World Bank Projects Research Articles

Holding Stakes in Water Management and Irrigation in Morocco : PIM policy Effects

The main policy reforms concerning irrigation management in Morocco over the last thirty years have been the introduction of mechanisms aimed at achieving financial autonomy of the Administration in charge of irrigation systems managemement -Offices Régionaux de Mise en Valeur Agricoles (ORMVA)- by applying appropriate water pricing and involvement of water users in the operation and maintenance of their irrigation systems, by transferring some responsibilities to water users' associations (AUEA). These policy reforms were presented by the World Bank projects (PAGI1 and PAGI 2) as crucial steps that Morocco should take to improve the productivity and sustainability of its irrigation sector. After more than thirty years, implementation of these reforms has been fraught with difficulties and many delays. Results and impacts are very timid and vague. The Moroccan GPI experience shows that an “ingredient” was missing to drive change. In fact, setting up new local organizations to participate in irrigation management and calls for new institutional arrangements to tackle the huge problems of moroccan large scale irrigation sector is not sufficient to drive change. A profound realistic thinking on irrigation governance and large concertation between water users are needed to meet the challenges of water scarcity, climate change and water security in the country. This article assesses the participation of Water Users' Associations (AUEA) established in Tadla irrigated scheme in Morocco. It reviews the contxt of adoption of the Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM) policy in Morocco and re-examines the process of initiating and developing AUEAs in large irrigated perimeters, analyzing the specific case of the Beni Amir irrigation project. The questions of participatory planning and joint management are at the heart of our analysis.

Form and functioning: contextualising the start of the Global Financing Facility policy processes in Burkina Faso

ABSTRACT Background Burkina Faso joined the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents (GFF) in 2017 to address persistent gaps in funding for reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health and nutrition (RMNCAH-N). Few empirical papers deal with how global funding mechanisms, and specifically GFF, support resource mobilisation for health nationally. Objective This study describes the policy processes of developing the GFF planning documents (the Investment Case and Project Appraisal Document) in Burkina Faso. Methods We conducted an exploratory qualitative policy analysis. Data collection included document review (N = 74) and in-depth semi-structured interviews (N = 23). Data were analysed based on the components of the health policy triangle. Results There was strong national political support to RMNCAH-N interventions, and the process of drawing up the investment case (IC) and the project appraisal document was inclusive and multi-sectoral. Despite high-level policy commitments, subsequent implementation of the World Bank project, including the GFF contribution, was perceived by respondents as challenging, even after the project restructuring process occurred. These challenges were due to ongoing policy fragmentation for RMNCAH-N, navigation of differing procedures and perspectives between stakeholders in the setting up of the work, overcoming misunderstandings about the nature of the GFF, and weak institutional anchoring of the IC. Insecurity and political instability also contributed to observed delays and difficulties in implementing the commitments agreed upon. To tackle these issues, transformational and distributive leaderships should be promoted and made effective. Conclusions Few studies have examined national policy processes linked to the GFF or other global health initiatives. This kind of research is needed to better understand the range of challenges in aligning donor and national priorities encountered across diverse health systems contexts. This study may stimulate others to ensure that the GFF and other global health initiatives respond to local needs and policy environments for better implementation.

Comprehensive study on social, compositional and thermal aspects of household solid waste for waste-to-energy potential estimation in Tashkent city

The management of household solid waste (HSW) has emerged as a key issue in developing nations. A critical analysis of the physical and chemical components of MSW management and infrastructure is necessary to address current socioeconomic issues. According to the World Bank projections, the annual global generation of solid waste from municipalities is expected to reach 2.59 billion tons by 2030 and and 3.40 billion tonnes by 2050. Inadequate handling of waste products frequently results in harm to the environment, the spread of diseases, and the generation of greenhouse gases, all of which have contributed to climate change and global warming. The waste-to-energy (WtE) strategy, which drastically reduces waste volume and produces renewable energy, has been adopted by a number of countries to address these issues. In this study, the social, compositional, and thermal aspects of household solid waste in a typical Tashkent District were studied. A Social survey was conducted to investigate residents’ behavior towards waste sorting. The survey was conducted in the Uchtepa district of Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The composition of household solid waste was studied to explore the fractional distribution of the waste in the area. The American Society for Testing and Materials (5231–92) and European PN-EN standards were used for sampling, sorting, and for the rest of the analyses. Subsequently, proximate and ultimate analyses were performed to better understand combustion properties. A high heating value was identified to estimate the energy generation potential of household solid waste. Social survey results showed that the waste generated in the apartments will be discarded either on the day of its generation or the maximum after three days. Overall, 52 % of the respondents chose to sort their waste, compared to 48 % who had no real desire to separate their household solid waste. Food waste, plastics, and paper constituted 70 % of the total waste generated in the district. The mixed waste sample had a high heating value of 23.87 Mj/kg. The analysis revealed an energetic potential of HSW generated from the landfill as thermal energy.

