The World Bank is one of IPTRID's major donors, having supported the Programme from the very beginning. This support continued over time also after 1998, when the Programme was dislocated from The World Bank bureau in Washington to FAO Headquarters.

Role within IPTRID's activities:

Among a large number of activities, the following two can be highlighted, being the most recent ones financed and supported by The World Bank:

Towards Integrated Planning of Irrigation and Drainage, Egypt (recently completed project)

Supported by The World Bank together with other Partners, the study was carried out by IPTRID/FAO with the specific purpose of complementing the ongoing preparation of the Integrated Irrigation Improvement and Management Project (IIIMP). It was conducted in two phases: a Rapid Assessment Study of irrigation and drainage development in Egypt and a Stakeholder Workshop in which the main findings were presented to and discussed with some fifty participants.

Towards a strategy for sustainable irrigated agriculture with feasible investment in drainage, Aral Sea Basin, Central Asia
(on-going project)

Purpose of the project is to assess the drainage needs for sustainable irrigated agriculture in the Aral Sea Basin, through the formulation of a specific strategy on the investment needed.
In addition, the Project contemplated a high level conference held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan (March 2004), during which the hazards of the on-going salinization process and other threats to the sustainability of irrigated agriculture were discussed. Various Partners have been involved, each one contributing a report on specific issues.