The World Bank In Pacific Islands

The World Bank’s Pacific Island member countries have a combined population of about 2.3 million people across a unique and diverse region. The region is made up of hundreds of islands scattered over an area equivalent to 15% of the earth’s surface.

There is great diversity across the Pacific Islands region, from Fiji, which is the largest country of the group (excluding Papua New Guinea) with a population of over 900,000, to Tuvalu and Nauru, with estimated populations of approximately 11,000 each; making them the World Bank Group’s smallest members by population. Kiribati is one of the most remote and geographically dispersed countries in the world, consisting of 33 coral atolls spread over 3.5 million square kilometers of ocean – an area larger than India.

Pacific Island countries have substantial natural resources, contain extraordinary linguistic and cultural diversity, and are setting the stage to enhance digital connectivity and trade in goods and services with global markets. However, Pacific countries are physically remote, have small populations spread across many islands, confront many of the worst impacts of climate change, and are some of the world’s most vulnerable countries to natural disasters.

The remoteness of many of the Pacific Island countries provided some initial protection from the global COVID-19 pandemic, yet outbreaks eventually occurred across the region. As the region recovers from the pandemic, many Pacific countries are facing health and economic impacts that are stifling growth and creating new development challenges.

The 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent, endorsed by the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in 2022, is a strong Pacific-led development strategy for the region. The World Bank is ready to support the region in translating the Strategy into action over the coming years. The strategy will inform the World Bank’s actions in the Pacific, deepening the growing partnership between the World Bank and the Pacific, while leading to direct results for Pacific people.

Sustained development progress will require inclusive community-based approaches as well as long-term cooperation between governments, international development partners and regional organizations. The compounding impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing climate and disaster shocks on Pacific Island countries will continue to pose major challenges for the region in the years ahead. 

Last Updated: Sep 23, 2022

The World Bank is rapidly increasing its assistance in the Pacific Islands region with a significant increase in funds available through the International Development Association (IDA). Working in partnership with 12 countries across the region, the World Bank is currently supporting 105 projects across the Pacific Islands and Papua New Guinea, totaling US$3.2 billion in commitments through a combination of IBRD and IDA financing, trust funds, and co-financing. The World Bank’s work in Fiji and Solomon Islands is guided by individual country strategies.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, World Bank-funded COVID-19 health projects in Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea and Samoa – and funding for the Federated States of Micronesia, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu – has supported preparedness and response efforts, delivered protection for health workers, increased testing capacity and essential supplies, and supported vaccine rollouts.

Economic recovery support – including helping businesses and services rebuild and recover – will continue throughout 2023 and 2024.

Focus sectors

Pacific Island countries are at the forefront of climate change and disasters, and projects across the region are helping to strengthen countries’ resilience. The Pacific Resilience Program is helping Marshall Islands, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu to build early warning systems, strengthen disaster policies and community resilience, and obtain quick access to finance after a disaster.

Agriculture is vital for many Pacific Island countries, particularly as most of the region’s population live in rural areas and rely on agriculture for food security and livelihoods. In Samoa, where almost 70% of the population are employed in agriculture, the World Bank is working with farmers and fishers to improve livestock, farming and fishing practices. 

The sustainable management of the environment and natural resources across the Pacific is vital to the region’s future. The Pacific Islands Regional Oceanscape Program is helping Pacific countries coordinate sustainable management of tuna fisheries to ensure the benefits are maximized for each country’s future growth and development and helps countries sustainably manage their coastal fisheries and critical habitats while providing regional support to the Forum Fisheries Agency.

In health, in addition to COVID-19 preparedness and response support, the World Bank is supporting Pacific countries to strengthen government-led analysis, planning, budgeting, management, and monitoring for more efficient and equitable health services.

The Marshall Islands Multisectoral Early Childhood Development Project, through its first and Second Phase, is investing in maternal and child health, as well as early childhood stimulation and preschool services, with a focus on the first 1,000 days of life. The Samoa Health System Strengthening Program aims to improve access to health care in rural areas, particularly focusing on addressing non-communicable diseases.

The Tuvalu Learning Project is supporting early education and literacy by engaging parents and communities, and by strengthening teaching at preschool, primary and secondary levels.

Transport is essential to the Pacific Islands region to connect people to markets, schools, hospitals and family, often over vast distances of ocean. Through a consistent approach to address climate change impacts, projects are now underway to improve the resilience of key roads, ports and other transport infrastructure in the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. This work aims to better connect communities – including those in remote and outer island communities - while protecting infrastructure against the impacts of climate change.

A dedicated aviation program has delivered major reconstruction works to airports and runways in Kiribati, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu; helping to make air travel safer and more efficient across the Pacific, and the World Bank also supports the Fiji Transport Infrastructure Investment Project, which focuses on sea transport to help better connect Fijians.

Digital development is vital for connecting people, especially in geographically dispersed Pacific Island countries. Through the Pacific Regional Connectivity Program, the Pacific is being connected to faster, cheaper and more reliable internet. Our support is also helping to connect outer islands to broadband, strengthen the regulatory environment for the digital economy, and establish the Government’s capacity to deliver digital services through the Tonga Digital Government Support Project along with digital development projects in the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.

