Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized THE STATE OF WORLD BANK KNOWLEDGE SERVICES KNOWLEDGE FOR DEVELOPMENT 2011 RE SU LT S CO NN EC TI VI TY OP EN NE SS 65195 THE STATE OF WORLD BANK KNOWLEDGE SERVICES KNOWLEDGE FOR DEVELOPMENT 2011 RE SU LT S CO NN EC TI VI TY OP EN NE SS Copyright © 2011 by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/THE WORLD BANK Photo credits: page 5, Frank Vincent/World Bank; page 19, Eric Miller/World Bank; page 39, Simone D. McCourtie/World Bank. Design by Peter Grundy of Peter Grundy Art & Design, London, UK Editing and layout by Communications Development Incorporated, Washington, DC Contents Foreword  v Chapter 3 Preface  vii Managing for Results and Openness   41 Acknowledgments  viii Strengthening the results of knowledge Abbreviations  ix products and services   41 Enhancing the complementarities of knowledge An evolving focus on knowledge: activities for greater results   46 15 years of the Knowledge Bank   x Open knowledge  48 Notes  51 Executive Summary  1 Annex 1 Chapter 1 Spending on Core Knowledge A Changing World of Development Products  54 Knowledge  7 Background and context   7 Annex 2 Increasing number of globally connected Progress in Implementing the Knowledge knowledge providers  7 Strategy  56 Evolving client demands   8 Spreading and democratizing technology   9 References  59 Changes in the nature of development knowledge  10 Features Becoming more collaborative and open   11 1 Apps for development: open knowledge The Bank’s three knowledge roles: producer, through innovation  5 customizer, connector  12 2 Technical assistance: open knowledge The Bank’s knowledge ecosystem   14 through expert advice   19 Notes  18 3 Economic and sector work: open knowledge through informed analysis   39 Chapter 2 4 Data tools: open knowledge through The State of the World Bank’s technology  52 Knowledge Services  21 The Bank’s knowledge services   21 Boxes The core knowledge products   23 1 Knowledge Platforms—Strengthening the Knowledge for external clients   24 Bank’s role as a global connector   8 Knowledge as a public good   27 2 Measuring and analyzing poverty—the Knowledge for internal use   29 Bank’s role as a knowledge producer, Key trends and issues   30 customizer, and connector   14 Notes  38 3 The Bank’s ecosystem of interlinked knowledge activities  15 iii iv 4 The Bank’s knowledge ecosystem at Figures work—Health Systems Strengthening hubs 1 An overview of core knowledge   4 in Nairobi and Dakar   16 2 The estimated universe of knowledge 5 An overview of core knowledge   34 services  22 6 Strengthening the results orientation of 3 Word cloud for titles of World Bank– economic and sector work and technical authored journal articles   28 assistance under the AAA Review   43 4 The contribution of trust funds varies by unit 7 Examples of results measurement ($ millions, 2010)   31 arrangements for knowledge services   44 8 Kenya Open Data Initiative   50 Tables 1 Governance arrangements for core knowledge products  42 A1.1 Core knowledge products thousands)  54 ($  A1.2 Core knowledge products, Bank budget and trust funds, fiscal years 2002, 2006, and 2010 ($ thousands)   55 Foreword The history of human development is a por- As we consider the ways the Bank Group trayal of our treatment of knowledge: search, will support development in the 21st century, sometimes rejection, and then rediscovery, ex- we understand that change and reform are dy- pansion, and diffusion. The ways knowledge namic processes involving the active participa- leads to change and to improvements in human tion of all segments of societies. My vision is for welfare are neither linear nor predictable. a World Bank Group that plays a catalytic role Knowledge accumulates and is applied in unan- in linking up data, information, and ideas with ticipated ways. those in search of development solutions—in When Daniel Bernoulli published Hydro­ ensuring that knowledge for development is dynamica in 1738, he did not know that his readily available to citizens, civil society, opin- principle would lead to the development of ion makers, researchers, and government policy the perfume atomizer—nor that Gottlieb makers at all levels. My aim is to sponsor a Bank Daimler would adapt the atomizer as a car- Group that reaches out to better encompass buretor to power the internal combustion en- the experiences of successful developing coun- gine. When Joseph Marie Jacquard invented tries—not with ordered templates, blueprints, a mechanical loom in 1801 to simplify the or prescriptions—but with inquiry, innovation, manufacturing of textiles with complex pat- cooperation, and openness. terns, he did not know that a version of his This Knowledge Report is timely, because punched cards would be used a century and we are witnessing a fundamental transforma- a half later as an integral part of 20th century tion in the way the world produces and accesses data processing machines. Such is the case knowledge. We are seeing an explosion of in- with knowledge generally: the more widely formation from multiple sources, and informa- we share knowledge, the more connections we tion increasingly accessible to people across the make, and the more change happens in un- world. In this context, the World Bank Group foreseen ways. has been transforming the way we do our The value the World Bank Group brings to knowledge work, opening our data and knowl- our clients, and to the world, is grounded in de- edge to students, researchers, policy makers, veloping and sharing knowledge. Our financial and civil society throughout the world. We are resources are significant—but they are finite. grateful to a wide array of external advisors and By contrast, knowledge is potentially unlim- reviewers who have contributed to this Report. ited: the more it is shared, the more new ideas We hope to continue that process, maintain our develop, and the more improvement is possible. partnerships on our knowledge activities, and When strands of knowledge are connected, remain closely connected to those producing the possibilities for increased prosperity and and applying development knowledge. improvements in human welfare multiply. The This Report is the first in a series of World more people know, the more they can expect, Bank Knowledge Reports. It provides the first and the more they can do. comprehensive overview of the Bank’s knowledge v vi work. It also lays the foundation for an ongoing and contributes to tangible improvements in eco- discussion about how we can work better—­ nomic opportunities and human well-being. We internally and externally—to ensure that the look forward to the lively global conversations work we do is relevant, is of the highest quality, that this information will make possible. Robert B. Zoellick President The World Bank Preface In May 2010 the World Bank formed the partners and external reviewers. The range of Knowledge and Learning Council, comprising perspectives is helping the Council use this Re- members of the Bank’s Senior Management, to port as a tool to manage our knowledge work catalyze new approaches to the way we manage for better development results and greater and disseminate our knowledge work. This first openness. We look forward to continuing these Knowledge Report, produced under the aus- rich discussions and further broadening our pices of the Council, takes stock of the various collaboration with others. types of World Bank’s knowledge activities and As our work progresses, we will aim to their evolution in response to the fast changing achieve greater connectivity within the World world of development and multiple sources of Bank Group and with external partners. We will knowledge flows. The Report points to three di- work to enhance our capacity to produce, cus- rections for improving the way we manage our tomize, and share knowledge that informs policy knowledge services: putting in place stronger debates and development solutions. As a Bank, results frameworks, capturing complementari- we are committed to ensure that our knowledge ties across the wide range of the Bank’s knowl- services yield the best development impact. edge work, and moving toward a more open and Partners and clients will increasingly see collaborative approach to knowledge services. a more open Knowledge Bank emerging, one The Knowledge and Learning Council will that generates knowledge in collaboration with guide this agenda forward. others and makes this knowledge easily acces- The Bank and this Report have benefited sible across the globe, for inclusive growth and from extensive consultations with development sustainable development. Mahmoud Mohieldin Managing Director The World Bank vii Acknowledgments The report was produced under the guidance of Malhotra, Marco Nicoli, Lesley-Ann Shneier, the Knowledge and Learning Council, chaired Avjeet Singh, Michael Stumpf, and Andrei V. by Managing Director Mahmoud Mohieldin. Tolstopiatenko. Ani Dasgupta, Shanta Devarajan, and Ann The team wishes to thank the distinguished Harrison guided the preparation of the re- external reviewers for their valuable comments: port, which was co-led by Kene Ezemenari and Mauricio Cardenas, Senior Fellow and Director Christos Kostopoulos, with the following core of the Latin American Initiative at the Brook- team members: Jill Armstrong, Naureen Aziz, ings Institute; Raquel Fernandez, Professor of Macdonald Benjamin, Raymond Boumbouya, Economics, Department of Economics, New Mapi Buitano, Laura Chioda, Augusto de la York University; Tchaboure Aimé Gogue, Torre, Jean-Jacques Dethier, Sharon Felzer, Me- national Consultant, former Minister of Inter­ lissa Fossberg, Maninder Gill, Matthew Glass- Planning and former Minister of Education er, Alma Hajrovic, Michael Haws, Violaine Le of Togo; Martine Haas, Associate Professor Rouzic, Bill Maloney, Chukwuma Obidegwu, of Management, Wharton School, University Samuel Otoo, John Panzer, Gauresh Rajad- of Pennsylvania; Ravi Kanbur, T.H. Lee Pro- hyaksha, Alua Satybaldina, Kamal Siblini, fessor of World Affairs, International Profes- Frederick Swartzendruber, and Fahrettin Yagci. Applied Economics and Management, sor of ­ Other contributors included Ramin Aliyev, Professor of Economics, Cornell University; Virginia Foley, Catherine Gwin, Ai-Ju Huang, Dirk Messner, German Development Institute, Nitin Jain, Omer Karasapan, Marisela Monto- Vice Chair of the German Advisory Council liu Munoz, Ambar Narayan, Jaime Saavedra, in Global Change; Eduardo Moron, Professor Jaehyang So, Klaus Tilmes, Marijn Veerhoeven, of Economics, the Universidad del Pacífico in and Nobuo Yoshida. Lima, Perú; Professor Wadan Narsey, Global The Report also benefited from feedback Development Network Regional Partner for during preparation from a Bankwide working the South-Pacific, University of the South group on knowledge as well as a technical Pacific; and Roberto Steiner, Professor of Eco- ­ working group. The latter group held many nomics, Universidad de Los Andes in Bogotá. detailed discussions on the Report and Bruce Ross-Larson was the principal editor. included the following members: Marie H. Deborah Davis edited earlier drafts. Both R. Bakker, Theresa Bradley, Victoria Chang, made substantive contributions. The document Leena Chaukulkar, Bruce J. Courtney, Rita was processed by Oxana Bricha and Ena El Ali, Nidhi Khattri, Klaus Lorch, Mohini Loureiro-Aguilar. viii Abbreviations AAA Analytic and Advisory Activities ADePT Automated DEC Poverty Tables DEC Development Economics Vice Presidency (the Research Group) DIME Development Impact Evaluation Initiative ESW Economic and sector work FPD Finance and Private Sector Development GL Global monitoring ICT Information and communication technology IDA International Development Association IE Impact evaluation IEG Independent Evaluation Group KP Knowledge products NP New product development QAG Quality Assurance Group RePEc Research Papers in Economics RF Research TA Technical assistance TE External training WBI World Bank Institute WDR World Development Report ix x An evolving focus on knowledge: 15 years of the Knowledge Bank 1996 President James Wolfensohn articu- 2000 The World Bank’s Development lates the concept of the Knowledge Committee report, Poverty Re- Bank and knowledge networks. The duction and Global Public Goods: Bank’s “networks” initiative begins Issues for the World Bank in Sup- with the Human Development Net- porting Global Collective Action, work, and soon grows to include En- cites sharing development knowl- vironmentally and Socially Sustain- edge as one of five focus areas as able Development, Finance, Private the Bank increases its emphasis on Sector, and Infrastructure, and Pov- producing global public goods and erty Reduction and Economic Man- recommends that its knowledge role agement. The networks were tasked extend beyond country clients. with addressing emerging develop- ment issues and ensuring the flow 2003 The Bank’s management information of knowledge throughout the Bank systems begin incorporating knowl- to support the work of staff. edge “products,” with deliverables and predefined milestones and 1998–99 World Development Report: Knowl- with monitoring of most knowledge edge for Development is published. products similar to that for lending The report analyzes the risks and products. The Independent Evalu- opportunities that the global infor- ation Group (formerly Operations mation revolution is creating for de- Evaluation Department) publishes its veloping countries, and concludes report, Sharing Knowledge: Innova- that access to financial, technical, tions and Remaining Challenges, and medical knowledge is crucial to Report No. 25883. improving the health and living stan- dards of the poor. 2004 The Organizational Effectiveness Task Force notes that the Bank is not capturing the full potential of be- ing a global knowledge-based orga- nization and recommends building networks to leverage global knowl- edge and improve the quality of cli- ent services. xi An evolving focus on knowledge: 15 years of the Knowledge Bank (continued) 2003–07 The Quality Assurance Group re- 2010 President Robert Zoellick launches views economic and sector work the Open Data, Open Knowledge, and technical assistance in 53 coun- Open Solutions, and related poli- tries, assessing them in the context cies on Access to Information, re- of country assistance strategies, in sulting in many databases becom- consultation with local officials and ing publicly available free of charge, stakeholders. including the World Development Indicators. The data are available 2008 The Independent Evaluation Group under an open license for use and publishes a report on “Using Knowl- reuse. Under Access to Information, edge to Improve Development Ef- the public has free access to many fectiveness: An Evaluation of World documents previously restricted to Bank Economic and Sector Work official users. The 2010 Knowledge and Technical Assistance, 2000– Strategy, Transforming the Bank’s 2006.” It finds that clients prefer Knowledge Agenda: A Framework the Bank’s reports and technical for Action, is adopted. The Knowl- assistance to those from other in- edge and Learning Council is estab- stitutions, and that country clients lished to manage knowledge initia- generally prefer technical assis- tives, including this first Knowledge tance and short reports rather than Report. longer pieces of economic and sec- tor work. It also finds that the results 2011 This Report marks the first time tracking system for knowledge work that the Bank has systematically in the Bank has some serious weak- reviewed its knowledge services, nesses and that more follow-up with advancing concrete proposals for clients after delivering products measuring results and moderniz- would strengthen impact. ing the management of the Bank’s knowledge work. Six Knowledge 2009 The Knowledge Strategy Group, Platforms are funded for three formed to oversee the preparation years, to support co-generation of of a knowledge strategy, identifies knowledge from diverse sources nine product lines as the core of and institutions, by engaging with the Bank’s knowledge business, for researchers, policy makers, and three audiences: knowledge for cli- practitioners to fill knowledge gaps ents, knowledge as a public good, on developmental issues. and knowledge for internal use. Executive Summary “Knowledge is like light. Weightless and intan- an approach for systematically managing the gible, it can easily travel the world, enlighten- emerging challenges in the changing knowl- ing the lives of people everywhere. Yet billions edge landscape. In fiscal 2010 the Bank’s spend- of people still live in the darkness of poverty­ —­ ing on what it considers “core knowledge”­ —­ for unnecessarily. Knowledge about how to treat country clients, for global products, and for such a simple ailment as diarrhea has existed for internal Bank use­ —­ totaled $606 million. Ac- centuries­—­but millions of children continue to counting for Bank, client, and partnership re- die from it because their parents do not know sources committed to knowledge services (in- how to save them.” cluding lending operations), the Bank estimates With those words began the 1999 World total annual spending on knowledge services Development Report on knowledge for devel- of about $4 billion. The Bank is using this first opment, which analyzed the risks and oppor- Knowledge Report to rethink how it can con- tunities that the global information revolution tinue to bring the highest value to clients, given is creating for developing countries. Asserting the increasing number of development knowl- that knowledge, not capital, is the key to sus- edge providers, the evolving needs of our cli- tained economic growth and improvements in ents, and rapid developments in technology for human well-­ being, it concluded that access to sharing knowledge. financial, technical, and medical knowledge would improve the health and living standards The Bank’s contribution to global of the poor. Three years before, the World Bank development knowledge had begun to position itself as a knowledge The Bank has two unique capabilities on which bank, not just a lending bank, creating, sharing, to build­ —­cross-sectoral and cross-country and applying knowledge for development. learning from engagements in policy and proj- ect implementation in more than 120 coun- The Knowledge Strategy tries, and in-house capacity to combine data, Reforms over the ensuing years (see box  on research, practice, and policy analysis to create pages x–xi) culminated in the 2010 Knowledge customized solutions to specific development Strategy­—­Transforming the Bank’s Knowledge challenges. This Report shows how the Bank is Agenda: A Framework for Action. Soon after- drawing on its roles as a producer, customizer, ward, the Bank launched the Open Knowledge and connector of knowledge to respond to cli- initiative with the aim of making its knowledge ent needs. The Bank produces and disseminates work more accessible to a broad base of stake- quality global and country knowledge that holders in client countries, covering both gov- clients appreciate. It also works with clients ernment and civil society. to customize policies, programs, and products The Knowledge Strategy provided an over- to meet specific challenges, based on the best view of the Bank’s knowledge work and pro- knowledge available. And it connects official, posed a Knowledge Report series to develop civil, and private actors with others who have 1 2 faced­—­a nd met­—­similar challenges. Able to identifies three key trends, which show how the play any or all of these roles, the Bank’s scale, Bank is becoming more responsive to its clients. range, and diversity, including the interaction • It is providing more technical assistance, a of knowledge with its lending operations, lie at service highly valued by clients. At the same the core of its specialized role as a key contribu- time, it is producing fewer of the longer ana- tor to global development knowledge. lytical pieces and more shorter just-in-time The Bank’s ability to provide customized policy notes for clients. the Bank’s advice to clients rests on a broad ecosystem of • Trust funds and fee-based services are be- scale, range, complementary and interrelated knowledge coming more important. Trust funds now and diversity, activities (discussed in chapter 1). What clients support 40 percent of core knowledge, and including the usually experience is the tip of a complex inter- fee-based services are becoming the predom- interaction of action of many knowledge products and servic- inant practice for some countries. knowledge es, which include research, country and sector • The Bank’s knowledge services are becom- with its lending reports, project knowledge, and inputs from ing more open. The Open Data Initiative operations, lie outside the Bank. Client services inform­ —­and and the Knowledge Platforms are just two at the core of are informed by­ —­the Bank’s global knowledge examples. its specialized products, including the annual World Develop­ Surveys show that clients cite knowledge role as a key ment Report, and the knowledge the Bank pro- services as the Bank’s most valuable contribu- contributor duces for internal use, much of which makes tion, more than twice as often as financial re- to global its way to clients and the broader development sources.1 Yet the Bank’s knowledge work is not development community. The Bank operates most effec- seen internally, or by independent evaluators, as knowledge tively, and delivers the greatest value, when its having the impact it could. Managers and staff knowledge ecosystem combines relevant and see limited internal support for their knowledge up-to-date diagnostic and analytical resources, work and some of them feel that such work is grounded in its operational experience, global undervalued. This gives rise to a knowledge perspective, and continuing interactions with a paradox. Most staff feel, despite the growing broad array of development partners. importance of knowledge work, that the Bank’s main internal incentives are still related to lend- Key trends and the knowledge ing. One reason for this apparent contradiction paradox may be the lack of robust and systematic evi- This Report demonstrates the growing impor- dence that knowledge work brings demonstra- tance of knowledge services among the ser- ble and measurable returns. By contrast, lend- vices provided by the Bank to its clients (de- ing has built-in metrics. Lending volumes and scribed in chapter 2). Over the last nine years disbursement rates are easily understood and the Bank management has steadily allocated communicated (even though money spent may a larger share of its administrative budget for not be a valid measure of impact). core knowledge work. In 2011 this came to 31 percent of the Bank’s budget, compared with Three initiatives 24 percent in 2002. The Report also illustrates To address this paradox, the Bank is pursu- how the knowledge products and services are ing three initiatives (discussed in chapter 3). creatively responding to a swiftly changing de- First, it is establishing consistent standards for velopment knowledge landscape. The Report governance and the measurement of results. 