Exclusive: World Bank releases first set of scorecard indicators, data

How is the World Bank performing on education, food security, access to electricity, and other key objectives? With the release of the first 11 indicators as part of the new corporate scorecard, the major global lender’s record is now on display. By halfway through the 2024 fiscal year the bank had helped 287 million people access social safety net programs, nearly matching its expected impact of 288 million. But on education, it fell short, with some 280 million students receiving better education, 63 million off target. Some 100 million people gained access to electricity, considerably below the 326 million goal. The scorecard revamp is part of the bank’s broader reform efforts and is intended to streamline the process, shift from a focus on inputs to outcomes, and help operationalize the bank’s vision. This scorecard includes 22 new indicators — the first half was released on Thursday — down from more than 150 in the previous version. It is also the first time the same metrics will be used across all of the World Bank’s institutions, including the International Development Association, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Finance Corporation, and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency. “If you prioritize everything, you prioritize nothing, so we’re trying to zero in on the key results that matter,” said Ed Mountfield, World Bank vice president for operations policy and country services. “A key goal here is also accountability and we're working towards radical transparency. This is a level of transparency that we've never really had before in terms of our results.” What does that look like? For each indicator, the bank has released the detailed methodology — technical measurement details — and data, including project-level details for IBRD and IDA, will be available on a temporary website. The data is disaggregated by a number of factors: country income level or type, region, sex, fragile, and conflict-affected states. Additional disaggregation will be available later this year as well, he said. Some of the indicators have been around for a long time, such as the measure of social safety net programs, but others are new, including net carbon emissions, those supported with access to broadband internet, and a climate adaptation gauge of how many millions of people have enhanced resilience to climate risk. The current data is preliminary and part of a phased approach to the implementation of the scorecard. The second half of the indicators and the corresponding data will be released at the October annual meetings, along with a more robust website. “While this is a work in progress, this shift toward a more outcome-based approach across the entire World Bank Group, greater transparency and data disaggregation is very much welcome to improve accountability and the link between operations and results,” Annalisa Prizzon, a principal research fellow in the Development and Public Finance Programme at ODI, told Devex via email. While the commitment from the bank is clear, and is a step toward the transparency organizations such as Oxfam have called for, it’s a bit early to tell if this new scorecard will meet the mark, Kate Donald, the head of Oxfam International’s Washington, D.C. office told Devex. Key questions remain about disaggregation, data quality, and whether “the commitment to transparency in the corporate scorecard will apply across the institution” to what the World Bank is doing more broadly, she said. “It’s definitely very welcome that they’re saying they’re committing to radical transparency,” Donald said, adding “That is what they should be doing.” In the run-up to the scorecard, Oxfam pushed the World Bank to measure inequality, and one of the indicators does that, which they’re happy about, she said. “We’re now trying to push them to actually say how is this going to change the way you do things,” Donald said. The bank is approaching this effort with humility and understands people will have views about the methods, approach, and data, but there will be an open dialogue as part of a midterm review that will launch shortly after the annual meetings and work to improve the scorecard and address those concerns, Mountfield said. More public data also is likely to lead to more scrutiny of what’s working, and what’s not. That will allow the bank to engage with client countries, shareholders, civil society, and others as well as work internally to see where it should focus and how it can improve, he said. “The scorecard is already starting to change the way that we work and think about our work at the World Bank more than ever before. There's a focus on results at every level, not just the dollars, from projects to programs to broader strategies and with unified metrics,” Mountfield said. “It's helping us to sit around a table and really work on achieving a result together, because we're measuring it in the same way.”