Sanitation services are beneficial for communities at large. They generate strong positive health and environmental benefits to society ('externalities'). Public financing is an important way to stimulate the provision of these services, but there are serious issues with the way public subsidies...

This note discusses the development dimensions of forced displacement, and the potential role of the World Bank to address these dimensions and contribute to durable solutions for group's who have returned from or are in displacement situations. For the purposes of this note, forced displacement...

The Accra Agenda for Action contains a commitment to increase aid effectiveness by 'addressing the issue of countries with insufficient aid.' This paper highlights the difficulties in identifying such countries unequivocally, given the limited theoretical and empirical knowledge on optimal aid...

International policies to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD+) envisage the creation of financial incentive mechanisms that reward forest protection efforts and adequately compensate those actors that face new costs. In order for REDD+ to achieve these objectives,...

This paper reviews the experiences of intergovernmental fiscal systems (IGFS) to look for possible lessons for how Official Development Assistance (ODA) is delivered. Specifically, it compares IGFS and ODA in two specific respects. The first is the proportion of public resources that central...

This paper focused on the delivery mechanisms for bilateral, multi-lateral, host government subsidy, and consumer cross-subsidy funding to enhance private sector investment. However, the specific source of funds is not deemed to be especially relevant for the purposes of this working paper....

Over the past 15 years, Ethiopia has focused on raising electrification rates, mainly by extending the national grid system to more villages and towns. The World Bank funded Electricity Access Rural Expansion Project (Phase 2) was implemented since 2007 to assist the Government of Ethiopia (GoE)...

Robert B. Zoellick, President of the World Bank Group, spoke about leaving behind the past and facing today's challenges squarely, constructively, and creatively. This is not the 1944 world that surrounded the creation of the Bank. Old models no longer fit current problems. The new "normal" will...

James D. Wolfensohn, President of the World Bank Group, noted that we will be judged on three counts: first, whether the we are serious about Africa's development and inclusion; second, whether we understand globally the nature of human security and sustainable development; and, third, whether...

The ultimate goal of Health, Nutrition and Population (HNP) interventions is to improve health outcomes in low, and middle-income countries. However, impact assessment requires the development of systems for effective monitoring and evaluation (M&E). As a consequence, there is increasing...