The Australia World Bank partnership is helping to build community infrastructure, generating millions of work days for local communities. Photo: Josh Estey, AusAID

Together, Australia and the World Bank Group are working to reduce poverty and boost development. Under the Australia – World Bank Group Partnership Framework, Australia and the World Bank Group will focus on 10 priorities for future engagement. These are:

To strengthen development coordination and improve development results in

1. the Pacific
2. South-East Asia, particularly in Indonesia and the Mekong
3. South Asia, particularly in fragile and post-conflict countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan and Sri Lanka
4. Sub-Saharan Africa

and to:

5. increase cooperation to promote the private sector as a means of addressing development priorities
6. strengthen and expand cooperation in sustainable development including sectoral cooperation in water, energy, transportation, disaster management, urban development, natural resources and agriculture
7. explore further opportunities for collaboration and the exchange of experience and expertise of working in small and fragile state environments, including a specific focus on initiatives to promote private sector development
8. enhance cooperation on global action on climate change and other environmental issues, including collaborative initiatives in the Asia and Pacific regions
9. explore further opportunities for collaboration and sharing experience and expertise in relation to education, and working on joint programs
10. ensure strengthened focus within both organisations on addressing issues relating to gender and people with disabilities in policy development and program implementation.

Australia's annual contributions to the World Bank ensure Australia is truly global in its reach and plays a role in helping countries throughout the world. They also allow Australia to have a strong say in how the World Bank Group's resources are used.

Australia contributes to the World Bank's fund for the poorest countries, the International Development Association ($168 million in 2011–12) as well as to World Bank debt-relief funds ($17 million in 2011–12). Australia is also the 17th largest shareholder in the International Bank of Reconstruction and Development, with a shareholding of 1.55 percent of total capital.

Australia and the World Bank Group have a growing portfolio of joint activities across the globe. In 2011–12, Australia provided $492 million in non-core funding to more than 75 joint activities with the World Bank Group, up from $347 million in 2010–11. The multi-year portfolio of ongoing activities is estimated at $2.2 billion.

Above: Australian funding to the World Bank Group, 2009–10 to 2011–12

Unlocking potential, achieving results

Headline results reported in 2012:

• Access to finance provided to more than 500,000 people in the Pacific.
• More than 12,300 vulnerable people in Honiara, Solomon Islands benefited from training and work experience.
• Improved access to running water and sanitation benefited more than 5 million Indonesians. More than a million households in the Philippines benefited from community-led projects such as new school buildings, improved water facilities and critical infrastructure.
• More than 20,000 vulnerable Indonesian women benefited from empowerment activities like literacy and numeracy training.
• More than one thousand Lao school principals trained in leadership and a 'Schools of Quality approach' and one hundred Lao pre-primary teachers received pre-primary training.
• $12 million provided in emergency cash transfers, benefiting more than 44,000 people in conflict-affected communities in Sri Lanka.
• School enrolments in Afghanistan increased from around one million to more than eight million, including more than three million girls.
• Antenatal care provided to more than 130,000 Afghani women ensuring 34 per cent of births attended by skilled attendants.
• Approximately 64,000 people in Mozambique provided with a treated water supply.