Independent Evaluation Group
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The Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) is an independent unit within the World Bank Group charged with objectively evaluating the activities of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and International Development Association (IDA; collectively, the World Bank), the work of International Finance Corporation (IFC) in private sector development, and Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency's (MIGA) guarantee projects and services to provide accountability, and determine what works, what doesn't and why. The head of IEG, the Director-General, Evaluation, reports directly to the Bank Group’s Board of Executive Directors and not to Bank Group management.
Improving Development Effectiveness by Showing What Works
The World Bank Group has twin goals: to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity. To achieve these goals, the World Bank Group needs to better understand what works and why, to draw lessons and good practices from experience, deepening the evidence base to inform decision making and future action. IEG evaluations seek to provide objective assessments to ensure that the Bank Group is accountable for achieving its development objectives. IEG is one of the 4 units (the four I's) that ensure oversight and accountability at the World Bank Group: the Inspection Panel (IPN) and the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) reporting to the Board of Executive Directors; the Internal Audit (IAD) reporting to the President and to the Audit Committee; the Integrity Vice Presidency (INT) reporting to the President.
Expanding Evaluation Capacity
IEG also provides training and advisory monitoring and evaluation (M&E) services to Bank Group client countries. Through this evaluation capacity development, IEG is readying a network of capable evaluators to perform M&E services in their own countries and regions. IEG is a partner in the International Program for Development Evaluation Training (IPDET), the Regional Centers for Learning on Evaluation and Results (CLEAR), and the Evaluation Cooperation Group (ECG).
Director-General, Evaluation
Caroline Heider joined the Independent Evaluation Group of the World Bank Group as Director-General on October 1, 2011, and reports directly to the World Bank Group's Boards of Executive Directors through the Committee on Development Effectiveness (CODE). She has more than 25 years of international experience in evaluation. Caroline is a lifetime member of the International Development Evaluation Association (IDEAS) and a member of the American Evaluation Association. She is currently Chair of the Global Evaluation Advisory Committee, UN Women.
History
Evaluation of World Bank projects began in 1970 when President Robert McNamara created an Operations Evaluation Unit in the bank's Programming and Budgeting Department. In 1973 the unit was renamed the Operations Evaluation Department, and thereafter gained increasing independence from bank management. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) established an evaluation unit in 1984, and in 1995 the unit increased its independence under a new name, the Operations Evaluation Group. The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) created an evaluation office in 2002. In July 2006 the Board of the Bank Group integrated the independent evaluation functions of the World Bank, IFC, and MIGA into a single unit, the Independent Evaluation Group.
See also
References
- Patrick G. Grasso, Sulaiman S. Wasty, Rachel V. Weaving (2003). World Bank Operations Evaluation Department - The First 30 Years. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank. ISBN 0-8213-5550-3.