Korea-World Bank Group Partnership Facility (KWPF)

The Korea- World Bank Partnership Facility (KWPF), established in May 2013, is an initiative to strengthen ties between Korea’s Ministry of Economy and Finance (MoEF) and the World Bank. The facility’s overall objective is to assist developing member countries of the World bank in achieving inclusive and sustainable economic growth and to foster broader dialogue on economic development issues. Through this Facility, the Government of Korea has provided US$90 million during FY14-FY16 (Phase I), US$90 million during FY17-FY19 (Phase II), and a replenishment of US$150 million from FY20 through FY23 (Phase III).

The Facility is structured to comprise of three pillars of collaboration:

• Financing for Global and Regional WBG Programs (Window 1), a “pass through” window through which funding for WBG managed global programs across a range of global development initiatives flows;
• Co-financing of WBG Country Investments (Window 2) which provides funding for WBG lending projects that are closely aligned with Korea’s policy of international economic cooperation as well as the WBG’s relevant country and thematic strategies; and
• Generation and Transfer of Development Knowledge (Window 3), which supports WBG technical assistance, project identification, capacity building and knowledge exchange activities undertaken in close collaboration with Korean organizations that seek to leverage Korea’s development experience to develop cross-regional learning, research, and knowledge exchange.

The Facility is managed with a significant emphasis on results, and seeks to support World Bank projects that are designed to maximize development impact. In doing so, the Facility emphasizes strong alignment with the World Bank’s lending operations and strategic policy dialogue, as well as on sharing Korea’s development experiences with developing countries. The program also has a focus on involving Korean institutional partners in sharing Korea’s development experience with developing countries.

The KWPF Secretariat is housed within the Trust Funds and Partner Relations unit of the Development Finance Vice Presidency (DFi) at the World Bank. The Secretariat organizes Annual Consultations with MoEF to discuss the objectives, design and operation of the program, agree upon the thematic and regional priorities for each of the calls for proposals, and review the implementation progress of the program.