The UK's International Development Committee has sharply reprimanded the Department for International Development for its decision to hand over a fifty per cent increase in funding for the World Bank without sufficient analysis of whether or not this is good value for money.
Evaluation
Accountability
Analysis
The IFIs in 2007: year in review
2007 will certainly go down in the annals of the IFIs as an annus horribilis. But a bad year for the IFIs has meant a relatively good year for developing country policy space.
IFI governance
News
IMF conditionality high, effectiveness low
A report by the IMF’s evaluation arm faulted the Fund’s overuse of structural conditionality and partially blamed donors for the problem, but civil society critics of conditionality are not satisfied with the scope of the report or the changes accepted by the Fund.
Accountability
News
Public campaigns to reform IDA
In Europe, Asia and the United States, civil society has campaigned for reform of the World Bank through the replenishment process of the International Development Association.
IFI governance
News
Ungovernable debate over Fund governance reform
With the wait for new leadership at the IMF over and the deadline for a deal on quota reform looming, the hard bargaining over power at the Fund will now begin. Still no end to European dominance of the institution is in site.
IFI governance
News
Questioning the IFC's impact "without embarrassment"
In August, the World Bank's Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) released its evaluation of the development results of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), finding that of the 627 projects surveyed, 59 per cent are claimed to have achieved a high development rating.
IFI governance
News
What will Zoellick's World Bank look like?
With an increasing number of commentators asking whether and how the World Bank can remain relevant, chief economist Francois Bourguignon unveiled a draft overview of a 'long-term strategic exercise', and the IEG released an evaluation of the Bank's work in middle-income countries.
IFI governance
News
Bank replicates past hydropower mistakes?
Concerns raised about the Nam Theun 2 dam in Lao PDR, the Bujagali dam in Uganda and the Inga dam in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) suggest that the Bank may be replicating past mistakes in the flagship projects of its new generation of 'high-risk high-reward' hydropower.
IFI governance
News
Heated exchanges over exchange rates
The IMF executive board agreed to revise the legal framework for bilateral surveillance in June with the final text incorporating many of the safeguards demanded by developing countries but still angering the Chinese.
IFI governance
News
Regional programmes do not address underlying reforms: evaluation
In April, the Independent Evaluation Group released its first-ever review of the Bank's support for regional programmes, covering the period 1995 - 2005.