2016 innovation awards - world...

2016 Innovation Awards

Program Highlights

ii • 2016 Innovation Awards: Program Highlights

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2016 Innovation Awards: Program Highlights • iii

Contents

Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................... v

Acronyms and Abbreviations ..........................................................................................vii

Why Innovation at the WBG? .......................................................................................... 1

What Are the Innovation Awards? ................................................................................... 1

What Do the Innovation Awards Say About Innovation at the WBG? .............................. 2

Characteristics of Nominations ....................................................................................................................................3Characteristics of Nominated Innovations .................................................................................................................5

Conclusions ...................................................................................................................... 6

Winners and Finalists ...................................................................................................... 7

Overcoming the Collateral Constraint for Women Entrepreneurs: Psychometric Testing in Ethiopia .......8Pilot Auction Facility (PAF) ..........................................................................................................................................9Enhancing Tax Compliance in Costa Rica Using Big Data: Innovative Experiment and Quasi-Experimental Tools ....................................................................................................................................................... 10Tanzania Local Government Revenue Collection System ................................................................................... 11Bangladesh Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy (RERED)—Mini-grid Project ............................ 12Bangladesh Public Procurement Reform Project II—Digital Transformation of Public Procurement ..... 13

iv • 2016 Innovation Awards: Program Highlights

Appendix A: Members of Selection Committees ........................................................... 17

Cross-VPU Committee ............................................................................................................................................... 17Longlisting Committee ............................................................................................................................................... 18

Appendix B: 125 Eligible Nominations .......................................................................... 19

Figures

Figure 1. Breakdown of Eligile Nominations by Region .........................................................................................3Figure 2. Primary Funding Source ................................................................................................................................4Figure 3. Type of Innovation .........................................................................................................................................5

Boxes

Box 1. Is Innovation Being Developed Efficiently at the WBG? ...........................................................................7

2016 Innovation Awards: Program Highlights • v

Acknowledgments

The 2016 Innovation Awards were conducted by a team from the Innovation Labs of Word Bank Group (WBG) under the Leadership, Learning and Innovation (LLI) Vice Presidency. This activity was led by Victor Mulas (TTL) under the direction of Adarsh Desai (Manager) and Abha Joshi-Ghani (Director). Elena Gasol and Dean Thompson were responsible for daily operations of the Innovation Awards. Arathi Sundaravadanan, Maria Mboono, and Vinod Beri provided communications support, and led the design and implementation of the Awards Ceremony in June 2016. Ghia Zaatari and Sandra Pocar helped with the nomination process, and Anastasia Nedayvoda and Jerry Zhang conducted research for this report. Victor Mulas and Dean Thompson are the authors of this report. Colin Blackman served as editor and James Quigley formatted it.

The team would like to express its gratitude to Human Resources for their support, particularly Carleen Victoria and Saniya Anwar, whose guidance on running an awards program and other topics was invaluable. The team extends its most sincere gratitude to the colleagues who participated in each of the Selection Committees. These included Behnaz Bonyadian, Marcelo Donolo, Meena Munshi, Mattias K. A. Lundberg, Nadeem Mohammad, Elena Gasol, Yelena Fedeyeva and Victor Mulas in the Longlisting Committee. They also included Michael Goldberg, Jeffrey Waite, Bilal H. Rahill, Vijay Pillai, Rocio Castro, Roumeen Islam, Karin Erika Kemper, and Uzma Basim in the Cross-VPU Committee.

vi • 2016 Innovation Awards: Program Highlights

2016 Innovation Awards: Program Highlights • vii

AFRGI Africa Gender Impact Evaluation Unit

ASCI Amhara Credit & Savings Institution

CCSA Cross-Cutting Solution Area

DPO Development Policy Operation

E&E Energy & Extractives

EAP East Asia Pacific Region

EFI Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions

ERs Emission reductions

ESW Economic and Sector Work

GCCCF Global Climate Change and Carbon Finance Unit

GP Global Practice

GPVP Global Practice Vice Presidency

HD Human Development

IBRD International Bank for Reconstruction and Development

ICT Information and communication technology

IFC International Finance Corporation

IMF International Monetary Fund

IP Indigenous people

KP Knowledge Product

LCR Latin America and the Caribbean Region

LLI Leadership, Learning and Innovation

M&E Monitoring and Evaluation

MIGA Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency

NGO Nongovernmental organization

Acronyms and Abbreviations

viii • 2016 Innovation Awards: Program Highlights

OPCS Operations Procedures and Country Services

PAF Pilot Auction Facility

RAS Reimbursable Advisory Services

RBF Results-based Financing

RVP Regional Vice Presidency

SD Sustainable Development

SURR Social, Urban, Rural & Resilience

TF Trust fund

UAVs Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

VPU Vice Presidential Unit

WBG The World Bank Group

All dollar amounts are U.S. dollars unless otherwise indicated

2016 Innovation Awards: Program Highlights • 1

2016 Innovation Awards

Program Highlights

Why Innovation at the WBG?

