This evaluation examines the Caribbean Development Bank’s (CDB) Country Engagement Strategy (CES) for Saint Lucia for the period 2020–23, including activities designed and implemented until December 2024. The evaluation uses a mixed-methods approach, combining document reviews, portfolio analysis, and stakeholder interviews, to inform the next CES. The evaluation process supported participation, reflection, and co-creation. During the inception phase, feedback was collected from CDB staff and Government of Saint Lucia (GOSL) counterparts to refine the focus and ensure evaluation questions would generate insights aligned with both CDB’s strategic needs and GOSL priorities. A Theory of Change workshop was conducted with CDB and GOSL stakeholders to reconstruct the underlying logic of the CES and identify key assumptions and change pathways. This collaboration provided a shared foundation for assessing progress and strategic alignment. Validation of emerging findings was carried out via an online workshop. A hybrid co-creation workshop was held with Saint Lucia-based stakeholders and CDB staff to collaboratively develop recommendations and ensure proposed actions are useful, specific, and actionable, with the aim of increasing the success of the next CES.
Exogenous Shock Response Policy Based Loan Series - The Bahamas (2023)
Private Sector Development
Project Completion Validation Report
Complete
The Bahamas
Summary
The Exogenous Shock Response (ESR) Policy-Based Operations (PBO) series, which consisted of two stand-alone operations, was approved by the Caribbean Development Bank’s (CDB) Board on December 12, 2019, and September 24, 2020, respectively. The series was initially deployed to assist the Government of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas (GOCB) to cope with the fallout from Hurricane Dorian, which made landfall on the Abaco Islands as a Category 5 storm. By the time the second operation in the series was appraised, The Bahamas had been struck by a second catastrophic shock, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. This severely impacted tourism, the country’s leading source of income and employment. In response, CDB adjusted the operation’s objectives and design to address the effects of the pandemic. The amount of the second operation was also increased relative to the amount originally planned for (by USD15 million (mn) to help the country cope with the effects of the pandemic. The Implementation Completion Report (ICR) was finalized on June 13, 2022, and was validated by the Office of Independent Evaluation (OIE) in February 2023. The Evaluator rates the overall performance of the PBL as Satisfactory, consistent with the rating in the ICR. With respect to the individual criteria, relevance received a Highly Satisfactory rating, while effectiveness, sustainability, and efficiency were given Satisfactory ratings, using the Performance Assessment System (PAS) 2013. This validation concurs with the ratings in the ICR.
