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                     TIMOR-LESTE COUNTRY PROGRAM EVALUATION (CPE), 2000-2010:
                        EVALUATION OF WORLD BANK GROUP PROGRAM


                              Report to the Board of Executive Directors from the
                                  Committee on Development Effectiveness

                                                    Meeting of May 23, 2011


        The Informal Subcommittee (SC) of the Committee on Development Effectiveness (CODE)
considered an Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) report entitled Timor-Leste Country Program
Evaluation 2000-2010: Evaluation of the World Bank Group Program (CODE2011-0027).
         In its opening remarks IEG informed members that the Timor-Leste CPE evaluates the outcome of
the World Bank Group (WBG) assistance program against the objectives it set for itself. It noted the
country context in 1999 after independence: infrastructure destroyed, inexistent political institutions, and a
rudimentary economy based on self-subsistence agriculture. The main findings were that after an initial
success the WBG’s program focus and sense of priorities were gradually lost with over-emphasis on long-
term institutional objectives and less attention to immediate needs. It added that institution building could
have paid more attention to human resource development as projects and programs were complex. Going
forward, IEG recommended that the WBG and donors help Timor-Leste use well its petroleum resources,
target job creation, address critical infrastructure and re-prioritize assistance strategy.
         Management remarked that an effort to contextualize Bank engagement in Timor-Leste and
appreciation of the uncertainty of fragile and post-conflict situations were needed in order to identify
lessons learned and contribute to the debate on engaging in such volatile environments. It noted that the
evaluation could have better distinguished the political periods in which the Bank operated under distinct
strategies and could have benefited from greater consultation with Timorese civil society, media, project
beneficiaries and Bank counterparts. Management questioned the assertion that the Bank should have
predicted the social unrest of 2006. It added that since independence, Timor-Leste institutions have begun
to show capacity to discharge state functions effectively, while also managing natural resource revenues
efficiently. In that sense, it remarked that the total rebuilding of the state from the ground up is a
commendable achievement of the Timorese Government.
        Members appreciated the informative document and thanked both IEG and Management for the
answers to the questions raised. Members noted that IEG findings were pertinent not only to Timor-Leste
but also to WBG engagement in fragile and post-conflict countries given the recent 2011 World
Development Report (WDR) on Conflict, Security and Development. They remarked that advances were
notable given the difficult country context and recognized that results were impacted by situations on the
ground, which were out of WBG control. In that sense, they asked that the report pick up on lessons learned
including on coordination and division of labor among development partners. They commented that
monitoring and evaluation are crucial to engagements in fragile scenarios as well as the need for flexibility
to provide mid-course corrections. With regard to communication and dissemination a majority of members
and speakers asked that the report properly frames the country context.





    This report is not an approved record.
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