10 Things You Never Knew About WB in ESSD

The World Bank is establishing a mutual learning process through Youth Voices to raise awareness of the importance of youth in development.

The Youth Voices program establishes a mutual learning process for young people ages 15 to 25. The program provides a platform for youth to bring fresh ideas to the Bank’s work, make recommendations based on their experiences and priorities, contribute to the Bank's analytical and advisory activities, and participate in project monitoring and evaluation. Youth Voices programs in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, Moldova, Macedonia, and Turkey support leadership and professional skills development by helping young people participate in educational events and empowering them to become agents of change in the areas that concern them most - education, sexual and reproductive health, employment, working with the private sector, and rural development.

The World Bank is providing assistance in modernizing irrigation and drainage systems

In many ECA countries, irrigation and drainage systems were designed for large farms that would be centrally managed. In the early years of the transition, many of these systems collapsed, leading to sharp declines in the production of higher value crops that require reliable irrigation water for competitive production. To reverse this trend, the World Bank is financing irrigation and drainage projects in 12 countries, among them: Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Poland. The projects support repair of basic infrastructure and promote institutional reforms aimed at giving farmers responsibility for systems operation and maintenance. These changes have helped to recover farm incomes and the agricultural sector in many countries.

The World Bank is helping countries adapt its agricultural services for a market economy

Many ECA countries have faced difficulties in modernizing their agricultural services and food safety systems to meet the needs of small private farmers, while responding to the challenges of a global market economy. EU markets present special challenges for food safety and certification. The World Bank is helping countries such as Croatia, Albania, Romania, Serbia, Georgia, and Kazakhstan to modernize their food safety systems, register and certify livestock and animal products for safe production, register farmers, reform subsidy systems from distorting input-based systems to direct income support, and adopt environmentally friendly farming practices.

The World Bank is preventing human and economic losses through disaster management and mitigation

The ECA Region is vulnerable to a wide range of natural disasters that can cause substantial human and economic losses. To address these risks, the World Bank is providing assistance to countries such as Romania, Turkey, and Kyrgyzstan in obtaining the financing needed for emergency rehabilitation and reconstruction following catastrophic events, such as the devastating earthquake in Turkey’s Marmara region which in 1999 took the lives of 17,000 people. In recent years, the Bank is directing more attention to mitigation and emergency preparedness programs that enhance government response capacities and reduce natural hazard risk. By taking this pro-active approach, countries can reduce the impact of future disasters and the resulting burden on state budgets.

Strengthening agricultural marketing chains promotes sustainable rural development

Integrated marketing supply chains of a product or group of products consist of the whole set of arrangements among producers, traders, processors and buyers addressing what and how much to produce, time of delivery, quality, safety standards, and price. They involve exchanges of information; sometimes help with technology and finance; and can be initiated by and invested in by private traders, processors, or large retailers who act as chain leaders. Through a small commercial agriculture development project in Bosnia, the Bank is supporting the development of integrated supply chains of commodities (wine, fruit, vegetables) where the country has a comparative advantage and small farmers have the ability to participate.

The World Bank is helping Georgia and Uzbekistan in community-based cultural tourism and heritage protection to enhance local incomes

The World Bank has contributed to improving cultural heritage management to protect national assets and generate increased local income from tourism. In Georgia, a Bank project helped forge ties with private and international donors, led to new laws for protecting historic properties and encouraging private investment in preservation, and supported the revitalization of Old Town, Tbilisi where street and building improvements prompted private investors to renovate their historic properties and open new businesses. Other investments support revitalization of traditional crafts and promote tourism development in Signaghi and Uplistsikhe. In Uzbekistan, support is provided to master craftsmen in teaching their crafts to youth nationwide, and strengthening local capacity for using cultural assets to generate new sources of income.

Using carbon finance to promote energy efficiency and conservation in Moldova

In its transition to a market economy, Moldova retained inefficient energy-use patterns due to the historically low, subsidized energy prices of a centrally planned economy. But there is great potential for energy savings and greenhouse emissions reduction, especially in the heating sector -- and proven potential for energy efficient and clean energy technology using renewable energy (biomass) in heating schools, hospitals, and other public buildings in rural communities. Energy efficiency and conservation is now a cornerstone of Moldova’s energy and environmental policies. The country has initiated two carbon finance projects supported by the World Bank Community Development Carbon Fund (CDCF). One project will support more efficient rural heating systems; the other will be used to obtain income by selling carbon emission credits.

The World Bank is alleviating rural poverty by improving local governance and capacity to provide essential village infrastructure

In Kyrgyzstan, the World Bank financed a project to improve local governance and capacity for improving access to essential infrastructure services, and to support private small-scale enterprise development. The project’s components support income and employment generating investments in village infrastructure and group-managed small and medium enterprises, and help communities and local authorities work together in achieving development objectives. After about one year of pilot and main-phase activity, the project was expanded to 99 communities, and led to over 80 completed community investment plans that encompass 361 micro-projects addressing social infrastructure, communal and economic infrastructure, sanitation and environmental facilities rehabilitation, and income-generating activities.

The World Bank is helping to protect lives and property by improving weather forecasting services

Weather-related economic losses constitute a serious constraint to the development of regional economies. The cost of flooding alone is very high: in the Russian Federation alone, the cost is estimated at US$1-2 billion annually. Such losses can be reduced if accurate hazard data and forecasts are available, and people know how to respond. In Russia, the World Bank is assisting the government by financing the upgrading of weather forecasting equipment. The Bank is also conducting reviews in other countries in the region to understand capacity gaps and assess the potential gains that could be made through cooperation in this field. The study is scheduled for completion in FY2007.

The World Bank is working toward environmentally sustainable development in the Caspian littoral states

ECSSD has been involved with the Caspian Environment Program (CEP) since its inception in 1995. The main goal of the CEP is environmentally sustainable development to obtain the utmost long-term benefits for the human populations of the region, while protecting human health, ecological integrity, and the region’s sustainability for future generations. The CEP was developed by the Caspian littoral states (Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan) with assistance from international agencies such as the World Bank, UNEP, UNDP, and the EU. Among other activities, ECSSD has assisted CEP states with investments, fundraising for workshops and studies on priority issues such as sturgeon and oil spills, and sharing the Bank’s experience with other regional seas programs. For more details on the CEP, click here.