Evaluation of Technical Assistance and Advisory Services (TAAS)

IFC provides TAAS to promote sustainable private sector enterprises in developing countries. IFC’s TAAS work is supported by various donors, including IFC itself through the Funding Mechanism for Technical Assistance and Advisory Services program, which uses IFC’s retained earnings to support specific activities. Many TAAS projects are carried out by a network of facilities managed by IFC; some serve a developing region, while others emphasize a specific aspect of development. Many facilities fund their activities from a pool of core funds raised from a group of donors, while others raise donor funds specifically for individual projects and initiatives. IFC also manages trust funds on behalf of many donor governments to support technical assistance work.

Starting in late 2006, IEG-IFC began a systematic review of self-evaluated completed TAAS projects. The review will progress in two phases, initially IEG-IFC will conduct desk reviews to assess the quality of TAAS Project Completion Reports (TAAS-PCRs) produced under IFC’s recent TAAS self-evaluated evaluation system and later, based on a sample of PCRs, IEG-IFC will introduce full field reviews to validate TAAS project ratings.

In the first pilot, IEG-IFC reviews TAAS self-evaluations (TAAS EvNotes) using the same six dimensions and criteria as IFC’s self-evaluations (1-6, below). When field visits are made, IEG-IFC adds three more dimensions (7-9).

Ratings on dimensions 1-5 are synthesized into an overall Development Effectiveness rating.