The World Cup and lessons from South Africa’s transition
Who would have thought that rugby could change the world? Two decades ago the apartheid regime in South Africa was brought down by a range of pressures. But the clincher for many South Africans was being ostracized from rugby and other global sporting competitions.
As South Africa prepares to open the 2010 World Cup, the country's passion for sport is offering an equally powerful way of celebrating its full membership in the international community.
With the national team about to square off against Mexico in the first of this year's matches, I am thinking as much about the drama of penalty shoot-outs and the like as lessons of peaceful transition.
When I was in Cape Town a couple of months ago I visited the city’s brand new football stadium which is squeezed between an up-scale residential neighborhood and the Atlantic Ocean. It is a pretty amazing structure. I also visited one of the gritty townships in the Cape Flats area north of the city. It was hard to believe I was in the same country.
The peace process that produced the country’s first one-man one-vote elections in 1994 unleashed a wave of optimism that reverberated around the world. It took with it the systemic divisions of the apartheid era but South Africa’s trajectory over the intervening years shows how difficult it is to put divisions and violence of the past behind and start over.
When I was a student I could not imagine apartheid would ever be history or that Nelson Mandela would eventually walk free. But it has come to pass and although there are some dark clouds, the country’s accomplishments offer some telling pointers to other societies making the difficult passage from violent conflict to the kind of big tent democracy that holds promise for the future.
South Africa is particularly well known for some innovative organizational forms used during the transition. The hearings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) offered wrenching testimony to the horrors of the past and society’s determination to turn the page. They provided a model that has been exported, not always with the same success, to other troubled corners of the world.
The changes were cemented by the extraordinary vision of Nelson Mandela as the country’s first president. The magnanimous style of leadership he made his own was central in pulling the nation together after years of struggle and injustice. His iconic stature on the global stage was matched by the pre-eminent economic and political role the country rapidly assumed on the African continent, boosting South Africans’ sense of national destiny and self-worth. His leadership helped create resilience to the stresses that often drive countries back into conflict.
For many commentators, however, the sheen is off what was once seen as the South African miracle. The crime rate is high and the middle and upper classes rely on sophisticated security systems for their safety. Individual rights are enshrined in the constitution but relations between races are strained. The rich of all colors live well but the travails of the underclass is brought home by the huge slums that surround the country’s main cities. I was also struck by a sight I had not expected—white panhandlers on the streets of Cape Town.
At the macro-level, corruption, unemployment, criminality, and economic inequality are all extremely high. This is ominous because they are indicators that generally correlate closely with state-threatening violence.
Looking back, some people involved in the peace negotiations recognize they made mistakes. They put too little emphasis on the task of getting young people into jobs. The very necessary debate on racism, inequality and social marginalization never really happened. Not enough attention was paid to reforming local government which is responsible for providing many basic services. And although civil society is active in many parts of the country, it could have done more to deepen democratization and accountability under the new constitution.
There were plenty of missed opportunities. Had they been seized, the speed and direction of change in South Africa might have been very different.
Amidst the cheers at the World Cup kick-off on Friday we should not forget the sheer power of sport in South Africa’s history. Perhaps it will provide an opportunity to revisit some unfinished business. If there is one thing we’ve learned from South Africa’s history, it’s that a beautiful game can change the world.
Climate Change & the World Bank
Context
Strategy
Results
Context
Climate change is expected to hit developing countries the hardest. Its effects—higher temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns, rising sea levels, and more frequent weather-related disasters—pose risks for agriculture, food, and water supplies. At stake are recent gains in the fight against poverty, hunger and disease, and the lives and livelihoods of billions of people in developing countries.
Tackling this immense challenge must involve both mitigation—to avoid the unmanageable—and adaptation—to manage the unavoidable—all while maintaining a focus on its social dimensions.
Strategy
Addressing climate change requires unprecedented global cooperation across borders. The World Bank Group is helping support developing countries and contributing to a global solution, while tailoring our approach to the differing needs of developing country partners. We are strengthening and building climate change partnerships with our member governments and a wide array of organizations.
