Kathmandu: A Workshop on “World Development Report 2004: making Services Work for the Poor” was organized at Yak & Yeti by the Kathmandu based Nepal Office of the World Bank.

On the occasion, highlighting the salient features of the WDR: 2004, Mr. Jeffrey Hammer, a expert on the said topic, said though most of the times projects fail due to various reasons there are always examples of success stories.

Not having a good coordination between the service providers and the poor, things have gone upside down resulting in no change in conditions of the poor. Empowering poor people, making their voice heard to decision-makers and strengthening incentives for service providers could be some solutions to solve the pertaining problem.

To improve service delivery, the report recommends institutional changes that will strengthen relationships of accountability, between policy makers, providers and citizens.

But how? According to the report, this could be achieved by putting poor people at the center of service provision: by enabling them to monitor and discipline service providers, by amplifying their voice in policy making and by strengthening the incentives for providers to serve the poor.

Dr. Shankar Sharma of the NPC also spoke on the occasion.