Foreign Aid, Norm Diffusion, and Local Support for Gender Equality: Comparing Evidence from the World Bank and China's Aid Projects in Africa

Foreign Aid, Norm Diffusion, and Local Support for Gender Equality: Comparing Evidence from the World Bank and China's Aid Projects in Africa

An analysis of gender inclusion in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) projects: Intention vs. reality

AbstractMotivationGender equality is inherently bound with Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) provision, access, and use. Gender shapes experiences of projects and services, from participation in design to ensuring access to appropriate facilities. Many observers call for active attention to gender throughout the project cycle, but there is little evidence of the extent to which this happens in practice.PurposeThe article examines the extent to which evaluations of WASH implementation identify good gender‐inclusive practices. It explores the reasons for failings and suggests ways gender equality could be more actively considered and effected in WASH programming.Methods and approachTextual analysis was undertaken on World Bank and UNICEF project evaluation documents to identify how gendered elements were addressed. Practices were then categorized according to a Gender Sensitivity Framework, rating them on a sliding scale measure from “gender insensitive” to “transformative.” The perceived barriers to gendered programming were subsequently triangulated using a mixed methods survey of WASH practitioners which used self‐identified challenges to assess consensus moderation to triangulate perceived barriers to gendered programming.FindingsLack of clarity in conceptualizing gender results in poorly defined targets that are often insufficiently context specific. Consequently, project objectives are either reductionist, limiting progress on “gender” to easily quantifiable measures that fail to capture the varied lived realities of gendered experiences, or comprise vague qualitative statements that cannot be accurately assessed, leaving gender inclusion unaddressed.Policy implicationsGender is a social construct that is shaped by culture. Context‐specific understanding would support more nuanced gender‐inclusion objectives that could be monitored while also correlating with people's lived realities. Regular evaluation of gender guidance would ensure organizations' understanding and conceptualization of gender reflects the fluidity of society. Policy and practice interventions that guarantee the active involvement of multiple stakeholders and diverse voices would ensure that implementation is effective and evaluation is more accurate.

AI Based Prediction Algorithms for Enhancing the Waste Management System: A Comparative Analysis

Waste management has become an increasingly pressing issue due to urbanization, population growth, and economic development. According to World Bank projections, waste production will reach 3.4 billion tonnes by 2050. The paper is focused on detailed analysis of waste management techniques that has to be improved and resources to be maximized, to be able to deal with various types of waste, including agricultural waste, industrial waste, municipal solid waste (MSW), and electronic waste (e-waste). The advancement in the artificial intelligence in various fields has drawn the attention towards utilizing its benefits in achieving optimized management of different types of wastes also. The paper is focused on description of on-recyclable waste materials which can be transformed into energy by using waste-to-energy (WTE) technologies. The different types of wastes generated in different sectors are being studied with details on their quantity and challenges in handling the wastes. The literature highlights the performance analysis of various methodologies of waste handling in terms of their efficiency, economic impacts and ecological implications. The prediction models and their performance was discussed with respect to the R2 value and mean absolute error (MAE) root mean square error (RMSE) to find the most suitable algorithm. The conclusion suggested that these AI based optimization methods can bring about enhancement in the various waste to energy conversion process making the management of waste materials more sustainable and reliable.

