World Bank - South Asia

The Status of Projects in Execution (SOPE) report for FY09 provides information on all International Bank and Rural Development (IBRD)/International Development Association (IDA) projects that were active on June 30, 2009. The report is intended to bridge the gap in information available to the public between the project appraisal document, disclosed after the Bank approves a project, and the implementation completion report, disclosed after the project closes. In addition to the project progress description, the FY09 SOPE report contains project level comparisons of disbursement estimates and actual disbursements, and a table showing the loan/credit/grant amount and disbursements to date for all active projects.

The Status of Projects in Execution (SOPE) report for FY09 provides information on all International Bank and Rural Development (IBRD)/International Development Association (IDA) projects that were active on June 30, 2009. The report is intended to bridge the gap in information available to the public between the project appraisal document, disclosed after the Bank approves a project, and the implementation completion report, disclosed after the project closes. In addition to the project progress description, the FY09 SOPE report contains project level comparisons of disbursement estimates and actual disbursements, and a table showing the loan/credit/grant amount and disbursements to date for all active projects.

The current global crisis may change globalization itself, as both developed and developing countries adjust to global imbalances that contributed to the crisis. Will these changes help or hinder economic recovery and growth in South Asia? This is the focus of this paper. The three models of globalization--trade, capital, and economic management--may not be the same in the future. Changes in globalization could change the composition of trade flows, capital flows, and economic management, which in turn, could accelerate or restrain growth. South Asia is somewhat peculiar and different from other regions in how it has globalized, although there is a lot of diversity within the region. Its trade characteristics are different. India’s growth has been spearheaded by exports of modern services and less by goods exports. Modern service trade tends to be more resilient compared with goods trade. Globalization of services is still at an early stage. So, as consumers pull back in the United States, service trade is likely to be less impacted compared to goods trade. Trade also contributes to growth through knowledge spillovers, externalities, and learning. The global crisis has not reduced the stock of global knowledge. Changes in capital flows are also not likely to have a big impact on growth in South Asia, as South Asia’s investments are largely driven by domestic savings. Its dependence on foreign capital is low. South Asia has attracted capital flows that are less volatile. Remittances, which are more resilient, have been the dominant form of capital inflows, exceeding foreign direct investment and other inflows.This global downturn calls for counter-cyclical economic management. But South Asia has limited room for fiscal stimulus, given high debt-to-gross domestic product ratios. Nevertheless, reduced commodity prices have created some fiscal space that can be used for growth enabling infrastructure and safety nets. As South Asia undergoes structural transformation, the region is well positioned to bounce back with global economic recovery.

Continuing rapid growth of China and India can be expected to raise incomes in Russia, but also to put adjustment pressure on Russian firms. The impacts of the rapid growth of China and India on the Russian economy are explored by examining a baseline projection using a global general equilibrium model, and then assessing the implications of higher-than-expected growth in China and India. The authors find that a major source of benefits to Russia is likely to be terms-of-trade improvements associated with higher energy prices - a quite different channel of effect from that for many developing countries that benefit primarily through expanded opportunities to trade directly with these emerging giants. Taking into account the likely improvements in the quality and variety of exports from China and India, the gains to Russia increase substantially. The expansion of the energy sector and the contraction of manufacturing and services are a sign of a Dutch disease effect that will increase the importance of policies to encourage adaptation to the changing world environment.

Last Updated: Sept 2009 Links: - What is IDA? - Our Work in India More on India: - Borrowing History - Data & Statistics - Research - Contact Us People living in rural communities in India confront a range of hardships that may lead them into poverty without the safety net of insurance. The cost of health services, high interest rates on private debt, social expenses – for instance, a family funeral – and drought are recognized as the greatest threats to the livelihoods of rural populations. Less than two percent of the rural poor have any kind of insurance cover, often discouraged by their lack of familiarity with insurance products and their cost. In hard times, the poorest rural families will turn to expensive loans from money lenders or traders, or dig into their own savings. Those who do have insurance often face long delays in getting settlements, or find their claims rejected, sometimes because of poor understanding of the policy’s terms. IDA, together with the State government of Andhra Pradesh, is bringing affordable and effective insurance to the most vulnerable. Through the IDA-supported Andhra Pradesh Rural Poverty Reduction Project, the World Bank is working with the state government and community groups to: - Leverage the strong community-based organizations created and supported by the Andhra Pradesh Rural Poverty Reduction Project to encourage financial literacy and use economies of scale to lower the cost of financial services. - Enable rapid claims processing through: an insurance call center; web-based claims submissions to insurers; and trained grassroots workers/community leaders acting as insurance agents and claims adjustors. - Provide quick cash relief to families within 24 – 48 hours after reporting a claims event to ensure they do not have to resort to borrowing from private money lenders or other informal sources to meet immediate contingencies. Through the self-help groups supported by the Andhra Pradesh Rural Poverty Reduction Project, more than eight million women and their spouses have life and disability insurance coverage, and more than 800,000 lives are insured against health risks. Significantly, given the importance of livestock to rural families, around 500,000 cattle, primarily cows and buffaloes, have been insured. The robustness of the system also has encouraged insurers to work with community organizations in Andhra Pradesh to provide a variety of insurance products and services to the rural non-poor. Highlights: - As of March 2009, the Andhra Pradesh Rural Poverty Reduction Project had supported the formation of more than 850,000 self-help groups of 10-15 members each; 35,500 village organizations, 1,180 sub-district federations, and 22 district federations. - More than ten million women are members of self-help groups and their federations. - Cumulative investment by IDA totals around US$357 million toward the overall cost of the Andhra Pradesh Rural Poverty reduction Project. 1 - An IDA investment of more than US$150 million (out-of the US$357 million) in a community-institution building component of the project, helped create the self-help groups and federations, with an additional US$500,000 supported training programs, investments in technology and management information systems, the creation of an insurance call center, and product design and development. - The Project, which closes in September 2011, also partnered with local insurance companies to ensure rural households have access to better financial products. 1 Andhra Pradesh Poverty Initiatives Project (2000 – 2006) of US$118.48 million; Andhra Pradesh Rural Poverty Reduction Project (2003) US$239.31 million; 1st Additional Financing (2007) US$65 million and 2nd Additional Financing (under preparation) of US$100 million --> The community-managed insurance initiative will seek to expand the range of products offered within Andhra Pradesh, especially in the areas of health, property, and livestock insurance. It will also seek to expand coverage to rural households with higher incomes. This model will also be taken to more states within India, and to other countries in East Asia and Africa who are making substantial investments in community-based development, such as Indonesia. -->

Last Updated: Sept 2009 Links: - What is IDA? - Our Work in Nepal More on Nepal: - Borrowing History - Data & Statistics - Research - Contact Us Too few people in rural Nepal had access to improved water sources or modern sanitation services. Many of the women spent half their day just fetching water for their families, and children skipped school to help. When the government began to build public tap stands, they frequently broke down. Villagers were too often left waiting in vain for a government repairman to show up and fix the problem. A study showed that nearly half of all rural water systems in Nepal required major repairs. Making matters worse, less than half the population had sanitation facilities, undermining the health benefits of clean water if it was available. Although the Government of Nepal had set a target of achieving universal access to basic water and sanitation by 2017, the “top-down,” contractor-led approach to meeting those goals was clearly failing. The IDA-financed Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project was launched in 1996 to support Government efforts to promote a more inclusive, community-driven approach that could mobilize unused resources to transform the entire rural water sector. Local communities—particularly the women—were empowered through support from nongovernmental organizations to play a lead role in planning, designing, and implementing small-scale subprojects for water supply, sanitation, health, and hygiene. To ensure that a community had sufficient ownership stake in the results, it was required to contribute at least 20 percent of subproject costs and charge fees for access to services. It also had to manage a fund to pay, among other things, for trained local repairmen to maintain newly installed infrastructure. The project continued till 2003 and was so successful that a second phase was launched in 2004 and is slated for completion in 2010. The project supported implementation of 1,815 subprojects, which provided improved water supply to more than 1.2 million people all across Nepal. Access to clean water has increased from 77 percent of the rural population to 89 percent. Potable water and better hygiene have helped reduce diarrheal death rates among children by more than 10 percent. Importantly, these projects proved to be sustainable—with a significantly higher operational rating of 89 percent, compared to the national average of 56 percent. Highlights: - Progress reached remote areas. The project emphasizes service delivery in less accessible rural areas. More than half the subprojects are located eight kilometers from the nearest all-weather road; nearly a quarter are located 20 kilometers away. - Community ownership expanded. Communities contributed their own cash, labor and local materials, as well as porterage to carry in outside materials. - A sustainable administrative structure has taken root. The Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Fund Development Board (the “Fund Board”), which was established to administer IDA assistance, has now been mainstreamed as a government implementing agency. - Implementation was strengthened through local organizations while making them stronger. The Fund Board worked closely with local groups who broadened their skills and capacity as they planned and ran their own subprojects. Areas of partnership included resource allocation, social inclusion, capacity building, skill development, donor coordination, and monitoring and evaluation. IDA provided a total of US$70.6 million for the project’s various phases. The first Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project received a US$18.3 million IDA credit in 1996. Another US$25.5 million was allocated for the Second Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project in June 2004, and supplemented in May 2008 by additional funding of US$27 million. Recognizing the benefits pioneered by the project’s “Fund Board” approach, the Government of Nepal intends to mainstream inclusive, community-driven development as a central tenet of its strategy for the sector. IDA support catalyzed additional support from the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development, which financed 146 subprojects benefiting about 87,600 people. Agencies of the United Nations, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the Asian Development Bank, Finland and India are also active in Nepal’s water supply and sanitation sector. IDA is working with these donors to harmonize efforts. The second project is financing more than 1,400 subprojects, serving more than 1 million additional people. Moreover, it is sharpening the focus on sanitation so that improvements in water supply translate into better village health. Targets for 2010 include provision of clean water to 69,000 more rural households and sanitation coverage for another 65,000. Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project (1996–2003) Project documents Second Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project (2004–10) Project documents | Additional Financing Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Fund Board

