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Country files

Series consists of a set of country files which combines communications from the secretariats of the Staff Economic Committee (SEC) and its successor Economic Committee (EC) and reports circulated to committee members for review during a meeting of the committee, for written comment, or for information. Records relate exclusively to the review of country-related reports as opposed to general sector or Bank policy reports.

Records in this series include the full range of correspondence, memoranda, and reports circulated as part of the committee's activities between 1965 and 1972; there are a very small number of records dating from 1962 to 1964. Records relating to committee communications include: memoranda proposing meetings by committee members; conclusions and recommendations on papers; notes of meetings; memoranda submitted by committee members who could not attend meetings containing their comments on reports; attendance lists; informal notes for discussion for upcoming meetings; memoranda on the meeting of an EC subcommittee that previously reviewed the report; and meetings minutes.

Reports circulated by the committee secretariat for review and other materials circulated for information and background are also included in this series. Records include: press releases; briefing papers; portions of president's reports and recommendations on projects submitted to the Executive Directors; mission Terms of Reference; Country Economic Briefs, Country Program Notes, and Country Program Papers; and International Development Association (IDA) operations briefs on specific countries.

Note that in some report folders, only a secretariat's cover letter is included, indicating the title of a draft report that was previously attached and the date when either comments are requested or when a meeting will be held to discuss the report. In these cases, the actual report is not included and the folder title indicates "no report attached".

Committee communications

Series contains communications primarily circulated by the Staff Economic Committee (SEC, 1952-1965) and Economic Committee (EC, 1965-1972) secretariats to the members of the committee. In rare cases, records included in this series were circulated by the committee's chairperson. Beginning in July 1965 with the reconstitution of SEC as the EC, communications include an "Economic Committee" cover stencil and are classified according to what kind of document it is; in the case of the records in this series, EC/A (notice of meeting) and EC/M (notice of meeting, conclusions and recommendations, and minutes) are used.

Generally, only a single document is included in each folder; a single document may, however, include attachments in the form of reports or other documents that will be reviewed by the committee or used as reference. Communications include: minutes from the meeting (dated either the same day as the meeting or within two weeks) which usually document the highlights of a meeting listed in chronological order; notes from the meeting, which are more formal in that they have topical subsections often including a "conclusions and recommendations" section; and standalone "Conclusions and Recommendations". In small amounts, "Notice of Meeting" memoranda relating to upcoming meetings are included. These can include meeting agendas and logistical information. Notice of Meeting memoranda can also include attachments such as reports to be reviewed or supporting documentation to be considered.

A relatively small number of records relating to the communications of EC subcommittees dating from 1965 to 1967 are also included in this series. As part of the 1965 reconstitution of SEC into the new EC, subcommittees were created and given the responsibility to review drafts of country- and region-related reports for quality review prior to consideration by the full EC. The majority of the reports reviewed by the subcommittees are "Current Economic Position and Prospects" for individual countries. Records include the notes of the subcommittee meetings and a list of those in attendance. Most subcommittee records are classified as EC/F.

This series also contains three folders dating from 1970 to 1972 that include distribution lists of committee members, procedures on how to write and distribute committee materials, schedules of meetings, and memoranda discussing administrative matters of the secretariat.

Circulation of reports for review or information

Series contains draft reports and related materials circulated by the Economic Committee (EC) secretariat to committee members for review during a meeting of the committee, for written comment, or for information. In rare cases, the report is circulated by the committee chairperson. Most of the files included in this series use the classification system imposed following the reconstitution, in 1965, of the Staff Economic Committee (SEC) as the Economic Committee. Those files that include classification in their titles are classified as EC/O, or reports distributed to committee members, most but not all under review by the committee.

Note that in some report folders, only a secretariat's cover letter is included, indicating the title of a draft report that was previously attached and the date when either comments are requested, or a meeting will be held to discuss the report. In these cases, the actual report is not included, and the folder title indicates "no report attached".

