Approach Paper - Learning in World Bank Lending - 1. Background and Context

The World Bank has responded in many ways over the years—for example, through the concept of the “Knowledge Bank” (1996), the creation of the networks (predecessors to the Global Practices [GPs]) in 1997, the 2010 knowledge strategy, the 2014 organizational reforms that created the GPs to strengthen global knowledge flows, the 2017 Knowledge Management Action Plan and the creation of a central kno. [...] It will build on the following three evaluations of learning and knowledge flows in the World Bank: Learning and Results in World Bank Operations: How the Bank Learns (World Bank 2014), Learning and Results in World Bank Operations: Toward a New Learning Strategy (World Bank 2015), and Knowledge Flow and Collaboration under the World Bank’s New Operating Model (World Bank 2019a). [...] Whereas previous research and evaluations (cited in chapter 1) established the importance of knowledge for Bank performance, including positive links between knowledge and outcomes, this evaluation will identify, in a granular manner, the types of knowledge the World Bank uses to design and implement successful projects, how and when it uses the knowledge, and the enabling, or explanatory, factors. [...] Scope 3.6 The focus of this evaluation is on learning in World Bank financing operations— specifically, how the task teams and management in the GPs and Regions apply and expand the knowledge available in lending operations. [...] The Independent Evaluation Group plans to assess 16 whether the knowledge input was actionable; in what ways the knowledge input changed the task team’s understanding; what the task team did differently because of the knowledge input; and to what extent the knowledge input resulted in a meaningful change in the project design, its implementation progress, and its outcomes.