South Asia | World Bank

Official Documents- Amendment No. 42 to the Grant Agreement for ARTF TF050577

2013-05-23T04:00:00.000Z

Official Documents- Ninth Amendment to the Letter Agreement for Ireland to TF050576

2013-05-23T04:00:00.000Z

Official Documents- Sixteenth Amendment to the Letter Agreement for Germany to TF050576

2013-05-23T04:00:00.000Z

Official Documents- Sixth Amendment to the Letter Agreement for Korea to TF050576

2013-05-23T04:00:00.000Z

Rural housing reconstruction program post-2005 earthquake : learning from the Pakistan experience : a manual for post-disaster housing program managers

2013-05-23T04:00:00.000Z

This manual is a guide for those tasked with responding to post-disaster housing reconstruction needs. It details the various processes, tasks, and interventions involved in the design and management of such programs. It uses Pakistan's post-earthquake Rural Housing Reconstruction Program (RHRP) as a case study, and draws on the experience and lessons from that to derive recommendations for future post-disaster housing reconstruction programs. The manual also provides a strong results-based outlook through a results framework that links desired impacts, program level and intermediate outcomes, and outputs into a coherent whole. This manual has been developed to assist project managers and policy makers engaged in large-scale post-disaster housing reconstruction programs make decisions on how to reconstruct housing and communities after major natural disasters. It provides a comprehensive guide to the tasks and processes required for development and management of post-disaster housing reconstruction programs, using key lessons and learning from reconstruction undertaken following the 2005 earthquake that struck northern Pakistan. Each chapter of the document covers a separate component of the program. Within each chapter, a rationale is presented as to why this component is needed. This is followed by a results framework listing outcomes to be aimed for and possible indicators. Finally, each section concludes with a list of lessons learned or policy recommendations, that policymakers should keep in mind for future such programs. The toolkit provides a results-based perspective on post-disaster housing program management. It presents a results framework for each component of the RHRP that links desired impacts, program level and intermediate outcomes, and outputs. A consolidated results framework for the entire RHRP is provided at the end.

Sri Lanka - Metro Colombo Urban Development Project : transforming Colombo into a flood resilient middle income country capital

2013-05-23T04:00:00.000Z

The Colombo metropolitan area is Sri Lanka's commercial hub and accounts for almost 50 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). However, Colombo is highly vulnerable to flooding, and has experienced regular floods for the past 30 years, affecting over 1.2 million people annually. In 2010, the city was inundated by two major floods in the months of May and November. These floods cost Colombo millions of dollars in economic losses due to business interruption, in addition to severe damages afflicted on public and private property. Also, these events result in many hardships to citys residents. In a bid to transform Colombo and its metropolitan area into a modern, world-class middle income country capital, the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) has launched an ambitious economic and physical regeneration program for the Metro Colombo area. The Metro Colombo Urban Development Project (MCUDP) will consist of two main components: First component will invests in urgent flood mitigation infrastructure and support drainage improvement activities; and second component will build the institutional capacity of the government agencies to enhance long term flood risk management.

India - NHAI Technical Assistance Project : P121515 - Implementation Status Results Report : Sequence 05

2013-05-22T04:00:00.000Z

India - North East Rural Livelihoods Project (NERLP) : P102330 - Implementation Status Results Report : Sequence 04

2013-05-22T04:00:00.000Z

India - POWER SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT PROJECT IV : P101653 - Implementation Status Results Report : Sequence 10

2013-05-22T04:00:00.000Z

Official Documents- Agreement for Modification of Assistance for TF071781

2013-05-22T04:00:00.000Z

Pakistan - Balochistan Disaster Management Project : P127253 - Implementation Status Results Report : Sequence 02

2013-05-22T04:00:00.000Z

Pakistan - Highways Rehabilitation : P010556 - Implementation Status Results Report : Sequence 21

2013-05-22T04:00:00.000Z

Pakistan - Strengthening Pakistan's Urban Disaster Response Capacity : P128902 - Implementation Status Results Report : Sequence 02

2013-05-22T04:00:00.000Z

The project Nepal: School Sector Reform Program Additional Financing is now in the pipeline.

2013-05-22T04:00:00.000Z

The project Nepal: School Sector Reform Program Additional Financing is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The development objective of the Additional Financing for School Sector Reform Program Project for Nepal is to increase access to and improve quality of school education, particularly basic education (grades 1-8), especially for children from marginalized groups. The additional financing will support the Government of Nepal (GON) in the implementation of the 7-year School Sector Reform Program (SSRP) through the three original components. The additional financing will introduce: (i) Incentive Linked Indicators (ILIs) for program financing, as a topping-up fund to enhance service delivery and key quality, governance and accountability outcomes; (ii) changes to the results framework for further clarity and to include additional indicators related to access of disadvantaged students, governance and accountability; and (iii) extend the closing date by 19 months in order to fully implement the additional financing.

Bangladesh-Bangladesh: Safe Migration for Bangladeshi Workers

2013-05-21T04:00:00.000Z

India - Second Gujarat State Highway Project : environmental assessment

2013-05-21T04:00:00.000Z

The objective of the Second Gujarat State Highway Project (GSHP-II) for India is to provide a clear assessment of potential environmental impacts associated with project interventions, which forms basis for decision making and to evolve the principles for implementation of environmental management in the project, including the implementation arrangements, supervision and monitoring for effective implementation. This summary report presents the Consolidated Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the 8 up gradation corridors1 proposed to be taken up in the first year of implementation of GSHP-II. Negative impacts includes: water resources; and air pollution.

Official Documents- Amendment to the Grant Agreements for MDTF TF011556 and USAID TF012281

2013-05-21T04:00:00.000Z

Main report

2013-05-21T04:00:00.000Z

The development objective of the Flood Emergency Cash Transfer Project is to support the recovery of flood affected households by assisting the Government of Pakistan (GoP) in strengthening the implementation of its Citizen's Damage Compensation Program (CDCP). The extension is necessary to support the effective closure of the grievance redressal system in accordance with the program's operational manual. In addition, the extension will also assist the implementing agencies to undertake the preparatory activities for institutionalizing the Future Disaster Response Action Plan (FDRAP) for early recovery cash transfers developed under the project and approved by the government. To that end the Government of Pakistan's request for extension of the closing date, dated March 14th, 2013, also indicates the possibility of additional financing for institutionalization of FDRAP, the request for which they would process separately.

Data sheet

2013-05-21T04:00:00.000Z

Pakistan - Pakistan: Revitalizing Health Services in KP : P126426 - Implementation Status Results Report : Sequence 03

2013-05-21T04:00:00.000Z

The exceptional persistence of India's unorganized sector

2013-05-21T04:00:00.000Z

The transformation of India's unorganized sector is important to its modernization, growth, and attainment of regional economic equality. This paper documents several key facts about India's unorganized sector in manufacturing and services. First, the unorganized sector is large, accounting for more than 99 percent of establishments and 80 percent of employment in manufacturing. Second, the unorganized sector is stubbornly persistent -- it accounted for 81 percent of manufacturing employment in 1989 and 2005. Third, this persistence is not due to particular subsets of industries or states, as most industries and states show limited change in unorganized sector employment shares. Fourth, the degree to which localized unorganized activity exists is important as it is associated with weaker production functions for manufacturing firms. Building from these facts, the paper investigates conditions promoting transformation by state-industry. Decomposition exercises find that both within and between adjustments for state-industries weakly reduce unorganized sector shares. The aggregate persistence instead comes from the covariance term, where fast-growing state-industries witness rising unorganized sector activity. Regressions quantify that growth in the organized sector by state-industry reduces the unorganized sector employment share, but only marginally reduces employment levels in unorganized activity. Analysis of the establishment size distribution highlights that entrepreneurship and larger organized sector plants are most important for transitions in the manufacturing sector, while small establishments play a key role in the services sector.

The project Prepare:Program toEstablish Pilots for Access through Renewable Energy is now in the pipeline.

2013-05-21T04:00:00.000Z

The project Prepare:Program toEstablish Pilots for Access through Renewable Energy is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project Kali Gandaki A Hydropower Plant Rehabilitation Project (KGAHPRP) has changed to Active

2013-05-21T04:00:00.000Z

The project Kali Gandaki A Hydropower Plant Rehabilitation Project (KGAHPRP) has changed to Active. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The development objectives of the Kali Gandaki a Hydropower Plant Rehabilitation Project for Nepal are to improve the reliability of power supply through rehabilitation and safety measures and to improve the response capacity of Nepal in case of an emergency. The project has four components. The first component is civil works. It consists of following three sub-components: (i) head works modifications; (ii) improving dam safety monitoring and instrumentation; and (iii) maintenance works. The second component is electro-mechanical works. This component consists of mechanical and electrical works divided into two sub-components, mechanical and electrical works. The third component is technical assistance and capacity-building. This component consists of the following five sub-components: (a) consulting firm; (b) asset management; (c) safeguard implementation; (d) capacity building; and (e) catchment area treatment plan. The fourth component is contingent emergency response. This component will draw resources from the unallocated expenditure category and allow the Government of Nepal (GoN) to request the Bank to re-categorize and reallocate financing from other project components to partially cover emergency response and recovery costs. This component can also be used to channel additional funds available as a result of the emergency. This component does not have results indicator in the results framework.

The project Sustainable Financing for Biodiversity Conservation and Natural Resources Management has changed to Active

2013-05-21T04:00:00.000Z

The project Sustainable Financing for Biodiversity Conservation and Natural Resources Management has changed to Active. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The development objective of the Sustainable Financing for Biodiversity Conservation and Natural Resources Management Project for Bhutan is to improve the operational effectiveness and institutional sustainability of the Bhutan Trust Fund for Environmental Conservation (BTFEC). There are three components to the project. The first component of the project is enhancing the operational effectiveness and sustainability of BTFEC. The second component of the project is improving conservation management of the High Altitude Northern Areas (HANAS) landscape in Bhutan (including protected areas and associated methods, forests and agricultural systems). The third component of the project is capacity building for mainstreaming of conservation and sustainable forest and natural resource management approaches in national policies, strategies and plans.

The project Strengthening PFM Systems in Nepal is now in the pipeline.

2013-05-17T04:00:00.000Z

The project Strengthening PFM Systems in Nepal is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project India Low-Income Housing Finance has changed to Closed

2013-05-17T04:00:00.000Z

The project India Low-Income Housing Finance has changed to Closed. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The development objective of the Low Income Housing Finance Project for India is to provide access to sustainable housing finance for low income households, to purchase, build or upgrade their dwellings. The project has three components. The first component is capacity building. Under this component activities will be financed to strengthen the capacity of National Housing Bank (NHB), qualified intermediary institutions, and Qualified Primary Lending Institutions (QPLIs). The aim will be to develop new financial products, loan standards, risk management tools, and financial literacy and consumer protection capacity. In addition, pilots will be designed, launched and monitored. Building upon and complementing National Housing Bank (NHBs) monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems and processes, this component will also support an impact assessment to independently assess the social and household level impact of the project. The second component is financial support for sustainable and affordable housing. This component will finance NHB to refinance, directly or indirectly through qualified intermediary institutions, low-income housing loans made by QPLIs to primary borrowers to purchase, build or upgrade their dwelling. NHB has recently prepared a refinancing scheme for secured low-income housing loans to borrowers with formal and informal incomes. NHB will develop guidelines (to be formulated and reflected in the projects operations manual) for the provision of alternatively secured housing loans to formal and informal borrowers. The third component is project implementation. A Project Implementation Unit (PIU) will be set up within NHB to help implement the project, carry out monitoring and evaluation, be responsible for legal issues and grievance redressal, overseeing and monitoring the social and environmental due diligence (including conducting annual third party audits of QPLIs), keeping the projects operations manual updated, and financial management and carry out any procurement necessary under the project. Low-income housing expertise will also be added to the PIU to provide technical inputs to the procurement of consultants services under component one. External communications on the project will also be covered by NHB staff. Lastly, NHB will also take on responsibility for dissemination and communication activities under its own budget, such as conferences or workshops.

The project DABS Planning And Capacity Support is now in the pipeline.

2013-05-16T04:00:00.000Z

The project DABS Planning And Capacity Support is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project Naghlu Hydropower Rehabilitation Project is now in the pipeline.

