Other Results and Resources | |
 The World Bank has a broad range of projects addressing social development issues in East Asia and Pacific (EAP) client countries. This page provides examples of some of the outputs and impacts that have resulted from the Bank's work. The list provided here is not exhaustive and does not fully reflect the scope of Bank-supported social development work in the Region. More details on the Bank's social development projects in EAP can be found on the Bank's regional and country web pages.
Community Driven Development Facts and Figures
for KDP 1 and 2
(1998 – 2004) |
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Indonesia - Kecamatan Development Project (KDP). The KDP is the largest Bank poverty reduction project in Indonesia. Started just before the East Asia financial crisis, KDP, which is now in its second phase, is aimed at improving community participation and building basic economic infrastructure to serve the rural poor. The project has reached 12,000 poor villages with an estimated total beneficiary population of almost ten million, and with 75% of funds going towards roads, bridges, irrigation and clean water. Over 77% of fund loan beneficiaries have been the poorer members of their communities, and 38 % have been women. Nearly five million villagers received wages in KDP's first year. KDP 2 is giving teeth to the reform agenda laid out in the CAS and Indonesia's decentralization program by turning broad principles into a program of action in which many of the poorest Indonesians, including widows and other vulnerable groups, will receive significant benefits. Philippines Kalahi (Kalahi-CIDSS). This is the flagship poverty reduction project of the Philippines. Launched in January 2003, it covers a total of 4,270 barangays in 177 municipalities spread across 42 of the poorest provinces. Through this coverage, approximately 1.9 million households or about 10 million poor Filipinos are expected to benefit from the community development-driven project. Barely one year after implementation, it was estimated that the project had reached more than one third of total beneficiary barangays. Also, that community development projects of 114 of 201 barangays in Phase I implementation (57%) had been funded with local community counterparts providing on the average 37% of total project costs, and with some communities providing as much as 54%. At the end of 2003, project funds were estimated to have been disbursed in the following proportions: 47% on water projects; 24% on road projects; 7% on school classrooms; 5% on multi-purpose buildings; 4% on day care centers; 3% on health centers; and the remaining on productive assets such as motorized pump boats, dump trucks, corn mills, marketing centers, barangay electrification, foot/suspension bridges and meat processing facilities. Back to top
Gender
The World Bank's Gender work in the East Asia and Pacific region consists of a combination of analytical/diagnostic work, and projects and grants that facilitate the application of gender tools and policies. Analytical/diagnostic work has produced gender assessments that help bring to the surface the key gender issues facing the region and foster discussions with the relevant countries and groups involved. Cambodia’s “A Fair Share for Women,” the Mongolia Gender Assessment (660kb pdf), and the upcoming Lao Gender Profile are the three most recent such examples. Pointed studies on a variety of topics have been carried out in order to further enhance the World Bank’s understanding of gender issues. Recent examples include studies on female migrant workers in Indonesia, and women and gender and conflict in the Philippines. Efforts to mainstream gender are underway in several projects and poverty reduction strategies. This is accomplished through the support of gender-specific components in projects, such as the JRSP on Anti-Violence Against Women in Philippines, as well as by integrating gender into the Bank portfolio by selecting priority projects and providing gender-input into those, as is the case in Vietnam. Policy-lending has presented opportunities to raise gender issues such as in Vietnam’s latest Poverty Reduction Strategy Credit that contains an action that requires that all land titles be re-issued under the names of both spouses. Grants have been instrumental in mainstreaming gender issues in poverty reduction strategies, in enhancing the institutional development capacity of women’s and other agencies on gender issues, and in carrying out small pilot projects seeking to empower women. In Cambodia, the Women’s Ministry received a grant to enhance its capacity for gender sensitive monitoring, planning and budgeting for implementation of the poverty reduction strategy. A small grant in Cambodia has also benefited activities related to enhancing women’s empowerment through legal awareness. In Mongolia, a Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper Trust Fund activity involves strengthening the capacity of the Government and key stakeholders to institutionalize participatory process and gender in the formulation, implementation and monitoring of the poverty reduction program.
ConflictCurrently in EAP, outbreaks of instability and violent conflict threaten over $US15 billion of Bank investment in Cambodia, Indonesia, and the Philippines alone. Experience with development work in conflict-affected countries (within and outside EAP) provides the following lessons. Conflict is inherent to all societies but becomes violent when differences in interests between groups are not mitigated effectively by conflict resolution mechanisms and processes. Sources of conflict include weak and / or ineffective government or poor leadership (stemming from partial democracies, a collapsed state, or an illegitimate or repressive regime, competition over power and privilege, elite capture of resources, nepotism, corruption, etc).
weak and / or ineffective institutions affecting service delivery; limited mechanisms for peaceful political participation and conflict resolution, and lack of effective systems which can serve as check or balances to authoritarian government.
severe inequalities in resources and power (or the perception of these inequalities) with marginalized groups having limited access to the means necessary to improve their condition.
exploitation of ethnic and other differences and / or acute discrimination (based on ethnicity, religion, etc.).
Experience has also shown that well-designed programs and policies can have a positive impact by preventing or mitigating conflict and its calamitious effects. Programs and policies are particularly effective when they address the underlying socioeconomic and political sources of conflict, and when they provide support to conflict resolution mechanisms and processes. Back to top
Social SafeguardsWithin the overall set of World Bank Operational Policies, ten key policies have been identified as being critical to ensuring that potentially adverse environmental and social consequences are identified, minimized, and mitigated. These ten are known as the "Safeguard Policies" and receive particular attention during the project preparation and approval process as well as during implementation. Of these, the safeguard policies on involuntary resettlement and indigenous peoples are considered social safeguard policies. The Bank's Operational Policy 4.12: Involuntary Resettlement is triggered in situations in which Bank operations result in the acquisition of land and displacement of people. The policy aims t at avoiding or minimizing involuntary resettlement and other disruptive social and economic impacts through various mitigatory measures, including compensation at full replacement value, restoration or improvement of affected people’s living standards and providing affected people with sufficient resources and opportunities to share in project benefits. These objectives are achieved through a rigorous set of procedures and requirements, including consultation with affected groups and collection of baseline information; preparation of resettlement plans detailing the physical, institutional, financial and human resources needed to achieve the plan’s objectives and mechanisms for supervision and monitoring. The Bank’s Operational Directive (OD) 4.20 Indigenous Peoples, underscores the need for Bank operations to identify indigenous peoples where they are found in the project area or where they are likely to be affected by project activities; and to consult with them, and ensure that these vulnerable communities are able to participate in and benefit from the project’s activities and components in culturally appropriate ways. The OD also emphasizes the need to ensure that Bank projects do not generate adverse impacts on these communities or where these impacts are unavoidable, to minimize or mitigate them through strategies based on the affected communities’ full, informed and meaningful participation. The policy, issued in September 1991, is presently being revised into Operational Policy (OP) 4.10 and Bank Procedure (BP) 4.10.
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