In 2005, the Group of Eight asked the World Bank to develop a plan for more investments in clean energy in the developing world, in cooperation with other international financial institutions. The resulting Clean Energy Investment Framework identified the scale of investment needed for countries to access energy, especially in Africa; to help their transition to a lower carbon development path; and to adapt to climate variability and change.
At the request of our Development Committee in 2007, the Bank Group embarked on a comprehensive strategy to help address climate challenges and launched extensive global consultations. The consultations concluded in September 2008. The resulting strategic framework on development and climate change takes a demand-based approach to identifying and tapping new business opportunities for developing countries and helping them cope with new risks.
We aim to support development successes while offsetting costs that stem from climate change through climate-dedicated finance. Our strategy also highlights the need for action and interaction among all countries for the greater global good. In developing countries, we are working to:
Support climate actions in country-led development processes;
Mobilize additional concessional and innovative finance;
Facilitate the development of market-based financing mechanisms;
Leverage private sector resources;
Support accelerated development and deployment of new technologies; and
Step up policy research, knowledge, and capacity building.
Results
Climate vulnerability and risk management increasingly is part of our dialogue and work with developing countries. Key sectors affected by climate change include health, water supply and sanitation, energy, transport, industry, mining, construction, trade, tourism, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, environmental protection, and disaster management.
The World Bank Group has several projects underway to strengthen the knowledge base for climate change and to translate such insights into informed decision making. The 2010 edition of the World Development Report focuses on development in a changing climate. Climate change adaptation considerations are being integrated into Country Assistance Strategies. A new screening tool that gives us a simple way of assessing development projects for potential sensitivities to climate change and further work is being done on sector-specific tools and guidance, We are also piloting innovative climate risk insurance. The Global Facility for Disaster Risk Reduction and Recovery, which helps countries integrate disaster planning into their development strategies, is including long-term climate risk with the programs.
We are taking action on key issues:
IFC, MIGA, and all World Bank regions have developed climate change strategies or/and business plans;
Climate change issues are being integrated into new sector strategies under preparation;
Over 60 percent of all new Country Assistance or Country Partnership Strategies in fiscal year 2009 substantively addressed climate-related issues;
A growing range of activities and instruments to support climate resilient development and adaptation
Continued growth in energy efficiency and renewable energy financing;
Significant progress with new and innovative financing such as the Climate Investment Funds, the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, climate risk management products, and “Green Bonds”;
Rapid build-up in research & knowledge: The 2010 World Development Report on Development and Climate Change was launched on September 15, 2009. The global study on the Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change expected to be launched this fall. Several regional and sectoral flagship reports that address climate change issues were recently completed;
Knowledge dissemination for key emerging technologies, such as Concentrated Solar Power and Smart Grids; and
Low carbon country case studies designed to explore options for lower carbon development. They have been prepared for Mexico, are in final review stages for Brazil and India, and are underway for South Africa, Indonesia, and Poland.
We are committed to sharing our research as well as measuring results and applying lessons from our projects and partnerships. We are also helping young people become champions on key issues of climate change.
