Brazil, Forging a Strategic Partnership for Results

"Brazil - Forging a Strategic Partnership for Results evaluates the World Bank assistance program to Brazil during the 1990-2002 period and examines three main and inter-related questions. First, whether the objectives of Bank assistance were relevant, given Brazil's development need and challenges during this period. Second, whether the Bank's assistance program was effectively designed and consistent with its objectives. Third whether the Bank's program achieved its objectives and had a substantive impact on the country's development during this period.

The greatest lesson learned from a decade of assistance is the need to ensure macroeconomic stability and Government ownership of the Bank's assistance program. The unsatisfactory project outcomes and the low effectiveness of the Bank's assistance in the early 1990s reflected fundamentally the lack of a stable macroeconomic framework and a clear development agenda. The Bank's central objectives of poverty alleviation and growth cannot be achieved under these circumstances. Other major lessons include the need for the Bank to build technical capacity in the field, maintain an open and frequent policy dialogue with federal and state authorities, employ the resources of the local academic community, and have the ability to closely supervise its projects."