25 Survey respondents for eight of eight IFC IEs believed that these IEs have contributed to filling the knowledge gap. 26 Cluster briefs set out the nature of the intervention, the rationale for the work, the outcomes to be measured, a set of possible countries where interventions of this type may be able to be implemented, and estimated costs and time-table for the work over the following three years. 27 The six clusters were CCT, HIV/AIDS prevention, basic education accountability, malaria control, health contracting/performance, and active labor markets/youth employment. 28 The process is as follows: Proposals are submitted to the program manager and then sent for initial vetting by the technical committee. If the committee recommends the proposal for further development, it will be sent for anonymous technical peer review. Up to the overall allocation ceiling specified by the Steering Committee, for all proposals that pass review and that are endorsed by the technical committee, the program manager will have the authority to fund the evaluation (up to a ceiling of $600,000 per evaluation). 29 The Africa Program for Education Impact Evaluation, Malaria Impact Evaluation, the Health Results-Based Financing IE program, the Africa Impact Evaluation Program on HIV/AIDS, AADAPT in Africa, Latin America, and South Asia, the Active Labor Market IE Program, the Gender Program, the IE program in Finance and Private Sector, and the Fragile States Program. 30 DIME tries to implement programs in partnership with sector management (World Bank 2010). Good examples are the management of the Africa Region’s education, health, agriculture, and private sectors; the Latin America agriculture and private sectors; Brazil Country Management Unit; PREM in the Middle East and North Africa Region; and South Asia’s rural livelihood team. 31 The core delegation usually includes a director-level official from the relevant ministry (policy making); a program manager (knowledge of the intervention); and an economist/statistician (follow-up). The delegations are trained in IE methods and exposed to international IE results relevant to their sector. In the clinics, the delegations design the IE, facilitated by an IE expert. On the last day, each delegation presents its designs for plenary discussion. The clinics are facilitated by IE experts, who stimulate discussion around the evidence and foster a process of critical thinking aimed at defining a learning agenda (World Bank 2010). 32 Consistent with the expansion of the programmatic model in 2009—first piloted in the Africa Program for Education Impact Evaluation in 2007—under which project teams are supported with the design of IEs through workshops and clinics described here, there is evidence of an increase in IEs being jointly developed by project teams and IE initiatives at the World Bank. According to surveys, in 2009–10, 26 percent of IEs were initiated by project teams and IE initiatives at the World Bank (for example, DIME), compared with 4 percent in the preceding years.
Relevance of World Bank Group Impact Evaluations
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