v w - m - --=-- ATICALLY In 1980,investment in the power sector accounted for 21 percent ofBank lending. Today,that figure is down to 5percent. By contrast, lending for health, nutrition, education, and social protection has grown fmm 5percent in 1980to nearly 25percent today. The Bank, which is owned by 183member counties, isalsodoingdevelopment differently and isaddressing other issues, likegender, community- driven development, and indigenous peoples. Since its education funding first began in 1963, the World Bank has provided over US$30 billion in loans and credits, and it currently finances 164 projects in 82 countries. Working closelywith national governments,United Nations agencies,donors, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and other partners, the Bank helps developing countries in their efforts to reach the Education For All (EFA)goals of achieving universal primary education for all children by 2015 and reducing the education gap between boys and heWorldBankis girls by 2005. A good example of the Bank's lending for :heworld's largest education is the lndia DistrictPrimary Education program, externalfunderof which supports districts where female literacy rates are education below the national average. Bank funding for this project has expanded to US$1.3 billion and isexpected to finance 226 districts in I5 states in lndia. In Brazil. El Salvador, and Trinidad and Tobago, Bank projects champion the role of local communities in improving the quality of education by allowing them to evaluate the performance of local schools and teachers. Each day, 15,000 more people become infected with the HIV virus, half of them between the ages of 15 and 24. HIV/AIDS is rapidly reversing many of the social and eco- nomic gains won by developing countries over the past 50 years. The World Bank-a cosponsor of UNAIDS, whose mission is to lead an expanded global response to the epidemic-has committed more than US$1.7 billion to combating the spread of HIV/AIDS around the world, and has pledged that no country with an effective HIV/AlDS- fighting strategy in place will go without funding. In partnership with African governments, the Bank launched TheWorldBank the Multi-Country HNIAIDSProgram (MAP),which makes istheworld's significant grant resources available to civil society organ- largestexternal izations and communitiesthat have developed some of the fvnder inthe world's most innovative HIVIAIDS interventions. Over the fightagainst past year, the MAP has provided US$500 million to help 12 countries expand their national prevention, care, and W/At DS treatment programs, and it plans to finance another US$500 million to reach an additional 15 African coun- tries shortly. The Bank also recently approved a US$155 million fund to fight HNIAIDSin the Caribbean. hi- Providing poor people with basic health and nutrition lies at the heart of reducing poverty and promoting economic growth. While important gains have been made in many countries during the last few decades, major challenges remain. Of the 11 million children who die each year in developing countries, around 70 percent die from com- municable diseases (such as pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria, measles, and HIV/AIDS) and malnutrition. The World Bank commits an average of US$1.3 billion in new TheWorld Bank is lending each year for health, nutrition, and population the world's largest projects in the developing world. Bank funds are helping externalfunder of to combat malaria in 46 countries and tuberculosis in healthprograms another 25. In Mali, a Bank-financed health project helped to establish 300 new community health centen.ln China, the Bank has helped provide iodized salt to more than 90 percent of households, ensuring that millions OF families will benefit from significantly fewer cases of miscamage and stillbirths, physical deformity, and mental retardation caused by iodine deficiency. In 1996, the World Bank and the lnternational Monetary Fund (1MF)launched the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HlPC) Initiative-the first international response to pro- vide comprehensive debt relief to the world's poorest, most indebted countries. Today, 23 countries are receiving debt relief projected to amount to US$34 billion over time. With other forms of debt relief, the HlPC Initiative will cut the external debt in these countries by two-thirds, lowering their indebtedness to levels well below the a\ierage for developing countries overall. As part of the lnitiative, HlPCs are reorienting their budgetary priorities toward key social and human development sectors. Rwanda, for example, has set targets to increase primary school enrollment and to hire teachers. Honduras is planning to deliver a basic package of primary and maternal/child health care to at least 100,000 beneficiaries in poor communities. In Cameroon, resources are being used to strengthen the fight against HIV/AlDS by, among other things, expanding to promote the use of condoms by high-risk populations. Since 1988, the Bank has become one OF the largest inter- national funders of biodiversity projects. Biodiversity conservation is a high priority for the World Bank because even though biodive~sityloss is a global concern, the greatest cosb are felt by rural people in developing countries-who are most dependent on it for food, shelter, medicine, income, employment, and cultural identity. Last year, the L Bank joined Conservation International and the Global Environment Facility in launching a fund that will 'heWorldBank contribute to better protect developing countries' 3 one ofthe largest biodiversity hotspots-highly threatened regions where 60 mternational percent of all terrestrial species' diversity is found on only undersof 1.4 percent of the planet's total surface area. Concern for iodiversity the environment is an intrinsic