HOW ARE PRIORITIES SELECTED?

Working with governments and civil society, the World Bank develops an action plan known as the Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) to broadly reduce poverty and promote economic development.  The CAS describes what support and how much could be provided to a country during a 4-year period.

The CAS supports the Government's own development program.  In this manner, the CAS is specifically designed to the local conditions in the country and designates funding targets for projects, studies, and other support. This is consistent with one of the World Bank major premises of its  Comprehensive Development Framework called  Country-Ownership.

In Mexico, the focus of the CAS is on accelerating growth, creating new economic opportunities, and fine tuning the role of the public sector. 

Learn more:

    Mexico's CAS - Full-Text (PDF)
    Mexico Country Brief - Overview of development progress, challenges and assistance.

HOW DOES THE WORLD BANK WORK IN MEXICO?

Mexico's Development program is called  National Development Plan and it is made by the Federal Government. The Federal Government chooses which topics of its development agenda will be financed or researched by the Bank and they are detailed in the Mexico Country Assistance Strategy (pdf) which is a report on the projected lending and technical assistance provided by the World Bank to the country for the following 4 years.

After this document is elaborated, the World Bank negotiates with the Ministry of Finance, in the case of Mexico is the  Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público, because according to the Mexican Constitution all public international-debt must be approved by the SCHP first.

When financing or technical assistance is approved, Hacienda turns the resources to the national development banks in Mexico, which are:  BANOBRAS, BANSEFI, NAFIN, SHF. This development banks for Bank purposes and documentation are called Borrower Agent. This borrower agents are the ones in charge of designating projects to the Implementing Agencies (such as the different Federal Ministries) or to different states or municipalities.

It is important to note that the Implementation of projects is managed by the government itself.  The government establishes an office, referred to as the Implementing Agency, which is responsible for aspects of implementation such as procurement and selection of consultants.

An alternative way to finance projects for municipalities its through the International Finance Corporation Municipal Fund the private-sector branch of the World Bank Group.

Learn more:

    Procurement - information for borrowers, bidding and consulting opportunities, policies and procedures

As outlined in the assistance strategy, countries then develop their own projects with World Bank financing and technical support.  

The  project cycle outlines the process of identifying, financing, implementing, and evaluating throughout a project's life. Various financing options are available based upon the type of assistance needed.

Loans or credits for these projects are then submitted to the  Executive Directors for approval, the World Bank's decision-making body which represents all member countries. 

PROJECT GUIDELINES

Operational Policies set guidelines to ensure that projects meet the World Bank's own criteria such as social and environmental standards.   Project evaluations are conducted of projects to capture and share lessons on previous experiences.