An Effective Crisis Response: Lessons from the COVID-19 Experience

The unprecedented global crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic created a unique stress-testing environment for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), challenging its operational norms and prompting an expedited response. The first among its peer international financial institutions (IFIs) to approve a COVID-19 response package, the EBRD took measures proactively, highlighting the necessity of rapid adaptation in times of crisis. Historical examples have often shown that plagues and crises impose a re-evaluation of established systems and can catalyse the formation of new institutional frameworks.

In response to the dynamic and demanding needs for timely insights during the pandemic, the EBRD’s Independent Evaluation Department (IEvD) also adapted rapidly, by taking an innovative, real-time evaluation approach modelled on best practices from other multilateral development banks (MDBs), ensuring that core evaluation principles and the OECD-DAC criteria were respected.