ACTION 2015
A World Bank Strategy for Social Development
Accountability
Cohesion
Transparency
Inclusion
Opportunity
Now!
Steen Lau Jørgensen
Director, Social Development
World Bank
ACTION 2015
An example from Mchinji, Malawi…
In 2002 an illiterate woman took
part in a CARE program to train
communities how to monitor
health services using a
community score card: keeping
track of drug supplies, and
assessing the quality of service
• Health
by staff.
She got very
good at it…
-How many drugs were
supplied to the center?
-How were given to patients?
-How many were available?
staff know that
they will be evaluated -How were staff treating
patients?
every six months
• Ministry takes note of the
evaluations
• Change in performance
Complete turnaround
Drugs delivery is
was
dramatic
in performance of this
a huge problem
throughout Malawi
health center within 6
months when the
score card exercise
was repeated
ACTION 2015
An example from Mchinji, Malawi…
The CARE
program was
expanded
throughout
Malawi
When the program was
being introduced to
other sectors through
the Malawi Social Action
Fund this illiterate
woman was asked to
present it
- Clear
- Articulate
- Powerful
ACTION 2015
ACTION 2015: Three key principles
Inclusion: Putting people at the center of
development
Involved an illiterate woman in Mchinji
Cohesion: Strengthening community fabric
so that members can work together
The village in Mchinji worked together to solve problem
Accountability: Developing ways for people to
exercise voice to authorities
An illiterate woman gave voice to community
ACTION 2015
What is ACTION 2015?
One illiterate woman
A village
A district
A national program
Why not the world?
ACTION 2015
Why ACTION 2015
 Global consensus that “social development”
matters
Social Development Summit Copenhagen 1995
Millennium Declaration 2000
Johannesburg 2002
ACTION 2015
Assets and Capabilities for Poverty
Reduction
Assets
Institutions:
Well-being
Social Financial
Physical
Natural
Human
Inclusive
Cohesive
Accountable
ACTION 2015
Poverty
reduction
How does the World Bank
support ACTION 2015?
 Principles
Inclusion. Putting people at the center of
development Providing equal access to
opportunity
Cohesion. Strengthening communities so
people can work together for common
objectives and overcome divisions
Accountability. Developing ways for people
to exercise voice to authorities, and for
authorities to respond
ACTION 2015
How does the World Bank
support ACTION 2015?
 Many parts of the Bank contribute:
 Social sectors (“Human Development”): health,
education, social protection
 Public Sector Management, poverty analysis
 All these areas have existing strategies, what is
missing is the bottom-up, understanding of the
informal and formal institutions from the
perspective of poor people = “social development”
in the World Bank
ACTION 2015
How does the World Bank
support ACTION 2015?
 Areas of activity within ACTION
2015:
Social Analysis
Participation and Civic Engagement
Community Driven Development
Conflict Prevention and
Reconstruction
Social Safeguards
ACTION 2015
How does the World Bank
support ACTION 2015?
 Social analysis
E.g., what social norms about girls
education are relevant for achieving
universal primary education?
E.g., what is the likely social impact of land
reform in Cambodia or Zambia?
How is a country evolving on the principles,
i.e. tracking progress on inclusion,
cohesion, accountability
ACTION 2015
How does the World Bank
support ACTION 2015?
 Participation and Civil Engagement
In Uganda, support public debates of policy
changes proposed through dialogue with
World Bank
In Albania, support legal changes in
enabling environment for civil society
In Peru support publication of the Budget
In Philippines work on accountability and
NGO enabling environment
ACTION 2015
How does the World Bank
support ACTION 2015?
 Community Driven Development
E.g., in Indonesia and Philippines, provide
resources to communities that take
initiatives to develop local development
plans
Such programs are in 60+ countries with a
volume of Bank support between 1 and 2
billion USD annually
ACTION 2015
How does the World Bank
support ACTION 2015?
