ECG Good Practice Standards
Good Practice Standards for the Evaluation of MDB Supported Public Sector and Policy-Based Lending Operations
Published by: Independent Evaluation Group (IEG), World Bank Group
This paper helps to define and establish good practice standards for multinational development banks' (MDBs) evaluation of public sector operations supported by a MDB loan with sovereign guarantee. The standards aim at the ECG objectives of harmonization of evaluation criteria and processes. They are also expected to help in the MDBs' linkage between evaluation and operational standards in pursuit of corporate missions and objectives, and in the learning from experience between MDBs for improved results.
The paper was developed within the general framework of the OECD-DAC evaluation principles, the ECG principles and objectives, and the coherence principles of results-based management. It was completed in 2002.
Policy-Based Lending Operations
The GPS report recognized that policy-based lending (PBL) was a special category of public sector lending, and recommended that special guidelines be prepared to "meet the special evaluation requirements for such operations, if necessary.”
In 2003, the ECG agreed that a study would be carried out to take stock of evaluation practices for PBL in the MDBs, to assess the evaluation approaches being used and the management of the evaluation process for PBL. The resulting study was finalized in September 2004. This Addendum to the GPS provides good practices for the evaluation of PBL, including the rating of individual policy-based lending operations (PBLs) and the management of the evaluation process for PBLs.