🎧 Lessons Unwrapped from Tackling Plastic Waste
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Every year, the world generates 2 billion tons of trash, including 400 million tons of plastic. Most of this waste is mismanaged, piling up and flowing into our oceans, adding to greenhouse gas emissions and land and water pollution. A long-term solution requires the world to shift to a circular economy. What does circularity entail? What can we learn from global efforts to tackle solid waste, Show More
Every year, the world generates 2 billion tons of trash, including 400 million tons of plastic. Most of this waste is mismanaged, piling up and flowing into our oceans, adding to greenhouse gas emissions and land and water pollution. A long-term solution requires the world to shift to a circular economy. What does circularity entail? What can we learn from global efforts to tackle solid waste, and in particular plastics?
Host Jeff Chelsky talks trash with Steve Fletcher, Professor of Ocean Policy and Economy at the University of Portsmouth, to take stock of lessons from a waste crisis that is disproportionately affecting people in poverty.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher.
Related Resources
IEG Evaluation: Transitioning to a Circular Economy: An Evaluation of the World Bank Group's Support for Municipal Solid Waste Management (2010-20)
Blog: Towards a circular economy: Addressing the waste management threat
Addressing rural water supply gaps with performance-based financing: lessons from Vietnam
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The share of the world’s rural population with access to safely managed drinking water services reached 60% by 2020, but still lags behind a comparative rate of 85% among urban populations, according to the World Health Organization and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund’s Joint Monitoring Programme. Bridging this gap by increasing rural access to improved and sustainable Show MoreThe share of the world’s rural population with access to safely managed drinking water services reached 60% by 2020, but still lags behind a comparative rate of 85% among urban populations, according to the World Health Organization and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund’s Joint Monitoring Programme. Bridging this gap by increasing rural access to improved and sustainable water supply and sanitation services is critical to developing human capital to unleash the growth potential of rural areas.
The World Bank’s synthesis report on the policy, institutions, and regulation (PIR) approach in the water and sanitation sector noted that financial incentives can be enhanced through performance-based financing (PBF) mechanisms and instruments, such as the World Bank’s Program for Results (PforR). Incentives can be enhanced through the use of performance-based contracts with the private sector, which involves payment to contractors being directly linked to the delivery of timely and quality results. This model was recently used in Vietnam, as part of the first operation for the country and the World Bank’s Water Global Practice to adopt the PforR financial instrument to improve rural access to water and sanitation services. An evaluation of the results and performance of the operation by the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) identifies a number of lessons to guide the future use of performance-based financing in both the water and sanitation, and other sectors.
Vietnam has had an impressive record of inclusive economic growth since 1980s, but poverty has remained concentrated in rural areas and among ethnic minorities. Although rural access to water and sanitation improved along with economic growth, challenges remained regarding the sustainability of the initiatives that provide water services and hygiene. To address those sectoral challenges, in 2011 the government of Vietnam updated the National Target Programs (NTPs) for Rural Water Supply and Sanitation to strengthen community participation, demand-responsive approaches, and cost recovery. The World Bank has been supporting Vietnam’s rural water supply and sanitation (RWSS) sector for more than 20 years and launched the Results-Based Rural Water Supply and Sanitation under the National Target Program (RWSS PforR), introducing a results-based approach in fund allocations and disbursements.
What Worked, and Why
The PforR was a good instrument for addressing the dominance of and collusion among state-owned enterprises in contract procurement and management. The RWSS PforR promoted competitive bidding to enhance transparency and accountability in public agencies’ procurement processes. The results-based financing approach addressed the frequent delays in water scheme constructions. The PforR promoted results-based financing and independent results verification, which led to: (i) transferring risk associated with construction delays to service providers and contractors to motivate them to deliver results quickly and cost-effectively; (ii) incentivizing implementing agencies to select target areas based on criteria including the households’ willingness to pay for water connections; and (iii) making the contractors accountable for ensuring quality, transparency, and accountability throughout the construction process.
