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Are you or your organization interested in learning more about output- or results-based aid approaches and how you can use them to improve delivery of basic services to the poor?
If so, the new learning opportunities offered by the Global Partnership on Output-Based Aid (GPOBA) could be of interest to you.
Training for development partners
“The aim of our knowledge and learning program is to empower development partners and World Bank Group staff to design and implement their own output-based aid schemes,” explains Patricia Veevers-Carter, GPOBA Program Manager.
GPOBA began piloting learning events on OBA in the fall of 2008, with two-day training workshops for staff of the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and the US Millennium Challenge Corporation.
In the course of 2009, GPOBA also delivered training to other development partners, including the Asian Development Bank in Manila and the German development bank, KfW, in Frankfurt.
The KfW training led to a donor study tour of an OBA project in Vietnam [3] that is helping to improve access to safe drinking water for poor rural households.
Sharing knowledge of OBA
“We built the training program from the ground up,” recounts Carmen Nonay, Senior Infrastructure Specialist in charge of GPOBA’s knowledge and learning activities.
“The workshop we have developed crystallizes the available knowledge and experience on OBA through real case studies, exercises, and discussions.”
The two-day course covers:
· OBA in the context of development aid
· OBA core concepts
· How to identify if OBA is suitable
· Designing, implementing and monitoring OBA projects, including fiduciary requirements
· Scaling up OBA
Training for World Bank staff
Within the World Bank, the two-day workshop on OBA has become a regular offering for task team leaders. They can register to take the course through the institution’s learning catalog.
Subject matter experts in sectors such as water and sanitation, energy, and health deliver the OBA training sessions and can help participants develop specific project proposals.
Carol Chen Ball, Senior Operations Officer in the Education Department, was one of the participants at a recent session of the training.
She says she attended because she has been in operations for 20 years and wanted to find out more about OBA.
Another participant, Laurent Msellati, Operations Advisor in the Central Operational Services Unit, said “I wanted to learn more about OBA so I could advise other staff about the program.”
In addition to the two-day workshops, GPOBA has also organized tailored training events for World Bank regional teams and country office staff, for instance in Indonesia, Uganda [4], and Vietnam.
These can be on OBA schemes in general or on specific aspects such as procurement and financial management.
Online resources
To complement the face-to-face learning opportunities, GPOBA has also developed a Resources for Practitioners [5] section on its website.
These online resources are designed for:
· Current and potential practitioners of OBA approaches
· Researchers whose work relates to OBA
· Past "graduates" of GPOBA training courses
· Staff of organizations that work with GPOBA
· Others with an interest in learning how to design and implement OBA approaches
The OBA Community of Practice, an informal network with a focus on sharing knowledge of practical issues related to OBA, is also hosted on the site.
“The aim of the OBA Community of Practice is to enable participants in OBA training sessions and other practitioners to stay in touch and learn from each others’ experiences,” explains Nonay.
The next component in GPOBA’s knowledge and learning program will be an E-learning course on OBA. The course is under preparation and is scheduled to be launched in spring 2010.
For more information about these and other learning opportunities on OBA, please contact Carmen Nonay at cnonay@worldbank.org [6]