This year's annual review of development effectiveness (ARDE) is being written against the backdrop of a global financial crisis, declining growth, and massive fiscal stimulus efforts to revitalize markets. Demand for greater development support from the World Bank has grown, along with concerns...

The purpose of this evaluation is threefold. First, it seeks to assess how, and how well, the World Bank Group has supported its public and private sector clients in their efforts to achieve greater environmental sustainability over the past 15 years. Second, it attempts to identify the...

The World Bank Group's (WBG) safeguards and sustainability policies were put in place to prevent or mitigate adverse impacts of its projects on people and the environment. These goals remain critical given current environmental and social trends. Recent global experience in the financial and...

The World Bank's Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) assess the conduciveness of a country's policy and institutional framework to poverty reduction, sustainable growth, and the effective use of development assistance. The CPIA enters the calculation of country performance ratings...

The international development community acknowledges that the SDGs will not be achieved without greater participation from the private sector. Estimates for investment needs in developing countries alone range from USD 3.3 trillion to USD 4.5 trillion per year. Up to 70 percent of the investment...

Globally, although growth has lifted millions out of poverty, in many countries growth has existed in parallel with rising inequality and groups of people being left behind. Social discontent arising from the lack of inclusiveness of the growth process has sometimes led to conflicts and...

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...

Many of the world's poor people depend on natural resources for their well-being. Four-fifths of the world's poor people live in rural areas, and most rural poor people depend on natural resources for their livelihoods. The renewable natural resources on which poor people depend are increasingly...