Last Updated: Sept 2009 Links: - What is IDA? - Our Work in Nepal More on Nepal: - Borrowing History - Data & Statistics - Research - Contact Us Nepal has one of the lowest per capita incomes in the world at around US$340, and more than 30 percent of its population lives below the national poverty line. Only about 15 percent of rural households have access to electricity. As a result, most Nepalis satisfy their energy needs by burning wood or other biomass, damaging both the environment and human health. Connecting dispersed villages in difficult terrain to the power grid is prohibitively expensive. It is also beyond the government’s current capacity, since the power grid is already under increasing strain, with power outages of up to 16 hours a day during the dry season. Rural electrification through micro-hydro is a credible option for Nepal since the country has exploited only 2 percent of its considerable potential. Furthermore, micro-hydro provides round-the-clock electricity generation in close proximity to end-users, with no need for expensive storage or power lines. The IDA-financed Nepal Power Development Project, launched in 2003, featured a Micro-Hydro Village Electrification component. Communities formed Micro-Hydro Functional Groups to execute the work, including responsibility for supervising contractors. The project built upon the national strategy launched through the Rural Energy Development Program in 1996, which successfully increased rural access to renewable energy sources and formed a solid foundation for scaling up impact. Steady expansion of community-managed micro-hydro systems provided coverage to about 40,000 households in 40 of 51 target districts with potential for this form of power generation. These systems energize sustainable rural development by creating jobs, protecting the environment, and lighting up households for the first time. Highlights: - Taking a good idea to scale. Building on a government pilot effort that grew from 5 districts in 1996 to 10 in 1998 and 15 in 2000, this IDA-financed project expanded the momentum to 25 districts in 2003 and 40 districts in 2007. In June 2009, IDA approved additional financing that will double participating rural households by 2012. - Energizing small business. While electricity was primarily used for lighting, surplus daylight generation was available for milling, husking, grinding, carpentry, spinning, and pump irrigation that paid off in higher local incomes. - Reducing environmental stress. Micro-hydro replacement of biomass burning has created a trend away from deforestation and toward lower carbon emissions. - Creating healthier households. Clean electricity allows families to replace wood fires for cooking and lighting in traditional houses without proper ventilation, benefiting women and children in particular. IDA support for the Micro-Hydro Village Electrification Program came through grants of US$5.5 million in 2003 and US$3.8 million in 2008, covering most of the costs. The remainder comes from cash and labor counterpart provided by participating communities and the Government of Nepal. IDA supports efforts to apply what has been learned thus far to extend micro-hydro applications and improve sustainability. Multiple initiatives by international donors have created an enabling environment. Since 1996, the United Nations Development Programme has made important contributions to micro-hydro development in Nepal through the Rural Energy Development Program. The Danish International Development Agency is supporting rural electrification through entrepreneurial development of micro-hydro schemes by the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program. Finally, the U.S. Agency for International Development is promoting private investments in hydropower, including micro-hydro; and the Asian Development Bank is expanding rural electrification. In June 2009, IDA approved an additional US$12 million to extend implementation through 2012, benefiting an additional 36,000 households. IDA will continue to support micro-hydro rural electrification, applying what is learned to refine the effort and improve sustainability. Nepal Power Development Project (2003–12) Project documents | Alternative Energy Promotion Center | UNDP REDP Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) Project documents | Energy Sector Management Assistance Program | DANIDA | GON/Ministry of Power Carbon Fund – Biogas Program Project documents

Last Updated: Sept 2009 Links: - What is IDA? - Our Work in India More on India: - Borrowing History - Data & Statistics - Research - Contact Us Many years of public antipoverty programs in India, including in the state of Andhra Pradesh, were unable to reduce the number of poor people, particularly in rural areas. India still has some of the poorest social indicators in the world. In Andhra Pradesh, these indicators were very low in 2000 : 30 percent of the population lived below the poverty line; malnutrition among children aged 0–6 years was about 30 percent; and the female literacy rate was 33 percent, one of the lowest in the country. The IDA-financed Andhra Pradesh Rural Poverty Reduction Project tackled the problem by supporting Government efforts to increase poor people’s participation in their own development so that they could improve their livelihoods and quality of life and reduce their vulnerability to shocks like illness, a death in the family, crop failure, or livestock disease. The project helped small groups, particularly women, organize within rural communities to obtain microcredit from private sector sources that had overlooked this potentially large market. Key to the management of risk for banks was the social collateral provided by poor women in self-help groups who guarantee each other’s loans. Assets and incomes have increased for almost 90 percent of poor rural households, including more than 9 million women. The health and nutrition pilot programs are dramatically improving maternal and child health and infant nutrition. Annual credit flows have increased from less than US$23 million in 2000 to US$1.23 billion in 2009—more than a 50-fold increase. Highlights: - Widespread organization was achieved. More than 10 million rural women were mobilized into over 850,000 self-help groups, and federated into over 35,000 village-level organizations. - Group capacities grew significantly over the years to take on different roles and provide varied services. Women participants now act as banking correspondents, microinsurance agents, and franchise managers for the public, private and cooperative sectors. They also manage various government service delivery programs, including the distribution of contributory and old-age pensions to members, as well as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. - Groups manage various public health programs through 600 village nutrition and health-care centers, resulting in remarkable improvements. Childhood malnutrition has been essentially eradicated in participating villages. More than 90 percent of births are now safely delivered and no participating member has delivered a low birth weight baby. - Access to credit has skyrocketed. Self-help groups have generated cumulative savings of US$1.24 billion. Over 6.5 million households have gained access to credit from formal financial institutions, up from fewer than 500,000 in 2000. Banks now lend 65 times more to the rural poor than before the project. The repayment rate exceeds 90 percent. - Collective bargaining power has improved. Groups have obtained better prices through collective procurement and marketing, generating US$321 million in value for local produce such as rice, maize, cashews and milk. - A sturdier safety net has been woven, with 9.6 million of the rural poor now covered by death and disability insurance, compared with less than 1,000 before the project. - Support has been expanded for people with disabilities—with more than 210,000 of them organized into some 23,000 groups that provide a range of services. - Youth employment increased through partnerships with the private sector that equipped young people with marketable skills and resulted in more than 190,000 hires. Since 2000, IDA has contributed about US$350 million to uplift the rural poor in Andhra Pradesh. The project invests US$33 per household on average, but this small amount leverages about US$430 of investments in loans from commercial financial institutions. IDA has also provided technical assistance for institution building, the development of financial products, facilitation of market linkages, and monitoring and evaluation. In sum, IDA investments have paved the way for the poor in Andhra Pradesh to be risk worthy, creditworthy, and investment worthy. The program built on the United Nations Development Programme’s South Asia Poverty Alleviation Project and the government’s decade-long experience with women’s self-help groups. In turn, Andhra Pradesh’s government has adapted the project’s institutional model and lessons learned to launch a program to eliminate urban poverty. The success and scale of the IDA project has led to a significant increase in demand for similar statewide operations elsewhere in the country, particularly from the poorer states in eastern India, as well as from other South Asian countries such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. More investment will be needed to lift the remaining rural and urban poor out of poverty. This will require focused targeting on the poorest of the poor and leveraging more resources from commercial banks so project participants can generate sustainable self-employment. To ensure that the state achieves the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, the program will need to broaden the results it has achieved in health, education and nutrition. The state is now scaling up the project’s successful pilots by strengthening other self-help groups and their federations to deliver government programs for women and children, as well as social safety nets and other entitlements for the poor. Andhra Pradesh Rural Poverty Reduction Project (2003–09) Project documents | Andhra Pradesh Rural Poverty Reduction Project, additional financing (2007)

Last Updated: Sept 2009 Links: - What is IDA? - Our Work in Afghanistan More on Afghanistan: - Borrowing History - Data & Statistics - Research - Contact Us Thirty years of conflict and political unrest destroyed the Afghan education system. In 2001, after the fall of the Taliban, net enrollment was estimated at 43 percent for boys and a dismal 3 percent for girls. The situation for females was especially dire: they had been forbidden to attend school or teach during Taliban rule. Moreover, there were only about 21,000 (largely under-educated) teachers for a school-age population estimated at more than 5 million—or about 240 students for every marginally trained teacher. In 2001, the international community responded, with IDA financing multiple initiatives. However, great risks have emerged because of the deteriorating security situation, particularly in the south. As a result, many schools have closed again, reversing nascent gains. Recognizing that education would play a vital role in the reconstruction and development of Afghanistan, IDA launched since 2001 a series of education programs aimed at providing access and quality education to Afghan students at all levels. To accommodate Afghanistan's fragile and fluid situation, these IDA education programs had broad objectives underpinned by principles of participation, coordination among donors and with government agencies, and a focus on females. Specifically, these programs aimed to reconstruct the education sector, by: - Increasing access to education opportunities in the formal and non-formal systems for under-served groups, especially women and girls; - Supporting the development of a policy framework and the reform of education management at all levels, in partnership with civil society, NGOs, and the private sector; - Improving quality of education by training current teachers, developing quality curriculum and textbooks, and encouraging communities to supervise quality education for their children; and - Introducing modern information technologies for communications in the ministries, including establishing distance-learning facilities for building the capacity of civil servants. Since 2001, the projects have brought new life to general, technical, and vocational education, and particularly benefited girls. Enrollment in grades 1-12 increased from 3.9 million in 2004 to 6.2 million in 2008. Girls’ enrollment skyrocketed from 839,000 to more than 2.2 million, and boys’ from 2.6 million to 3.9 million—the highest enrollment in the history of Afghanistan. Highlights: - Community participation expanded. 5,796 School Management Committees were established, which contributed up to 20 percent in-kind or cash towards school infrastructure and quality of education. - Teachers trained in large numbers. 32,467 teachers took a comprehensive training module. National and international NGOs have been contracted by the Ministry to train the remaining teachers in Afghanistan (there are about 160,000 teachers total). - Tertiary enrollment increased. Block grants to all 18 public tertiary-level institutions helped reopen after years of conflict. Tertiary enrollment increased from 23,000 in 2002 to almost 40,000 in 2005, including 8,000 females. Female enrollment amounted to 8,000 or 22 percent of this total, after a five-year ban on girls’ education. Tertiary faculty increased by 25 percent to 1,978. - New schools built. 58 schools (mainly for girls) were rehabilitated or constructed in under-served areas. - Technical and vocational training established. The project launched the Afghanistan Skills Development Program to promote standard technical and vocational education by establishing a National Qualification Framework. Under the related National Institute of Management and Administration in Kabul there are currently 2,700 enrolled. - Innovations in delivery piloted. The project contracted out to NGOs to deliver education services and empower the community in five provinces. - Government reform advanced. The five-year National Education Strategic Plan was developed which highlights eight national priority programs. Government is now encouraging decentralized school management through provinces, districts, and communities, and - First-ever IT capacity built. The first Education Management Information System was developed to help the Ministry in policy, monitoring, and evaluation. IDA was at the forefront of post-conflict financing in Afghanistan, helping coordinate donors and fast-track support for new programs in a vulnerable state, having financed $140 million in five complimentary education programs since 2001. The first three projects were relatively small, entirely financed by IDA, and served as pilots: Emergency Education Rehabilitation and Development (2002-2006, US$15 million), Education Quality Improvement Program (2004-2009, US$35 million), and Strengthening Higher Education Program (2005-2010, US$40 million). IDA contributed US$30 million to the Second Education Quality Improvement Program (2008-2012), which has a total project cost of $186.7 million. To the Afghanistan Skills Development Project (2008-2013), IDA contributed US$20 million of the total project cost of US$36 million. The Second Education Quality Improvement Program benefited from the partnership of the United States Agency for International Development (US$22 million) and the Afghanistan Reconstruction Fund (US$134.7 million). Partners for the Afghanistan Skills Development Project include USAID (US$6 million), Norway (US$6 million), and the Afghanistan Government itself. The ongoing follow-up project, the Second Education Quality Improvement Program, covers the entire education sector from primary to tertiary. Its aim is to scale up methods that were tested during the Emergency Education project. Moreover, the mechanism of giving grants to communities has been scaled up to all 34 provinces of Afghanistan. A remaining challenge is to continue to involve community elders to open more previously closed school in the south, and engage communities to protect the students, teachers, and schools. Emergency Education Rehabilitation and Development (2002-2006, US$15 million) Project documents Education Quality Improvement Program (2004-2009, US$35 million) Project documents Strengthening Higher Education Program (2005-2010, US$40 million) Project documents Second Education Quality Improvement Program (2008-2012) Project documents Afghanistan Skills Development Project (2008-2013) Project documents