The PforR also contributed to diversifying financing for rural water service delivery by promoting private sector–led service delivery models. Before the RWSS PforR, the rural water systems were seen as scattered and difficult to manage with a low potential for profit, and consequently private investment in most of the eight participating provinces was also low. The World Bank used the PforR to try to encourage the provincial governments to acknowledge that financing from, and relationships with, the private sector were fundamental to provincial investments. The involvement of private enterprises contributed to increased revenues and higher staff productivity, which led to improved cost recovery ratios for water supply schemes The privately managed schemes in rural areas of Vietnam had higher profits that averaged 35% of overall revenues, compared with 20% or less for other types of service providers. This was in line with the overall trend of an increase in private sector investments in the RWSS sector. Public-private partnerships in water and sanitation increased from $88.9 million in 2016 to $159.14 million in 2019. Moreover, privately managed water schemes had higher staff productivity. On average, one worker in a private enterprise distributed 3,850 cubic meters of water supply monthly, compared with 970 cubic meters for staff in community- or public-led service provision.
What Didn’t Work, and Why
In results-based operations, the drive to achieve the disbursement-linked indicator (DLI) targets could result in prioritizing communities that are relatively more advanced and already have lower poverty rates at program start-up. Provincial governments prioritized communes already on the way to meeting targets, rather than those with the greatest need. To ensure receipt of fund disbursements, the operations may focus on producing tangible results as early as possible, thus incentivizing the assignment of a lower priority to more complex activities. However, the latter, more complex activities may be critical to the broader development of borrower systems and capacities and to longer-term goals of inclusion of minorities and poverty reduction. Evidence suggests that the communes with the 50 lowest poverty rates were more likely to be selected rather than the communes with the 50 highest poverty rates. The same trend is evident in the prioritization and grouping of selected communes for implementation sequencing.
There was also a misalignment of the disbursement schedules between the government system and the RWSS PforR which caused frictions in financial management. The contractor of the water supply schemes bore the cash deficiencies in the annual budgets of the PforR in the participating provinces, per the contract provision. The daily recording of the expenditures related to the PforR posed another challenge. During IEG’s interviews, respondents pointed out that the PforR could have benefited from stronger political buy-in of the central ministries with responsibilities for budget planning and allocation; that is, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Planning and Investment.
Lessons
The IEG’s evaluation suggests the following lessons:
PforR design needs to be closely aligned with national policies and regulations, particularly regarding financial management. To avoid friction and imbalances in financial management, the design of PforRs needs to ensure that cash deficiencies do not occur in the provincial and subnational annual budgets because of differences among the disbursement schedules of the government system and the PforR operation. An exacerbating factor is that the Vietnamese budgeting and transfer system did not have a mechanism for adaptable performance-based transfers from the central government to provinces to enable results-based budget allocations. In 2020, the government of Vietnam also issued a decree (No. 56/2020/ND-CP) that specified that official development assistance and concessional loans be used to finance only capital expenditures and not recurrent expenditures, which prevented the development of a new PforR operation.
PforR design and implementation need to exercise equity and inclusivity in targeting beneficiaries to avoid selection bias against hard-to-reach ethnic and the poorest minorities and to reduce their vulnerability in the long term. Concrete measures need to be adopted to ensure that results-based operations provide implementing agencies with incentives to work in challenging areas by inlcuding, for example, the integration of poverty alleviation as a DLI target.
The existence of an enabling environment for private participation could enhance the effectiveness of PforRs. The results-based approach fosters the mobilization of private actors. The national policies and regulations promoted public-private partnerships, which were reflected in the design of the RWSS PforR. PforRs need to assess and harness opportunities to allow private enterprises to lead improvements in cost recovery ratios of water supply schemes. The experience with the RWSS PforR shows that Vietnam’s favorable enabling environment for private sector participation has enhanced the operation’s implementation effectiveness by improving the financial and operational sustainability of the country’s RWSS sector.
