This study evaluates progress under the HIPC initiative since the 2003 evaluation of the Independent Evaluation Group. It finds that the Enhanced HIPC initiative (the Initiative for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries) cut debt ratios in half for 18 countries, but in eight of these countries, the...

Interest is high on the World Bank's role in and use of the Low-Income Country Debt Sustainability Framework (LIC-DSF) in light of the sharp rise in debt stress among low-income countries and a changing global risk landscape in the years leading up to and resulting from the coronavirus pandemic...

Globally, although growth has lifted millions out of poverty, in many countries growth has existed in parallel with rising inequality and groups of people being left behind. Social discontent arising from the lack of inclusiveness of the growth process has sometimes led to conflicts and...

This evaluation assesses the World Bank Group's record on implementation of the shared prosperity goal since 2013 using the official definition of the goal of fostering income growth of the bottom 40 percent. It also analyzes institutional requirements for effective implementation of the goal,...

The goal of Poverty Reduction Support Credits (PRSCs), introduced in early 2001 under World Bank Interim guidelines, was to help countries implement comprehensive, country-owned development strategies to promote growth, improve social conditions, and reduce poverty. PRSCs were intended to ease...

The current global financial and economic crises are likely to put enormous pressure on governments to respond with immediate measures and to undertake far-reaching reforms in the medium term, requiring a substantial increase in donor support. To protect the poor and enhance benefits to them,...

This paper reviews recent impact evaluations of interventions and programs to improve child anthropometric outcomes- height, weight, and birth weight-with an emphasis on both the findings and the limitations of the literature and on understanding what might happen in a non-research setting. It...

This evaluation, which covers the period fiscal 2002-08, finds that the Bank made progress in gender integration, compared with an earlier evaluation by the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) on gender covering the period fiscal 1990-99. Gender integration into Bank support increased both in...

This evaluation aims to inform the implementation of the most recent the World Bank and International Finance Corporation (IFC) health, nutrition, and population (HNP) strategies to enhance the effectiveness of future support. It covers the period since fiscal year 1997 and is based on desk...

Independent evaluation of International Finance Corporations (IFC's) development results 2009 takes stock of the development performance of IFC's investment operations, and examines, for the first time, the development effectiveness of its Advisory Services (AS), thus offering the first holistic...