The majority of the EC's time was given to review of reports focused on the economies and development prospects of individual countries. As such, most of the draft reports included in this series are Country Program Papers (CPPs, October 1969 to October 1972), Country Program Notes, Recent Economic Developments, or other general country economic reports. A small number of more focused country reports relating to the review of a specific aspect of that country's economy are included; these are generally focused on economic sectors suchas transportation, agriculture, energy, etc.

Draft reports relating to non-country-specific topics that were circulated to committee members are also included in this series. Reports date from 1965 to 1970. Some folders include the report as well as "correspondence" which generally refers to memoranda or other documents distributed in support of the review of the report under consideration.

Also contained in this series are draft versions of country economic profiles in the form of "Country Economic Briefs" prepared in 1968 by the Economic and Area Departments with contributions by the EC. These profiles were created, as described in the collection's preface, "to be a ready reference on the economies of World Bank Group members and of the World Bank Group's economic policy attitude towards them." The intention was to upgrade and update the material when more information became available. The briefs may include: a brief discussion of the country's economic situation and development challenges, authored by Area Departments; conclusions and recommendations prepared by the EC; a data brief, compiled by the Economic and Area Departments; and the latest economic map available highlighting topics such as land use, manufacturing centers, resource areas, etc.

A set of Five-Year Program Papers from 1968-69 are also included in this series. These economic profiles duplicate much of what is included in the Country Economic Briefs. The primary addition, which is not included for every folder, is memoranda summarizing the current development outlook for the country. This includes discussion of key problems and issues, creditworthiness, Bank actions, and tables documenting Bank project lending.

The series includes a small collection of monthly reports on Bank lending operations dating from 1969 and 1970. It is unclear if these tables were circulated to committee members or if they served as reference material for the committee's secretariat. The reports each focus on active or potential Bank-funded projects and consist oftwo types: reports on appraisal and negotiations of a project; and preparation and identification of a project. The former charts the progress of the appraisal and negotiations through 12 steps, from "decision to send appraisal mission" to "loan or credit signed." Each step includes an original forecast date, the previous month's forecast, and the current forecast or actual date. Reports on the preparation and identification of projects list the latest step completed as well as pre-investment studies required. Both types of reports include the option for notes and are signed by the Loan Officer.

Monthly reports describing expected economic missions by Area Departments and the staffing needs related to that mission travel are also included. Reports, beginning in January 1969, initially included expected mission travel and staff required for the following six months. Beginning in September 1969, reports began providing this information for the twelve months. While it is likely that all of these reports were circulated to committee members, beginning in September 1969 each report includes a cover letter indicating that the report was sent to committee members by the committee's secretariat. The final report provides planned mission travel for April 1970 to June 1971.

Memoranda Files of Director Christopher R. Willoughby

This sub-series is a collection of memoranda and related records compiled by Christopher R. Willoughby who was among the first employees of the Operations Evaluation Unit and was appointed the first director of the Operations Evaluation Department in July 1973.

  • The first set of files consists of memoranda (dated November 1970 - November 1972; February - April 1973; and February - August 1975) sent to President Robert McNamara from Christopher R. Willoughby and also John Adler, who was director when the Operation Evaluation Unit was established in 1970. The memoranda concern the early workings of Operations Evaluation including: the decision to begin with an in-depth look at the Bank's work in one country, Colombia, and in one sector, electrical power; the development of the format for these first two reports; progress reports on the work of the unit and on the development of future work programs; and the relationship between evaluation and supervision. Some of the original memoranda to McNamara were returned to Operations Evaluation marked with a red stamp indicating President has seen. One long memorandum for the record summarizes the January 1971 visit with the Colombia Operations Evaluation team of Dr. Lauchlin Currie who headed the Bank's General Survey Mission to Colombia in 1949. Included in this first set of files are handwritten notes and memoranda for the record summarizing meetings Willoughby and others had with McNamara.