2013-05-16T04:00:00.000Z

The project Naghlu Hydropower Rehabilitation Project is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project India Low-Income Housing Finance has changed to Active

2013-05-16T04:00:00.000Z

The project India Low-Income Housing Finance has changed to Active. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project India Second Kerala State Transport Project has changed to Active

2013-05-16T04:00:00.000Z

The project India Second Kerala State Transport Project has changed to Active. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The development objective of the Second Kerala State Transport Project for India is to improve condition, traffic flow and road safety with a focus on vulnerable road users on selected roads in Kerala. The project has three components. The first component is road network upgrading and safety improvement. This component will include upgrading 363 km of strategically important state highways to complete network connectivity in the state with the objective of reducing travel time between key socio-economic centers. This component has following two sub-components: (A1) this sub-component will include the associated pre-construction activities including resettlement and utility relocation, environmental management and supervision and quality control services; and (A2) this sub-component will include upgrading 82 km state highway through a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) modified annuity concession to pilot the approach in the state. The second component is road safety management. This component will support the strengthening of road safety management systems in Kerala with the objective of reducing the number of fatalities and serious injuries from traffic crashes in the state. The third component is institutional strengthening. The objective of this component is to improve the sustainability of Keralas state road network with respect to its functional adequacy, financial viability and capacity of key state road sector institutions to deliver road infrastructure and services that are responsive to road user needs. The following two sub-components will be financed: (a) road sector modernization; and (b) community engagement and road user satisfaction.

The project Additional Finaning of Public Procurement Reform Project II is now in the pipeline.

2013-05-14T04:00:00.000Z

The project Additional Finaning of Public Procurement Reform Project II is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project Punjab High Voltage Distribution System has changed to Closed

2013-05-11T04:00:00.000Z

The project Punjab High Voltage Distribution System has changed to Closed. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The development objectives of the Punjab High Voltage Distribution System Carbon Offset Project for India are to: reduce global emissions of carbon dioxide; an increase the efficiency, reliability, and quality of electricity supply in the local distribution system of Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB). This carbon offset project consists of the purchase of ERs generated by reduction in technical and commercial losses achieved by PSPCL through implementation of High Voltage Distribution System (HVDS) for agricultural consumers. PSPCL is implementing this program with loan assistance from Rural Electrification Corporation (REC). The funds generated from the sale of emission reduction credits to the World Bank managed Carbon funds shall assist PSPCL in the implementation of this large scale technical loss program. They will provide the financial incentive necessary to ensure full-scale implementation of this large technical loss reduction program.

The project Waste to Energy Market Development Project is now in the pipeline.

2013-05-09T04:00:00.000Z

The project Waste to Energy Market Development Project is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project Enhancing Education Development Project has changed to Active

2013-05-07T04:00:00.000Z

The project Enhancing Education Development Project has changed to Active. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The development objective of the Enhancing Education Development Project (EEDP) for Maldives is to enhance and strengthen strategic dimensions of education access and quality. The project has three components. The first component is national level education development. The objective of this component is to promote strategic initiatives at the country level to strengthen and develop the education system. The following key sub-components will be supported under this component: national assessments of learning outcomes for policy and program development; management and leadership development of staff in the education sector; and learning environment enrichment of secondary schools. The second component is school level education development. The objective of this component is to promote strategic initiatives to improve the performance of schools. The following key sub-components will be supported under this component: school-based management; modernizing quality assurance for school improvement; Strengthening School-Based Professional Development (SBPD) for teachers and other school staff; and School Quality Assurance and Teacher Development Awards (QATDA). The third component is project coordination, monitoring and evaluation, and program development. The objective of this component is to facilitate the coordination of project components, undertake monitoring and evaluation of results and outcomes, and support the ministry of education to undertake program development to develop the education program in key areas for the future of the education system. The following key sub-components will be supported under this component: education strategy and program development; and project coordination, monitoring and evaluation.

The project National AIDS Control Support Project has changed to Active

2013-05-04T04:00:00.000Z

The project National AIDS Control Support Project has changed to Active. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The objective of the National AIDS Control Support Project for India is to increase safe behaviors among high risk groups in order to contribute to the national goal of reversal of the HIV epidemic by 2017. The project has three components. (1) Scaling up targeted prevention interventions component will support the scaling up of Targeted Interventions (Tis) with the aim of reaching out to the hard to reach population groups who do not yet access and use the prevention services of the program, and saturate coverage among the High Risk Groups (HRGs). In addition, this component will support the bridge population, i.e. migrants and truckers. (2) Behavior change communications will include: (i) communication programs into society and to encourage normative changes aimed at reducing stigma and discrimination in society at large, and in health facilities specifically, as well as to increase demand and effective utilization of testing and counseling services; (ii) financing of a research and evaluation agency to assess the cost-effectiveness and program impact of behavior change communications activities; and (iii) establish and evaluate a helpline at the national and state level to further increase access to information and services. (3) Institutional strengthening component will support innovations to enhance performance management including fiduciary management, such as the use of the computerized financial management system, at national and state levels.

World Bank - IMF Chorus Concert

2013-05-01T17:00:00.000Z

The World Bank-IMF Chorus is presenting it's spring concerts of favourite choruses from around the world on:

- Tuesday, May 7 at 1pm in IMF HQ2 Conference Hall
- Wednesday, May 8 at 1pm in the WB MC Atrium

Admission is free - guest passes needed for non-Bank & IMF badge holders.

http://www.wbimfchorus.org/

The project Sustainable Land, Water and Biodiversity Conservation and Management for Improved Livelihoods in Uttarakhand Watershed Sector has changed to Closed

2013-04-25T04:00:00.000Z

The project Sustainable Land, Water and Biodiversity Conservation and Management for Improved Livelihoods in Uttarakhand Watershed Sector has changed to Closed. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The objective of the Sustainable Land, Water and Biodiversity Conservation, and Management for Improved Livelihoods in Uttarakhand Watershed Sector Project for India is to improve the productive potential of natural resources and increase incomes of rural inhabitants in selected watersheds through socially inclusive, institutionally and environmentally sustainable approaches. The additional financing aims at scaling-up and mainstreaming the outcome of the activities under Uttarakhand Decentralized Watershed Management Project (UDWDP) and enhancing their sustainability by restoring and sustaining ecosystem functions and biodiversity while simultaneously enhancing income and livelihood functions. The lessons learned from these activities will be scaled up and mainstreamed at state and national levels. The project encompasses three themes: (i) community participation in watershed development and management aimed at integrating land-water use with the objectives of moisture retention and biomass production, while simultaneously enhancing incomes and livelihood options; (ii) strengthening administrative capacity of Gram Panchayats to manage project financial resources, implement sub-projects, deliver legally mandated service, and to sustain those services beyond the duration of the project; and (iii) ensuring equitable participation by all groups, especially the landless and women who rely disproportionately on common resources for fodder, fuel, and other forest products.

The project Afghanistan Resource Corridor Project is now in the pipeline.

2013-04-24T04:00:00.000Z

The project Afghanistan Resource Corridor Project is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project Rajasthan Road Sector Modernization Project is now in the pipeline.

2013-04-19T04:00:00.000Z

The project Rajasthan Road Sector Modernization Project is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project Partial Risk Sharing Facility in Energy Efficiency is now in the pipeline.

2013-04-12T04:00:00.000Z

The project Partial Risk Sharing Facility in Energy Efficiency is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

Leveraging Technology for Disaster Risk Management

2013-04-10T16:06:54.000Z

The 2011 earthquake shook the Japan Meteorological Agency operations center. Junko Narimatsu/World Bank

April 10, 2013

Japan shares lessons on ways information and communication technologies can help strengthen countries’ disaster risk management plans and empower communities facing disasters.

Otsuchi Town in Japan’s Iwate Prefecture was struck hard by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. More than 800 people lost their lives, including the mayor, and 500 people remain missing. Vital information and communication technology (ICT) services were also interrupted, making it hard for citizens to carry on their daily business.

Two years later, Otsuchi Town is still recovering – and restoring ICT services is a priority. The municipality is trying to build resilience against future disasters, for instance by cooperating with the private sector to restore interrupted e-government services, leveraging cloud computing technologies.

This is just one example of Japan’s experience in using ICT for disaster risk management. On March 25, ministers and high-level policy makers from nine disaster-prone countries – Bangladesh, Chile, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkey, and Vietnam – and more than 150 participants from the Japanese government, disaster-related agencies, embassies, the private sector, academia, and civil society gathered in Tokyo to learn from Japan’s rich experience and discuss how it could be applied to disaster risk management in developing countries.

The symposium was hosted by the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the World Bank, and the Global Facility for Disaster Risk Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR).

Impact of disasters

While the Japanese experience is a reminder that no country is immune from the impacts of disasters, the statistics show that poor and vulnerable countries suffer the most. Since 1980, the economic costs of disasters in developing countries amounted to $1.2 trillion, equivalent to about a third of all official development aid. Over that same period, low-income countries accounted for only 9 percent of the total number of disasters, but 48 percent of the fatalities.

Japan State Secretary for Internal Affairs and Communications Masahiko Shibayama emphasized the critical role ICT plays in disaster management and the need to stimulate wider use of these tools in the developing world.

Opening the symposium, Japan State Secretary for Internal Affairs and Communications Masahiko Shibayama emphasized the critical role ICT plays in disaster management and the need to stimulate wider use of these tools in the developing world.

Chris Vein, World Bank Chief Innovation Officer for Global ICT Development, said, “The World Bank’s support is evolving to reflect new development challenges, and disaster risk management is becoming one of the key areas in which ICTs can make an exceptional impact.”

Myanmar’s Union Minister of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, Dr. Daw Myat Myat Ohn Khin, emphasized that lessons from Japan will contribute to strengthening disaster preparedness in other nations, including in Myanmar, where the recent Thabeikkyin earthquake claimed 18 lives and affected more than 10,000 people. She identified geo-spatial and remote sensing technologies, along with modern ICT systems, as ways to strengthen disaster management planning.

Technologies for disaster risk management

Since the January 2010 earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, where tools such as Ushahidi, Twitter, and Open Street Map proved their efficacy, the power of technology for disaster risk management has been widely recognized. The Tokyo event highlighted technologies Japan leveraged in the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, for instance:

A real-time traffic map was generated and made available to the public (including via Google) using data gathered from moving vehicles;
Observation data from flood sensors was distributed to car navigation systems and smartphones; and
GPS data from mobile phones was used to reproduce and analyze the flow of people at the time of the earthquake.

“The World Bank’s support is evolving to reflect new development challenges, and disaster risk management is becoming one of the key areas in which ICTs can make an exceptional impact.”
– Chris Vein, World Bank Chief Innovation Officer for Global ICT Development

The Japanese presented other advanced technologies for disaster risk management, including for early warning (such as J-alert - a nationwide automated early warning system); emergency response, data analysis and decision making (such as tsunami arrival time, flood level and risk analysis); and information sharing (such as mobile TV and satellite mobile phones).

Participants discussed how low-income countries with limited resources and skills capacity could take advantage of Japanese technologies. Some have been leveraged in countries like Indonesia, where an interesting example of local customization was presented: use of mosques’ speaker systems to disseminate early warnings information.

Other participants underlined the need to build awareness in communities through regular training and school education so that people can make informed decisions.

Building resilient societies

Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications Vice Minister Eiichi Tanaka and World Bank Special Representative in Tokyo Kazushige Taniguchi affirmed the Japanese government’s and World Bank’s readiness to help build the capacity needed to meet these challenges in developing countries.

“Japan’s experience of the Great East Japan Earthquake and the lessons it learned can be beneficial in establishing a resilient society for all countries that suffer from natural disasters. And I think these experiences and knowledge should be shared with all,” Tanaka said.

Taniguchi emphasized the importance of not only hardware installation but also applications and services, starting with basic systems such as emergency drills. He also stressed the need for governments, the private sector, and civil society to work in partnership to effectively leverage the technologies and make the appropriate investments.

The meeting provided positive perspectives on how technologies can help strengthen countries’ disaster management plans and empower communities and individuals in disaster situations.

RELATED RESOURCES

The project Nepal: Adolescent Girls Employment Initiative (AGEI) has changed to Closed

2013-04-02T04:00:00.000Z

The project Nepal: Adolescent Girls Employment Initiative (AGEI) has changed to Closed. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The development objective of the Adolescent Girls Employment Initiative Project is to increase employment and incomes of young women aged 16-24 years by strengthening an existing model for training and job placement in Nepal. The project includes the following components: (i) skills provision and job training (US$ 1,719,643); and (ii) institutional strengthening, monitoring and evaluation (US$ 150,974). The development objectives remain fully consistent with the World Bank's Interim Strategy Note (ISN) for Nepal. The project has been successful along several dimensions and is currently rated as satisfactory on both implementation progress and development objectives. Under component (skills provision and job training), progress includes completion of skills training to nearly 2500 beneficiaries over 2010 and 2011. Beneficiaries also have to appear for an independent skills test carried out by the National Skills Testing Board (NSTB) and nearly 90 percent of beneficiaries have successfully completed their skills test. Beneficiaries have also received optional additional packages on psychosocial training, awareness on reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, links to prospective employers, business and enterprise skills training, and links to credit schemes. In 2012, the project aims to train 2007 young women across 36 trades. The extension is necessary to correct a mistake made during project preparation where there is a discrepancy in the closing date between the project paper and the grant agreement where the former identifies closing date as December 31, 2011, while the latter identifies the closing date as December 31, 2012. There is a clear plan for completion of all project activities.

