In December 2011, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) agreed a comprehensive Evaluation Policy (December 2011) setting out the aim and objectives and guiding principles for CDB’s evaluation system. The Policy provides for the establishment of the Office of Independent Evaluation (OIE).

In line with the Evaluation Cooperation Group’s (ECG) good practice standards, in 2015 CDB’s Oversight and Assurance Committee (OAC) endorsed an external review of CDB’s OIE.  The intention is to highlight the factors that help or hinder OIE’s independence and performance in order to identify where improvements could be made.

CDB has also taken many, other important steps towards updating management practices in line with other multilateral development banks (MDBs).  However, the introduction of several innovations in parallel requires coordination and a shift in working practices and thinking.   There is also the need to engage in different types of evaluation; evaluations that take into account cross-cutting themes and different levels of complexity.  As such, whilst this Review particularly focused on CDB’s OIE, it recognises that OIE’s work and utility depend to a large degree on the development of other management practices and the degree to which evaluation is able to effectively link into their work.  As such, to a limited degree, the Review took into account OIE’s linkage to other management practices.