World Bank Group strategy continues to position SMEs as key vehicles to promote employment, value chain development, economic and social inclusion, and resilience in the face of fragility and conflict. This note synthesizes findings regarding SMEs and SME support from recent IEG evaluations,...

This report provides a retrospective assessment of the Bank Group's results and performance acrossits project and program portfolio. This is relevant for understanding the stock of achievements to date and the foundations on which the Bank Group is delivering on the Forward Look and its...

The World Bank Group's positioning in relation to Rwanda's Vision 2020 goal of rapidly attaining Middle-Income Country (MIC) status reflected many of the elements that are critical to realizing the country's goal: (i) Under a first pillar of promoting economic transformation for sustained...

In 2016, the World Bank Group stepped up its engagement in situations of conflict-induced forced displacement at the global and country levels and adopted a new approach to its engagement that recognizes displacement as a development challenge that must be addressed to attain the World Bank...

This evaluation assesses the Bank Group's effectiveness and comparative advantage in fostering regional integration during FY2003-17 and draws lessons that can be used to inform future regional integration operations. Client countries of the World Bank Group have turned to regional integration...

The International Development Association (IDA) Regional Window Program was developed as a funding mechanism to provide additional financing resources to co-finance projects that help low-income countries achieve their regional integration objectives. The main objective of this synthesis report...

The 18th replenishment of the International Development Association (IDA18), one of the world's major providers of financial resources to the poorest countries, was the largest in the institution's 56-year history. Together with significant changes in its policy and financing framework, IDA's...

From the 15th replenishment of the International Development Association (IDA15)through IDA18, the Crisis Response Window (CRW) evolved from a focus on economicshocks to include two other types of crises-natural disasters and public healthemergencies. The CRW was set up as a pilot under IDA15 to...

The World Bank Group began evaluating projects in 1970 when President Robert McNamara created an Operations Evaluation Unit in the World Bank's Programming and Budgeting Department. In 1973, the unit became the Operations Evaluation Department, which reported to the Board of Executive Directors...

This evaluation is a corporate-level assessment of the role and effectiveness of IFC in its support to its clients' inclusive business models. It also identifies implications and options for IFC's future support to inclusive business. The evaluation uses a two-pronged approach based on: (i) a...