These lessons emerging from IEG’s evaluation can help guide World Bank support to institutions as they implement reforms and unlock the full potential of the private sector. Stay tuned for an overall assessment of the new financing instrument which will be presented through an overarching report that consolidates the findings of a cluster of Project Performance Assessment Reports on the Program-for-Results.
The full Project Assessment Report on the Results-Based Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project in Vietnam can be found here.
Reducing Disaster Risk from Natural Hazards – An Evaluation of World Bank Support 2010-20 (Approach Paper)
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Disasters caused by natural hazards are a threat to development, and their costs are rising. Climate change is exacerbating the costs of disasters and putting more people at risk from more powerful, more frequent, and more severe storms, floods, and droughts. People in developing countries, and particularly the poorest and most vulnerable, are most at risk of losing their lives and livelihoods Show MoreDisasters caused by natural hazards are a threat to development, and their costs are rising. Climate change is exacerbating the costs of disasters and putting more people at risk from more powerful, more frequent, and more severe storms, floods, and droughts. People in developing countries, and particularly the poorest and most vulnerable, are most at risk of losing their lives and livelihoods from disaster-related events. Reducing disaster risk from natural hazards, the focus of this evaluation, can reduce the negative effects that disasters have on society and people’s lives. DRR is at the core of the World Bank’s approach to support green, resilient, and inclusive development. The purpose of this evaluation is to learn how the World Bank has helped client countries undertake DRR from natural hazards and how and how well it has achieved DRR outcomes. The evaluation will focus on disaster risks caused by natural hazards rather than other types of hazards or chronic stresses.
Addressing groundwater depletion: Lessons from India, the world’s largest user of groundwater
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India is home to 16% of the world’s population, but only holds 4% of the world’s freshwater resources.
Not only is water scarce in India, but the extraction of groundwater has been on the rise for decades. Since the 1960s, the government’s support for the “green revolution” to ensure food security has increased the demand for groundwater for agriculture. Rapid rural electrification combined Show MoreIndia is home to 16% of the world’s population, but only holds 4% of the world’s freshwater resources.
Not only is water scarce in India, but the extraction of groundwater has been on the rise for decades. Since the 1960s, the government’s support for the “green revolution” to ensure food security has increased the demand for groundwater for agriculture. Rapid rural electrification combined with the availability of modern pump technologies has led to an increase in the number of borewells to meet that demand. Over the last 50 years, the number of borewells has grown from 1 million to 20 million, making India the world’s largest user of groundwater.
The Central Groundwater Board of India estimates that about 17% of groundwater blocks are overexploited (meaning the rate at which water is extracted exceeds the rate at which the aquifer is able to recharge) while 5% and 14% , respectively, are at critical and semi-critical stages. The situation is particularly alarming in three major regions – north-western, western, and southern peninsular.
Groundwater pollution and the effects of climate change, including erratic rainfall in the drier areas, put additional stress on groundwater resources which serve about 85% of domestic water supply in rural areas, 45% in urban areas, and over 60% of irrigated agriculture. Current overexploitation rates pose threats to livelihoods, food security, climate-driven migration, sustainable poverty reduction and urban development.
The World Bank has been working with the Government of India to enhance groundwater management in affected areas. The lessons below stem from the experience of World Bank groundwater management projects in India, and are part of a broader IEG evaluation of the World Bank’s support for sustainable and inclusive natural resource management.
Integrated demand and supply side solutions offer the best option for sustainable use. IEG case studies in Rajasthan, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh showed that the success of supply-side measures, such as watershed management programs, aquifer recharging and tank rehabilitation activities, did not lead to sustainable use in the absence of demand-side action. Measures such as surface water harvesting through farm ponds and check-dams, the installation of water-efficient irrigation systems (e.g. more efficient drips and sprinklers) and growing less water intensive crops, need to be integrated on the demand side for improved management and reduced depletion.