“Innovation has been and will be pivotal for reaching sustained, scalable solutions to the world’s complex problems.”1 Indeed, innovation is a key driver of transformational engagements—understood as deep, systemic and sustainable changes with the potential for large-scale impact—and a key pillar of the World Bank Group’s (WBG) 2030 strategy.2

How is innovation being applied by The World Bank Group (WBG) to address the world’s complex problems and achieve the twin goals of reducing extreme poverty and increasing shared prosperity? The 2016 Innovation Awards program offers insights on how innovation is being absorbed and applied in WBG projects and activities to tackle development challenges. Nominations described different types of innova-tions in technology, policies, processes, and partnerships—including drones mapping land, solar power technology, a new climate finance model, and innovative approaches for the use of intangible collateral for women entrepreneurs in Africa.

This report describes the WBG’s 2016 Innovation Awards program, highlights the diverse innovations submitted by WBG teams, and presents the six winners and six additional finalists.

What Are the Innovation Awards?

As part of a broader initiative of Bank leadership to foster an innovative culture, the 2016 Innovation Awards were designed to recognize staff that innovate at the WBG and to highlight the innovation occurring in

1 A Call for Innovation in International Development . http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/pubdocs/publicdoc/2015/11/851851446842304852/Call-for-Innovation-in-International-Development.pdf.

2 Independent Evaluation Group. 2016. Supporting Transformational Change for Poverty Reduction and Shared Prosperity. World Bank Group. Washington, DC: World Bank. http://ieg.worldbank.org/Data/reports/WBGSupportTransformationalEngagements.pdf.

2 • 2016 Innovation Awards: Program Highlights

WBG operations and activities. The WBG has lacked institutional mechanisms for recognizing and providing incentives, and for strategically managing innovation to accelerate progress towards its goals (see Box 1). The Innovation Awards were conceived as a soft mechanism to address this gap by providing data that could inform the establishment of structured internal mechanisms.

This was the first iteration of the Innovation Awards and it took place from January through June 2016. The WBG’s Innovation Labs, under the Leadership, Learning and Innovation (LLI) Vice Presidency, served as the administrator of the awards. Staff and consultants in World Bank Vice Presidential Units (VPUs) were eligible to participate in this program. Although the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) did not officially participate, individual IFC/MIGA staff could be part of nominated teams.

Bank staff submitted 168 nominations representing diverse sectors from all six World Bank Regions. To be eligible for an Innovation Award, innovations must have been completed in 2015, and had to be focused on external client operations. In addition, nominations had to address the following selection criteria:

1. The innovation accelerated development results, 2. The innovation had to have the potential to be scaled up, and 3. Scaling-up could improve results in other contexts (for example, regions and sectors).

In early May 2016, a Longlisting Committee (see Appendix A) composed of staff from LLI and Operations, procedures and Country Services (OPCS) reviewed the 168 nominations to assess their eligibility, rate them against the selection criteria, and choose 12 finalist teams (see Appendix B). In late May, a Selection Committee (Appendix A) made up of senior staff from the Global Practice Vice Presidencies (GPVPs) and Regional Vice Presidencies (RVPs) scored the 12 finalists to determine the six winners. The winners were recognized at a WBG-wide awards ceremony in June 2016.

What Do the Innovation Awards Say About Innovation at the WBG?

The Innovation Awards shed light on how WBG staff are applying innovation to address clients’ development challenges. In nominating themselves, staff demonstrate a healthy desire at the Bank to showcase innovative approaches in Bank activities and projects. Although this program cannot provide a complete picture,3 it can help us to understand what, where, and how innovation is happening at the WBG and its usefulness. To this end, the section below provides an overview of the 125 nominations assessed as eligible for an Innovation Award.

3 For a more comprehensive analysis of innovation at the WBG, see World Bank. 2016. Unearthing Innovation. (forthcoming)


Characteristics of Nominations

Regions and GPVPs submitted the most nominations. Regions submitted 41 percent of nominations, GPVPs 47 percent, and other VPUs 12 percent (see figure 1). Common VPUs in the “other” category included Cross-Cutting Solution Areas (CCSAs), the World Bank Treasury, Development Economics, and the Legal Department.

Among Regions, Africa proposed the most nominations with 33 percent, followed by South Asia with 27 percent, and Latin American and the Caribbean with 20 percent. Among GPVPs, Sustainable Development (SD) proposed 42 percent of nominations, Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions (EFI) 41 percent, and Human Development (HD) 17 percent. Though Regional VPUs were the source of 41 percent of nomina-tions, many nominations from Regions proposed teams from Global Practices (GP).4

4 Eight percent of eligible nominations featured two or more VPUs, typically a GPVP and a Region, which suggests cross-VPU coordi-nation. However, the analysis only considers the primary VPU from the nomination form.

168 Nominations Spanning All Regions• Among 125 eligible

innovations, 20 were global and 21 regionally focused, and 84 targeted 50 countries

• 68% of eligible nominations were New Solutions, 32% Adaptions

• Trust Funds were the largest funding mechanism, supporting 37% of nominations

• The top two Global Practices engaged in innovations were SURR and Energy & Extractives

Nominations by VPU (n=125) Nominations by Region (n=51) Nominations by GPVP (n=59)

Regional41%

GPVP47%

Other12%

AFR33%

ECA10%EAP

6%

LCR20%

SAR27%

MNA4%

GGSVP

42%GGEVP

41%

GGHVP

17%

Figure 1. Breakdown of Eligile Nominations by Region


An analysis of nominations from the GPVPs, and those of Regions nominating principally GP teams, suggested innovations came from diverse Global Practices. Using the unit of the team lead(s) as a proxy indicator, the Social, Urban, Rural & Resilience (SURR) GP led with 22 percent of innovations, mainly focused on working in fragile states, preventing and mitigating disasters, and strengthening engagement with young people and vulnerable groups. The Energy & Extractives (E&E) GP was second with about 10 percent of innovations, focused particularly on promoting renewable and clean energy.

