In recent years, the World Bank has strengthened its emphasis on working with governments and other partners to ensure that its support has wider impact than on just a single community or region. Real success is measured by a country's overall development, and the Bank contributes to this by providing developing countries with a range of services that includes analysis, advice and resources to fund development activities.

These activities include financing infrastructure as well as strengthening public institutions, improving policies in key sectors, and empowering communities. Bank-supported programs completed over the last three years included investments that led to:

• 46,000 clinics being built or upgraded and 1.3 million training opportunities provided for health personnel in order to support primary health care delivery in 73 countries;
• 130,000 classrooms being built or improved, 1.2 million teachers trained, and 350 million textbooks purchased and distributed to support basic education in 49 countries;
• an estimated 31.5 million people with access to new or improved water sources and 9.7 million with access to improved sanitation in 63 countries.

Of course, investments like these do not guarantee good results at the country level—but they can help. A health clinic needs to be accessible to nearby communities and have qualified and motivated staff, essential medicines, basic equipment, water, and electricity. It also needs a policy environment that makes basic health care both affordable and sustainable.

The World Bank works with other partners to support national policies and programs that can bring together all the essential ingredients for success. In this way, Bank funding contributes to progress towards long-term development targets, like those embodied in the Millennium Development Goals.

While the programs outlined here were being carried out in the 1990s, the countries themselves were making steady progress in these areas:

• more babies and children were surviving: the mortality rate for children under age five dropped from 97 per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 81 in 2000 for the 73 countries;
• more children were completing primary school: the primary completion rate as a percent of the relevant age group rose from 72 percent in 1990 to 78 percent in 2000 for 48 countries. This excludes China, where recent data is unavailable;
• a larger share of the population had access to clean water and sanitary facilities: with the percentage rising from 71 in 1990 to 79 in 2000 for improved water sources, and from 37 percent to 48 percent for improved sanitation in 63 countries.

The World Bank is committed to strengthening its focus on these kinds of broad country results. In coming years, this will involve more systematic reporting on development outcomes and assessments of the contributions we make. Our contributions are part of a collective effort. The Bank is working with countries and other partners to find the most comprehensive and effective approach to bring about sustainable improvements in the lives of the poor.

The booklet offers a series of country spotlights to illustrate how the Bank works together with its partners to support countries in their efforts to reduce poverty.

The first three spotlights on Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, and Egypt show how the Bank is helping countries to develop broadly-supported poverty reduction strategies.

The next six spotlights on Vietnam, India, Latvia, Bolivia, Uganda and Colombia illustrate how the Bank provides support to address specific development problems related to the lack of opportunity, voice, and security.

The final example from Niger highlights one way that the Bank is working more closely with its partners to get better development results.