Weak regulatory action to limit demand for groundwater can hinder the success of programs in reversing groundwater depletion. Weak regulations result in the expansion of groundwater irrigated areas and drilling of additional wells. This can more than offset water savings created by demand-side measures, or the water increases created by supply-side measures, leading to further depletion. The government of India regulates groundwater exploitation in water-stressed states through “notification” of highly overexploited blocks that restrict development of new groundwater structures (except those for drinking water). However, only about 14% of the overexploited blocks in the country are currently notified. Local level regulatory action in all threatened blocks before they reach the “overexploited” stage is vital to avert depletion.
Strengthening community participation and rights in groundwater governance can improve groundwater management. World Bank projects in peninsular India, where more spread out and specifically defined hydrological sites prevail, were successful on several fronts by implementing the Participatory Groundwater Management approach (PGM). The PGM approach empowers communities in a defined aquifer area by providing governance rights, community awareness, capacity development, and knowledge and motivation for social regulation and the implementation of coordinated actions.
However, there are limits to the success of the PGM approach. It did not work when local institutions were weak, supply-side interventions failed to replenish groundwater or when tanks failed to store water due to recurrent droughts, leading to increased overexploitation. The approach is also unlikely to work in areas with extensive alluvial aquifers that require coordination among large numbers of users.
World Bank interventions support local institutional capacity for groundwater governance, but such institutions are often not viable after the end of the project. Two local institutions are mainly involved in groundwater management in India: Water User Associations (WUA) and groundwater management committees (GWMC). WUAs are formal institutions with a wider mandate to manage irrigation systems (surface and groundwater) and have budget allocations for maintaining the systems and collecting user charges. In contrast, GWMCs are informal groups created through World Bank–supported projects to facilitate PGM. These committees become dormant and dysfunctional once projects close. The key institutional challenge for groundwater governance is strengthening local institutions and helping the informal groups to remain viable during the post-project phase.
Power subsidies for pumping groundwater accelerate the depletion of aquifers in stressed areas. Several states affected by depletion of groundwater provide free or heavily subsidized power (including solar pumps) for pumping groundwater for irrigated agriculture. This creates perverse incentives that enable overexploitation and depletion of scarce groundwater resources. In the long-run, sustainable groundwater management will depend on cross-sectoral reforms to address the water-energy-agriculture nexus and providing the right incentives to resource users. This requires better coordination of policy, market and regulatory measures as well as repurposing current distortive public support to more climate-smart solutions. Strengthening World Bank analytical support and investments in these directions would be useful for future.
Groundwater extraction has allowed rural families to reduce short-term vulnerability but may incur trade-offs and increase the risk of depletion and ultimately increase vulnerability in the long term. Increased access to groundwater resources and extraction allows households to boost agricultural production in the short term. Many farm households owning wells indicated that their vulnerability is lower partly because of income growth and diversification and buffers provided by social safety nets. However, without sufficient regulation or replenishment of aquifers, the increased access to and use of groundwater for irrigation could lead to declining water tables and increasing water scarcity, which risks escalating long-term vulnerability.
pictured above: Women draw water from a well in the drylands of Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, India. By Yavuz Sariyildiz via Shutterstock (November 9, 2014).
Towards Productive, Inclusive, and Sustainable Farms and Agribusiness Firms: An Evaluation of the World Bank Group’s Support for Development of Agri-Food Economies (2010-2020) – Approach Paper
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Sustainable development of the agricultural sector and the associated agrifood industry is key to ending hunger and poverty and meeting other global goals, such as those related to climate change. Fostering broad-based agricultural development requires transforming agrifood systems because of their critical role in economic growth, employment, and sustainable agricultural development. The World Show MoreSustainable development of the agricultural sector and the associated agrifood industry is key to ending hunger and poverty and meeting other global goals, such as those related to climate change. Fostering broad-based agricultural development requires transforming agrifood systems because of their critical role in economic growth, employment, and sustainable agricultural development. The World Bank Group has been a major supporter of previous efforts to develop agriculture and the broader agrifood system economies. The objective of the evaluation is to assess how well the World Bank Group identifies the needs, addresses the constraints, and achieves results in supporting agrifood system development, defined as the development of more productive, inclusive, and sustainable farms and agribusiness firms. More specifically, the evaluation aims to (i) assess the relevance of the World Bank Group in identifying and addressing the key AFS development challenges of raising productivity, improving inclusion and reducing environmental sustainability threats especially from climate change; (ii) assess the effectiveness of World Bank Group support in making AFS more productive, inclusive, and sustainable; and (iii) identify lessons of experience, success factors, and constraints on effectiveness.
