Author Description

In the changing global environment of development cooperation, trust funds have emerged as a significant pillar of the global aid architecture, used to address limitations in bilateral aid and fill perceived gaps in the operations of existing multilateral institutions. They currently account for about 11 percent of official development assistance (ODA), and they finance a substantial part of the World Bank's business. The activities they fund are highly varied, ranging from huge global programs with their own governance structures to conventional development projects, debt and disaster relief operations, and technical assistance. This IEG evaluation, undertaken at the request of World Bank executive directors, assesses the value of the trust fund vehicle as a way of delivering aid and the effectiveness and efficiency of the deployment of trust fund resources. In addition, the evaluation assesses the Bank's management and accountability for the use of trust fund resources and the impact of trust funds on the Bank's development role. The evaluation finds that donors, recipients, and the World Bank have considerable overlapping interests in this vehicle, but their interests may diverge on specific issues such as how trust fund allocation decisions are made and how trust funds are governed and managed. Furthermore, while trust funds can add value by providing coordinated grant financing for specific countries, development issues, and especially global public goods, the deployment of trust fund resources does not consistently work in accordance with the Paris Declaration aid principles of country ownership and donor coordination. Notably, many trust funds of global scope involve insufficient recipient participation and lack clear outcome objectives. For other trust funds, a three-pillar approach consisting of country-specific trust funds; global and regional partnership programs; and multi-donor, multi-recipient umbrella facilities will allow the Bank to strengthen the e