Why the World Bank’s IDA is deepening its partnership with civil society

By Akihiko Nishio

The world needs the International Development Association (IDA). As the largest source of development funding for low-income countries, IDA is a lifeline for governments facing multiple crises that have set back global development, putting millions of lives and livelihoods at risk. IDA is preparing for its 21st replenishment round so that it can respond to these challenges and accelerate progress toward a world free of poverty on a livable planet.

In the lead-up to this replenishment, called IDA21, IDA has convened regional forums for civil society organizations (CSOs). The decision to expand to regional forums was strongly informed by CSO requests for this type of engagement. The main purpose of these forums is for senior leaders of the World Bank, IDA donors, and IDA borrowers to listen to the voices of civil society, promoting mutual understanding of what IDA21 ought to focus on.

To date, over 800 organizations representing academia, think tanks, foundations, and CSOs have attended these forums, covering Eastern and Southern Africa, Western and Central Africa, East Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and Europe and Central Asia. A final global forum will take place in October to share the key findings from this process with civil society.

The forums have elicited broad support for the strategic priorities of IDA21, including the cross-cutting imperatives of job creation and gender equality. Informed by realities on the ground at country and regional levels, participating CSOs have raised a wide range of important issues that are informing the drafting of the policy framework for IDA21.

The impact of recent compounding crises—to which IDA countries are disproportionately vulnerable—is one consistent theme, well-aligned with the recent broadening of the World Bank Group’s vision. Other key matters identified include IDA’s role in combating the global debt crisis, the relationship between CSOs and IDA funding, and the need for greater transparency and accountability.

These issues illustrate the complexity of global development challenges, none of which has a simple solution. IDA shares many of the concerns raised by CSOs, such as, for example, that the global debt crisis is hindering governments in many low-income countries from providing essential services. IDA financing is structured with this issue in mind as it provides low-cost loans and a high volume of grants, which do not need to be repaid, to highly indebted low-income countries. IDA helps borrower countries achieve and maintain sustainable debt and continues to provide net positive flows, exceeding $17 billion for borrower countries in fiscal year 2023.

During the CSO forums, some participants asked about debt relief. Effective debt relief requires a broad consensus among global lenders, as was the case with the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, in which IDA took part. Were IDA to attempt debt relief on its own, however, it would severely undermine its ability to provide concessional finance.

CSOs have made valuable observations on the impact of development finance. In this context, one question that has been raised is whether IDA resources should be used to fund CSOs directly and the role of CSOs in IDA activities.

Since the vast majority of IDA funds go through client governments, IDA’s country-led model puts governments in the driver’s seat and builds capacity for countries to chart their own path to sustainable growth and development. This is a long-term approach. Many IDA countries have limited implementation capacity. Yet, without funding and technical support, they will not be able to build such capacity.

IDA works to strengthen governments so that they can deliver services, grow their economies, and improve accountability. World Bank staff on the ground work side-by-side with governments, enabling them to take ownership of projects and deliver results.

Governments can use IDA funding to enlist support from nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) or CSOs for various activities. Indirect IDA funding to NGOs through governments amounted to more than $800 million in contracts between fiscal years 2019 and 2023.

For example, in Cameroon, Jeunesse Sans Frontières was contracted to manage solid waste by transforming plastics into ecological pavements under the Lake Chad Region Recovery and Development Project. In Mozambique, four local CSOs—Associa??o PROGRESSO; Civil Society Forum for Children's Rights, or ROSC; Agrarian Association for the Reduction of Absolute Poverty in Chongoene, or AREPACHO; and Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS, or UTOMI—were contracted to sensitize communities about girls’ rights, including access to education, and support the distribution of free school uniforms under the East Africa Girls Empowerment and Resilience Project. There are plans to hire 10 more CSOs for this project.

Importantly, reforms already underway in IDA—as part of the World Bank Group’s evolution—align with some of the points consistently raised in the forums. For instance, the World Bank Group recently announced a new scorecard to show progress across all aspects of its mission, which will increase transparency and accountability. As part of this, IDA21 will track progress against 22 indicators designed to measure meaningful progress on outcomes affecting the well-being of people in client countries. IDA results will be available on an interactive platform for the scorecard that will allow greater disaggregation and include clear methodologies and backend data whenever feasible, enabling results to be replicated. In addition, the World Bank is developing a dashboard to track organizational efficiency and effectiveness, which will be linked to the new scorecard and include an indicator of citizen engagement to continue our long-standing commitment to measuring progress in this area.

IDA21 aims to get the world back on track to eradicate poverty on a livable planet. In strengthening our relationships and our shared commitment to development, the CSO forums will play an important role in shaping IDA21.

This blog was originally published in Devex.