The fonds consists of records that reflect the various activities of the Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development Vice Presidencyof (ESSDVP) and its oversight of, and involvement with, sector departments within the network. Note that a small amount of records in this fonds were created prior to the creation of ESSDVP by Bank staff within the Environmentally Sustainable Development Vice Presidency (ESD); the records were brought into ESSDVP's recordkeeping system as a result of staff transfer into ESSDVP. The majority of the records in this fonds are clearly associated with the activities of Ian Johnson, ESSD Vice President from 1998 to 2006.

The fonds primarily consists of records related to the Adviser on Women in Development (WID) from the years 1977 to 1987. Subject files kept by WID Advisers Gloria Scott and Barbara Herz are included for the years 1977 to 1986, and illustrate the numerous activities and responsibilities associated with this role. Reference files related to women and development issues contain materials created in the years 1973 to 1987. WID operational support records detail the development project evaluations, studies, and training sessions done by WID team members for the years 1977 to 1987.

The fonds consists of budget, work program, planning, management, and organization records related to FPD and its subordinate departments of PSD, FSD, and IEN.

The fonds consist of budget and work program records related to the PSD department of FPSI.

The papers consist of a body of materials related to Zambia and a set of general policy and issues papers. King undertook a mission to Zambia for the Bank and wrote a report on it, and he collected information about and remained interested in Zambia thereafter. The materials related to Zambia include four documents prepared and distributed for the December 1986 meeting of the Consultative Group on Zambia, which had had its first meeting in June 1978. Most of the other documents related to Zambia are internal World Bank documents, with a few Bank publications and some publications from other sources. The materials are arranged in four sections: Consultative Group documents; unpublished Bank materials; Bank publications; and other publications. This is a useful body of materials for an overview of Zambian economic issues in the 1980s.

The policy and research papers cover a wide variety of subjects including structural adjustment lending and sector adjustment lending, agriculture, Japan and Ghana, and Bank history. All the policy and research papers are Bank papers except six items, which are identified by source on the item list. They are arranged by date of preparation or publication.

The fonds contains records created and received between 1958 and 2013 beginning from the Public Utilities Department and several successors through the Sustainable Energy Department (SEG). Records document the energy units' functional responsibilities including support to operational projects carried out by regional units, formulation of policy, preparation of research studies and publications, organization and participation in knowledge and learning events, liaison with external partners, and program collaboration across the energy sector. A large portion of records reflect the department's function as administrators of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)/World Bank Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) established in 1983 and ESMAP's precursor technical assistance program, the Energy Assessment Program (EAP) created in 1980 in response to the global energy crises of the 1970s.

While sector records were maintained in the Bank-wide centralized filing system from the early years of operations 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 energy 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 sector's rapid rate of growth and frequent organizational changes between the late 1970s until the mid-2000s are reflected in the various record-creating units in this fonds, their changes in names and reporting structure, and different filing systems. Primary sector functions however, as mentioned above, remained consistent over time.

The earliest records in the fonds, dating from 1958 to the late 1960s, are externally produced maps and reports that were used as reference for projects. The fonds also contains earlier records maintained by Assistant Director Efrain Friedmann that represent the department's energy sector work in the 1970s and cover discussion of nuclear power and energy conservation. Records are, however, predominantly from between 1980 and 2002.

Records in the fonds cover a broad range of subsectors and topics under energy development, including: electric power; fuel sources and technologies and hydrocarbons, such as coal, oil, natural gas; renewable and non-conventional energy sources, such as photovoltaic cells, solar power, hydropower, wind power, thermal power, and biomass; environmental issues and assessments; climate change; power systems and energy efficiency; gas trading; electricity supply and grid extension; rural electrification; power sector rehabilitation and institutional restructuring of power utilities; legislation and market forces; and competition and regulatory policy.

Mining sector records are also represented in the fonds, to a lesser extent. Although mining was originally situated within the industry sector in the Bank's organizational structure, the mining and oil and gas units coexisted under the same departments from 1982 until their merger into the Oil, Gas, Mining Division, Sustainable Energy Department (SEGOM) in 2010. Records related to the mining sector primarily cover the period from the 1990s to 2013, although there is some earlier material dating from the early 1980s. See the arrangement note for more information.

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.