Enhancing the Capabilities of Central Finance Agencies: Synthesis Report presents the findings of a study of the functions performed by CFAs, defined as government organizations that carry out financial management functions for the whole of government. Using a political economy approach to the...

This evaluation takes the premise that beyond in-forming IDA allocation, the CPIA is useful as a broad indicator of development effectiveness. It reviews the appropriateness of the CPIA as an indicator that assesses the conduciveness of a country's policies and institutions to fostering poverty...

Fragile and conflict-affected states (FCS) have become an important focus of World Bank Group assistance in recent years as recognition of the linkages between fragility, conflict, violence, and poverty has grown. Addressing issues of recurring conflict and political violence and helping build...

Global growth is expected to be 2.8 percent in 2015, but is expected to pick up to 3.2 percent in 2016-17. Growth in developing countries and some high-income countries is set to disappoint again this year. The prospect of rising borrowing costs will compound the challenges many developing...

Impact evaluation has grown more popular as a method for identifying the causal links between interventions and outcomes. These kind of evaluations assess changes that can be attributed to a particular intervention. Both innovations in statistical methods and the demand for evaluations that can...

Development involves change, but many development initiatives produce unimpressive results. The authors ask why and consider how to close the gap between the intended change and what we actually see in the evidence. This paper presents the findings of a study, initiated by the multi-donor Global...