The second set of files consists of memoranda (dated April 1970 - February 1976) sent and received by Willoughby and his copies of key memoranda documenting the development of the operations evaluation function and the changing position of the Operations Evaluation staff within the Bank. Included are Willoughby's handwritten drafts and final copies of the key issuances affecting Operations Evaluation and his notes from key meetings. One folder contains Willoughby's drafts of a September 29, 1975 memoranda from Mohamed Shoaib, Vice President, Operations Evaluation Division, outlining the history of the evaluation function from 1971 to 1975.

Subject Files of the Directors, Operations Evaluation

This sub-series contains reports, correspondence, and studies compiled by the Directors of OED (OEDDR). Most of the files contain comments from OED staff members and/or the director on draft documents from other Bank employees. Filed under General Comments on Review of Field Staff Benefits are OED comments on various Bank documents, 1995-1998. Key topics covered by other files include: OED staff views on the dissemination and use of OED findings (filed under Dissemination); ratings of the Narmada and Kedung Ombo Completion Reports (filed under Narmada); reports of the Joint Audit Committee Informal Subcommittee on OED Reports; a select review of OED by the Internal Auditing Department planned for 1996; plans for an OED study of NGOs; OED collaboration with the Economic Development Institute (now WBI); joint OED/Operations Policy Department reports on the quality of economic analysis in staff appraisal reports for projects approved 1993 - 1997 (filed under Economic Analysis, Econ III and Econ IV and Economic Analysis: Correspondence); a 1996 proposal for simplified project documentation for investment operations (filed under Simplified Documentation); and OED staff retreats for December 15-17, 1987, November 29-December 1, 1989, June 26-28, 1991, and September 8-10, 1993. These retreat files contain agenda and schedules, copies of documents discussed at the retreats, copies of presentations, and post-retreat evaluation forms.

Filed under Portfolio Management are: memoranda regarding funding arrangements for OED studies and on borrowers' interest in ex-post evaluations; OED staff comments on the draft Wapenhans Report and on the draft chapter concerning OED; and copies of minutes of the Task Force Steering Committee on which Eberhard Kopp served. Filed under Streamlining Bank Procedures are memoranda and correspondence Kopp compiled in 1985 and 1986 before he became OEDDR Director and while he was a member of Working Group #3 of the Task Force on Streamlining Bank Procedures.

Records of the Director, Operations Evaluation Department

The records in this series contain the reports, correspondence, and studies compiled by the Directors of OED (OEDDR). The Director is selected by the Director-General, Operations Evaluation (DGO), and is responsible for the overall management of the OED. Principal functions include:

  • assisting the Director-General in making periodic assessments of the adequacy and effectiveness of the operations evaluation system in light of the institutional objectives of the World Bank;

  • carrying out reviews of the Bank's completion reports and other self-evaluations, performance audits on selected completed projects, impact evaluations, and evaluation studies focusing on operational programs, policies, strategies, and processes;

  • assisting member countries to develop their own operations evaluation capacities; and

  • disseminating evaluation findings both within the Bank and to the wider development community.

The series contains the records of Christopher R. Willoughby, who was the first Director of OED. Primarily consisting of memoranda, these records document the early development of the operations evaluation function and of the Operations Evaluation Department in the 1970s. Also contained in this file are records of subsequent OED Directors from the 1980s and 1990s. These records relate to a variety of topics.

East Asia and Pacific Regional Vice Presidency, China Division records

Series consists of records related to Wood's work in the China Division of the East Asia and Pacific Regional Vice Presidency (EAPVP) in which he worked from 1980 to 1985. Records primarily consist of hand-written notes taken by Wood during three separate trips to China.

Records relate to Wood's travel to China undertaken between October and December 1980 in support of the preparation of the World Bank publication China: Socialist Economic Development (1981). The nine-volume report was the Bank's first report on the Chinese economy. Wood served as the publication's principal economist. Records include notes Woods created during his attendance at two rounds of meetings in Beijing, and field notes from travel to Gansu province and Sichuan province. Meeting and field notes are divided into three sections reflecting these engagements. Photos related to the mission are also included, as are lists ofofficials met with by Wood's mission team and correspondence from 1991 between Wood and Zhu Fu Lin, a contact he made during the 1980 mission.

