Approach Paper - Early Evaluation of the World Bank’s COVID-19 Response - Report to the Board

Jul 19, 2026

Upload by Miles

Approach Paper on the early evaluation of the World Bank’s COVID-19 response, presented to the Committee on Development Effectiveness at its July 26, 2021 meeting. CODE discusses the timeliness and learning value of the evaluation, which assesses the relevance and quality of the Bank’s health and social response across key pillars: saving lives, protecting poor and vulnerable people, and strengthening policies and institutions. Members emphasize vaccine operations, coordination with IFC, and how scope limits shape what is assessed versus addressed in separate evaluations.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages1

Reading Time3 min

Committee meeting and rationale

Scope and learning relevance

Assessment coverage and evaluation timing

Feedback on scope expansion

Vaccine operations focus

Relationship with IFC and separate evaluations

Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Approach Paper Early Evaluation of the World Bank’s COVID-19 Response to Save Lives and Protect Poor and Vulnerable People Report to the Board from the Committee on Development Effectiveness ∗ Meeting of July 26, 2021 The Committee on Development Effectiveness met to consider the Approach Paper- Early Evaluation of the World Bank’s COVID-19 Response to Save Lives and Protect Poor and Vulnerable People (CODE2021-0044) . CODE welcomed the opportunity to discuss the Approach Paper (AP) and highlighted the timeliness ofthe proposed evaluation, and its relevance to foster learning to strengthen the WB’s response to the current pandemic crisis and future crises. The Committee commended IEG for prioritizing this subject, acknowledging that the evaluation would assess the relevance and quality of the Bank's health and social response, covering pillars 1, 2 and 4 (“Saving lives”,“Protecting poor and vulnerable people” and“Strengthening policies and institutions”, respectively) set out in the World Bank Group's (WBG) COVID-19 Crisis Response Approach Paper. Members noted IEG’s remarks that the evaluation would be one of the two early-stage evaluations, along with a partner IEG evaluation conducted separately, on the economic response, focused on saving livelihoods, preserving jobs and ensuring more sustainable business growth and job creation. Given the importance of advancing reflections that could inform WB’s ongoing response to COVID-19, IEG agreed to several Executive Directors’ request to informally share with the Board the preliminary findings ofthe evaluation, before formal submission of the evaluation report. While in general pleased with the comprehensive AP, most members requested that coverage of vaccine operations be a major part of the proposed scope, including assessment of WB’s response timeliness, country-driven approach, responsiveness to countries’ needs, innovativeness, and coordination with IFC to increase countries’ vaccine production capacity. Clarifying that the vaccine response had built up almost in parallel with the triggering of the evaluation, IEG reassured members that the vaccine response would be considered in the evaluation’s corporate, portfolio and country level analysis. A couple of members encouraged IEG to expand the evaluation’s scope to include IFC, given its relevant role to support vaccines production and the IFC/MIGA frameworks or fast-track facilities with delegation of authority, designed to address health and social challenges posed by the pandemic. IEG clarified that at the time the scope was defined there was a limited activity from IFC on healthcare area, and that the most recent increase in IFC engagement in this area fell largely outside of the timeframe under consideration. IEG thus noted that this evaluation would not be an effective instrument to cover IFC’s COVID-related engagements. IEG reassured members that IFC’s COVID-19 response would be thoroughly assessed in the separate evaluation on economic response and reminded them that an evaluation on IFC’s frameworks was already included in the IEG’s work program agreed with CODE for FY23 . ∗ This report is not an approved record.

FAQs

What is the purpose of the early evaluation discussed in the Approach Paper?

The evaluation is intended to assess the relevance and quality of the World Bank’s health and social COVID-19 response and to support learning to strengthen the response to current and future crises.

Which pillars of the COVID-19 response does the evaluation cover?

It covers pillars focused on saving lives, protecting poor and vulnerable people, and strengthening policies and institutions, aligned with the World Bank Group’s COVID-19 Crisis Response Approach Paper.

How do comments affect the vaccine-related scope and what about IFC’s role?

Members requested vaccine operations be a major part of the scope, and the vaccine response is to be reflected in corporate, portfolio, and country analyses. IFC is not covered effectively in this evaluation due to scope and timing limits, while IFC’s COVID-19 response and related frameworks are addressed in separate evaluations.

Jul 19, 2026

Upload by Miles