Regions and Sectors

Abstract

As an international development institution, the Bank has to find the right mix of skills to develop the complex array of assistance it provides to its clients. It needs country experts, mainly economists and loan officers, who are expected to understand the macro-political and economic systems in a country, and sector specialists in many fields: agriculture, water, transport, energy, health. Both sets of expertise are needed; yet there is inherent tension between the two. Each group has its distinct epistemic culture and way of looking at the Bank’s responsibilities. Some see country experts as the key to making things happen; others believe sector specialists are the movers and shakers. The persistent and continuing tension “between a geographic approach, which focuses on a country and large region, and a sectoral approach, which concentrates on arenas such as education, urban development, and energy” (Marshall 2008:71) has led to four major rounds of reorganization (1952, 1972, 1987, and 1997) in the Bank’s history.