance for Small and Medium Agrifood Production, Processing, and Supply Chain Clients” conducted by David Crush (consultant). A structured literature review, “Adoption and Impacts of Sustainability Standards in Agrifood Value Chains—Lessons and Success Factors,” was prepared by Miet Maertens, professor in bioeconomics, University of KU Leuven, Belgium. A second structured literature review, “Effectiveness of Agricultural Development Interventions to Stimulate More Productive, Inclusive, and Sustainable Agri-Food Systems—Lessons and Success Factors,” was prepared by David Wuepper, lecturer and postdoctoral researcher, Agricultural Economics and Policy Group, ETH Zürich, Switzerland.

The IEG evaluation team and IEG management thank senior staff and management at the World Bank, International Finance Corporation, and Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency for several consultation discussions and for their participation in interviews. This includes the senior staff and management at the Agriculture and Food Global Practice and the Finance, Competitiveness, and Innovation Global Practice of the World Bank; the Manufacturing, Agribusiness, and Services group and the Financial Institutions Group of the International Finance Corporation; and the Manufacturing, Agribusiness, and Services group of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency.

We would also like to extend thanks to our distinguished peer reviewers: Julie Howard (PhD), senior adviser, Center for Strategic and International Studies, and former chief scientist at the United States Agency for International Development; Saweda Liverpool-Tasie (PhD), professor, Michigan State University; Ruerd Ruben (PhD), professor, Wageningen Economic Research, the Netherlands; and Pramod K. Joshi (PhD), former director for South Asia, International Food Policy Research Institute, India.