82
Beyond the Annual Budget
undertaken to summarize the lessons learned from different country settings and thus to inform future MTEF-related operations. These lessons may provide useful hints about the approach to take when a country and the Bank together prepare an MTEF-related project.
Methodology The review focuses on Bank lending operations because ex post evaluation reports are available only for Bank lending. Implementation Completion Reports (ICRs) mark the transition from the implementation of a Bank project to the operation of targeted policies or institutional arrangements at the country level (see box 6.1) and therefore make it possible to analyze the design and impact of Bank interventions at the country level.1 The sample of relevant Bank operations comprises 104 lending projects out of 691 MTEF-related operations and includes both lending and AAAs.2 When taking stock of the Bank’s MTEF-related products, it is important to bear in mind that client countries often introduce and then
Box 6.1
Implementation Completion and Results Reports Implementation Completion Reports (ICRs) are an integral part of the World Bank lending cycle. They provide a complete and systematic account of the performance and results of each operation. The Bank requires an ICR for each lending project, and all ICRs are delivered within six months of the project’s closing date. ICRs have the following objectives: • • • • •
Provide a complete and systematic account of the performance and results of each operation. Capture and disseminate the experience learned from one operation to improve future operations and ensure greater impact. Provide accountability and transparency with respect to the activities of the Bank, borrower, and involved stakeholders. Provide a vehicle for realistic self-evaluations of performance by the Bank and borrower. Contribute to databases for aggregation, analysis, and reporting, especially by the Independent Evaluation Group, on the effectiveness of lending operations in contributing to development strategies at the sector, country, and global levels.