Full Steam Ahead: World Bank Seeks “Global Push” for Geothermal Energy Revolution

2013-03-06T05:12:41.000Z

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Nearly 40 countries have enough geothermal potential to meet a significant proportion of their electricity needs.

• World Bank calls for a Global Geothermal Development Plan to bring geothermal power to millions in developing countries.

• Geothermal lending in 2012 was $336 million, almost 10% of the World Bank’s total renewable energy lending.

March 6, 2013

Over a thousand years ago, the Norse settler Ingólfur Arnarson named the capital of Iceland Reykjavik, or “smoky bay” in English, for what he thought was smoke rising from the ground. In fact, it was steam rising from hot springs. A millennium later, Iceland is still tapping this resource. Over 25% of Iceland's electricity comes from geothermal energy. Nine out of ten buildings are heated by waste heat from geothermal power plants.

Iceland is one of about 40 countries with enough geothermal potential to meet a significant proportion of their energy needs. But global potential remains largely undeveloped. To date, geothermal electricity capacity has reached only 11 gigawatts worldwide – only 0.3% of total global power generation.

The main obstacle for geothermal projects has been the initial test drilling phase, which is expensive and risky. Proving the viability of a single steam field can cost US$15-25 million, and if a site has no potential, this investment is lost.

To change this picture, the World Bank is launching a Global Geothermal Development Plan to bring together donors and multilateral lenders around an investment plan to scale up geothermal power in the developing world. The Plan focuses on exploratory test drilling, with the goal of developing a pipeline of commercially-viable projects that are ready for private investment.

Geothermal energy could be a triple-win for developing countries: clean, reliable, locally-produced power. And once it is up and running, it is cheap and virtually endless. || Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Managing Director, The World Bank

Speaking at the Iceland Geothermal Conference in Reykjavik on March 6, World Bank Managing Director Sri Mulyani Indrawati called on donors, multilateral banks, governments and the private sector to join the Plan and bring what is now a marginal renewable energy source into the mainstream to deliver power to millions.

“Geothermal energy could be a triple-win for developing countries: clean, reliable, locally-produced power. And once it is up and running, it is cheap and virtually endless,” said Sri Mulyani Indrawati. “The World Bank Group, and many of our partners, support the goals of the Sustainable Energy for All initiative, led by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and our President Jim Yong Kim. Two of those goals are universal access to modern energy services, and doubling the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix. Geothermal energy will be a major step towards both.”

Many developing world regions are rich in geothermal resources, including East Africa, Southeast Asia, Central America, and the Andean region. Already, the World Bank and Iceland are working together under a “Geothermal Compact” to support surface exploration studies and technical assistance for countries in Africa’s Rift Valley—Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and Ethiopia are participating with Zambia expected to join soon.

The Global Geothermal Development Plan expands on previous efforts by its global scope, and its focus on test drilling. It will identify promising sites and leverage financing for exploratory drilling, to develop commercially viable projects. The Plan’s initial target is to mobilize US$500 million. Donors can participate by identifying viable projects, and through bilateral assistance, as well as by contributing to existing channels such as the Climate Investment Funds (CIFs) or the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The GGDP will be managed by the World Bank’s longstanding Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP).

The World Bank will convene donors later this year to discuss financing of specific geothermal projects under the plan. The Bank Group’s financing for geothermal development began in the 1970s and has increased from $73 million in 2007 to $336 million in 2012. It now represents almost 10 percent of the Bank’s total renewable energy lending.

Geothermal is also the energy source with the smallest land footprint per kilowatt hour, making it especially attractive in developing countries where population densities are high and land is at a premium.

“Until now, our work has been at the country and regional levels,” Sri Mulyani said. “These efforts are important, and should continue. But a global push is what is needed now. Only a global effort will put geothermal energy in its rightful place – as a primary energy source for many developing countries. Only a global effort will pool resources to spread the risk effectively. It will let us learn from each other, from our failures and successes, and apply that learning.”

Resources

Flying High Again: Getting Vultures Back in the Sky in Southern India

2012-12-17T18:52:51.000Z

December 17, 2012

With the ban of an anti-inflammatory drug that was known to cause renal failure in vultures and a project created by a World Bank-supported fund, once dwindling vulture populations in the Western Ghats region of southern India are slowly starting to recover.

A few years ago, Subbiah Bharathidasan realized he wasn’t seeing vultures circling the skies anymore. Having grown up in a leather manufacturing town in southern India, he was used to seeing large numbers of the scavenging birds which were attracted by animal carcasses.

When he looked into it, 'Bharathi' as he is known, discovered that vulture populations right across India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan had gone into catastrophic decline in the late 1990s.

The cause proved to be a veterinary anti-inflammatory drug called Diclofenac, administered to cattle to reduce joint pain so that ageing animals would keep working. When cattle died with the drug still in their systems, vultures that ingested their flesh died in vast numbers from renal failure. Three vulture species crashed, with losses of between 97 and 99 percent of their populations. As a result, Asian vultures - once very common - fell into the ranks of the most endangered birds in the world.

INFOGRAPHIC

What's Happening to Biodiversity? (Infographic)

HIGHLIGHTS

Vulture populations right across India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan declined dramatically in the late 1990s
A veterinary anti-inflammatory drug called Diclofenac was known to cause renal failure in vultures. The drug was banned in 2006
A Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund project hopes to conserve last viable vulture populations in the Western Ghats section of Southern India
A team of volunteers, Vulture Bridgade, is using innovative methods like a puppet show to spread awareness about the dangers of Diclofenac

VOICES

“I worry about the decline of the vultures. They have a right to live in this world just like us. And without them, carcasses of dead animals are left to rot and maybe spread disease into the waterways,” - M. Sivakumar, a forest ranger in the Madumalai Tiger Reserve in India.

“I want to do everything I can to pass on to them (children) a beautiful world. This is the only asset that I can give to my children and this society,” - Subbiah Bharathidasan, Team Leader, Vulture Brigades.

An uphill task

With the alarm raised, governments across South Asia banned Diclofenac in 2006. Slowly, populations have been starting to recover but it’s an uphill battle - especially as some livestock owners are illegally using the human version of Diclofenac to relieve pain and inflammation in their animals. The human version of the drug still has fatal consequences for vultures.

Through the World Bank-supported Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, Bharathi is now leading a project in the Western Ghats area of southern India where one of the last viable wild populations of Indian vultures resides on the banks of the Moyar River.

Bharathi travels from village to village in the state of Tamil Nadu recruiting volunteers to his 'Vulture Brigades' and spreading the word about the dangers of Diclofenac. Crowds flock to the travelling puppet show about vultures that he helped create with local artists. The Vulture Brigades spread the word about Diclofenac and importantly, monitor local vulture communities - watching nests, counting breeding pairs and reporting any signs of fatalities through exposure to Diclofenac.

In just two years, Bharathi has managed to inspire and recruit 36,000 volunteers across the state - and their numbers continue to grow.

At Anaikatty village, Bharathi has persuaded the highly successful village volleyball team to join the Vulture Brigade. At a recent CEPF visit to the village, the volleyball team and other members of the community crammed into a communal hall to discuss the vulture issue with Bharathi, Jack Tordoff from CEPF and the World Bank’s biodiversity specialist Valerie Hickey.

Gauging Effectiveness of Drug Ban

Vulture watchers in the village fill out data sheets, documenting the number and sub-species they observe as well as the types of carcasses they see vultures feeding on. All the information is collected and provided to the State Forest Department and used to gauge the effectiveness of the Diclofenac ban.

Close by, in the Madumalai Tiger Reserve, M. Sivakumar - a ranger with the Forest Department for the past 14 years - has also become a keen vulture watcher. Each day, he combs the area for sightings of tiger, elephant and the native 'bison' called Gaur. He is alarmed by the crash in vulture numbers and so, takes a special interest in the riverside location where a small population appears to be doing well.

“I worry about the decline of the vultures,” he says. “They have a right to live in this world just like us. And without them, carcasses of dead animals are left to rot and maybe spread disease into the waterways.” In recent times, his teams have been forced to bury the carcasses of wild animals like elephants which once would have been quickly dealt with by vultures.

The CEPF project is one of many across the region aimed at rebuilding vulture populations. Recent research of vulture populations in Pakistan by the Peregrine Fund indicates that banning Diclofenac has had a major impact on populations there. In the country’s largest known breeding colony of long-billed vultures in south-east Pakistan, numbers of birds have increased by 55 percent since the ban became effective.

Bharathi, whose travels also take him as far away as New Delhi to lobby ministers and parliamentarians on the need to save vultures, says he does it for his children. “I want to do everything I can to pass on to them a beautiful world,” he says. “This is the only asset that I can give to my children and this society.”

He is sure that before too long, vultures will be back in large numbers, circling the skies once more.

Nepal: Poverty Alleviation Fund Combines Participatory Approach with Radio and Telecommunications Platforms to Engage Communities

2012-10-31T12:34:28.000Z

Synopsis
The Government of Nepal’s Poverty Alleviation Fund (PAF) has integrated community driven development methodologies with feedback mechanisms supported by local radio as well as telephone and web platforms to empower communities to design, implement, and manage their own development projects that serve the poorest of the poor.

Challenge
In 2004, when the government of Nepal established the Poverty Alleviation Fund the country was mired in conflict. A Maoist insurgency and years of political instability had hindered Nepal’s attempts to improve its economy and strengthen its governing institutions. An uneasy peace was achieved with the signing of the comprehensive peace agreement in 2006, but equal access to society's resources remains a formidable challenge.

“Substantial inequities existed along ethnic, caste, and geographic lines, resulting in excluded and marginalized communities in need of essential services and income earning opportunities,” says World Bank Senior Economist Gayatri Acharya. “The PAF was set up to support the poorest, most marginalized, most geographically remote, and most socially isolated communities in the country.”
Within these communities the social dynamics are often very complex. Disparities also exist among the poor, which has meant that those who are worse off may be unable to use project resources to climb out of poverty as effectively as others.

“While PAF has reached over 2.9 million people and reduced food insecurity, increased incomes, and improved access to services, PAF’s responsibility is to constantly evaluate the program to understand who is still being left out or why some communities may still not be able to make good use of these resources,” said Acharya.

Approach
The PAF approach puts beneficiaries in the driver’s seat by mobilizing them to form community organizations. These community organizations design and implement projects and also manage revolving funds. Telecommunications platforms such as internet and radio are used to create avenues of feedback that ensure accountability and transparency.
By combining national level data on poverty with participatory social assessment tools, the PAF identifies the poorest of the poor in communities throughout Nepal. PAF then partners with local government and civil society organizations (CSOs) to provide community mobilization and facilitation services,establish community organizations, and elect a committee representative. Regular community organization meetings ensure good communication regarding finances and setting project priorities.
The performance of the CSOs responsible for community mobilization and facilitation is evaluated by both PAF and directly by the community organizations receiving the support. The evaluation of CSOs by the community organizations counts for 50 percent of the performance evaluation. This ensures that the project closes the feedback loop and that the voices of communities are heard.

Beneficiary Results
The PAF feedback mechanisms have enabled the project to capture and respond to beneficiary input and deliver promising results.
New feedback mechanisms implemented by the project include:
• A grievance system that consists of both a phone hotline and a website where beneficiaries can voice complaints
• The launch of an FM radio program that allowed benficiaries to ask questions, make complaints, or ask questions from a live, on-air PAF spokesperson
• Ongoing and regular monitoring from the Office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers
• Full integration of local government officials into the monitoring process

This sense of accountability has lead to tangible and readily quantifiable results. An impact evaluation carried out in six districts indicated the following:
• a 19 percent increase in household consumption in the PAF program areas
• a 14 percentage point increase in school enrollment
• a 19 percentage point drop in food insecurity.
In addition, there has been significant growth in both the number and maturity of community organizations acting as viable, self-regulating bodies capable of performing autonomously and managing their own development finances.

“There is continuous confirmation from beneficiaries that there is value to the approach of empowering communities to develop institutions and income earning opportunities,” said Acharya.
Lastly, women and members of lower castes that were previously marginalized groups in Nepali society are gaining recognition and a sense of agency through the leadership roles they have filled within the project.

“This can be seen in a number of ways across the communities where the project is working,” said Acharya. “For instance, women initially wanted to invest in livestock such as goats, which they saw as a sensible first-time investment since it is a relatively small investment and in their control. Now they are asking to invest in bigger, higher-risk opportunities such as vegetable farming which also have higher income earning potential.”

World Bank Contribution
The Nepal Poverty Alleviation Fund project (PAF II) is a US$164.5 million project funded under the World Bank’s International Development Association portfolio. The PAF also received an additional US$10 million from the Global Food Response Program multi-donor trust fund to focus on food insecure households, in recognition of the remarkable impact seen on reducing food insecurity in poor households. In addition to financial assistance, the World Bank provides technical assistance, drawing upon its extensive experience in community driven development projects around the world and in other conflict-affected countries in South Asia such as Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.

