Cost-benefit analysis used to be one of the World Bank's signature issues. It helped establish its reputation as the knowledge Bank and served to demonstrate its commitment to measuring results and ensuring accountability to taxpayers. It was the Bank's answer to the results agenda long before...

Almost a third of all Bank projects approved since 1997 have been water related. Water lending grew 55 percent in commitment terms during the period evaluated, and project performance has improved steadily, led by a significant performance improvement in the Africa region. Water has been...

The World Bank's Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) assess the conduciveness of a country's policy and institutional framework to poverty reduction, sustainable growth, and the effective use of development assistance. It plays an important role in the country performance ratings...

Reducing poverty in any individual country is increasingly intertwined with making progress on shared global challenges fostering global public goods (GPGs) such as climate protection and communicable disease control. This year's Annual Review of Development Effectiveness (ARDE) tracks Bank...

The first of a series on climate change, this evaluation assesses International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and International Development Association (IDA) experience with key win-win policies in the energy sector. It focuses on energy price reform and policies for energy...

The Bank Group's lending and non-lending support for environmental sustainability has increased and improved over the past 15 years. But the institution needs to raise the priority it accords to this area of rising concern, strengthen internal cooperation, and work more effectively with its...