3 This will apply to each of the nine product Third, Open Knowledge will become part lines that make up core knowledge, and aims and parcel of the way the Bank does business. to strengthen technical quality, relevance, and All aspects of creating, acquiring, sharing, results, and to put a stronger emphasis on cli- adapting, and applying knowledge will be made ent engagement. Much has already been done to more open. The Bank has long experience with improve results orientation, with innovations sharing its knowledge so that others can apply adopted across the Bank. And still more re- it. Now the Bank is working to create better mains to be done within each of the knowledge two-way connections within and outside the the Bank is product lines. But a focus on the product lines Bank, so that the best expertise and the most working to alone will not ensure that knowledge services relevant experiences, wherever they may be, can create better systematically address the needs of client coun- be brought to bear on specific challenges of de- two-way tries or consistently yield lessons from country velopment (discussed in chapter 3). Efforts that connections engagements. have been taken to implement open knowledge within and Second, the Bank is working to strengthen are the following: outside the connectivity across the core knowledge product • Open data and open access to Bank docu­ Bank, so lines and to develop a framework for a compre- ments. In April 2010 the Bank took a criti- that the best hensive approach to managing knowledge as a cal step toward openness by making its de- expertise portfolio­—­ setting strategic priorities and en- velopment data available for download free and the most suring complementarities. The Bank needs now of charge. relevant to identify the objectives of each knowledge ac- • Open research tools. To support policy and experiences, tivity. Explicit mechanisms will be created for academic research around the world, the wherever they discussing work programs and priorities among Bank is beginning to produce research tools may be, can be Networks and Regions. One possibility is to use for others to use, and it is providing open ac- brought to bear more extensively current review bodies, such cess to those tools. on specific as the Knowledge Learning Council and the • Open publishing. The Bank is making the challenges of Chief Economists Council, to ensure that such transition from a traditional book publish- development conversations take place among the Networks, ing model to a new publishing model with Regions, the World Bank Institute (WBI), and immediate free access to the Bank’s peer- the Development Economics Vice Presidency reviewed literature and data, with no re- (DEC). Already, the four Networks, DEC and strictions on the use and reuse of the Bank’s WBI are organizing their work according to knowledge. product lines comparable across the six units. • Open and collaborative knowledge genera­ This will allow reinforcement of linkages in the tion. The Bank is experimenting with two management of knowledge services across the promising tools. It is investing in six knowl- Bank and facilitate the identification of gaps edge platforms on pressing global problems as well as opportunities for coordination. The and in technology that will enable people diagnostic report prepared as a background inside and outside the Bank to connect in document for this Report outlines the details of e-space. how this approach will be implemented, build- ing on existing results chains for economic and Open policy debates. Over the past 10 years sector work, technical assistance, and external the Bank has become more inclusive, expand- training. ing to involve civil society, nongovernmental 4 organizations, and the private sector in evi- knowledge landscape, and to map a part of that dence-based debate on policy and investment territory. Within the territory covered by this choices. This broader involvement­ —­t he de- Report, specific actions are recommended to mocratization of development, the empow- bring more coherence, oversight, and account- erment of local change agents­ —­can be diffi- ability to the Bank’s knowledge work. Other is- cult and contentious, but it has the potential sues, as they continue to evolve through further to bring about broad-based and sustainable research and consultations, will be covered in progress. future reports. This Knowledge Report is the first in a se- ries. The research and consultations on which Note it is based have helped to illuminate the Bank’s 1. World Bank 2010a. Figure 1  An overview of core knowledge Regions % % Knowledge for clients Economic and sector work 24 Technical assistance 25 $444 million Impact evaluation 1 Economic and External client training 1 57 sector work DEC Technical Research services 1 assistance I Impact Knowledge management 3 B evaluation W External client New product development 1 training Knowledge as Networks a public good Economic and sector work 6 $62 RKS million Technical assistance 5 REGIO Research TWO Impact evaluation 1 services World External client training 1 NS E Development N Report Knowledge management 8 Global New product development 1 43 monitoring Knowledge for internal use WBI Technical assistance 1 $99 million External client training 7 Knowledge management New product development DEC Research services 5 Total Global monitoring 2 $606 million World Development Report 1 Note: Breakdowns comprise the largest product categories in each unit. The 43 percent figure includes 2 percent of core knowledge from other units. Compo- ­otals because of rounding. nents may not sum to t 5 Feature 1  Apps for development: open knowledge through innovation ‘We’re only at the start of the open data era’ The competition was launched in October 2010 with an The World Bank made a commitment to open data to contrib- imposing challenge: to “help change the world” by tackling ute to a greater global dialogue but also to increase the reach long-standing problems. Aleem Walji, the manager of Inno- of its knowledge resources and spur innovation. Creating vation Practice at the World Bank Institute, which organized —­ its own research and analysis tools­ and encouraging the the event, said that the “essence of the challenge” was to —­ use of those tools by others­ is one of the most important use the Bank’s open data to tap into crowdsourcing innova- ways the Bank has gone about promoting open knowledge tion. The hope, he said, was to “see examples of develop- through technology, but it’s not the only way. Embracing ers everywhere using our data and combining it with their open data also means fostering a culture of creative analy- own data to build really useful applications addressing local sis and problem solving outside, as well as inside, the Bank problems.” organization. The response was even better than organizers had “One of the reasons we threw open the doors to our data hoped, with more than 100 qualifying entries from 36 coun- was that we recognized we don’t have a monopoly on inno- tries across 6 continents. Even more impressive than the vation,” said President Zoellick, at an April 2011 ceremony —­ breadth of participation was the origin of the entries­ almost announcing the winners of the “Apps for Development” com- a third of the final submissions came from Africa. Judges re- petition, a worldwide call for software developers to tackle ceived more entries from Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and Ugan- some of the world’s most pressing development problems da than from all of Europe. by creating digital applications using data collected by the “This was the world’s largest apps competition,” Walji Development Economics Data Group. said. “It brought software developers into the development (continued) 6 Feature 1  Apps for development: open knowledge through innovation (continued) conversation. Just by paying attention and tapping into new popular choice award, determined by online voting by the ideas, we can accomplish much more with our data than we general public, went to WORLD, an app that selects data could on our own.” at random to generate concise statements about progress Submissions were accepted for any kind of software ap- toward the millennium goals. plication, whether designed for the web, a mobile handheld A panel of expert judges, including technology and in- device, SMS, or any platform broadly available to the public. novation leaders from the private sector as well as veteran The only requirement for each app was that it relate to one or development specialists from the Bank, awarded a total of more of the Millennium Development Goals and use one or $55,000 in cash prizes to the competition winners based more datasets from the World Bank data catalog available at on three general criteria: quality of the idea, implementation data.worldbank.org. of the idea, and potential impact on raising awareness and The winning apps all feature unique approaches for us- making progress toward achieving the millennium goals. The ing the Bank’s open data to study and analyze development competition demonstrates how other communities outside challenges. StatPlanet World Bank, the competition’s overall the traditional development world, such as software devel- winner, is a powerful app with an easy interface that uses opers, can harness technology and leverage open data to 3,000+ indicators to visualize and compare country and create powerful new uses of knowledge. regional performance over time. Submitted from Australia, “We see enormous potential in crowdsourcing solutions StatPlanet built on its success by releasing an enhanced ver- to persistent development problems, and we are especially sion of the app months after the competition. excited when our data can be used as raw material to spark Other winners included Development Timelines, which creativity and innovation,” said Shaida Badiee, Director of allows users to put development data into different historical the Development Economics Data Group and a key partner contexts, and Yourtopia: Development Beyond GDP, a highly in implementing the Open Data, Open Development initiative. interactive app that calculates different dimensions of human “We’re only at the start of the open data era. Just watch what development based on individual priority comparisons. A happens.” 1 A Changing World of Development Knowledge This first Knowledge Report, stemming from Increasing number of globally the 2010 Knowledge Strategy, is a tool to connected knowledge providers strengthen the management and development Knowledge is created and held by individuals, impact of the Bank’s knowledge services. It small groups, and large institutions, ranging identifies actions to improve the Bank’s abil- from universities and governments to multi- ity to respond to the changing needs of our cli- lateral development agencies. In today’s world, ents and ensure a greater outcome orientation email, the Internet, and social media offer af- for our knowledge services. It recognizes the fordable paths for disseminating knowledge, globally proliferating sources of knowledge, the and new ways of acquiring it­ —­ democratizing changing demands of the Bank’s clients, and knowledge and energizing a movement for the role of technology. The rest of this chapter open knowledge. More and more institutions details the opportunities and challenges the and individual experts focus on producing and Bank faces. disseminating knowledge­ —­a s a core business activity. Background and context The private sector now creates knowledge to A key milestone in the Bank’s efforts to guide public policy. For example, the McKinsey adapt to the changing knowledge context is Global Institute defines its mission as helping the 2010 Knowledge Strategy, Transforming leaders in the commercial, public, and social the Bank’s Knowledge Agenda: A Framework sectors develop a deeper understanding of the for Action. The strategy aims to deliver the evolution of the global economy that contrib- best expertise to our clients, to enhance the utes to decision making on critical management development impact of our knowledge, and and policy issues. The Economist Intelligence to strengthen our role as a global connector. Unit bills itself as the world’s leading resource Overseen by the Knowledge and Learning for economic and business research, forecasting, Council, implementation of this strategy is and analysis. already yielding demonstrable results.1 For Nongovernmental organizations and insti- example, building on the Bank’s role as a tutions also create and disseminate knowledge. global connector, six new Knowledge Plat- The website of Foreign Policy magazine lists 10 forms have been funded to help the Bank and top global think tanks, culled from 228 nomi- the broader development community focus nees with specializations in politics, economics, resources on medium-term issues affecting health, and other areas. 2 And the Bertelsmann developing countries. These Knowledge Plat- Foundation helps “policy makers, government forms are seen as multiyear engagements with and society find solutions for the future”­ —­its external partners, aimed at filling knowledge “Megatrend Meta-analysis” information man- gaps through co-generation of knowledge agement is one example. The International from diverse sources (box 1). Growth Centre, based at the London School of 7 8 Box 1  Knowledge Platforms—Strengthening the Bank’s role as a global connector The Bank’s Knowledge and Learning Council Communication Technologies (ICT) for Open is funding six Knowledge Platforms as part of Development. These Knowledge Platforms are an Open Development Initiative, which also in- working with external partners such as the Unit- cludes efforts to open the Bank’s data stores to ed Nations, NASA, Cisco, Google, McKinsey, the public (Open Data) and increase access to the Penn Institute for Urban Research, and the World Bank information. Indian Institute for Human Settlements. Knowledge Platforms are multiyear, cross- In July 2011, following a second competi- sectoral engagements that support collabora- tion, the Knowledge and Learning Council se- tion among World Bank staff, research centers, lected three new Knowledge Platforms to fur- think tanks, practitioners, and private firms on ther open the way the Bank creates, connects, vexing global challenges. The first three were and shares knowledge. They are the Jobs selected in January 2011 and are the Urbaniza- Knowledge Platform, the Knowledge Platform tion Knowledge Platform, the Green Growth on Food Security and Nutrition, and The Hive: Knowledge Platform, and Information and Fragility, Conflict, and Violence. Economics and Oxford University and funded demand top-quality knowledge services. They by the UK Department for International De- ask Bank teams for information on how other velopment, has about 100 research projects countries have handled particular development under way on growth-related issues. Its research —­ issues­ and for specific examples and advice in supports in-country engagements with decision implementing reforms. For example, one mid- makers and informs policy making. dle-income country that wanted to establish a Civil society organizations, many with lim- national planning commission asked the Bank ited budgets, have found economical ways to to quickly summarize other countries’ experi- share their knowledge by forming information ence with similar commissions and to identify networks­ —­ “ loose arrangements with or with- the lessons from these examples. Such demand out a formal structure, which are primarily fo- for knowledge runs across the country income cused on helping members to communicate and spectrum, with government officials and ad- share reliable research and up-to-date informa- visors asking for specific and practical imple- tion.”3 There also are easy channels for indi- mentation experiences, not just general policy vidual experts and development practitioners to advice. communicate views and information that have Clients expect customized solutions. This a policy impact­ —­ a nd to create virtual com- requires Bank staff to draw on data and opera- munities of practice. Such communities cluster tional expertise ranging from sugar subsidies collective knowledge in hubs that are now con- to pension reform, on experiences from other necting with each other. countries facing similar problems (South-South connections are frequently of interest), and on Evolving client demands local expertise. That often involves identifying Client country counterparts, knowledgeable and working in partnership with a broad set of and specific in their requests for Bank expertise, stakeholders. 9 In creating and disseminating knowledge, transform things even more. Scholarly papers, the Bank is one institution among a growing blogs, and ideas in all forms are being fed into number of development agencies, global and social networks and online services­ —­ and into local consulting firms, and think tanks that purpose-built development websites and por- can provide expertise quickly, on demand. tals. Online collaboration tools allow experts Many governments have the financial ability to and practitioners around the world to work hire firms and to reach out to the think tanks. together on knowledge activities ranging from Frontline managers report that clients ask about coauthoring articles to designing best-practice With advances the education, qualifications, and experience of solutions to development challenges and to in information World Bank staff. The World Bank imprimatur formulating real-time responses to natural di- technology and no longer confers automatic authority, and the sasters in remote locations. Online interactions connectivity Bank is seldom the only source of information. can also give policy makers real-time knowl- and more World Bank lending surged in the recent fi- edge about the governance and service delivery systematic nancial crisis, but in the longer term Bank lend- concerns of constituents, making it possible for collection of ing is expected to be a smaller share of the total them to respond quickly. information, transfers to developing countries. The Bank’s The Bank began to use information tech- the Bank’s opportunities for knowledge transfers through nology to produce, disseminate, and manage knowledge lending will also shrink as some countries knowledge in the mid-1990s, and by 2003 had continues to “graduate” from reliance on Bank finance dur- three major knowledge technology platforms­ become easier ing the coming decade. So, the Bank’s ability to —­ the Development Gateway, the Global De- to access, contribute to policy and to the general course velopment Learning Network, and the Global fostering of development through finance may become Development Network.4 With advances in greater more limited. information technology and connectivity and interaction In this context, knowledge can have a big more systematic collection of information, the among staff, impact­ —­by delivering essential data, critical Bank’s knowledge continues to become easier with clients, analysis, and new perspectives to leverage in- to access, fostering greater interaction among and across vestments from other sources, with fairly mod- staff, with clients, and across countries. These countries est expenditures. The Bank can also leverage its profound changes have been paradigm shifting. share of official development assistance by cus- But internal evaluations have also noted that tomizing knowledge and by convening and col- the tracking of results, document retention, and laborating with others in the process. links to operations could be strengthened.5 In considering its opportunities for invest- Spreading and democratizing ing in the next generation of knowledge man- technology agement, the Bank can look to experiences The impact of the Internet and the Web on from the private sector, other international knowledge work cannot be overstated. Anyone, organizations, and think tanks. Substantial in- anywhere in the world, can find geo-referenced vestments in technology and human resources data, careful analyses, reports, and expertise will be required to meet the standard that some through general purpose search engines. A of these firms have set. Still, it is relatively easy new class of answer engines­ —­ such as Wolfram to keep pace with new technologies as they Alpha, which makes it possible to access expert- are developed. What is more difficult­ —­ a nd level knowledge on a wide range of issues­—­may more critical for the Bank’s evolving role as a 10 knowledge institution­ —­is to manage informa- of market failures and the expected benefits of tion and knowledge strategically in the con- policies recommended to address them. The text of new technological possibilities. This policy advice emerging from this theoretical will require careful consideration of options work­ —­promoted not only by the Bank but also not only for knowledge systems, but also for by other international financial institutions governance mechanisms and internal incen- and many other development agencies­ —­was tives to treat these issues with the same level of sometimes applied without carefully consider- With so many depth for knowledge work as is done for lending ing local circumstances on a broader range of players, and so operations. alternatives. Resistance by client governments many sources was often attributed to vested interests; and of knowledge, Changes in the nature of even when structural adjustment policies were the Bank development knowledge implemented, they did not always deliver the must consider In the 1950s and 1960s governments in de- intended outcomes. how best to veloping countries saw their role as providing Today, in the deepest financial crisis since contribute public goods (building bridges, roads, ports), the Great Depression, it is clear that consensus most to addressing externalities (protecting infant in- is not wisdom. Instead, evidence-based debate, development dustries), and sometimes redistributing income on particular challenges, offers the best hope debates to the poor (keeping food prices low). And for continuing improvements in policies and Bank economists studied the “investment gap,” institutions. Open debate and discussion in thought to be an obstacle to faster growth in very different societies can bring about major developing countries. Much of the development change. knowledge in this context was advice from en- As these changes take hold, the Bank strives gineers and financial analysts on building and to produce knowledge that is cutting-edge and designing the right infrastructure, though sec- operationally relevant, as a partner and as an toral expertise began to grow as the Bank ven- intermediary that offers access to the best de- tured beyond infrastructure and into other de- velopment knowledge produced by others. In velopment sectors. providing this knowledge­ —­ to client govern- By the 1970s and 1980s the Bank was hir- ments and to civil society and other actors­—­the ing public policy experts, sector specialists, Bank will support dialogue about the priori- and social scientists to address the increasingly ties and policies in societies striving to become complex development challenges. Costly infra- more open. With so many players, and so many structure was not being maintained; protected sources of knowledge, the Bank must consider industries were often inefficient; low food prices how best to contribute most to development led to shortages and increased poverty. Devel- debates. It is also important to learn from past opment knowledge began to focus on policy experiences in the evolution of development solutions such as “structural adjustment” to im- knowledge. prove efficiency, reduce fiscal imbalances, and As the World Bank continues to adapt, it remove market obstructions (privatizing pub- will have to be selective. The Bank cannot be lic enterprises, reducing trade barriers), based everywhere and do everything, so it must think on the belief that well-functioning markets strategically about how to be most effective as could deliver efficient outcomes. Much of the one player in a large universe of knowledge- economic and sector work estimated the costs based institutions and partners­ —­about how 11 to leverage its comparative advantage through a unified system of public accounts. 