Most remaining GPs were responsible for 6 to 10 percent of innovations within this pool. In EFI, these included Governance, Finance & Markets, Trade & Competitiveness, and Macroeconomics & Fiscal Management. In the Social Development (SD) network, these included Water, Transport & ICTs, and Environmental & Natural Resources. In the Human Development (HD) network, the Education GP contributed about six percent of nominations—with the Health, Nutrition & Population and Social Protection & Labor GPs about three and four percent, respectively. A few nominations came from CCSAs, such as Climate Change, and Fragility, Conflict & Violence. Nevertheless, because many innovations cut across sectors, this simple attribution methodology may not be fully representative of the nomination pool.

Trust funds (TF) and lending were the primary funding sources for innovations (see figure 2). Trust funds supported 37 percent of innovations and lending 26 percent. All other sources of funding (Reimbursable Advisory Services—RAS, Economic and Sector Work—ESW, Knowledge Products—KP, and so on) supported 27 percent of innovations. The funding source was unclear for about 10 percent of the nominations.

Trust funds and discretionary funding (for example, innovation grants) are used by Bank teams to rapidly pilot and demonstrate the results of innova-tions. Based on research and suggested by the nomina-tions, Bank teams appear to prefer TFs for pilots and so-called “frontier” innovations as TFs provide relatively easier access to funds, quick disbursements, and have lenient procedures. This is consistent with the units that provided more nominations, with those working on fragile states, preventing and mitigating disasters, or energy-related innovations being most prominent. All of these thematic areas are supported by TF facilities. When teams pilot within a lending operation, the innovation tends to be funded by TF and other discre-tionary funding, complementing the existing design of the lending operation

Figure 2. Primary Funding Source

Figure 2. Primary Funding Source

Lending26%

Trust Fund37%

Other27%

No Info10%


Characteristics of Nominated Innovations

The Innovation Awards program defined innovation as a brand new solution, or an adaption of an established approach to different sectors or contexts. Thirty-one percent of eligible nominations were deemed to be new solutions, and 69 percent adaptations, which suggests that the Bank is playing a key role in scaling innovation sourced from elsewhere.

Figure 3 illustrates the types of nominated innovations. Nearly half of innovations were a product or technology, while policy and process innovations each made up 19 percent. Organizational or partnership innovations made up 13 percent. Though listing all nominations in these types is not possible here, selected examples are provided below:

• Product/technology: Sample innovations included creative uses of satellite and drones, to map slums in India and assess war damage in Syria, and mobile and tablet-based technol-ogies, such as apps to survey poverty, monitor road condi-tions, compare remittance service providers, and engage stakeholders in monitoring public services. Innovations made use of open data and big data, from a new open data portal supporting development in Sudan, to open source software tracking taxi trips to improve congestion analysis in the Philippines, to the World Bank’s PovcalNet, an online poverty monitoring system allowing external visitors to create new poverty measurements. Other innovations included information systems to improve procurement, web-based platforms for sharing knowledge, and technologies and risk and insurance products in agriculture, disaster management, and climate change.

• Process: Nominations focused on innovative ways that Bank teams used, sequenced, and mixed Bank products, including through programmatic and multisector approaches, and performance-based contracting and results-based financing (RBF), such as an RBF program to promote clean stoves in China. Nominations highlighted inventive ways of packaging Bank assistance, such as a program combining seed funding and technical assistance within Bank operations to develop technological innovations that improve disaster resilience. Nominations presented new methods of engaging commu-nities, such as mechanisms to involve indigenous people in designing and delivering an environmental grant program in Peru, and engaging men and stakeholders to prevent violence against women in Honduras. Teams proposed new methodologies for assessing risks, such as the Bank Treasury’s efforts to develop methods for assessing credit risk of state-owned enterprises in Indonesia.

• Policy: Nominations highlighted how Bank teams had creatively used Development Policy Operations (DPOs), such as the first-ever regional DPO to improve transport policies between Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast, and a DPO promoting “green growth” policies in transport, energy, and other sectors in Colombia. Nominations featured new designs and policies for social safety nets, including innovative targeting mechanisms and measures for channeling social assistance, such as through public works in postdisaster contexts. Innovations informed policy reform, such as an online portal for recommenda-

Figure 3. Type of Innovation

Product/Technology49%

Process19%

Policy19%

Organizational/Partnership

13%

Figure 3. Type of Innovation


tions and information on mining legislation in Africa, and a tool combining tax records and household survey data to assess tax reform in Chile. Nominations highlighted how big data from tax records and behavioral techniques can improve tax compliance in Costa Rica and other countries.