Records relating to Wood's mission to China in July 1982 to participate in the Moganshan conference on economic reform in China are included. The conference was organized by the World Bank and China's Price Research Centre, whose aim was dialogue between East European and Chinese economists. The entire engagement consisted of: a meeting of World Bank and East European participants on July 5, 1982 at Wolfson College, Oxford, England; an introductory meeting on July 9, 1982 with Chinese counterparts in Beijing; the conference at a resort on Mo Gan mountain in Zhejiang province from July 11-16, 1982; visits to Chinese cities (Wood and his team visited Shanghai and Chongqing between July 18-26, 1982); and final plenary meetings in Beijing on July 27-29, 1982. Records relating to the conference consist of: Terms of Reference; handwritten meeting and field notes; and photos.

Also included are records relating to Wood's travel to China in 1983, 1984, and 1985 for preparation of the World Bank report China: Long-Term Issues and Options (1985), for which Wood served as deputy mission chief and coordinator of the main report. Records are divided into six parts: a report planning note, authored by Wood, dated February 16, 1983; notes from meetings held in Beijing from September 13-19, 1983, to discuss planning of the report; notes on system reform from February and April-May 1984 missions; notes from February 13-23, 1984 mission to Beijing and Wuhan; notes from April-May 1984 mission to Beijing, Jiangsu, and Gansu; and notes from March 1985 mission during which a draft version of the report was discussed and high-level meetings with Chinese officials were held. Supplementary folders contain photos from the mission and documents related to the 1985 report, consisting of contact lists and a memo on income distribution data given to the economic mission.

Records in this series also relate to World Bank support for China's investment decisions, project planning, and shadow pricing. Records dating from 1981 to 1984 include: Bank memoranda on these topics; handwritten notes from relevant meetings and missions; notes relating to the preparation of a project appraisal manual for the China Investment Bank (CIB) and the finalized CIB appraisal manual titled "Appraisal Manual for Industrial Credit Projects" dated March 1983; and two papers titled "Economic Evaluation of Investment Projects: Possibilities and Problems of Applying Western Methods in China" (authored by Wood) and "Economic Analysis of Aluminum Milling in Shanghai" (authored by Wood and Shinji Ichishima). A photo from November 1981 from a Beijing meeting with the CIB manual team is also included.

Personal Papers of Adrian Wood

  • WB IBRD/IDA WB_IBRD/IDA_121
  • Fonds
  • 1980 - 1995, 2015 - 2018

Fonds contains field notes and other documents from Adrian Wood's work on China as a member of the World Bank's China Division from 1980 to 1985, material related to his World Bank consultancies on China from 1985 to 1995, and documents in the form of articles and presentation slides containing his retrospective views from 2015 to 2018. Also included are photos related to mission and conference travel from Wood's time at the Bank and as a consultant.

Note that a small number of annotations on the recordsand paper inserts containing explanatory notes have been added by Adrian Wood in 2022 prior to the transfer of the records to WBG Archives' custody, and after his employment at the World Bank Group.

Wood, Adrian

Post-Bank research and presentations on China

Records in this series relate to activities in which Adrian Wood participated following his departure from the World Bank in 1985 and which relate to his ongoing work on China. This work took the form of consultancies for the World Bank, participation in conferences, presentations, and writing. Records relate to the following activities: participation in the Bashan Lun ("boat") conference (1985); various seminars and lectures on China (1985-1992); United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) consultancy on system reform in Vietnam and China (1989-90); World Bank consultancy in support of China's Country Economic Memorandum (1989, report published in 1990); and research and writing on joint stock companies, enterprise reform, public ownership, and market economy transition. Records consist of conference programs, lists of conference participants, conference invitations, presentation notes and slides, field notes, journey reports, papers, and unpublished materials. Photos related to many of the activities listed above are also included in this series.