Press Release
“Win-Win Strategy” for Yemen’s Agro-Biodiversity and Climate Adaptation
Contacts:In Washington: Hafed Al-Ghwell: (202) 473-8930, halghwell@worldbank.org In Sana’a: Samra Shaibani (967-1) 413 710, sshaibani@worldbank.org WASHINGTON, May 27, 2010 – The Agro-biodiversity and Climate Adaptation project will be implemented in Yemen with over US$5.0 million extending over four years, including a US$4.0 million grant from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), which will be administered by the World Bank. The project aims to enhance capacity and awareness at key national agencies and at local levels, to respond to climate variability and change and to better equip local communities to cope with climate change through the conservation and use of agro-biodiversity. The project will encourage water harvesting and increasing irrigation efficiency as part of a climate-resilient “win-win strategy”. It will also include climate considerations in the identification and improvement of some select landraces to test for drought and heat tolerance. The main components of the Project will be to build on traditional knowledge of farmers and develop an inventory of local agro-biodiversity; to raise awareness on climatic changes and develop initial local predictive capacity of weather patterns and long-term climate change scenarios for the country, to develop climate resilient rain-fed agriculture strategy, and put in place project management, coordination, monitoring and evaluation systems. The World Bank Group has a long-term involvement in the agriculture sector in Yemen. “IDA has been supporting the development of the agriculture sector in Yemen for over three decades. Past portfolio included projects in agricultural research and extension, as well as productivity improvement”, said Benson Ateng, World Bank Yemen Country Manager. “Recent IDA projects have focused on groundwater and soil conservation, irrigation improvement, and on rainfed agriculture and livestock,” he added. The Government's rural development and agricultural development strategies not only stress the importance of agriculture as the driving force for development in the rainfed highlands of Yemen, but also the need to take advantage of local agro-biodiversity and local knowledge to prevent further land degradation and to help farmers adapt to climate change. The new project addresses one of the current Country Assistance Strategy’s objectives, namely, to ‘help manage natural resources scarcity and natural risks’ and thematic areas which is meant to mitigate the impact of natural disasters and invest in climate change adaptation as well as to support selected drivers of non-oil growth, in particular, increasing agricultural productivity in rainfed areas. “Rainfed agriculture is the primary means of livelihood and a safety net for a majority of the rural poor in Yemeni highlands, and it is critical that these communities learn to cope with climate change through win-win strategies and diversify their incomes through the use of the rich agro-biodiversity in the highlands”, commented Kanta K. Rigaud, World Bank Task Team Leader. Agriculture development in the past has largely focused on irrigated areas. However, more than half of the country’s cultivated land is under rain-fed and subsistence farming conditions. For the nearly 84% of the poor in the rural areas that depend on rain-fed agriculture, it is the primary source of livelihood and food security. For more information please visit:www.worldbank.org/ye
What the World Bank Is Doing
In response to the severity of the food crisis and the need for prompt action, the World Bank Group set up the Global Food Crisis Response Program (GFRP) in May 2008 to provide immediate relief to countries hard hit by high food prices. The Bank response has been articulated in coordination with the United Nations’ High-Level Task Force on food security. Through its response, the Bank is supporting the implementation of the joint Comprehensive Framework for Action (CFA).
· The World Bank Group increased GFRP to $2 billion in April 2009 to provide immediate relief to countries hard hit by high food prices. GFRP was created in May 2008 to reduce the threat high food prices and rising agricultural production and marketing costs pose to the livelihoods of the world’s poor. The money is used to feed poor children and other vulnerable groups, provide for nutritional supplements to pregnant women, lactating mothers, infants and small children, to meet additional expenses of food imports or to buy seeds for the new season.
GFRP has approved $1,170.4 million out of $1,190.4 million in 35 countries as of April 8, 2010. An additional $20 million is being earmarked for programs in two countries. $884 million out of the $1,170.4 million in Board-approved Bank-funded GFRP projects has been disbursed (75 percent of Board-approved funds).
Project Status: Global FoodCrisis Response Program
Project Status: Externally Funded Trust Funds
Grant funding has also been made available through several external-funded trust funds in support of the full range of interventions available under the GFRP. A Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) has received contributions of AUD 50 million from the Australian government, €80 million from the government of Spain, 3 billion Korean Won from the Republic of Korea, and CAD 30 million from the government of Canada. The Russian Federation has also allocated $15 million for the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan, through the Russia Food Price Crisis Rapid Response Trust Fund, which became operational in April 2009. The European Commission has allocated has allocated €101 million to support operations in 9 countries. As of April 8, 2010, $121.65 million has been approved under externally funded trust funds — 6 MDTF-funded projects, two Russia FPCR TF-funded operation, and 5 European Union (EU) Food Crisis Rapid Response Facility-financed operations. Total disbursements under externally funded trust funds amount to $28.87 million.