Last Updated: Sept 2009 Links: - What is IDA? - Our Work in India More on India: - Borrowing History - Data & Statistics - Research - Contact Us Despite recent unprecedented economic growth, India still faces a big challenge in fighting poverty. Its population of 1.2 billion has a per-person income of less than US$1,000. About two-thirds of the population depends on rural employment to make a living, yet educational opportunities and access are uneven at best and marked by wide regional disparities. By 2000, some 39 million of 200 million children aged 6–14—or almost 20 percent—were not being schooled. In 2002, India unveiled its national flagship program, the IDA-financed Elementary Education Project (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, SSA), to enroll all 6–14-year-olds in school by 2010. It also aimed to bridge gender and social gaps, avoid dropouts, and provide quality education until at least grade eight—a much tougher requirement by 2015 than called for by the Millennium Development Goals. Primary school facilities were to be located within one kilometer of all habitations, including provision of alternative education programs and “bridge courses” for out-of-school children and dropouts. The program supported teacher recruitment and training, helped develop teaching materials, and monitored learning outcomes. Villages were to identify out-of-school children and get them enrolled, and organize to manage school resources and construct classrooms and school buildings. Direct grants to each district helped spur context-specific innovations. Since 2001, the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has supported Government efforts to bring 20 million out-of-school children into elementary education. This includes first-generation learners from long-deprived communities and minority communities, and children with special needs. Highlights: - Universal access is almost achieved, with more than 98 percent of children having a primary school within one kilometer of home and many states either approaching universal primary enrollment or having already achieved it. - The gender gap continues to shrink, with 93 girls enrolled for every 100 boys in primary school in 2008, compared to 90 in the early 2000s. - Real progress has been made on inclusion. Public school enrollment of children from long-deprived communities—Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes—now exceeds their shares in the general population. Of the 2.7 million children identified with special needs, 2.5 million were enrolled by 2008. - Higher quality yielded better transition rates between school levels. In 2007, 84 percent of primary school graduates went on to upper-primary school, compared with 75 percent in 2002. - Retaining first-generation learners in school is a major challenge, but annual dropout rates fell from 10 percent in 2004 to 8.6 percent in 2008. - A paradigm shift in teaching methods was pioneered in Tamil Nadu. In just two years, the activity-based learning (ABL) method was scaled up across the state’s 37,500 primary and 12,000 upper-primary schools. Several states now are adapting the innovations. Activity-based learning lets children learn at their own pace by working together in small groups to complete a “ladder” of highly structured and sequenced tasks, helping each other construct their knowledge rather than memorizing and reciting lessons by rote. The Indian government–led program is supported by a multidonor effort. IDA is the single largest donor, contributing US$500 million of the US$3.5 billion total cost for the project’s first phase (SSA I, from 2004 to 2007). During the second phase (SSA II, from 2008 to 2010), IDA is providing US$600 million of the approximately US$7.2 billion total cost. A further IDA commitment of US$500 million in Additional Financing is planned for 2010. In addition, the World Bank Group is committed to efforts to improve learning outcomes and ensure strong independent monitoring and evaluation of educational projects worldwide, sharing lessons from other efforts with this one and bringing lessons from SSA to other interested parties. The European Commission (EC) and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) together contributed over US$500 million to the first phase, while India’s central and state governments contributed the lion’s share—some US$2.5 billion. In phase two, the Indian government is investing more than US$6 billion, while the EC and DFID together are contributing almost $400 million. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is also very active in some of the poorest Indian states, helping education departments implement the Elementary Education Project at state and district levels. IDA, the DFID, the European Commission, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and UNICEF also collaborate in major fora to share best practices from other countries and India that support improved educational quality and teacher effectiveness. With SSA having made great strides in increasing access to primary education, the focus is now on bringing the remaining 10 million out-of-school children into school, boosting provision of upper-primary educational facilities, and improving learning outcomes. And now that greater numbers of children are completing elementary school, the number of secondary schools urgently needs expanding and their educational quality raised. Elementary Education Project (SSA), (2004–07) | Elementary Education Project (SSA II), (2008–10)

Last Updated: Sept 2009 Links: - What is IDA? - Our Work in Pakistan More on Pakistan: - Borrowing History - Data & Statistics - Research - Contact Us Punjab is Pakistan’s largest province with a population of 100 million, which embodies 60 percent of the country's total population. Punjab has long contributed the most to Pakistan’s national economy; it is the most industrialized province and, because of widespread irrigation, features diverse agricultural productivity. However, in the country’s efforts to alleviate poverty, low educational attainment had long been a stumbling block. As recently as 2001, primary school enrollment was only 45 percent, where efforts to improve access and quality were yielding little fruit. The IDA-financed Punjab Education Sector Reform Program was launched in 2003 with the objective of improving access, quality, and governance in the education sector. This program included supply-side interventions such as upgrading schools and filling teacher vacancies, as well as demand-side measures such as stipends for girls, provision of free textbooks, and subsidies to low-fee private schools. In parallel, a number of reforms in teachers’ recruitment and professional development, textbook production, and the examination system were implemented. Net enrollment in primary schools in Punjab has increased from 45 to 62 percent between 2001 and 2007. Female primary net enrollment during the same period increased from 43 to 59 percent and for rural females from 38 to 55 percent. Highlights: - Primary enrollment and completion increased. Primary school enrollment increased by about 40 percent — from 45 percent in 2002 to 62 percent in 2007. Primary completion rate in public schools increased from 58 percent to 61 percent. - Bricks, mortar, and books made schools better. One thousand previously closed schools have been made functional. Toilets, boundary walls, and additional classrooms have been provided to over 30,000 schools; 28.6 million free textbooks have been distributed to students in grades 1-10 in academic year 2008/09. Competitive textbook printing, publishing, and authorship have been instituted in the province resulting in improved quality of textbook production. - Teacher hiring, training, and performance enhanced. An additional 50,000 schoolteachers were hired and posted to schools; recruitment of an additional 34,000 teachers based on merit and need-based criteria is currently underway. Teacher absenteeism was reduced through hiring teachers on school-specific contracts. - Girls’ stipends worked. Over 350,000 eligible girls receive monthly stipends pegged to school attendance. - Partnership supported needy. Providing financial support to over 1,000 low-cost private schools used a public-private partnership model to support students from lower-income quintiles. - Enhanced capacity created. Community-based school councils were established in 43,000 primary schools. NGOs are providing capacity support to 2,400 school councils. Sector governance improved through annual independent third-party validations. - National exam standards and sector monitoring instituted. An independent Punjab Examination Commission for universal examinations for grades 5 and 8 has been established; 3 rounds of examinations were conducted. Strong and credible monitoring system has been established to track enrollments, sector expenditures, recruitment, and school construction. IDA’s US$350 million Punjab Education Sector Project was launched in 2008, and is financing about 15 percent of the provincial government’s total education budget over a three-year period. It also contains a US$10 million component for providing technical assistance to support implementation of the Government’s medium-term sector program. Under the earlier four IDA credits, a total of US$400 million was provided to support education reforms from 2004 through 2007. Continuous IDA support has provided a real continuity of policy dialogue with the provincial government. Moreover, IDA has also leveraged additional support from development partners for the province’s education reform program. Furthermore, the monitoring systems established under the project are being replicated in other provinces and in other sectors (such as irrigation) in the province. IDA support has also funded a series of rigorous impact evaluations to determine best practices for future expansion and potential adaptation in other country contexts. With 38 percent of Punjab’s primary school-age children still out of school, low participation at the middle and secondary levels, and low learning outcomes, Punjab is faced with a significant unfinished agenda in education. The Punjab government has launched a second generation of reforms that focuses on increasing access and completion rates, enhancing the quality of reforms and student learning outcomes, and strengthening school management and sector governance. IDA financing is tied to the achievement of concrete results. It is helping expand sector capacity for implementation and monitoring. Pakistan: Punjab Education Sector Reform Program Punjab Education Sector Reform Programme

