Tensions Between Independence, Learning and Accountability in Internal Evaluation
The Case of the World Bank
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6414829 |
|---|---|
| Authors | John Richard Heath (0009-0000-8114-7407, American University) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 46 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 590-608 |
| Publication date | 2025-07-10 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Journal of Evaluation (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1098-2140 • E-ISSN: 1557-0878 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/10982140251353522 |
| OpenAlex | W4412187617 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 29 |
All internal evaluation units of public sector agencies face tradeoffs arising from the tension within the “independence-accountability-learning” nexus. Most such units are not independent, unlike the World Bank unit, which was ostensibly independent from its inception half a century ago. But new archival evidence reveals that between July 1973 and October 1974 President Robert S. McNamara and other principals resisted independence—which entailed the transfer of evaluation governance from management to the shareholders. This effort was in vain because the United States government used its leverage over the World Bank to impose the General Accounting Office's preferred model of independent evaluation. The debate in the early 1970s about whether independence would result in isolation, thereby hampering learning by operations staff, still resonates. Recent external reviews have concluded that accountability tends to trump learning in World Bank evaluation, suggesting lessons for internal evaluation units more generally
Accountability · Economics · Evaluation methods · Independence (probability theory · Political science · Statistics · Evaluation and Performance Assessment · International Development and Aid · Mathematics · Psychology · Public Policy and Administration Research
Hypocrisy Trap
The World Bank
Leadership lessons untold
What have we learned here? Questioning accountability in aid policy and practice
Accountability and learning in development evaluation
How are accountability and organisational learning related? A study of German bilateral development cooperation
Evaluating aid
Is Adversary Evaluation Worth a Second Look
What Makes an Evaluation Useful? Reflections from Experience in Large Organizations
Bridging the Divide between Upward Accountability and Learning-Based Approaches to Development Evaluation
US hegemony and the World Bank
Capacity Development in Practice
Robert McNamara at the World Bank
A Functional Analysis of Defense Department Decision-Making in the McNamara Administration
| Highly cited | No |
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