8 In Brazil openness and collaboration and about how to in 2007 the Bank team working on early child- best link its contributions with those of other hood development and teacher quality collabo- institutions. rated with local academics and local govern- The Bank’s comparative advantage arises ments. In Lao People’s Democratic Republic in large part from its presence in 120 countries in 2010 a development report prepared with across the globe, which provides a unique abil- the government and bilateral donors fed into ity to combine different kinds of knowledge to the government’s medium-term strategy. In The World meet client needs, and to develop many kinds both cases, repeated deep consultations with a Bank’s of knowledge partnerships and collaborations variety of stakeholders ensured the report’s rel- best-known in response to specific opportunities and situ- evance and legitimacy. knowledge ations. Its knowledge products are among the Experiments in collaborative knowledge, activities, most frequently cited on development top- such as the Global Development Network and economic and ics, according to monitoring services such as Global Development Learning Network, have sector work Research Papers in Economics (RePEc). The fostered greater openness and knowledge flows and technical World Bank Group recently ranked first for on critical global issues. By sharing policy and assistance, publications on China and on development, research experience across countries and among are evolving and second for publications on Africa, Asia, in- development institutions, the entire develop- in close ternational trade, microfinance, and transition ment community is better positioned to address collaboration economics.6 For six years in a row (2000–05), the scale and complexity of critical development with clients the Bank won a Most Admired Knowledge En- challenges, such as AIDS, urbanization, climate terprise award, though it has not appeared on change, water scarcity, and food shortages. The this list in recent years.7 Global Development Learning Network is a partnership of more than 120 recognized global Becoming more collaborative and institutions in 80 countries that collaborate in open the design of customized learning solutions for The World Bank’s best-known knowledge ac- individuals and organizations working in de- tivities, economic and sector work and techni- velopment. The Bank coordinates requests and cal assistance, are evolving in close collabora- contributions from affiliates as diverse as the tion with clients. In Vietnam, for example, an Asian Institute of Management, the Ethiopian influential series of Public Expenditure Reviews Civil Service College, the Islamic Development was launched in 1996. For the first review, the Bank, and Pontifícia Universidad Católica of government’s role was to provide data, while Peru. The network provides its members with Bank staff did much of the analysis and writing. direct access to local, regional, and interna- In 2002 the government wrote some sections of tional development experts, as well as tailored the review. In 2005 the Bank and the govern- learning, knowledge, and technical assistance ment prepared the review jointly. A later study programs. In major and secondary cities it pro- by the World Bank’s Independent Evaluation vides state-of-the-art facilities for multipoint Group found that the 2002 and 2005 Public videoconferencing and Internet-based learning. Expenditure Reviews informed laws increasing The Bank also connects clients with other transparency in the state budget process and led institutions. The World Bank Institute now to a medium-term expenditure framework and offers a range of tools and support services, 12 including a searchable South-South knowledge of common developmental interest. In this new portal that includes results stories and good report, tax administration demonstrated the practice examples. Consider, for example, how greatest decline in administrative corruption, Ghana’s and Zambia’s experiences have helped followed by customs regulations, though overall to shape the design of the road maintenance perceptions of court performance remain unfa- fund in Lao PDR. In February 1999 a delega- vorable for the majority of firms, particularly tion from the Lao government visited Ghana those firms that have actually used the courts. Work on and Zambia to learn first-hand from their suc- In 2005 about 20 percent of firms in 27 tran- global public cesses in using sustainable financing mecha- sition countries reported that bribes were fre- goods benefits nisms for road maintenance. Through the study quently needed “to get things done with regard from greater tour, the delegation learned that road users are to customs, taxes, licenses, regulations, services, collaboration willing to pay for better road services and that etc.” For the same countries in 2008 less than helping to they need to be represented on the road fund’s 14 percent reported that bribes were frequently leverage Bank board. This South-South knowledge exchange needed. The BEEPS survey has been support- resources and contributed to the Lao government’s decision ed by various donors over time, including the expertise to to create such a fund, which today covers the Taiwan Business­ –EBRD TC Fund, EBRD–­ broaden the maintenance of the entire national road net- Canadian Technical Cooperation Fund 2006– scope and work and a part of the local road network. 2009 (BEEPS IV), and the Japan Europe Co- coverage of Work on global public goods also benefits operation Fund and the Multi-donor Fund for knowledge from greater collaboration helping to leverage the Early Transition Countries (BEEPS III). work Bank resources and expertise to broaden the To deepen collaboration further, under its scope and coverage of knowledge work. The Open Data initiative, launched in April 2010, Business Environment and Enterprise Perfor- the Bank is releasing its development data free mance Survey­ —­ a partnership of the World of charge to the public. As it moves forward, the Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruc- Bank continues to increase the amount of data tion and Development­ —­generates comparative available and to develop new applications to measures in such areas as corruption, state cap- enable easy access to data across platforms and ture, lobbying, and the quality of the business devices. The Bank also continues to strengthen environment. These measures are then related the capacity for data collection in developing to firm characteristics and performance. A 2011 countries, to ensure the quality and availability World Bank study, Trends in Corruption and of data to address country issues. The Bank’s Regulatory Burden in Eastern Europe and Cen- new Access to Information policy makes most tral Asia, used the European Bank of Recon- Bank documents publicly available for the first struction and Development (EBRD)–World time. Bank Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS) data from more The Bank’s three knowledge roles: than 11,000 firms in 29 Europe and Central producer, customizer, connector Asian countries to track progress in reducing The Bank’s role as a knowledge institution has administrative corruption and the regulatory evolved to include three distinct functions­ burden on firms. The EBRD and the Bank —­ producing and disseminating high-quality share expertise, funding, and local knowledge global and country knowledge, working with to provide a public good in a geographic area clients to customize policies and programs to 13 meet specific challenges, based on the best avail- expertise of client countries and other devel- able knowledge, and connecting governments, opment partners. While this is the main civil society, and private actors with others that function of the World Bank Institute, other have faced similar challenges. As it finds de- units of the Bank also perform this role, as velopment solutions, the Bank sometimes acts an integral part of their client services. more in one role, sometimes more in another: The Bank, because of its scale and diversity, • Knowledge producer. Knowledge is produced can play any or all of these three roles, as needed across the Bank. An example is the Bank’s to address a particular development challenge. The Bank’s Development Economics arm, which pro- The Bank’s flexibility and scope lie at the core role as a vides intellectual leadership and analytical of its comparative advantage. Because of the knowledge services to the Bank and the development potential synergies among staff, ranging from institution community. Development Economics has experienced and project-based practitioners has evolved three main business lines: development re- on the front line, to researchers working with to include search (research and knowledge creation), academia around the world, the World Bank producing and development prospects (global economic has a somewhat unique niche relative to other disseminating monitoring and projections), and develop- knowledge-producing organizations. It is not high-quality ment data (international statistics, statistical one type of service that makes the Bank unique knowledge, capacity building, and results monitoring). (say, research or technical assistance or econom- working with • Knowledge customizer. The Bank’s task ic and sector work) but the synergistic portfolio clients to teams and country offices interact direct- of many types of knowledge services. The spill- customize ly with clients, organizing and applying overs and gains from its diverse talent give the policies and knowledge from a wide range of sources to Bank the possibility of becoming more than the programs, and help countries address their development sum of its parts (box 2). connecting challenges. Working closely with clients, The Bank recognizes that other institutions governments, these teams draw on data, research, exper- can also play these roles, and in some contexts civil society, tise, and experience to develop policy op- contribute more than the Bank. It is thus im- and private tions, inform lending, and deliver technical portant to look carefully at when the Bank actors with assistance. Customizing requires combining should play a particular role and when another others that a global perspective with deep local knowl- institution could make a more relevant contri- have faced edge to support countries as they strive to bution. We might make a bigger contribution similar improve the lives of their people. The Re- by doing fewer things well, or by supporting challenges gional units and Network vice presiden- others in their efforts and linking them to a cies engage most in this line of work, with larger network of practitioners. Regions engaging the clients and Networks Capturing and capitalizing on the econo- customizing the results of research in a way mies of scale and scope in knowledge accu- that is easily applied to operational work mulation implies that the Bank will need to and engagement. ensure that it is appropriately organized with • Knowledge connector. The Bank’s engage- the right human resource profile to adapt to ment with global partnerships and in South- changing knowledge needs. (These critical South exchanges highlights its role as con- issues will be covered in future Knowledge nector. Connecting or convening can also Reports.) The current Report touches on is- involve drawing from the data, research, and sues related to incentives for producing and 14 Box 2   Measuring and analyzing poverty—the Bank’s role as a knowledge producer, customizer, and connector Given the Bank’s mission to reduce global pov- including poverty assessments. Development erty, poverty measurement and analysis are criti- Economics Data Group statisticians, pushing cal. They allow the Bank, our clients, and other the Open Data initiative, together with poverty interested parties to monitor progress in reduc- economists and Development Economics re- ing poverty (at the country and global levels) searchers, prepare national poverty data and and also support the design of policies and pro- make it available to the public. grams tailored to country conditions. The Bank’s Since the conditions and needs in client poverty economists are often the main interlocu- countries vary widely, the knowledge on pov- tors with country clients on these issues, but erty measurement has to be customized to indi- they rely on many interactions both within the vidual countries. This is done through technical Bank and across the development community. assistance and capacity building—using ana- The Bank produces new knowledge, data, and lytical techniques and tools—to create the kind tools, customizes them to country needs, and of knowledge that can provide policy advice rel- convenes experts and practitioners to facilitate evant for the country. The quality of knowledge the cross-fertilization of ideas and practices services provided to client countries depends across countries and disciplines. on the understanding of the country context, the Many parts of the Bank produce new latest methods, tools and research, and the les- knowledge, data, and tools related to poverty sons from other country experiences. To best measurement and analysis. Development Eco- suit client needs, Bank teams typically com- nomics (DEC) researchers push the knowledge prise experts from different Bank units. frontier by publishing research papers, devel- To facilitate the exchange of ideas and lat- oping and analyzing new methods of measure- est innovations in poverty measurement and ment, and creating tools like the Automated analysis, the Bank regularly convenes experts DEC Poverty Tables to make those methods from academia and development practitioners accessible to clients. They also produce global from different regions. For instance, the Bank poverty statistics that allow the development recently organized workshops to discuss multi- community to monitor progress toward the first dimensional poverty indicators, convening Millennium Development Goal of halving pov- practitioners and academics prominent in pov- erty by 2015. Economists in Poverty Reduction erty analysis. Interactions with other multilateral and Economic Management poverty units in the agencies, bilateral donors, and academia fur- regions and anchor often work with country cli- ther improve the quality of our knowledge prod- ents in producing new survey data and analysis ucts and services. disseminating knowledge. But it focuses on The Bank’s knowledge ecosystem outlining the landscape and taking stock of The Bank’s ability to provide customized the core knowledge products that form a big advice to clients rests on a broad ecosystem part of the full set of knowledge services the of complementary and interrelated knowl- Bank provides. edge activities (box  3). Its integrated and 15 Box 3  The Bank’s ecosystem of interlinked knowledge activities Integrated customized solutions for clients Country knowledge services, advice Bank- Project Other knowledge sponsored knowledge partnerships providers Global Technical partnerships assistance Country and sector Convening reports services World Development Research Data, statistics, Report and indicators regional flagships Information technology/human resources Source: Adapted from Chioda, De la Torre, and Maloney (2011). The Bank’s knowledge products and services design and delivery of technical assistance, interact within a complex and dynamic system, World Development Reports, flagship reports, and can be thought of as a type of “ecosys- workshops, and South-South exchanges, some tem.” The knowledge product lines described facilitated by the World Bank Institute and other in this Report each have specific purposes units in the Bank, or by the growing body of and audiences—and are usually managed and external partnerships. delivered as individual activities. Information Clients value solutions that are tailored to flows throughout this system and across the in- their circumstances and needs and delivered stitution’s boundaries. Findings from research as rapidly as possible. A small technical assis- inform the shape and direction of subsequent tance task of less than $50,000 may be per- studies and reports, enriched by lessons from ceived as more valuable to the client than a ma- operations, and updated thanks to new datas- jor analytical task costing many times this sum. ets and analytical tools. Dissemination occurs The Bank operates most effectively, and deliv- through multiple audiences, and informs the ers the greatest value, when the “ecosystem” (continued) 16 Box 3  The Bank’s ecosystem of interlinked knowledge activities (continued) combines relevant and up-to-date diagnostic human capital and the information technology and analytical resources, grounded in opera- infrastructure. tional experience, a global perspective, and While this analogy has limits, thinking of continuing dialogues with a broad array of de- knowledge services in this way underscores in- velopment partners. terdependence and connectivity, without which As in a natural ecosystem, the flows and the ability to deliver useful products to clients exchanges are as important as the parts in may be significantly compromised. understanding the Bank’s system of knowl- This Report focuses on the products that edge services, and disruptions in one area are make up this knowledge ecosystem; the next Re- likely to cause problems elsewhere. Under- port may examine issues of knowledge flow. Box 4 lying the ecosystem is the stock and profile of presents an example of the ecosystem at work. Box 4  The Bank’s knowledge ecosystem at work—Health Systems Strengthening hubs in Nairobi and Dakar The Africa Region has small teams of senior combining diagnostic assessments in Stage 1, technical experts in Nairobi and Dakar for its re- with technical assistance in Stage 2, followed gional Health Systems Strengthening program, by implementation support and pilot projects to accelerate progress toward the health-relat- in Stage 3 (lending/supervision), which may be ed Millennium Development Goals. The pro- financed by trust funds or other donors as well gram, launched in fiscal 2010, focuses on evi- as by Bank loans (see figure). Close collabora- dence-based measures to address key gaps in tion with a range of partners is a key feature health, health financing, supply chain and phar- of this model of knowledge service delivery, maceuticals, governance and service delivery, which tailors the details of each engagement to infrastructure, and information and communica- the needs of a client country, based on careful tion technology. The Nairobi and Dakar hubs analysis of local gaps and opportunities. provide rapid-response technical and analytical support, even in countries where the Bank may Adapting to meet country needs not be actively lending in health. Demand for STAGE Health System Assessment this support is increasing rapidly, ranging from rapid assessments to in-depth analytical work, 1 Country Status Report 2005 Health Financing Note 2006 HRH Diagnostic 2009 technical assistance, and policy advice. This support is integrated within the multidonor Har- monization for Health in Africa initiative, which STAGE STAGE includes joint analytical work, training, and ca- 3 2 pacity building (see www.hha-online.org). Action implementation IHP+ Compact Planning and budgeting MDG performance fund HSDP4: This country-driven process illustrates how Health extension package 2008 One plan, Central medical store Joint Financing One budget, Agreement task teams are adapting to meet client needs, Health insurance pilot One policy matrix, One results framework 17 customized solutions are based on extensive contribution more than twice as often as finan- supporting activities, including data collec- cial resources.9 tion, that deepen understanding of a particu- But the Independent Evaluation Group and lar development challenge, its global context, the Quality Assurance Group have concluded and the capacities of local counterparts. The that the Bank’s knowledge work is not having Bank’s ability to meet a client’s need for “just- the impact it could, and that the Bank’s knowl- in-time” advice­—­which could be a PowerPoint edge work is often more focused on production presentation or a meeting of senior Bank staff of a quality report than on impact.10 Internal Systematically with a minister­ —­ depends on staff having al- surveys indicate that staff feel there is relatively measuring how ready done different types of in-depth knowl- less internal support for knowledge work and knowledge edge work on a country and issue, often over that this work is undervalued relative to lend- services several years. ing. Despite the growing importance of knowl- contribute What clients usually experience is the tip of edge work, the main institutional incentives in to results is a complex interaction of many knowledge prod- the Bank are still related to lending. an inherently ucts and services. The Bank may rely on its vari- So, why has knowledge work not devel- difficult ous roles as producer, customizer, and connec- oped into an institutional priority since James exercise, but it tor in the process. Staff may draw on original Wolfensohn articulated the concept of the is an exercise analytical work, plus learning from operations Knowledge Bank and knowledge networks in to which and knowledge derived from external sources 1996? Why are we faced with the paradox of the Bank’s and partnerships. Underlying this ecosystem knowledge that the clients value, but which management is the interaction of experts in the related areas the Bank systems undervalue? One reason is is committed across the Bank­ —­ in the Networks, and across that in the competition for scarce financial and the Regions. Teams also draw on outside sup- management resources, lending has built-in pliers and partners (box 4). All of this interacts metrics­ —­lending volumes and disbursement to produce the “just-in-time” advice with the rates are easily understood and communicated whole system grounded in the Bank’s informa- (even if these are not necessarily valid measure- tion technology systems and the stock of avail- ments of impact). At the same time, knowledge able human resources and expertise. work lacks robust and systematic evidence that While the Bank plays various roles in creat- resources spent bring demonstrable results. Sys- ing and disseminating knowledge and is becom- tematically measuring how knowledge services ing more open and collaborative, management contribute to results is an inherently difficult has been developing ways of determining which exercise, but it is an exercise to which the Bank’s knowledge activities have the most impact and management is committed. how much priority to give them. Client surveys With this Knowledge Report, the Bank is consistently show that the Bank’s knowledge, addressing the challenges of this knowledge seen as a comparative advantage, is highly val- paradox and suggests ways to move forward. ued and appreciated. In the 2010 Country Sur- Chapter 2 takes stock of the Bank’s rich vari- vey, for example, clients cited knowledge as the ety of knowledge activities, where and when Bank’s second most valuable contribution, after they are carried out, how they are financed, and its financial resources. And, when technical, the recent trends in the knowledge portfolio. policy, and economic advice is included, knowl- Chapter 3 discusses two key elements in the edge work is cited as the Bank’s most valuable Bank’s approach to managing the knowledge 18 services: results and openness. It describes what selected disciplines. RePEc can be accessed has been achieved in these areas and closes by at http://ideas.repec.org/top/. summarizing the next steps planned by Bank 7. The Most Admired Knowledge Enterprise management. Award or MAKE was established by Teleos in 1998 to identify and recognize those or- Notes ganizations that are creating shareholder/ 1. Annex 2 summarizes the key achievements stakeholder wealth by transforming new so far from implementation of the 2010 as well as existing enterprise knowledge Knowledge Strategy. into superior products/services/solutions. 2. Hounshell 2008. Regional MAKE studies have been es- 3. Fries and Walkenhorst 2011. tablished since the initial Global study of 4. OED 2003. 1998. MAKE uses an expert panel’s per- 5. IEG 2008. See also IEG (2010) for a dis- ceptual knowledge to identify and examine cussion and a list of completed IEG work —in the case of the Global critical issues­ on knowledge management. MAKE study to identify those organiza- 6. RePEc is a collaborative effort of hundreds tions that are leaders in the 21st century of volunteers in 74 countries to enhance knowledge economy. The Global MAKE the dissemination of research in econom- Winners are selected by a panel of Global ics. The heart of the project is a decentral- Fortune 500 senior executives and lead- ized database of working papers, journal ing knowledge management/intellectual articles, and software components. RePEc capital/innovation/organizational learn- collaborates with the American Eco- ing experts. nomic Association’s EconLit database. 8. IEG 2008. The companion diagnostic report sum- 9. World Bank 2010a. marizes RePEc’s rankings of the Bank in 10. IEG 2008. 