Last Updated: Sept 2009 Links: - What is IDA? - Our Work in Afghanistan More on Afghanistan: - Borrowing History - Data & Statistics - Research - Contact Us Emerging from three decades of conflict and instability in 2002, Afghanistan barely had a functioning communications network. Services were available to less than one percent of the country’s population. The Ministry of Communications operated services in just five major cities, with more than 60 percent of the 57,000 functioning lines in a single city, the capital Kabul. Moreover, the country had little or no access to the Internet. Given the state of communications infrastructure, the Government’s ability to govern was severely limited. The IDA-financed Emergency Communications Development Project was launched in 2003 to improve delivery of communications services to the Government and people of Afghanistan. It aimed to: expand the government communications network, restore critical communications between ministries and provinces, and provide urgently needed policy advice to the Ministry of Communications. Unprecedented progress revitalized the country’s communications. Telephone access increased from less than 1 percent to 32 percent of the population. The number of fixed and mobile telecommunication subscribers increased from 57,000 in 2002 to almost 10 million in 2009, while costs have plummeted by 95 percent—from $2/min to $0.10/min. Highlights: - Government communications expanded. All provinces were connected on the Government Communications Network, enabling voice and data transfer, and videoconferencing between Kabul and the provincial capitals. - Sector revenue and employment grew exponentially. The telecommunications sector now contributes an estimated $75 million to government revenues and directly or indirectly employs more than 60,000 people. - Infrastructure built. An Earth Satellite Station at Mahtab-Qala was installed on the outskirts of Kabul. A new radio spectrum monitoring system became operational. - Competition blossomed. From a single operator in 2002, Afghanistan’s competitive telecommunications market grew to encompass five private mobile operators, a unified service provider, and six operational Internet service providers. - Prices became accessible for the typical Afghan. Prices for mobile telephony have dropped considerably, making services more affordable for more Afghan people. In 2002, it cost about US$400 to purchase a mobile phone and US$2 for every minute of talk time. Today, an Afghan can purchase a mobile phone for less than US$50 and spends less than 10 cents per minute of talk time. Moreover, an agreement with Pakistan to route calls overland has lowered costs and increased traffic, and - Reform advanced. Afghan Telecom has been corporatized and a separate regulatory agency established. The total project cost was financed by a US$22 million IDA credit. An additional US$6.1 million came from the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund. IDA support was catalytic in establishing a sound policy, legal, and regulatory framework for a sector that is experiencing considerable private-sector investment—up to $1 billion by some measures. IDA leveraged the World Bank Group’s experience in scaling up private wireless operators in post-conflict environments. The telecommunications sector is dynamic and growing in Afghanistan, and benefits from the cooperation of the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund and more than 30 international partners. Despite impressive developments, gaps remain. There has been explosive growth in telephony services, but much work remains to be done to develop Internet services. Similarly, while the country has developed considerable urban connectivity, much work is required to extend these gains further into rural and remote areas. Emergency Communications Development Project Project documents

Last Updated: Sept 2009 Links: - What is IDA? - Our Work in Nepal More on Nepal: - Borrowing History - Data & Statistics - Research - Contact Us Nepal is a small, landlocked but relatively populous country in South Asia, with about 28 million people. Its mountainous topography— includes Mt. Everest and eight of the world’s ten highest peaks—gave rise to a rich diversity of geography, religions and culture. By the early 1950s the country had only 22 high schools, of which 20 were community built, financed and managed. Successive governments continued this model for many years, treating education as a partnership with local communities. In 1972, however, the government took over more than 8,000 schools. Because of the country’s remoteness and diversity—and weak governmental capacity—results were disastrous. Notwithstanding the lofty goals of the “New Education System,” teachers regularly abandoned classrooms, textbooks vanished, and quality plummeted. Finally, in 2001, Parliament passed new laws to transfer schools back to community management. But 30 years of neglect had taken a heavy toll. Literacy rates were 52 percent, compared to 58 percent in South Asia and 61 percent among low-income countries around the world. The IDA-financed Community School Support Project was launched in 2003 to help reform the defunct public school system. The first step was to encourage communities to take back the management of schools, aided by a one-time government grant. The second was to transform the government’s role from being a provider to a facilitator of education. Both steps were designed to increase the demand for and supply of education in tandem. Efforts to upgrade the quality and relevance of the curriculum were supported by efforts to improve the capacity of government agencies tasked with facilitating the system. Community-based organizations were at the heart of the transition at the local level, while the overall effort was integrated seamlessly into Nepal’s Education for All Project (2004–09) and a sectorwide approach (SWAp) that harmonized donor support for education. Net primary enrollment rose from 84 percent in 2003 to 92 percent in 2008. Gender parity improved from 83 percent to 98 percent during the same period. More than 8,600 schools transferred to community management. At the current rate, the goal is on track for achieving community management of all public schools by 2015. Highlights: - Communities invested in their own schools. Significant local resources were unlocked, with every rupee of government grants leveraging 1.5 rupees in community counterpart. - Simple, fair financing was established. Introduction of per capita (child) financing made resource allocation more transparent and equitable. - Decentralization of teacher hiring has spurred accountability. Freezing the number of government-appointed teaching slots and Introduction of salary grants has allowed communities to recruit teachers locally and hold them accountable for classroom performance. The numbers of government and community teachers are now comparable. - Learning materials expanded. Purchasing textbooks through the market rather than directly from a state-owned publisher has proved to be a more efficient supply mechanism. In June 2003, IDA provided a US$5 million Learning and Innovation Credit to support the Community School Support Project. The project was then mainstreamed into the Education for All (EFA) program when it was launched in July 2004. IDA contributed a US$50 million credit toward the cost of financing EFA. IDA provided an additional US$60 million grant to Education for All in December 2007. Nepal's education sector has highly harmonized donor assistance. Nine donors and government have pooled funds to implement a sectorwide approach that covers both recurrent and capital expenditures. Donor harmonization began with the implementation of the five-year Basic and Primary Education Program II in 1999, when the World Bank Group, Denmark, the European Commission (EC), Finland and Norway pooled resources into a “basket” to help the government implement a primary education subsector development program. Building on that, a sectorwide approach was adopted for the follow-on Education for All Program (2004–10). Initial funding came from a few donors, including Denmark, the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DfID), Finland, Norway and the World Bank Group. Other donors offered parallel financing: the Japan International Cooperation Agency, UNESCO and the World Food Program. The Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAid), the EC and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) later joined. To implement Education for All, donors committed US$241 million, with IDA providing US$110 million, DfID US$35 million, ADB US$30 million, Denmark US$28 million, the EC US$27 million, Norway US$23 million, Finland US$14 million and UNICEF US$1 million. Support has been requested for the School Sector Reform Program, which is designed to extend reform coverage throughout the educational system, providing universal schooling through Grade 8 while upgrading quality. Community School Support Project (2003–08) Project documents Education for All Program (2004–10) Project documents Ministry of Education | Department of Education

Last Updated: Sept 2009 Links: - What is IDA? - Our Work in India More on India: - Borrowing History - Data & Statistics - Research - Contact Us India has one of the most severe burdens of tuberculosis (TB) in the world, accounting for one-fifth of the global incidence. TB is India’s leading cause of adult illness and death from a communicable disease. Its greatest impact is on the poor. In 2007, India had an estimated 1.98 million new TB cases, and 331,000 persons died of the disease. Of the new cases, 870,000 were infectious, each on average infecting another 10 people. The disease — an ancient scourge — is a major barrier to the country’s social and economic development. Most of those infected are 15- to 59-year-old adults, the most economically productive segment of society. An estimated 100 million workdays are lost due to the illness every year, resulting in nearly US$3 billion in indirect costs. In 1993, the Indian Government started to treat tuberculosis patients with the World Health Organization-recommended Directly Observed Treatment Short-course (DOTS). Left on their own, many TB-infected patients fail to take the entire regimen of medication, contributing to the spread of drug-resistant TB. With DOTS, healthcare workers observe patients as they take their medicine. The results of a series of pilot projects financed with Swedish and Danish bilateral assistance were so encouraging that in 1997 the Indian Government formally launched the DOTS strategy as the Revised National TB Control Program. The first IDA credit (1997- 2005) allowed rapid expansion of the DOTS strategy throughout the country. By providing free diagnostic and treatment services through public or non-public institutions, the project ensured the availability of TB diagnosis and treatment to all citizens regardless of their economic status. Approximately 5.6 million TB patients were placed on the DOTS regimen. Full nationwide coverage of the DOTS strategy was achieved in March 2006, covering over one billion people. The ongoing second IDA credit (2006-11) focuses on consolidating services; expanding DOTS services to poor, tribal, and hard-to-reach groups; and addressing emerging threats like HIV/TB co-infection and multi-drug resistant TB — a dangerous and difficult-to-treat variant. Since 1997, the DOTS strategy has raised TB awareness and improved detection and cure rates dramatically. With better DOTS-based diagnostic facilities, more than 9.5 million people suffering from TB between 1997 and 2008 were diagnosed and placed on treatment, thus saving more than 1.7 million additional lives. At the national level, case detection rates reached 70 percent, achieving global targets. Cure rates for those placed on treatment tripled from 25 percent in 1997 (the pre-RNTCP era) to 86 percent in 2009 exceeding the global target of 85 percent. Deaths from the disease were cut sevenfold from 29 percent to 4 percent during the same period. Highlights: - India met global targets for TB detection and cure. At the national level, India has achieved the global targets for case detection (70 percent) while maintaining cure rates above the global target of 85 percent. - Diagnosis conducted in the villages. A key reason for success of DOTS is that the entire program is decentralized, with diagnosis done in the villages rather than in district hospitals. Quality-assured diagnostic facilities are available through more than 12,000 microscopy centers. - Local health workers or trained volunteers implemented the program. More than 300,000 local health workers or trained community volunteers ensured that patients adhere to their drug regimen. A coalition of associations of medical professionals of different disciplines is engaged in promoting international standards for TB care. Also participating are 267 medical colleges and 2,500 NGOs. More than 19,000 private practitioners have been sensitized and trained across 6 states. - Cross-referrals between health programs experienced a continuous rise. In 2008 alone, more than 160,000 Integrated Counseling and Testing Center clients (for HIV) were referred to the TB program for diagnosis; and 130,000 TB patients were tested for HIV. This has greatly controlled HIV/TB co-infection. - Focus increased on drug-resistant TB. The spread of multi-drug resistant TB has been prevented by the provision of quality DOTS services and special patient management under the “DOTS-Plus” program. DOTS-Plus sites were initiated in Gujarat and Maharashtra and have now been scaled up to 6 other states to provide the extra care required. - Services provided free to poor. Free TB diagnosis and treatment services were made available to all citizens, saving the poor from being driven deeper into poverty by the cost of medication and treatment. - Reporting decentralized, analysis streamlined. Each of the 600 districts in the country directly enters data into the Quarterly Program Status Reports, which are posted on the program website. This enables central and state governments to focus on under-performing states and districts. IDA has helped scale up the Revised National TB Control Program nationwide. The first IDA credit for US$142 million ran from 1997 to 2005. The second credit, from 2006 to 2011, is ongoing and provides US$170 million. IDA has contributed to several innovations in the TB control program over the years, including the establishment of a strong cross-referral system between the TB and the HIV/AIDS programs, the pioneering of the public-private mix for diagnosis and treatment of TB, and the initial expansion of laboratory capacity to address the increasing problem of multi-drug resistant TB. The implementation of a program of such scale and magnitude involved a wide range of partners: 267 medical colleges, 2,500 NGOs, more than 19,000 private practitioners, and over 80 corporations. A wide network of community volunteers has been developed; more than 300,000 local health workers or community volunteers provide assistance under the program, greatly boosting the effectiveness of TB control efforts. Other donors — DFID, USAID, Danish bi-lateral assistance, Global Drug Facility, and the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (GFATM) — have gained confidence in the program and provided technical assistance and additional financing. The cost of the Revised National TB Control Program varies and has been increasing with greater focus on multi-drug resistant TB and increasing support from GFATM. Between 2002 and 2007, the total cost of the Revised National TB Control Program was estimated at US$300 million with supported in approximate proportion as follows: Government of India, 13 percent; IDA credits, 54 percent; grants from bilateral donors (USAID, DANIDA, DFID), 18 percent; and GFATM, 14 percent. To achieve the Millennium Development Goal of cutting in half the 1990 prevalence of TB by 2015, the project’s excellent performance should be sustained and extended to all districts in the country. To this end, the decentralized provision of high-quality DOTS services remains the major priority of the TB control program. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare plans to focus on low-performing districts in order to further improve the overall case detection and treatment rates. The Ministry plans to step up the diagnostic and treatment capability to reduce the impact of multi-drug resistant TB since it is increasingly recognized as a major public health threat. IDA will assist in this expansion plan, ensuring that more intermediate reference laboratories are established and that staff capacity is enhanced, particularly in case management. Tuberculosis Control Project Project documents Entire Country Covered under DOTS in March 2006 | DOTS-Plus and the Green Light Committee

