Report Series: IFC SmartLessons
SmartLessons is an awards program to share lessons learned by the International Financial Corporation (IFC) during development-oriented advisory services and investment operations.
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Publication
Informing the 'Visible Hand' Defining and Measuring What Governments Do - and Can Do - with Private Health Providers in Africa
(International Finance Corporation and the World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-05)Measures of the overall business environment have been around for many years, and the World Bank Group has been at the forefront, for example, with the doing business indicators. But it's a different story when it comes to the environment for private businesses in the social sectors. Indeed, the private sector's role itself is somewhat controversial, making it all the more important to develop a useful definition of effective policy and practice in this area. In 2011, the World Bank and International Finance Corporation, or IFC published a report, healthy partnerships: how governments can engage the private sector to improve health in Africa, which represents a leap forward in our understanding of government performance toward the private health sector, and how to measure and improve that performance. Part of the World Bank Group's health in Africa Initiative, the healthy partnerships report presents a framework for defining, measuring, and reforming how the public and private sectors work together. It makes the indicators not only relevant but also directly helpful to policymakers and to colleagues in the field. This smart lesson shares insight gained while preparing the report. -
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Against All Odds : Giving Businesses an Edge in Haiti
(International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC, 2012-04)Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) contribute to job creation in all types of economies, but they have a particularly critical role in fragile and conflict-affected states. In Haiti, for example, smaller companies represent the backbone of the economy, employing about 80 percent of the workforce. These SMEs face many challenges in managing their operations and setting up sound business strategies, challenges that can lead to limited growth opportunities and difficulties in accessing credit. Following the devastating earthquake of 2010, which magnified the already difficult circumstances, International Finance Corporation, or IFC supported private sector development by providing SMEs with specific management tools under the Business Edge (BE) program to help with the recovery process. This smart lesson presents lessons learned and insights gained from the Business Edge Haiti Project. -
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An Innovative and Cost-Effective Solution for Livestock Waste Management in China, Thailand and Vietnam
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-01)The East Asia region is home to more than half the world s stock of pigs and more than one-third of the world s poultry a population that is expected to grow rapidly over the next decades. As a result, about 26 percent of the total area in East Asia suffers from significant nutrient surpluses, mainly from agricultural sources. For instance, the region has a 47 percent surplus of phosphorus and a 16 percent surplus of nitrogen, both from animal manure. This contributes significantly to the degradation of regional water quality. To address this issue, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) funded the Livestock Waste Management in East Asia (LWMEA) Project. This smart lesson discusses major challenges faced and key lessons learned from implementing that regional project. -
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How to Revamp a Business Edge Program : The Case of Ghana
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-11)IFC aims to strengthen the overall business environment by providing local markets with management training programs aimed at small businesses, such as Business Edge. IFC signs cooperation agreements with local business development service providers to deliver this interactive learning program. The hoped-for result is that the beneficiaries of training will run more efficient businesses and the overall economy will improve. This Smartlesson shares the lessons learned while revamping the Business Edge program in Ghana. The overhaul was achieved by clearing up training providers' misinterpretations about the program and empowering them to deliver it, defining a clear strategy for the program, shedding all but the top performing local providers, giving providers chances to network with potential clients, lining up some business for the providers, and exerting strong quality control over the program. -
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It Started in Ghana : Implementing Africa's First Collateral Registry
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-12)The author all want to build something that matters. From the advisory Services perspective, no matter the business line, it's about helping meaningful players accomplish sustainable results. However, entering a continent with a new product is something that can be extremely challenging. This smart lesson tells of a project that, against all odds, installed the first online collateral registry in Africa, designed in line with international best practices and following principles established by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law. -
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Measureable Results! Doing Business Project Encourages Economies to Reform Insolvency Frameworks
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-01)Over the past 10 years, nearly 100 economies have reformed their insolvency regimes as a result of many factors, such as financial crises and to some extent the International Finance Corporation, or IFC and World Bank doing business project. In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, governments around the world implemented extensive insolvency reforms aimed at strengthening regulatory mechanisms for resolving insolvency cases, to stimulate entrepreneurship and generate a more efficient allocation of market resources. This smart lesson discusses two of the main best practices that stem from the key reform areas: determination of business viability, and introduction of reorganization proceedings. -
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IFC at an Inflection Point : Time for a New Business Delivery Model?
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-12)As International Finance Corporation (IFC) continues to further scale up its operations, seeking to deliver more development impact, could it be in danger of inadvertently becoming an increasingly slower and higher-cost delivery mechanism, and thus a less relevant change agent? This smart lesson, growing out of the author's observations during 32 years with IFC, proposes an alternative business delivery model with particular relevance to fragile states and frontier regions in middle income countries, in hopes of sparking a lively and productive debate around how IFC defines, delivers and measures success in its poverty reduction effort. -
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More Than Just Hot Air : Carbon Market Access and Climate-Smart Agriculture for Smallholder Farmers
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-01)The Kenya agricultural carbon project is breaking new ground in designing and implementing climate finance projects in the agricultural sector. The project is regarded as an innovative example for climate-smart agriculture within and outside the World Bank. For the first time, while increasing productivity and enhancing resilience to climate change, smallholder farmers in Africa will receive payments for greenhouse gas mitigation based on sustainable agricultural land management. Quantification of carbon sequestration is monitored based on a newly developed carbon accounting methodology. This smart lesson describes the key factors to take into consideration when facilitating the adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices and access to carbon markets for smallholder farmers. -
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The Grain Chain : Food Security and Managing Wheat Imports in Arab Countries
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011-12)Arab countries depend heavily on imported food, particularly wheat. Population growth, rising incomes, and climate change will only increase their dependency on wheat imports, thereby making Arab countries even more exposed to international market volatility. A recent World Bank study, 'the grain chain: food security and managing wheat imports in Arab countries,' identifies key bottlenecks in the wheat-import supply chain (WISC) and some possible remedies. Efficiency improvements to the supply chain can improve food security. This smart lesson provides a summary of the relevant issues. -
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Assessing the Carbon Benefits of Improved Land Management Technologies
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-01)Ensuring food security under changing climate conditions is one of the major challenges of our era. Agriculture must not only become increasingly productive, but must also adapt to climate change while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Soil carbon sequestration, the process by which atmospheric carbon dioxide is taken up by plants through photosynthesis and stored as carbon in biomass and soils, can support these goals. First, soil carbon enhances agricultural productivity, which reduces rural poverty; second, it limits greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere; and third, it reduces the impact of climate change on agricultural ecosystems. This smart lesson describes the potential benefits of selected land management technologies that sequester carbon.