This issue of Development Outreach is part of a communications campaign to raise awareness of these issues in the world community. It is being released to coincide with the International Monetary Fund-World Bank Annual Meetings in Singapore in September 2006, which will include good governance and anti-corruption as major themes.

The World Bank Institute (WBI) plays an important role in these efforts by providing participatory action-oriented learning for policymakers and national and local government leaders, and by developing tools for gather- ing, assessing, and disseminating data on governance in- country and worldwide. As part of the program of seminars at the Annual Meetings, WBI and the International Finance Corporation have organized a plenary session on Partnerships to Combat Corruption: Rising to the Challenge. Among the panelists will be some of the authors of this special report. 

The Institute has also developed a Web Portal on Partnerships to Combat Corruption to provide information on country-specific and regional training opportunities to strengthen governance.