Contact:
In Washington: Amy Stilwell (202) 458-4906
astilwell@worldbank.org IDA15 was made effective on November 6. Five weeks ahead of the target date of December 15, the IDA15 replenishment became effective, as more than 60 percent of donor financing pledges have been confirmed. This is an important milestone, as donor contributions are used to finance credits and grants for the poor countries under IDA15. This is also a strong demonstration of continued donor support to IDA, in spite of the financial crisis. The other donors are in the process of completing their necessary budgetary approvals. The World Bank Group is committed to deliver on the pledges it made to transfer resources from IBRD and IFC to IDA15. In September of 2007 the World Bank Group pledged to provide US $3.5 billion in net income transfers to IDA15.The US $3.5 billion is expected to be contributed equally by IFC and the IBRD. Effectiveness of IDA15 is timely, as poor countries may soon be hit as a result of the financial crisis. While the epicenter of the crisis is in developed countries, emerging economies are also getting hit directly or indirectly. There is a risk that low-income countries may soon experience lower export revenues, reduced remittances, and falling direct foreign investment. In fact, this financial crisis could significantly set back the fight against poverty: · World Bank growth projections for developing countries have been lowered from 7.9 percent to 4.5 percent for 2009. · It is estimated that a one percent decline in developing country growth rates traps an additional 20 million people into poverty. IDA is well positioned to respond to the financial crisis. IDA is poised to help poor countries at this critical time, since IDA15 (the largest replenishment ever) will make available US$42 billion to 78 [79 if Kosovo is included] of the poorest countries in the world over the next 3 years, or $14 billion per year on average. This is 30 percent higher than in IDA14 (which delivered $11 billion per year on average). IDA's Fast-Track Facility will enhance IDA's ability to help poor countries respond to the financial crisis. This will be achieved by faster approval procedures, in-depth diagnostics and frontloading of IDA resources if needed. IDA is taking actions to enhance its effectiveness further. IDA continues to make efforts to improve its effectiveness. IDA is taking actions agreed during the IDA15 replenishment discussions, for instance to increasingly decentralize its staff. The Bank has also been carrying out a comprehensive review of its internal processes and monitoring systems. and is taking actions to further strengthen IDA’s effectiveness and efficiency. IDA is taking actions to further strengthen IDA’s effectiveness and efficiency including: improving efficiency and controls and strengthening supervision for investment lending; strengthening risk management capacity at project and institutional levels; better integrating fraud and corruption issues into operations e.g. through training and 'smart project design'; tightening financial management and procurement controls, updating procurement policy to incorporate risk management and fraud and corruption issues; and strengthening the role of IT in risk management. IDA effectiveness is also being enhanced through the implementation of recommendations made in the Volcker Report to strengthen the Bank’s Integrity Vice Presidency (INT) including: appointing a Vice President of INT; appointing an Independent Advisory Board; enhancing a preventive services unit to help Bank staff detect fraud and corruption; additional training for staff; increasing the number of INT investigators and increasing supervision in high-risk cases. Improving How IDA Captures Results IDA is the world leader among development agencies in measuring the results of the assistance it delivers. As part of its commitments under IDA 15, the Bank has launched the development of a results platform to strengthen and facilitate tracking of results at country, sector and corporate levels. This platform will offer various tools and enhanced data systems to better capture results achieved and lessons learned through Bank-financed activities. Elements include: · Tracking project and indicator level data. A Bank-wide Results Monitoring and Reporting System is under development to make more readily available information on results achieved through Bank-financed operations, as well as country level outcomes. · Impact evaluations. An initiative is underway to strengthen the strategic use of impact evaluations to distill the effectiveness of specific interventions and disseminate lessons learned from them. · IDA at Work. A website highlighting the impact of selected IDA activities by showcasing results stories which provide a rich database of good practices. - www.worldbank.org/ida How IDA Helps Client Countries · IDA helps its client countries both through financial assistance and through its platform role in improving the overall effectiveness of aid. · IDA financial assistance has grown from $8 billion in 2002/2003 to $11 billion in 2007/2008. · IDA does not earmark its financial assistance and tailors its program to the Poverty Reduction Strategy of each country. Hence, the package of assistance varies widely between that provided to post-conflict countries (e.g., Afghanistan ) and