Evaluation report
Liberia - Completion and Learning Review for the Period FY13-17 : IEG Review
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Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-sonnet-5-5This is an Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) review of the World Bank Group's country program in Liberia for FY13-17. It covers the country's economic and development context, including the effects of the 2014-2016 Ebola crisis on growth. It reviews the Bank's country partnership strategy and sets out lessons for future programs. The text is about country-level development strategy and does not focus on children's well-being.
Key points
- Liberia's GNI per capita was 380 US dollars in 2017.
- Average annual GDP growth fell from 6.2 percent in 2003-2013 to 2.1 percent in 2013-2017, after the Ebola crisis and a drop in commodity prices.
- The country partnership strategy had three pillars: economic transformation, human development, and governance and public sector institutions.
- IEG lessons include that a flexible strategy allowed a timely response to the Ebola crisis.
- IEG also advised that trust fund activities need a clear strategic focus and explicit selectivity filters.
Limitations
The abstract does not give any findings on children, and only mentions poor education and health indicators in passing. It does not describe results of specific projects or the evidence behind the ratings.
Abstract
Liberia is a low-income country with a GNI per capita (Atlas method) of 380 US dollars in 2017. After a period of conflict and instability, Liberia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew at an average annual rate of 6.2 percent during 2003-2013. The ebola virus disease (EVD) crisis of 2014-2016 and a drop in global commodity prices resulted in slower average annual GDP growth of 2.1 percent with per capita annual GDP growth at -0.4 percent during 2013-2017. As a post conflict country aiming to achieve sustained broad-based growth, Liberia faces several development challenges: large infrastructure gaps, poor education and health indicators, a large youth cohort, lack of economic diversification, and weak public institutions. The World Bank Group’s country partnership strategy had three pillars: (i) economic transformation; (ii) human development; and (iii) governance and public sector institutions. In addition, the CPS had two cross-cutting themes of capacity development and gender equality. The CPS focus areas and objectives were well aligned with the government’s agenda for transformation with a strong focus on infrastructure. The CLR provided a succinct assessment of the achievement of program objectives. It identified the increases in IDA lending attributable to the EVD outbreak. The CLR review agrees with the CLR lessons: (i) ensure government’s strong commitment to the CPF program through close alignment with the country’s development plans; (ii) adapt and apply a sound post-conflict and fragile country lens in the design of CPF programs for post conflict countries; (iii) keep an eye on medium-term goals even in the face of a crisis such as EVD; (iv) being selective about cross-cutting themes and including outcomes associated with these themes helps maintain the Government’s and Country Team’s focus on them throughout implementation. IEG provides the following additional lessons: (i) flexibility of the CPS program enabled the WBG to respond to the EVD crisis in a timely manner; and (ii) trust fund activities need to have a well-articulated strategic focus and explicit selectivity filters to ensure that they contribute to the achievement of CPS objectives; (Liberia)