This is a statement by Mr. Michel Sapin, Minister of Finance at the eighty-ninth meeting of the Development Committee held on April 12, 2014. He emphasize that the multilateral system is of great importance to the French government, as a pillar of international financial stability and inclusive and sustainable development.
... See More + The World Bank is expected to play a leading role in facilitating the coordination between donors and driving innovative initiatives that are necessary in responding to growing needs with constrained resources. Despite their financial strength, international financial institutions will not solve, on their own, the challenges of development - but their experience, expertise, and their ability to gather and engage with stakeholders in recipient countries are their primary assets. This will require, within the framework defined by the discussions on the United Nations post-2015 sustainable development goals, rethinking the place of each institution in the multilateral system, the role of each instrument. This will also require devising the best way to develop synergies between public and private actors as well as articulating poverty reduction and sustainable and inclusive development. The most concessional resources - those provided by donors to the International Development Association (IDA) - focus on the most demanding challenges, where the situation is most difficult.
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The objective of the Multi Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Emergency Roads Recovery Project for Pakistan is to enable the population along the project corridor to benefit from year round improved access and mobility through reconstruction of priority damaged roads and bridges in the conflict hit areas.
... See More + Negative impacts include: loss of water, air quality, dust, air pollution, waste management, noise pollution, and loss of ecology. Mitigation measures include: the contractor will restore the area under his temporary use by cropping or if so required through plantation. Photographs taken at the time of establishment of these facilities will be used for this purpose; the contractor will procure water from a source approved by the RE, and if relevant, after obtaining the community consent. It will be ensured that this procurement of water does not negatively affect the communities or other water users. The Grievance Redressal Mechanism (GRM) will also be put in place; it will be ensured that the drinking water sources of the communities are not affected. The contractor will repair, replace, compensate for any damages caused by the construction activities; and cutting and burning trees and shrubs for fuel will be prohibited. Instead gas cylinders should be used in the labor camp for cooking purposes. Similarly waste burning will not be allowed. The contractor will prepare waste management plan and have it approved by the RE. The proper training will be delivered to the workers.
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The principal focus in the substantial literature on impediments to economic development has been on the inadequacies of policies and governance.
... See More + However, successful economic development requires effectiveness of markets and incentives for investment, which in turn require trust. This paper reports on trust in a development context. The paper uses trust experiments, a post-experiment survey, and econometric analysis relating trust to identity and other personal attributes in the setting of Montenegro, a small, recently-independent, post-socialist, post-crisis society. External validity was sought by providing sufficient material reward to balance identity-related expressive motives and by having two groups of subjects, one usual university students and another group that, while also students, was somewhat older and had had greater market or commercial experience. The paper reviews cultural priors that can be expected to affect trust and distinguishes between generalized trust that can be socially beneficial and particularized trust that can be disadvantageous for development. The empirical results suggest that trust among private individuals is not an impediment to development in Montenegro. As a result, policy reform can improve economic and social outcomes. However, the results redirect the focus to issues of governance and political entrenchment as potential explanations for impediments to development.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS6828 APR 01, 2014
This report contains the World Bank Group Boards' calendar for the period April to June 2014, specifying the Boards' engagements, such as meetings and briefings, for the aforementioned time period.
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The Transmission Grid Strengthening Project for Georgia seeks to strengthen grid access for South Western Georgia by constructing an overhead power transmission line connecting the sub stations in Akhaltsikhe and Batumi, to ensure more stable electricity supply in the region.
... See More + This environmental and social impact assessment report strives to identify the impacts of the project on the environment and communities. Adverse impacts observed during this assessment are: 1) damage to soil due to excavations; 2) geohazards - potential landslides due to action of surface runoffs; 3) adverse effects on water flow regimes in the context of drainage, surface waters and water resources; 4) construction of access roads during the project; 5) traffic and transport of construction materials and equipment; 6) air pollution, noise, liquid and solid wastes, and materials usage; 7) flora and fauna, loss of biodiversity and impact on habitats; 8) impact on landscape; 9) displacement and relocation of project affected parties; 10) employment of local labor/gender issues; and 11) health hazards. Appropriate mitigation measures are suggested to minimize these impacts.
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Ratings for the Bahia Integrated State Highway Management Project for Brazil were as follows: outcomes were moderately satisfactory, the risk to development outcome was moderate, the Bank performance was satisfactory, and the Borrower performance was also satisfactory.
... See More + Some lessons learned included: the adoption of the Performance-based Road Rehabilitation and Maintenance Contract (CREMA) concept is the right first step towards an improved road asset management in Bahia, but still important cultural change will be necessary to reap its full benefits. The State of Bahia is the pioneer, in Brazil's Northeast region, in implementing performance-based road rehabilitation and maintenance. The implementation of this innovative modality of contracts required a cultural change, which was achieved through persistent dialogue, training and monitoring, at the technical and decision-making levels, both for public and private (consultancies and construction companies) sides, to explain the concept and ensure acceptance and commitment. While this CREMA program has been overall successful, project design and implementation support should not understate that implementing such performance-based arrangements can be challenging, especially in cultures where tradition is deeply rooted and risk appetite, and capabilities, from the private sector is too low. In Bahia, despite dramatic progress on performance-based road management, there is still a long way to go to use it in its full scale. Finally, project development objectives and related indicators should remain commensurate to what the project activities can achieve, within a strong enough causal links.
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Implementation Completion and Results Report ICR2777 MAR 27, 2014
The objective of the Second Kosovo Youth Development Project (KYDP2) is: (i) promote social cohesion though inter-ethnic collaboration among young people; and (ii) improve economic opportunities and sustainable access to youth services in Kosovo.
... See More + The changes include reallocation of proceeds and the extension of closing date. The reallocation and extension of closing date are necessary in order to: (a) utilize unallocated funds to implement business development and vocational education trainings for marginalized youth, particularly Kosovo Roma youth, and (b) finalize ongoing project impact evaluation activities.
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