This series also consists of materials related to retrospective writings and presentations on China by Wood. Included are: an article that accompanied the reprinting of the 1985 report "China: Long-Term Development Issues and Options"; notes and slides from a 2017 presentation in Beijing on practical lessons from China's low-to-middle income transition; notes and slides from a 2017 presentation at the University of Oxford called "The Evolving Influence of Socialism on China?s Economic Development"; and notes and slides for the final version of a lecture Wood gave numerous times between 2005 and 2015 titled "Trade, Development and China: Applying Heckscher-Ohlin Theory".

Note that a number of the papers and presentation materials in this series are available in both paper and electronic format.

Records of the Office of the Vice President, Development Economics and Chief Economist and later Senior Vice President, Development Economics and Chief Economist (DECVP)

Sub-fonds consists of the records of the Office of the Vice President, Development Economics (DECVP) and Chief Economist and the Senior Vice President, Development Economics and Chief Economist. These records take the form of Vice President's chronological and subject files as well as briefing books and travel documents. Records of DEC's Front Office staff included in this sub-fonds include reading files, work program and budget records, and reports of periodic review. Records of numerous DEC units are also included in this sub-fonds. They include: the Policy and Review Department (PRD); Development Policy Group (DPG, and its predecessor units: the Economic Advisory Staff [EAS] and the Country Policy Department [CPD]); the International Economics Department (IEC); the Country Economics Department (CEC); the Development Research Group (DECRG); the Policy Review Department (PRD); the Research Advisory Staff (RAD); and the Economic Developing Institute (EDI). The records of noted economist Bela Balassa who served as a consultant with DEC and predecessor organizations from 1966 to 1991 are also included.

Records of the Office of the Chief Economist

  • WB IBRD/IDA DEC
  • Fonds
  • 1946 - 2011 (predominant 1972 - 1993)

Records created by the Office of the Vice President (later Senior Vice President), Development Economics and Chief Economist (DECVP) comprise the bulk of the records in Fonds 14. Prior to the creation of DECVP in 1987, responsibility for directing economic research to provide insights into the development process rested with the persons serving as the Economic Adviser to the President in the 1960s and early 1970s, and later with the offices of the Vice President, Development Policy (VPD) and the Vice President, Economics and Research Staff (VPERS) whose records are part of this fonds. Files for both approved and rejected research projects in planning and development policy, population and human resources, industry and trade, and sector studies that were maintained in the offices of VPD, VPERS, and DECVP are included in this fonds.

This fonds also contains a small volume of records of the Bank's Economic Development Institute and records of the Bank's representatives to international organizations concerned with the development process: the Berne Union, the Paris Club, and U.N. organizations at Geneva, Switzerland. Also included are records of economist Bela Belassa who served from September 1966 to May 1991 as consultant to the Economic Advisers to the President, VPD, VPERS, and DECVP.

The following officials served during the period 1964 to 2003 in predecessor organizations or positions whose functions became part of DECVP in the 1987 Bank reorganization and as DECVP following that reorganization:

Economic Advisers

  • Irving Friedman: 1964 - 1970

  • Hollis B. Chenery: 1970 - 1972

Vice President, Development Policy (VPD)

  • Hollis B. Chenery: November 1972 - February 1982

Vice President, Economics and Research Staff (VPERS)

  • Hollis B. Chenery: February 1982 - August 1982

  • Anne Krueger: August 1982 - December 1986

  • Benjamin B. King (Acting): January 1987 - May 1987

Vice President and Chief Economist (DECVP)

  • Stanley Fischer: 1988 - 1990

  • Lawrence Summers: 1991 - 1993

  • Michael Bruno: 1993- 1996

  • Joseph E. Stiglitz: 1997 - 2000

  • Sir Nicholas H. Stern: 2000 - 2003.

