World Bank releases a new scorecard to estimate development impact

The World Bank Group has introduced a comprehensive framework aimed at measuring the effectiveness of its development programmes.

According to Reuters, this framework encompasses 22 indicators, indicating a major shift in the bank's approach to assessing its impact on global development initiatives.

"A vision and mission are really great, but unless you can translate it into actions and measure it, then it's quite aspirational, and we also want it to be operational," Reuters quoted Anna Bjerde, the Margining Director of Operations at the World Bank.

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The drive behind this initiative comes partly from pressure exerted by major shareholders, including the US, urging the World Bank to enhance its efforts in addressing pressing global issues such as climate change and pandemic preparedness.

The bank has streamlined its focus, in response, by reducing the number of projects while prioritising those that are more programmatic and transformative.

The newly introduced scorecard, featuring 22 global indicators, is designed to evaluate facets of development, including poverty alleviation, economic prosperity, and environmental sustainability.

It also incorporates critical themes such as gender equality, youth inclusion, and the well-being of individuals residing in fragile and conflict-affected regions.

Bjerde said that it was important to adopt a "people-centric" approach to scrutinise development outcomes more closely.

According to Bjerde, the scorecard represents a paradigm shift, offering a unified framework for tracking the performance of all World Bank institutions, including the International Finance Corporation and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

"It’s a real game changer, providing a new guidepost that our teams can rally around, and provides full visibility on how well we are tackling the most difficult challenges like poverty, climate change, fragility, and food insecurity," Reuters quoted her as saying.

The scorecard supports World Bank's shift towards outcome-oriented strategies rather than focusing on inputs.

For example, it seeks to measure not only the accessibility of financial services but also the actual utilisation by people.

Bjerde said that transparency in the data collected was important. This includes breakdowns by gender, region, age, and the prevalence of fragile and conflict-affected situations.

While the World Bank is still refining the methodologies for calculating scores across the 22 indicators, it plans to release half of the data in June, with the remainder scheduled for October.

Initial data will include metrics such as global access to electricity and the effectiveness of social safety net programs.

By providing granular insights into development outcomes, the bank is attempting to identify areas that require more efforts.

(With inputs from Reuters)