Trust Funds at the Inter-American Development Bank: Enhancing Development Assistance to Latin America and the Caribbean

Between 1992 and 2003, Latin American and Caribbean countries accessed around US$300 million from the IDB trust fund program for non-reimbursable technical cooperation projects. This report offers a comprehensive look at the role played by trust funds with the region. It is based on a desk review of all 45 trust funds for technical cooperation for 1628 projects. Available data and documentation was complemented as best possible through interviews with project teams, fund managers and other professionals within and outside the Bank. The first section makes reference to loan operations and the loan project cycle, and analyzes trust fund resource distribution and resource management in this context. The second section showcases the contributions of trust funds to four main Bank program areas: competitiveness, social development, environment and natural resource management, and modernization of the state. In addition to producing the data and analysis for this report, this review feeds into a current, critical process of reinforcing the links between Bank trust fund operations and wider Bank programs