Malawi CLR Review FY13-17
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This review of the World Bank Group’s (WBG) Completion and Learning Review (CLR)
covers the period of the Country Assistance Strategy (CAS), FY13-FY17. Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world. It is an agrarian landlocked country, with a population of 18.6 million (2019) growing at 3 percent per year. Between 2013 and 2017 real GDP and real per capita GDP grew at 4.0 and 1.2 percent Show MoreThis review of the World Bank Group’s (WBG) Completion and Learning Review (CLR)
covers the period of the Country Assistance Strategy (CAS), FY13-FY17. Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world. It is an agrarian landlocked country, with a population of 18.6 million (2019) growing at 3 percent per year. Between 2013 and 2017 real GDP and real per capita GDP grew at 4.0 and 1.2 percent per year, respectively. The poverty headcount ratio at the national poverty line was 51.5 percent in 2016, slightly above the 50.7 percent in 2010. The Gini index (World Bank estimate) stood at 44.7 in 2016, below its 2010 level of 45.5. The Human Development Index improved from 0.441 in 2010 to 0.47 in 2015 and to 0.477 in 2017. During the review period, Malawi faced several challenges including the governance and public financial management crisis in September 2013 and two natural disasters- the flooding in 2015 which affected half of the country and the drought in 2016. The “cashgate” led to temporary suspension of donor budget support and sharp reduction in disbursement of aid funds through government systems with the consequent impact on the fiscal deficit.
What works in public utility reform: Lessons from evaluations in the energy and water sectors
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Utility reform has never been more important. The COVID-19 pandemic has badly impacted utilities across the world. Many utilities are now under intensified financial stress due to budget reductions and a loss of revenue, resulting from a sudden drop in collection rates, suspension of billing, and tariff adjustment in some countries. This, in turn, has made it more challenging to ensure continued Show MoreUtility reform has never been more important. The COVID-19 pandemic has badly impacted utilities across the world. Many utilities are now under intensified financial stress due to budget reductions and a loss of revenue, resulting from a sudden drop in collection rates, suspension of billing, and tariff adjustment in some countries. This, in turn, has made it more challenging to ensure continued service delivery.
IEG recently published the synthesis Public Utility Reform: What lessons can we learn from IEG evaluations in the energy and water sectors?, a compilation of evidence of what worked and what did not work, and why, in World Bank support of public utility reforms in the energy and water sectors in its client countries. Its findings are even more relevant in the context of uncertainty about medium-to long-term outlook for recovery from the challenges imposed by COVID-19.
Well before COVID-19, financial viability and institutional accountability were the two main challenges faced by public utilities in improving service outcomes in the energy and water sectors. Now, the effectiveness of utilities in these two fundamental areas remain critical for ensuring the quality and sustainability of these vital basic services during a post-pandemic recovery.
Financial Viability
IEG analysis reveals a range of World Bank interventions geared to support financial viability in both the energy and water sectors.
Recovering the cost of service is at the core of sector reform. Across both water and energy sectors, inadequate cost recovery is a key driver of financial underperformance. Poor bill collection and operational inefficiencies (including excessive network losses) also have a significant role. IEG finds that, while tariff reform is fundamental, improving operational efficiency of service providers is crucial for financial sustainability. The cumulative evidence indicates that when inefficiencies result in high-cost service provision, improving utilities’ operational efficiency should precede or go hand-in-hand with tariff increases. Additionally, the gains from reductions in technical and commercial losses, improvements in payment collection, financial management, and demand side management proved easier to sustain once implemented.
