This evaluation was prepared by an Independent Evaluation Group team led by Lauren Kelly (lead evaluation officer) and Joy Butscher (evaluation officer), under the guidance of Marialisa Motta (former manager), Christopher Nelson (acting manager), Carmen Nonay (director), and Sabine Bernabè (Director-General, Evaluation). The core evaluation team included Ridwan Bolaji Bello (evaluation analyst), Elizabeth Dodds (consultant), Alvina Erman (economist), Arjun Kaushik (consultant), Xiaoyi Lu (extended-term consultant), and Sanittawan Nikki Tan (evaluation analyst). Estelle Raimondo (program manager), Harsh Anuj (data scientist), Diana-Mariana Stanescu (extended-term consultant), and Virginia Ziulu (data scientist) of the methods advisory function provided methodological guidance and support. Jean-Jacques Alain Ildevert Ahouansou, Romayne Pereira, and Viktoriya Yevsyeyeva provided administrative support.

Steve Fletcher (professor of ocean policy and economy and director of revolution plastics and the Global Plastics Policy Centre at the University of Portsmouth) supported the global blue economy expert interviews and Systematic Country Diagnostic and Country Climate and Development Report analyses and delivered a compendium on plastics and solid waste. Antaya March (senior research associate and blue governance expert at the University of Portsmouth) also supported the Systematic Country Diagnostic and Country Climate and Development Report analyses and conducted the St. Lucia (Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States) and the Seychelles case studies. Kevin Crockford (former World Bank senior rural development specialist) and Xiaoyi Lu conducted the Bangladesh and India case studies. Phil Karp (former World Bank lead knowledge management officer and ocean governance specialist) conducted the Belize case study and project performance assessment of the Belize Marine Conservation and Climate Adaptation Project, together with Jennifer Chapman (coastal and marine management expert), Arlenie Rogers (marine biologist and assistant professor at the University of Belize), and Arjun Kaushik. Lucy Greenhill (head of blue economy policy and practice at Howell Marine Consulting [HMC] and honorary research fellow at the University of St Andrews), Gabrielle Johnson (marine scientist and senior international marine program manager), and Sanittawan Nikki Tan conducted the Indonesia case study, and Chikako Miwa (evaluation analyst) conducted the project performance assessment of the Indonesia Coral Reef Rehabilitation and Management Project Phase II and Coral Reef Rehabilitation and Management Program—Coral Triangle Initiative. Alvina Erman and Edward Willsteed (associate director at HMC) conducted the Cabo Verde case study. Joy Butscher, Lauren Kelly, and Antaya March conducted the Kenya case study. Elizabeth Dodds and Sally Judson (consultant) conducted the Morocco case study on desk and the project performance assessment of the Morocco Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project. Stephen Porter (senior evaluation officer) conducted an expanded Implementation Completion and Results Report Review of the Pacific Islands Regional Oceanscape Program. Edward Willsteed conducted the small-scale fisheries analysis. Vanessa Smith (head of practice in natural capital at HMC) and Joseph Kofi Ansong (expert coastal and marine planner and consultant at HMC) conducted an analysis of integrated coastal zone management and marine spatial planning. Dickon Howell (director at HMC and visiting professor of practice at Newcastle University) provided overall advice and guidance.

The report was peer-reviewed by Chamberlain Emmanuel (head of the Environmental Sustainability Division at the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Commission), Melissa Garren (founder and chief executive officer of Working Ocean Strategies), and Jonathan McCue (managing director of Sustainable Seas Ltd).