• Organizational/Partnership: Nominations demonstrated ways that the Bank had brought together stakeholders to raise awareness of issues, encourage research and knowledge exchange, promote consensus, and support project design and implementation. In Africa, the Bank helped mobilize 100 journalists from multiple countries to report on the dire condition of coastal fisheries, and convened governments, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and organizations from 14 countries to support research and projects in early childhood development. In the East Asia Pacific region (EAP), the Bank created a network of finance ministers from Asian-Pacific countries to discuss and foster commitment to credit infrastructure reforms. A regional, cross-GP initiative in the Latin American and the Caribbean region (LCR) convened governments, development institutions, and indigenous peoples (IPs) to support dialogue on IP issues, advocate IP policies, and design projects for IPs and Afro-descendants. The Bank helped create a global partnership program promoting learning on carbon pricing and solutions in collaboration with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other organizations.

An analysis of how nominations were scored reveals mid-range scores on the first selection criterion: whether the innovation accelerated development results. Yet scores were higher on other selection criteria—whether the innovation has the potential to be scaled up, and scaling up could improve results in other contexts. This suggests that Bank teams nominated innovations not yet fully mature and without demonstrable results, but with tangible demand and promise for scale.

Conclusions

The scale and breadth of nominations to the 2016 Innovation Awards suggest that there is considerable bottom-up innovation at the WBG. Nominations spanned all Regions and GPs and several other VPUs, despite the program’s limited focus on external client operations. Certain groups and GPs were responsible for comparatively more nominations—SURR and E&E, for example, in such areas as fragile states, disaster resil-ience, and renewable energy, perhaps because of easier access to agile funding (for example, TFs) or innovation friendly leadership. The program also featured different types of innovation, with one-third applied globally or regionally, and the rest focused in 50 countries.

Innovation at the WBG focuses on scaling innovation sourced from elsewhere more than creating brand new solutions. Most nominations featured adaptations of existing solutions, with almost 50 percent of them being product or technology related. This is consistent with the role and the scale of the WBG. As the IEG report on Transformational Engagement puts it, citing the example of Lighting Africa Kenya, the WBG’s role is not necessarily that of an inventor, but the Bank can help scale-up technologies that have potential to be transformational.5

5 Op cit, Note 2.


Box 1. Is Innovation Being Developed Efficiently at the WBG?

Nominations and existing research suggest that the preeminence of a bottom-up mechanism for generating innovation results in multiple teams “reinventing the wheel” and parallel processes of introducing the same innovation in the WBG. For example, multiple nominations from different GPs showcased the transition from paper to mobile-based monitoring of public services. Among others, the Water GP employed mobile phones to monitor rural water services in Vietnam, the Governance GP smartphones to collect data on crime, health, and education in Pakistan; and the Transport & ICT GP a tablet app to survey the condition of bridges in Nepal. All of these teams are taking similar approaches to problems faced systematically by WBG activities and operations in the area of data collection and Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E). However, each team approached their solution separately and without sharing core resources. This multiplies costs and reduces the economies of scope and scale for the WBG. GPs tend to innovate ad hoc and in pockets—without adequate sharing of innovations and lessons between units, rendering scaling inefficient.

Most nominations used TFs as the funding mechanism, with lending as the second preferred option. WBG teams seem to prefer TF and grant sources for testing and piloting frontier innovations, as these sources provide easier, just-in-time access to quick-disbursing funds and more lenient procedures. Although lending supports innovation, the longer timeframes of lending projects and use of client funds may favor financing adaptations of tested and proven innovations—minimally a more cautious and planned approach.

Given the importance of innovation to development and high participation in this program, Bank leadership may want to continue the Innovation Awards in 2017. If such a decision is made, Bank leadership may want to expand the focus beyond external client operations, possibly to include innovations in internal Bank processes, and officially include IFC and MIGA.

Winners and Finalists

The six winners of the Innovation Awards are described in the following pages, along with six additional finalists. These descriptions are based on selected information from the nominations. Congratulations to both groups.


Overcoming the Collateral Constraint for Women

Entrepreneurs: Psychometric Testing in Ethiopia

Under the FY12 Women Entrepreneurship project, the WBG worked with government, financial institutions, and a tech start-up to devise a way to use characteristics of borrowers as a substitute for loan collateral—captured in a psychometric testing tool. Potential borrowers could take a 45-minute test, designed to measure the likelihood of repayment, on a tablet computer in a branch of Ethiopia’s largest microfinance institution (Amhara Credit & Savings Institution, ACSI). ACSI provided loans up to $7,500 for those above a scoring cutoff. 600 borrowers took the test in 2015. Among the 349 offered loans, repayment is at 99.4%, and women borrowers increased profits by 24%. ACSI scaled the program from two to 12 branches, and aims to provide 2,000 loans in 2016.

Markus GoldsteinLead Economist, AFRCE

WINNER2016 Innovation Award VPU: Africa

TEAM LEAD


Pilot Auction Facility (PAF)

The multidonor PAF for Methane and Climate Change Mitigation is an innovative climate finance model to incentivize private investment in projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and maximize impact of limited public funds. Through an online auction of put options, the PAF provides a guaranteed floor price for future emission reductions (ERs). These options give auction winners a right, but not an obligation, to sell ERs to the PAF. The PAF’s first auction in July 2015 attracted 28 bidders from 17 countries. 12 won price guarantees for 8.7 million tons of ERs at a clearing price of $2.40/ton of CO2 equivalent. The PAF released a report on lessons on the first auction and a briefing note, and discussed the concept with several countries. Environmental Finance awarded PAF’s first auction its Carbon Deal of the Year in March 2016.