Partners
Community organizations, as the recipients of PAF financing and the local responsible bodies managing the revolving funds, are the key partners of the project. Beyond this, PAF contracts with civil society organizations that serve an important facilitation and mobilization role particularly in the early stages as a community decides to participate and form a community organization. Local governments and line agencies are increasingly working with the PAF to improve service delivery to these previously marginalized communties.

Moving Forward
In the next phase of the program, the priority will be to increase impact, in particular to enable community organizations and households supported by the PAF to increase economic and social capital formation. PAF will also be reaching out to parts of the country not yet supported by the program.

An additional emphasis of PAF in its upcoming phase will be to solicit more participation of counterpart ministries in monitoring the project’s success and ensuring good alignment with other ministry programs. While PAF has instituted several mechanisms to encourage interaction between community members, the future will focus on connecting communities to share learning and experiences so that they become fully aware and able to engage with the opportunities available to them.

Poor Households in Tamil Nadu Build Institutions to Advocate for Better Services

2012-10-30T11:45:00.000Z

Synopsis
In the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the World Bank has been working with local communities and governments to build federations of community groups that can successfully give voice to the poor by advocating for better government services. The project has met with overwhelming success and has been described as a “top 10 percent” project by the World Bank's Quality Assurance Group.

Challenge
Although Tamil Nadu has achieved rapid economic growth in recent years, some 20 percent of the state's households continue to live in poverty. Trapped in a lower socio-economic status perpetuated by limited access to credit, lack of social safety nets, gender inequities, a rigid caste system, and physical disability, these households remain highly marginalized.

Essentially, the state of Tamil Nadu has suffered from a noticeable disconnect between a government that is willing to serve its citizens, but seems to be missing the mark, and an impoverished constituency that is in need of services, but seems unable to access them. Due to this lack of effective communication between service providers and the community, service providers have not received the feedback necessary to design government services so that they match up directly with the needs of the poor.

Approach
In order to generate the feedback necessary to tailor government services to beneficiary needs, the project approach has focused on mobilizing communities to form self-help groups of 10-15 households and that are further organized into federations at the more local level Gram Panchayat. These federations have served as feedback links to service providers and advocated for the improvement of government services among agencies of particular importance to poor citizens including: social welfare, disability welfare, banking, agriculture, animal husbandry, and water and sanitation.

“From the beginning, the project has emphasized intensive community institution building,” says Samik Sundar Das, Senior Rural Development Specialist at the World Bank. “The resulting community-based organizations represent the poorest of the poor and seek to establish effective linkages with elected local government and the private sector.”

In supporting these federations, the project has used a number of participatory mechanisms to amplify the voices of the poor and generate feedback:
• Social audit committees comprised of selected community representatives that hold open meetings to facilitate feedback from the community and provide oversight
• Annual completion of performance scorecards evaluating the performance of both the community-based organization and the project
• Publicizing information on project staff performance, disbursement of funds, and project plans using the World Wide Web and public displays
• Regular learning meetings at the community, district, and state levels to solicit input from beneficiaries on project implementation.
• A vertically integrated grievance redress systems that operates from the community level upward by clearly displaying the mobile phone numbers of key authorities responsible for registering and escalating complaints.
• Providing direct financing to community institutions in order to deepen the sense of ownership that beneficiaries have in prioritizing their needs, designing locally appropriate solutions, and allocating resources to achieve their goals.

Beneficiary Results
The following results have been achieved:

• The project is working with 580,000 households and approximately 23,000 self-help groups comprised of women and disabled citizens across the 16 project districts.
• On average, participating households have seen income increase by 14 percent over the control groups. • The project has supported the creation of 3,500 Common Livelihood Groups which help poor households to diversify their asset base and reduce vulnerability.
• Education and mobilization efforts have yielded improved community participation in local level governance forums. For instance, community meetings known as Gram Sabha have an estimated 75 % participation rate.
• An estimated 95 percent of villages have rated the financial transparency and disclosure mechanisms employed by the community-based organizations as satisfactory.
• World Bank's Quality Assurance Group has been particularly impressed by the project's work stating that it “falls into the top 10 percent of Bank projects” and noting that as a result of “consultation and planning, effective facilitation and genuine joint ownership of different constituencies, the project has the promise of becoming the basic structure for rural development in Tamil Nadu and provides an approach which is serving to bring lessons to other Indian states. One could well spin off two or three of these components into separate projects for replication and scaling-up in the future.”

Bank Contribution
The World Bank's primary focus has been providing technical assistance, facilitating knowledge sharing, and advising on accountability systems and community mobilization. In addition, the World Bank provided an original US$120 million credit, through the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank's Fund for the Poorest, which has been further extended with US$154 million in financing through 2014 to support scale up.

Partners
Partnering with local, district, and state governments has been key to the project's overwhelming success. Public and private financial institutions, including commercial banks, have been essential in improving access to financial services for the self-help groups. Partnerships with private companies such as Nokia and Ford have enabled the project to generate employment opportunities for rural youth from poor and vulnerable groups. The formation of economic activity groups has facilitated the strengthening of connections between communities and markets for their goods.

Moving Forward
Moving forward, the project is planning to build on its cornerstone of developing representative and responsive social institutions that serve the interests of the poor. With an additional US$154 million in World Bank support, the project is due to expand to an additional 380,000 households across 25 districts.

“Building community institutions that embody values of participation and inclusion has been the project’s foremost success,” says Kevin J. Crockford, World Bank Rural Development Specialist. “Estimating that 70 to80 percent of beneficiaries have internalized these practices into their way of doing things, it is not hard to believe that the community groups this project has helped support will be sustainable and dynamic institutions for years to come.”

Beneficiary Verification and Feedback Empowers Access to Health Services in Karnataka

2012-10-29T03:15:43.000Z

Synopsis
Effective project feedback mechanisms and mobile technology in the Karnataka Beneficiary Verification System are profoundly changing the quality of public health services in this Indian state. Under this new system, the local public health officials are better able to monitor service delivery, evaluate beneficiary experience, identify service delivery gaps, and respond promptly to concerns such as supply shortages, lack of community involvement, and needs for further training.

Challenge
In the 1990s despite a booming economy a number of vulnerable groups--women, children, rural households, and members of lower castes--in India's southern state of Karnataka continued to suffer from limited access to state healthcare services due to a combination of market failures, constrained public facilities, and reliance on costly private sector care. While Karnataka’s prosperous northern region was achieving excellent health outcomes, its impoverished southern region suffered from human development indicators on par with India’s poorest states.

The health disparities in Karnataka were further complicated by the inability to obtain feedback on project operations. Although public officials were attempting to address the state's challenges, they had no system in place to obtain information on why their efforts were not working.

Approach
In the 2000s, the government of Karnataka took a series of steps to improve basic health among its vulnerable groups and help meet India’s Millennium Development Goals to reduce maternal and child mortality by creating an independent Health Task Force, setting health-related human development targets, and crafting a new health sector policy. A key component of this policy shift was establishing a fully functioning system for monitoring and evaluation.

“It was very clear to policymakers that addressing the health disparities was going to require improving the ability to track and verify service delivery,” said Deepak Bhatia, Lead E-Government Specialist for the World Bank.

In response to this need, the World Bank has been providing support to the Karnataka Department of Health and Family Welfare through the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank's Fund for the Poorest. The project is making use of advances in mobile technology and handheld devices to create a system capable of monitoring in real-time the quality and quantity of health services delivered to pregnant mothers.

“The beneficiary verification system being piloted in Karnataka is unique in that it brings beneficiary feedback, ground-level data on service delivery, and challenges to service delivery in one place and in real-time,” said Pratheep Ponraj, Senior Information Officer at the World Bank.

In contrast to traditional monitoring systems, which determine effectiveness by focusing almost exclusively on input from service providers, this new system determines effectiveness by putting more emphasis on ensuring that feedback is coming directly from beneficiaries. Expecting mothers receive a photo ID and smart card. When they receive services, the community health worker scans the smart card using the hand-held device and enters any data or feedback on the services provided.
Community health workers then use hand-held devices to record data on services provided, with acknowledgement from beneficiaries, as well as collect feedback from pregnant mothers about the services they receive or to report problems.

“Rather than the service provider saying ‘I delivered services,’ it is the beneficiary saying, ‘I have received services,’” said Bhatia. “The beneficiary is the one who confirms that the service has been delivered.”

In addition, the project has also prepared the government of Karnataka to initiate a voice-based survey that will independently verify service delivery and measure satisfaction among beneficiaries on a regular basis.

Beneficiary Results
The beneficiary verification system is being piloted with nine primary health clinics serving more than 3,000 beneficiaries in two districts. Although small in scale, the pilot project has been highly successful in winning over once-skeptical supporters by demonstrating how systematic beneficiary engagement and handheld mobile technology can yield data that is timely, reliable, and actionable.

“Now I don’t have to wait for data on performance for two years,” said Dr. Ramana Reddy, Health Secretary for the State of Karnataka. “The Beneficiary Verification system shows our performance in real-time – which is what I always wanted. This helps me see where we are in terms of service delivery to beneficiaries. We would like to replicate this across the state in 27 districts.”

In addition, health workers are able to pass along important information on the challenges they face in the field.

“We are getting a much better understanding of common service delivery gaps,” said Bhatia. “For example, we kept getting reports from community health workers that when they went to an expecting mother’s house to do follow-up visits, the door was locked and they couldn’t find them at home. The project received so many reports like this that we investigated what was happening. We eventually discovered that the local cultural norm was that the expectant mother always returns to her parents’ home to deliver her first child. We learned that we needed to adjust our services to account for this issue of migration.”

Similarly, the beneficiary verification system has also enabled nurses to quickly generate reports identifying obstacles to service delivery such as insufficient medical supplies or the lack of a doctor. Such reports are flagged in the monitoring system and used by the health department to make decisions on how to best reallocate resources and address service gaps.

Although the project faced some initial challenges, it has since gained the level of government support necessary to ensure sustainability.

“When we first tried to sell the idea of proactively seeking beneficiary feedback, there was not much clarity on how this information will be useful, among various stakeholders,” said Bhatia. “Now it is different – the government sees this as supporting their work”

World Bank Contribution
The World Bank is working with the Karnataka Department of Health and Family Welfare under the auspices of the Karnataka Health Systems Development and Reform Project (KHSDRP). The World Bank provides US$142 million in financial assistance through a Specific Investment Loan, within the IDA portfolio. The World Bank provided technical assistance in the design of the results monitoring framework and the Information Communication Technology (ICT)-based feedback component through a partnership with Governance Partnership Facility (GPF).

Partners
The Indian government is contributing US$65 million in matching financing to the leadership of the implementing agency, the Karnataka State Department of Health and Family Welfare. The project also cooperates in varying degrees with numerous levels of local government.

The World Bank has helped to facilitate additional funding to support further innovation, pilot projects, and evaluation from sources such as the Health Results Innovation Trust Fund (HRITF), the Governance Partnership Facility (GPF), and the Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF). The bilateral and multilateral donors contributing to these funding sources are also important partners in the project’s success.

Moving Forward
This project has served as an important proof of concept for several key principles outlined in the World Bank’s World Development Report 2004: Making Services Work for the Poor. These same principles have the potential to be applied to other public services—agriculture, education, sanitation—both at the national and state government levels. Already, the World Bank and the Karnataka state government are developing plans to replicate this pilot project across the state of Karnataka and expand its reach to cover approximately one million beneficiaries.

World Bank Statement of September 20, 2012 on Padma Bridge

2012-09-20T22:34:08.000Z

Crossing Boundaries

2012-09-06T23:45:00.000Z

As prepared for delivery

Friday, September 7, 2012

World Conservation Congress

Jeju, Korea

Rachel Kyte, Vice President, Sustainable Development

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen - I am honored to have been asked to make the keynote address at this vital gathering of conservation thinking, leadership and action. I am particularly delighted to be here as I had the privilege and honor to work at IUCN a number of years ago. It feels good to be back again!

This Congress brings together some of the world’s smartest thinkers on the policy and practice of conservation and environmental protection. If anyone is going to guide the world in new ways of thinking and acting, it is this group of 7,000 or more which traverses all spheres - private, public, civil society, multilateral, large, small, left, right.

You, as a group, are not at the fringes of decision-making - you are at the very heart of it. Your scientific research, dedication, pursuit of better policies and connections to community all go towards much better, more informed decision-making.

Over the last few years I have had the opportunity to cross some of the boundaries that very often define our perceptions and determine the work in our institutions. My perspectives changed as I moved from IUCN to working with private companies during my time at the World Bank’s private sector arm - the IFC - and they’re changing again now as Vice President for Sustainable Development at the World Bank.

Today, I am convinced that we will have to make a bigger effort to cross boundaries – between our organizations, across public and private sectors and within civil society - so that we reach a better future for our planet.

