Comparative measurements of service providers’ performance can be used to raise awareness among policymakers, service providers, and consumers about what is possible, relative to current performance. One instrument for this is a  benchmarking tool, which enables information to be collected at the utility level with the potential for aggregation at the national level.

 

The World Bank Group supports the International Benchmarking Network (IBNET)  to expand the number of participating countries and utilities, as well as the range of indicators, in order to broaden the scope and improve the comparability of data sets. At the same time, the Bank is working—through pilot projects—to determine how to measure the performance of service providers other than utilities, including small-scale private providers, at the national level.