Trust Fund Reform

Trust funds enhance the World Bank’s capacity to support delivery of results in our client countries. They provide resources to advance work on global public goods, fragile and conflict-affected states, disaster prevention and relief, global and regional partnerships and knowledge and innovation.

The role of trust funds has evolved dramatically during the last few decades, and the World Bank Group has undertaken initiatives and reforms to continuously improve the effectiveness of trust fund resources and activities. The World Bank’s latest reform to transition the IBRD/IDA trust fund portfolio into fewer and larger Umbrella 2.0 Programs aims to deliver transformative solutions for client countries and development partners through improved strategic alignment, increased efficiency, reduced fragmentation and transactions costs, and enhanced management oversight.

For our Development Partners, the reform elevates the World Bank-Donor partnership to focus on strategy, enables collective action at scale on development challenges, supports knowledge exchange, and strengthens results reporting and visibility. For clients, the reform facilitates better alignment of trust fund activities with country priorities and enables trust fund resources to be better integrated in World Bank country programs.

Umbrella 2.0 Programs

The IBRD/IDA trust fund reform aims to reduce fragmentation in the World Bank's trust fund portfolio. At the heart of this initiative is the streamlining of this portfolio into a limited number of larger Umbrella 2.0 Programs.

Umbrella Programs:

Are strongly aligned with the World Bank's priorities, and maximize the value of development resources through strengthened integration with the Bank’s institutional strategy, planning, budgeting, and staffing processes.
Provide opportunities for elevated dialogue between the World Bank and its development partners
Operate at scale to achieve improved results on the ground while improving development effectiveness and impact for client countries.

Beyond scale, the reform process has ensured that Umbrella 2.0 Programs come with standardized approaches to governance, communications and visibility, as well as managing for results and reporting. These greatly reduce transaction costs and allow the Bank and its development partners to focus on delivering results where it matters most.

Learn more about Umbrella 2.0 Programs

Selected Umbrella Programs

	The Digital Development Partnership (DDP) brings public and private sector partners together to advance digital solutions and accelerate safe and inclusive digital transformation in developing countries. It catalyzes support to low- and middle-income countries in the articulation and implementation of digital development strategies and operational work programs across the following key areas: data and indicators, digital economy enabling environment, internet access for all, digital government, and mainstreaming digital services, solutions, and platforms. DDP was established in 2016 to help operationalize the 2016 World Development Report on Digital Dividends.
	Launched in April 2021, The Competitiveness for Jobs & Economic Transformation (C-JET) Umbrella Trust Fund is a global partnership facility that helps foster the economic transformation needed to enable better jobs for more women and men, sustainably and at scale. Building upon decades of experience from private sector development (PSD) trust funds such as infoDev and the Competitive Industries and Innovation Program (CIIP), C-JET will focus on the enabling conditions and programs that promote the entry and growth of competitive firms and sectors as drivers of better jobs.
	The Umbrella Facility for Gender Equality (UFGE) is a World Bank Group multi-donor Umbrella Program financing research, impact evaluations and data to help policy makers and practitioners close gender gaps in countries and sectors. The UFGE has financed work in over 90 countries, influencing policies and programs and changing how companies work. Learn more in our latest Annual Report.
	The Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents (GFF) is a multi-stakeholder global partnership housed at the World Bank that is committed to ensuring all women, children and adolescents can survive and thrive. Launched in July 2015, the GFF supports 36 low and lower-middle income countries with catalytic financing and technical assistance to develop and implement prioritized national health plans to scale up access to affordable, quality care for women, children, and adolescents.
	The Partnership for Market Implementation (PMI) assists countries to design, pilot, and implement pricing instruments aligned with their development priorities. A 10-year program with a capitalization target of US$250 million, the Partnership brings an ambitious and long-term vision for the viability of carbon markets to its support for programs and policies -- across jurisdictions and sectors -- that introduce a strong price signal on carbon emissions and contribute to the Paris Agreement goal of limiting temperature rise to 1.5°C.
	PROGREEN, the Global Partnership for Sustainable and Resilient Landscapes, is a World Bank Multi-Donor Umbrella Program that supports countries’ efforts to improve livelihoods while tackling declining biodiversity, loss of forests, deteriorating land fertility and increasing risks such as uncontrolled forest fires, which are exacerbated by a changing climate. Through an integrated landscape approach, PROGREEN helps countries meet their national and global sustainable development goals and commitments, including poverty reduction, in a cost-effective manner.
	The Jobs Umbrella Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) is a financing instrument that supports the World Bank Group’s jobs strategy to contribute to poverty reduction and inclusive growth in the world’s poorest countries. The Jobs Group provides guidance to the MDTF on integrated and multi-sector job strategies to client countries.
	The Extractives Global Programmatic Support (EGPS) Multi-Donor Trust Fund seeks to build extractives sectors in developing countries that drive inclusive, sustainable growth and development and ultimately, poverty reduction. The Trust Fund supports resource-dependent developing countries in the governance of their oil, gas, and mineral resources, with a strategic focus on poor and fragile/conflict-affected countries. Grants assist governments to implement a range of reforms that build a robust, transparent extractive industries sector.
	ID4D brings global knowledge and expertise across sectors to help countries realize the transformational potential of digital identification systems. It operates across the World Bank Group with global practices and units working on digital development, social protection, health, financial inclusion, governance, gender, and legal issues. The goal of the ID4D is for all people to be able to access services and exercise their rights, enabled by digital identification. This will be achieved by supporting countries to build inclusive and trusted identification systems, including civil registration, using multi-sectoral approaches, and appropriately leveraging innovative digital and other solutions.
	PROBLUE is a new Multi-Donor Trust Fund, housed at the World Bank, that supports the development of integrated, sustainable and healthy marine, and coastal resources. With the Blue Economy Action Plan as its foundation, PROBLUE contributes to the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG 14) and is fully aligned with the World Bank’s twin goals of ending extreme poverty and increasing the income and welfare of the poor in a sustainable way.
	Launched in March 2021, the Tunisia Economic Resilience and Inclusion (TERI) Umbrella Program is designed to support the Tunisian government in its goals of strengthening the country’s economic resilience and inclusion. TERI aims to create a strategic partnership involving government and key partners and alignment of support with priorities set out in the World Bank's Country Partnership Framework. As well as providing a coordination platform, this will promote synergies and complementarities between different instruments and programs, and provide flexibility and agility to support future reforms and respond to crises.
See more: Directory of Trust-Funded Programs

VIDEO

World Bank Trust Fund Reform & Umbrella 2.0 Programs

The current round of trust fund reforms, including the introduction of the “Umbrella 2.0” instrument, seeks to strengthen the link between funding and strategic priorities, and to improve efficiencies in management and administration of trust fund resources.