How Much Does Evaluation Matter?

Abstract

This article offers empirical evidence of the utilization of evaluation findings of the World Bank Institute's (WBI) efforts to help reduce corruption in Tanzania and Uganda. These initiatives are part of the World Bank-WBI program to curb corruption in developing countries. This analysis focuses on the mid-term evaluation of the WBI's anti-corruption activities in those countries. The study shows, through a series of examples, how evaluation has been used in both an instrumental and an enlightenment fashion by program designers and implementers. Although links between knowledge generation and utilization are seldom clear and direct, and specific information cannot always be isolated as the basis for a particular decision, the examples show that utilization has occurred, bringing about change in program design and implementation.

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