Youth Employment Programs - Independent Evaluation Group

ternational Labour Organization [ILO]). This is especially relevant since youthemployment issues are so complex, varying greatly from region-to-region,country-to-country and across sectors.A few members commented on the broader challenges with respect to theWorld Bank Group’s work on “the frontiers of development,” noting gender asan example in addition to youth employment, and the challenges in developingtargeted approaches given the complexity of cross-cutting issues. A fewmembers wondered how the World Bank Group’s risk tolerance level is tiedinto these issues. It was noted, again, that these would be key items for thediscussion of the WDR 2013.Recommendations and Next StepsThe Committee broadly supported the main recommendations of the evaluationto help guide the World Bank Group’s future work on youth employment.IEG’s evaluation will be made publicly available, together with comments fromBank and IFC Management (revised if needed), and the summary of the CODEGreen Sheet. The Management Action Record (MAR) would be finalized 90days after the CODE discussion to take into account the Committee’s discussionand incorporate additional specificities on the steps to be undertaken.Issues DiscussedEvaluation Recommendations. Bank Management noted that while it isin broad agreement with IEG’s findings, due to timing the report did notreflect some important work on new, large lending operations and ongoingoperational research and evaluations that hopefully will provide importantevidence going forward. IFC management also remarked that IFC has developedan evaluation strategy, and among the focus areas are jobs and poverty.Through the jobs study, IFC is also trying to get a better handle on job effects;while IFC is collecting more evidence to inform its strategy and operations,it will take time.A member questioned whether there was a compelling case for the evaluation.IEG noted that at the Joint CODE-Board Committee meeting on May 11, 2011,members proposed advancing the work on youth employment, emphasizingthe value of making the evaluation forward looking given the broad importanceof the issues globally and the developments in the MENA region at thetime. The majority of members welcomed the evaluation, found it timely, andsensed that it was important not only for what it conveys, but for what itcannot convey given the paucity of data.A few members commented that the evaluation’s recommendations seemed selfevident;they could and should be embedded in all aspects of the World BankGroup’s work. Several members and non-members underscored that the evaluationalso indicated that the World Bank Group needed to be more ambitiousin dealing with results and impact. A few members added that the evaluationxxxiiYouth Employment Programs