What counts as a development result? Simply counting project outputs is no longer adequate. Instead, we and our country partners consider the wider impact of our projects. The focus, for example, is less on counting the kilometers of road built than on measuring the impact of crucial infrastructure on the lives of people down the road. Did access to health care improve? Did the cost of growing vegetables go down? Did more goods get to market and villagers' incomes increase?
When a project is completed and closed at the end of the loan disbursement period (a process that can take anywhere from 1-10 years) the World Bank and the borrower government document the results achieved; the problems encountered; the lessons learned; and the knowledge gained from carrying out the project. A World Bank operations team compiles this information and data in an Implementation Completion and Results Report, using input from the implementing government agency, co-financiers, and other partners/stakeholders.
The report, prepared by Bank operational staff, is submitted to the Bank's Board of Executive Directors for information purposes. The knowledge gained from this results measurement process is intended to benefit similar projects in the future.
The Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) - an independent unit within the World Bank Group - strives to provide an objective basis for assessing the results of the Bank's work. IEG assesses the performance of roughly one project out of four (about 70 projects a year). These Project Performance reports measure outcomes against the original objectives, sustainability of results and institutional development impact. From time to time, IEG also produces Impact Evaluation reports to assess the economic worth of projects and the long-term effects on people and the environment against an explicit counter-factual.
The Quality Assurance Group (QAG) evaluates the operations work of Bank staff in developing countries, providing timely feedback that can help rectify project design and improve project supervision. QAG publishes an Annual Report on Portfolio Performance which gives the Bank's Board of Directors and Senior Management a strategic overview of the size, composition and quality of the Bank's lending portfolio and analytical research program.
