More than a decade has passed since the global economic and financial crisis rocked the world. A clear lesson that emerged from it was the importance of identifying and addressing country-specific vulnerabilities ex ante to build resilience when a shock occurs. The 2020 global economic and...

Over the past year, the response to the global financial crisis has continued to dominate development and the work of international institutions, including the World Bank Group. Challenges of poverty and fragile states, environment, and climate change remain daunting. But the manner in which...

This first-of-its-kind evaluation assesses the scope of the World Bank Group's convening power and how effectively it is deployed. The report finds that the Bank Group's comparative advantages give it strong convening power that it uses on many development issues. In so doing, it meets the...

The evaluation examines the development effectiveness of the World Bank Group's support for trade facilitation and identifies lessons for future engagement. The World Bank Group has played a leading role in trade facilitation reform over the past 12 years, having identified lowering trade costs...

World Bank Group strategy continues to position SMEs as key vehicles to promote employment, value chain development, economic and social inclusion, and resilience in the face of fragility and conflict. This note synthesizes findings regarding SMEs and SME support from recent IEG evaluations,...

A large share of the world's population today has access to health services, but the health needs of a great segment of the global population remain unmet. In 2013, more than 400 million people worldwide were not receiving at least one of the seven essential health services identified as...

This evaluation is the first comprehensive assessment of World Bank Group's multisectoral engagement in pollution management with 534 projects and USD 34 billion commitment during FY04-17. It finds that the Bank Group has made significant progress in improving pollution management in client...

This evaluation assesses the World Bank Group's record on implementation of the shared prosperity goal since 2013 using the official definition of the goal of fostering income growth of the bottom 40 percent. It also analyzes institutional requirements for effective implementation of the goal,...

This evaluation assesses the World Bank Group's contributions towards capital market development in client countries. It examines the activities the Bank Group has in all segments of capital market development, both in the public and private sectors, including interventions across 64 countries....

The report discusses how challenging it is for the World Bank Group to provide assistance when middle-income countries experience situations of fragility, conflict, and violence. The government may have its own views on how and when to tackle the underlying issues, or may be reluctant to...