 Conflict Prevention and Reconstruction
E.g., help rebuild infrastructure, economies
and societies in Afghanistan, Congo,
Somalia
E.g., carry out conflict analysis (Somalia,
Nigeria) to study drivers of conflict and
recommend policy changes
ACTION 2015
How does the World Bank
support ACTION 2015?
 Social Safeguards
E.g., protect interests of indigenous
peoples and involuntarily resettled
persons, making sure they benefit in
appropriate ways from development
interventions
Traditionally main entry point for SD staff,
now about 20% of work
ACTION 2015
How does the World Bank
support ACTION 2015?
 Staffing:
Recognized as sector group within the
Bank since 1997
About 140 staff (out of 10,000 total), many
(about 60) with anthropology or sociology
background, but very diverse
ACTION 2015
How does the World Bank
support ACTION 2015?
 Staffing (2):
About 25 staff in central unit
Rest in regional units headed by sector
managers and under an ESSD Director (a
few in research and World Bank Institute)
Half of social development staff are in
country offices, reporting to Regional
managers
ACTION 2015
Social Development Works
 Review from World Bank Operations Evaluation
Department shows that attention to social
dimensions makes projects work better
Ratings for Projects with Two, Three, or Four Overlapping Social
Development Themes
No. of
Percent of total
overlapping
Bank projects
themes
7.9
2
5.0
3
1.5
4
Outcomes (%
satisfactory)
81
84
90
Institutional
Sustainability (%
development (%
likely)
substantial)
62
45
63
47
64
49
Average Ratings for All Bank Projects
68
Source: OED 2003, page 24
ACTION 2015
50
34
Strategic Objective:
Accelerate the trajectory
 Heading in the right direction
 Portfolio that includes SD increased (to about half in recent
years)
 Quality of attention to SD issues in other projects improved
(85% of good quality up from 75 four years ago according to
QAG)
 However, Millennium Development Goals challenge
us to go further:
 Strengthen policy dialogue and lending
 Improve project effectiveness – by mainstreaming and freestanding portfolio
 Build on foundation of capacity building, advocacy and
research
ACTION 2015
Increase Attention to SD in the Bank's
Policy Dialogue and Policy-based Lending
•Strengthen multi-stakeholder participation in
development and monitoring of macro strategy documents
(e.g. Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers, Medium Term
Expenditure Framework, Bank Country Assistance
Strategy)
•Improve the social development content of policy
analysis, working from positive experiences with Poverty
and Social Impact Analysis (PSIA) and social capital
studies.
•Improve content of policy-based lending
•E.g., budget transparency conditionality, enabling
community groups to manage public funds, improving
transparency of bidding
process
ACTION
2015
Improve the effectiveness of Banksupported investment projects
A more systematic approach to social development and
stronger follow-through:
•Improve multi-stakeholder participation – to include
better sustainability and monitoring by building into
local planning processes;
•Improve social analysis including efficiency
improvements by relying on sector-wide and countrywide work, e.g. country social analysis and
•Improve mainstreaming of SD concerns into Bankfinanced projects and project components and nurture
SD portfolio that is currently at about 8% of Bank
lending.
ACTION 2015
Improve capacity building, advocacy and
research
• Align research priorities better with operational
needs by supporting research that:
• explores further the link between the social dimensions of
development and economic growth,
• refines indicators for social development, and
• better evaluates the impacts of social development projects.
• Sustain advocacy based on better aligned research
and clarify the aspects of social development the
Bank will address directly.
• Strengthen capacity building
ACTION 2015
Next steps
 Finalize Bank-wide business strategy – third
quarter 2004
 Dissemination after final Executive Directors’
endorsement - possibly late 2004 early 2005
ACTION 2015
Key Questions….
 Do you agree with the principles of inclusion,
cohesion and accountability?
 What should the World Bank do to promote
social development?
 What scope is there for partnerships between
the two Banks in this area?
ACTION 2015
“I will not wait”
In a letter from Birmingham jail, Martin
Luther King Jr.wrote:
“How long are my people supposed to
wait?… Human progress…takes the
hard work of dedicated people like you
and me, working together to advance
human civilization… I will not wait…”
ACTION 2015