Tag Archives: World Bank

The IFC

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The World Bank Group, other than providing IDA & IBRD financing to borInternational_Finance_Corporation_Logorowing governments, also has three other pillars. These are the IFC, MIGA and the ICSID. The activities by the MIGA were explained in an earlier post, in this article we are focusing on the International Finance Corporation ( IFC ), the private sector pillar of the WBG. For the first time in the history of the World Bank Group the IFC was the pillar with the biggest budget, financing for more than $22 billion in fiscal year 2014.

The IFC provides financial support through loans and equity financing to its clients and additionally provide advice to unlock private sector investment. For a project to be eligible for IFC support a number of criteria must be met. The project must be located in a developing country that is a member of the IFC, active in the private sector, be technically sound, have good prospects of being profitable, benefit the local economy and satisfy environmental and social standards.

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Capacity Building Sanitation Plan – Vietnam

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The development objective of the TA is to support the Can Tho City Peoples’ Committee and the City’s Department of Construction in implementing the poor-inclusive City Sanitation Plan by providing expertise to develop curricula, guidelines and training programs to increase implementation capacity for the Plan.

Through an assessment of current and future demand for human resources competencies in sanitation in Can Tho the TA will establish a framework and program for delivering capacity building to the city agencies responsible for the planning, coordination and implementation of sanitation services in the city’s urban, peri-urban and rural areas.

See full tender here: Capacity Building Sanitation Plan – Vietnam

Expression of Interest Deadline: 09 February 2015

Health Insurance Subsidy Process Evaluation – Kenya

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The African Health Markets for Equity (AHME) is a five-year project that aims to improve health outcomes through the provision of quality private sector health care targeting the poor in Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana. In Kenya, the AHME project is supporting the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) to design, test, and scale-up the Health Insurance Subsidy Program (HISP) that will serve as a mechanism for the Government of Kenya to subsidize NHIF insurance cover for the poorest households in Kenya.

To supplement a quantitative impact evaluation of the programme, the NHIF plans to carry out a process evaluation. The aim of the process evaluation is to assess programme implementation and provide information that will help implementers determine the degree to which the HISP intervention was implemented as planned (implementation fidelity).

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Going local: a mission to Senegal and Ghana

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By Daan Marks, advisor to the Dutch Executive Director at the World Bank

Traveling always makes me reflect on my life and Daan Markssurroundings. When I travel to Belgium (which is not too often), I realize that the Dutch transportation system is actually pretty good. Now that I live in the US, I have come to realize how efficient the Dutch public sector actually is. Last September I traveled to Senegal and Ghana and it made me realize how privileged I am to have a toilet. It is just a different dimension. The face of extreme poverty, and inequality, is obviously confronting. It is also frustrating to see that mismanagement and corruption put a halt on much needed social and economic development.

The economic perspective

Recent GDP figures show that the economies of Sub-Saharan Africa are generally on the rise (or ‘Africa rising’, as some have dubbed it). I think this picture is somewhat misleading. Given the very low starting point and rampant population growth, African countries need these high growth rates to raise living standards above subsistence levels, while absorbing the growing labor force. My guess is that GDP per capita growth is much less impressive, and that figures on GDP per worker do not show significant productivity growth. Simultaneously, the challenges remain immense: poverty figures are still shockingly high in many countries, the outbreak of Ebola shows the lack of capacity in the poorest countries, conflict and fragility continue to hamper economic development in Mali, Central African Republic and South Sudan and uneven growth and therefore rising inequality are leading to increased social instability.

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Procurement Review Consultations

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Tuesday, November 18, the World Bank Procurement Team visited the Netherlands to discuss the progress being made with the Procurement Review. Now in its last stages, the procurement review seeks to update the procurement policy of the World Bank, which applies to countries who borrow resources from the World Bank. This was the third time the team visited the Netherlands, and the new policy will be presented for approval to the Board of Directors in January 2015. This was the last time both the Netherlands public and private sector were able to provide input. Continue reading →

Interns Netherlands embassy visit World Bank

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The interns and trainees at the Netherlands Embassy in Washington, D.C. paid a visit to the World Bank on Thursday, November 13. The twelve young professionals, varying in background from defense specialists to circular economy expert, from economists to agriculturists, spoke to various Dutch World Bank staffers.

interns at WBGMost of the interns had little knowledge about the World Bank prior to their visit. While doing their internships at the embassy, their primary focus is the United States. Everyday work quickly piles up, giving them little time to look outside of their specific sectors. On Thursday, however, half a day was set aside to learn more about this Bretton Woods institute.

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Trust Funds – The Basics

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In 2013 The World Bank Group (WBG) disbursed about $52 billion dollars to finance projects, mainly through IBRD, IDA and the IFC. These disbursements are the ‘regular’ projects financed by the WBG. However, the WBG also has many Trust Funds (TFs), which complement regular project financing. The TFs are often established to adequately respond to economic and/or social developments. In 2013, the WBG held about $29 billion in trust funds. The activities financed by TFs can differ from basic and small consultancy projects to very large multimillion dollar construction projects. Continue reading →

Do’s and Dont’s

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1. Make use of the services provided by the Dutch government: World Bank liaisons

2. Elevator pitch (different from Sales Pitch, which is a don’t!)

3. Schedule a follow up (in person, by phone or by e-mail)do

4. Gain knowledge on project procedures and guidelines documents/cycles

5. Research speaker(s): the World Bank is a multicultural environment.

6. Identify specific interests, purpose and deliverables for your visit

7. Ask questions

 

1. Make a sales pitch / sell products

2. Expect contracts and/or donations on the spotdont

3. Be general about intentions and interests

4. Expect quick wins; working with the World Bank takes patience and endurance

5. Cancel meetings last minute

6. Come to the meeting without knowledge of the World Bank (and its structure)

7. Distribute handouts (send an email with attachment afterwards instead)

 

If you have any questions or need advice to prepare for your meeting(s) please contact the World Bank Liaison officers at the Netherlands embassy here

 

World Bank tenders

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Ever wondered where you can find World Bank project tenders?

The two sources provided by the World Bank are e-Consultant2 for all the corporate procurement tenders, and the World Bank project page for country executed projects.
Other sources that can be used to find tenders are Devex, Devbusiness and dgMarket. These are independently run websites that provide a clear overview of the available tenders of almost all the IFI’s, not necessarily only the World Bank.

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The World Bank Reorganization 2: Who does what?

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In an earlier blog entry we published the new organizational structure of the World Bank after the change process, explaining the new Global Practices (GPs) and Cross-Cutting Solution Areas (CCSAs). But more than the organizational structure the change process also impacted both the role of WB country offices vis-à-vis Headquarters, as well as the role of the different World Bank Units. To further illustrate the roles of the different organizational units, recall the figure below.

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