· World Bank investment in agriculture through the regular programs remains a high priority. IBRD/IDA/special-Financing commitments to agriculture and related sectors doubled from FY08 to FY09. New commitments increased to $5.3 billion in FY09, from $2.6 billion in FY08, and from an average of $2.9 billion annually in the baseline years (FY06-08). World Bank Group support is aligned around five focus areas, articulated in Implementing Agriculture for Development: World Bank Group Agriculture Action Plan, FY2010-12 — raising agricultural productivity, linking farmers to markets and strengthening value chains, reducing risk and vulnerability, facilitating agriculture entry and exit and rural nonfarm income, and enhancing environmental sustainability and services.
· In FY09 (ended June 30, 2009), the International Finance Corporation (IFC) invested $2 billion along the agribusiness supply chain to boost agricultural production, increase liquidity in supply chains, improve logistics and distribution, and increase access to credit for small farmers. This represents a 42% increase over FY08. Half of the committed projects representing nearly 30% of the committed volume were in IDA countries. Moreover, FY09 investments in Africa reached $160 million for primary farming, distribution and storage, grain milling, plantation rehabilitation, and trade finance. This represents a 38% growth over FY08. During the first half of FY10, IFC committed $222 million for fertilizer production, agricultural infrastructure, rural finance, and food retail. In addition IFC channeled $506 million for agricultural trade finance.
· Tripling investments in safety nets and other social protection programs in health and education to $12 billion over next two years, as announced in April 2009.
· Establishing Agriculture Finance Support Facility to expand rural finance through a $20 million Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation contribution, as announced in June 2009. The Facility will increase access to financial services, such as savings, credit, payments and insurance.
· Working to help countries develop financial market insurance products and risk management strategies to ensure increased capacity to respond to future prices increases, such as weather derivatives and crop insurance.
In September 2008, Malawi became one of the first countries to use the Bank's new weather derivative financial product. Index-based weather derivatives help transfer risks to the financial markets. Payments are triggered by adverse weather events according to pre-specified conditions. At the macro and micro levels, the Bank is supporting weather index insurance initiatives in Bangladesh, Nicaragua, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Jamaica, and Malawi. The Bank and the IFC will soon complete a feasibility study for insuring small-scale maize production in Indonesia.
· Integrating national level agricultural risk management strategies into new country operations and technical assistance programs in Morocco, Malawi, Mozambique, Haiti, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica and Ghana.
· A sourcebook is being prepared to draw lessons from recent and ongoing experiences with weather index insurance in agriculture and to provide guidance to practitioners inside and beyond the World Bank Group. At the policy level, a global study on public interventions in agricultural insurance has recently been finalized. In addition, the IFC has created a Global Index Insurance Facility (GIIF) which, among other things, will support agricultural insurance in developing countries.
· Engaging in policy dialogue with more than 40 countries to help them address the crisis.
· Through the HLTF Secretariat, the Bank is working through existing country-level coordination mechanisms and regional initiatives such as the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) to identify opportunities and constraints in CFA implementation on the ground.
· The World Bank Group increased GFRP to $2 billion in April 2009 to provide immediate relief to countries hard hit by high food prices. GFRP was created in May 2008 to reduce the threat high food prices and rising agricultural production and marketing costs pose to the livelihoods of the world’s poor. The money is used to feed poor children and other vulnerable groups, provide for nutritional supplements to pregnant women, lactating mothers, infants and small children, to meet additional expenses of food imports or to buy seeds for the new season.
GFRP has approved $1,170.4 million out of $1,190.4 million in 35 countries as of April 8, 2010. An additional $20 million is being earmarked for programs in two countries. $884 million out of the $1,170.4 million in Board-approved Bank-funded GFRP projects has been disbursed (75 percent of Board-approved funds).