Due to high population growth and high unemployment, access to jobs is critical in many Pacific countries. Faced with high secondary school drop-out rates, the Skills and Employment for Tongans Project is supporting the Tongan government to implement a cash transfer program to incentivize families to keep their children in secondary school. In Solomon Islands, the Community Access and Urban Services Enhancement Project is providing skills training for 5,300 people from major towns across Solomon Islands.

In the energy sector, the World Bank is working with the governments of the Federated States of Micronesia and Marshall Islands to enhance the reliability of electricity supply, improve energy efficiency, and scale up renewable energy generation.

In Solomon Islands, energy work includes the major Tina River Hydro Development Project as well as investments in grid-connected solar, which will more than double the amount of grid connected solar on the Honiara electricity network.

Last Updated: Sep 23, 2022

Pacific Island countries are at the forefront of climate change and disasters, and the World Bank is working with governments across the region to strengthen disaster preparedness, response and resilience.

Following the 2022 eruption of Tonga’s undersea volcano and subsequent tsunami that caused over $90 million in damages and impacted 85 percent of the country’s population, the World Bank provided a rapid delivery of $8 million in funding to support Tonga’s immediate response needs. Long-term World Bank support in Tonga has also helped upgrade and reconstruct critical infrastructure across the country, including more than 125 classrooms, two new Emergency Operation Centers and better multi-hazard early warning systems.

To support regional disaster resilience, the World Bank – through the Pacific Resilience Program – has provided extensive disaster response training for government staff and supported the construction and opening of two new Emergency Operations Centers in Tonga. These centers – and the training of the staff who operate them – were critical to the immediate response to January 2022’s volcano and tsunami; and keeping remote locations in contact with the government and communicating the most critical support needed. In recent years, the World Bank has also provided immediate cash support to Pacific countries hit by major disasters, including Tuvalu (Cyclone Tino, 2020), Samoa (measles outbreak, 2019) Tonga (Cyclone Harold, 2020; the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano and tsunami, 2022) and Vanuatu (Cyclone Harold, 2020) to help support urgent response and recovery.

In Fiji, the World Bank supported the government to prepare a comprehensive assessment of the country’s vulnerability to climate change in 2017, and in partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), supported Fiji to issue the first ever Green Bond from a developing country, raising US$50 million for climate resilience in the process. In Kiribati, a program is working with communities to better prepare them for the impacts of climate change, including building rainwater tanks for remote communities as sea-level rise and drought have left many drinking wells contaminated.

Agriculture projects, like the Samoa Agriculture Competitiveness Enhancement Project, have supported crop and livestock farmers to improve their productivity and take advantage of market opportunities. Important achievements of the Samoa project include the importation of new sheep and cattle breeds to improve livestock production, and the introduction of new fruit and vegetable varieties to boost yields and diversify local diets. The project’s success has led to a new project, the Samoa Agriculture & Fisheries Productivity and Marketing Project, which also includes a new focus on fisheries.

Digital development of the region through the Pacific Regional Connectivity Project is reducing the cost and increasing the availability of information and communication technology services needed to support social and economic development in the Pacific. Fiber-optic cables have been, or will soon be, connected in Fiji, Samoa, Palau, Tonga and Tuvalu; one of the World Bank’s most significant infrastructure investments in the Pacific Islands over the past decade. In Tonga, for example, the first phase of this work increased broadband access in Tonga from 2% of the population in 2010 to 64% in 2021, and reduced the average retail cost of broadband internet by 97%.

World Bank support has also helped deliver a massive transformation in Samoa, supported a new domestic cable system in Fiji, and is helping Pacific countries establish digital government services, and strengthen regulations for the digital economy.

World Bank-funded transport infrastructure continues to improve life across the Pacific Islands. In 2016, the Kiribati Road Rehabilitation Project opened an improved road network, including works on the only main road through South Tarawa used by the entire population of 50,000 people; the largest infrastructure investment in the country since World War II. Additionally, the World Bank has provided considerable support to the development or redevelopment of major airports and other aviation infrastructure in Kiribati, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

In Vanuatu, work is underway on critical upgrades to 65 kilometers of road on the island of Espiritu Santo, and, in Samoa, work on the West Coast Road has connected the capital Apia with the international airport and inter-island port, including the construction of the new Mali’oli’o Bridge on Savai’i island and the new Moamoa Bridge on Upolu island, enabling river crossings during severe weather events.

Energy projects are having a considerable impact in the Pacific, with a renewable energy project in Solomon Islands delivering 2,400 new electricity connections to low-income families, as well as community infrastructure and microenterprises in both urban and rural areas. In addition, the Tina River Hydropower Project in Solomon Islands, will reduce the country’s near-total reliance on imported fuel. Solomon Islands has some of the highest electricity costs in the world, which is a major roadblock to growth and poverty reduction.

To support jobs and vulnerable communities in Solomon Islands, more than 18,000 young people have undertaken over one million days of work and training through the Rapid Employment Project and its successor, the Community Access and Urban Services Enhancement Project, which has expanded from Honiara to other major towns, including Auki, Gizo, Noro and Munda.

Last Updated: Sep 23, 2022