This evaluation was prepared by an Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) team led by Elena Bardasi, senior economist, and coauthored by Serena Fogaroli, gender expert and consultant for the evaluation, with the support of Shiva Chakravarti Sharma, extended-term consultant. The report was prepared under the supervision of Galina Sotirova, manager, IEG Corporate and Human Development, and Oscar Calvo-Gonzalez, director, IEG Human Development and Economic Management, and under the overall guidance of Alison Evans, Director-General, Evaluation. During the last phase of the evaluation, Carmen Nonay supervised as Human Development and Economic Management acting director and Oscar Calvo-Gonzalez as IEG acting Director-General.

The core team was composed of Disha Zaidi, Eva Dalak, Raissa Mushekuru Ndogole, Rima Al-Azar, Sadia Sarwar, Serena Fogaroli, Shiva Chakravarti Sharma, and Yezena Yimer. Assistance in the countries was provided by Agnès Ganou, Dieudonné Syauswa Kambale, Hanan Nawar Obaid Al Gertani, Mireille Denenodji Ngarkodji, and Rachelle El Hasrouni. Estelle Raimondo provided methods advice. Maximillian Ashwill edited the report.

Reviewers for this evaluation were Francesca Moneti (senior strategic advisor, Tostan International) and Jeannie Annan (senior director of research and evaluation, International Rescue Committee, and visiting scientist at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health).

The team gratefully acknowledges the more than 200 World Bank Group staff, project task team members, government partners, and national and international stakeholders from the media, academia, religious and traditional institutions, international nongovernmental organizations, civil society organizations, women’s rights organizations, and bilateral and multilateral donors who participated in interviews, and the women and adolescent girls of Burkina Faso who took part in focus groups.

The team is also grateful to the country offices of Burkina Faso, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lebanon, the Solomon Islands, and the Republic of Yemen, which assisted the team during the preparation of the evaluation, located and shared documentation for the desk review, and provided feedback during the presentation of emerging findings.