Evidence points to the importance of strengthening utilities’ commercial orientation, which is vital for the provision of adequate and reliable services, regardless of whether the service delivery agents are under public or private ownership. Utilities that emphasize cost control, customer orientation, and responsiveness to incentives are more likely to make meaningful progress. For example, World Bank operations in Vietnam and Turkey helped improve financial sustainability of electric power utilities through technical support and policy reforms, incrementally implementing tariff and market regulations in the electricity sector.
Utilities may need more financial support as they weather the economic crisis triggered by the pandemic. However, as the recently published IEG evaluation State your Business! An evaluation of World Bank Group support to the Reform of State-Owned Enterprises cautions, temporary subsidies introduced at the time of COVID-19 can pose “policy traps” supported by powerful vested interests, which can be hard to reverse once the crisis is over.
Institutional Accountability
Creating the right accountability and incentives is essential for effective service delivery. In both energy and water sectors, institutional accountability is critically tied to performance. Sustaining reforms requires competent institutions and strong administrative capacity. Improved performance can be a first step towards attracting private sector investment.
Strengthening sector planning, utility management, capacity and skills, can improve sector outcomes. A solid sectoral fiscal, financial, and regulatory framework also defines and sets the context for leveraging markets and the private sector to support service delivery.
There are multiple institutional pathways that could lay the foundation for improved and sustained service delivery. There is no single model but there are certain principles that work.
In energy, improved accountability and regulatory performance drive sector outcomes. Good practices on corporate governance and regulation enable the sector environment to leverage markets and the private sector. In Rwanda, for example, the World Bank (through budget support operations), the International Finance Corporation (through advisory services), and Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF) helped the government develop sector regulatory structures and separate water and electricity utilities to improve governance, accountability and transparency. Institutional and policy reforms transformed the Rwanda Energy Group into a commercially operated state-owned enterprise and helped attract private finance.
In water, improved capacity, incentives, and transparent rules on accessing funds can ensure good sector outcomes. Good financial and operational data systems are also important. In Peru, the utility Sedapal radically changed its corporate management approach and work culture, including adopting a new performance-based compensation and incentive system driven by reaching results targets. IEG’s field-based assessment confirmed a steady improvement in access coverage, basic service parameters, and operational and financial performance.
Political and social challenges
In both sectors, utilities' operations and management are closely linked to the political economy in which they operate. Political economy considerations can inform specific design elements, including choices of programmatic instruments vs. standalone operations, or front-loading vs. back-loading of important reform actions in a programmatic series. Experience shows that support to operations needs to match the time frame in which effective government action can reasonably take place. The World Bank’s experience shows that complementary interventions and sustained support contribute positively to favorable and enduring results.
Regarding tariff reform, the institutional, political, and social challenges are considerable. Public opposition to tariff reforms reflects a lack of confidence in public service improvements and that vulnerable groups will be protected. At the same time, it is important to address potentially negative distributional consequences of reforms through such measures as differentiated tariffs and targeted assistance programs. Their success depends on the government’s ability to reach vulnerable households through fiscally sustainable programs.
Read the report | Public Utility Reform: What lessons can we learn from IEG evaluations in the energy and water sectors?
