Results at completion are reported in the Project Completion Report (PCR), and are externally validated by the Office of Evaluation and Oversight (OVE). The Bank’s strong commitment to produce evidence on “what works” has resulted in an increased number of operations that include rigorous impact evaluation components at project design.

Project Completion Report (PCR)

The Project Completion Report (PCR) assesses results achieved by a project, its long-term sustainability, and lessons learned to improve the design and execution of future operations. The PCR constitutes a building block to improve management for results, learning and greater accountability. The PCR is designed to help Bank staff comply with the nine core standards for project completion reporting outlined by the Good Practice Standards produced by the Evaluation Cooperation Group (ECG-GPS).  Key to these standards is that all PCRs results need must be validated by the Office of Evaluation and Oversight (OVE).

An Impact Evaluation (IE)

An Impact Evaluation (IE) determines the net causal effect of an intervention on an indicator of interest.   A key concept in IE is counterfactual analysis—what would have happened in the absence of the project?  The net attributable impact is the difference between the observed value and the counterfactual.  However, a fundamental challenge in IE is the impossibility to observe the same units (households, schools, firms, etc.) with and without the intervention.  While it is possible to observe the units at different moments in time—as in before and after scenarios—it is possible that other factors could explain the change and therefore this scenario is not a valid counterfactual.  Rigorous impact evaluations ask not only if there was a net causal effect but also why there was or was not an effect.  In this regard, it is important to make the project logic explicit and consider other mechanisms and variables. 

The Office of Strategic Planning and Development Effectiveness (SPD) engages in the evaluation of projects at different levels according to the demands from project teams and the strategic relevance of a particular operation. SPD’s role is to strengthen the design and implementation of IE, and its involvement can occur at three different levels: a) advising teams on general evaluation questions; b) reviewing terms of reference and/or results matrices and supporting the team in the definition of the evaluation design (sample size, definition of indicators, etc.); and c) in a more substantive role, in which a SPD member participates as full team member, responsible for the evaluation component of the project.

Office of Evaluation and Oversight (OVE)

The Office of Evaluation and Oversight (OVE) undertakes independent and systematic evaluations of the Bank's strategies, policies, programs, activities, delivery support functions and systems. OVE disseminates findings of these evaluations so that recommendations for improvement can be used in the design, appraisal and execution of new operations. OVE has organizational and behavioral independence, and is free from external pressure and conflicts of interest, as stipulated by the criteria established by the Evaluation Cooperation Group (ECG) of the Multilateral Development Banks, of which the IDB is a founding member. OVE's findings, analyses, and conclusions are free from management’s influence at all stages of the process, including the planning of work programs and budget, formulation of terms of reference, staffing of evaluation teams, execution of evaluations and approval of reports.