Let’s take a look at just some of the evidence of environmental decline before us. Evidence is one of the many things that the World Bank and IUCN share.

· The number and size of populations of the world’s species have decreased by almost a third over the last 100 years and this is projected to continue decreasing

· Over 60 percent of ecosystems are in worse shape now than 50 years ago

· 85 percent of ocean fisheries are fully exploited or over-exploited or depleted

· The condition of coral reefs has deteriorated by 38 percent since 1980

· 80 percent of people live in areas where the quality of rivers is threatened

· Climate change is worsening everything. Flood disasters increased by 230 percent and drought disasters by 38 per cent in the 20 years to the early 2000s.

At the same time that this assault on nature has been occurring, we have enjoyed an unrivalled period of economic growth which has seen 660 million people lifted out of poverty in the past 20 years. Don’t get me wrong - we are not saying we need to stop growth to protect nature. Rather, we are calling for a different kind of growth - a greener and more inclusive growth.

An indispensable part of this will be realizing the potential of ecosystems within our economies and to put nature at the foundation of economic strategies. Nature needs to be firmly on the agendas of finance ministers and discussed in board rooms with the focus on building the public-private partnerships to invest in our natural wealth.

Are we ready to do this? Increasingly the World Bank Group is. Now let me share with you three reasons for my cautious optimism that others are ready too.

Firstly, governments are increasingly stepping up - whether by increasing the number and extent of areas under protection or by better recognizing the value of nature and ecosystem services.

Governments, however, are facing daily trade-offs - for example - building a road through a park so that farmers can have better access to markets and/or conserving a road-less national park. Or, they’re weighing up a marina in a mangrove area to boost tourism versus protecting it for its fish breeding, storm protection and carbon storage values.

Effective conservation cannot and will not be driven just by conservation for conservation’s sake. Fortunately, governments increasingly recognize that maintaining and, eventually, accounting for their natural capital comes down to a question of social and economic development. There may not be simple win-wins all the time; but there may be approaches that can come close enough.

We are seeing more and more good examples. In the State of Acre in the northwestern corner of Brazil, the State Government has been making a concerted effort to bring services to its dispersed rural population and to move away from a growth model based on extraction of forest products and expansive agriculture. Where previously 90 percent of Acre’s timber extraction was illegal, now the majority comes from approved forest management plans. Real GDP has increased by over 44 percent and deforestation rates have declined by 70 percent. Acre is showing that safeguarding a state’s natural wealth will also help lift its people out of poverty.

In Liberia, the government has installed a chain of custody system for exporting logs that is helping reduce illegal logging and bringing in much-needed funding for conservation. The Government is also enforcing fishing regulations and arresting vessels found to be fishing illegally.

To manage trade-offs, governments need better information on the economic and social effects of their decisions. More and more governments are embracing the need to use natural capital accounts alongside GDP. At the World Bank Group, we are working with countries from Botswana to the Philippines to put the value of natural capital into the center of their economic decision making. After the 50:50 Campaign at Rio, 62 countries have signed on to support natural capital accounting along with the heads of close to 90 companies. These companies are doing this for competitive reasons - they need to be able to value their assets over the long term.

That brings me to the second reason for my optimism -- the growing leadership coming from parts of the private sector, be they small businesses and local entrepreneurs or Fortune 500 companies.

I see real traction emerging from the advent of rigorous performance standards and principles for corporate behavior. For example, we are beginning to see evidence that the revised IFC Performance Standard on Biodiversity is driving major change both at corporate headquarters and, more importantly, on the ground.

Companies working in developing countries are increasingly investing in biodiversity expertise, in community development, environmental restoration and long-term conservation capacity building. The big shift is that companies are beginning to see this as more than reputational risk management and rather as a way to improve their operations and manage business risk, a key part of creating value. Mainstreaming nature conservation across their operations makes good business sense. Why? Because many companies depend on freshwater, genetic resources, climate regulation, and natural hazard protection to run their businesses successfully and to see their profits grow.

As well as making good business sense, conserving nature and maintaining the resilience of ecosystems upon which people and business depend, allows companies to build trust in the communities in which they operate and among stakeholders abroad. This creates something many call a “social license to operate”.

We are beginning to see more and more companies engage with conservation organizations and external experts to better understand the environment in which they are working. This has inspired some companies to go beyond the minimization of project impacts but also to consider how they might contribute to conservation more broadly.

One example is Rio Tinto which launched its biodiversity strategy at this Congress in 2004. That strategy committed the company to making a Net Positive Impact on biodiversity through its operations. For the past seven years, the company has been piloting the strategy - working alongside government, conservation groups and civil society in Madagascar to build public sector capacity, develop livelihood alternatives, and establish offsets to conserve high biodiversity value areas.

Other examples include Shell in Gabon and Peru LNG which have been working together with the Smithsonian Institution to develop science-based assessment and monitoring of project impacts.

I also see the first few encouraging examples from the finance sector in integrating nature and ecosystem services protection into their investments.

That takes me to my third reason for optimism - that the need for action is overcoming global political sclerosis.

Rio+20 confirmed for me that while at the global level we lack political leadership today to gain consensus, global inaction is being overwhelmed by the ideas, the innovation and the real commitment to action from smart policymakers, city mayors, community leaders and CEOs.

Like-minded coalitions across sectors emerged on almost all issues. People gravitated to ideas and approaches that promised action - whether that was about ocean health, natural capital accounting, access to sustainable energy or reducing short-term climate pollutants.

For the more than 1000 business executives who attended Rio, the message was that action on sustainability is all about future markets, future products, future employees, future investors, and competitiveness linked to sustainability as shared value.

There was an almost overwhelming sense that while we need global governance for ultimate speed and scale, we cannot afford to wait for international agreements to do what everyone knows needs to be done. For every square bracket negotiated, a species is lost and that window of opportunity gets smaller and smaller.

…………………

So, while I have these reasons for cautious optimism --- I am also speaking from a place of urgency. To address the challenges ahead, each and every one of us will have to cross boundaries and we in the conservation community will need to move collectively outside our comfort zones. To this end, I have three appeals.

First to governments: Governments have responsibilities to their citizens that are measured in units of finance – jobs, tax receipts, GDP. We are not naïve: There can be and will be tensions between conservation and development; that’s why public servants need to be armed with the tools and information they need to make fully informed decisions. And that’s why those of you here who work in government should unpack the economic benefits of conservation and translate them into real numbers through natural capital accounting to transform conservation from a discrete sector to an engine of inclusive green growth.

Second to the Private Sector: To be part of the solution, companies need to raise the profile of nature conservation in their boardrooms and recognize the value of nature to their bottom lines. On the ground, companies need to commit to best management practices which will sometimes mean working beyond their immediate project areas to offset impacts and to secure supply chains. This raises technical, political and governance challenges which is why companies need to reach out and offer a hand in partnership to governments, to conservation organizations and even to each other. We hear from the private sector the need for a level playing field when it comes to best practice in biodiversity management. A coordinated and loud voice from industry groups towards government regulators might be part of the solution.

We also need to find ways to bring to scale financial instruments like green bonds, conservation banking, subsidy reform, license to operate agreements for generating new potential sources of support so that good practice can be rewarded with access to capital.

Third to Civil Society: Very often, civil society, conservation organizations and academic institutions are the backbone of any commitment to conserving nature.

But it is important to remember that it’s governments that have the main responsibility for the stewardship of natural assets. These are their citizen’s natural assets; governments must manage them. The rest of us – civil society, donors and philanthropists – must work together, provide them support while demanding transparency and holding them to account, so that they can do more and do it better.

We in the conservation community need to see the private sector as full partners for solutions and not just a threat or a fundraising opportunity. For example, in public private partnerships - if we were able to develop aggregated offsets, is the conservation community collectively ready to provide the means for verification?

Across all these areas of engagement, the World Bank Group stands ready to do its part and to do more:

We entered the debate on green growth in May 2012 through our report ‘Inclusive Green Growth: The Pathway to Sustainable Development’. We want to contribute, in particular by focusing on the inclusiveness of green growth, on the importance of sound fiscal policies - like the removal of inefficient fuel subsidies - and on ensuring that nature considerations are taken into account in economic decision-making. Our work on green growth is, importantly, supported by the Korean Government.

With new energy and emphasis around Natural Capital Accounting stemming from Rio, it is crucial to keep up the political support and momentum, attract key new country partners, and visibly demonstrate action - including through our global partnership called WAVES.

We also want to do more to streamline nature considerations into our own operations by coordinating the implementation of the IFC’s Performance Standards and the World Bank’s operational policies. And I expect that the Bank Group will work more on aggregated offsets as a means of bringing public and private interests together to conserve at scale within a transparent framework.

We are also working on enhancing environmental law enforcement to ensure that the benefits of nature accrue to national economies and local communities - not thugs and organized crime.

Conclusion

Ladies and Gentlemen, as we begin this Congress:

· Let’s agree that we need to do more, better and with more far-reaching consequences

· Let’s together move away from our ardent attachment to old ideologies, old attitudes that stop us from finding solutions together. What we need today is innovation, communication and partnerships between governments, communities, financial institutions, companies and conservation organizations.

· The type and range of solutions will be as diverse as species and ecosystems. Just as nature is not just a set of charismatic species, we will need more than a set of boutique projects and anecdotes to show large-scale impact. We will need to prioritize without devaluing any one community’s chance of life. We will need brave thinkers at the table, all types of partnerships, people with the humility and patience to make them work. Who better than those of us already humbled by the glory of nature and the complexity of its life support?

· Let’s cross our boundaries together.

· I look forward to being with you every step of the way.

Project Signing: US$12.5 million Fund to Build Climate Change Resilient Communities

2012-08-06T07:43:42.000Z

DHAKA, August 06, 2012: The Government of Bangladesh today signed a US$12.5 million grant agreement with the World Bank for the Community Climate Change Project (CCCP) to support communities in increasing their resilience to the impacts of climate change. The project will channel funds to NGO-implemented sub-projects to build the capacity of communities to increase their resilience to flood, drought and saline water intrusion risks through the implementation of community-based climate change adaptation activities in poor and vulnerable upazillas. This is the first stand alone project to be financed by the Bangladesh Climate Change Resilience Fund (BCCRF).

“Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated, climate-vulnerable countries in the world,” said Christine Kimes, Acting Head of World Bank Dhaka Office. “This project has the potential of fundamentally changing the lives of thousands of people by reducing their vulnerability to climate change risks.”

The BCCRF has two windows – 90% of its funds are allocated to public sector projects, while 10% of the funds will be channeled through NGOs. The Governing Council of BCCRF designated Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) to be the implementing agency for the NGO window, and it will manage the US$12.5 million grant for the Community Climate Change Project.

“The project directly contributes to the Government’s climate change adaptation vision,” said Mr. Arastoo Khan, Additional Secretary, Economic Relations Division, Government of Bangladesh. “CCCP would protect the climate vulnerable people by enhancing their adaptability to drought, flood, and saline water intrusion risks. The communities will share the lessons learned with other vulnerable communities as well.”

The project will establish a grant financing mechanism within PKSF to channel funds directly to NGOs to fund community-based climate change adaptation activities. To be eligible for CCCP funding, the sub projects must address at least one of the six thematic pillars of the Government’s Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2009. The first call for proposals is expected by October 2012.

The Bangladesh Climate Change Resilience Fund supports implementation of Bangladesh’s Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2009. This is an innovate partnership between the Government, Development partners and the World Bank to address the impacts of climate Change. The country-led mechanism will channel $170 million in grant funds to strengthen the country’s resilience to climate change. AusAID, Denmark, DFID, the European Commission, Sweden, Switzerland, and USAID have provided financial contributions. The World Bank supports the Government to ensure that the projects are implemented with due regard to economy, efficiency and effectiveness and that due diligence requirements are performed.

Contacts
In Washington: Gabriela Aguilar, (202) 473-8955, gaguilar2@worldbank.org
In Dhaka: Mehrin Ahmed Mahbub, (880-2) 8159001, mmahbub@worldbank.org

Maharashtra leading the way in implementing several water sector reforms, says new World Bank report

2012-07-27T05:55:56.000Z

Mumbai, July 27, 2012: At least 40-70 percent extra water can be made available for urban Indian homes at no extra cost if physical and financial leakages in the delivery of Water Supply and Sanitation (WSS) services are plugged. Maharashtra is showing the way and has been implementing several measures to plug these inefficiencies, says a new World Bank report.

The Report, Improving Urban Water Supply & Sanitation Services – Lessons from Business Plans for Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Haryana and International Good Practices seeks to address the key issues facing the water sector in India’s states and cities. The report highlights the different water supply scenarios prevailing in three states – Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Haryana. While all three states present a similar picture in terms of access to piped water, they differ considerably when it comes to the quality of service provided. For instance, while towns in Haryana have the highest average quantity of water available at 95-105 Liters Per Capita Daily (Lpcd), supply is irregular and varies widely between seasons. Towns in Maharashtra on the other hand have less water available at 78 Lpcd but benefit from a more regular supply. Rajasthan, the desert state, has the least availability of water and the least reliable supply, with only 162 out of the state’s 222 towns receiving water every day. The cost recovery scenario presents an even more diverse picture. While the average recovery rate in Maharashtra is 68 percent, it’s 35 percent in Rajasthan and a mere 11 percent in Haryana.

