EVALUATION OFFICE REPORTS - REs

RE-230-2
Evaluation Report
Annual Report of the Evaluation Office for 1997
Evaluation Office,
Inter-American Development Bank
Washington D.C.
October, 1998

Table of Contents

Acronyms
Introduction
1.  Lessons Learned: Eight Replenishment Mandate
  1. Poverty Reduction and Social Equity
  2. Modernization and Integration
  3. The Environment
2.  Findings and Lessons from Evaluations
  1. Introduction
  2. The Case of Ecuador
  3. The Case of Dominican Republic
3.  Results and Lessons Learned: Project Evaluations
  1. Urban Development and Sanitation
  2. Finance, Trade and Investments
  3. Reform of the Public Sector
  4. Environmental Issues in Infrastructure
  5. Reaching the Poor
  6. Other Lending
4.  Status of the Evaluation System and Activities
  1. Evaluation System
  2. Activities
  3. Follow-up on the Implementation of Recommendations resulting from evaluation reports review by the Board of Executive Directors.

Top

Acronyms

AML Análisis de Marco Lógico
BE Board Matters and Evaluation Committee
BEP Borrower Ex-Post Evaluation
BES Bank Evaluation System
BP Bolivar Program
CDR "Compromisos de Resultados"
CEDC Children in Especially Difficult Circumstances
CIDA Canadian International Development Agency
CO Country Office
CP Country Program
DAC Development Assistance Committee
D&T Dissemination and Training
ECG Evaluation Coordinators Group
Evaluation Office
GTZ Gesellschaft fuer Technische Zusammenarbeit (Society for Technical Cooperation)
IAWG Inter-Agency Working Froup on Evaluation
ICE In-Country Evaluation Capacity Building
IDB-8 Inter-American Development Bank Eight Replenishment
IFAD International Fund for Agriculture Development
IMEC International Program on Management of Engineering of Construction
LAC Latin American and the Caribbean
LFA Logical Framework Analysis
MDB Multilateral Development Bank
NGO Non-Governmental Organization
NRM Natural Resource Management
OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
OVE Operations Evaluation Office
ORE External Review and Evaluation Office
PCR Project Completion Report
PPRF Project Performance Review Form
SDS Social Programs and Sustainable Development Department
SEP Program's Executive Secretary
SIDA Swedish International Development Agency
SIF Social Investment Funds
SINE National Evaluation System
SME Small and Medium Enterprise
TAPOMA Task Force on Portfolio Management
TC Technical Cooperation
WID Women in Development

Top

Introduction

I am pleased to present the 1997 annual Report of the Office of Evaluation (). This report is submitted to the President and to the Board of Executive Directors in compliance with the mandate of the Office.

This year, the Annual Report highlights "lessons learned" distilled from evaluation studies conducted by the Office over the 1994-97 period. While it is far too early to assess the overall impact of the achievement of the strategic objectives of the Eight Replenishment, lessons here reflect significant changes and substantive progress in the targeting of the bank's lending toward the social areas.

The four chapters of the Annual Report aim at providing evaluation findings and lessons from three administrative perspectives within the Bank: the policy, the program and the project levels.

The first chapter summarizes policy relevant lessons in three priority areas of the Eight Replenishment: Social Sectors, Public Sector Reform and the Environment. For each lending area, there is an outline of the mandates of the Eighth Replenishment, a description of the lending program of the bank and lessons learned from thematic and sector evaluations.

The following chapter includes findings and lessons from the two pilot country program evaluations completed by the Office. They cover Bank funded activities in the Dominican Republic and in Ecuador.

The third chapter reports on findings and lessons distilled from project ex-post evaluations in five lending areas of the Bank: Urban Development and Sanitation, Finance, Trade and Investment, Reform of the Public Sector, Agriculture, and Science and Technology.

The last chapter reviews evaluation activities performed by the different stakeholders within the Bank Evaluation System. It gives an account of the activities sponsored by the Evaluation Office.

Summaries of each evaluation study completed by the office, as well as 's former Annual Reports are accessible electronically by INTERNET at www.iadb.org under the heading of "Departments".

Noteworthy this year are the two pilot country program evaluations. Also, there was the significant improvement made by Management in setting ex-ante performance benchmarks during the project design phase. The Logical Framework analysis approach was used in almost 80% of loan operations submitted to the Board of Executive Directors. This will facilitate ongoing monitoring mid-term and ex-post evaluation. The annual portfolio assessment prepared by Management, for the first time, covered all operations of the Bank.

However, there is still a need to give priority to evaluate each operation upon completion. Compliance in the preparation of Project Completion Reports is low at 37% of the projects terminated in 1997. A promising step for future PCR reporting is the release of new guidelines for the preparation of PCRs, which will shift the focus on results based reporting.

It is my hope that this Annual Report will stimulate discussions on lessons learned from Bank evaluations and foster continued efforts toward the improvement of the Bank Evaluation System.

Jean S. Quesnel
Director, Evaluation Office
June 18, 1998

Top