WBI FY06 Activities in Latin America and the Caribbean

WBI has a very active program in Latin America, delivering over 80 learning and technical assistance activities this year, reaching more than 15,000 participants from government, the private sector, academia, and civil society.  These activities are aligned with country and Bank priorities and are often delivered in partnership with teams from the Latin America & Caribbean Region of the Bank.  WBI’s largest programs are in Brazil, Mexico, Bolivia, and Guatemala, which are WBI’s four focus countries in the Region.  Argentina and the Dominican Republic will become new focus countries in fiscal year 07.

Read More About: Bolivia  |  Brazil  |  Guatemala  |  Mexico

Mutual Learning and Innovation through Partnership

An important element of WBI’s program and strategy in Latin America are partnerships with key local knowledge and learning institutions which allow WBI to extend the reach of its programs while building local capacity. 

WBI’s strategic partnership with Monterrey Tech, in Mexico, is a good example.   The collaboration with Monterrey Tech dates back to 1998-99 when WBI began partnering in delivery of a program on municipal management program for newly elected mayors.  Delivered on Saturday mornings via direct broadcast TV, this program proved to be mutually beneficial, as WBI learned valuable lessons regarding the use of distance learning, while Monterrey Tech gained experience in training for public officials (as opposed to its traditional academic audiences).  Over the subsequent eight years, WBI and Monterrey Tech have continued to learn from each other through collaboration in design and delivery of a range of programs, including activities in the fields of public administration; transparency and control of corruption; community development; corporate social responsibility, and knowledge for development.  The mutual learning has included experimentation with new technologies, as the mode of delivery of joint programs has evolved from direct broadcast TV, to two-way videoconferencing, and now to heavy use of on-line (web-based) technologies.

Other key partners in the Region include the Brazilian Ministry of Finance's School of Public Administration and Finance (ESAF) and Rafael Landivar University, in Guatemala. 

Looking ahead - new challenges and opportunities

Starting July of 2006, WBI will be adding Argentina and the Dominican Republic as focus countries in the Latin America region.  WBI’s program in Argentina will focus on governance/anti-corruption, environmental management, and social assistance programs.  In the Dominican Republic WBI will also focus on governance/anti-corruption and on youth programs. 

WBI work in the region continues to have a strong emphasis on governance and anti-corruption focusing both on public sector institutions through courses on public administration; judicial reform, e-government, public finance, monitoring & evaluation, budgeting, etc, as well as working on the “demand side” of governance through programs aimed at parliamentarians and civil society organizations.

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WBI helped organize a conference on infrastructure challenges and opportunities for Central America.  The conference, which was held in Guatemala (and opened by President Berger), served both to disseminate the Regional Flagship Report on Infrastructure and as a follow-up to the Central America Investment Climate conference on which WBI and the Latin America Operations Region collaborated in FY05.  As a complement to the conference, WBI organized a special session, for members of the infrastructure committee of Guatemala’s Congress, on lessons of international experience on private concessions for infrastructure.

Bolivia - Supporting change through knowledge sharing and policy advice

WBI’s program in Bolivia during the fiscal year focused on assisting the country with its real-time priorities and support, including advisory support to the transitional government prior to the election of Evo Morales.  At the request of the interim Government, WBI provided “just-in-time” policy support on decentralization policy and practice (including issues of fiscal decentralization, municipal management, and local delivery of services). This included a study visit to Brazil where a group of Bolivian policymakers participated in a course on intergovernmental fiscal relations together with state and municipal officials from throughout Brazil.  WBI also organized a study visit to Mexico, for a team from the new Government’s Ministry of Education, to learn about the innovative “Telesecundaria” program,  For the coming year, WBI’s program will continue to be flexible and responsive to the needs of the new Bolivian Government and will include activities in the areas of decentralization policy advice and implementation support, knowledge sharing on lessons of constitutional reform, secondary education reform, and local economic development.

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Brazil - Building Capacity at the Sub-National Level

WBI’s largest program in Latin America is in Brazil. Key areas of emphasis are building capacity at sub-national (particularly municipal) level and training and capacity building in environmental management, with focus on the Amazon region.  The emphasis on municipal level  capacity building cuts across programs and includes training programs offered for municipal officials on issues of public administration and management, and also environmental and social issues.  WBI’s programs on environmental management at closely integrated with Bank lending projects, particularly the Natural Resources Policy Project, for which WBI has developed an associated three-year long capacity building effort.  This work is facilitated by a posting of a member of WBI’s environment and natural resources management team in Brazil.