Last Updated: Sept 2009 Links: - What is IDA? - Our Work in India More on India: - Borrowing History - Data & Statistics - Research - Contact Us Andhra Pradesh, one of 28 states in India, is located along the southeastern coast. It is the country’s 4th-largest state by area and 5th-largest by population, with more than 75 million people. In the late 1990s, Andhra Pradesh was relatively poor and in the midst of a fiscal crisis. Its per-person income was about US$385, nearly 22 percent of its population was below the poverty line, and 40 percent of its primary school-age children were out of school. The state’s fiscal deficit to gross state domestic product (GSDP) ratio exceeded 5 percent. Previous efforts at economic reforms had fallen short, growth was stymied, and development indicators lagged. The IDA-financed Andhra Pradesh Economic Reform Project was launched in 2002 as a series of programmatic budget-support operations that aimed to support the government's ongoing reform program. The objective was to attract greater investment and create more job opportunities by improving the state’s investment climate; increase the fiscal space for development expenditure through better public budget and financial management; and improve the delivery of public services through better governance and effective targeting of programs. Two operations are complete and the third is currently under implementation. Andhra Pradesh has transformed to a middle-income state on a strong reform path, which is reflected in improved development outcomes. Per capita income has risen to nearly US$700 in 2005-06, the poverty ratio has fallen considerably, and nearly 94 percent of the state’s primary school-age children are in school. The fiscal deficit is at a manageable level of 3.5 percent of GSDP and is falling. Among India’s major states, Andhra Pradesh now has the best-managed power sector, the third-highest credit rating, one of the best investment climates, and the fourth-lowest corruption levels. Highlights: - The economy grew at a faster rate. Andhra Pradesh’s economy grew at an annual rate of 5.3 percent during the 1990s. In the presence of reforms, that rate increased to 5.8 percent from 2000-03. As the reform process deepened, growth accelerated to 7.5 percent from 2004-06 and 10.6 percent by 2009. - Poverty decreased. The poverty ratio was 15.8 percent in 1999-2000. Preliminary estimates show that by 2005-06, this ratio has fallen to 8.5 percent. If it sustains this pace, Andhra Pradesh will more than halve the proportion of its people suffering from extreme poverty and hunger by 2015. - Access to education improved. Recent surveys reveal only 7.4 percent of children are out of school; nearly 97 percent of towns and villages have either a regular school or an alternative center within a kilometer. The focus now is on enhancing the quality of education, and - Health outcomes continue to be mixed. While some key indicators --infant mortality rate, child malnutrition levels, and the prevalence of anemia in women—show stagnation or rates of growth that fall below what is necessary to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, good progress has been realized elsewhere. The number of polio and leprosy cases has declined. Since 2000, malaria cases have decreased by two-thirds. HIV prevalence rates also exhibit a recent decline. The use of maternal health and family planning services has improved, full antenatal care coverage has increased by about 13 percent, and deliveries conducted by medically trained personnel have increased by about 7 percent during the last five years. In support of the state’s ongoing reform program, a structural adjustment loan—the Andhra Pradesh Economic Reform Loan 1 (APERL 1)—was approved in March 2002, with a loan/credit amount of US$250 million. In recognition of reform progress, a second loan/credit (APERL 2) was approved in February 2004 for US$220 million. A third operation (APERL 3) was approved in January 2007, with a loan/credit amount of US$225 million. By providing strong and continuous support to the state’s reform program with complementary analytical and advisory services on a regular basis, this project has strengthened the process of reform ownership in Andhra Pradesh. Additional support has come from the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) in support of Andhra Pradesh’s policy and institutional reform program—US$200 million during APERL 1 plus an additional US$100 million during APERL II. Moreover, DFID provided resources for technical assistance in many areas, including departmental reviews, public enterprise reform, and health sector reform. DFID also helped establish the Center of Good Governance in Andhra Pradesh’s capital, Hyderabad, which has emerged as a national resource for good governance practices. A third operation in support of the state’s ongoing medium-term policy and institutional reform program is under implementation. The World Bank Group continues to support Andhra Pradesh on a number of investment lending operations in different sectors (water, roads, urban). Over the years, there has been a strong tradition of coordination on demand-driven analytical and advisory services in the areas of economic growth, fiscal policy, public enterprise reform, financial management, and power sector reform. This year, the state is focusing on prudent debt management. Andhra Pradesh Economic Reform Loan/Credit Project Project Documents

Contacts : In Islamabad: Ahmed Saleem (92 51) 9090100 asaleem1@worldbank.org       In Washington: Erik Nora (202) 458 4735 enora@worldbank.org     New York, September 24, 2009 ─ The Government of Pakistan and the World Bank announced today the establishment of a Multi Donor Trust Fund (MDTF), designed to restore infrastructure, services and livelihoods   in the country’s conflict-affected areas of Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP), Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), and parts of Balochistan.     The conflict in the NWFP and FATA led to one of the worst security crises in Pakistan’s history, displacing 2.7 million people and severely disrupting the lives, livelihoods, and provision of normal public services.     “Today, three months after the military campaign in the Swat Valley began, security is improving and schools have reopened in most places,” said World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick. “It is critical now to reach the millions of people touched by this massive disruption with quick and effective assistance.   I am delighted to announce that the World Bank has agreed, at the request of Pakistan and its partners, to create and manage this trust fund which will provide a coordinated financing mechanism for investments to support reconstruction and peace building.”   The MDTF, which was announced   at the Friends of Democratic Pakistan Summit today, will support a comprehensive reconstruction and development strategy. This will be guided by a post-conflict needs assessment currently being prepared by the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, United Nations, and European Commission.   It will assess damage and reconstruction needs and provide a strategy for addressing the underlying grievances fueling the conflict such as social inequities, endemic poverty, and weak governance.      Zoellick said a strong international response is needed to help Pakistan overcome these and other development challenges.   The international community’s determination to help Pakistan cope with its conflict and its consequences was highlighted at the Tokyo Conference where over $5 billion was pledged.     “We hope to see a strong support from Pakistan’s development partners to this important trust fund,”   said Zoellick. “Our experience with the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund and other such mechanisms has demonstrated again and again the value of pooling financial assistance under the overall leadership of a government. We should apply this experience in Pakistan.”   -#-   For more information on the Bank’s work in Pakistan, please visit   http://www.worldbank.org.pk

Contacts: In Washington D.C : Chii Akporji +1(202) 473 1935 cakporji@citiesaliance.org     USAID Press Office +1(202) 712 4320 cward@usaid.gov        Barbara Lipman +1(202) 458 9691 blipman@worldbank.org     W ASHINGTON D.C., September 23, 2009 : A major interactive photo exhibit on slums called The Places We Live recently opened to the US public. It is being hosted by the National Building Museum,   one of the world’s most prominent venues for informed debate about the built environment and its impact on people’s lives.   Courtesy of a unique partnership between Cities Alliance, USAID, and the World Bank, the exhibit provide s US audiences with a first-hand look at slums and how slum dwellers live in the densely populated cities of the developing world.   Created by the Norwegian photographer, Jonas Bendiksen, and produced by Canon and Magnum Photos of Paris, The Places We Live   is a multimedia photo documentary showcasing what it means to be an urban citizen in the developing countries of the world in the 21st century.   The year 2008 will go down in human history as being the first time that more people were living in cities than in rural areas. One-third of these urban dwellers—more than one billion people—live in slums, mostly in fast growing cities in the developing countries of Africa and Asia. That number is expected to rise substantially: the United Nations projects that the number of slum dwellers will double to two billion people over the next 25 years.   Visitors to The Places We Live 'virtually' visit about 20 families living in slum shacks in four major cities of the south : in the ‘barrios’ of Caracas, Venezuela; in the depths of Kibera, Africa’s largest slum settlement in Nairobi, Kenya; in Dharavi, Asia’s largest slum in Mumbai, India; and in the ‘kampongs’ of Jakarta, Indonesia.     Inside each ‘room’, the visitor sees a family in their home, hears the family talk about daily life in the slums, the dangers of the environment in which they live, their work,   their joys, sorrows, hopes and fears.   Bendiksen also captures the enterprise and hard-work, hope and humor, and love and compassion that occur in these ‘homes’, found in some of the world’s most difficult environments.     “The neighborhoods pictured in the exhibition are some of the densest and poorest places on earth. My goal was to capture the vast range of ways their inhabitants experience their surroundings—from the destitute to the ambitious and surprising,” said Bendiksen.   The exhibit is scheduled to run to January 15, 2010. Cities Alliance, USAID, and The World Bank are also partnering with the National Building Museum on a variety of outreach and education activities. They are designed to help inform the American public about an enormous part of our built environment that is unsustainable for humankind, and the role of international development in working to alleviate the poverty.   “The Places We Live   vividly captures the diversity of slums and the resilience of the people living in them," says Katherine Sierra, Vice President of Sustainable Development of The World Bank.   “The exhibit serves to inspire us, but also increases our resolve to work as partners with governments, slum dwellers, and concerned people everywhere.   Together, we must do all we can to eliminate the conditions that deny   health, education, civil protection, and economic prosperity to the poorest citizens among us."   “For the first time in history, more people live in cities than in rural areas, and this shift will have a marked impact on international development efforts,” adds USAID’s Acting Administrator, Alonzo Fulgham.   “We hope that the powerful images in the The Places We Live exhibit will draw attention to this fact, and help highlight the unique development challenges facing the hundreds of millions of urban poor in the developing world.”   For Billy Cobbett, Programme Manager for the Cities Alliance,   "Slum dwellers are just poor people trying to escape poverty, and build their futures - treat them as citizens, and they will help build cities."   The Places We Live is an official program of the 2009 World Habitat Day, an annual event established in 1989 by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT). The official 2009 World Habitat Day ceremony is being held for the first time in a U.S. city, Washington, D.C., under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The ceremony will take place at the National Building Museum on October 5, 2009. A range of related public education activities will be held from October 1 through October 7 in Washington, D.C. and around the United States. World Habitat Day celebrations will also take place around the world.   A dedicated website - OurUrbanPlanet.org - has been created to promote news and information about the exhibit and the various outreach activities based on it. Further information is also available on the Cities Alliance website at  www.citiesalliance.org                                       =================================   About the Artist: Jonas Bendiksen was born in Norway in 1977. He began his photography career at 19 in London. He then worked extensively as a photojournalist in Russia for several years before receiving a grant in 2005 to work on The Places We Live.   Bendiksen’s works have been featured in international publications including National Geographic, Newsweek, Geo, Vanity Fair, and the Sunday Times Magazine. He has won numerous awards including the Infinity Award from the International Center of Photography, first prize in Pictures of the Year International Awards, and a National Magazine Award for his documentary of slum-life in Kibera published in the Paris Review.   About Cities Alliance: The Cities Alliance is a global coalition of cities and their developing partners committed to scaling up successful approaches to urban poverty reduction. By promoting the positive impacts of urbanization, the Alliance supports learning among cities of all sizes, and also among cities, governments, international development agencies and financial institutions. For more information visit  www.citiesalliance.org   About the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) : The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent of the U.S. Government that provides economic, development and humanitarian assistance around the world in support of the foreign policy goals of the United States. For more information, visit  About USAID .   About the World Bank The World Bank is a vital source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world. Made up of two unique development institutions owned by 186 member countries—the   International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the   International Development Association (IDA) , the Bank provides low-interest loans, interest-free credits and grants to developing countries for a wide array of purposes that include investments in education, health, public administration, infrastructure, financial and private sector development, agriculture, and environmental and natural resource management. For more information visit   www.worldbank.org

