In 2024, the Office of Independent Evaluation (OIE) moved from being a small, largely external-facing function to a genuine engine of learning within the Bank. The Peer Review by Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and World Bank (WB) experts presented an honest mirror, and action was taken: a revised Evaluation Policy, a new Lessons Learned database, a Power BI dashboard tracking every recommendation in real time, and Gender-Responsive Evaluation Guidelines - all developed in 2024. Evaluations tackled the issues that matter most to the Caribbean: water security, climate resilience, poverty reduction, and how the Caribbean Development Bank's (CDB's) flagship concessional fund - the Special Development Fund - is performing on the ground. A first-ever Synthesis Study pulled together lessons from five country evaluations to sharpen future strategy. Expanding global reach, OIE represented the CDB at evaluation forums in China, Guatemala, and The Bahamas, advocating for evaluation approaches built for Small Island Developing States - not just adapted from elsewhere.

The current version of the Caribbean Development Bank’s (CDB) Environmental and Social Review Procedures (ESRP) document was approved in 2014 and built on earlier experience in the application of the Bank’s Environmental Review Guidelines (1994) and the Guidelines for the Social Analysis of Projects (2004). The ESRP outlines how CDB, within its mandate and operations, ensures that environmental and social risks are managed. The ESRP include eight environmental and social performance requirements (PRs) to:Optimise decision-making with respect to environmental and social impacts, and risks to anticipate, avoid, mitigate, and/or compensate for adverse project impacts on the environment and affected people and communities. Assist Borrowing Member Countries (BMCs) to build capacity and strengthen their institutions and governance systems to manage environmental and social risks effectively. Provide staff, BMCs, and other development partners with a clear understanding of CDB’s requirements, and procedures, accountabilities for managing environmental and social risks in its operations. The Environmental Sustainability Unit (ESU) is responsible for updating and revising the ESRP, developing other policies/procedures, familiarising and training staff, and providing general guidance. The ESU and the Social Sector Division (SSD) are also involved in project work, coordinating project appraisal and supervision, and providing technical inputs.

This peer review examines the Caribbean Development Bank’s (CDB) evaluation function, which consists of the self-evaluation of the operations and the independent evaluation conducted by the Office of Independent Evaluation (OIE). The main purpose of this review is to provide insight for the renewal of the 2011 Evaluation Policy, as well as to enhance the confidence in and use of evaluations by the Board and Senior Management, with the goal of strengthening the effectiveness, efficiency, and governance of the institution. This review was done using a mixed-methods approach that builds on good-practice principles established by the Multilateral Development Banks’ (MDBs) Evaluation Cooperation Group (ECG), which emphasize independence, credibility, and utility.