Scott CantorCarbon Finance Specialist, GCCCF

WINNER2016 Innovation Award VPU: Climate Change CCSA

TEAM LEAD


Enhancing Tax Compliance in Costa Rica Using Big Data:

Innovative Experiment and Quasi-Experimental Tools

This project used big data to improve tax compliance in Costa Rica. The project used a decade-long, nationwide panel of tax declarations submitted by 400,000 firms and more than 20 million financial transaction reports to estimate tax compliance gaps. Supported by a unique partnership involving tax authorities and the U.K. Behavioural Insights Team, authorities sought to increase tax filing by sending email tax reminders to firms emphasizing information from credit and debit reports about their economic activities. In addition, the team evaluated the impact of a policy whereby debit card companies withhold tax on card transactions. The project showed good results: randomized email reminders tripled the tax filing rate and doubled the payment rate among targeted firms, and the withholding policy increased sales tax payment by 50% among affected firms. The team has started big data projects with Guatemala, Poland, and Uruguay, and received interest from Bank teams in Croatia and Madagascar. Such techniques hold promise for other uses, such as in enhancing payment of service fees to public utilities.

WINNER2016 Innovation Award

Anne BrockmeyerEconomist, GFM04

Marco HernandezSenior Economist, GFM04

VPU: GGEVP

TEAM LEADS


Tanzania Local Government Revenue Collection System

The Tanzania Strategic Cities Project introduced an innovative Local Government Revenue Collection Information System (LGRCIS) to help Tanzanian cities collect own source revenue (OSR) from multiple sources, such as property taxes, service levies, and business fees. Now operational in seven cities, the system supports identification of taxpayers and defaulters, invoicing and receipts, bill generation, and online payment through a single gateway. It enables reporting and analysis by geography, payers, and revenue type. Participating cities increased their OSR by 30% in the first year, which has been critical in meeting budget shortfalls from central government transfers, and the system is being scaled countrywide and through Bank projects.

Chyi-Yun HuangUrban Specialist, GSU19

WINNER2016 Innovation Award VPU: Climate Change GGSVP

Onur Ozlu,Senior Urban Economist, GSU11

TEAM LEADS


Bangladesh Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy

(RERED)—Mini-grid Project

This project tested a business model implemented for solar home systems on new technologies: solar irrigation pumps (SIPs) and solar powered-minigrids. A $1.1m grant financed 41 SIPs benefiting 1,356 poor farmers, and a 100kW minigrid providing energy to 253 poor households. The project leveraged an innovative PPP with the state-owned Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL), and innovative financing, including capital buydown grants to ensure access to poor households and farmers to clean energy. Farmers reported reduced irrigation costs and savings in time and labor. Customers linked to the minigrid replaced polluting fuel sources, such as diesel, with clean energy. Income generating activities developed in project areas. Lessons are being shared with Mali, Uganda, Tanzania, and other countries, and additional financing is supporting the scaleup of the two technologies.

WINNER2016 Innovation Award

Zubair SadequeSenior Energy Specialist, GEE06

VPU: GGSVP

TEAM LEAD


Bangladesh Public Procurement Reform Project II—Digital

Transformation of Public Procurement

The Bank supported Bangladesh to build a single uniform integrated e-GP system covering bid invitation up to final payment, including online bid evaluations, contract awards, contract management, payments, and procurement measurement (e-PMIS). The e-PMIS module captures real-time procurement and contract management indicators, allowing stakeholders and citizens to monitor public procurement. The e-GP system drove good results: the number of registered bidders grew 35-fold, the days from tender opening to award fell from 51 in 2012 to 29 in 2015, and there is evidence of less fraud. The Bank is helping to scale-up of the program, and several countries have shown interest in the e-GP solution, such as Uganda, Zambia, and Nepal.

WINNER2016 Innovation Award VPU: GGEVP

Zafrul IslamLead Procurement Specialist, Governance, GGO06

TEAM LEAD


FINALISTS2016 Innovation Award

Innovation Title Team Lead(s) VPU Description

Country Disaster Risk Profiles

Oscar Anil Ishizawa,Sr. Disaster Risk Management Specialist, GSU10

Rashmin Gunasekera,Disaster Risk Management Specialist, GSU10

LCR Countries are increasingly exposed to high risks of meteorological and geophysical hazards, but governments lack capacity to quantify sovereign risk due to disasters. The Bank supported the development of open, free, and globally consistent Country Disaster Risk Profiles (CDRPs), which provide estimates of potential economic losses and future risks to property and other asset classes from natural disasters (e.g., hurricanes, earthquakes). CDRPs were used to estimate fatalities and direct economic losses to property within one week after the Nepal earthquake at an accuracy of over 90%, and help produce maps and information on building types, distribution, and economic value in African cities, helping the Bank to assess the level of investment in these cities.

