ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the Bank’s project loans, for which evaluation has the longest history. It argues that the Bank has a highly developed, if imperfect, system for ensuring the quality of evaluative data. The chapter deals with the Bank, that is, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and International Development Association. It also focuses on how the Bank tries to assure the quality of its project-level evaluations. The large number of evaluative organizations and processes has led to confusion about what is expected and to complaints among staff of “evaluation overload.” The challenge for the Bank is to ensure that the ratings are supported by high-quality evaluative information. Quality assurance assessments directly report on the quality of evaluation information both at the project design stage and during project implementation. The combination of activities—policies and guidelines, capacity building, quality assurance review, independent review, and evaluation system review—constitute a complex system for controlling quality of evaluation information at the project level.
