James D. Wolfensohn, President of the World Bank Group, addressed the annual meetings of the World Bank and the International
Monetary Fund. He discussed the context in which
the Bank operates today; the role of the Bank in
development now, and in the coming years; what the Bank can
do to achieve its objectives in an effective and accountable

These are the prepared remarks
of Robert S. McNamara, President of the World
Bank, International Finance Corporation, and the International Development Association (IDA). He declares that our common enterprise is to drive back poverty, to lift living standards and to enhance the dignity of man. The Bank intends to lend twice as much in the next five years as in the previous five. He discusses the Bank’s lending in Asia. He discusses new geographical accents. The Bank and IDA are now

For many developing countries, natural
resource exports such as oil, diamonds and copper continue
to be important drivers for economic growth and provide a
unique opportunity for generating revenues for much-needed
infrastructure and human development. Dependence on
extractive resources, however, may also increase the
likelihood of underdevelopment, fragility and conflict. The
challenges for managing these resources efficiently are

The Operations Evaluation Department
(OED) is an independent unit within the World Bank. The
goals of evaluation are to learn from experience, to provide
an objective basis for assessing the results of the Bank’s
work, and to provide accountability in the achievement of
its objectives. This report on the Post-Conflict Fund (PCF)
is one of twenty six case studies that have been prepared as
source material for the second phase of OED’s independent

Self-help groups (SHGs) are the most
common form of microfinance in India. The authors provide
evidence that SHGs, composed of women only, undertake
collective actions for the provision of public goods within
village communities. Using a theoretical model, this paper
shows that an elected official, whose aim is to maximize
re-election chances, exerts higher effort in providing
public goods when private citizens undertake collective

The Country Opinion Survey in Côte
d’Ivoire assists the World Bank Group (WBG) in gaining a
better understanding of how stakeholders in Côte d’Ivoire
perceive the WBG. It provides the WBG with systematic
feedback from national and local governments,
multilateral/bilateral agencies, media, academia, the
private sector, and civil society in Côte d’Ivoire on 1)
their views regarding the general environment in Côte

The Country Opinion Survey in Bolivia
assists the World Bank Group (WBG) in gaining a better
understanding of how stakeholders in Bolivia perceive the
WBG. It provides the WBG with systematic feedback from
national and local governments, multilateral/bilateral
agencies, media, academia, the private sector, and civil
society in Bolivia on 1) their views regarding the general
environment in Bolivia; 2) their overall attitudes toward

During the 1990s, powerful development institutions like the World Bank came to see the social networks and norms of the rural poor in developing countries as 'assets' to be tapped for poverty alleviation. Defined by Robert Putnam (1995:67) as 'features of social organisation such as networks, norms, and social trust that facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit', social capital was proclaimed the 'missing link' in development (Grooetaert 1997).

 
Este documento contiene información descriptiva y de referencia sobre los diferentes mecanismos de financiamiento público para el desarrollo rural en Bolivia. El material se produjo en el marco de dos seminarios realizados con el objetivo de difundir esta informacióncon organizaciones vinculadas a Trocaire y el Centro de Investigación y Promoción del Campesinado (CIPCA) en el departamento de La Paz.

Preparation of the $1.45 billion Nam
Theun 2 (NT2) project in the Lao People's Democratic
Republic (Lao PDR) represented an important milestone for
the government, the developers, international partners, and
other stakeholders. The story of its preparation and
implementation is an important one, because it provides
valuable insights and lessons that can be applied in future
projects of similar size, scope, and complexity. Projects

* Asier Hernando Malax-Echevarria

El documento hace una comparación de los cambios ocurridos en la propuesta Yasuni-ITT, entre los términos de referencia (versión 2009) y el acuerdo entre el PNUD y el gobierno ecuatoriano (versión 3 agosto 2010). El documento forma parte de la serie Análsis de coyuntura de Comité Ecuménico de Proyectos (CEP).