Series - Operational support

Identity area

Reference code

WB IBRD/IDA WB_IBRD/IDA_88-08

Title

Operational support

Date(s)

  • 1978, 1982 - 2007 (Creation)

Level of description

Series

Extent and medium

6.32 linear feet of textual records

Context area

Name of creator

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Series consists of records documenting HDNED and previous units support to the Bank's lending and project activities within the education, training, and employment sector. Records are organized into subject files and contain details on Bank loans and credits and interaction with units in the various regions.

The earliest records in the series were maintained by the Project Related Training Program (EDCPT) staff of the Education Department created in July 1983. The unit provided operational support to theregional transportation, public utilities, and agriculture divisions on matters related to project-related training (PRT) which primarily involved developing advanced courses and instructing sector staff on project design and implementation. In February 1985, EDCPT became the Project Related Training Division (EDTPT) under the renamed Education and Training Department and was terminated in July 1986. Records cover the period from 1982 to 1986 and include: preliminary draft guidelines; copies of internal memoranda, many to EDT director; policy notes; discussion papers; and a copy of the 1978 Operation Evaluation Department (OED) Review of Bank Operations in the Education Sector report. Specific topics covered, but not limited to, include: guidelines for project related training components in transportation projects; an approach to manpower development for the transport sector; guidelines for designing training components in agricultural and rural development projects; and United Nations Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) Cooperative Program review. EDPT records were primarily created by Senior Training Adviser Augustin Alberti, Division Chief Lennart Swahn, and Senior Training Adviser H.W. Barker.

The series also contains records related to the Quality Enhancement Review (QER) panel's work on various education projects managed by operational task teams, and a review of the World Bank Institute Education Training program. The QER panel was first instituted for HDN projects in Fiscal Year 1999. QER broadly followed the Quality Assurance Group (QAG) methodology to improve the quality of projects but functioned as an independent group of senior colleagues who conducted the project preparation review with the task teams.

QER records were created between 2000 and 2007 apart from a file containing a 1997 report. Senior Education Specialists Juan Manual Moreno, Yidan Wang, and other HDNED served as QER panel members with typically two or three other colleagues from the region's education units. QER panels were not always represented by HDNED staff but in the case of these records, the panel reviews were jointly sponsored by the Education Sector Board and QAG. Records contain panel Terms of Reference, agenda or interview schedule, draft project concept notes, project appraisal documents (PADs), aide-memoires, issues papers, minutes of review meetings, back-to-office reports, project data tables, country profiles, external strategy papers and reports, previous QER reports, and other reference material collected by the panel to support its review. Most files do not contain a final panel review report. Among the several projects represented in the files are West Bank and Gaza Higher Education (P083767) and Montenegro Education Project (P084597).

There are also files regarding sector plans, sector strategy, and country and lending information. Sector plan files relate to the Fast Track Initiative (2002 - 2005) and include Education for All and Fast Track Initiative (EFA-FTI) proposals and plans produced by member countries across multiple regions. Education sector strategy records (1999) contain an implementation plan, chapters, annexes with data tables and figures and maps outlining education lending, and two hard copy emails between HDNED Adviser Jeffrey Waite and Anja Robakowski-Van Strolen. Finally, there is a file containing country information divided by region with country action plans and supporting data on the status of education and Bank assistance in each country.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

No further accruals are expected.

System of arrangement

Records are arranged by subject.

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Records are subject to the World Bank Access to Information Policy.

Conditions governing reproduction

Records are subject to the Copyright Policy of the World Bank Group.

Language of material

  • English
  • French

Script of material

Language and script notes

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Finding aids

An inventory list is available here.

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

  • See Records of the Education Sector - Education Sector Board records (WB_IBRD/IDA WB_IBRD/IDA_88-04) for records related to Quality Enhancement Review (QER) and quality training.

  • See Records of the Education Sector - Director and Front Office records (WB_IBRD/IDA WB_IBRD/IDA_88-01) for records related to the management and oversight of the Project Related Training Unit, education sector policy and strategy, and collaborative programs including EFA-FTI.

  • See Records of the Education Sector - Policy and best practice development (WB_IBRD/IDA WB_IBRD/IDA_88-07) for records concerning education guidelines and preparation of the education sector strategy.

  • See Records of the Education Sector - Operations research (WB_IBRD/IDA WB _IBRD/IDA_88-10) for records reflecting the department's operational support to regional units in the form of general sector studies.

  • As described in the administrative history of this fonds description, staff from decentralized sectors, including the education sector, were frequently loaned to regional units during which time they worked under the full operational control and direction of regional staff. Thus, while operations support is a primary function of the education sector department, most of the records created in support of operational activities would have been maintained together with the appropriate project records by the responsible regional unit. See the Regional Vice Presidency fonds linked in the Regional Vice Presidencies thematic fonds page for records related to projects, country sector studies, and other country-specific operations in the education, training, and employment sector.

  • See profiles of operational projects (loans, credits, grants, and trust funds) which involve topics related to the education sector in the Projects and Operations Database. The Projects and Operations Database search can be narrowed to include only those projects that involve themes of the education sector.

  • See Records of the Office of Operations Policy WB IBRD/IDA OP for records related to the Quality Assurance Group (QAG).

  • See Personal Papers of Desmond McCarthy - Quality Assurance Group (QAG) review and assessment (WB_IBRD/IDA_112-03) for additional records documenting the review function during the same period.

Related descriptions

Notes area

Alternative identifier(s)

Access points

Subject access points

Place access points

Name access points

Genre access points

Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

Rules and/or conventions used

Internal World Bank Group Archives rules

Disclosure status

Level of detail

Dates of creation revision deletion

10 June 2021

Language(s)

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Sources

Accession area