World Bank portfolio and staff 're-mapping' finalized
World Bank programs and more than 5,700 staff have been reorganized into "global practices,” with all changes to take effect on July 1. An exclusive update after a year of uncertainty about how President Jim Kim's ambitious reforms would play out.
The World Bank has completed the highly anticipated “re-mapping” of its portfolio and staff into the new technical areas — 14 “global practices” and five “cross-cutting solution areas” as part of President Jim Kim’s ambitious reform efforts. Staff were informed about the re-mapping update earlier this week in a memo. The new organizational structure, set to come into effect at the start of the bank’s fiscal year on July 1, has consumed a considerable amount of energy within the Washington, D.C.-based international financial institution and created uncertainty among employees over the past year. The staff update, seen by Devex, suggests that all of the 5,700 employees within the World Bank Group who were assigned a global practice or cross-cutting solutions area had “validated their proposed mapping to the new structure” and that all “all portfolios, programs and trust funds have been mapped to the new structure.” This includes the International Finance Corp. and employs more than 10,000 people around the globe. The institution has already has announced senior directors for 17 of the 19 new offices. According to the memo, senior directors for the agriculture global practice and conflict and fragility cross-cutting solution area will be finalized in June. Other important staffing decisions — such as the appointment of directors (who will function as deputies to the senior directors) and senior regional advisers, as well as the assignment of “practice managers” — will also be ready in June. Staff “readiness training” will begin at the end of May. A separate document circulated among World Bank staff describes portfolios and staffing for each of the global practices, as well as the climate change group, one of the cross-cutting solutions areas. The largest global practice based on staff size is governance — which includes procurement — while transport and ICT has the largest lending portfolio. More than 40 percent of global practices staff will be located in country offices. The current portfolio and staffing breakdown for each office is as follows: Agriculture • Staff: 263 total (161 at headquarters, 102 in country offices) • Lending portfolio: $6.471 billion in pipeline, $13.797 billion under supervision • Value of grants: $1.883 billion • Knowledge services: $50.38 million Education • Staff: 279 total (171 at headquarters, 108 in country offices) • Lending portfolio: $5.802 billion in pipeline, $10.498 billion under supervision • Value of grants: $2.345 billion • Knowledge services: $146.91 million Energy and extractives • Staff: 311 total (235 at headquarters, 76 in country offices) • Lending portfolio: $13.752 billion in pipeline, $31.916 billion under supervision • Value of grants: $0.703 billion • Knowledge services: $104.88 million Environment and natural resources • Staff: 279 total (167 at headquarters, 112 in country offices) • Lending portfolio: $3.348 billion in pipeline, $6.806 bilion under supervision • Value of grants: $1.045 billion • Knowledge services: $121.42 million Finance and markets • Staff: 455 total (317 at headquarters, 138 in country offices) • Lending portfolio: $2.240 billion in pipeline, $8.032 billion under supervision • Value of grants: $0.245 billion • Knowledge services: $184.52 million Governance • Staff: 781 total (325 at headquarters, 456 in country offices) • Lending portfolio: $2.146 billion in pipeline, $9.594 billion under supervision • Value of grants: $2.962 billion • Knowledge services: $178.41 million Health, Nutrition and Population • Staff: 296 total (208 at headquarters, 88 in country offices) • Lending portfolio: $3.673 billion in pipeline, $9.106 billion under supervision • Value of grants: $1.2 billion • Knowledge services: $101.93 million Macroeconomics and fiscal management • Staff: 338 total (175 at headquarters, 163 in country offices) • Lending portfolio: $10.205 billion in pipeline, $9.715 billion under supervision • Value of grants: $0.1 billion • Knowledge services: $75.37 million Poverty • Staff: 159 total (126 at headquarters, 33 in country offices) • Lending portfolio: $0.362 billion in pipeline, $0.713 billion under supervision • Value of grants: $0.069 billion • Knowledge services: $81.10 million Social protection and labor • Staff: 242 total (166 at headquarters, 76 in country offices) • Lending portfolio: $3.423 billion in pipeline, $10.061 billion under supervision • Value of grants: $1.014 billion • Knowledge services: $70.48 million Trade and competitiveness • Staff: 524 total (251 at headquarters, 273 in country offices) • Lending portfolio: $2.673 billion in pipeline, $5.298 billion under supervision • Value of grants: $0.217B • Knowledge services: $144.90 million, plus $147M in IFC advisory services Transport and ICT • Staff: 287 total (190 at headquarters, 108 in country offices) • Lending portfolio: $11.384 billion in pipeline, $42.190 billion under supervision • Value of grants: $0.829 billion • Knowledge services: $93.21 million Urban, rural and social development • Staff: 542 total (348 at headquarters, 194 in country offices) • Lending portfolio: $8.961 billion in pipeline, $21.816 billion under supervision • Value of grants: $1.133 billion • Knowledge services: $275.55 million Water • Staff: 335 total (147 at headquarters, 188 in country offices) • Lending portfolio: $5.967 billion in pipeline, $21.09 billion under supervision • Value of grants: $0.723 billion • Knowledge services: $319.23 million Climate change cross-cutting solution area • Staff: 227 total (226 at headquarters, 1 in country offices) • Lending portfolio: $0.002 billion in pipeline, $0.002 billion under supervision • Value of grants: $0.445 billion • Knowledge services: $19.33 million (The climate change group has $5.31 billion in trust funds available) Read more development aid news online, and subscribe to The Development Newswire to receive top international development headlines from the world’s leading donors, news sources and opinion leaders — emailed to you FREE every business day. See more: World Bank's new corporate scorecard aims to align lending to goals How Tim Evans will lead World Bank efforts toward UHC Why you should care about World Bank reform
The World Bank has completed the highly anticipated “re-mapping” of its portfolio and staff into the new technical areas — 14 “global practices” and five “cross-cutting solution areas” as part of President Jim Kim’s ambitious reform efforts.
Staff were informed about the re-mapping update earlier this week in a memo. The new organizational structure, set to come into effect at the start of the bank’s fiscal year on July 1, has consumed a considerable amount of energy within the Washington, D.C.-based international financial institution and created uncertainty among employees over the past year.
The staff update, seen by Devex, suggests that all of the 5,700 employees within the World Bank Group who were assigned a global practice or cross-cutting solutions area had “validated their proposed mapping to the new structure” and that all “all portfolios, programs and trust funds have been mapped to the new structure.” This includes the International Finance Corp. and employs more than 10,000 people around the globe.
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Paul Stephens is a former Devex staff writer based in Washington, D.C. As a multimedia journalist, editor and producer, Paul has contributed to the Los Angeles Times, Washington Monthly, CBS Evening News, GlobalPost, and the United Nations magazine, among other outlets. He's won a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting for a 5-month, in-depth reporting project in Yemen after two stints in Georgia: one as a Peace Corps volunteer and another as a communications coordinator for the U.S. Agency for International Development.
