PHRD

The Japan Policy and Human Resources Development Fund (PHRD) Fund was established in 1990 as a partnership between the Government of Japan and the World Bank. The scope of the Fund is described in the Arrangement for the Administration of Fund (as revised in March 1999) as follows:

“The Fund may be used for the purposes of financing technical assistance and other grant activities in respect of the formulation and implementation of Bank-supported projects and programs and activities to develop human resources in developing member countries of the Bank, to assist developing member countries of the Bank to formulate and implement development policy and to strengthen the partnership between the Government of Japan and the Bank.”

Since fiscal year 2000 the Government of Japan has contributed US$829.6 million to the PHRD Fund. It is one of the largest Funds managed by the World Bank and is recognized as making a unique contribution to the member countries’ capacity building efforts.

The PHRD Fund supports six main programs:   

v The PHRD Technical Assistance (TA) Program is the largest program. In the past it provided grants primarily to assist the Bank’s member countries to prepare and implement Bank-supported operations financed by IBRD loans and IDA credits and grants. In addition, this program supported a range of climate change related programs and aid coordination enhancement activities. In 2009, the Program has been restructured to focus on agriculture research, disaster preparedness and disability.

v The Joint-Japan/World Bank Graduate Scholarship Program (JJ/WBGSP) provides scholarships to support post graduate training at Masters’ degree level for Bank’s member country nationals. This is both the longest established and the largest of the scholarship programs managed by the Bank.

v The Japan Indonesia Presidential Scholarship Program (JIPS) was established in 2008 to support studies in fields related to development such as economics, management, education, health, agriculture, infrastructure and environment.

v The Japan Staff and Extended Term Consultants (ETC) Program supports partial costs of Japanese nationals recruited to work within the Bank for maximum periods of two years.

v The Japan-World Bank Partnership Program supports activities to promote partnership between Japan and the World Bank.

v The Japan Junior Professional Officers (JPO) Program was established in FY09 to fund the cost of Japanese nationals contributing to the development cooperation activities of the Bank.

In addition, transfers are occasionally made from the PHRD Fund to provide Japanese support to other World Bank-administered programs, such as HIPC, CEPF, CGAP, Cities Alliance, CTF and PPIAF.