The Role of Global Actors in Sustainability Transitions – Tracing the Emergence of a Novel Infrastructure Paradigm in the Sanitation Sector

The literature on sustainability transitions increasingly recognizes that sectoral structures transcending national boundaries can both hinder and promote sustainability transitions. Yet there is only limited evidence on the roles of global actors in transforming entrenched socio-technical structures directly at the global scale. To explore the mechanisms of agency at the global scale, we develop a conceptual framework and illustrate it with a case study of the World Bank's engagement in the sanitation sector. Based on a Socio-Technical Configuration Analysis of World Bank project documents combined with expert interviews, we demonstrate how a paradigm shift in the global sanitation sector was initiated by a coalition of global advocates and subsequently promoted by the World Bank in its role as an amplifier. The paper thus further conceptualizes and illustrates a multi-scalar transition trajectory that depends strongly on advocacy by global actors.

Groundwater governance under climate change in India: lessons based on evaluation of World Bank interventions

ABSTRACT Groundwater is the single largest source of water for irrigation and domestic use in India. Climate change further exacerbates the threat of depletion, reducing food security and increasing the vulnerabilities of resource users. Governance is complicated by externalities associated with its attributes as an invisible and fluid resource which create problems of rivalry and exclusion. Based on theory-based case studies for evaluation of selected World Bank projects, we analyse challenges for groundwater governance and identify factors that contribute to depletion. It highlights the need for integrating and balancing demand and supply-side approaches, including water-efficient irrigation and climate-smart practices.

The epidemic effect: Epidemics, institutions and human capital development

Epidemics can negatively affect economic development unless they are mitigated by global governance institutions. We examine the effects of sudden exposure to epidemics on human capital outcomes using evidence from the African meningitis belt. Meningitis shocks reduce child health outcomes, particularly when the World Health Organization (WHO) does not declare an epidemic year. These effects are reversed when the WHO declares an epidemic year. Children born in meningitis shock areas in a year when an epidemic is declared are 10 percentage points (pp) less stunted and 8.2 pp less underweight than their peers born in non-epidemic years. We find evidence for the crowd-out of routine vaccination during epidemic years. We analyze data from World Bank projects and find evidence that an influx of health aid in response to WHO declarations may partly explain these reversals.

Diasporic capital and the financialisation of housing in Ho Chi Minh City

In recent years, policymakers and development practitioners have focused on the potential of remittances for economic growth. The World Bank projects that remittances will soon outpace overseas aid and foreign direct investment combined in low- and middle-income countries. This article examines how remittances, or what I call ‘diasporic capital’, sustain urban financialisation at multiple scales. Most research on urban restructuring in the financialisation literature has focused on major corporations, management actors and financial markets without considering the specific sources of capital flows. Diasporic capital flow is facilitated through a unique financial architecture and an incoherent regulatory framework distinct from foreign direct investment. Drawing from interviews conducted with government stakeholders, private sector representatives and members of the Vietnamese diaspora, this article examines the actors, motivations, mechanisms, regulations and products that shape and constitute diasporic capital flow. I argue that classical notions of remittances as money supporting the social reproduction of family are outdated and do not reflect emergent forms of diasporic investments in Ho Chi Minh City’s financialised landscape.

International Politics and the Subnational Allocation of World Bank Development Projects

Temporary United Nations Security Council (UNSC) members receive more World Bank projects. I consider the potential for UNSC status to influence aid allocation within recipient countries. While strategically important recipients might gain greater discretion over the internal distribution of aid, no clear evidence establishes whether World Bank aid tends to succumb to political pressures within countries. I examine whether political favoritism within countries varies with UNSC status and find little evidence for a connection. While cross-national lending may follow politics, subnational allocation seems to be unrelated to international politics, which has important implications for the efficacy of Bank assistance.

The importance of good governance in hospital payment reform – A case study from Ukraine

In 2005, Ukraine embarked on hospital financing reforms that included the introduction of a Diagnosis Related Group (DRG) based payment system for acute inpatient care. The primary purpose of introducing activity-based funding was to provide incentives for hospitals to use their limited resources more efficiently.Following an extended period of preparation and planning during which technical assistance was provided by various development agencies, Ukraine took action to implement the DRG system at a national level in April 2018, through a World Bank project. While some progress was made, the execution of the reform faced challenges with the organisation and administration of the implementation process, and duplication of effort. The consequence of these shortcomings was that the newly introduced system was not capable of measuring inpatient DRG activity at a level of accuracy necessary for the determination of hospital performance and the subsequent calculation of payments.If the expected outcomes of DRG implementation in Ukraine are to be realised, stakeholders including both beneficiary agencies and development organisations, will need to improve program governance through better coordination of their activities towards a common goal.

