World Bank Institute

The World Bank Institute (WBI) is the World Bank’s knowledge and learning arm. WBI designs and delivers courses and seminars, provides policy advice, and helps countries to develop individual, organizational, and institutional capacity by working with the public and private sector, with NGOs, civil society and community leaders.

WBI seeks to achieve scale and outreach through use of various pedagogical tools and distance learning technologies, including the Bank’s Global Development Learning Network. 

Areas of Focus

In August 2005, WBI and the World Bank’s South Asia region opened a regional capacity development hub based in Delhi. WBI’s program in India is anchored in the World Bank’s India Country Strategy and focuses on the following areas: 

• Urban Management
  
  
• Fiscal and Public Sector Management
  
• Health and HIV/AIDS
• Investment Climate
• Local Government
• Knowledge Economy

Program priority is given to the four lagging states: Orissa, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand.  The aim is to build multi-year capacity development programs in partnership with local institutions in each of these areas.

SPECIAL INITIATIVES:

GAIN Business Alliance

The WBI, in a joint initiative with the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), has formed the GAlN Business Alliance to bring together global food companies committed to further food fortification around the world.

The GAIN Business Alliance provides a learning and knowledge sharing platform for companies around the world to see how they can contribute to tackling malnutrition, raise awareness of the issue, discuss common difficulties, and help develop new business models to reach poor consumers with fortified foods. 

The Alliance was formed in Beijing in October 2005 and local chapters have since been formed in China, Africa, N. America and Europe. The India chapter was launched on March 22-23, 2007.

Knowledge Economy

Starting in 2001, the World Bank and WBI provided analytical know and consulted with Government and the private sector through workshops and other inter-action to assess India’s position in the global knowledge economy.

In 2005, the process resulted in a best-selling report India and the Knowledge Economy: Leveraging Strengths and Opportunities   which focused on IT and biotechnology.

The results of the report contributed to India’s Vision 2020 which stresses the importance of knowledge and ways to facilitate India’s transition to the knowledge economy.    

Quarterly Magazine

WBI also produces “Development Outreach”, a quarterly magazine which latest issue focuses on Science & Technology: Building Capacity for Development.