19 Feature 2  Technical assistance: open knowledge through expert advice In Romania and Africa ‘working collaboratively is a great prepare key documents, draft legislation, and form action advantage’ plans, and they aid governments in shaping or implement- In recent years the World Bank’s commitment to becoming ing new policies. Because the work requires close local a “global knowledge bank” has led to advances in the way involvement, collaboration is an integral part of the tech- the Bank interacts with clients, engages with partners, and nical assistance process. Increasingly, as the demand for uses technology, generating new approaches for tackling knowledge has grown, the scale of that collaborative assis- development challenges. Yet, even as this new era of open tance also has grown, creating new networks of knowledge knowledge is celebrated, it’s important to remember that the providers. Bank has made knowledge an integral part of its mission for A good example is an African program launched in 2009, a half-century through its analytical and advisory services. entitled Health System Strengthening (HSS). The program Two of those services, technical assistance and eco- rose from the realization that the Millennium Development nomic and sector work, have long been among the most Goals in Health in Africa are unlikely to be achieved if the important ways the Bank supports development. Through underlying health systems that deliver services to the poor technical assistance, the Bank draws on its organizational remain weak and underdeveloped. Central to the operation experience and expertise to offer advice and support as countries work to strengthen institutions in order to reach their economic, social, and poverty goals. In many cases this advisory assistance cuts across all facets of institutional reform, as it has in Romania, which endured an extended period of postrevolution economic troubles before beginning a successful reform process. In 1995–2002, when Romania undertook a widespread effort to transition to the market economy, technical assis- tance provided by the Bank formed the basis for the coun- try’s efforts related to this transition, restructuring and privati- zation of the financial and enterprise sectors. Romania relied on Bank technical assistance to create its Capital Market Development Program, which was instrumental in estab- lishing pension, insurance, and mortgage regulations. The Bank also provided Romania guidance on agriculture policy ahead of the country’s accession discussions with the Eu- ropean Union. Over the course of a few years, the Bank’s knowledge work in Romania, through technical assistance, helped set the country’s government on a course of reform and modernization. But as country needs evolve and knowledge transfers become much more common, the approaches the Bank can take with technical assistance are also evolving. Bank experts generally offer advice and counsel, helping officials (continued) 20 Feature 2  Technical assistance: open knowledge through expert advice (continued) of HSS are two technical hubs with small technical teams in According to Eva Jarawan, Sector Manager of the Africa Dakar and in Nairobi, both providing technical, analytical, and Health, Nutrition and Population unit, “In designing the HSS operational expertise to governments and country task teams program, great emphasis was put on partnerships both with- leaders. The teams have also provided technical expertise in countries and regionally.” These partnerships have harmo- in countries where the Bank may not have active lending in nized efforts in providing support to countries through timely health. technical assistance, policy advice, and capacity building— The program mainly supports countries that have joined and engaged in major analytical activities, such as Human the International Health Partnership, to scale up health, Resources for Health in Africa and Investing in Health for Af- nutrition, and population services to reach the Millennium rica. South-South partnerships have also been established, Development Goals, using a health system strengthening such as the China-Africa Initiative, with technical discussions approach. It includes capacity development and knowl- between China and Africa and China providing technical as- edge management to support innovations in health system sistance in specific areas. development. It also supports more than eight communities “Our capacity to respond to demand quickly and effec- of practice on health systems in Africa, facilitating knowl- tively and to enable knowledge sharing in countries but also edge exchanges among policy makers and practitioners in regionally makes this a unique approach to health system countries and across regions. strengthening,” said Chris Lovelace (HSS program leader). 2 The State of the World Bank’s Knowledge Services As mentioned in chapter 1, the Bank’s defini- Bank’s operations and underpin its lending ac- tion of development knowledge has broadened tivities. Following the 2010 Knowledge Strategy from knowledge coincident with lending to and the Bankwide effort in preparing this first include data on global development issues and Knowledge Report, the extent of the Bank’s broad engagement with societies to provide knowledge activities is becoming clearer. But the reliable knowledge in support of development Bank has only one lens through which to view debates. its knowledge work—the management informa- This chapter describes the different types tion system and the defined knowledge “prod- of Bank knowledge services. The boundaries ucts” it captures. That system has its roots in en- of what is called “knowledge” are inevitably terprise software developed to manage discrete blurred. For this stocktaking, the definition in- or industrialized processes, built on the notion cludes research and practical knowledge related that individual products have defined starting to development issues. and finishing points. This Report deals mostly with the defined knowledge products and how The Bank’s knowledge services they are produced. But that presents an incom- As the Bank adapts its knowledge services to cur- plete picture of the Bank’s knowledge activities. rent demands, all three of the Bank’s knowledge And even as we speak about “knowledge prod- roles are changing. As a knowledge producer, the ucts” and “product lines,” it is important to situ- Bank is doing less economic and sector work and ate the discussion in a broader universe of World more technical assistance. Its research activities Bank–sponsored knowledge activities.1 These are becoming more open and collaborative, and are as follows: core knowledge activities fund- independent researchers worldwide are being ed by the Bank’s budget or by trust funds and empowered by access to the Bank’s open data subjected to one or another type of Bank pro- and robust tools. As a knowledge customizer, the cess for quality assurance; noncore knowledge Bank is fostering more collaboration between activities prepared for other Bank management and among Bank teams, government teams, civil purposes (for example, country and sector strat- society, and academia to apply global knowledge egies); noncore knowledge activities for which to pressing development challenges. As a knowl- the Bank works within the organizational goals edge connector, the Bank is linking practitioners of a partnership, but for which the partnership and development professionals across the globe. itself retains responsibility for quality; knowl- Increasingly, the focus is on empowering non- edge activities embedded in lending operations state actors to press for greater accountability as part of project preparation and implementa- through their engagement in public debate and tion (while the Bank oversees quality as part of policy formulation (in the past the focus was pri- supervision and implementation support of the marily on state actors). project-financed knowledge activities, quality Knowledge activities exist not only as stand- review usually falls directly under the purview alone services; they are also integrated with the of the client; see figure 2). 21 22 Figure 2  The estimated universe of or arise from work in partnership with others. knowledge services These can be grouped as follows:3 • Noncore knowledge activities represented an estimated $300 million for fiscal 2010. This grouping is an amalgamation of two broad types of activities. One type informs the Bank’s strategy for its operations in general (including knowledge and lending services); it includes country partnership strategies, sector strategies, and evaluations by the In- Bank-managed dependent Evaluation Group. It makes up knowledge about one-third of spending on noncore Core Noncore knowledge. The other type makes up about $606m ~$300m two-thirds of spending on noncore activities Knowledge Knowledge from operations partnerships and comprises activities under global part- ~$2.5bn ~$700m nerships housed within the World Bank, for Note: Dollar amounts are estimates based on definitions in which the partnerships retain discretion as to the text of noncore knowledge activities and core-like part- nership knowledge activities. quality and management. Options are under Source: Estimates based on figures for network and tech- nical assistance partnerships in IEG (2011a) and on Busi- consideration for classifying some of these ness Warehouse data. activities as part of core knowledge products. • Core-like partnership knowledge activities are Core knowledge activities funded by the generally similar to the Bank’s “core” knowl- Bank’s budget or by trust funds, and sub- edge products but are not governed by the jected to one or another type of Bank process Bank’s quality processes or captured in the for quality, accounted for about $606 million Bank’s reporting system because they are not in fiscal 2010 (see annex 1). Core knowledge considered “Bank products.” Activities the consists of explicit knowledge products that Bank undertakes as part of partnerships with are codified and tracked in the Bank’s man- other development institutions, managed out- agement information system, and whose aim side the World Bank under arrangements of is producing or disseminating knowledge. The various kinds, and that contribute to knowl- World Bank has identified nine core knowl- edge, are recently estimated at $700 million a edge products. They include the best-known year, of which about $200 million is noncore Bank knowledge products and services, such knowledge (included above), and $500 mil- as economic and sector work, technical assis- lion is core-like partnership knowledge. tance, and the World Development Report—as In addition to the above knowledge prod- well as external client training and capac- ucts, there is a large body of knowledge em- ity development, research, impact evaluations, bedded in Bank operations financed through global monitoring, and new product develop- lending proceeds. The Middle East and North ment. These core products are discussed in Africa region systematically reviewed the some detail below. 2 knowledge embedded in operational docu- Aside from core knowledge activities, other ments and estimated that in 2010 borrowers knowledge activities inform the Bank’s business spent about 10 percent of loan proceeds on 23 knowledge products, some of them very much knowledge products, grouping them into three like the Bank’s core knowledge products. If broad categories (see box 5 for a full overview of similar percentages hold for other regions, core knowledge services): knowledge spending embedded in Bank lend- • Knowledge for external clients. ing can be estimated at about $2.5 billion for • Knowledge as a public good. 2010, though this estimate must be considered • Knowledge for internal use. very preliminary at this point. Note that both “knowledge for external Taken together, a broad estimate of the clients” and “knowledge as a public good” The Bank total spending on explicit knowledge services are inherently public goods. The main differ- has yet to in 2010—funded by the Bank, by partnerships ence between the two types of products is that put a value in which the Bank is involved, and from cli- knowledge for external clients is usually geared on the tacit ent loan proceeds—comes to about $4 billion. toward a specific client country, and there is knowledge While this figure is indeed a broad estimate, usually a more specific development objective to that staff, and captures spending on knowledge services be advanced. By contrast, knowledge as a public partners, and much beyond the Bank’s budget, it reflects one good is meant for a global (noncountry specific) clients have attempt to capture the breadth of Bank engage- audience as is the case with the World Develop­ developed ment in knowledge for its clients. ment Report. and use in The Bank has yet to put a value on the tacit When a core knowledge activity is planned, the course of knowledge that staff, partners, and clients have the task leader chooses from one of these nine their work developed and use in the course of their work. product types. While some types reflect real These knowledge producers have a rich diversity differences, there is also considerable overlap— of backgrounds and development experience, or for example, an outside observer might have a on that of the Bank’s partners and clients. Nei- hard time distinguishing between some techni- ther codified nor explicit, this tacit knowledge cal assistance activities and some client train- is often transferred through direct individual ing. Similarly, research and impact evaluations interaction. There are ongoing discussions in may use similar methods and address similar the Bank about ways to capture and codify this audiences. tacit knowledge, and about challenges in design- This core knowledge is produced by almost ing mechanisms to ensure that it stays alive and every part of the Bank—in Regional Vice Presi- current, transmitted and developed from year to dencies (Regions) and Network Vice Presiden- year and from staff member to staff member— cies (Networks), as well as by the Development through mentoring, debriefing, and peer learn- Economics Vice Presidency (DEC) and the ing. Tacit and embedded knowledge are complex World Bank Institute (WBI). topics, and by their nature are difficult to quan- The Regions, which collectively account for tify; these challenges will be taken up in future more than half of core knowledge spending, Knowledge Reports. This first Report focuses on work mainly on knowledge for external cli- the explicit knowledge products described previ- ents. The Networks, which together spend just ously—the Bank’s core knowledge products. under a quarter of the Bank’s core knowledge budget, divide their spending about 55 percent The core knowledge products for external clients, 42 percent for internal use, The 2010 Knowledge Strategy4 classified nine and the remainder for global public goods. types of Bank knowledge activities as core WBI, which accounts for about 9 percent of 24 core knowledge spending, does mostly capacity studies on agriculture, energy, institutions, building for external clients. And DEC, spend- poverty, or climate change—to name but a ing about 10 percent of the total, works mostly few. During fiscal 2010 there were 1,626 active on research, global monitoring, and global economic and sector work tasks, most done by public goods. Other central units—such as country or sector teams in the Bank’s Regions. Legal, Concessional Finance, and Operational For many years, economic and sector work ac- Policies and Country Services (which includes counted for the biggest share of the Bank’s core For many the financial management and procurement knowledge services, but the number of eco- years, groups)—account for the rest. The Treasury nomic and sector work deliveries dropped from economic and and Institutional Integrity vice presidential nearly 700 in fiscal 2005 to fewer than 500 in sector work units also produce some knowledge that is not fiscal 2010, when the Bank for the first time accounted for currently recorded as products or reflected in spent more on technical assistance. This trend is the biggest the $606 million for core knowledge. largely explained by client preferences or a move share of the to undertake more knowledge activities as part- Bank’s core Knowledge for external clients nerships (which may not be fully captured in knowledge Knowledge services for external clients ac- the Bank’s management information system). services, but counted for some $444 million in fiscal 2010, However, the Bank will continue to monitor economic and almost three-quarters of the Bank’s core knowl- and study movements in these trends to ensure sector work edge spending. Knowledge for external clients that it does not eventually impair our clients’ deliveries includes work done for specific countries and ability to rely on solid evidence to inform their dropped from also work done at a regional or even global level policy choices. In many cases the Bank’s ability nearly 700 in (see annex 1). This category is by its nature, to offer high-quality technical assistance de- fiscal 2005 a public good, especially since most of these pends on a sound analytical foundation. to fewer than products are available to the public. The four A recent example of influential economic 500 in fiscal product lines under this category are economic and sector work is the Africa Infrastructure 2010, when and sector work, technical assistance, external Country Diagnostic, an unprecedented effort the Bank for training, and impact evaluation. The mix varies to document public expenditure and sector the first time only slightly across Bank regions, though there performance in each of the main infrastructure spent more are notable differences from region to region in sectors, culminating with the 2010 publication on technical the share of spending from trust funds. of the flagship Africa’s Infrastructure: A Time assistance The diagnostic report accompanying this Re- for Transformation, along with companion piec- port discusses in detail the products and spend- es for various audiences. This work has become ing by category. This synthesis report focuses the reference point for Africa’s infrastructure on what makes knowledge services for external challenges, providing an empirical basis for de- clients especially effective: the length of engage- ciding on investment and priorities and design- ment, the involvement and ownership of coun- ing policy reforms. try counterparts, the soundness of technical Long-term, broad-based knowledge engage- work, and in some cases the additional lending. ments can be especially fruitful in supporting policy change. Consider the Bank’s work with Economic and sector work Indonesia on poverty analysis, a three-year ef- Economic and sector work is analytical work fort (2003–06), supported by nearly $1 mil- meant to inform policy choices. It can include lion in Bank funds and more than twice that 25 in trust funds from the UK Department for In- During fiscal year 2010 there were 1,424 tech- ternational Development. The objective was to nical assistance activities, up from 782 in fiscal consider ways to help the government address 2005. This trend mainly reflects the Bank’s re- poverty as the central development challenge. sponse to the request from client countries for This required analysis, dialogue on the issues, more technical assistance support. and the development of a comprehensive pov- A good example is the work on “Aid for erty strategy that focused on making growth Trade” in Mauritius in 2006. The government work for the poor, making public expenditure asked for help in defining its trade reform pro- The 2008 IEG work for the poor, and making services work for gram and mobilizing funds as part of a multi- study found the poor. The program’s success was due in part donor initiative. Within two months of the that clients to its cross-sectoral mandate, which involved request, a Bank team provided analysis of pos- preferred counterparts from seven ministries, as well sible reforms, including estimates of the costs technical as from local government and other agencies. of lowering trade barriers, reforms of the tax assistance to ­ The entire activity was characterized as a single structure, and strategies to lower the cost of key economic and piece of economic and sector work. services. At the end of a two-week Bank mis- sector work in In 2008 the Independent Evaluation Group sion, the team presented the government with both IBRD and (IEG), which reports to the Bank’s Board, a summary of the main reform options. Among IDA countries recommended greater selectivity in economic the important factors underlying the effective- and sector work, and more serious attention to ness of the technical assistance were the timely tracking results.5 In 2009 the Quality Assur- nature of the support and the ability to build on ance Group (QAG) found that most economic existing economic and sector work. After exten- and sector work tasks were appropriately fo- sive internal debate, the government adopted cused on issues of key importance to clients. 6 many of the team’s recommendations in its re- But there was less attention to client participa- form program, which was eventually supported tion, dialogue, and dissemination, which deter- by a Bank loan. mine impact. Managerial attention to quality The 2008 IEG study found that clients concentrated on the front end, at the concept or preferred technical assistance to economic and design stage, dropping off during implementa- sector work in both International Bank for tion. And incentives for Bank staff emphasized Reconstruction and Development and Inter- producing and delivering economic and sector national Development Association countries.7 work, not focusing on its longer term impact. The 2009 QAG report also rated technical as- Both IEG and QAG found widespread short- sistance tasks somewhat higher than economic comings in consistency of internal recording and sector work, because of clearer objectives, and monitoring of analytical tasks, and re- greater client involvement and coordination taining documents. There is ongoing work to with bilateral donors, and better dissemination strengthen the capture, retention, and retrieval arrangements. of documents, and this is also an issue that fu- The Bank’s clients place a high value on tech- ture Knowledge Reports will examine in depth. nical assistance, and because the work requires their engagement, collaboration is a natural part Technical assistance of it, making the knowledge imparted more ac- Technical assistance supports client efforts to cessible. A good example of such collaborative implement reforms and strengthen institutions. work is the Europe and Central Asia Region’s 26 Public Expenditure Management Peer Assisted significant investments to apply this strategic Learning, designed to enhance domestic capac- results-focused approach in its programs, and to ity in public expenditure and financial manage- support learning about what works, and why, in ment, to play a catalytic role in scaling up aid, capacity development. and to strengthen institutions and policies by One recent example of this kind of South- establishing a forum for peer-to-peer exchange. South exchange was seen after the earthquake One key to its success was the involvement of hit Haiti in 2010, wiping out much of the hous- Total many local researchers and opinion leaders. ing infrastructure. Before the government could expenditure begin major reconstruction, it needed to shelter on external External client training those who had lost their homes. Using a South- client training External client training encompasses a broad South Facility grant, the Bank connected Hai- across the range of activities, from events that focus on tian officials and technical experts to counter- Bank declined awareness raising or skill enhancement to the parts in Indonesia to learn how to implement from almost design of curricula and learning materials­ —and community-­driven development reconstruction $72 million is used mainly by WBI. In fiscal 2008 WBI in- programs. Indonesia had come a long way since in fiscal 2005 troduced a programmatic approach where sev- the tsunami shattered its shores and subsequent to about eral deliverables could be consolidated under earthquakes shook its buildings, and critical to $55 million in a single Activity Initiation Summary (AIS). its quick recovery was the use of community-­ fiscal 2010 From fiscal 2009 programmatic AISs could also driven development programs that empowered become multi-year. In the spring of 2009 the local communities to take charge and rebuild. WBI’s Renewal Strategy further consolidated The exchange inspired Haiti to amend its hous- WBI’s programs through strategic selectivity. ing policies, formulate new policies to facilitate All these measures were designed to generate reconstruction, and develop a blueprint for the better results on the ground through the de- first set of housing units. livery of more integrated and strategic external training services to clients and substantially con- Impact evaluation tributed to the number of tasks dropping from Impact evaluation, empirical work to measure 1,677 in fiscal 2005 to just 292 in fiscal 2010. the effect of a development intervention on Total expenditure on external client training outcomes, is the newest category of knowl- across the Bank declined at a slower rate, from edge product, established in 2006 by the Chief almost $72 million to about $55 million over Economist’s Office, as part of the Development the same period, mainly reflecting budget cuts. Impact Evaluation (DIME) initiative. By defi- WBI has developed a Capacity Develop- nition, it measures outcomes