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Publication MIGA Annual Report 2012(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2012-10) Multilateral Investment Guarantee AgencyIn fiscal year 2012, a total issue of $2.7 billion in guarantees for projects in Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency's (MIGA's) developing member countries and an additional $10.6 million was issued under MIGA administered trust funds. This is another record high for new issuance by the Agency, the second consecutive year of this trend, and was marked by increased regional and sectoral diversification. Fifty-eight percent of projects guaranteed, accounting for 70 percent of the total volume of new coverage, address at least one of MIGA's four strategic priority areas. Fiscal year 2012 also marks the fifth consecutive year of record levels in the Agency's gross portfolio. MIGA issued $2.7 billion in guarantees in support of investments in developing countries. The Agency welcomed two new members, Niger and South Sudan, during the fiscal year. This report highlights MIGA's active support for these objectives in fiscal year 2012. It demonstrates the Agency's ability to deliver on its mandate to promote foreign direct investment into developing countries to support economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve people's lives. As the global investment environment becomes increasingly volatile, and MIGA's clients look for opportunities in frontier markets, there is greater interest in political risk-mitigation mechanisms. MIGA has positioned itself well to respond to these developments especially as a result of its stronger field presence and internal reforms over the last two years. MIGA is committed to promoting projects that promise a strong development impact and are economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable. MIGA's projects this past year demonstrate this focus in a wide range of sectors, across all regions. In fiscal year 2012 the Agency's projects in the region accounted for 24 percent of volume, twice the level of the previous year.Publication IFC Annual Report 2012 : Innovation, Influence, Demonstration, Volume 2. Results(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2012) International Finance CorporationThis annual report of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) summarizes the innovation and leadership roles in the private sector during fiscal year 2012. The IFC invested a record $20.4 billion in 103 developing countries, reflecting a doubling of annual commitments over the last five years. Those investments included nearly $5 billion mobilized from other investors, and an investment for Sub-Saharan Africa totaling $2.7 billion, nearly twice as much as five years ago. The advisory services program expenditures grew to $197 million, up more than 50 percent over the last five years. Advisory services also helped 33 client governments introduce 56 investment-climate reforms that will improve access to basic services for more than 16 million people. IFC investment clients helped support 2.5 million jobs in 2011 and made 23 million loans totaling more than $200 billion to micro, small, and medium enterprises. Net income before grants to the International Development Association (IDA) totaled $1.66 billion. The IFC has invested more than $23 billion in IDA countries, nearly $6 billion of it in fiscal year 2012 alone.Publication Sudan: Rapid Assessment of the Public Investment Portfolio in the Fiscal Adjustment Context(Washington, DC, 2011-10) World BankPublic investment to facilitate growth and poverty reduction is paramount to Sudan's development challenge. The acute need for rebuilding the country's deteriorated infrastructure and service delivery framework underscores the importance of more active and effective public investment. The disproportional composition of the spending adjustment raises particular concern on pro-poor and public investment spending during the subsequent fiscal adjustment period expected to follow. Under the growing fiscal decentralization trend, the state governments have taken up the primary responsibility to provide basic public service deliveries to the poor; in such a decentralized constellation, reduced support from the federal budget could seriously jeopardize the provision of basic services at the state and locality level. In particular, public investment expenditure now has to effectively address service delivery needs and the broader development agenda, while at the same time the overall resource envelope is declining. This note is the result of a rapid assessment of Sudan's public investment portfolio in the context of the anticipated fiscal adjustment. It is not a full-fledged review on public investment projects or the public investment management system. The main scope of the assessment is: to quickly identify available information on public investment projects from existing sources; to provide an contextual overview of the overall public investment portfolio in light of the imminent needs for rationalizing the public investment portfolio; and to outline conceptual guidelines for public investment adjustments and to propose longer-term tasks to improve public investment management.Publication Lifelong Learning in the Global Knowledge Economy : Challenges for Developing Countries(Washington, DC, 2003) World BankConsideration of lifelong learning extends the World Bank's traditional approach to education, in which subsectors are looked at in isolation. Three years ago, when he articulated the Comprehensive Development Framework, World Bank President James Wolfensohn referred explicitly to lifelong learning as a component of what education means for poverty alleviation In 1995 "Priorities and Strategies for Education" (report no. 14948) emphasized the need to look at the education system in a more holistic manner. The 1999 "Education Sector Strategy"(report no. 19631) discussed the role of new technologies. The World Bank has just completed important new policy work on higher education reforms as well as a vision paper on the role of science and technology. The current report is the Bank's first attempt to lay out an analytical framework for understanding the challenges of developing a lifelong learning system. While the World Bank's involvement in lifelong education is still at the conceptual stage, two new projects-in Romania and Chile-have already been prepared to address the need for continuing education and lifelong learning. In the years to come more analytical work on lifelong learning is expected, and the policy dialogue in education will touch more and more on lifelong learning issues. The Bank's lending program will involve operations to support countries' efforts to transform their education systems to reflect a lifelong learning approach. This report provides a departure point for these continuing discussions, providing a conceptual framework for education-related lending activities reflecting the latest knowledge and successful practices of planning and implementing education for lifelong learning. It encourages countries to look beyond traditional approaches to education and training and to engage in a policy dialogue on the pedagogical and economic consequence of lifelong learning.