The world is moving backward in its efforts to end hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition. Reaching the Sustainable Development Goal 2, Zero Hunger, targets by 2030 is becoming more challenging each year. In addition to food price increases, most vulnerable people and communities face a range...

Domestic revenue mobilization (DRM) has become an increasingly important part of international and country-level policy agendas. This Evaluation Insight Note gathers insights from World Bank projects and operations supporting DRM through a detailed review of six Independent Evaluation Group...

Within the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence (AI), large language models (LLMs) have the potential to enhance the efficiency, breadth, and validity of the collection, processing, and analysis of text as data in evaluation practice. However, LLMs do not always generate aligned,...

World Bank Group management welcomes Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) review of innovation and entrepreneurship. The global financial crisis required developing economies to actively seek new sources of economic growth. Natural resource-intensive economies are pursuing new ways to diversify...

The unanticipated spike in international food prices in 2007-08 hit many developing countries hard. The World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and International Development Association) organized rapidly for short-term support in the crisis, launching a fast-track...

This report summarizes the past 10 years (1998-2008) of World Bank engagement at the state level in four selected large federal countries: Brazil, India, Nigeria, and the Russian Federation. The report identifies lessons and good practice examples that warrant further examination and wider...

The goal of Poverty Reduction Support Credits (PRSCs), introduced in early 2001 under World Bank Interim guidelines, was to help countries implement comprehensive, country-owned development strategies to promote growth, improve social conditions, and reduce poverty. PRSCs were intended to ease...

This evaluation assesses the performance of International Finance Corporations (IFC's) energy efficiency finance program in China aimed at stimulating energy efficiency investments through bank guarantees and technical assistance. The program's significance is underpinned by the fact that...

The current global financial and economic crises are likely to put enormous pressure on governments to respond with immediate measures and to undertake far-reaching reforms in the medium term, requiring a substantial increase in donor support. To protect the poor and enhance benefits to them,...

This paper reviews recent impact evaluations of interventions and programs to improve child anthropometric outcomes- height, weight, and birth weight-with an emphasis on both the findings and the limitations of the literature and on understanding what might happen in a non-research setting. It...