At a Glance · The World Bank actively supports governments to become more transparent, more accountable to citizens, and better in delivering services, as a key element of accelerated and effective development. · In the first two quarters of fiscal year 2012 (FY12), the Bank provided 13.4 percent of its lending, or approximately US$ 1.3 billion, to help countries improve the performance and accountability of their core public sector institutions and rule of law. · Many programs and operations across countries and sectors support governance institutions to make them more open, more accountable, more efficient, and more participatory. · Bank projects also build in enhanced mechanisms on corruption risk assessment, disclosure, oversight, and monitoring to ensure that development funds are used for their intended purpose. Overview The World Bank Group (WBG) works on issues related to governance and anticorruption—in areas such as public sector performance, public financial management, civil service reform, decentralization, judicial reform, asset recovery, civil society participation in governance, illicit flows, transparency and accountability. The implementation of the 2007 strategy, Strengthening World Bank Group Engagement on Governance and Anticorruption (GAC), is enabling a more systematic approach to making GAC integral to Bank operations across sectors and countries. An Update to the Strategy will be discussed by the Bank’s Board at the end of March 2012. Building on the 2007 strategy, the update focuses on strengthening the Bank’s work on governance and anti-corruption through six key mechanisms: scaling up and systematizing governance in country and sector programs; strengthening country institutions; better measuring results from interventions; managing risks; supporting governance in global initiatives; and better organizing the Bank’s internal resources for work on governance. Scaling Up and Systematizing Governance in Country and Sector Programs Following the 2007 strategy, many country assistance strategies, as well as strategies and programs across sectors such as education, health, infrastructure, mining, and natural resources integrated attention to governance and anti-corruption as key to effectiveness. Country work on governance – in such countries as Afghanistan, Albania, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, DRC, Mongolia, Nepal, and Zambia – was expanded with funds from the Governance Partnership Facility, a multi-donor fund with contributions from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Norway. Building on these examples, the Bank is now working on making a governance approach central to country and sector programs. Strengthening Country Institutions The Bank’s support to core public sector institutions—such as ministries of finance, procurement agencies, and the civil service more broadly—includes assistance for improving their capacity, efficiency, transparency, and accountability in key functions like budget formulation, implementation, monitoring and oversight, procurement, and performance management. The Bank is also increasingly supporting sector-level institutions to improve accountability for results. Greater focus on governance issues in sectors such as health, education, and social protection is helping address service delivery challenges such as absenteeism of workers, improvements of performance incentives, accountability of service providers to citizens, and better monitoring and evaluation. The implementation of the GAC strategy has also heightened attention to the role of stakeholders outside the executive branch—formal oversight institutions such as parliaments, judiciary, and audit agencies as well as civil society and media. It has also directed attention to mechanisms such as access to information that enable these stakeholders to effectively exercise their oversight role. Many operations across sectors directly involve civil society and citizens’ groups in project process, introducing mechanisms for community participation in program design and implementation, third party oversight of budgets, and better complaints handling and audit processes. The Bank is strengthening its focus on improving transparency and accountability of governance systems in countries, by supporting countries to publish their budgets, pass progressive legislation for transparency, and give greater voice to citizens. Measuring Results The Bank is also focusing on developing tools to measure the effectiveness of its support in this area. ‘Actionable’ governance indicators (AGIs) are being developed to assess improvements and design interventions in various governance areas such as public financial management systems, public administration systems, procurement, public information systems, and demand for good governance. A portal has been developed that brings together existing knowledge in this area, and is available at: www.agidata.org. Actionable indices on public expenditure, financial accountability and procurement are also being used increasingly in country strategies and operations. Managing Risks Bank operations across sectors also systematically incorporate governance and anticorruption into project design, to better manage corruption and fiduciary risks, and to ensure that development funds are used for intended purposes. A review of a large sample of the Bank’s operations approved in FY08, shows that many projects now integrate political economy assessments, risk identification and mitigation measures, and stronger controls and oversight mechanisms, including an emphasis on disclosure and on monitoring by civil society and other third parties. Many of these projects also explicitly focus on using country-level procurement, financial management, and audit systems as a mechanism to build capacity within countries in these areas. The implementation of the Operational Risk Management Framework (ORAF), which was introduced in all projects in FY11, is further enabling risk management related to poor governance and corruption as part of the risk framework. The Bank has also intensified attention on detecting, investigating, and sanctioning corruption through the Integrity Vice-Presidency (INT), including debarring firms that are found to have engaged in corruption from participating in future Bank-financed projects. Global Governance The Bank plays an important role in governance of global initiatives - such as the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and the Construction Sector Transparency Initiative - through partnerships with other development agencies, civil society groups, and governments. The Governance Partnership Facility and other financing instruments are providing extensive support to help combat corruption in resource-rich economies and encourage greater transparency and accountability in the oil, gas, and mining sectors. In countries like Ghana, Malawi, Mongolia, and Democratic Republic of Congo, the Bank is working with government, industry, and civil society to promote good governance, using a combination of grants, trust funds, and policy loans. Another key global effort for the Bank has been the Stolen Asset Recovery (StAR) Initiative, launched in partnership with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Contact: Alejandra Viveros, (202) 473-4306, aviveros@worldbank.org Updated March 2012 |
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