Mapping community development aid: Spatial analysis in Myanmar

Development aid has greater potential to alleviate poverty when targeted towards areas of concentrated need. However, the body of research examining subnational aid targeting is often constrained to state- or district-level analysis due to the lack of aid or wealth data in small regions. This study fills this gap by examining the poverty orientation of aid at the granular spatial units where the pro-poor interventions are implemented. Specifically, it explores the extent to which community-centered development (CCD) in Myanmar takes place in poor villages. This paper estimates aid presence and density, given regional poverty, by linking detailed aid location with nightlight luminosity and wealth-related data. Overall, densely aided areas tend to shine brighter and have a lower share of vulnerable populations. However, for villages with similar luminosity, aid goes to areas with fewer resources. This study also finds heterogeneity in the targeting practice among donors who adopt different ideologies. The market-oriented World Bank project supports poorer villages whereas the Korean International Cooperation Agency’s project, drawing from the developmental state, includes villages close to conflict zones. Some evidence of needs-based allocation in this study runs counter to previous findings that aid favors richer states and districts. The result of this study suggests that analyzing aid at a fine-grained level with high resolution spatial data can provide a more nuanced view of aid targeting.

Algorithms smarter than experts AI methods applied to assessment of environmental risk of World Bank projects

Algorithms smarter than experts AI methods applied to assessment of environmental risk of World Bank projects

Earmarked Funding and the Control–Performance Trade-Off in International Development Organizations

AbstractSince the 1990s, the funding of multilateral development assistance has rapidly transformed. Donors increasingly constrain the discretion of international development organizations (IDOs) through earmarked funding, which limits the purposes for which a donor's funds can be used. The consequences of this development for IDOs’ operational performance are insufficiently understood. We hypothesize that increases in administrative burdens due to earmarked funding reduce the performance of IDO projects. The additional reporting required of IDOs by earmarked funds, while designed to enhance accountability, ultimately increases IDOs’ supervision costs and weakens their performance. We first test these hypotheses with data on project costs and performance of World Bank projects using both ordinary-least-squares and instrumental-variable analyses. We then probe the generalizability of those findings to other organizations by extending our analysis to four other IDOs: the African Development Bank (AfDB), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). Using data on the performance of 7,571 projects approved between 1990 and 2020, we find that earmarked funding undermines both cost-effectiveness and project performance across IDOs. Donors seeking value for money may consider allocating more money to core funds rather than to earmarked funds.

Algorithms smarter than experts AI methods applied to assessment of environmental risk of World Bank projects

Algorithms smarter than experts AI methods applied to assessment of environmental risk of World Bank projects

Delays in public investment projects

The returns from public investment, especially during periods of scaling up, are often lower than expected. To understand the mechanisms behind this regularity we exploit original information on investment projects obtained from World Bank project reports to document the extent and the drivers of time delays in project implementation. We find that almost 60 percent of investment projects are delayed by at least one year. Time overruns are common across sectors and countries. A sound planning and preparation matter for the timing of project execution. Country characteristics also play a role, as projects undertaken in countries with weaker institutions and in periods of public investment scaling up are completed with longer delays.

Evaluation of citizen participation in World Bank projects in Algeria - Sidi Slimane District/Town of Bou Saada

Citizen participation has become one of the pillars of good governance in order to achieve sustainable local development. This is what the World Bank's contribution in Algeria has been aimed at, through the Precarious Habitat Resorption Program (P.H.R), by adopting the pattern of popular participation among its priorities to change the deteriorating situation experienced by the residents of these neighborhoods. This study is to assess the popular participation in these projects and to determine the extent to which they have affected public action and the improvement of the conditions of the population, and what obstacles have prevented the realization of the objectives of this; And as a research methodology, the descriptive method was used, as well as the method hqe2r, (h: high, q: quality, e: (environmental/ economic efficiency/social equity), r: (neighborhood renewal / building rehabilitation), through the L indi (indicateur's Impact) application. The results of the first phase of the preliminary situational evaluation were evaluated at between 0 and 1.4, where a total absence of popular participation was noted. In the second phase of the evaluation, after the exploitation of the project, the indicators jumped to 3 points. This explains the significant improvement in public action, but popular participation remains below the required level, due to the weakness of the legal system and the absence of a legal framework that controls public action and restrains the authority of the administration