With higher recovery rates Maharashtra is clearly at an advantage as it has already begun implementing many of the reforms needed to reduce inefficiencies in the delivery of WSS services. The State is introducing consumer survey, water and energy audits in its Urban Local Bodies (ULB), GIS mapping, bulk metering, hydraulic modeling, computerized billing and collection, ring fencing of WSS operations among other measures as part of phase one under the Maharashtra Sujal Nirman Abhiyan (MSNA), an incentive based reform system, the Report says.

Although there is no “one-size-fits-all” solution, the Report highlights many good examples from Australia, Algiers, and Brazil where water utilities started from a similar scenario but managed to reduce their inefficiencies over a span of 5-10 years. India, while maintaining the targeted subsidies for the poor, can also provide more and better quality water to its citizens, the Report states.

In the second phase, the Maharashtra government under the MSNA program will introduce piloting of 24x7 water supply, city-wide metering, sanitation systems, 100 percent billing and collection, increase in the autonomy of service providers and adopting of service standards and tariff guidelines. In the third phase most ULBs in Maharashtra are expected to implement activities including 24x7 water supply across cities, corporatization of utilities, and regulating mechanisms.

“This approach, we hope, will help us increase efficiency and deliver better services to our people across the state. The task to set in place autonomous, accountable and customer-oriented service providers that international experience indicates is necessary is daunting but achievable,” said Ms. Malini Shankar, Principal Secretary Water Supply and Sanitation Department, Government of Maharashtra.

International experience indicates the importance of creating institutions with clearly defined roles and responsibilities between policy makers, designers, and service providers along with clear lines of accountability. Johannesburg provides an example of how separating policy and regulation from other functions improved a utility’s management. Brazil and Australia provide examples of models that can suit municipalities of different sizes and capacity, the Report adds.

“The need of an average water user is at the heart of these recommendations. A well serving utility needs to provide continuous good quality water at affordable rates. This report identifies bottlenecks and what can be achieved as there is a growing realization that creating infrastructure alone will not solve the problem. Better management of urban water supply services will help us arrive at a sustainable solution. Policies are moving in the right direction. These moves need to be consolidated and their introduction speeded up,” said Ms. Smita Misra, Senior Economist, and W. Kingdom, Lead Water & Sanitation Specialist, South Asia Sustainable Development Unit, World Bank.

Apart from institutions, it is imperative to build the human resources that are capable of designing, creating and managing the complexities of urban water provision, the Report says. For this, a municipal cadre of dedicated professionals will be needed to provide the highest levels of service to consumers. Capacity can either be built through class room training and /or twinning with the state-of-the-art utilities, to contracting out to professional service providers or public private partnerships (PPPs). A number of models can be explored under the capacity building program of JNNURM II, it adds.

Contacts:
World Bank, India: Nandita Roy 91-11-41479220 nroy@worldbank.org

Read the Report at: http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2012/07/16498865/india-improving-urban-water-supply-sanitation-service-provision-vol-1-2-lessons-business-plans-maharashtra-rajasthan-haryana-international-good-practices

For more information about World Bank activities in India, visit www.worldbank.org.in

Transform, Innovate, and Connect: A New Strategy for Information and Communication Technology

2012-07-25T12:15:00.000Z

July 25, 2012

The World Bank Group aims to help developing countries use ICT for greater development impact.

A dramatic increase in use of mobile phones and the Internet; plunging prices of computing and mobile internet devices; the increasing prevalence of social media: these are some of the rapid changes seen in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector over the last decade.

The World Bank Group’s new strategy for the ICT sector for the period 2012-2015 reflects this new context. It aims to help developing countries use ICT to transform delivery of basic services, drive innovations and productivity gains, and improve competitiveness.

“Information and communication technologies can help reduce poverty, boost economic growth, and improve accountability and governance,” explains World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development Rachel Kyte.

Three Priority Areas

The new strategy emphasizes the transformative potential of ICT – in areas such as accountability, energy, and health – while maintaining a steady focus on ICT-enabled innovation and ICT infrastructure. Bank Group support will be directed to three priority areas:

Transformation: Making development more open and accountable, for instance, by facilitating citizen feedback to governments and service providers; and improving delivery of services, such as education, health, and financial services.

Innovation: Developing competitive IT-based service industries and fostering ICT innovation across the economy – with a focus on job creation, especially for women and youth.

Connectivity: Leveraging private investments to help scale up affordable access to broadband – including for women, disabled citizens, disadvantaged communities, and people living in remote and rural areas.

“The World Bank Group’s new strategy will help our client countries take advantage of the opportunities that ICT offers across all sectors of the economy, drawing on our unique expertise in public-private partnerships in the ICT sector.”

Working with client countries

The new strategy builds on the Bank Group’s experience working with client countries on ICT sector reforms, infrastructure development, and electronic government:

Over the 2000s, Bank support for ICT sector reforms helped attract an estimated $30 billion in private investment for mobile network infrastructure in the least developed countries. The IFC’s $2.3 billion in telecommunications infrastructure investments and MIGA’s $550 million in political risk guarantees also supported private investment in mobile service providers in difficult and high-risk environments.
Bank Group support for ICT applications has grown rapidly over the last decade, and over 70 percent of the 1,700 projects in the Bank’s active portfolio now have ICT components.
Since 2007, the Bank Group has intensified its support for public-private partnerships for broadband and high-speed Internet, helping bring down retail prices and increasing the take-up of services, in some instances by a factor of 10.

Stakeholders from 17 low- and middle-income countries and four OECD countries provided inputs for the new strategy through a series of face-to-face and online consultations. The document also draws on a review by the Bank Group’s Independent Evaluation Group.

For Rashad-Rudolf Kaldany, IFC Vice President for Global Industries, “The Strategy recognizes the vital role of the private sector in improving access to information infrastructure and services in developing countries.” He explains that “IFC works with the private sector as an advisor, financier, and standard setter to help unlock the potential of ICT for development.”

Jose Luis Irigoyen, the World Bank’s Director for Transport, Water, and Information and Communication Technologies, underlines how “ICT offers new tools to directly address poverty by providing access to information, contributing to pro-poor market developments such as microfinance and mobile money, and equalizing opportunities in rural areas.”

Collaborating across the Bank Group

Under the new strategy, the World Bank, IFC, and MIGA will work together to assist countries in unlocking the opportunities offered by ICT.

For instance, the World Bank will provide support for appropriate policy, legal, and regulatory frameworks, as well as catalytic investment in ICT backbone infrastructure; IFC will provide financing and advisory services to mobile operators; and MIGA will provide guarantees to support the roll-out of telecommunications networks and services.

“MIGA has contributed to the rapid growth of access to ICT services in emerging countries by mitigating the political risk of investments,” says Michel Wormser, MIGA’s Vice President and COO.

He adds that, “Under the new WBG strategy, MIGA will make available its insurance capacity to further accelerate ICT investments in higher-risk countries, notably fragile and post-conflict countries, where ICT will be key to growth, job creation, sharing of knowledge, and governance.”

The ICT strategy will adopt a new approach to implementation, including country diagnostics to help prioritize Bank Group interventions at the country level and leverage more partnerships with external sources of expertise. A results-based framework will be used to track progress.

In this video, Rachel Kyte, Vice President for Sustainable Development, speaks about how
the World Bank will leverage ICTs in its work.

RELATED RESOURCES

Equitable Growth Must for Reducing Poverty and Inequality

2012-07-24T11:24:15.000Z

Islamabad, July 24, 2012- Growth is a prerequisite for poverty reduction, but growth alone does not suffice. Pro-poor policies and equitable growth are essential for vulnerable segments of society to catch up and not get permanently left behind because of uneven playing field. This was the main message emanating from “Poverty and Inequality”, latest in the development dialogue series being organized by the World Bank. Francois Bourguignon, Director Paris School of Economics, an eminent authority on micro determinants of poverty and a former Chief Economist of the World Bank Group delivered the keynote presentation at the occasion.

“Absolute poverty reduction has to be the main goal of development,” said Mr. Bourguignon during his presentation entitled Policies for Inclusive Development in a Globalizing World. “Global experience shows that while globalization and growth can lead to inequality, it needs not necessarily be so. Domestic policies can reduce inequality without impairing growth.”

The last decade has seen remarkable growth, poverty reduction and improved education and health outcomes in the world in general and in South Asia in particular. Pakistan was no exception to this progress. Both the poor and the rich populations enjoyed the growth benefits. Thus, it can be safely inferred that the decline in poverty has strictly relied on growth and that important challenges still remain on the inequality front for Pakistan.

In his speech Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Federal Minister for Finance reiterated the government’s resolve to accelerate growth, reduce poverty and address inequality. He highlighted four measures the government has introduced for bridging inequity: i) agricultural pricing policy that helps the farming sector; ii) increased expenditures on social safety nets with emphasis on better targeting of the poorest and vulnerable segments of society; iii) under the new formula for sharing federal resources with provinces the latter have received a major boost in transfers; and iv) deliberate effort is being made by the federal government to have regionally balanced development of infrastructure throughout the country. He welcomed the World Bank’s initiative of expanding the development discourse in Pakistan.

“Poverty and inequality are two topics that are at the core of the World Bank mission”, said Rachid Benmessaoud, World Bank Country Director for Pakistan. “This dialogue is taking place at a time where Pakistan faces the challenge of accelerating growth and fostering employment following a series of natural disasters. In the light of the 18th Constitutional Amendment, the challenge for making growth pro-poor now lies not only with the federal government, but with the provincial governments as well.”

In her concluding remarks, Farzana Raja, Member of National Assembly and Chairperson Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) said that poverty was a gross violation of basic human rights and that growth without equality can lead to a widening gulf between the haves and the have-nots. While enumerating the achievements of BISP like poverty scorecard based targeting system, female headed household as selection criteria, and financial inclusion by payments through the banking system, she called upon the development partners to help galvanize the corporate sector in joining hands with BISP in provision of social safety nets to the poorest of the poor.

Federal and provincial government officials, development partners and media evinced great interest in presentations made by Francois Bourguignon, Ministry of Finance, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, and BISP. A lively exchange during the question and answer session mainly revolved around implications of issues like globalization, poverty and inequality for a developing country like Pakistan. Responding to a number of questions about the best way to address the issue of inequality, Mr. Bourguignon said that redistribution of accumulated resources like education, health services, and access to credit among the poor was the least-cost approach to attaining more equality.

Contacts

In Islamabad: Shazhad Sharjeel, (92-51) 227 9641, ssharjeel@worldbank.org
In Washington: Alison Reeves, (202) 473 1729, areeves@worldbank.org;
For Broadcast Requests: Natalia Cieslik, (202) 458-9369, ncieslik@worldbank.org
For more information, please visit: http://www.worldbank.org/pk
Visit us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/worldbank
Be updated via Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/worldbank
For our YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/worldbank

Government of Afghanistan Signs $125 million Grant with the World Bank to Improve Rural Roads

2012-07-22T07:23:16.000Z

Dari l Pashto

KABUL, July 22, 2012 ─ Afghanistan’s Ministry of Finance and the World Bank today signed a $125 million grant from the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) to finance the improvement and maintenance of secondary and tertiary rural roads as well as the construction of bridges, together with support for implementation and capacity building activities.

The Afghanistan Rural Access Project (ARAP) aims to enable rural communities across Afghanistan to benefit from improved access to basic services and facilities through all-weather roads. The project is expected to increase the number of people living within 2 km of all-season roads, reduce travel time to essential services, and enable rural people to access essential services more frequently. The total cost of the project is estimated to be around $332 million of which the World Bank financed $125 million. The World Bank administered multi-donor trust fund – ARTF – will finance the remaining $207 million.

“Given that nearly eighty percent of Afghans live in rural areas, building rural infrastructure is crucial for the people’s well-being and prosperity, as well as for economic growth,” said HE Dr. Mustafa Mastoor, Deputy Finance Minister, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. “Connecting villages with each other and with towns and cities will not only improve villagers’ welfare, but also help bring peace, stability and prosperity. If one village is connected with another, new employment opportunities will open up, access to basic services such as health and education will improve, and businesses will prosper.”

The Afghanistan Rural Access Project (ARAP) follows on from the series of World Bank projects that have supported the Government's National Rural Access Program (NRAP) over the past ten years, together with financing from the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF). NRAP has been one of the Government's national priority programs that share a broader vision of enhancing human security, equitable growth and integrating the rural economy with the regional market, through the provision of sustainable rural access to basic services. To date, with support from the World Bank and the ARTF, the Government of Afghanistan has been able to rehabilitate or built more than 10,500 km of secondary and tertiary road networks across the country. Moreover, these interventions have created over 16 million labor days opportunities for Afghans throughout the country.

