Operations Evaluation

About the Operations Evaluation Department of the World Bank from 1973 to 2003.

The '2005 Annual Report on Operation Evaluation' examines the use of information by World Bank managers to improve development results and enhance the effectiveness of the Bank at the country level. It suggests that greater attention is needed to measure and manage development results at the country level. This will require strengthening countries' performance measurement capacity. The Bank is making progress in strengthening the results focus of its monitoring and evaluation, but more attention is needed to improve performance measurement and tracking progress.

"This book focuses on operations management across several sectors and assessment strategies for the improvement of these industries"--

Foreword: This paper provides a resume of the administrative, political, and fiscal history of the Operations Evaluation Group since its inception in 1942. As with any historical account, the objective is two-fold: first, to derive those lessons the past holds which appear applicable to present and future decisions; second, to improve understanding of present organizational concepts and relationships by reviewing the interplay of forces that created them. For several reasons--the purpose and scope of this review being one, security classification another--no attempt is made here to review the Group's research program. Major research trends and activities are of course touched on where they bear on administrative considerations; for the rest, and until a history of the research program is compiled, the reader is referred to those reports, studies, and indexes which are available to those authorized. This paper also presupposes familiarity with operations research, with the organization of the Navy, and with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; it only attempts to present a case history that may be of use to those associated with ( and therefore presumably knowledgeable about) military operations research in general or academically managed Naval operations research in particular.

Information--regular, systematic, reliable--is the life-blood of democracy and the fuel of effective management. Surely today there is no problem with information, for this is the age of information overload. It pours onto our computer screens and out of our printers. Indeed, many governments claim, often with some justification, to be more open and transparent than ever before. But what if the life-blood is contaminated, or the fuel polluted? Then the body politic sickens and the engine of public management runs rough. It is the vital issue of the quality of the information we receive that this book addresses. Quality Matters compares approaches across different jurisdictional settings and across three different types of information evaluation. The chapters describe and analyze quality assurance in a number of countries and within a variety of international organizations. These have been selected either because they are widely considered to be leaders in evaluating information or because they have experience with assuring quality information that can instruct others. Contributors are from Australia, Canada, the European Union, France, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, and the World Bank. This pioneering study analyzes practices for assuring the quality of evaluation, performance auditing, and reporting in the face of political, organizational, and technical obstacles. A final chapter addresses the extent to which quality assurance systems become bothersome rituals or remain meaningful mechanisms to ensure quality control. This well-structured volume will be of particular interest to policymakers and adds much to the literature on program evaluation and performance auditing.

This evaluation, prepared in collaboration with the Islamic Development Bank, looks at the effectiveness of World Bank assistance to Jordan during the 1990s, from three perspectives: an analysis of the World Bank's services and products, development impact, and the contribution of the Bank and its development partners to development outcomes. The World Bank's strategy since 1990, based on wide-ranging and influential analytic and advisory activities, was to support macroeconomic stabilization and pro-market structural reforms to foster growth. The increased focus on the social sectors was aligned with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The strategy was relevant to the government's priorities outlined in a series of five-year economic and social development plans. The Bank's programs, in particular, were successful in promoting policy reforms. Substantial tariff, trade and financial sector reforms, together with the removal of disincentives for investment and the privatization of government enterprises, were achieved. Bank assistance also contributed to significant progress in the agriculture, water and social sectors. With Bank support, Jordan made excellent progress in almost all areas covered by the MDGs, and is likely to meet the target levels by 2015. However, these gains have been achieved in an inefficient manner and the cost in terms of public expenditures has been relatively high. Recommendations outline much needed public sector reform, for despite some public expenditures being curtailed, the country's vulnerability to external shocks remains high, and the potential for regional instability is also considerable. Future Bank assistance should focus on public expenditure restructuring, enhanced water management and conservation, and poverty reduction.

The evaluation of official development programmes has grown tremendously over the past two decades; the public and taxpayers increasingly demand credible assessments of whether aid “works” to improve the lives of the world’s poorest. Global efforts ...