Press Conference Call by World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick on the release of the paper entitled: “Protecting progress: the challenge facing low-income countries in the global recession”   Transcript September 16, 2009   MR. HANLON :   This is Carl Hanlon from the World Bank and thanks for joining us today.   We have on the line President Robert Zoellick of the World Bank and Sam Worthington, President and CEO of Interaction, the largest coalition of U.S.-based non-governmental organizations to focus on the world's poor.   Mr. Zoellick will make brief remarks about the continuing impacts of the global downturn on low-income countries.   He will also discuss the paper entitled "Protecting Progress:   The Challenges Facing Low-Income Countries in the Global Recession," which was prepared by the Bank for the G20 leaders meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania next week.   You should all have that paper and an accompanying press release.   Following President Zoellick's statements, Mr. Worthington will also make a statement.   After his statement, we will take your questions.     This is a moderated call, and your questions will be answered in turn.   Please kindly identify yourself and your organization before asking your question.   Mr. Zoellick’s remarks are on the record, of course, unless otherwise specified.   We will now turn it over to President Zoellick, please.   MR. ZOELLICK :   Thank you for joining us, and particularly thanks to you, Sam, for being on the call today.   We see signs of recovery, but many are still being left behind.   The G20 Summit in London broke the fall and now we need to go further, bringing in those that are being left behind in building a new normal based on multiple poles of growth.   That means recognizing the developing countries are part of this solution.   We can't just rely on demand from the U.S. consumer.   Developing countries can play a key role in helping to boost global demand to support global recovery, but to do so, they are going to need access to financing for some years to come.   The World Bank Group and the regional development banks are stretching to assist.   Looking to the longer term, developing countries can be vital parts of a global economy with multiple poles of growth, with responsive public sectors and dynamic private sectors; this would be more balanced.   The G20 needs to put in place the incentives to help developing countries build productivity, investment, sources of energy, all linked to regional and global trade.   We also have to make sure that we address the needs of those not at the G20 table.   London was a summit for the financial sector, this must be a summit for responsible globalization.   So, the paper that we're releasing today shows that low-income countries are being hard hit through a collapse in trade, especially for commodity-exporting nations, decline in tourism, as well as remittances, while the crisis for developed countries has meant higher unemployment, for many in the poorest countries it means naked survival.   Already, we estimate that some 90 million people will be driven into deepest poverty by the end of next year.   Earlier this year, we launched a vulnerability framework that helped mobilize some $8 billion through World Bank and IFC initiatives in infrastructure, social safety nets, microfinance, trade finance, and bank capitalization.   Our analysis shows that more will be needed, especially for the most vulnerable who are being forced to cut into core spending on health, education, and infrastructure.   Countries need to maintain their Gleneagles commitments, but also go further.   In July, President Obama helped launch a $20 billion food security initiative at Italy's G8 Summit.   We have the pledges, but good intentions need to be quickly operationalized and implemented.   For many, the food crisis is definitely not over.   For them, "green shoots" have yet to materialize, literally.   We also need a renewed global commitment to combat corruption, including scaled-up efforts to recover an estimated $20-40 billion in stolen public assets.   So, we have urged the G20 to support the World Bank's StAR Initiative, Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative, and fully implement the UN Convention against Corruption, including the freezing and return of stolen assets.   We can help support the legal process, but we need both developed and developing countries to assume their responsibilities.   We need to expand support to small- and medium-sized enterprises.   The best safety net is a job, and the World Bank Group will double its mobilization of finances for SMEs by 2013, but we have to go further.   Last March, I called for new institutional structures that would help protect the poorest from crises not of their own making.   In the last two years alone, we've seen the food, fuel, and now financial crisis steepen the climb to the Millennium Development Goals.   There is a gap in the global financial architecture.   Unless we can plug this gap and give some insurance to publics and countries that they won't be left defenseless in the face of shocks, we risk undermining support for global integration and global markets.   So, we need a crisis response facility to ensure that quick and effective assistance can be provided to the most vulnerable low-income countries following severe and widespread shocks.   The G20 should support the establishment of such a facility as soon as possible.   This could be done through IDA as a separate window that triggers at times of crisis and can move money faster.   The World Bank has offered to develop a proposal and financing options to be discussed in November at the mid-term review of IDA.   We are entering a new danger zone, not of freefall, but of complacency.   While some are moving towards the exits, many are still being left behind in the burning house, but Pittsburgh can be an opportunity to build a responsible globalization.   I want to thank Sam Worthington of Interaction for joining us today.   When the food crisis hit, we reached out to Sam and a number of other international CSO leaders for advice and shared perspective.   Many of them have fantastic field operations.   They have been vital delivery partners.   And based on that first outreach, we've now had a regular set of meetings with CSOs from the United States and abroad, most recently one that Sam and I chaired last week, and many of these CSOs have also been hit by the crisis in a very deep drop to their contributions in the recession.   So, I would also urge public support for them.   So, even small donations can add up, and they are vital partners in what we do.   MR. HANLON :   Thank you, sir.   And we will now turn it over to Mr. Worthington, please.   MR. WORTHINGTON :   Well, thank you, Bob, for your comments and to the World Bank and to your office for the opportunity to be on this call.   The World Bank paper to the G20 leaders is a powerful piece of work, and it is nice to see the role that Mr. Zoellick has taken as an advocate for the world poor at the G20.   In many ways, for a civil society that has seen itself as the conscience of globalization looking at our practical experience on working on the ground, it is very encouraging and heartening to see Mr. Zoellick call for responsible globalization and for a paper that really highlights the plight of the world's poor and some very practical steps that the nation's most important countries can take to address the crisis.   It is important to note from the vantage point of our community the large flows of private resources that have gone into the developing world in the poorest countries.   If we look at remittances from the United States at roughly around $79 billion, private aid flows globally through the NGO community, other parts of civil society, universities, and other actors are roughly around $53 billion globally.   In many ways, these resources have flowed into the poorest communities, the poorest villages around the world and have served as a stimulus to the LICs, the countries that most need our support.   Sadly, at a time when these countries need more support, these private flows have seen a market decline.   The World Bank paper talks about significant decreases of remittances, particularly from the United States to Latin America, but the NGO community globally has seen a marked decline in the billions of dollars of resources that tend to flow into villages.   As the paper notes, there may be 30,000 to 50,000 more infant deaths because of this crisis.   The services, the child survival services, the nutrition services, the education services needed to address these deaths and the 90 million or so people who will fall into abject poverty will be decreasing and not increasing.   We are seeing a world that is providing stimulus packages for the countries and for the populations of countries that are rich.   At the same time, sadly enough, the resources are not there for the world's poorest countries.   The G20 countries must rapidly implement their summit pledge of $50 billion dedicated to the low-income countries to help them mitigate the impact of this crisis.   There needs to be a transparent accountability mechanism in place to monitor the agreed decisions, pledges, and disbursements.   I think it is important to look to the horizon and understand that as grants are given to 29 of the IDA countries who have a waiver because of HIPC but that the rest--that we not look at the risk of loans longer term and that we consider mechanisms that enable these countries not to find themselves in debt over the long run.   We very much applaud President Obama's food security initiative and the initiative of the World Bank to bring together the different food Security initiatives to address the sort of perfect storm of crises bringing together the food crisis, the fuel crisis, and ultimately the economic crisis that is reaching the world's poorest countries.   Our community works in villages.   We are there when there are riots in Bangladesh.   We are there when another child dies or when a family finds itself without the resources to feed themselves, resources that they had before because there was the job or the growth needed for them to have those resources.   We are also there watching as layoffs happen and teachers lose their jobs at a time when the world's youngest inhabitants need an education.   It is time for the world's more affluent countries, and in particular those countries at the G20, whether it is China, India, or South Africa to call for a push to focus on the world's poor, to join Mr. Zoellick and the World Bank in their efforts, and to join with President Obama in his efforts to advance a global food security initiative.   Thank you for this opportunity, and I want to thank again Mr. Zoellick for the opportunity to join him on this call.   MR. HANLON :   Mr. Worthington, thank you very much, sir.   And now we'll turn it over to reporters for questions.     Kindly identify yourself if you could, the name of your organization, and indicate who you would like to take the question.   OPERATOR :   Thank you.   And again, as a reminder, that's "star one" and record your information.   We have Bob Davis from The Wall Street Journal.   Go ahead, sir, your line is open.   MR. DAVIS :   Thanks.   For Mr. Zoellick, two things.   One, in your long experience before the Bank as well as your experience at the Bank--so, London was also a G20 that occurred when the global economy appeared to be totally going down the tubes and there was a great deal of fear on what might come next.   We are in a different situation, as you pointed out, where things don't look quite as bad.   What happens to the political imperative and to the goals you seek when the economy changes and moderates?   And secondly, you used twice the word "responsible globalization."   I don't quite understand what you mean by that.   Could you define that.   MR. ZOELLICK :   First, Bob, what happens depends on the leaders.   And what Sam and I are trying to do is to frame more clarity of the particular challenges of the developing world.   It is true that the financial markets have broken the freefall and that there are signs of recovery.   I think the leaders will be very focused on how they keep the recovery going and help it build some strength. From the work of our economists and many others, there is a real concern that the recovery might flatline.   One of the messages that I hope to convey is that, at a time the world leaders are looking for other sources of demand, you have a number of developing countries that have fiscal space.   Their budget deficits as a percentage of GDP are far less than you find in the U.S. and the UK, but they have a financing constraint.   So, one way that the developed countries can help themselves and the globe is to make sure that the Mexicos, the Indonesias, the Egypts, the Turkeys, the Colombias have got the ability to access finance to build demand.   So, we've seen the effect of China and to a degree India, but we could expand that.   And a second issue that I believe the leaders will discuss is what I or others have called the new normal.   