Support to the World Bank research activities

Description What is done in the programme or project and why, what results are pursued, who benefits from the activities and who are involved in the implementation.

Knowledge for Change Program (KCP) is part of the World Bank’s research activity. Finland has been supporting the Program as well as the World Development Reports (WDR) since 2002 when KCP was founded.The Research has focus on six themes: Service delivery and aid effectiveness, Poverty and shared prosperity, Growth and job creation, Fragility and risk management, International cooperation and global public goods, Innovation and data production methods, analysis and dissemination. The seventh theme is the KCP’s annual support to the World Bank flag ship report (World Development Report, WDR). Simultaneously a strong element in the program is the objective to enhance the research capacity of developing countries. KCP funding is targeted to IDA countries as well as to the poorest groups of the IBRD countries especially in Africa and Southern Asia. The objective of KCP is to expand the World Bank research cooperation, to enhance the expertise regarding development questions in developing countries and in industrial countries as well as to ensure the application of the research results to improve the quality and effectiveness of the work of the Bank. KCP provides tools and guidelines for assessing open data readiness in client countries, improving survey capabilities, ensuring conceptual framework for economic statistics, harmonizing data sources, and developing as well as testing advanced methods of data analysis. It is suggested that the Quality Assurance Board supports to fund the KCP and WDR with 3 750 000 Euro.