better performers (e.g., Vietnam ). · The performance of Bank projects in delivering development results has unquestionably improved over the medium term. In the three years to end-fiscal 2007, 80 percent of projects were moderately satisfactory or better in delivering their targeted results. (IEG ARDE 2008). IDA Operations and Contributions to Country Outcomes Education IDA Operations · IDA funding for education has averaged about US$878 million per year since 1995 (equal to 11 percent of total IDA commitments). · About 55 percent of IDA lending in the education sector has been for primary education and 24 percent has supported sector-wide reforms. Disbursements have averaged about US$595 million a year. Africa and South Asia regions have each represented about 40 percent of IDA education lending since 1995—about US$4.5 billion each. · The majority of IDA-financed education projects provide funding for inputs such as classroom construction, teacher training, textbooks, curriculum and testing. But over the past five years there has been a sharp upward trend in development policy lending (DPL) for education. Overall Outcomes · The share of children completing primary school has risen to 74 percent in 2006 from 64 percent in 2000. · 65 million additional children have the chance to attend and complete primary school in IDA countries, one of the largest schooling expansions in history. · Over 37 million of the newly enrolled children are girls, increasing girls’ ratio of gross primary enrollment to 92 percent in 2006 from 78 percent in 1991. Country Examples · In Madagascar; through successive education projects since 1995, IDA has aided the country to eliminate school fees and devolve grants to schools. · In India; the enrollment increased by close to 25 million previously out-of-school children over the past five years. IDA has assisted the Government to develop accountability and feedback systems between the central Government, states, districts and schools. With IDA support, the government has also introduced rigorous impact evaluations of key new reforms. Water & Sanitation IDA Operations · Since 1998, annual IDA lending to the WSS sector has averaged US$537 million. · Expanding water supply access costs on average US$55 per capita. Overall Outcomes · Access to safe water in IDA countries improved from 65 percent in 1990 to 75 percent in 2004. · IDA directly contributed to shrinking the water and sanitation access gap by at least 25 million people (22 million for water) in 2000-2006. Country Examples · In Senegal, urban water projects helped reduce water losses from 32 percent to 19 percent between 1998 and 2006. Between 1996 and 2006, access to water supply services was extended to approximately 1.6 million people in Dakar and secondary cities. IDA helped finance 130,000 new household connections at subsidized rates for poor families as well as 400 public standpipes. 830,000 people gained access to sewerage connections or on-site sanitation. Global access to water reached 98 percent of people in Senegal’s cities in 2006, up from 82 percent 10 years earlier. The level of household connections in urban areas (76 percent, up from 58 percent a decade ago) is now the highest in sub-Saharan Africa. · In Yemen IDA Project provided basic social and economic services to almost 10 million people, of which almost 2 million benefited from access to water supply services. A follow-up project provided more than 820,000 people with improved environmental sanitation. Health IDA Operations · IDA lending for health has averaged US$740 million over the last 10 years. · Overall development assistance for health more than doubled in five years and reached US$14 billion in 2006, mostly from global health partnerships, bilateral funds and private foundations. Overall Outcomes · Child mortality in IDA countries has declined from 132 deaths /per 1,000 children under the age of five in 1995 to 117 deaths in 2005. But 80 percent of IDA countries will not reach their child mortality targets by 2015. Country Examples · The Kyrgyz Health Sector Reform II Project led to the expansion of basic primary health care coverage to 98 percent of the population, improvements in health service quality and equity, a shift towards a modern family doctor model, more money allocated to direct patient care, and reductions in informal payments. · The Malawi Population and Family Planning Project is an example of a Learning and Innovation Loan that led to significant improvements in attitudes to family planning, increased access to services, and increases in contraceptive prevalence from 1 percent to 36 percent in pilot areas. · The India Cataract Blindness Control Project is an example where low-cost surgery for cataracts was developed through pilot projects. The IDA project was used to rapidly expand services through non-governmental governmental and public sector systems, leading to a sustainable program for cataract blindness, and directly providing 15.3 million cataract operations (over half going to vulnerable populations) and improved surgical outcomes. · India’s Tuberculosis Control Project directly observed therapy (DOTS) was extended to most of the country and the project provided treatment for over 1.8 million TB patients and achieving cure rates of 86 percent. |
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