What is the new growth pattern that comes out of this?   You cannot just rely on the U.S. consumer as a source of demand in the future.   And here, again, if one takes the financing of today and invests in productive infrastructure, helps develop the education and health of the workforce; you can have multiple poles of growth in the international system, just as we've seen China and India play.   So, those are issues of today as well as structural issues.   What this report is trying to highlight is there is also a huge community that's been left behind, and this is the one that is most vulnerable and most at risk and one way to address this is, as Sam and I have said, is to operationalize the food security initiative.   We had the tragic passing of Norman Borlaug this week who I have had a chance to know over the years and I consider a true hero.   I can't think of any better way to recognize his role--is to make sure that this operation is up and running. . I was at the G8 meeting.   You had pledges, you had people that have intentions, but it is not operationalized yet.   We don't have the mechanisms that have the money get to the farmer or the value chain and make sure that we expand production and productivity, and it is our view that that should be done in a way that focuses on--transparently, as Sam mentioned--results of effectiveness so that we can learn along the way.   In addition, I believe that between London and today, we have learned there are some gaps in the financial architecture, and one is for the countries that we've described in this paper, which are really the 43 poorest countries, that when a shock hits they don't have any ability to cushion it.   And so, I'm suggesting that the Bank be commissioned to work with others on a fast pace looking towards our November mid-term review of IDA to see what else we can try to do about that to build an additional insurance facility.   So, ultimately, this is up to the political leaders.   They will also be focusing on issues like financial regulation and supervision.   They will be focusing on issues such as trade, but I'm hopeful that while they missed the bullet of a financial calamity, we are certainly not out of the woods yet and they will focus on the issues we need to pay attention to over the next 12 to 18 months, as well as building back better.   What you want to try to have is some sustainable growth, both environmentally, as one talks about climate change, but also in terms of the ability that you just don't start growth and then have it slip.   Your second question was?   MR. DAVIS :   "Responsible growth."   You used that a couple of times.   MR. ZOELLICK :   Oh, responsible growth.   Well, it fits this notion in two ways.   One is, responsible growth has to be sustainable growth.   So, that means you have to have a growth model that we can keep going.   It also means that as you start to have the rising economic players that it has to have everybody play a role in the system.   And so, a responsible globalization is one that recognizes that we're all in this together and that there's a role for the rising economic powers, there's a role for the developed countries, and there's a role for those that otherwise would be left out.   So, when I talked about an inclusive and sustainable globalization, those, to me, are the core components of responsibility.   There is obviously responsibility in terms of avoiding tax havens, and what I am urging that the leaders add to that is the recovery of stolen assets; it is a very similar issue and you have UN treaties that countries need to ratify and then build in the system to be able to execute this.   We've already recovered some money for Haiti and we've had some 16 or 17 other countries approach us.   And another part of responsible globalization is a financial market and capital system that, well, it recognizes that you've got cycles and booms and busts that avoids the type of calamity that we had here.   MR. HANLON :   Okay.   Thanks very much.   We'll go to the next question, please.   OPERATOR :   Our next question comes from Luohan from Xinhua Agency.   Go ahead, sir, your line is open.   MR. LUOHAN :   Okay.   Thank you.   I have a two-part question for President Zoellick.   The first part, it seems that you always call on the rich countries to make more effort to help poor countries, and that during the summits leaders always made commitments but did less in the reality.   So, how to solve the problem?   The second part that, you can see the rising protectionism in the world, for example, the recent tariffs against Chinese tires by Obama Administration.   So, how should the world react to the challenge and do you have some proposal for the upcoming G20 Summit?   Thank you.   MR. ZOELLICK :   Well, first, on the responsibility of the developed countries.   The first responsibility is to follow through on commitments they've already made, and that goes back to the Gleneagles commitments on development assistance and particularly for Africa.     Second, as Sam and I have emphasized, this food security commitment, $20 billion, we need to operationalize and make sure people not only deliver the money, but that it's used effectively, whether through the World Bank, U.N. agencies, CSOs, bilateral efforts, and make sure that we don't duplicate effort and every dollar or RMB is used effectively.     A third aspect is I think that countries, developed and developing, did support the IMF importantly and effectively at the London Summit.     And that was part of stabilizing the financial system.   But I think we now need to go beyond that, and so what I talked about are the efforts we're making at the World Bank where we may need some additional support for the poorest countries, or for our overall financial resources.     One also has to recognize that the donor countries are under significant budget stress themselves, and what this means is that, whether it's the NGOs and CSOs that Sam's involved with or multilateral institutions like the World Bank, we have to be responsible, transparent, effective, and get the best benefit out of it because it's hard to make the case to taxpayers. So that's also part of the combined message.     On the issue of trade, I think first, as a principle, people should try to negotiate their disputes wherever they can, so I'm hoping that the United States and China try to work through these issues in a way that ends up lowering barriers and not creating anxieties of protectionism.     As a more general matter, the best way to defeat protectionism is to be on offense in opening markets, and the Global Trade Round at Doha, in my view, could be done.   It's going to take some political will and effort.     I think Pascal Lamy, the Director General of the WTO, will be at the G20 Meeting, and I hope he presses it forward, and I hope the leaders respond in a way that allows us to get that done.     We at the Bank believe that trade needs to be linked to development, and so we are also working on a series of things that we can support and facilitate trade, whether it be logistic systems or--when I was in Kenya and Uganda a couple weeks ago, I saw a one-stop border site that had reduced trucking clearance times from two days to less than two hours.     And so there's a lot that has to be done to link development policy to trade policy so people can take advantage of open markets.     MR. HANLON :   Okay.   Thank you.   And we'll take the next question, please.     OPERATOR:   The next question comes from Tom Barkley [ph. at 00:39:00] of Dow Jones.   Go ahead, sir, your line is open.     MR. BARKLEY :   Yes, Mr. Zoellick.   I just was hoping you could provide some context on whether the situation for low-income countries has shown any signs of stabilization?   For example there's this figure of $59 billion in financing needs for this year.     And as recently as June, there was a larger figure for developing countries in general of between $350 billion and $635 billion.   I'm just wondering if you can provide any context on to whether for low-income that $59 billion is higher or lower than it was recently.     MR. ZOELLICK :   Okay.   One of the challenges when talking about developing countries is we obviously cover a wide span here.   And one of the first points that I've been trying to make and I made at the G20 Finance Ministers, but want to make, if I can, with the heads of government, is the point that I stressed with Bob Davis--the answer to Bob Davis's question.     There's a huge opportunity here to help with the financing of some pretty well run, sort of middle-income, low middle-income countries that can help them with the safety net investments in the future, help build global demand, but they just need the financing.     Yes, you've seen some opening up of markets for international sovereign debt. But from talking with a number of the finance ministers in these countries, it's limited.   It's expensive, and if they borrow in their own markets that often drives out the private sector, which is not what you want to do.   You want to be looking at a handoff from the government to the private sector.     So, you know, we almost tripled our IBRD lending to about $33 billion in the fiscal year that ended June 30th.   This year it looks like we'll even be higher, with $40 million or more.     Other regional development banks are trying to stretch to use their capital.   And one needs to keep in mind that 70 percent of the people living under a $1.25 today are in these countries.   So, if you want to address poor people, there's a lot of them in these countries that we need to try to help.     But this paper is also trying to--is to take the IDA set, which we are also trying to frontload our support for.   We did $14 billion in the past fiscal year, an increase of about 25 percent.   But there, we've got a constrained envelope of $42 billion over three years.     This paper is trying to look at the situation of 43 countries that in a sense are most vulnerable within that group.   And here, you get different patterns.   For some, as Sam said, they're very dependent on remittances.   If you take some of the Central Asian countries, some 40 to 50 percent of their GDP is based on remittances, and a lot of those are workers in Russia.   So as they get unemployed in Russia, they get hit very, very, very hard.     For some, who are commodity producers, it goes up and down with commodity prices, but some of them have been hit depending on what they export.   Some are very, very dependent on tourism, and so as the world economy has come down, a lot of tourism has fallen, so they'll slip.     Trade, and here again it's not only the demand for trade, but whether they can have the financing.   So we've tried to provide some of the financing for trade.     If you're a country that's coming out of conflict, you have another issue.   So if, I was just in the Democratic Republic of Congo, or if you're in Liberia, you have the problem that Sam and I have been working on in terms of food and basic necessities.     And here it can be a question that can be exacerbated as in the case of Kenya by droughts.   So one of the points we've tried to emphasize is the food security challenge is not over just because prices have come down somewhat in developed country markets.   They remain high in a lot of developing country markets.     Over time, we can deal with that with better food production, but we also have some immediate food assistance needs now that need to be addressed through safety net programs such as school feeding and mother-to-child nutrition programs.     So, what the paper is trying to do, if you look at it, is you see we actually try to put in some examples of particular countries--Zambia and others, depending on their overall export profile.     But the general point that we drew from this paper is we need a better shock facility not only for this environment, but in future ones to be able to try to help these countries.     MR. HANLON :   Okay.   And we'll take the next question, please.     OPERATOR :   Our next question comes from Krishna Guha from Financial Times.   Go ahead, sir.   Your line is open.     MR. GUHA :   Thank you.   Hi, Bob.   A couple of questions, if I may.     First, you just touched, I think, briefly on this issue, but when--as we come out of this crisis, are you concerned that a rebound in oil prices that might not be perhaps accompanied by a rebound in other prices of exports from some of the poorest countries, including the commodity producers, could put a set of countries in a particular bind?     And separately, if I may, are you seeing evidence that this massive-scale borrowing by industrialized world sovereigns is having a direct impact in terms of crowding out any categories of developing nations' borrowing?     MR. ZOELLICK :   Well, let me deal with your second question first.     I identified that risk, the risk that as developed countries guarantee large amounts of debt and issue their own debt, that it will crowd out borrowing from otherwise well-run developing countries as a problem back at the Washington Summit.   And at the time--   MR. GUHA :   And did you--are you seeing real evidence of that happening now?     MR. ZOELLICK :   --yeah.   