Drones Kosovo (Mapping)

Kathrin KelmSr. Land Administration Specialist, GSULN

GGSVP Imaging and mapping land are important to property rights and resource decisions, but conventional aerial surveys and national-level orthophotos can cost millions of dollars and take more than a year to deliver. The Bank supported using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs, or drones) to collect aerial imagery, and produce high-level orthophotos and accurate maps and 3D models at a fraction of the cost and time. The team used UAVs to map and develop in under a week orthophotos of a village where war widows lack formal property titles, and Kosovo’s National Cadastral Agency helped these women register their rights. UAVs were used in a fast growing city to support a government program to legalize property rights. The team used UAVs to develop within 24 hours a 3D map of an area where an archeological site had stopped construction of the national highway, providing accurate information for rerouting of the road and preservation of the site.

Assessments and Design of Earthquake Affected Bridges in Nepal

A.K. Farhad Ahmed, Sr. Transport Specialist, GTI06

South Asia

The April 2015 earthquake damaged bridges in Nepal, but assessing bridge conditions and devising remedial measures was difficult given postquake physical and institutional constraints. The Bank team worked with the client to develop an Android-supported, tablet-based application for assessing quake-affected bridges. This application was designed to record each bridge element, survey the condition of each component, measure the extent and severity of defects, and prioritize remedial measures. It included photos to corroborate information and help produce the best remedial designs. The team recruited 11 engineers to conduct the bridge surveys, and remedial designs were completed and the Bridge Management System updated. Lessons helped to develop another tablet-based application for the supervision of bridges.


Innovation Title Team Lead(s) VPU Description

Big Data for User-focused Identification of Road Infrastructure Condition and Safety Concerns

Wei Winnie Wang, Transport Specialist, GTI03

GGSVP Road agencies face challenges in monitoring road conditions and developing cost-effective asset management strategies given limited funds. In collaboration with Belarussian authorities, the Bank developed a smartphone app to determine user-focused road condition indicators and safety concerns by extracting information from big data collected from drivers and road users. Using accelerometers in smartphones, this app automatically evaluates pavement roughness and detects road bumps, and users can upload pictures of potholes, black spots, and accidents. This crowdsourcing approach provides wider and more frequent coverage of road networks, supports better decisions on asset management, and enhances citizen engagement and government accountability. The team is working with the Global Solutions Group for Road Asset Management to make the mobile app universally applicable.

Code for Resilience Keiko Sato, Disaster Risk Management Specialist, GFDRR

Climate Change CCSA

An initiative of GFDRR’s DRM Innovation Labs, Code for Resilience (CfR) explores ways to introduce scalable, technological innovations to strengthen community resilience to natural disasters within World Bank operations. Continuing outreach to nine countries in 2014, the CfR team sought further collaboration with World Bank operations in 2015. Given demand from Bank teams for innovation in hydromet services, CfR provided seed funding and TA to codesign innovations, especially open source approaches for hydromet. For example, the team helped Haiti use open technology to collect and aggregate data to improve decision making and information for flood risk management and food security operations. CfR helped Togo to prepare for floods by supporting development of an innovative model for upstream flow prediction, dam operations, downstream flow prediction, and early warning. Early testing showed excellent results.

TransFORM/China Transport Transformation & Innovation Knowledge Platform

Gerald Paul Ollivier, Senior Infrastructure Specialist, GTI02

Ke Fang, Lead Urban Transport Specialist, GTIDR

GGSVP Launched by President Kim and China’s Minister of Finance, TransFORM sought to make transport safer, cleaner, and more affordable for development in China, and share China’s experiences with other countries, relying on pilots; engagement with academia, practitioners, and development institutions on strategic topics; and accelerated knowledge exchange (e.g., 21 workshops and 1,600 people trained through distance learning). Among other activities, TransFORM promoted innovative solutions of key pilots, including employer-based voluntary green commuting initiatives in Beijing; development of an electric vehicle business model in Wuhan; and use of open data for transit analysis, information service, and transport service analysis in Zhengzhou and Nanchang.


Appendix A: Members of Selection Committees

Cross-VPU Committee

Name Represented VPU Title Unit

Michael Goldberg GGEVP Lead Operations Officer GFMDR

Jeffrey Waite GGHVP Adviser GEDDR

Bilal H. Rahill GGSVP Director GGEND

Vijay Pillai AFRVP Adviser AFRVP

Rocio Castro EAPVP Adviser EAPVP

Roumeen Islam ECAVP Economic Adviser ECADE

Karin Erika Kemper LCRVP Senior Regional Adviser LCRVP

Najy Benhassinea MNAVP Practice Manager GTCME

Uzma Basim SARVP Senior Country Officer SACPA

* Nominated for cross-VPU committed but did not participate in scoring process


Name Title Unit

Behnaz Bonyadian Operations Officer OPSRR

Marcelo Donolo Senior Operations Officer OPSRR

Meena Munshi Integrated LLI Engagement Leader LLICC

Mattias K. A. Lundberg Lead Specialist, Global Youth Programs LLICC

Nadeem Mohammad Lead Operations Officer LLIOP

Elena Gasol Ramos* Senior ICT Policy Specialist GTI09

Yelena Fadeyeva Senior Operations Officer LLIOP

Victor Mulas Senior Operations Officer LLIIL

* In cross-support capacity to LLIIL for this activity

Longlisting Committee


Appendix B: 125 Eligible Nominations

Nomination Title Responsible VPUGeographic Focus

(Country, Regional, Global)