Office of the Chief Economist

Central Files

  • WB IBRD/IDA ADMCF
  • Fonds
  • 1937, 1942, 1944 - 1987

The fonds contains the records maintained as part of the World Bank Group's centralized files variously known as General Files (1946 - 1968), Central Files (1969 - 1971), the semi-centralized Bank Administration and Policy Records Stations (BAP, 1972 - 1974), Bank General Records Station and Administration and Policy Records Stations (BAPRS, 1975 - 1977) and Non-Regional Information Centers (NRIC, 1978 - 1987) with exceptions as described in the Arrangement field below. Records of the administrative unitsresponsible for the management of the General Files records center and its subsequent iterations are not included in this fonds except so far as these records were filed in Central Files. The date range of the Central Files is primarily from 1946 to 1986, however there are a small number of externally produced records dating from 1937 and the early 1940s as well as a single file dating 1987. The remainder of the 1987 files were likely handed over to the functional departments after the closure of the NRICin July 1987.

The departments whose records were centralized over time and represented most prominently in Central Files include (but are not limited to): Economics, Development Services, Technical Operations, Projects (and its sector divisions), and Administration.

Correspondence contained in the fonds includes letters, memoranda, cables, and other related records sent to and from the above departments and the Office of the President during the presidencies of Meyer, McCloy, Black and Woods. President records are otherwise nonexistent in the case of Meyer and are sparse for Woods, McCloy and Black in the Office of the President fonds. The Central Files also contains correspondence of the first Bank Vice Presidents which are fragmentary in the General Vice Presidents and Managing Directors fonds.

Records in this fonds document significant events and studies, administrative and organizational changes, governing bodies and committees, membership and obligations of countries, financial transactions, and the Bank's administrative and operating policies and processes including lending, projects, and development policy. The fonds comprises the general (non-regional) files on all topics not specific to a region or country as well as the membership, bond, and finance files relating to IBRD, IDA and IFC.

The general filing practice for correspondence between two offices within the Bank whose records were filed in Central Files was to save the copy of the document retained by the creating unit (often a yellow carbon copy) and to destroy the copy sent to the receiving unit, unless the receiving unit had annotated the document, in which case both copies were saved.

Central Files

World Development Report (WDR)

The series consists of records relating to the preparation of the annual World Development Report (WDR), including correspondence sent electronically within the WDR team (DECWD), to other parts of DEC, and to other World Bank Group organizations. The WDR team reported directly to DECVP. The team had primary responsibility for the Bank assessment of the state of the global economy found in the annual WDR and for selecting an aspect of development to be analyzed in depth for the annual report. The series also contains reference materials, including internal research and discussion reports and external publications. Records in this series reflect the process of information gathering, analysis, and review involved in the preparation of the annual WDR, including briefing of the Bank president. Also documented is the collaboration that took place with other Bank Group organizations for information and data needed for the report as well as consultation with outside groups including NGOs. Summaries of meetings at which the WDR was discussed are in the series.

Photograph documentation

This series contains photographs documenting internal and external meetings, speaking engagements, appearances, mission travel, and other events participated in by President Wolfensohn or otherwise related to the activities of the Office of the President (EXC). Most photographs are taken by World Bank Group (WBG) photographers, although some were apparently taken by country offices hosting the president or by host countries or organizations who similarly documented the event and shared the photographs withthe EXC. In the case of photos shared by other parties, a letter or note that accompanied the photos is sometimes included.

Materials in this series are almost all photograph prints; a very small number of slides, negatives, and contact sheets are also included. Photographic prints range in dimension. The majority are color but black and white photos are also included.

Most photographs are in file folders, while some are in envelopes or, in even lesser number, scrapbooks. The number of photos in folders and envelopes generally range from one to ten photos, although there are instances where a folder can contain more than fifty photos, particularly those related to mission travel. A very small number of the photos are housed in frames, likely as the result of being given to President Wolfensohn as a gift.

Photos from President Wolfensohn's mission travel are the most numerable and cover a wide variety of activities, from meeting with country heads of state, government ministers, civic leaders, and private citizens, to touring cultural sites and WBG project. Mission travel includes both visits to country members who receive World Bank Group loans as well as travel to countries that fund and donate WBG operations. A number of travel-related photographs are of Elaine Wolfensohn, President Wolfensohn's wife, who accompanied him on much of his mission travel and would often tour project and cultural sites and meet with local people independently. A small number of photograph albums sent from country governments and/or representatives that had hosted President Wolfensohn are also included in this series.