Two decades of civil war inflicted severe damage to Afghanistan’s road network, both to main highways as well as rural roads. As the nation started to emerge from the conflict in 2001, only a tenth of the estimated 130,000 km of roads was in good condition.

Today, Afghanistan’s tertiary road network is estimated at 80,000 km, of which only about 7,000 km are accessible to motor vehicles in all seasons; the rest are tracks mostly inaccessible to motor vehicles. Among the roads that remain accessible to motor vehicles all year, an estimated 5,000 km are believed to be in maintainable state, while the rest are in poor condition and need rehabilitation.

“Alleviating poverty through interventions that help create jobs, provide access to basic services and create an enabling environment to private sector investments remains the World Bank’s paramount focus in its support of government efforts,” said Bob Saum, World Bank Country Director for Afghanistan. “The rehabilitation of rural infrastructure so far has led to encouraging improvements in rural livelihoods. Many villages are, for the first time, connected to markets. People have easy access to health facilities and more children are able to go to school. We will continue to support government efforts in sustaining this progress and help it to expand into villages where Afghans still wait to benefit from rural development activities.”

The Ministries of Public Works and Rural Rehabilitation and Development will continue to implement The Afghanistan Rural Access Project (ARAP) over a period of five years.

The Afghanistan Rural Access Project (ARAP) consists of three main components:

The Ministry of Public Works will continue to improve and maintain secondary road networks. Specifically, MPW will rehabilitate some 1,000 km of secondary roads; upgrade 250 km of existing pavement to bituminous standard; conduct routine and periodic maintenance of 1,000 km of paved and unpaved secondary roads, and construct about 1,000 linear meters of bridges.
The Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) will rehabilitate 1300 km of tertiary roads, conduct routine and periodic maintenance of 2,000 km of tertiary roads, and construct 1,600 linear meters of bridges.
To achieve institutional sustainability for managing the road network, the project will support both MRRD and MPW efforts in:
- Strengthening network planning, development and management system
- Developing a comprehensive system for rural road design standards and cost estimation, and research and development
- Developing a road inventory and condition inventory

Contacts:
Wahidullah Tawhidi
Ministry of Finance
Phone: 0700266363
Email:wahid_tawhidi@yahoo.com
www.mof.gov.af

Eng.Sher Mohd Kamin
Ministry of Public Works
Phone:0700295395
Email:skamin@unop.org
www.mopw.gov.af

Sarwar Norzai
Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development
Phone: 0799403862
Email: norzai@gmail.com
http://www.mrrd.gov.af

Abdul Raouf Zia
World Bank
0700280800
azia@worldbank.org
www.worldbank.org.af
www.worldbank.org/artf

‘Maximizing Mobile’ Report Highlights Development Potential of Mobile Communications

2012-07-17T15:00:00.000Z

July 17, 2012

The new World Bank study says that about three-quarters of planet’s population now has access to a mobile phone.

Around three-quarters of the world’s inhabitants now have access to a mobile phone and the mobile communications story is moving to a new level, which is not so much about the phone but how it is used, says a new report by the World Bank and infoDev, its technology entrepreneurship and innovation program.

The number of mobile subscriptions in use worldwide, both pre-paid and post-paid, has grown from fewer than 1 billion in 2000 to over 6 billion now, of which nearly 5 billion are in developing countries. Ownership of multiple subscriptions is becoming increasingly common, suggesting that their number will soon exceed that of the human population.

Innovation in Action

In India, the state of Kerala’s mGovernment program has deployed over 20 applications and facilitated more than 3 million interactions between the government and citizens since its launch in December 2010.

Kenya has emerged as a leading player in mobile for development, largely due to the success of the M-PESA mobile payment ecosystem. Nairobi-based AkiraChix, for example, provides networking and training for women technologists.

In the West Bank & Gaza, SoukTel’s JobMatch service is helping young people find jobs. College graduates using the service reported a reduction in the time spent looking for employment from an average of twelve weeks to one week or less, and an increase in wages of up to 50 percent.

The report,Information and Communications for Development 2012: Maximizing Mobile, says more than 30 billion mobile applications, or “apps,” were downloaded in 2011 – software that extends the capabilities of phones, for instance to become mobile wallets, navigational aids or price comparison tools.

This trend is also benefiting developing countries where people are increasingly using mobile phones to create new livelihoods and enhance their lifestyles, while governments are using them to improve service delivery and citizen feedback mechanisms.

"Mobile communications offer major opportunities to advance human and economic development – from providing basic access to health information to making cash payments, spurring job creation, and stimulating citizen involvement in democratic processes,” says World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development Rachel Kyte.

She adds that the challenge now is “to enable people, businesses, and governments in developing countries to develop their own locally-relevant mobile applications so they can take full advantage of these opportunities.”

A mobile revolution

This new report, the third in the World Bank’s series on Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for Development, analyzes the growth and evolution of mobile telephony, and the rise of data-based services, including apps, delivered to handheld devices.

The report explores the consequences for development of the emerging “app economy,” especially in agriculture, health, financial services and government, and how it is changing approaches to entrepreneurship and employment.

For Tim Kelly, lead ICT policy specialist at the World Bank and one of the authors of the report, “The mobile revolution is right at the start of its growth curve: mobile devices are becoming cheaper and more powerful while networks are doubling in bandwidth roughly every 18 months and expanding into rural areas.”

“We have included the latest available data and indicators for the mobile sector for more than 150 economies in the report,” explains Shaida Badiee, director of the World Bank’s Development Data Group, adding that, “the spread of mobile phones means we now have data that can be used for cross-country comparisons.”

Developing mobile applications

The report emphasizes the role of governments in enabling mobile application development. In the agriculture sector, for instance, many of the mobile services that are being developed – such as information services for Senegalese farmers or a traceability scheme for coffee-growers in Colombia – are reliant on public funding and are still in pilot stages.

“Government support is needed to develop sound business models, foster ICT skills, and ensure that the infrastructure is in place and affordable,” explains Kelly.

The study also highlights how mobile innovation labs – shared spaces for training developers and incubating start-ups – can help bring new apps to market. For instance, infoDev, in collaboration with the Government of Finland and Nokia, has established five regional mobile innovation labs (mLabs) in Armenia, Kenya, Pakistan, South Africa, and Vietnam.

Click to Read
IC4D 2012:
Maximizing Mobile

“Most businesses based around mobile app technology are at an early stage of development, but may hold enormous employment and economic potential, similar to that of the software industry in the 1980s and 1990s. Supporting the networking and incubation of entrepreneurs is essential to ensure that such potential is tapped,” says Valerie D’Costa, program manager of infoDev.

The study benefits from research funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Government of Finland, the Korea Trust Fund for ICT4D, and UKaid.

Infographic: Maximizing Mobile

The developing world is now more mobile that the developed world, and the near ubiquity brings new opportunities. Click to view the full infographic.

Report highlights

Tim Kelly, one of the authors of the report, presents highlights from the report in the following video:

RELATED RESOURCES

Maximizing Mobile 2012 Infographic

2012-07-17T15:00:00.000Z

Click the images to download high-resolution files

Frequently Asked Questions Related to the Cancellation of the World Bank Credit for the Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project

2012-07-17T10:12:14.000Z

Please click here to download the Bangla translation of the FAQ.

Has the World Bank communicated to the Government the results of the investigations?

In accordance with our policies, we submitted two reports to the Prime Minister, the Finance Minister, and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), first in September 2011 and again in April 2012. We urged the authorities of Bangladesh to investigate these matters fully and, where justified, prosecute those responsible for corruption.

What were the findings of the referral report that the Bank has given to the Government?

Referral reports provided to Governments are meant to stimulate a robust investigation of credible evidence of corruption by appropriate national entities. The World Bank’s independent Integrity Vice Presidency looks into corruption allegations to determine whether the Bank’s anti-corruption guidelines have been violated and whether sufficient credible evidence exists to warrant investigation by national authorities. The World Bank itself does not conduct criminal investigations or make any determination on appropriate follow-up. This is a matter for Bangladeshi authorities to pursue in accordance with Bangladeshi laws.

Given that the World Bank has delivered reports and letters to the Government of Bangladesh, why won't the Bank make these reports available to the public?

The World Bank presented evidence of corruption under the Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project to the Government of Bangladesh in September 2011 and April 2012. The World Bank has an obligation to each member government—including the Government of Bangladesh—to maintain the confidentiality of referral reports. However, the Government of Bangladesh may disclose these reports and related correspondence if it so chooses.

What were the proposals set by the World Bank? Did the Government of Bangladesh agree to any of the measures?

The World Bank suggested that the Government adopt four measures, but the Government was unable to commit to two of the four. First, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) was asked to form a special joint investigative and prosecutorial team to work together on the investigation and follow-up. The ACC agreed with this proposal. Second, the Government accepted an alternative project implementation arrangement which gave co-financiers greater oversight over procurement processes. Third, the ACC was asked to provide information to an external panel under World Bank auspices, allowing the panel to assess the adequacy of the investigative process. Ultimately the ACC would not accept any formal relationship with the external panel to share information. Finally, the Government was unwilling to exclude public officials from public service for the duration of the investigation although Bangladeshi law permits this. Unable to reach agreement on two of the four measures during a last mission to find a way forward in June, the World Bank was left with no option other than to cancel our support for the Bridge.

Were the proposals spelled out by the World Bank in line with Bangladeshi law?

The World Bank made every effort to ensure that all requested measures were in line with the Bangladeshi legal framework.

Statements by Government officials allege that the World Bank favored a particular Chinese firm in the pre-qualification process for the bridge construction and this led to the troubled relationship between the Government and the World Bank, and ultimately to the cancellation of the project.

This is absolutely not true. The World Bank does not favor certain firms over others. In the case referred to, the Bank was reviewing a proposed list of firms to be classified as “pre-qualified” to participate in the bidding for bridge construction. For a “billion-dollar-plus” contract such as the Padma Bridge, it is particularly important to provide clear and strong justification on why each firm is qualified to bid or lacks the necessary qualifications. In this particular case, the Bridge Authority excluded the China Railway Construction Corporation from the pre-qualification list without providing adequate justification. Therefore, in accordance with our procurement guidelines, the Bank asked for complete information, which entailed several requests for clarification. As soon as all required information was provided, the Bank accepted the Government’s proposed pre-qualification list and agreed with the decision of the Government to exclude the firm.

Why did the World Bank cancel the project one month prior to the effectiveness deadline for the project?

The World Bank was in discussion with the Government for nearly a year, seeking a serious commitment to address evidence of corruption under the project. Unfortunately, the Government took no such action for nearly nine months, leading many to call for the early cancellation of the loan. Given the tremendous economic and social benefits of the bridge for the people of Bangladesh, the World Bank was not willing to let it go without a struggle to save the project. The World Bank mounted an urgent mission to Dhaka to find a way forward in late June. After extensive discussions, Bangladeshi authorities were unable to agree to two of the four measures proposed. On this basis, the World Bank Management Team reluctantly took the decision to cancel the loan.

A senior Government official noted that the project was cancelled on the last day in office of the past president of the World Bank, and that the World Bank's statement was his personal statement rather than that of the institution.

All decisions by the World Bank represent the institution and not an individual. It was a unanimous decision of the World Bank Management Team, and it was motivated by a lack action on the part of Government to seriously address corruption. This was a sad outcome for the people of Bangladesh and for the World Bank, particularly given our long-standing and productive partnership dating back to the birth of the nation.

What is the interest rate of World Bank Credits to Bangladesh?

Bangladesh receives credits from the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank’s concessional arm, which is interest free. It has a 40-year repayment period which includes a 10-year grace period; it carries a service charge of 0.75 percent. Between years 11-20, the country would repay 2 percent of the original amount every year. For the remaining 20 years, the country would pay back 4 percent of the original amount every year.

Is Bangladesh being treated differently than other countries in which there are similar investigations?

No. The World Bank has an obligation to ensure that its funds reach their intended beneficiaries. The World Bank takes actions which are appropriate based on the nature of the allegations and the evidence obtained during the course of investigations.

How will the cancellation affect other ongoing World Bank operations?

The cancellation will not affect on-going operations funded by the World Bank, and we will continue to work closely with the Government and local stakeholders to support efforts to build a better life for the citizens of Bangladesh. The World Bank’s current portfolio consists of over 30 projects with commitments amounting to about $4.4 billion. These projects, among others, support the development of Bangladesh’s health and education systems, the improved provision of local services, the increased use of renewable energy and the economic empowerment of women. During the past fiscal year, which ended in June 2012, the World Bank approved over $860 million zero interest IDA credits, supporting among others, primary education, strengthening of local governments and improving access to and quality of water supply in rural areas. Disbursements in FY12 were about $500 million, significantly exceeding the average of the previous three years.