relative to a well- ment and Results Framework as part of its new specified counterfactual. Aimed at informing strategy, launched in 2009. The framework an external client, it leads to a freestanding links capacity development initiatives to the report when it is linked to the supervision of a sustainable institutional changes required for Bank-financed project or program—or to the development results. Promoting flexibility and preparation of a new one. innovation in the change process allows for One example of this kind of work comes measuring achievements at the level of interme- from Madagascar, where the government is diate capacity outcomes (awareness, skills, co- working to improve school management. With alitions, networks, know-how). WBI is making support from a Bank team, a group of educators 27 developed a new set of management tools that services are categorized as knowledge as a pub- was validated and owned by practitioners. The lic good: government wanted to test the efficacy of the • Research, which is original analysis using new tools before scaling them up country- rigorous methods to advance knowledge or wide, and so decided to undertake a rigorous stimulate debate. impact evaluation. The Bank team facilitated • The annual World Development Report, the Malagasy team’s participation in training which consolidates development knowledge workshops and engagement with external ex- on a topic, to stimulate debate on new direc- Although perts to conceptualize the design of the impact tions for policy. impact evaluation, which the country team then imple- • Global monitoring, which provides data and evaluation is an mented. When the evaluation found that the tools to enable policy makers and advocacy important and new tools were effective, government officials groups to make better informed decisions. fast-growing made the decision to disseminate them more Together, these services accounted for about element in widely. More generally, the impact evaluation $62 million (or 10 percent) of core knowledge the Bank’s gave Malagasy policy makers an appreciation of spending in fiscal 2010. knowledge the benefits of impact evaluation, and the same work, it is also team subsequently launched another impact Research the newest evaluation focused on school feeding. The Development Economics (DEC) arm of the element, and Although impact evaluation is an important Bank does more than 80 percent of the Bank’s accounts for and fast-growing element in the Bank’s knowl- research, and research is the greatest share of less than 2 edge work, it is also the newest element, and what DEC does, annually publishing 10–20 percent of the accounts for less than 2 percent of the Bank’s books and edited volumes, 100–150 journal Bank’s core core knowledge. In 2010 the Bank spent about articles, and 150–200 working papers. Figure 3 knowledge $11 million as part of the DIME initiative (see illustrates the range and focus of topics covered annex 1), though impact evaluation work from by DEC research. DEC focuses on: other sources came to an additional $3 million. • Conducting applied policy-oriented re- There have been 162 impact evaluation tasks search on pressing development issues (mea- between 2006 and 2010, with unit costs vary- suring poverty and inequality). ing from less than $50,000 to almost $500,000. • Influencing policy debates on development, More than other knowledge activities, impact both globally and in countries (document- evaluation depends on trust funds.8 There has ing absenteeism by teachers and health not yet been an evaluation of the Bank’s impact workers). evaluation work, but IEG is planning one. • Producing data geared to addressing the most important development issues, and Knowledge as a public good connecting data producers with data users The Bank supports debate, discussion, and (World Development Indicators). policy making on issues of global significance. • Creating robust operational tools to facili- While all of the Bank’s work contributes to the tate analysis by practitioners in developing public good, the name of this category denotes countries (ADePT, a free software platform work that has no prespecified external or inter- for automated economic analysis). nal client, but that ultimately benefits the cause Research managed by DEC or financed of development worldwide. Three knowledge through research funds undergoes a rigorous 28 Figure 3  Word cloud for titles of World Bank–authored journal articles Source: Adapted from Ravallion and Wagstaff 2010. peer review. For example, DEC task team lead- Global monitoring ers are not involved in the selection of review- Global monitoring products are often open- ers or in the flow of documentation. Some ended, unlike other knowledge products that research tasks are selected competitively, and have defined starting and closing points. The citation in external peer-reviewed journals is Living Standards Measurement survey has encouraged as evidence of development impact. been in use since the 1980s. The World De- Unlike work for clients, research products do velopment Indicators, the Purchasing Power not necessarily represent Bank views, and a Index database, the International Household disclaimer to this effect is included in research Survey Network, and the Bank’s poverty map- publications. ping databases are also part of this category. Some knowledge work that the Bank treats as World Development Report economic and sector work is conceptually simi- Since 1978 the annual World Development lar to global monitoring products, such as the Report has provided in-depth analysis of a spe- Bank’s Doing Business 2011 report. This is the cific aspect of development, representing state- most downloaded report from World Bank of-the-art knowledge in that area. It brings websites, with 2.4 million visits, 6.6 million together research, case studies, and the results page views, and 309,000 total files downloaded of extensive consultations with leaders and de- this year. velopment practitioners throughout the world. As a part of its global monitoring, the Bank The 2010 Report was on climate change, and combines expertise in regional issues, market the 2011 Report, on conflict and security. It is trends, and forecasting to construct a consistent one of the few pieces of knowledge work dis- view of global economic prospects and the impli- cussed by the Bank’s Board. cations for macroeconomic trends in developing 29 countries. These opinions were just issued in the sectoral reports, policy papers, tools, and data- annual print and online editions of Global Eco­ bases developed primarily for Bank staff. The nomic Prospects. The Bank’s 2011 Global Devel­ terms “knowledge management” and “internal opment Horizons addresses multipolarity in the knowledge products” are both used for this cat- global economy and the associated structural egory of activity—a mix in terminology that re- changes in growth, corporate investment, and veals and conceals some ambiguity in whether international monetary and trade arrangements. these activities are concrete products, analogous The annual Global Monitoring Report is a joint to economic and sector work intended for Bank The Bank’s effort by the World Bank and International staff, or processes to ensure connectivity. The new Open Monetary Fund to monitor progress toward the stated objective of this category is “to ensure Data policy Millennium Development Goals, proposing pri- that staff have the knowledge and skills re- has greatly orities for policy responses by developing coun- quired to achieve results for/with clients.”9 expanded tries and the international community. The internal knowledge product line ac- the number The Bank’s new Open Data policy has great- counted for $81 million (13 percent of core of users ly expanded the number of users downloading knowledge) in fiscal 2010—third largest downloading development data from the Bank’s databases. among the nine core knowledge product lines, development At the time of the Open Data announcement after technical assistance ($195 million) and data from in April 2010, there were about 140,000 paid economic and sector work ($184 million), the Bank’s subscribers. Providing free and easier access to and ahead of external training for clients databases the databases has had an immediate impact on ($55 million). use, with well more than 20 million page views Internal knowledge products are aimed at and the number of visitors using the site more ensuring that sector staff are well connected than tripling. Over the past year, the number of across the globe, and have access to the ideas, entries in the data catalog has increased dramati- experiences, research, and global knowledge cally. And of the 7,000 indicators available, more to be as effective as possible in their work with than 1,200 can also be accessed in Arabic, Chi- clients. Investments in this category, like that nese, French, and Spanish. Recently the Bank for most of the Bank, are highly decentralized added a Central Microdata Catalog, a portal (sector by sector). Because concerns have been for Bank and non-Bank household survey data identified about the consistency and quality that meet international standards for quality. By of governance of these activities, regional and July 2011 the catalog contained more than 600 Bankwide management are working to ensure surveys with some 360,000 searchable variables. that accountability, results measurement, and evaluation mechanisms are strengthened. Knowledge for internal use “Scaling Up HIV/TB Interventions in Afri- Knowledge for internal use accounted for some ca,” financed by Dutch trust funds, is an exam- $99 million (16 percent) of knowledge spend- ple of an internal knowledge product. It studied ing in 2010, with two types of services: internal new approaches for responding to the two epi- knowledge products and new products. demics. In partnership with WHO, UNAIDS, and the Royal Netherlands TB Foundation, Internal knowledge products Bank specialists reviewed new scientific knowl- Internal knowledge products relate to the edge and country experience to provide hands- Bank’s internal activities to produce and deliver on support to task teams (and governments) on 30 concrete ways to deal with tuberculosis/HIV assistance over economic and sector work in coinfections. The techniques are being repli- providing support for policy decisions, timeli- cated by other donor agencies such as PEPFAR ness, and relevance—and as a source of relevant and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tubercu- information on global good practices. And losis and Malaria, as well as by nongovernmen- technical assistance as well as economic and tal organizations. sector work informs client policies, blurring the line between them. In 2002 New products spending on Many Bank units develop new Bank business Greater responsiveness to clients and economic and products, such as pilots and prototypes. Exam- partners sector work ples include: In 2002 spending on economic and sector work was nearly • The Prototype Carbon Fund. was nearly twice that on technical assistance. By twice that • Subnational finance products. 2010 spending on technical assistance services on technical • International Development Association had almost quadrupled, accounting for more assistance. By (IDA) partial credit guarantees. than economic and sector work (see annex 1). 2010 spending • Weather risk management tools. Within the technical assistance category, “how on technical • Expanded IDA/International Bank for to” guidance increased even faster, and now ac- assistance Reconstruction and Development credit counts for more than half of all technical assis- services buy-downs. tance tasks. had almost There is debate in the Bank about whether While spending on economic and sector quadrupled, some or all of this work should be included in work has been relatively flat for several years accounting the Bank’s core knowledge products. in 2002–10, spending within the category has for more than been shifting. The number of core diagnostic economic and Key trends and issues reports dropped by 40 percent over the last sector work A survey of a broad range of users of economic five years,11 while the number of regional and and sector work and technical assistance activi- global economic and sector works increased. As ties completed between fiscal 2008 and fiscal noted earlier, these trends in economic and sec- 2010 was sent to 1,220 end-users, able to pro- tor work reflect the Bank’s response to clients vide their responses in various languages. The for more technical assistance, “just-in-time” ad- survey results, at the time of publication of this vice and policy notes that requires less time to Report, are not representative.10 Even so, the absorb for busy country counterparts. In addi- results indicate client perceptions which are tion, much of the Bank’s core diagnostic work largely consistent with IEG’s 2008 findings. has an extended useful life, therefore the Bank In general, respondents considered the is intentionally relying more on data and diag- Bank’s economic and sector work and technical nostics produced by, or in collaboration with, assistance products as supporting policy deci- government, think tanks, and bilateral and sions and implementation. There was an almost multilateral development partners. However, inverse relationship between cost and policy im- while responding to client needs, the Bank will pact—smaller reports (less than $50,000) were ensure that this shift in trends for economic considered to have had the most impact, and and sector work is not compromising the foun- larger reports (costing more than $500,000) the dations of the Bank’s knowledge—the ecosys- least. There was also a preference for technical tem depends on a healthy mix of interrelated 31 knowledge activities (see box 3) and is integrally partnerships accounting for significant knowl- related to lending operations. edge production and dissemination include the Between fiscal 2002 and fiscal 2010 the Public Private Infrastructure Advisory Facil- number of active knowledge products rose from ity, the Energy Sector Management Assistance 3,672 to 5,192 (up 41 percent). The increase in Program, the Cities Alliance, the Program on the number of tasks may indicate greater re- Forests, and the Global Program on Sustainable sponsiveness, but is also a challenge to manag- Fisheries. Overall, the World Bank is involved ing for results. Both the IEG 2008 evaluation in more than 200 such collaborations, most de- and the pilot survey for this Report show that scribed as knowledge brokering. clients are asking for shorter analytical pieces and “just-in-time” advice. However, the prolif- Trust funds and fee-based services are eration of tasks may also be a symptom of work- becoming more important ing in silos, multiplying tasks and duplicating In fiscal 2010 trust funds accounted for about effort implying lower connectivity. It is difficult $245 million, or 40 percent of core knowledge for the Bank to manage so many tasks and mea- spending, up from about 30 percent in fiscal sure their impact—particularly when a focus on 2005. Their use for knowledge work varies tre- fewer, more strategically selected tasks is likely mendously, especially across regions (figure 4) to have greater impact. and across product type (box 5). Some units within the Bank have adopted a Trust funds, by adding resources beyond programmatic approach to addressing fragmen- the Bank’s operational budget, make it possible tation, with a focus on results and economies of to deliver more knowledge services, particu- scale. Consider the WBI, whose programmatic larly economic and sector work and technical approach to external training bundled indi- vidual tasks into a smaller number of initiatives. Figure 4  The contribution of trust As noted earlier, this reduced the number of ex- funds varies by unit ternal training activities from 1,677 to 292 be- ($ millions, 2010) tween fiscal 2005 and fiscal 2010, a more than 80‑percent reduction. DEC More knowledge work is done in partner- WBI AFR 100 ships, not always captured in the Bank’s sys- 80 tems. Although the Bank does not track the FPD 60 EAP outputs of partnerships, as mentioned earlier 40 REGIONS CENTER in this chapter, it is clear that knowledge work PRM 20 ECA 0 done in collaboration with others is increas- ing. For example, the Water and Sanitation HDN LCR Program­ —a partnership of 14 bilateral donors, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the SDN MNA Bank—­ generates extensive data and analytical SAR work. Much of the Bank’s work on inclusive Bank budget Bank budget plus trust funds finance is now done through the Consultative Note: World Bank Institute data include scholarships as Group to Assist the Poor, involving more than a part of trust funds. Bank budget includes reimbursables. Source: Business Warehouse. dozen bilateral and multilateral agencies. Other 32 assistance, and respond to a wider range of (especially in Europe and Central Asia and client needs. For example, they have been in- Middle East and North Africa), fee-based ser- strumental in raising awareness of community- vices have become the predominant practice. driven development and climate change. And Going forward, the Bank will consider a for the Gender and Development programs more standardized approach to fee-based ser- and the Governance Partnership Facility, they vices. Management will work to clarify the have been combined with just-in-time com- budget treatment of fee-based service fees, the In the spirit petitive awards to raise awareness of gender proprietary nature of the services and how this of open and governance issues in the Bank and in the relates to the policy on access to information. knowledge, development community. The Gender Action At present, management sees fee-based services the Bank will Plan implementation period culminated in as a useful menu option for some clients and for also consider the 2012 World Development Report on gender certain types of engagements. dropping the and development and the selection of gender as distinction one of the four special themes under IDA–16, Knowledge is becoming more open between with trust funds having financed more than The Bank spends more on development knowl- knowledge for 260 products and services, including those for edge than many other institutions, and its external clients research and knowledge. The Governance Part- contributions are an important part of a broad and knowledge nership Facility, launched in 2008, has award- stream of development knowledge. More open- for internal use ed 86 grants, totaling roughly $60 million, to ness will help increase the importance of the fund innovative projects around the world. It Bank’s knowledge work. President Robert supports the Knowledge and Learning Portal, Zoellick, in a speech at Georgetown University uniting all regions and networks. in September 2010, articulated a need to de- Trust funds have enabled more work in areas mocratize development economics: “We need that could otherwise not be financed through to throw open the doors, recognizing that oth- the Bank budget alone. The Independent Evalu- ers can find and create their own solutions. And ation Group, while recognizing the important this open research revolution is under way. We role of trust funds in leveraging resources, rais- need to recognize that development knowledge ing awareness and facilitating quicker response, is no longer the sole province of the researcher, nevertheless concludes that their outcome ori- the scholar or the ivory tower.” Our aim, Presi- entation could be strengthened.12 The Bank dent Zoellick said, is to “open the treasure chest is addressing these issues in the context of the of the World Bank’s data and knowledge to Trust Fund Management Framework approved every village health care worker, every research- by the Board in 2007.13 er, everyone.”14 In recent years the Bank has entered fee- In the spirit of open knowledge, the Bank based agreements with middle-income coun- will also consider dropping the distinction tries for economic and sector work and tech- between knowledge for external clients and nical assistance, mostly in Europe and Central knowledge for internal use. In practice, both Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and types of knowledge are often shared: external Middle East and North Africa. They appear products with internal audiences, and internal small as a share of the Bank budget, but have products with external audiences. At a mini- risen from $13 million in 2008 to $19 million mum, there is an opportunity to bring more in 2010. For some middle-income countries external collaborators into this mix, to ensure 33 that Bank staff have access to world-class best consistently play a strong and direct role in stra- practices. Already, as part of implementation tegic selection, quality control, financing, and of the 2010 Knowledge Strategy, the Bank has dissemination. For economic and sector work engaged three international experts on ­ topics and technical assistance dealing with individual related to mobile banking, urbanization, and countries, there is general and consistent under- climate change to bring global expertise and standing across all Regions that accountability world-class ideas to its clients (see annex 2). for technical quality and strategic relevance lies with the Sector Manager and the Country Di- The Bank’s Quality, relevance, and results rector. Across the Regions, there is some vari- systems and In addition to the above trends, arrangements ance in arrangements for quality monitoring, incentives for assessing quality, relevance, and results has support, and control depending on the number have tended been a key issue in ensuring greater connectivity of active client countries in a region and the to focus on in the knowledge products. Evaluations of Bank level of engagement in the quality control pro- ensuring the knowledge services show there is more emphasis cess of the Chief Economist’s office. Regional quality and on technical quality, less on strategic relevance models range from proactive and hands-on sup- relevance of and impact. They also show that high-impact port and advice from the Chief Economist, as the knowledge knowledge services are characterized by consid- in Africa (with a special focus on weaker coun- product itself, erable interactions with client governments, to try programs), to a much more selective and even though build consensus and strengthen ownership— arms-length support, as in Latin America and Bank staff from initiating the task to formulating recom- the Caribbean. A more consistent approach repeatedly find mendations, including sustained follow-up would clarify accountability for technical quali- that the quality beyond one-off dissemination.15 ­ ty, client engagement, relevance, and results. An of engagement The Bank’s systems and incentives have internal Bankwide quality assurance function makes the real tended to focus on ensuring the quality and would promote such consistency. The Bank is difference relevance of the knowledge product itself, even currently completing a review of existing qual- though Bank staff repeatedly find that the qual- ity arrangements that will be used to strengthen ity of engagement makes the real difference. For the quality assurance framework. much knowledge work, the Bank does not yet For external client training, WBI task have systems to track, let alone measure, the teams are now using a core set of intermedi- extent and quality of engagement with clients. ate and final outcome indicators to inform Little systematic attention is paid to what hap- program design and results measurement. The pens after a product is delivered. However, be- intermediate indicators for external training ginning in fiscal 2012, with the new tools and are focused on the outcomes of engagement, changes proposed under the Bank’s review of with the aim of strengthening the capacity of its analytical and advisory work, there will be local (nonstate and state) actors to participate greater focus on planning for and engaging cli- in change processes. The integration of moni- ents in the production, dissemination, and as- toring and evaluation at all stages promotes sessments of knowledge work. systematic learning to determine what works For client-facing work, the rule set and man- and does not work, and enables timely correc- agement attention appear to be strongest for tive action. economic and sector work and technical assis- For research work, more than most other tance. For regional studies, Chief Economists knowledge areas, the Bank has well-developed 34 Box 5  An overview of core knowledge The Bank’s nine core knowledge activities or product lines are organized into three categories, by audience. Category Product line Purpose Knowledge for ESW Economic and sector work Inform policy external clients TA Technical assistance Assist reform implementation and strengthening institutions IE Impact evaluation Analysis of development interventions TE External training Training Knowledge as a RF Research Use of rigorous tools to advance knowledge and debate public good WD World Development Report New directions for development policy GL Global monitoring Data and tools for policy makers, academics, and CSOs Knowledge for KP Knowledge products Activities supporting the knowledge flow across the Bank internal use NP New product development Development of new products for the Bank Core knowledge activities are undertaken across the Bank, with some degree of specialization by the Regions (whose economic and sector work and technical assistance represent about 80 percent of all economic and sector work and technical assistance or about half of core knowledge), Networks (which produce about 63 percent of internal knowledge products), World Bank Institute (which produces about 80 percent of external training), and DEC (which produces about 85 percent of research). Fiscal 2010 $ millions Percent of $606 million For external clients As a public good Internal use of core knowledge, by unit 444.4 (73.4%) 62.3 (10.3%) 99.2 (16.4%) ESW TA IE TE RF WD GL KP NP 24.1 146.3 Six 57% Regions 25.3 153.5 1.0 5.8 1.5 4.6 3.7 0.8 3.5 21.0 1.5 8.9 5.7 34.3 5.5 33.3 Four 2.2 3.1 5.5 1.9 2.9 Networks 8.5 51.3 43% 1.2 7.3 <1.0 0.3 5.5 WBI 7.3 44.1 <1.0 0.2 1.7 <1.0 1.3 1.8 2.3 4.9 29.7 DEC 2.4 14.7 1.4 <1.0 8.4 1.0 0.5 Other 1.7 1.4 1.0 0.0 0.