Photos related to non-mission travel activities, primarily internal to the WBG or at events in the Washington, D.C. area, are also included. These include photos from the WBG / International Monetary Fund (IMF) Board of Governors Spring and Annual Meetings as well as internal events participated in or attended by President Wolfensohn, such as loan signings, social events, and staff recognition events. Photos with senior World Bank Group staff are also included.

A small number of photos not directly related to President Wolfensohn or EXC are also included in this series. These photos presumably were used for publications or communications originating in EXC. They include photos of senior staff, loan signings, World Bank Articles of Agreement signing, and country photos. Some of these photos date from prior to President Wolfensohn's tenure or are undated.

A small amount of textual materials accompany photos.These are primarily Document Log sheets generated by EXC and contain a description and date of the photo. Receipts generated by the internal printing unit are also included in a small number of folders. Records dating from 2004-05 that relate to the management and digitization of photos in this series are also included. Other textual materials sometimes found in folders alongside photos include agendas and itineraries from meetings and mission travel documented in the photos.

A small number of publications have been included in this series. These are generally travel or tourist publications that were either collected by WBG staff during President Wolfensohn's mission travel or gifted to President Wolfensohn during mission travel. Of these publications only one, a photo album commemorating the 1997 Annual Meetings in Hong Kong, relates directly to the World Bank Group.

Records of the Transport Sector

  • WB IBRD/IDA TRA
  • Fonds
  • 1952 - 1953, 1964 - 1991, 2001 - 2011 (predominant 1968 - 1991)

The fonds contains records that reflect the various activities of the transport sector units including operational project support to the Regions, research, collaboration with external organizations, and participation or organization of conference, seminars, and workshops. The records were created and maintained by transport-related units beginning in the late 1960s with the Transportation Projects Department (TRP) and several successor units through to the Transport, Water, and Information and Communication Technologies Department (TWI) created in 2007.

While sector records were maintained in the Bank-wide centralized filing system from the early years of operations in the 1940s until mid-1987 and some of these records remain part of the Central Files fonds, departments often kept separate working files. It is primarily the working files of the Transport Sector that comprise the records in this fonds, along with records created after 1987 when recordkeeping responsibilities were turned over to the records-creating offices. The fonds contains a gap in the records between 1992 and 2000. The gap is likely due to the frequent organizational changes of the transport units and coexistence with other sectors in the same department or division and therefore records becoming intermingled. Chronological records of the Transportation, Water and Urban Development Department (TWU) from 1993 to 1995 are part of the Records of the Environmentally Sustainable Development Vice Presidency fonds. See the related units of description note for additional information.

An extensive volume of records in the fonds are related to the Highway Design and Maintenance Standards Model (HDMS) created in 1969 and to research projects that served as the basis for the model's creation.

Reports, working papers, memoranda, and correspondence are the most common record form. The records cover a broad range of subsectors and topics under transport development, including, but not limited to: road and highway design, management, and maintenance; rural roads; pavement performance; railway construction and modernization; maritime transport and port engineering; and aviation and air transport.

Transport Sector

Records of the Water Sector

  • WB IBRD/IDA WAT
  • Fonds
  • 1973 - 2008

This fonds contains records created between 1973 and 2008 that reflect the various iterations of the water sector in the World Bank (Bank) and their activities. In particular, it includes records relating to the Bank's partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for the UNDP-World Bank Water and Sanitation Program (UNDP-World Bank WSP), a cooperative program created in 1978. It also contains records about the Bank's and UNDP's contributions during the United Nation's 1981 - 1990 International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade (IDWSSD).

Records in this fonds document the research, operational support, governance, quality control, and trust fund management for global program projects managed and/or supported by various Bank water sector departments. Topics include but are not limited to handpump development and testing, sewerage, landfill design, sanitation, solid waste private options, demonstration projects, and participatory development and management--initiatives involving users, particularly women (i.e., PROWWESS-Promotion of the Role of Women in Water and Environmental Sanitation Services) , and communities in all stages of the water development process.