What will be different now in the areas where the World Bank remains engaged?

First, the World Bank will undertake greater oversight in areas where financial risks remain substantial. This will include independent financial transaction reviews using forensic accounting techniques to uncover patterns of fraud and corruption. Second, the World Bank will redouble project-specific efforts to strengthen capacity and systems for good governance. Finally—and perhaps most importantly—the doors and windows will be opened wide in Bank-financed operations, through greater access to information and increased citizen participation for better transparency and accountability for results. We have seen through operations like the Local Governance Support Project that citizens’ own engagement at the local level is the best way to ensure the transparent use of resources and sustained progress towards objectives like the Millennium Development Goals.

Is there any scope to review the loan cancellation decision?

The World Bank has a few precedents in its history of reinstating a cancelled loan in other countries, so it is technically possible. However, there is little scope to revisit the decision in the current circumstances, as the Government was unable to agree to two measures deemed important in the conduct of a full and fair investigation into evidence of corruption.

This is an unfortunate outcome, as the bridge has the potential to accelerate growth and transform lives in Southwest Bangladesh and across the nation. The World Bank has been a strong partner in supporting Bangladesh in these efforts, and we remain committed to helping Bangladeshis rise out of poverty and achieve their dream of a prosperous and empowered nation, built on a foundation of good governance.

Pakistan: Reaching the Poorest through Cash Transfers

2012-07-09T20:43:23.000Z

Overview

Supported by IDA’s technical assistance since 2009, Pakistan has established the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP), a flagship national safety net initiative that provides income support in the form of cash transfers of US$12 per month to 3.5 million of the poorest families. To determine eligibility, the program uses an objective ‘poverty scorecard’ that has been rolled out through a door-to-door national census, collecting information on more than 27 million households in Pakistan. The information yielded through this initiative, which was validated through Pakistan’s National Identity Database, has helped the government to set up a National Poverty Data Registry; the first in the South Asia region.

More Results

20 million

beneficiaries have received support from the project

40%

spike observed in female registration of Computerized National Identity Cards (CNICs)

more information

Challenge

Around 25 million people (15 percent of the population) live in extreme poverty, and from 2008 onwards, the adverse impacts of global financial, food, and fuel crises posed multiple challenges to Pakistan’s rapidly evolving social protection sector. The militancy crisis, as well as recurring natural disasters, further exacerbated the situation by exposing an even larger number of Pakistan’s vulnerable population to the risk of falling into abject poverty. The nation’s main safety net programs (i.e. Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal, and the Zakat) were hampered by a number of factors. They had limited coverage (reaching only. approximately 5 percent of the total population) and were poorly targeted, as around 25 and 32 percent of resources distributed by these programs, respectively, was going to non-poor households). Additionally, benefit levels were small, payments were infrequent and irregular, administration arrangements were inadequate, and implementation and monitoring and evaluation capacity were both very weak. Consequently, these programs had little impact on addressing the issue of poverty and vulnerability..

Approach

To address the above challenges, the Government of Pakistan launched the BISP during the second half of 2008 as its flagship national social safety net initiative. The short-term objective of the program was to cushion the adverse impact of the food, fuel, and financial crisis on the poor, but its broader objective was to provide a minimum income support package to the very poorest and to those who are highly vulnerable to the future shocks. Since 2009, the World Bank’s Social Safety Net Technical Assistance Project assisted the BISP in implementing of a proxy means test-based targeting instrument – the Poverty Score Card – to objectively identify the poor as program beneficiaries, and to set up a unified targeting registry for the country. In addition, the project assisted in the strengthening of operational processes, institutional development, and controls and accountability for program administration. To date, the national rollout of the Poverty Score Card through door-to-door census is nearing completion, covering approximately 27 million households. So far, around six million families have qualified for cash transfers under the eligibly cut-off score. In addition, the institution of BISP has been established as an autonomous authority under an act unanimously approved by Pakistan’s parliament. Additionally, the program’s management information system has been made operational, a technology-based payment system has been tested and is now being taken to scale, and a number of third party evaluations and spot-checks have been instituted to strengthen control and accountability. The program has now set the foundation for provision of integrated and coordinated support to the poor to promote, over the long run, the development of the target population and to enable their better access to economic opportunities..

Results

Since its creation in August 2008, BISP - with support from the Bank’s technical assistance and the Social Safety Net Project - has accomplished the following:

• Achieved the goal of redistributing support by moving from general subsidies towards targeted cash grants—to date, the BISP has disbursed more than US$1 billion in the form of cash grants to 3.5 million beneficiary families in all regions and areas of the country, benefiting more than 20 million people directly.
• The program is empowering women by disbursing the cash only to the female representatives of the eligible families. At the same time, the program has encouraged women to register with the National Database Registry Authority for a national identification card; since the introduction of BISP, a 40 percent spike has been observed in female registration of Computerized National Identity Cards (CNICs), which can potentially open avenues for their socio-economic and political empowerment.
• The BISP has established a credible foundation for a national poverty registry as initial results of spot-checks show the accuracy rate of the poverty scorecard survey as 95.4 percent.
• The payment through debit cards was initiated in April 2010 and, by October 2011, 176,072 cards had been distributed with a total sum of US$ 225 million disbursed to beneficiaries. Based on the experience of this pilot, BISP is now rolling out the debit card payments nationwide, presently making these electronic payments to about 800,000 families.
• As of October 2011, 60,000 BISP beneficiaries have registered for mobile phone-based payments.

Voices

Ever since I started receiving a cash grant, I have something to lean on for survival and am thankful for the help to pull trough my difficult life.

— Faiz Begum, Project Beneficiary

Bank Contribution

The World Bank supported the BISP through the Social Safety Net Technical Assistance Project with US$60 million (IDA), approved by the Bank’s Board in May 2009. Given the success of BISP in establishing itself as the national safety net platform, and in continuation of the sector reforms begun by the project, a proposal for US$150 million (IDA) in additional financing was approved by the Bank’s Board on February 7, 2012. This additional funding would support the expansion of BISP’s Cash Transfers program and support its evolution towards CCTs, linked to enrollment and attendance of primary school-aged children of BISP beneficiary families.

Partners

In 2009, the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) approved a World Bank-managed trust fund to support the test phase of the Public Score Card and to set up the initial organizational and operational arrangements for implementing the BISP. Following support from the World Bank, other donors such as the Asian Development Bank and the US Agency for International Development also provided US$150 million each to finance cash transfers to beneficiaries identified through the Public Score Card targeting system. The partnership between World Bank and DFID, as well as coordination with the other development partners, will continue throughout the additional financing of the Social Safety Net Project, for which DFID will initially mobilize up to US$140 million, with the possibility to increase funding if results of school enrollment and attendance through the BISP-managed CCT component become available.

Toward the Future

BISP management has decided to introduce co-responsibilities linked to primary education for the BISP beneficiary families. In partnership with the provincial governments, BISP is preparing to launch the Co-responsibility Cash Transfer (CCT) Program in September 2012 to link cash benefits to primary school enrollment and attendance of BISP beneficiaries’ children. Given that around 70 percent of children of BISP beneficiaries are out of school at the moment, this advanced modality is expected to have a huge impact of getting and keeping millions of Pakistani girls and boys in the schools. International evidence suggests that CCTs can contribute towards reducing the transmission of inter-generational poverty through better educational and thus employment opportunities, translating into higher life earnings that commonly result from investments in human capital development. Moving ahead, BISP’s challenges will be to expand the program’s coverage to seven million identified beneficiaries, introduce co-responsibilities such as primary education, entrench its operational systems and strengthen public communication and outreach, and proactively engage with provinces for achieving ease in implementation and sustainable impact at the grassroots level.

Exports can grow even faster, provided critical bottlenecks are addressed: says new World Bank report

2012-07-04T08:02:44.000Z

DHAKA, July 04, 2012: Bangladesh needs to improve its trade logistics and infrastructure, more skilled manpower, and ensure compliance with Government’s labor standards to accelerate growth of exports, says a new World Bank report “Consolidating and Accelerating Exports in Bangladesh”.

According to the report, exports of basic garments, Bangladesh’s strength, will continue to be important in the near and medium-term. However, accelerating overall exports will require not only consolidating existing strengths in basic garments but gradually diversifying into higher-value garments as well as other exports.

The report focuses on improvements in trade logistics, skill development and compliance with labor standards that would support consolidating existing strengths in exports and moving to higher value products. The report also examines prospects for diversifying into IT-enabled services, a sector that is growing fast worldwide and can provide high-quality jobs.

“Bangladesh’s current cost advantage in the garment sector may not be adequate to compete globally as the country moves up the value chain. The country must improve logistics to ensure that exports as well as imported inputs are shipped on time, cost effectively and reliably, and this is important to even ensure sustained growth in existing areas of strength,” said Sanjay Kathuria, Lead Country Economist for World Bank Bangladesh and co-author of the report.

Improving customs procedures, enhancing air shipment capacity, and improving rail services would be crucial to improve the trade logistics of the country.

The skills gap is becoming increasingly visible, even in the garment industry. A high turnover rate is one evidence of this. As the main vehicle for training workers, the publicly-funded Technical and Vocational Education and Training program needs to increase its relevance to better meet the needs of garments and other sectors. This apart from more innovative ways to improve skills, such as trainee-targeted training vouchers, need to be thought of. As Bangladesh moves towards higher value garment exports, it becomes even more important to enforce compliance with labor standards.

Compliance with its own labor and building standards will become increasingly more important for Bangladesh’s garment exports. “Consumers who buy Bangladesh’s products are becoming more discerning about their buying decisions,” said Md. Abul Basher, Economist, World Bank Bangladesh and co-author of the report. “The Government will need to work closely with the industry to ensure that its labor standards are properly implemented, and also support firms to relocate factories from residential to industrial buildings that are better equipped to provide safe working conditions.”

The report also suggests that Bangladesh can do more to promote the growth of the IT-enabled services sector in Bangladesh. Creating an apex organization to represent the sector could greatly help improve sector prospects. Attracting even one or two anchor investors in the sector can provide very significant positive spillover effects for Bangladesh.

The report was launched today at the World Bank Dhaka Office. The event was chaired by Prof. Wahiduddin Mahmud, Chairman, Economic Research Group.

Contacts
In Washington: Gabriela Aguilar, (202) 473-8955, gaguilar2@worldbank.org
In Dhaka: Mehrin Ahmed Mahbub, (880-2) 8159001, mmahbub@worldbank.org

Click here to download the Bangla press release

For more information on the World Bank in Bangladesh, please visit: http://www.worldbank.org/bd

To download the report, please visit: http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/2012/07/03/consolidating-accelerating-exports-bangladesh

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World Bank Links Financing to Results under a new Bridges Maintenance and Improvement Program

2012-06-28T15:20:56.000Z

WASHINGTON, June 28, 2012—The World Bank today approved a US$60 million credit to help Nepal maintain and construct bridges on its Strategic Roads Network. The strategic roads network refers to roughly 10,800 kilometers of national highways, feeder roads and other roads of national importance.

Supporting the vision behind Nepal’s Bridge Policy and Strategy of 2004 to provide “safe, reliable and cost effective” bridges, the Bridges Improvement and Maintenance Program will maintain 89 bridges, many over 35 years old, complete major and minor maintenance on over 300 bridges, and construct 121 new bridges.

The Program will be financed through a new World Bank financing instrument called the Program for Results or P4R that links disbursements of funds directly to the delivery of verifiable results. This is the first Program-for-Results to be approved by the World Bank’s Board under IDA, the Bank’s concessional financing window. The Bank will provide approximately 40% of program financing, with Government of Nepal providing the remaining 60%. The program will support the strengthening of institutional systems and will develop transparent implementation arrangements, including linking disbursements to verification of results, third party monitoring, use of social accountability tools and technical audits.

“Through this new Program-for-Results instrument, the World Bank support will contribute towards improving access for the population of Nepal, especially those living in remote areas”, says Tahseen Sayed, World Bank Country Manager for Nepal. “We hope it will also create greater economic opportunities for men and women” she said.

“Three quarters of the bridges require urgent maintenance but the costs are estimated at under US$250,000 per bridge,” says Farhad Ahmed, Task Team Leader at the World Bank. “Similar estimates suggest that most of the new bridges will cost less than US$1 million each.”

The World Bank has funded six road projects in Nepal. By improving mobility and access, including in the poorest regions of western and far-western Nepal, these projects are generating economic opportunities while reducing the vulnerability of excluded and marginalized groups.

For more information on the World Bank in Nepal, please visit www.worldbank.org/np.

Contacts:

In Kathmandu: Rajib Upadhya, (+9771) 4226792 Extn. 6102, rupadhya@worldbank.org

In Washington: Alison Reeves, (202) 473-8955, areeves@worldbank.org

For more information, please visit the Projects website.