Project Status: Global FoodCrisis Response Program
Project Status: Externally Funded Trust Funds
Grant funding has also been made available through several external-funded trust funds in support of the full range of interventions available under the GFRP. A Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) has received contributions of AUD 50 million from the Australian government, €80 million from the government of Spain, 3 billion Korean Won from the Republic of Korea, and CAD 30 million from the government of Canada. The Russian Federation has also allocated $15 million for the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan, through the Russia Food Price Crisis Rapid Response Trust Fund, which became operational in April 2009. The European Commission has allocated has allocated €101 million to support operations in 9 countries. As of April 8, 2010, $121.65 million has been approved under externally funded trust funds — 6 MDTF-funded projects, two Russia FPCR TF-funded operation, and 5 European Union (EU) Food Crisis Rapid Response Facility-financed operations. Total disbursements under externally funded trust funds amount to $28.87 million.
· World Bank investment in agriculture through the regular programs remains a high priority. IBRD/IDA/special-Financing commitments to agriculture and related sectors doubled from FY08 to FY09. New commitments increased to $5.3 billion in FY09, from $2.6 billion in FY08, and from an average of $2.9 billion annually in the baseline years (FY06-08). World Bank Group support is aligned around five focus areas, articulated in Implementing Agriculture for Development: World Bank Group Agriculture Action Plan, FY2010-12 — raising agricultural productivity, linking farmers to markets and strengthening value chains, reducing risk and vulnerability, facilitating agriculture entry and exit and rural nonfarm income, and enhancing environmental sustainability and services.
· In FY09 (ended June 30, 2009), the International Finance Corporation (IFC) invested $2 billion along the agribusiness supply chain to boost agricultural production, increase liquidity in supply chains, improve logistics and distribution, and increase access to credit for small farmers. This represents a 42% increase over FY08. Half of the committed projects representing nearly 30% of the committed volume were in IDA countries. Moreover, FY09 investments in Africa reached $160 million for primary farming, distribution and storage, grain milling, plantation rehabilitation, and trade finance. This represents a 38% growth over FY08. During the first half of FY10, IFC committed $222 million for fertilizer production, agricultural infrastructure, rural finance, and food retail. In addition IFC channeled $506 million for agricultural trade finance.
· Tripling investments in safety nets and other social protection programs in health and education to $12 billion over next two years, as announced in April 2009.
· Establishing Agriculture Finance Support Facility to expand rural finance through a $20 million Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation contribution, as announced in June 2009. The Facility will increase access to financial services, such as savings, credit, payments and insurance.
· Working to help countries develop financial market insurance products and risk management strategies to ensure increased capacity to respond to future prices increases, such as weather derivatives and crop insurance.
In September 2008, Malawi became one of the first countries to use the Bank's new weather derivative financial product. Index-based weather derivatives help transfer risks to the financial markets. Payments are triggered by adverse weather events according to pre-specified conditions. At the macro and micro levels, the Bank is supporting weather index insurance initiatives in Bangladesh, Nicaragua, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Jamaica, and Malawi. The Bank and the IFC will soon complete a feasibility study for insuring small-scale maize production in Indonesia.
· Integrating national level agricultural risk management strategies into new country operations and technical assistance programs in Morocco, Malawi, Mozambique, Haiti, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica and Ghana.
· A sourcebook is being prepared to draw lessons from recent and ongoing experiences with weather index insurance in agriculture and to provide guidance to practitioners inside and beyond the World Bank Group. At the policy level, a global study on public interventions in agricultural insurance has recently been finalized. In addition, the IFC has created a Global Index Insurance Facility (GIIF) which, among other things, will support agricultural insurance in developing countries.
· Engaging in policy dialogue with more than 40 countries to help them address the crisis.
· Through the HLTF Secretariat, the Bank is working through existing country-level coordination mechanisms and regional initiatives such as the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) to identify opportunities and constraints in CFA implementation on the ground.
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