West Bank and Gaza - An evaluation of Bank assistance
Woolf, Fiona | Halpern, Jonathan
The overall outcome, sustainability, and institutional development impact of Bank assistance must be seen in the context of an unstable political environment and severe periodic economic crises resulting from border closures. Overall, OED rates the outcome of Bank assistance as satisfactory. Overall, institutional devleopment impact is considered modest. Sustainability is the likelihood that the benefits of Bank assistance to WB&G will be resilient to risks. Given the political situation and the Palestinian Authority's (PA) difficulties in providing operation and maintenance on a long-term basis, OED considers sustainability uncertain. The Bank's performance has been timely and relevant. The Bank has been required to play many roles in a complex and highly politicized context, and in general, it played them well. There are many examples of innovation and good practice: the Bank became involved even before the Oslo Accord; the WB&G program was the first in the Bank to be decentralized in 1994; it focused early on infrastructure and provided tangible benefits to the population; it has made a major effort at donor coordination and has been instrumental in setting up mechanisms at all levels to achieve this. An important constraint to Bank assistance, however, has been the highly politically charged nature of the post-conflict situation, exacerbated by periodic economic crises. Future assistance should target infrastructure delivery and services and public management.
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