Overcoming the Collateral Constraint for Women Entrepreneurs: Psychometric Testing in Ethiopia

AFR Ethiopia

Guinea Power PPP AFR Guinea

Engaging Africa’s Journalists for Sustainable Fisheries

AFR Regional

Innovations to Boost Fisheries Benefits in West Africa (P156759)

AFR Regional

Regional Study on Confronting Drought in Africa’s Drylands

AFR Regional

Madagascar ACGF Financial Services Project (P109607)

AFR Madagascar

Data-Driven Decisions in FCS: The Sudan Evidence Base Program

AFR Sudan

Obtaining Health Results at Scale in Cameroon

AFR Cameroon

Preparation of Saving One Million Lives Program for Results

AFR Nigeria

CAR Emergency Public Services Response Project (P149884)

AFR Central African Republic

Urban Fragility and Violence in Africa—A Cross-country Analysis

AFR Regional

Kenya Devolution Support Program—PforR Preparation

AFR Kenya

Urgent Response to the 2015 Malawi Floods AFR Malawi




Local Government and Service Delivery Project (LGSDP) Supervision

AFR South Sudan

Competition & Market Regulation in Kenya—From Analytics to Action

AFR Kenya

São Tomé Investment Climate AFR Sao Tome

Implementation Monitoring Mechanism (I2M) AFR Togo

Code for Resilience CCSA Global

Commodity Market Outlook DECVP Global

PovcalNet/Global Poverty and Shared Prosperity Monitoring 2015

DECVP Global

National Video Contest for Primary School Teachers in Vietnam

EAP Vietnam

East Asia and Pacific Clean Stove Initiative EAP Regional

China: Jiangsu Water and wastewater Project (P096926)

EAP China

Russian Education Aid for Development (READ)

ECA Russia

Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Program for Aral Sea Basin

ECA Regional

Poland—Enhancement of Public Sector Accounting and Finance

ECA Poland

Framework for Sub-national Infrastructure Investment Programs

ECA Romania

Kazakhstan Technology Commercialization Project (TCP) (P090695)

ECA Kazakhstan

End to Gas Flaring Video ECRVP Global

PabsyLive ECRVP Global

Pilot Auction Facility (PAF) GCC Global

Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition (P154382) GCC Global

Bangladesh Public Procurement Reform Project II

GGEVP Bangladesh

Making Housing More Affordable for the Poor in Kyrgyzstan

GGEVP Kyrgyzstan

Project Greenback (P156193) GGEVP Global

Pick Remit Smartphone App GGEVP Global




Kenya National Agriculture Insurance Program GGEVP Kenya

Enhancing Tax Compliance in Costa Rica Using Big Data: Innovative Experiment and Quasi-Experimental Tools

GGEVP Costa Rica

Financial Infrastructure Development Network (FIDN Launch)

GGEVP Philippines

India MSME Growth Innovation and Inclusive Finance project (P151544)

GGEVP India

Performance Monitoring, Beneficiary Feedback and Transparency Innovations in the Punjab Public Management Reform Program (P132234)

GGEVP Pakistan

Second Public Financial Management Reform Project (P120427/P150632)

GGEVP Afghanistan

Tanzania Open Government and Public Financial Management DPO (P133798)

GGEVP Tanzania

Central Asia Tax Program—Implementing RBA in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan

GGEVP Regional

Strengthening Citizen Engagement through Complaint Handling Mechanisms (CHMs) in Palestine

GGEVP Palestine

Chile Tax Reform (P151824) GGEVP Chile

Applying Behavioral Insights to Improve Tax Compliance in Poland

GGEVP Poland

Enhancing Financial Capability in Ebola affected countries

GGEVP Regional

Piloting Multi-country DPOs to Tackle Regional Policy Challenges

GGEVP Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire

Real-time Tracking of Market Prices in South Sudan

GGEVP South Sudan

Estimating Poverty with Household Surveys in Less than 60 Minutes

GGEVP Regional

Applying Behavioral Insights in Policy GGEVP Global

Using WBG-developed Software to Improve Online G2B Service Delivery in Africa and FCS Countries

GGEVP Regional

Great Lakes Trade Facilitation GGEVP Regional

Boosting Youth Participation in Governance through ICT in Bulgaria and Beyond

GGEVP Regional

Strategic Data Dissemination Blogging with the LAC Equity Lab

GGEVP Regional




Economic Empowerment of Adolescent Girls and Young Women

GGHVP Liberia

Supporting the School-to-University Transition of Romanian Disadvantaged Students

GGHVP Romania

Think! Technology and Incentives for Capacity Strengthening, Accountability, and Results in Fragile Contexts

GGHVP Haiti

Jamaica Education Transformation Capacity Building Project (P107407)

GGHVP Jamaica

Africa Early Learning Partnership (P144137) GGHVP Regional

Reproductive Health Vouchers Program in Uganda (P144102)

GGHVP Uganda

Working with Counterparts to Use Evidence to Improve Programs

GGHVP Myanmar

Strengthening Social Safety Net Project SSNP (P145699)