And as I said, what you've seen is that some of the markets for some of the better sovereign credits [inaudible] to a degree, but a lot of them, talking directly with Finance Ministers, still feel very constrained in the volumes they can borrow and they definitely are still paying up in terms of price.     The other key point to look at is that you don't want them crowding out their private sectors.   And here you have to look little bit market by market.     So, in the case of Central and Eastern Europe, I think one good sign has been that the banks that in effect had foreign direct investment in Central and Eastern European banks have stayed in the market and rolled over some of the debt.     If you're a Central and Eastern European country, however, that borrowed in foreign currency, whether from the official level or the private sector level, you're going to have a hard time rolling over that credit.     So, as in any circumstance, you have to look at the particular market, and it also goes compared to what?     I just was looking at a paper last night about, you know, Indonesia's recovery and its growth is coming back to four, maybe 5 percent, but its budget deficit as a percentage of GDP is 2.5 percent.     Well, the U.S. and Britain are well over 10.   There's probably room there to, given their pay down of debt in the past, to expand a little bit more.     We helped put together a special financing mechanism for Indonesia to do that with Japan and Australia and the Asian Development Bank.     But this links a little bit then back to your first question.   People should not be misled by reports that you may be starting a recovery.   There are still a host of fragilities out there, and just, you know, one of them is we're in a period where for the United States in particular, but some other countries as well the stimulus programs are still really working through the demand side.     So, probably some of the largest stimulus in the United States is going to be coming at the end of this year and the beginning of next year.     But what happens after that?   Will you get the handoff to the private sector?     If you look in China, the credit expansion has been very, very fast and very significant.   They're starting to dial some of that back.   You could find yourself in a situation later in 2010 that could put some of the acceleration in Chinese growth under pressure.     Another could be the imbalance of this recovery.   You might see in general a quicker recovery in East Asia.   You might see tightening of monetary policy in higher interest rates.   This could see some capital go to East Asia, and then countries are going to have to face the question of do they permit inflation or do they have currency appreciation?     So, as I look through the global economy, and Central and Eastern Europe is certainly not out of the woods yet, either, there are a series of things that could go awry.   I'm not predicting they will, but I'm saying that one of the important things at London was that people anticipated, you know, a serious collapse and took action.     Well, we now have to anticipate the dangers that still lurk out there, and they are serious, and make sure that we take the action to support those, particularly those that are less vulnerable.     Take the trade area.   If, you know, right now I made the point that protectionist measures have been a low-grade fever.   The temperature is rising.   So, you have to be careful.     These are the sort of things that, you know, we've seen in the past where protectionist actions not only have effect on trade, they can have an effect on the financial markets.   So, these are the types of questions that leaders have to be responsible for as they build back for the future.     And the good thing about this at the macro level is just as, you know, if we were having this conversation 10 years ago, you would have been talking about developing countries other than kind of how to help them out of the hole; the developing countries can be part of the solution with the right investments.     And what we're seeing is not only are there these--the types of financing needs that I talked about, but there's some emerging interest in coming to invest in these countries, but the vehicles haven't yet been developed.     That's one of the things we're trying to do at IFC and in asset management development, whether for equity markets, whether for infrastructure, whether for restructuring private-sector debt.   Obviously, we've already done it on trade finance.     But that's also got to be part of the new normal.   MR. GUHA :   Thank you.   MR. HANLON :   Okay.   And we have time for a couple of more questions, please.   OPERATOR :   All right.   Our next question comes from Lesley Wroughton from Reuters.   Go ahead, sir or ma'am.   Your line is open.   MS. WROUGHTON :   Thank you very much.   Lesley Wroughton, yes.   The question I have is on the agriculture part of this.   You're asking for the G20 to finalize that pledge.   Do you expect the G20 to come up with a higher number?   I mean these are just the industrial countries that pledged $20 billion.   Surely, the G20 could, you know, pony up a lot more for that.   The other question, you know, is the World Bank, you know, is your feeling that the G20 is going to ask the World Bank to oversee those funds and then for Mr. Worthington, you know, I've heard from CSOs who have concerns about the World Bank overseeing or looking after that money, managing that money and then spending it for them.   Is, you know, what are your feelings about spending of that money?   MR. ZOELLICK :   Well, Lesley, just to respond.   In terms of dollar amounts, I think the $20 billion contribution or pledge made in Italy is a sizable number.   And my purpose at this meeting is to try to make sure that it's operationalized.   It wasn't just from the G8 countries.   I think the number that they took involved a number of the other countries that were there--Australia, Russia, different parties--so many of the countries that are part of the G20.   And so, what I want to try to focus on is how do we make sure that the funds are flowing in a vehicle that we link them to national decision-making, for example, the programs that have been developed in sub-Saharan Africa that we partly launched a couple years ago.   So, on top of that $20 billion, we are doing roughly about $6 billion in agricultural lending.   As for the mechanism, what we're suggesting is that we can help in terms of trying to in a sense manage some of the fiduciary responsibilities for financing, but that there should be the numbers involved.   You're going to have IFAD.   You're going to have FAO involved.   You're going to have some bilateral programs, but where you have bilateral programs, it's very important that they don't overload these countries.   We execute a number of these through the CSO community, and we have our own programs.   So, as in general, as we've done from the start of the food crisis, we think we can and should play an important role here, but we want to also to try to play a facilitating role, and we want to--we're happy and believe we should be working with others as we do this.   I do think, and this is going to be important, is that, you know, the world's had some experience up and down with expanding food production.   And there's the role of private sector, value chain development.   We need to build in methods where we put in feedback loops here and learn, because some things will work better than others.   And so, I'm a big believer in that if you have this $20 billion, we need some way to try to make sure they actually follow through on the pledges, that it's used effectively with country programs, and we tried to measure the results and effectiveness so as to learn as we go.   MR. HANLON :   Okay.   And we have time for--   MR. ZOELLICK :   Miko [ph.], Sam's got a--she had a question for Sam.   MR. HANLON :   Great.   MR. WORTHINGTON :   Just quickly have--I think first that no other institution other than the World Bank could handle disbursement of funds of these size to be engaged, but it really is no one institution, and there is a need for coordination.   The World Bank has been playing that role, and I spent some time with David Navarro [ph. at 0:53:51] at the UN yesterday about the U.N.'s handling of this.   But ultimately, these funds need to have some clear overarching objectives.   They need to be focused on the small holder farmers, who are the most vulnerable.   They need to be gender sensitive, and realize the role that women play as farmers who are often left out of the agricultural development process.   They need to be demand-driven in the sense that recipient countries must lead where these resources go as well as local populations.   And they must be environmentally sustainable.   And we're talking about funds that will be spent in multiple ways as to degree of coordination, and, yes, the World Bank should play a large role in the disbursement, but they will be simply one of many institutions.   And, ultimately, it comes down to how these funds are focused in the ways I just described.   MS. WROUGHTON :   Thanks.   MR. ZOELLICK :   And one other small point that Sam and I and the other CSOs discussed, but I think it's worth drawing out for you.   There's an appropriate focus on production and productivity, but one needs to recognize that the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse haven't been retired.   We still have food assistance issues.   The challenge here is can we connect some of the food assistance issues with some of the production possibilities in the developing world.   So, you're still going to have droughts.   You're still going to have upheavals.   You're going to still have problems where the international community has to try to provide food assistance.   It'd be best if the food could come from other developing countries.   MR. HANLON :   Okay.   Thanks very much.   And now let's take our final question, please.   OPERATOR :   Our final question comes from Veronica Smith of Agence France Presse.   Go ahead, ma'am.   Your line is open.   MS. SMITH :   Thank you.   Mr. Zoellick, the U.S.A., Jubilee U.S.A. Network has put out a statement today saying that of the $50 billion promised by the G20 to low-income countries, only $23.5 billion has been--excuse me--has been delivered to date and that they called for a number of steps to ease the debt burden on poor countries.   Are you going to be addressing this problem at the G20?   Are you going to be arguing for some sort of a debt moratorium?   MR. ZOELLICK :   Well, first, I haven't seen the paper, so I'm afraid I don't know the specifics of the numbers.   I guess my general principle is countries should keep their promises.   That $50 billion covers I think a variety of different types of support for countries.   My main message is that particularly for the low-income countries, whether in food security or some of the other things we talked about, they not only need to keep their pledges, but we're going to have to look to how we try to provide additional support.   On the debt issue, which Sam mentioned, we have to make sure that the countries can--the donor countries continue to finance the debt forgiveness.   We've still--he mentioned HIPC.   There have been two major types of debt forgiveness initiatives, and we're still waiting for some of the developed countries to pay for some of the debt that's been forgiven.   I think the next challenge is really the one he mentioned about what combination with grants and concessionary support.   It's better if you can get this in grant funds.   Our IDA funding is either grants for some countries or long-term, no interest loans for other countries.   You have some countries now in Africa that are worried about the possibility that those procedures will cut them off from additional finance, and we have to try to make sure they're not cut in a low-debt, low-growth trap, but that really depends on country by country.   And here I come back a little bit to some of the private markets.   There is opportunity for investment in these countries, and some of this including in the agricultural sector, and it's one of the things we think we can do, through our IFC platform, is help to intermediate some of those funds, and we're having some promising follow-up with sovereign funds and pension funds and insurance funds and others on a way to do that.   The second point I'll just mention- I was in China a couple weeks ago, and I picked up a lot more interest about the possibility of some basic Chinese manufacturing moving to Africa in addition to the resource and infrastructure development.   This could open a whole new door, not only to create jobs but to move some of the African countries on the development model you've seen in East Asia.   But to do it, you have to create the right context of infrastructure, energy, roads, and so we are looking to try to work with the Chinese government to try to develop some industrial zones to advance this.   MR. HANLON :   Okay.   Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, for joining us today.   Thank you very much, Mr. Worthington and Mr. Zoellick.   That concludes today's call.