- Knowledge services, which have become a more important dimension of the Bank's work in MICs, are largely satisfactory
- The Bank's approach to using and building MICs' own analytical capacity has been limited and not systematic
- Knowledge services have been strong on diagnostics but weaker on the "how" to fix development problems
Bank Analysis was of High Technical Quality | 
| | Source: IEG Expert Review. |
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 The Bank's Knowledge Services are Assessed Positively | Clients view the Bank's knowledge services as moderately effective or better | Criteria |  Highly
ineffective | Ineffective | Moderately
ineffective | Moderately effective | Effective | Highly
effective | | Helping achieve country's development goals (%) | 2 | 6 | 13 | 42 | 28 | 9 | | Sharing experiences from different countries (%) | 2 | 6 | 17 | 40 | 26 | 9 | | Influencing government policy (%) | 4 | 10 | 19 | 45 | 20 | 3 | | Providing opportunities for local input | 2 | 11 | 22 | 46 | 16 | 3 | | Shaping public opinion about the priorties for public policy (%)Â | 6 | 15 | 24 | 36 | 16 | 3 |
| Source: IEG client survey.
Note: 16 studies rated. |
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     Next: Engagement of Middle-Income Countries in Global Programs      |
Conditional Cash Transfer Programs— An Example of Cross-Country Knowledge Sharing | 
The Bank has contributed to numerous conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs since FY2000, with more than two-thirds of these in MICs. An in-depth review focused on CCT programs in five countries: Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Turkey.
Within the Bank, staff who were interviewed perceived a significant and increasing level of internal networking and knowledge exchange on CCTs, mainly through direct personal contacts, but also through workshops, papers, and publications. As for knowledge sharing with clients, counterparts who were interviewed perceived that overall the Bank had played a significant role in spreading new ideas across countries, though the level of the Bank's involvement varied, being more manifest in Colombia and Turkey. Policy dialogue, study tours, and events were the preferred mechanisms. Bank-supported evaluations have also been an important method of sharing knowledge as they provide policymakers with empirical evidence of the impact of particular programs.
The Bank could examine ways to increase the impact from sharing relevant experiences across countries, including more systematic use of staff rotation; increased support of local knowledge initiatives and institutions; greater public disclosure of evaluation findings; and more systematic links between the Bank's events and publications, including face-to-face follow-up with counterparts. | Source IEG Topic Review |
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