Activities for next fiscal year are being consolidated in clusters related to urban and economic growth and municipal development, environment and regional development in rural areas, improving public sector performance, and human capital and job creation.  Several activities will address corporate social responsibility and sustainable competitiveness, and investment climate and infrastructure.

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In partnership with the GDLN Center in the World Bank’s Office in Brazil, the Ministry of the Environment, Banco da Amazonia, and the Bank’s Rainforest Unit, WBI is delivering a 180-hour distance learning course on environmental law. The program is being delivered over a 3-month period, with connections to distance learning sites in all 9 states of the legal Amazon.  The 515 participants are officials of state and municipal level environmental agencies.  The course is a part of the capacity development program of a Natural Resources Policy Project, and is one of several WBI activities in Brazil focused on building capacity for enforcement of environmental policies and regulations. 

Guatemala - Decentralization, governance and anti-corruption

WBI’s program in Guatemala takes both a country-specific and Central America-wide approach, with about a third of the activities addressing sub-regional issues. WBI’s major focus in Guatemala has been on assisting the Government with the design and implementation of its decentralization strategy through both policy advice and capacity building.  Since 2005, WBI has been collaborating with the Government’s decentralization coordination unit in organizing a monthly series of videoconference dialogues wherein Guatemalan policymakers are linked with experts or practitioners from other countries to discuss specific policy or technical issues.  This support on decentralization policy is complemented by a number of WBI learning programs focused on building capacity of municipal governments for effective planning and service delivery.  Topics covered by the program have included community-based planning, municipal budgeting, and planning and financing of local infrastructure.

WBI’s has also been assisting the Government of Guatemala with its efforts to improve governance, with emphasis on curbing corruption and enhancing transparency.  In support of these efforts, WBI has been providing training on various aspects of governance including judicial reform, freedom of information, social accountability, and participatory planning and budgeting.  WBI is also supporting policy dialogues and offering training on key reform issues (e.g. a new framework for private investment in infrastructure; performance-based budgeting; decentralized delivery of services) that are part of the Bank’s overall adjustment lending program.  In the coming year, WBI’s program will include capacity building activities on decentralization, municipal capacity building, monitoring and evaluation, performance based budgeting, and capacity building for congress. At the sub-regional level, WBI will offer activities on access to information and social accountability, secondary education reform, land policies, competitiveness, and public-private partnerships in infrastructure.

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WBI is partnering with Guatemala’s Ministry of Planning (SEGEPLAN) and the Guatemala Institute for Radio Education (IGER) in delivery of a community radio program to train mayors and other local officials. Topics covered by the program include community-based planning; municipal budgeting; and planning and financing of local infrastructure.  Although still in its pilot stage, the program has already reached more than 2000 participants spread across the country.  The radio programs have initially been delivered in Spanish but will be translated into local languages for future deliveries.  The program builds on related WBI work with SEGEPLAN on decentralization policy and municipal capacity building and is linked to the institutional strengthening component of the recently approved Rural Economic Development Project. 

Mexico - Building Capacity through Learning and Knowledge Exchange

Mexico is the second largest program for WBI in Latin America. WBI has played an important role in facilitating Mexico’s access to global knowledge and experience, both through training and by connecting Mexican policymakers with practitioners from other countries.  Key capacity development objectives of WBI in Mexico include strengthening the institutional capacity of sub-national (particularly municipal) governments; improving transparency, voice and accountability; and fostering greater public-private cooperation in meeting development objectives. 

Specific activities in Mexico this year, address areas such as public administration and finance for municipalities; management of municipal water utilities; corporate social responsibility and sustainable competitiveness; and transparency and freedom of information.  WBI’s program for the coming year will include, among others, activities on capacity building for indigenous people, health, water resource management, climate change, and implementation of access to information legislation.

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WBI partnered with LCSPS, the Mexico CMU, and the Mexican Freedom of Information Institute (IFAI) in organization of a national forum on issues of freedom of information and transparency.  The forum brought together representatives (primarily legislators and representatives of state-level freedom of information commissions) from 25 of Mexico’s 32 states to share experiences in development and implementation of laws on transparency and access to information.  It also provided an opportunity to inject the issue of freedom of information and good governance into the election campaign, as representatives of the 5 major political parties joined a panel to discuss these issues.  The event drew considerable press attention, including focus on the Bank’s messages regarding the links between good governance and poverty reduction.