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 6.4 1.0 Product 183.6 195.1 11.2 54.6 35.3 8.4 18.6 81.4 17.7 line total Regions 57 43 All other World Bank Core knowledge total 605.9 35 Box 5  An overview of core knowledge (continued) The share of trust funds and fee-based services The share of trust funds out of total spending varies in total spending has increased since 2002 significantly across products $ millions 606 Total Bank budget Trust including fee-based services funds ESW Economic and sector work 40% Trust funds TA Technical assistance TE External training Fee-based services IE Impact evaluation 302 RF Research 27% WD World Development Report Bank budget GL Global monitoring KP Knowledge products NP New product development 2002 2010 100% Fee-based services are rising for Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Middle East and North Africa Total AFR EAP ECA LCR MNA SDN PRM FPD WBI DEC $ thousands 2002 3,709 0 0 0 0 372 657 30 41 2,455 155 2010 18,780 1,071 113 5,199 3,253 7,486 0 0 345 1,308 5 As a share of the unit’s Bank budget for knowledge (percent; including reimbursables and excluding trust funds) 2010 5.2 2.2 0.4 11.5 10.8 23.8 0 0 1.4 5.5 0 Output for technical assistance and for knowledge products for internal use is increasing Number of tasks 2,000 TA ESW 1,000 KP RF TE WD & GL IE 0 NP 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 Note: The significant decline in the trend for external training is a result of changes that took place in WBI reflecting a more programmatic approach, which reduced the number of tasks by organizing them into larger groupings. 36 quality control mechanisms and quality stan- and results. But in the DEC research unit, dards for its outputs. Bank research is most management chooses peer reviewers, includ- effective when it involves a close collaboration ing external reviewers. The peer-review process between researchers and operational parts of will be strengthened and made more consistent the Bank. To strengthen this link, the Research across the Bank by including external review- Group (DEC) aims to dedicate a third of its ers, where appropriate, and by assessing the staff time to cross-support, and the other two- articulation of a development objective, the To strengthen thirds to more open-ended research. identification of indicators to measure achieve- the link For the World Development Report, exten- ment of the objective, and the quality of the between sive internal and external reviews ensure qual- engagement. researchers ity and relevance. An independent evaluation There are ongoing initiatives to strengthen and operational pointed to the “lasting importance and influ- the results orientation of the Bank’s knowledge parts of the ence” of several World Development Reports.16 activities including approaches that move be- Bank, the For internal knowledge products, a 2009 yond self-assessments to include client feedback. Research QAG report17 found that some appear to be of Currently, with the exception of WBI’s exter- Group (DEC) lower quality than knowledge products for cli- nal training, there is no routine mechanism aims to ents. The report concluded that internal knowl- for gathering feedback from external clients, dedicate a edge products were often supply-­driven and un- or from stakeholders or observers, on whether third of its staff dermanaged, pointing to poor quality of data the knowledge activity is achieving its intended time to cross- on product costs and delivery dates, and weak objective, outcomes, or change objectives. The support, and document retention within responsible units. companion diagnostic report provides the de- the other two- About 80 percent of these internal knowl- tails of plans for more rigorous assessments of thirds to more edge products are produced by the Bank’s Net- knowledge results. These changes have come open-ended works, with the Sustainable Development Net- about mainly through two efforts: research work (SDN) consistently the largest producer. • The Capacity Development Results Frame- In part as a result of the QAG study, SDN has work18 adopted by the WBI in 2009 for worked to improve the quality of its internal external training, which has good potential knowledge products, and started to subject for broader applicability. them to the same governance processes as eco- • The fiscal 2011 review of the Bank’s ana- nomic and sector work. For example, peer re- lytical and advisory activities (the AAA views are now required for internal knowledge Review), focused on economic and sector products costing more than $30,000. work and technical assistance, and led by Essential for quality assurance of all prod- the Bank’s Operational Policies and Coun- uct lines is the peer review at concept and de- try Services vice presidency. livery—to assess quality, relevance, and results Both efforts call for greater attention to and to ensure cross-regional or cross-country why a knowledge activity is being undertaken, transfers of knowledge. For economic and what development contribution is intended, sector work in most units, task team leaders and whether the work is achieving its intend- propose their own peer reviewers to the sector ed objectives. In the case of external training, manager. However, there are no guidelines or task teams are already required to specify the criteria to assist reviewers or ensure consistency outcome or change objectives of the work and across the Bank in assessing quality, relevance, provide evidence of achievement of results. 37 Starting in fiscal 2012, task leaders of technical client feedback to counter-balance cur- assistance and economic and sector work are re- rent Bank incentives for lending over quired to clearly articulate, at the concept stage, nonlending and ESW over TA. Fifth, the change objective and related indicators, in- take the results tracking framework for cluding how they will be measured to demon- ESW and TA more seriously, including strate their contribution to results. systematizing client feedback.” Defining intermediate outcomes will shift the focus from outputs to outcomes—and Since the 2008 IEG report, progress has Defining capture the Bank’s convener or connector role been most noticeable on the third, fourth, and intermediate in many knowledge activities. At completion, fifth recommendations. Decentralization of outcomes will task leaders will be asked to assess the degree Bank staff has ensured a substantive presence shift the focus to which these outcomes and change objectives in client countries. The Bank is moving toward from outputs were achieved. As a result of the AAA Review, increasing client feedback on nonlending ac- to outcomes— management has developed new tools to im- tivities, both through sample surveys in regions and capture prove management and measurement for results (and for this Report) and by reconfiguring the the Bank’s for economic and sector work and technical as- main client survey instrument. And, as de- convener or sistance.19 These tools will help strengthen ac- scribed in this Report, results measurement is connector countability and lead to greater outcome orien- being significantly improved going forward. role in many tation of the Bank’s knowledge work. In the case of research, DEC makes its knowledge Because knowledge activities can take some data and analytical work available online and activities time to generate results, it is important to look routinely tracks statistics on webpage views, back on the work after it is completed. In 2008 unique visitors, file downloads, and dataset the Independent Evaluation Group did the only access. The measures use objective criteria to retrospective analysis of economic and sector gauge the Bank’s interaction with the world. work and technical assistance. 20 This study’s They are also related to staff incentives—sal- five recommendations were as follows: ary increases are tied to the number of times a researcher’s work is cited in the academic lit- “First, reinvigorate the mandate . . . to erature. While downloading a research report maintain a strong knowledge base on does not in itself result in policy change, it can countries and sectors where the Bank is be a first step toward that change. In addition, providing or planning to provide funds. the Bank is exploring approaches to survey the Second, ensure that ESW in IDA coun- users of that information to see whether they tries is adequately resourced (even if found it useful. One option being considered it means fewer ESW tasks), since cost is to solicit permission from users to contact matters for quality, and quality matters them with a follow-up survey (as part of the for effectiveness. Third, enhance institu- download process), with follow-up a week tional arrangements for ESW and TA by or two later. The merits of this and other ap- ensuring substantive task team presence proaches or options will be examined in the in country offices—particularly in coun- course of developing an implementation plan tries with low institutional capacity— for the Bank’s knowledge work. to facilitate closer client collaboration. For internal knowledge products and new Fourth, recognize, receive, and build on product development, network and sector 38 management will require task teams to clearly 6. QAG 2009a. articulate the results they expect and to mea- 7. IEG 2008. sure progress toward those results. This will 8. Legovini 2010. give management the tools to make strategic 9. Human Resources Leadership and Orga- choices, including the weight to give each of nizational Effectiveness website: http:// the Bank’s three knowledge roles in each sector go.worldbank.org/YNUY52WVF0. (producer, customizer, and connector). 10. The survey was planned and conducted a This chapter described the Bank’s core year or two after the economic and sector knowledge services, identified important trends, work and technical assistance were com- and described the Bank’s current approaches to pleted, to give time to observe some results quality and results. It showed that there is sig- from the knowledge activity. There were nificant variability in how these activities are too few responses from clients leading to a managed, and how results are measured. This lack of representativeness of the survey. In variability in quality limits the ability of the in- addition, task teams often had difficulty lo- stitution to promote an integrated delivery of so- cating the contact information for their cli- lutions to clients (or the operation of the knowl- ents. Going forward, management plans to edge ecosystem) and strategic prioritization. The make it mandatory for task leaders to iden- next chapter describes management’s approach tify and agree with management on the list to developing the tools it needs to ensure quality, of clients at the beginning of any activity. relevance, and results across product lines and to 11. This subcategory includes Country Eco- support setting better strategic priorities. nomic Memoranda, Development Policy Reviews, Poverty Assessments, Public Notes Expenditure Reviews, Country Financial 1. Core knowledge is the subject of this Re- Accountability Assessments, Country Pro- port. It is distributed across nine activities curement Assessment Reviews, and Inte- or product lines, with different audiences grated Fiduciary Assessments. and functions under three core categories: 12. IEG 2011b. knowledge for country clients, knowledge 13. World Bank 2007. as a public good, and knowledge for inter- 14. Zoellick 2010. nal use. Over the course of future Knowl- 15. IEG 2008. edge Reports, the Bank will discuss pos- 16. Banerjee and others 2006; Ravallion and sible changes to, and simplification of, its Wagstaff 2010. knowledge product coding. 17. QAG 2009a. 2. See the diagnostic report that accompanies 18. World Bank Institute 2009. this Report for a deeper discussion of the 19. These tools include a programmatic ap- Bank’s knowledge products and services. proach to tasks, a flexible “just in time” 3. Estimates based on figures for network and product, an enhanced Country Portfolio technical assistance partnerships in IEG Reporting Tool, simplification of control (2011a) and on Business Warehouse data. points, a revised self-assessment tool, and 4. World Bank 2010b. an enhanced storage and retrieval system. 5. IEG 2008. 20. IEG 2008. 39 Feature 3  Economic and sector work: open knowledge through informed analysis Real results from a decade‑long partnership with During 2010 more than 1,600 economic and sector Vietnam work projects were under way. The Bank produces more Whereas technical assistance is mostly advisory, economic than 50 different types of reports, ranging from narrowly fo- and sector work involves research and analysis meant to in- —­ cused, such as a study analyzing a single area­ a transport form policy choices. Like the World Development Report, —­ sector strategy, for instance­ to more broad-based, such these studies illustrate the Bank’s long-standing role as a as a country economic memorandum or a public expendi- producer of knowledge. —­ ture review­ one of the Bank’s most important knowledge For many years economic and sector work accounted for products. the biggest share of the Bank’s core knowledge activities. Public expenditure reviews are important to the Bank’s Interest in advisory services and partnerships is increasing, —­ internal use­ —­ they help inform policy loans­ and they have but economic and sector work activities remain central to the also been repeatedly shown to impart the kind of knowledge Bank’s knowledge commitment and, as with technical as- necessary to generate real results and effect long-term sistance, collaboration is an increasingly critical part of what change. In Serbia a review led to new labor laws on wag- might be considered “traditional” Bank work. A collaborative es for civil servants. In Jordan it resulted in the overhaul of long-term approach to promoting open knowledge in Viet- budgeting processes. In Guyana it informed the country’s nam, for instance, was rooted in standard economic and sec- Financial Management Accountability Act. And in Vietnam tor work practice, but the joint partnership of the Bank and an ongoing series of reviews helped transform the role of the Vietnamese government from the beginning exemplified government from doing (through public investment projects) changing approaches. (continued) 40 Feature 3  Economic and sector work: open knowledge through informed analysis (continued) to steering (through resource allocation for policies and next review is expected to be led completely by Vietnam’s programs). finance ministry. Vietnam is one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, According to Rama, this powerful growth in government rapidly shifting from a focus on tight controls to a market- capacity and individual capability should be lauded, but it based player on the global stage. The poverty rate fell from should not come as a surprise. “Our objective was to have 58 percent in 1993 to 14.5 percent in 2008. Real income has local officials to eventually take the lead on every core diag- grown 7.3 percent a year over the last 10 years. During that nostic, with the Bank gradually shifting its role from demon- same period Vietnam has made a concerted effort to reform stration to support.” its public financial management system. The most recent public expenditure review, in 2005, was “Vietnam was a country going from a secretive approach “truly a joint product,” Rama said. The report led to 107 rec- —­ in policymaking­ —­ a legacy of decades of war­ to trying to ommendations, and, according to Rama, Bank and govern- build transparency,” said Martin Rama, who spent eight ment officials discussed each one in detail to reach consen- years as the Bank’s lead economist in Vietnam. The reform sus. In the end, both sides agreed to all but three. process is generally credited with being a key driver of trans- Officially, the individual reviews are considered single parency and accountability in the allocation and use of public products, but the ongoing collaborations as a result of the monies. A series of public expenditure reviews, produced review process produced much greater results in a country collaboratively between the Bank and the Vietnamese gov- where adequate and transparent budget processes had not ernment in 1996, 2000, and 2005, guided the reforms. existed. With the help of auditors, budgeting and expenditure “A decade ago, the published budget was one page. power shifted from a single ministry to a national assembly, Now, almost all expenditures are on budget and fully dis- and, according to Rama, the budget process now generates closed, with the supreme audit institution carefully checking “an incredible amount” of interest and publicity. how they were used,” Rama said. According to Rama, the public expenditure reviews As country officials improved their financial management themselves not only aided Vietnam’s economic transforma- knowledge, the government gradually took on a greater role tion, but the increasing collaboration of their production over with each successive review, from simply providing data in time created a vital sense of ownership. “The reviews and the 1996, to contributing to the report in 2002 and to crafting knowledge provided by them,” he said, “have been central the review on an equal footing with the Bank in 2005. The elements to transforming culture.” 3 Managing for Results and Openness The first two chapters discussed how the management plans to take a two-pronged ap- Bank’s knowledge activities have been shifting. proach. First, each of the nine knowledge prod- Some shifts have been in response to changing uct lines must have a results framework to assess demands­ —such as the growing preference for the technical quality, relevance, and results of technical assistance over economic and sec- knowledge activities. Much has already been tor work. Other shifts have been purposeful done in this area, with innovations adopted initiatives­ —such as an increasing move toward across the Bank. But more remains in each of more transparency and collaboration, as with the knowledge product lines. However, a focus the Bank’s Open Data Initiative. The Bank is on the product lines alone will not automati- now at the threshold of a still bigger effort, to cally ensure that knowledge services centrally bring knowledge services closer to its clients by developed systematically address the needs of strengthening results frameworks for knowl- client countries or systematically derive les- edge services—and by providing open data, sons from country engagements. That is why open solutions, and open knowledge to all the Bank needs to move beyond separate results stakeholders, not just client governments. frameworks to greater interaction and integra- tion in its knowledge activities. Strengthening the results of Accordingly, the second part of the two- knowledge products and services pronged approach is to strengthen the links Because core knowledge services represent a between product lines and to manage them as significant commitment of resources ($606 a portfolio—setting strategic priorities and en- million in fiscal 2010), the Bank is recommit- suring the complementarities across knowledge ted to strengthening the results of its work. It product lines. This will take time. The diagnos- must move beyond counting the number of re- tic report accompanying this Report outlines ports delivered, and begin the difficult process the details of how the approach could work. It of measuring what can be measured, recogniz- builds on the results chains for economic and ing the complex and sometimes unmeasurable sector work, technical assistance, and external factors that contribute to development success. training to define intermediate indicators of The Bank also needs to build on its relative outcomes of Bank knowledge services. strengths and maximize its contribution to de- In line with this increased emphasis on mea- velopment by focusing on its comparative ad- surable results, the Bank is strengthening the vantages. By better understanding how each of governance arrangements for all core knowl- its knowledge roles—producer, customizer, and edge products (table 1 summarizes the current connector—contributes to development glob- arrangements). Most of the Bank’s knowledge ally and in countries, it can focus its resources spending is subject to generally clear governance where they make the greatest contribution. arrangements, but there are governance gaps in In order to prioritize scarce resources to many product lines. Some gaps are in review- strengthen the Bank’s approach to results, ing the output of the knowledge service and in 41 42 Table 1  Governance arrangements for core knowledge products Number Product Who sets of control Draft output Completion Mandatory Who monitors Ex-post line the rules? points review report archiving compliance? review Economic and sector work OPCS 3 Yes Yes Yes OPCS No Technical assistance OPCS 3 Yes Yes Yes OPCS No External training WBI 4 No Yes Yes WBI/VPU No Impact evaluation DEC/OPCS 2 Yes No No VPU No Research DEC 2 Yes No No DEC/VPU No Global monitoring/World Development Indicators DEC 3 No No No VPU No World Development Report DEC 2 Yes No Yes DEC No Knowledge products None 2 Yes (> $30,000) No No — No New product development None 2 No No No — No Note: OPCS-Operational Policies and Country Services Vice Presidency; WBI-World Bank Institute; VPU-Vice Presidential Unit; DEC-Development Econom- ics Vice Presidency. monitoring compliance. Some are in assigning monitoring is up to the implementing unit, and responsibility for setting rules or guidelines for this can leave significant gaps, even if clear rules some knowledge product lines, such as inter- are in place. For example, although DEC moni- nal knowledge products, which give individual tors all research products financed through managers tremendous latitude to initiate tasks its budget, it does not monitor compliance for with little or no systematic review. The lack of research products financed from other units’ ex-post evaluation means that the Bank is not budgets. Similarly, the World Bank Institute systematically capturing lessons to strengthen (WBI) monitors compliance for its external its knowledge activities. And the lack of sys- training products but not for those executed tematic archiving means work is sometimes elsewhere in the Bank. Management will estab- difficult to retrieve when the responsible task lish consistency in governance frameworks with leader moves. As noted in chapter 2, there are attention to how clients are engaged from the ongoing efforts to strengthen document cap- start of an activity to delivery and completion. ture and retrieval (i.e. WBDocs). In addition Strengthening the results and governance to these efforts, the Bank is putting in place arrangements for each of the nine products mechanisms to ensure