Pictured at top, clockwise from left:
The main drinking water pipeline for 750 households in Alapars and Karenis communities (Kotayk region) being fully rehabilitated. Armenia. Photo credit: Armine Grigoryan / World Bank
The control room at the thermal power station at Takoradi, Ghana, June 21, 2006. Photo credit: Jonathan Ernst/World Bank
Electrical Substation in Kenya. Photo credit: Andrew Stone
Windmill, Nicaragua photo credit: Ihsan Kaler Hurcan
Wegala Community Water Supply and Sanitation Project. Sri Lanka. Photo credit: Simone D. McCourtie / World Bank
Girl gathers drinking water from a community water pipe. Photo credit: Dominic Sansoni / World Bank
An Evaluation of the World Bank Group’s Support to Municipal Solid Waste Management, 2010–20 (Approach Paper)
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Municipal solid waste (MSW) has emerged as one of the most pressing challenges for urban areas across the world. This evaluation is the Independent Evaluation Group’s (IEG) first major study of the Bank Group’s support for MSWM. It is timely given the rapidly increasing scale of MSW in most MICs and LICs and considering the spectacle of massive open garbage dumps in cities as diverse as Manila, Show MoreMunicipal solid waste (MSW) has emerged as one of the most pressing challenges for urban areas across the world. This evaluation is the Independent Evaluation Group’s (IEG) first major study of the Bank Group’s support for MSWM. It is timely given the rapidly increasing scale of MSW in most MICs and LICs and considering the spectacle of massive open garbage dumps in cities as diverse as Manila, Lagos, and New Delhi. The evaluation will highlight the linkages of MSWM with other sectors and themes such as water supply and sanitation, environment, climate change, health, jobs, and social protection. This can point to how the Bank Group can better support the development of synergistic policy frameworks and regulations for MSWM in client countries. This has implications for developing systematic collaboration between various sectors within the Bank Group and among client government ministries and for leveraging opportunities for climate finance.
Evaluation of the World Bank’s Support to Improving Child Undernutrition and Its Determinants (Approach Paper)
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Global reports on indicators of child undernutrition show mixed progress in reducing the stunting (impaired growth and development) of children under five, with Africa and South Asia most severely affected. There are many determinants of child undernutrition, which makes the challenge of improving outcomes multidimensional, requiring interventions in areas of health; agriculture; water, Show MoreGlobal reports on indicators of child undernutrition show mixed progress in reducing the stunting (impaired growth and development) of children under five, with Africa and South Asia most severely affected. There are many determinants of child undernutrition, which makes the challenge of improving outcomes multidimensional, requiring interventions in areas of health; agriculture; water, sanitation, and hygiene; social protection; education; and governance, depending on the country context. The objectives of this evaluation are to assess the contribution of the World Bank to improving outcomes related to child undernutrition and its determinants in countries affected by undernutrition, and to provide lessons and recommendations to inform the design of the World Bank’s future multidimensional nutrition support.
India - Andhra Pradesh and Telangana State Community-Based Tank Management Project
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This Project Performance Assessment Report assesses the development effectiveness of India’s Andhra Pradesh and Telangana State Community-Based Tank Management Project, which was approved in 2007 and closed in 2016. The development objectives of the project were to (i) improve agricultural productivity with the assistance of selected tank-based producers; and (ii) improve the management of tank Show MoreThis Project Performance Assessment Report assesses the development effectiveness of India’s Andhra Pradesh and Telangana State Community-Based Tank Management Project, which was approved in 2007 and closed in 2016. The development objectives of the project were to (i) improve agricultural productivity with the assistance of selected tank-based producers; and (ii) improve the management of tank systems with the assistance of selected water user associations.
Ratings for this review are as follows: Outcome was satisfactory, Risk to development outcome was substantial, Bank performance was moderately satisfactory, and Borrower performance was moderately satisfactory. Lessons from this review include: (i) The potential economic benefits from improved irrigation infrastructure cannot be adequately realized by beneficiaries without the coordinated and ongoing support of multiple government agencies and research extension services in agriculture. (ii) Continued support to WUAs in terms of resources and social intermediation, such as through nongovernmental organizations, is key to enhancing their capacity for improved water management in drought-prone areas. (iii) Benefits from increased water availability can be further increased if cropping decisions by smallholder farmers in drought-prone areas are informed by water budgeting and collective governance principles for sustainable use.