Impact of U-Values in Evaluation of Implemented Energy Efficiency Measures and Energy Savings in Public Buildings in Context of Kosovo Legislation

The purpose of this paper is to articulate the immediate need for review and improvement of Kosovo Building Regulations and Codes in the field of implementation of EE measures and specifically reducing U-values for all building envelope elements, to be comparable to European Standards, and present a specific contribution for EE measures in public building stock in Kosovo as the real potential for huge energy savings. In this paper the results of the several years’ long research on the impact of implemented energy efficiency measures in the 70 selected public buildings are presented, in light of calculated U-values with a brief description of the constituent elements of the building envelope and their corresponding U-values, such as external walls, windows, doors, floors and roofs, comparing their impact in the phases before and after the implementation of Energy Efficiency measures. A building designed to use the minimum quantity of thermal energy for heating and cooling to achieve a healthy environment and thermal comfort is considered an Energy Efficient building. The U-values of the building envelope are the dominant factors in its thermal performance and play an important role in reducing the energy consumption of buildings. Many studies confirm that in cold climates, from the total annual energy consumption for heating and air conditioning of public buildings, approximately 50% of the energy is consumed through the heat transmission of the building envelope. The achieved results after implementation of EE measures have shown significant improvement of U-values for both opaque parts of building envelope and belonging fenestration compared with the referent values set in Kosovo Technical Regulation which is actually in use for designers in Kosovo. Depending on wall thickness and installed insulation achieved, results of U-values for external walls were 0.31-0.35 W/m2K, much lower than recommended in old technical Regulations, lower than recommended by ANA_IAE, but still higher than values from Finish and Norwegian building codes. Calculations have shown that in the case of implementation of improved U-values according to the Finish building code the impact of walls on U-values in overall energy savings is around 36.86%. Windows and doors look the sensitive part of the building envelope and show that it is more than the required strengthening of requirements in future Kosovo Building code reducing the U-values for doors and windows at 0.8 W/m2K. Analysis has shown huge improvement and potential increase of energy savings with 55.25 % for part of fenestration. Detailed analysis of the collected U-values data for roofs has shown that there is sufficient space for improvements in Building codes and it is a highly recommended change of existing criteria and at least application of the values from EU building codes. With this change, potential energy savings in part of roof covers might be 44.24%. Working as an EE expert in Kosovo Energy Efficiency Agency (KEEA) and World Bank (WB) and European Union (EU) projects, the author has identified the necessity of improvement of actual Kosovo legislation in the field of EE policies for public buildings, addressing the importance of the appropriate building envelope’s thermal insulation to reduce its thermal losses and stipulating the impact of the U-values in the evaluation of implemented energy efficiency measures and energy savings in public buildings. The overall energy savings with applied EE measures and potential energy savings in case of improvements of Kosovo Technical Regulation according to recommended standards and EU countries’ experiences are presented in a separate table showing economic net savings, an average payback period and overall potential reductions of CO2 emissions. The presented results indicate a recommendation for further studies that may include other building typologies and may disclose additional differences between the energy performance criteria in the analysed building codes.

Fifty public-standpipes: Politicians, local elections, and struggles for water in Barranquilla

Throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, the Barranquilla World Bank Project aimed to expand water supply to the southwestern sector of the city, populated mainly by low-income communities. Anticipating the duration of the works, the project included a short-term solution: it would install 50 public-standpipes during the first months of implementation. Through archival work, this article tells the story of the World Bank Project and the fifty public-standpipes —which were never built. Its purpose is to analyse how water/power distributions were reworked and consolidated, highlighting tensions triggered by the project. It evidences the messiness of formal politics and the complexity of political parties (their competing interests, and the fact that these changed over time). This is of interest as it focuses on professional politics, a subject rarely touched by the political ecology literature. I argue that when examining water’s urbanization and the implementation of policy reforms in the global South, political ecology should engage in reflections about local professional politicians and party life as one that is not homogeneous nor static, where different ideas concerning water and the city emerge, clash, and converge.