that there is consistency has already begun with the recently completed in governance of the core knowledge products. Review of Analytical and Advisory Activities (AAA Review). As noted in chapter 2, teams Establishing consistency in governance will be required to define, together with clients, For economic and sector work and technical as- the development objectives to which a knowl- sistance, a Bankwide unit sets processing guide- edge activity or series of knowledge activities lines and conducts overall monitoring of key will contribute (box 6). Going forward, knowl- steps.1 To further ensure quality, regional and edge activities may be designed using multiyear network guidelines may augment this corpo- programmatic approaches, to enable greater rate guidance. But for the other product lines, flexibility than when tied to the annual project 43 Box 6   Strengthening the results orientation of economic and sector work and technical assistance under the AAA Review The Operations Policy and Country Services change objective, intermediate outcomes would Delivery and Results Management department be chosen from a standardized menu that cap- reviewed AAA, specifically economic and sec- tures the change objective and enables aggre- tor work and nonlending technical assistance. gation at the corporate level, so that the Bank It is now putting in place mechanisms and pro- can assess its development effectiveness. cesses to strengthen the outcome orientation The achievement of objectives would be of these products, including self-assessments a ssessment by the task team based on self-­ and other approaches to improve governance leader on two dimensions— Bank perfor- and accountability. The goal is to increase im- mance and likely achievement of objectives on pact, better capture results, reduce fragmenta- a four-point scale. The task team leader’s self- tion and the counting of deliverables, and align assessment would be endorsed by the Sector systems and processes with business needs. Manager and Country Director. Capturing the A standardized Concept Note and Comple- clients’ views is also important. Various options tion Summary templates will be introduced on- for seeking inputs—either on an individual ba- line. The Concept Note will require a clear defi- sis or in a more aggregated way at the country nition of the change objective for the task. This level—are being piloted. There will also be an will inform the identification of objectives and opportunity to capture lessons from prepar- expected (intermediate) outcomes, including ing and delivering the knowledge services in a the approaches for measurement. Based on the searchable system. cycle. Lessons from the 2008 IEG Evaluation, will consider a new lending instrument that the AAA Review, and WBI’s Capacity Devel- will disburse against client results. opment Results Framework will inform the way forward in developing a results framework Measuring results is inherently difficult for all knowledge services. The next step could but doable be to explore a practical amalgamation of out- The Bank needs to be able to assess results if it comes and indicators (or a common results is to allocate the available resources effectively framework) applied across knowledge product and support staff appropriately. There are chal- lines. The feasibility of this approach and need- lenges associated with attribution, with the lag ed steps will be outlined in a note that will be time that can be associated with the impact of used to design the implementation of recom- knowledge work, and with the selection of ap- mendations from this Report. propriate and measurable indicators. And as This year a new annual Results Report and a measurement systems are put into place, there Corporate Scorecard will be introduced, as part will be different options to consider based on of a comprehensive program of internal reforms what is feasible in terms of relative costs in rela- to make the Bank more oriented to clients and tion to timeliness of implementation. There will results with the aim of strengthening account- also be technical issues to resolve. (At what level ability arrangements. And in 2012 the Board should impacts be assessed? How standardized 44 and aggregated should impact measures be?) in some detail a set of technical approaches This will be an evolving effort, and the best for measuring knowledge results for the Bank. should not be the enemy of the good. These options are currently undergoing in- A systematic attempt to measure results be- ternal consultation prior to implementation. gins with clarity of intended outcomes on the Forthcoming reports by the Independent ground. With the intended outcomes clearly Evaluation Group and the Internal Audit De- stated, it becomes possible to think about partment will also be helpful in informing what intermediate results can be tracked to as- implementation. sess progress toward those outcomes, and how The Bank will use multiple approaches to intermediate results can be measured. Box  7 measuring results in order to enable teams and summarizes different approaches to measuring management to make a rounded assessment results. of progress. One approach will involve main- The term “results” covers a range of indi- taining and strengthening the current self-­ cators from outputs, through outcomes, to assessments as per the AAA Review. Another impacts, the final effects on beneficiaries. The will be to systematically use client surveys as a ways that results are measured will vary from source of information. Such surveys were pilot- one type of knowledge activity to another. The ed in preparing this Report. Other approaches results of a piece of economic and sector work to eliciting the client’s assessment of the impact might be measured by how it contributed to of knowledge activities within the context of the domestic debate in a client country, which the overall country portfolio will be piloted to could lead to improved policies. Indicators of inform the way forward. Case studies will also knowledge impacts could comprise surveys be used (as in the Middle East and North Af- of opinion makers, references to World Bank rica knowledge notes), as can web-based metrics studies in the media and other public discus- such as the number of views and downloads sions, and independent assessments of the and references to knowledge products in policy likely impact of the study. The diagnostic re- documents, the popular press, and academic port that accompanies this Report describes journals. Box 7  Examples of results measurement arrangements for knowledge services Impact evaluation in Latin America and the hundreds overall, with about 100 studies each Caribbean. Throughout the rapid expansion for Brazil and Mexico. There are no CCT pro- of conditional cash transfers (CCTs) from na- grams in the Region without at least one sound scent, geographically limited programs in Brazil evaluation already finished or currently planned. and Mexico to major flagship programs in most The Bank has provided financing, advice on Latin America and Caribbean Region countries, topics and designs, principal investigators, and knowledge has been the primary, underpin- venues for dissemination. In 2008 DEC pub- ning component driving growth. The Bank has lished the only Policy Research Report ever contributed by using a complementary suite of done on a single policy instrument, drawing services. Impact evaluations, for instance, are heavily on the CCT evidence base built in Latin a cornerstone of CCT knowledge; there are America. 45 Box 7  Examples of results measurement arrangements for knowledge services (continued) Results framework and program evaluation: its results-focused renewal strategy, led WBI Welfare and Social Policy in Turkey. This Ana- to design an innovative approach to foster the lytical and Advisory Service comprised on- achievement of results, systematically account demand technical advice through policy notes for outcomes, and advance the current knowl- and an international expert panel, joint analyti- edge of what works and does not work in ca- cal work with the social policy department of pacity development. Underlying this approach is the Turkish State Planning Organization, and the Capacity Development and Results Frame- continuous outreach and dialogue activities work, which links capacity development initia- with academia and civil society. The Bank was tives to achievement of sustainable institutional predominantly a facilitator rather than a dis- changes required for development results. The seminator of analytical findings. This program- framework is used to design knowledge initia- matic knowledge service, spanning 28 months tives and manage them for results. It is embed- (March 2008 to June 2010), was one of the ded in the systems and processes of the exter- core vehicles for the Bank’s analytical and ad- nal training product line, from the articulation of visory work to support the review and design results logic in the Activity Initiation Summary of social policies in Turkey. After the work was and Concept Note to the reporting of results in completed, the Bank team administered its own the Activity Update Summary (AUS) and Activ- survey instruments to have clients in Turkey as- ity Completion Summary (ACS). In addition to sess the technical assistance. Ratings from 1 self-rating their external training activities (akin (low) to 5 (highly satisfactory) were assigned to the Bankwide assessment for economic to: overall assessment of the analytical output and sector work and technical assistance), (technical papers and the equity report); wheth- task team leaders in WBI are to describe their er these analytical studies made an impact on results in their AUS and ACS and provide evi- Turkish social policy; whether the analytical dence of the reported changes in the capacity outputs were used in the organization’s work of clients at intermediate and institutional levels. program; whether the process of conducting The supporting evidence can consist of a broad the work was collaborative; and how well the array of documentation from external sources, Human Development Dialogue functioned. The such as stakeholder surveys, knowledge tests, assessment found the government was most document reviews, interviews, and media re- positive (with highly satisfactory marks almost ports. A dedicated team in WBI is responsible throughout), followed by academia and then for reviewing and transparently analyzing the civil society organizations, which were particu- results reported by task team leaders—and for larly skeptical about the impact of the work on reporting the aggregate results data as part of social policy design. WBI’s Key Performance Indicators. These data as well as special studies will also be used to Measuring knowledge outcomes—WBI’s learn more about the “how” of reform through approach. The entire portfolio of the World capacity development. Implementation is still at Bank Institute (WBI) is knowledge products an early stage, but the overall approach shows and services. This specialization, as well as considerable promise. 46 Enhancing the complementarities Knowledge Learning Council and the Chief of knowledge activities for greater Economists Council, in ensuring that such results conversations take place among the Networks, The Bank will also turn its attention to manag- Regions, WBI, and DEC. These conversations ing knowledge as a portfolio, and strengthening will strengthen quality, relevance, and results. connections across product lines will be an area They will also help identify avoidable overlaps of focus. Within each of the Bank’s six regions, and duplication. And they may achieve genuine The Bank there are already established quasi-markets synergies. We will also improve quality and re- will also turn for services between country teams and sec- sults by inviting external discussion and review its attention tor teams. Together, these teams decide which of our knowledge services, how we choose our to managing knowledge tasks are funded. The Country Di- knowledge activities, and how we can bring the knowledge as rector controls the budget and “buys” services, best minds in the world to bear on the most a portfolio, and typically based in the region and is in close pressing development challenges. strengthening touch with government officials about what connections they need from the Bank. The Sector Director Network initiatives across product brings to bear global experience in the sector or The Networks are set up with the purpose of lines will be an technical field. This quasi-market interaction strengthening knowledge flow across the Bank area of focus offers some assurance of the knowledge task’s and that requires that they play a stronger role relevance and quality. in ensuring connections across the Bank. The The Bank will work to put in place a greater decentralized approach to knowledge services and more systematic process of consultation may constrain the flow of knowledge across the on priorities between the Networks and Re- institution. The current level of cross support gions. They and the sector boards set priorities (gross cross-support averaged 7 percent of staff with varying inputs from regional staff across time for regions and 15 percent for network the Bank. Where sector staff in regions have anchors) is one indicator of constrained flow a strong and effective voice in setting priori- of knowledge. The Finance and Private Sector ties for the anchors, this ensures the relevance Development (FPD) Network notes in a recent of sector work. The quasi-market for WBI and assessment that the scale, budget, and strategic DEC will also need to be strengthened, to max- alignment of knowledge activities are limited imize operational relevance. by the fact that the Networks and Regions op- To optimize the results and impact of its erate separately. 2 This impairs the Bank’s abil- knowledge activities, the Bank will take a port- ity to move lessons across its 120 country of- folio approach to managing them. Manage- fices and around the world. To address this, the ment will consult across vice presidential units FPD Network is putting in place new processes, to examine feasible options for structures and structures, and information infrastructure to processes in support of managing knowledge facilitate knowledge flow, reward knowledge as a portfolio. This begins with identifying the sharing, and promote collaboration across re- objectives of each knowledge activity. Explicit gional units. Strong interaction across units, mechanisms will be created for discussing work particularly between the Regions and Net- programs and priorities among Networks and works, will bring to bear global experience in a Regions. One possibility would be to use more sector or technical field and assure the knowl- extensively current review bodies, such as the edge activity’s relevance and quality. External 47 connections are equally important and the taking a more centralized approach to the mul- section below on Open Knowledge outlines titude of regional (that is, not country-specific) some of the initiatives the Bank has launched knowledge tasks, structuring them into portfo- to strengthen it. lios with clear objectives. The other three Networks are adopting a 10-point strategy to strengthen their sector Greater attention to results should boards and to develop performance indicators resolve the knowledge paradox for knowledge flows and talent management. As noted, many staff find that large and high- So it is The strategy is expected to strengthen sec- profile lending operations hold more potential easier to find tor boards, human resource management, and than knowledge work for career advancement. funding and knowledge flows across the institution, includ- And those doing knowledge work find—with management ing an intensified effort to capture all knowl- management systems oriented to team leader- support for edge outputs in the Bank’s document systems, ship in discrete knowledge products rather than producing in a form that is retrievable and searchable to teamwork and development solutions—that in- knowledge meet continually changing client demand and centives are stronger for knowledge production than for ensure timely responses. than for knowledge flows. So it is easier to find sharing the funding and management support for produc- work with Regional and country approaches ing knowledge than for sharing the work with colleagues and The Regions take different approaches to ensure colleagues and counterparts around the world. counterparts knowledge flows and to ensure that their knowl- This presents a challenge, in that clients value around the edge services build on complementarities. Chief knowledge services, while the institution’s world. This Economists and sector units take responsibil- incentives are geared relatively more toward presents a ity for the flow of knowledge in each region. In lending. challenge Latin American and the Caribbean the Chief Changing behavior will require both differ- Economist’s office plays the role of DEC, work- ent management signals for knowledge services ing with academia and think tanks and spon- (which will be supported by better results mea- soring regional research. The Colombia country surement) and recognition of contributions of team has taken the portfolio approach one step knowledge services and teams to development further by explicitly bundling knowledge ser- outcomes. When resources are tied to strength- vices and financial services toward a common ening connections of experts and practitioners outcome in the country strategy. In the Africa inside and outside the Bank, behavior can Region the Chief Economist monitors quality change. The Knowledge Platforms, a competi- for knowledge and lending services and ensures tive initiative of the Knowledge and Learning that country teams make the right decisions in Council, are judged in part for their multi- addressing a development challenge with their sectoralism. As a result, the teams submitting knowledge or lending services, underpinning proposals reach beyond sectoral and regional lending services with analytical work. The Mid- boundaries, make new connections, and find dle East and North Africa Region draws lessons new synergies. Performance evaluations for from knowledge services embedded in lending knowledge activities could take into account operations (funded by borrowers and provid- more knowledge-related behaviors, including ing lessons applicable across the Bank). In the client engagement, multisector and multire- South Asia Region the vice presidential unit is gion collaboration, and follow-on dialogue and 48 dissemination. Going forward, management over a period of time and produce a paper on recognizes the pressing need to align incen- their findings, which is then disseminated to tives with the value our clients perceive in our the public, other researchers, and policy mak- knowledge services. ers. The Bank is a world leader in producing such products on a wide range of development Open knowledge issues.3 The Bank also remains a leader in de- Knowledge generates the greatest results when velopment economics research, though the vast All aspects it is shared and applied. All aspects of creat- majority of development economics research- of creating, ing, acquiring, sharing, adapting, and applying ers are affiliated with other institutions. New acquiring, knowledge can be made more open and col- development thinking and experience in the sharing, laborative. The Bank has significant experience wider academic and development community adapting, with sharing its knowledge, so that others can are increasingly found in developing countries and applying apply it. Now the Bank is working to create themselves. To support this work, the Bank’s knowledge better two-way connections in and outside the Development Economics (DEC) department can be made Bank, so that the best expertise and the most is producing research tools for others to use more open and relevant experiences, wherever they reside, can and providing open access to those tools. The collaborative be brought to bear on specific development Open Tools initiative has three objectives: to challenges. The Bank is experimenting with empower researchers in developing countries co-generating knowledge, and looking at ways to do better research to inform development to involve clients and collaborators in measur- policy and practice; to expand, over the longer ing the results of the World Bank’s knowledge term, opportunities to work more closely with work. colleagues in developing countries as full peers, to the benefit of both; and to ensure open and Open data and open access to Bank transparent policy analysis. documents One of DEC’s new tools is the Automated In April 2010 the Bank made its development DEC Poverty Tables (ADePT), innovative soft- data available for download free of charge. The ware that simplifies and speeds the production Open Data initiative is moving forward rap- of standardized tables and graphs in many areas idly. It is continually expanding the amount of economic analysis, with a focus on country of data available for download. It is develop- and regional analytic work. ADePT extracts ing new applications to enable easy access to indicators from micro surveys and presents data across platforms and devices. And it is them in a print-ready form, making it possible strengthening capacity in developing coun- to automatically generate analytical reports in tries to collect and disseminate high-quality minutes, not months. A free standalone pro- and relevant data on the ground. Under the gram, available for downloading by anyone in new Access to Information policy, any Bank the world, it includes modules on poverty, labor, document not on a small exclusionary list is health, education, inequality, social protection, now available to the public. and gender. The interface is being translated into several languages, and ADePT training Open research tools courses are being developed. The Bank’s traditional research model is product-­ With several thousand users in the Bank oriented. Researchers investigate a specific issue and around the world, the user base is growing 49 fast. In March 2010 the first localized version Open and collaborative knowledge of ADePT was launched by the Bank, and Bap- generation penas, the Indonesian Ministry of Planning, The Bank is experimenting with two promising translated it into Bahasa Indonesia and includ- tools to support external research, economic ed new tables for analysis at the decentralized and sector work, and technical assistance: Kabupaten level.4 • Knowledge Platforms. The Bank is investing Another example of technology to create about $3 million a year in six Knowledge a more open research environment is DEC’s Platforms as an experiment in greater open- The Bank is global poverty monitoring work, which aims at ness. The platforms promote connectivity experimenting producing the most accurate data possible on inside the Bank and across the international with two poverty reduction.5 One challenge in poverty development community to address strate- promising tools monitoring has been that the Bank’s dollar-a- gic, cross-cutting, and transformational de- to support day poverty calculations could not be easily rep- velopment issues. The first three platforms, external licated by external researchers, and the model competitively selected in January 2011, are research, would not allow for the use of different assump- already working with partners to collabora- economic and tions, such as purchasing power parity rates or tively generate and practically apply open sector work, poverty lines. To address this, DEC created knowledge in the areas of urbanization, and technical PovcalNet, an online analytical tool for global green development, and information and assistance: poverty and inequality analysis. Users can rep- communication technologies for account- knowledge licate the Bank’s global poverty measures with ability and development. The second group platforms primary data from 700 household surveys— of knowledge platforms, selected in July and the and choose their own poverty line, purchasing 2011, will pursue open knowledge on jobs, e-collaboration power parity exchange rates, and aggregations. food security and nutrition, and fragility, information PovcalNet is now widely used for research and conflict, and violence. technology as an educational tool for students in develop- • E-collaboration information technology plat­ platform ment economics. form. The Bank is investing in technology that will enable people in and outside the Open publishing Bank to connect in e-space, allowing world- The Bank’s Office of the Publisher is making wide communities of practice to share, store, the transition from a traditional book publish- and retrieve knowledge products. By in- ing model to a new model for the dissemination volving worldwide communities of govern- of the Bank’s formal research outputs, whether ments, practitioners, development agencies, published by the Bank or authored by Bank and civil society organizations, the Bank is staff and published externally. The new model moving toward greater integration with the offers immediate free access to the Bank’s peer- larger development community. reviewed literature and data, with no restric- tions on use and reuse. Adopting a creative Open policy debate commons–like attribution license, an Open Over the past 10 years the Bank has become Knowledge Repository is being created for all more inclusive, involving civil society, non- Bank books, journal articles, working papers, governmental organizations, and the pri- relevant economic and sector work, and associ- vate sector in evidence-based debates on ated datasets. policy and investment choices. This broader 50 involvement—the democratization of devel- With more of the Bank’s knowledge work opment, the empowerment of local change conducted jointly with clients, and financed agents—can be difficult and contentious. But with trust funds in partnerships, an inevitable it can also bring about broad-based and sus- implication is that the knowledge work reflects tainable progress. An example of empower- not only a Bank perspective on what should be ing local change agents comes from the WBI, done and how, but also the perspectives of part- which has been convening, facilitating, and ners and stakeholders. This affects both how the supporting a multistakeholder coalition of Bank does knowledge work (trust funds have public, private, and civil society actors pursu- been more available for technical assistance ing better governance of Ghana’s oil sector. than for economic and sector work) and what it Ghana is part of a regional initiative sponsored works on (trust funds for climate change, gover- by the WBI, the Africa Region, and a network nance, and debt relief have added to the Bank’s of global and local partners to promote greater ability to fund knowledge work in these areas). accountability and transparency in the extrac- One example of the elements of the Bank’s tive sectors. By supporting multistakeholder knowledge ecosystem coming together in engagement, the program strengthens both partnership with a client is the Kenya Open the technical capacities and collaborative skills Data Initiative (box  8). Strong partnership of those involved. with government was supported by economic Box 8  Kenya Open Data Initiative Source: http://opendata.go.ke/page/community-apps, with permission of the Kenya ICT Board. 