part of the Bank's poverty ~rojects reduction mission. In addition to environmental assess- ments and safeguard policies, a new environment strategy is focusing on climate change, forests, water resources, and biodiversity.Currently,the Bank's portfolio of projects with clear environmental objectives is US$16 billion. L During the past live years, the World Bank hasjoined a large array of partners in the global fight against poverty: with the World Wildlife Fund to protect forests, and with the pitblic and private sectors to launch the Prototype Carbon Fund to help reduce the effects of global warning. The Bank is also partneririg with the Food and Agriculture Organizatiorl (FAO) of the United Nations and theunited NationsUeveloprnent -1 Prograrnme (UNDP), to sponsor the renowned Corlsultative Group on International Agricultural Research; with the TheWorld RockefelIerBrothersF~tndon solar power; and with dononand Bankworksin rnultilateral financial institutions through the Consultative partnership Group to Assist the Poorest (CGAP)to improve th? capacity of morethanever microfinance institutions to deliver financial services ro the before poorest people. A partne~hipto eradicate river blindness siiccessfully protected 30 million people and allowed thern to return to millions of acres of previously fallow land. This approach, whicn involved the private and public sectors, is rlow being replicated to fight against Guinea worn. ,* '' . Aceoil W+:--- ,\ k- I t', , b /.,biv mi- a: -, m wl . POUNDS Corruption is a roadblock to development; it taxes poor people by diverting public resources from those who need them most. Since 1996,the Bank haslaunched more than 600 anticorruption programs and governance initiatives in almost 100client countries. lnitiativesrange from train- ing judges to organizing workshops and teaching investigative reporting tojoumalists. Nearly one-quarter of new projects now include public expenditure and financial heWorldBankisa reform components. Even more important, the Bank's !aderinthefight commitment to eliminating corruption has helped inspire gainstcorruption a truly global response to the problem. The Bank is also committed to ensuring that Bank-financed projects are rorldwide free from corruption. Over the last two years, it has set up stringent procurement and anticorruption guidelines and an anonymous hotline For corruption complaints. As of July 2001, theBank had declared 72 firms and individuals ineligible to be awarded Bank-financed contracts. Nearly 70 percent of projects approved by the Bank during the past fiscal year involved the participation of non- governmental organizations (NGOs),and all of the Bank's country assistance strategies benefited from NGO consultationr We now have staff working in 70 Bank offices around the world who liaise with civil society. In South Asia, the Bank isconsulting with civil society on gender strategies; in Eastern Europe on post-conflict assistance, the environ- Civilseeiety ment, and governance; in Latin America on social safety playsanever nets, employment, and the social impacts of reform. Agood example of civil society participation in Bank projects is in larmrrelein East Timor, where a Community Empowerment and Local theBank's Governance Project supports democratically elected village w ~ r k councils of equal numbers of men and women in repairing roads and water supplies, restarting economic activities, and providing direct assistance to those most in need. The Bank cunently works in 35conflict-affected countries supporting international efforts to break cycles of conflict and assist war-torn populations to resume peaceful development. The Bank's work addresses a range of needs common to post-conflict situations such asjump-starting the economy, investment in war-affected regions, and repair of war-damaged infrastructure, as well as targeted programs for ex-combatants andvulnerable groupssuch as KeWorldBank widows and children. The Bank has also financed programs ~elpscountries to address the issue of land mines, which block reconstruc- cmergingfrom tion and development in many post-conflict countries. :onflict Examples of the wide-ranging and innovative projects supported by theBank in this field of work include: a mental health project in Bosnia to address the psycho-social effects of violent conflict; education initiatives for Afghan refugees in Pakistan; rehabilitation of street children in the Democratic Republic of Congo; local development activities in southern Serbia; and training for new government employees in East Timor. . . .- 1 Conversations with 60,000 poor people in 60 countries as well as our day-to-day work have taught us that poverty is about more than inadequate income or wen low human development. It isalso about lack of voice, lack of represen- tation. It is about vulnerability to abuse and to corruption. It is about violence against women and fear of crime. It is about lack of Fundamental freedom of action, choice, and opportunity. We believe that people who live in poverty should not be treated as a liability,but rather as a creatiw asset that will contribute more than anyone else to the The World Bank is eradication of poverty. Poor people do not want charity, listeningtothe voices they want a chance, and community-based development ofpoorpeople programs in many cases can provide such an opportunity. Today the Bank has over $1.5 billion in commitments for community-driven development projects. In Indonesia,more than 2,000 villages and community groups are developing their own proposals to receive local funding, while in Benin, women areworking together to protect the forestsand make them sourcesof income rather than sourcesof fuel. 1 # 8 H ~ N W I W a s t l i ~ ~ a D I P u S A Telephone:2&473,lMIO Facsimile:202m.631 www.worldbank.org E-mail:feedback(Wvorldbank.org Q printedon recycledpaper