GGHVP Egypt

Insuring the Poorest—Innovative Safety Net Design

GGHVP Uganda

Ethiopia: Urban Productive Safety Net Program

GGHVP Ethiopia

Operating in High-risk Environments: The LONDO Project in CAR (P152512)

GGSVP Central African Republic

Bangladesh Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy (RERED)—Minigrid

GGSVP Bangladesh

IDA Guarantee Mobilizes $500 million Commercial Financing for Kenya Power and Lighting Company Debt Restructuring

GGSVP Kenya

Global Geothermal Development Plan (P130625)

GGSVP Global

Value Chain Approach to Ghana’s Challenges GGSVP Ghana

Rejuvenating Mozambique’s Forests and Landscapes

GGSVP Mozambique

Piauí Productive and Social Inclusion DPL and IPF (P156131)

GGSVP Brazil

Programmatic Approach to Peace and Post-Conflict Consolidation (P153567)

GGSVP Colombia

Promoting Resilient Infrastructure across sectors in South Asia (P153443)

GGSVP Regional

National Violence Monitoring System (Indonesia) (P127133)

GGSVP Indonesia

Drones: New Mapping Solution (P101214) GGSVP Kosovo




From Satellites to Settlements: Mapping Slums from Outer Space in Metro Manila

GGSVP Philippines

Iraq Emergency Operation for Development (P155732)

GGSVP Iraq

CityStrength Diagnostic: A Multisectoral Tool That Aims to Enhance Resilience in Cities

GGSVP Ethiopia

Saweto Dedicated Grant Mechanism: Building Real Capacity through Participatory Project Preparation (P148499)

GGSVP Peru

Afghanistan’s National Solidarity Program (NSP) Jobs for peace initiative (P117103)

GGSVP Afghanistan

Tanzania’s Local Government Revenue Collection Information System (LGRCIS)

GGSVP Tanzania

Testing Evidence-based Approaches to Foster Collective Action in Addressing Intimate Partner Violence

GGSVP Honduras

TransFORM/China Transport Transformation & Innovation Knowledge Platform (P129850)

GGSVP China

Open Traffic GGSVP Global

Transport Contribution to the Africa Climate Business Plan

GGSVP Regional

Big Data for User-focused Identification of Road Infrastructure Condition and Safety Concerns (P153697)

GGSVP Belarus

Mainstreaming ICT in Results Verification of Water PforRs

GGSVP Vietnam

Confronting Climate Uncertainty in Water Planning and Project Design—The Decision Tree Framework

GGSVP Global

Multi Sectoral Action for Nutrition (MSAN)—P158769

GGSVP Pakistan

32nd Joint Colloquium on International Arbitration

ICSID Global

Colombia Green Growth and Sustainable Development DPL

LCR Colombia

Brazil: Rapid Agriculture Risk Management Review (P155386)

LCR Brazil

UY SCD LCR Uruguay

Country Disaster Risk Profiles (TF014499) LCR Global

Indigenous Peoples and Afro-Descendants Engagement in LAC

LCR Regional

Strengthening the Capacity of Procuradoria LCR Brazil




Rural Water and Sanitation Information System (SIASAR)

LCR Regional

Caribbean Growth Forum preparation for Phase II (P159034)

LCR Regional

Road to Lima LCR Regional

Brazil: Skills and Jobs (P133162) LCR Brazil

African Mining Legislation Atlas (AMLA) Project (P155194/P150234)

LEGVP Regional

Saudi Arabia Energy Efficiency Financing RAS (P143872)

MNA Saudi Arabia

Syria Damage and Needs Assessment (DNA) MNA Syria

India Partial Risk Sharing Facility (PRSF) for Energy Efficiency

SAR India

Study of Electricity Dispatch Efficiency SAR Bangladesh

India—Energy Efficient Urban Street Lighting Knowledge Activity (P149482)

SAR India

BAN Climate Resilient Participatory Afforestation Reforestation Project

SAR Bangladesh

Impact of Afghanistan REDP on Rural Women SAR Afghanistan

FATA Rural Livelihoods and Community Infrastructure Project (P126833)

SAR Pakistan

Creating Demand for Modernizing Public Financial Management in India

SAR India

Social and Economic Empowerment of Youth through ICT Solutions

SAR Pakistan

Development of National Platform for Risk Assessment and CAT Risk (P132625)

SAR Pakistan

Rebuilding Local Government in War-torn Areas of Sri Lanka

SAR Sri Lanka

Pakistan: FATA Urban Centers Project SAR Pakistan

Railway Engagement in India: EDFC 1-3 Program and RIDF Projects

SAR India

Assessments and Design of Earthquake Affected Bridges in Nepal

SAR Nepal

KP, Federally Administered Tribal Areas(FATA) and Balochistan MDTF (P120179)

SAR Pakistan

Disaster Risk Management Intermediation Platform

TREVP Global

FX Hedging for Emerging Market Currency TREVP Global




Contingent Liabilities Risk Management in Indonesia

TREVP Indonesia

BlueTrack Modeling Lab: Risk Decomposition TREVP Global

Integrated Strategic Asset Allocation TREVP Global

Core Technical Advisory (CTA) Program TREVP Global

2016 innovation awards - world...

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