51 and sector work on public expenditures and with, external reviewers and partners. By solic- on social accountability, a technical assistance iting feedback on this Report, the Bank is invit- project with the National Statistics Agency, ing interested parties to provide their inputs, to regional work with DEC and WBI, and an on- inform the content of future Reports and what the-ground presence by the Bank. As a result of they will cover. This supports the Bank’s open the initiative, the government of Kenya is plac- knowledge agenda, providing interested parties ing important information at the disposal of its the opportunity to give their views on how the citizens. Bank can ensure that its knowledge work is of the highest quality, is relevant to today’s devel- *   *   * opment challenges, and contributes to results on the ground. This first Knowledge Report is an exercise in opening the Bank’s knowledge processes to Notes global scrutiny and inviting inputs on how the 1. Operational Policies and Country Services Bank does its knowledge work. Having inven- Vice Presidency. toried its knowledge work, the Bank for the 2. FPD 2010. first time describes how it manages the work, 3. See Ravallion and Wagstaff (2010) and the what it is doing to better measure results, and reference to RePEc in chapter 1. what topics require further attention. For the 4. ENP Newswire, March 15, 2010. preparation of this Report, Bank management 5. For the latest update, see Chen and Raval- invited extensive inputs from, and discussions lion (2010). 52 Feature 4  Data tools: open knowledge through technology ‘This is so different from anything we’ve done before’ data analysis to a much more diverse audience of number Between 2003 and 2006 the World Bank worked closely crunchers. with the Indonesian government on a program to reduce pov- “Indonesia’s government collects lots of data about liv- erty. This three-year effort, supported by nearly $1 million in ing standards, households, wages, and so forth, but that Bank funds, required collaborative research and analysis and data is centrally located in Jakarta and used by very few resulted in a comprehensive poverty strategy. Overall, the agencies,” said Michael Lokshin, a Bank economist who program was a success. It also was a traditional form of the was also the lead developer of ADePT. “Indonesia has Bank’s knowledge work. But just a few years later, the Bank hundreds of districts. The idea behind the project was to and Indonesia engaged in a different, nontraditional, form of translate our software into Bahasa Indonesia and install —­ knowledge work­ using new technologies to give local offi- ADePT across the different districts, allowing people in cials all around the country a new way to access and analyze local government to use large datasets for their own local data to produce their own strategies. needs.” In March 2010 the first standalone version of the Auto- ADePT was started in 2007, and today the Bank already mated DEC Poverty Tables (ADePT), a powerful analytical is working on a fifth version. It is emblematic of the Bank’s tool developed by the World Bank’s research team, was growing commitment not only to open data, but to open launched in Indonesia. ADePT is software designed to sim- —­ knowledge­ the tool, freely available to download from the plify and speed up economic analysis. It also reduces human Bank’s website, has been translated into 15 different lan- error and produces standardized results. And its Windows- guages, including Arabic, French, Portuguese, Romanian, based interface, which is much easier and less complex than and Spanish; Bahasa Indonesia was the first translation. By traditional statistical analysis software, opens the door to producing a standard set of tables and graphs, ADePT also 53 Feature 4  Data tools: open knowledge through technology (continued) allows for easier intracountry comparisons among different a labor market analysis event in Thailand in April 2011, for areas of economic analysis. Current “modules” or specific additional training. applications cover analysis relating to poverty, inequality, “This new model for how we do research combines open labor, gender, education, health, and social protection, and access to data with open access to the analytic tools used to more are being developed. inform policy discussions using those data,” said Martin Ra- Through its Open Tools initiative, the Bank is redefining vallion, the World Bank’s director of development research. the meaning of research by creating its own data analysis “Our vision is that data, the knowledge, and the solutions to products, sharing them with the world, and then training oth- development problems will ultimately be generated collab- ers on how to use them. In addition to ADePT, the Bank’s oratively by those who have most to gain from the success research team created PovcalNet, an online analytical tool of those solutions.” for global poverty and inequality analysis. These tools are not For the Bank, opening its data was just one step toward just for policy analysis, either. AidFlows is a data visualiza- its even broader vision of open knowledge. Tools like AD- tion tool that offers country-by-country details on aid transfer ePT help expand the universe of informed researchers, while —­ as it moves from donors to beneficiaries­ a strong tool for training and education on using the tools strengthens the transparency. long-term benefit. To further assist researchers, for example, The end result is that once these tools have been created the Bank is producing a series of instructional ADePT guide- and shared, all citizens, from a national minister to a local of- books and user manuals. Higher education training courses ficial to an engaged academic, can do better, faster research are also being developed. Lokshin said the Bank has done on their own terms, and for their own needs. ADePT training in more than 30 countries so far. For Indonesia’s localized version of ADePT, Lokshin and “What we can do in three minutes with ADePT would others spent weeks working with government officials and normally take three months,” Lokshin said. “This is so differ- others to ensure that they knew how to use their localized ent from anything we’ve done before. We’re not just writing version to form better policy. According to Lokshin, the initial research papers anymore. We’re still doing that, but we’re training workshops were such a success that Indonesian of- also developing commercial-grade software. And we’re giv- ficials have actively kept up their learning relationship with the ing others their own software, something tangible to use for Bank, traveling to Bank headquarters or elsewhere, including their own interpretation.” A1 Annex 1 Spending on Core Knowledge Products Table A1.1   Core knowledge products ($ thousands) 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Knowledge for clients 214,146 255,352 264,121 297,941 301,349 306,979 343,472 384,486 444,448 Economic and sector work 110,832 142,771 142,771 163,464 163,068 157,724 162,753 169,622 183,596 Technical assistance 56,286 56,817 50,256 62,773 81,200 93,262 125,627 156,409 195,081 Impact evaluation 0 0 0 0 1,191 2,817 4,626 8,890 11,195 External client training 47,027 55,764 71,095 71,705 55,889 53,177 50,465 49,565 54,575 For country clients 164,819 190,531 204,845 239,279 240,816 240,350 258,833 273,405 307,076 Economic and sector work 81,365 98,961 100,777 125,437 126,887 117,412 114,196 113,003 112,933 Technical assistance 36,427 35,806 32,973 42,137 56,849 66,944 89,546 101,947 128,372 Impact evaluation 0 0 0 0 1,191 2,817 4,626 8,890 11,195 External client training 47,027 55,764 71,095 71,705 55,889 53,177 50,465 49,565 54,575 For global and regional clients 49,326 64,821 59,277 58,663 60,533 66,630 84,638 111,082 137,372 Economic and sector work 29,467 43,810 41,994 38,027 36,182 40,312 48,557 56,620 70,663 Technical assistance 19,859 21,011 17,283 20,636 24,351 26,318 36,081 54,462 66,709 Knowledge as a public good 34,348 39,161 40,488 42,065 42,712 46,955 50,506 55,031 62,258 Research services 22,523 25,113 24,643 25,920 26,522 27,919 28,293 32,958 35,273 Global monitoring 8,212 9,375 11,523 12,934 13,187 15,101 17,043 16,780 18,558 World Development Report 3,613 4,674 4,322 3,211 3,003 3,935 5,170 5,293 8,427 Knowledge for internal use 53,824 49,772 60,530 75,093 87,295 88,247 91,282 90,772 99,154 Knowledge management 39,204 35,281 45,099 58,368 64,875 67,200 75,794 76,098 81,443 New product development 14,620 14,491 15,431 16,725 22,420 21,047 15,488 14,673 17,711 Core knowledge total 302,317 344,285 365,139 415,100 431,355 442,181 485,259 530,289 605,860 Client services budget 1,249,160 1,457,771 2,558,531 2,041,880 1,894,724 1,848,673 1,972,143 1,809,889 1,955,579 Core knowledge as a percentage of client services budget 24.2 23.6 14.3 20.3 22.8 23.9 24.6 29.3 31.0 Note: World Bank Institute data include scholarships as part of trust funds. Source: Business Warehouse. 54 55 Table A1.2   Core knowledge products, Bank budget and trust funds, fiscal years 2002, 2006, and 2010 ($ thousands)   2002 2006 2010 Bank budget Bank- Bank budget Bank- Bank budget (including executed (including executed (including   reimbursables) trust funds Total reimbursables) trust funds Total reimbursables) Total Knowledge for clients 152,149 61,997 214,146 204,080 97,269 301,349 249,294 444,448 Economic and sector work 93,905 16,927 110,832 131,256 31,812 163,068 129,431 183,596 Technical assistance 29,850 26,436 56,286 40,813 40,387 81,200 92,043 195,081 Impact evaluation 0 0 0 260 931 1,191 2,183 11,195 External client training 28,394 18,634 47,027 31,751 24,138 55,889 25,637 54,575 Knowledge as a public good 27,283 7,065 34,348 31,604 11,108 42,712 42,839 62,258 Research services 16,923 5,601 22,523 17,626 8,896 26,522 21,487 35,273 Global monitoring 7,936 276 8,212 11,723 1,464 13,187 15,156 18,558 World Development Report 2,424 1,188 3,613 2,254 749 3,003 6,195 8,427 Knowledge for internal use 39,756 14,068 53,824 66,652 20,643 87,295 68,771 99,154 Knowledge management 27,868 11,336 39,204 48,982 15,892 64,875 51,934 81,443 New product development 11,888 2,732 14,620 17,670 4,750 22,420 16,838 17,711 Core knowledge total 219,187 83,129 302,317 302,336 129,019 431,355 360,905 605,860 Note: World Bank Institute data include scholarships as part of trust funds. Source: Business Warehouse. A2 Annex 2 Progress in Implementing the Knowledge Strategy The Bank’s knowledge strategy aims to deliver Over the past year, the Bank had disclosed the best expertise to our clients, to enhance the more than 13,000 new documents, adding development impact of our knowledge, and to to a collection of more than 117,000 reports, strengthen the Bank’s global connector role. accessed by nearly 3,000 worldwide users Implementation is progressing as planned. every day. • Knowledge Platforms. To increase the Open development Bank’s external connections and foster the • Open Data, Open Knowledge, Open Solu­ co-generation of knowledge, the Knowledge tions. The Bank’s focus on openness and Platforms program was launched in January ease of access was led by the Open Data 2011, bringing together groups of research- initiative. Since its launch in April 2010, ers and practitioners to work on a pressing the website now includes more than 7,000 global development. Three Knowledge Plat- indicators for free access, with more than forms were initiated in early 2011—the Ur- 1,200 indicators available in Arabic, Chi- banization Knowledge Platform, the Green nese, French, and Spanish. Building on this Growth Knowledge Platform, and Infor- momentum, the Apps for Development mation and Communication Technologies competition—a global competition to build (ICT) for Open Development. Three more “apps” with open data—attracted 107 en- have recently been commissioned—the Jobs tries from 36 countries across the world. The Knowledge Platform, the Knowledge Plat- Bank has also launched its “Mapping for form on Food Security and Nutrition, and Results” platform (http://maps.worldbank. The Hive: Fragility, Conflict, and Violence. org/) to help users visualize the location of Early results from these programs include Bank projects together with information numerous multicountry dialogue events to on funding and results. Complementing gain consensus, establish key global partner- the Bank’s research are software systems ships, and create communities of practice and tools—such as ADePT (www.world- around core topics. bank.org/adept), iSimulate (http://isimu- late.worldbank.org), and PovCalNet—that Strengthening delivery to clients allow users to experiment and interact more • Finance and Private Sector Development closely with the Bank’s information. global practice pilot. To improve the Bank’s • Access to Information. The Bank’s commit- responsiveness to its clients and ensure that ment to transparency was strengthened by knowledge flows throughout the institu- the Access to Information policy (July 1, tion, the Bank has begun a global practice 2010), providing wide access to information pilot for the Finance and Private Sector De- about projects under preparation, projects velopment vice presidential unit. The aim is under implementation, analytical and ad- to implement a new organizational struc- visory activities, and Board proceedings. ture that facilitates mobility in the Bank 56 57 and knowledge sharing in and outside it. the Disaster Risk Management team, ad- Lessons from the pilot are expected to in- vice on the legal framework and prospective form efforts for broader changes to overall water public-private partnerships in Ghana organizational structure. by the Public-Private Partnerships team, • World Bank Fellows. The World Bank Fel- and a practitioner-to-practitioner training lows program helps the Bank attract top- program for provider payment and health class external experts and brings global ex- insurance by the Health Systems team. pertise and world-class ideas to its clients. • South-South Knowledge Exchange. To Three World Bank Fellows are currently leverage the Bank’s position as a global engaged with the Bank. Michael Joseph, connector on development issues, the former CEO of Safaricom, is advising Bank is facilitating dialogues among de- Bank clients in ministries, regulatory bod- veloping country practitioners and pilot- ies, and the private sector on the policy, ing approaches to mainstream such ex- regulatory, and implementation aspects changes in Bank operations. Through the of mobile banking. Edward Glaeser, re- South-South Experience Exchange Facil- nowned urbanization expert, is strength- ity (www.worldbank.org/seetf), 69 grants ening the Bank’s engagements with urban were funded as of spring 2011, with an practitioner communities and govern- average size of $100,000, sharing knowl- ments across the world. Rosina Bierbaum, edge with 52 countries. The exchanges renowned climate change expert, is work- covered agriculture (fishing and forestry), ing with the Bank’s climate change team education, finance, industry, trade, pub- to develop screening tools for operations in lic administration, and law and justice. low-income countries. Key exchanges were between Vietnam • Chief Technical Specialists. The Chief Tech- and Thailand, Singapore, and Hong Kong nical Specialist program aims to strengthen SAR, China, on establishing medical pro- the Bank’s capacity and increase knowledge fession licensing systems, between Haiti capabilities by attracting world-class experts and Brazil and the Republic of Korea on to work at the Bank. Currently, the Bank garment production, and among Burkina has two Chief Technical Specialists: Daniel Faso, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria on small- Kammen, expert in renewable energy issues, scale private irrigation. and Inci Okter Robe, expert in finance and • Innovation Fund for Bank country teams. private sector development. As an incentive for Bank country teams to • Global Expert Teams. The Bank has spon- engage in innovative methods of service de- sored seven teams of the World Bank’s top livery to clients, the Bank initiated the In- experts to engage with the Bank’s country novation Fund last year. The idea is to pro- teams and clients on strategically relevant vide a small amount of seed funding to test topics: Climate Change Adaptation, Disas- the potential of the innovative concept. The ter Risk Management, Fragile and Conflict selected projects had a focus on new prod- Situations, Health Systems, Public Sector ucts for clients, co-creation with clients and Performance, Public-Private Partnerships, other development partners, and solutions and Social Safety Nets. Recent examples of that improve transparency and information engagements include flood relief support by flow. Thirteen projects were funded on a 58 pilot basis. In one project the Bank helped decide on funding allocations for corporate the Liberian government develop a base- priority initiatives, such as the Knowledge line map of the water point infrastructure. Platforms and Global Expert Teams. It is Using a mobile application called FLOW, expected to play a large role in the follow-up users could respond to a survey on a touch to the Knowledge Report, including the re- screen, take a picture of the water point, ob- sults framework and governance for knowl- tain its GPS location, and then send all the edge activities. data to a central server—a step forward in • Knowledge Report. The Bank’s first Knowl- better infrastructure planning. edge Report is an effort to build consensus • Knowledge and Learning Council. To on how the Bank “does knowledge differ- strengthen corporate management and pri- ently” and provide a benchmark on the oritization of the Bank’s knowledge activi- Bank’s current knowledge services. The ties, the Knowledge and Learning Council aim is to modernize knowledge services by was established in August 2010. The Coun- strengthening their quality, relevance, re- cil, led by a Managing Director (Mah- sults, and accountability. Extensive client moud Mohieldin), comprises members of surveys were piloted for the Report and sup- the Bank’s senior management. Over the plemented by extensive internal discussions past year, the Council has met quarterly to on various aspects of the Report. References Banerjee, Abhijit, Angus Deaton, Nora Lustig, and Regional Partnership Programs: An and Ken Rogoff. 2006. “An Evaluation of Independent Assessment. Washington, DC: World Bank Research, 1998–2005.” World World Bank, IEG. Bank, Washington, DC. IEG (Independent Evaluation Group). 2011b. Chen, Shaohua, and Martin Ravallion. 2010. “Trust Fund Support for Development: An “The Developing World is Poorer than We Evaluation of the World Bank’s Trust Fund Thought, But No Less Successful in the Portfolio.” Discussed at the March 10, 2011, Fight against Poverty.” Quarterly Journal of informal Board meeting of the World Bank. Economics 125 (4): 1577–1625. World Bank, IEG, Washington, DC. Chioda, Laura, Augusto De la Torre, and William Legovini, Arianna. 2010. “Development Im- F. Maloney. 2011. “Towards a Conceptual pact Evaluation Initiative: A World Bank- Framework for the Knowledge Bank.” Back- wide Strategic Approach to Enhance De- ground paper for 2011 Knowledge Report. velopmental Effectiveness.” Discussed at Fries, Tom, and Peter Walkenhorst. 2011. informal Committee on Development Ef- “Sharing Global Governance: The Role of fectiveness meeting, July 14. World Bank, Civil Society Organizations.” Bertelsmann Development Impact Evaluation Initiative, Stiftung, Gütersloh, Germany. Washington, DC. FPD (Finance and Private Sector Develop- OED (Operations Evaluation Department). ment). 2010. “Global Practices—Prototyp- 2003. Sharing Knowledge: Innovations and ing Global Practices in the FPD Network.” Remaining Challenges. An OED Evaluation World Bank, FPD, Washington, DC. 2003. Washington, DC: World Bank, OED. Hounshell, Blake. 2008. “The World’s Top Think QAG (Quality Assurance Group). 2009a. “In- Tanks.” Foreign Policy, January 9. http:// ternal Knowledge Management Products: blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2008/01/09/ a QAG Learning Review.” World Bank, the_worlds_top_think_tanks. QAG, Washington, DC. IEG (Independent Evaluation Group). 2008. QAG (Quality Assurance Group). 2009b. “Syn- Using Knowledge to Improve Development thesis of Past Assessments of Analytical and Effectiveness: An Evaluation of World Bank Advisory Activities (AAA): A QAG Re- Economic and Sector Work and Technical view.” World Bank, QAG, Washington, DC. Assistance, 2000–2006. Washington, DC: Ravallion, Martin, and Adam Wagstaff. 2010. World Bank, IEG. “The World Bank’s Publication Record.” IEG (Independent Evaluation Group). 2010. Policy Research Working Paper 5374. “The Matrix System at the World Bank: An World Bank, Washington DC. IEG Evaluation.” World Bank, IEG, Wash- World Bank. 2007. “A Management Frame- ington, DC. work for World-Bank Administered Trust IEG (Independent Evaluation Group). 2011a. Funds.” (R2007-0198). World Bank, Wash- The World Bank’s Involvement in Global ington, DC. 59 60 World Bank. 2010a. “Country Survey, 2010 and Results-Oriented Approach to Learning Review.” World Bank, Washington, DC. for Capacity Development.” World Bank, World Bank. 2010b. “Transforming the Bank’s World Bank Institute, Washington, DC. Knowledge Agenda: A Framework for Ac- Zoellick, Robert B. 2010. “Democratizing De- tion.” World Bank, Knowledge Strategy velopment Economics: As Prepared for De- Group, Washington, DC. livery.” Speech at Georgetown University, World Bank Institute. 2009. “The Capacity De- Washington, DC, September 29. http:// velopment Results Framework—A Strategic go.worldbank.org/5VEUBEBHY0. The more widely we share knowledge, the more connections we make . . . and change happens in unforeseen ways.