Materials in this fonds include but are not limited to internal and external correspondence (including letters, memoranda, and telexes), project files (including reports, Country Monitoring Evaluations-CMEs, agreements, Terms of References-TORs, progress reports, budgets, personnel management files, country information, research materials, and liaison records with external agencies), training material, research files, conference and workshop materials, departmental publications, and finance and accounting records.

Water Development Sector

Records of the Population, Health, and Nutrition Sector

  • WB IBRD/IDA WB_IBRD/IDA_89
  • Fonds
  • 1963-2001 (predominant 1972 - 2000)

The fonds contains records predominantly created between 1972 and 2000 by the Population, Health and Nutrition Sector. A small portion of records that date from 1963 are external reports and other material used for background reference by department staff. While sector records were maintained in the Bank-wide centralized filing system from the early years of operations in the 1940s until mid-1987 and some of these records remain part of the Central Files fonds, departments often kept separate working files. It is primarily the working files of the Population, Health, and Nutrition Sector that comprise the records in this fonds, along with records created after 1987 when recordkeeping responsibilities were turned over to the records-creating offices. See the arrangement note below for more information about the centralized files.

The records reflect the range of the sector's functional responsibilities including: producing studies and publications; policy development; operational support to the Regions regarding quality review of Bank projects; maintaining Bank partnerships and sponsorship of joint programs with United Nations agencies and other multilateral and private-sector organizations; managing and monitoring global trust funds; and participation or organization of conferences, training, and other learning events.

Population, Health, and Nutrition Sector

Chronological files

Series consists of incoming and outgoing correspondence on a variety of topics. Correspondence takes the form of faxes, letters, and memoranda.

External correspondents include: staff members and diplomats at the United Nations; representatives of energy and environment-related organizations; leaders in the financial sector; government officials from various countries; academic institutions; and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

Series includes internal memos to President Wolfensohn. These are generally brief and relate to information sharing, mission and meeting briefing, planning and logistics, brief advisory submissions, and reports on Strong's activities. Other memos are to World Bank Group (WBG) senior management including managing directors and vice presidents. Topics are wide-ranging.

Faxes from Strong's office at the WBG to Strong's assistant are included. These generally include information for upcoming meetings and logistical information provided to Strong when he was away from Washington, DC

A small amount of correspondence relate to Strong's separate roles as chairman of the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the Earth Council.

Records of President James D. Wolfensohn

The subfonds contains correspondence between President Wolfensohn and both internal and external parties as well as briefing materials authored by the Office of the President (EXC) and other World Bank Group units in support of the president's various activities. Audio-visual documentation of his travel and participation in internal and public events is also included as are records relating to the scheduling of the president's daily activities. Records relating to the president's advisers are also arranged in this subfonds. Languages used in the records have been included at the series level to the extent possible but is not exhaustive as a full review of all the records in this subfonds has not been undertaken.

Records of the Office of the President

  • WB IBRD/IDA EXC
  • Fonds
  • 1947 - 1995

The records of cover the entire span of administrative and substantive activities of the Bank. Particularly useful is the documentation of public relations activities by the presidents and coordination efforts with outside partners. Briefing books for country visits and for meetings at the Bank's annual meeting often provide good overviews of issues as well as reports on the economic and political situation in a country. Unique materials on major Bank studies and commissions, such as the Pearson and Brandt Commissions and the Task Force on Portfolio Management (Wapenhans Report), are also found in the records of the president's office.

The McNamara, Conable and Preston records include both the records of the president and the records of his immediate staff. Some staff members had specific mandates and their files are key sources for those activities, while other presidential assistants played a more general role in handling topics for the president.

Office of the President

Records of the Counselor to the President, Matthew F. McHugh

Series consists of records created and maintained by Matthew F. McHugh, counselor to the WBG president, primarily during his time as counselor to President James Wolfensohn. Records consist of reference and informational materials primarily focusing on countries and Bank-financed projects. A small amount of travel records and presidential support records are also included.

Office of the President - Matthew F. McHugh (Counselor to the President)

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