GPRBA provides subsidy funding to projects covering Water and Sanitation, Health, Education, Energy, and Solid Waste. In addition, several studies to find the applicability of OBA/RBF in new sectors and environment has been conducted in the Urban Transport, Urban Infrastructure affordable housing in urban settings.
Education is a critical tool for reducing poverty and inequality, and for driving development. However, an estimated 24 million children worldwide will never enter a classroom, and 250 million cannot read or write, although many have been to school. OBA projects in education can be designed to bridge the gap between the cost of providing quality education and the funds available. They tie the disbursement of funding to the achievement of clearly specified and verified results or outcomes.
Globally, around 1.1 billion people live without access to electricity. Ensuring universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy by 2030 is one of the Sustainable Development Goals adopted in 2015. GPRBA supports the energy access goal using output-based approaches to service delivery for low-income communities through subsidies linked to actual results achieved. OBA, one of the RBF instruments the program was initially testing, specifically targets poor populations, it helps to ensure that the benefits of infrastructure investment reach those most in need. The program has been working in the energy sector since 2006, and the energy portfolio comprises almost half of the portfolio.
OBA projects in the health sector are designed to support government commitments to improve the health status of poor populations and to create incentives for accessing health care. By supporting maternal health, safe deliveries and reproductive health services, projects contribute to long term positive health impacts, improved living conditions, and better economic status for low-income families.
With rapid population growth and urbanization, municipal waste generation is expected to rise to 2.2 billion tonnes by 2025. One of the major obstacles to improving Solid Waste Management (SWM) in poor countries is the lack of sustainable financing. Households and service providers are caught in a vicious cycle, with municipalities unable to improve services and expand their capacities unless they can increase fee collection rates, while residents are unwilling to pay for inadequate services. OBA can create an incentive-based subsidy approach encouraging service providers to reach underserved low-income communities while improving the ineffective collection of SWM fees and the missed opportunity for managing solid waste sustainably.
Information and communication technologies can help reduce poverty, boost economic growth, and improve accountability and governance. GPRBA support in this sector has been focused on increasing access to telecommunications services in remote and sparsely populated areas areas where connection has been extremely limited. GPRBA has provided support in Mongolia and Indonesia in the past.
Urban transport systems are crucial to economic and social development, and are particularly important for connecting poor populations to jobs, education, and health services. As the developing world rapidly urbanizes, there is an opportunity to build safer, cleaner, and more inclusive transport systems. The aim of OBA transport projects is to improve access of low-income communities to economic opportunities and services. OBA principles can be used to address many of the common shortcomings of subsidy systems in urban transport through upgrading of regulated transport services; regulation and improvement of unregulated services which could help in making transport more affordable for the poor and improve the transport infrastructure.
Globally, around 663 million people lack access to safe drinking water and 2.4 billion lack access to improved sanitation, such as a toilet or latrine. Ensuring access to water and sanitation for all by 2030 is one of the top priorities of the Sustainable Development Goals. GPRBA has been making a concerted effort since 2005 to test OBA approaches, a type of RBF instrument, in the sector to service delivery for low-income communities through subsidies linked to actual results achieved. OBA specifically targets poor populations, it helps to ensure that the benefits of infrastructure investment reach those most in need. GPRBA has supported 20 subsidy funding projects in the water and sanitation sector.
