2001 Annual Review of Development Effectiveness: Making Choices (Independent Evaluation Group Studies)

The "bottom line" for the World Bank is its development effectiveness. The independent Operations Evaluation Department (OED) tracks the Bank's development performance, analyzing the effectiveness of Bank projects, programs, and processes; draws lessons of operational experience; and provides advice to the Board based on evaluations at the project, country, sector, and thematic levels. Each year, evidence from these evaluations is marshaled to produce a summary report on the Bank's development effectiveness, centered around a particular development issue. The '2001 Annual Review of Development Effectiveness: Making Choices' (2001 ARDE) presents the latest independent evaluation results, with a focus on how the Bank and its clients can make the best selection from the available assistance instruments. The latest project evaluation data presented in the 2001 ARDE confirm a significant improvement in the outcomes of the Bank's lending performance, especially for FY00 exiting projects. The upward trend continues into FY01, with solid improvements in sustainability and institutional development impact as well. Lending is, however, only one dimension of the Bank's broader assistance toolkit which includes both financial and nonfinancial instruments. This toolkit has been adapted and expanded in response to a complex and rapidly changing development agenda. New lending instruments, analytical tools, and partnership arrangements have been crafted to address the myriad needs and preferences of borrowers and to meet the challenge of the Bank's mission of poverty reduction. As the findings of the 2001 ARDE show, selecting the right combination and sequencing of activities in a given setting, can make the difference between success and failure. How these instruments are being put into practice, their effectiveness and link to country, sector, and thematic results, and where there is need for improvement are the subject of this review.