Annual Review Of Development Effectiveness

The "results agenda" adopted by the World Bank and other donors aims to ensure that development assistance yields sustainable poverty reduction. Effective poverty reduction results from three main factors: sustained and inclusive growth, effective service delivery to the poor, and capable public sector institutions that are accountable to stakeholders for the results they achieve. The Annual Review of Development Effectiveness 2006 assembles evaluative evidence around three questions central to poverty reduction: - How effectively has economic growth translated into poverty reduction in Bank-assisted countries and what factors have affected these results? - What factors have led to high-quality results in areas that deliver services to the poor? - What measures help raise the accountability of public institutions responsible for delivering and sustaining these results? The report identifies three key areas where the World Bank can further strengthen its effectiveness in helping countries reduce poverty. - Economic growth has improved in many Bank client countries but a stronger focus on the nature of growth is needed to ensure that such growth leads to jobs for the poor and productivity increases in poorer regions and sectors where the poor earn their incomes. - Consistent use of a clearly articulated results chain helps ensure that Bank country assistance programs and individual projects set realistic objectives, that key cross-sectoral constraints to achieving them are adequately considered and that due attention is given to building capacity. - A realistic assessment of the political economy of governance-related reforms is needed to tailor efforts to increase the accountability ofpublic sector institutions to local conditions.

The 2004 Annual Review of Development Effectiveness looks at the recent growth and poverty reduction experience of client countries. It assesses the extent to which Bank interventions have contributed to growth and poverty reduction and the effectiveness of different types of interventions. The review uses the key elements of the Bank's 2001 poverty reduction strategy to examine the extent to which these elements respond to the needs of the poor, are actually being carried out, and are having an impact.

This is the sixth annual review which assesses the effectiveness of World Bank programmes in helping to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and related targets designed to address global poverty. This year's review finds that the organisation's programmes are consistent with MDG themes, but can be greatly enhanced by defining quantified, time-bound targets for poverty reduction and other development outcomes. Areas needing further attention include: helping clients to monitor and evaluate development outcomes, working to establish cross-sectoral strategies, and clarifying the role and objectives of itself and other partners. Above all, the World Bank needs to fully assess MDG implications at the corporate, country sector and global levels and to address the implications in its use of lending and administrative resources.

This Annual Review of Development Effectiveness (ARDE) builds on previous reviews, i.e., the 1998 review, released in a hostile environment of financial crisis, concluded that improvements in project performance cannot be enough, that improvements at a higher plane of program, and country performance should also be present; and, the 1999 review, inscribed within the Comprehensive Development Framework dilemmas, and challenges, identified practices for dealing with those challenges, namely to be based on country commitments to poverty reduction, and sustainable growth. The ARDE 2000 finds that progress was solid on a broad front, but that further progress is likely. Portfolio performance is likely to exceed the Strategic Compact target of seventy five percent satisfactory outcomes; and, sustainability, and institutional development ratings reflect improvements. Though progress is commendable, this review examines four tensions the Bank faces: learning to reconcile client, and corporate priorities; adapting global prescriptions to local conditions; balancing country performance and poverty incidence in allocating its resources; and, achieving efficiency/selectivity, seeking to implement a holistic vision of development. Bank strategies should acknowledge client needs, judicious adaptation to institutional, social, and political fronts should be pursued, and, an approach to poor-performing countries should be addressed.

For the World Bank and its partners, the ever-present test is to deliver results-to lift people out of poverty and promote socially and environmentally sustainable development. Achieving such success in any individual country is increasingly intertwined with making progress on shared global challenges. The '2008 Annual Review of Development Effectiveness', an independent evaluation, presents evidence on the Bank's efforts in two important and connected areas: tracking outcomes of Bank projects and country programs; and progress in fostering global public goods, such as protecting the earth's climate and preventing the spread of dangerous communicable diseases.

This is the fifth annual review which explores long-term development effectiveness trends and analyses the choice of lending and non-lending instruments and activities to achieve World Bank development objectives. The 2001 review confirms a significant improvement in the outcomes of the Banks lending performance. It finds that selecting the right combination and sequence of activities for a particular objective can make the difference between success and failure, whether at individual project level, for country assistance programmes or for global, sectoral and thematic priorities. At each level, there is unexploited potential to maximise strategic selectivity, and this is especially important in countries with a poor policy framework or acute institutional development needs.

The ongoing financial crisis has raised questions about the underpinnings of development assistance and the role of international financial institutions. A new development assistance framework, grounded in partnership, is emerging. That is the backdrop for this year's review, which--as in past years--tracks the World Bank's operational performance based on the findings of recent evaluations. After the backdrop provided in chapter one, the chapters that follow review recent evidence about the Bank's development effectiveness. Chapter 2 describes project and sector performance trends. Chapter 3 considers recent evaluation lessons at the country level. It draws on OED's (Operations Evaluation Department) country assistance evaluations to help draw out the lessons of the ongoing crisis. Chapter 4 draws lessons that can be inferred from thematic studies. The final chapter discusses the implications for Bank operations and evaluation.