The World Bank has partnered with Singapore in its journey of development through 14 loans, and Singapore is host to one of the largest operational World Bank Group hubs in Asia with over 250 staff, including over 25 directors/managers. Today, Singapore is partnering with the World Bank in sharing its development knowledge and offer its expertise to support innovation in Asean and beyond. The World Bank recognizes the importance of knowledge transfer between countries and the application of lessons learned in different geographical contexts. The World Bank supports clients worldwide through a combination of lending, technical assistance, and capacity building. Depending on the specific circumstances of a country, the World Bank may provide support in one, some, or all these areas. The experience of Singapore offers valuable lessons that can be applied in other contexts where the World Bank operates, not only within the Asia region but globally. As the World Bank Group is stepping up its efforts on Water Security and Climate Resilience through a new Water Strategy, lessons from Singapore will be even more salient.
Launched in 2024, the Singapore Water Centre (SWC) is designed in the backdrop of a serious global challenge around water. The aim of the Singapore Water Center is to foster innovation, knowledge exchange, and capacity development of policy makers, utility managers and other key stakeholders in the Water sector and draw on the Singapore ecosystem of expertise in water. The Center is part of the World Bank’s Water Global Practice in collaboration with the IFC and MIGA. This will allow exchange of relevant experiences and knowledge between Singapore and other regions of the world where the World Bank, IFC and MIGA operate.
The SWC aims to amplify impact by translating Singapore’s experience, knowledge, and capabilities to catalyze innovations in policy, technology and finance of World Bank client countries. The breadth of the center will cover a whole-of-water approach, demonstrating Singapore’s innovation and practices across all the water sub-sectors and the cross-cutting and integrative aspects of water. This includes water sub-sectors such as urban and rural water and sanitation, water resources management and resilience, storage and irrigation amongst others.
The SWC is led by a seasoned water and development expert, who will lead a team of specialists with expert knowledge, analytics expert, communication expert and administrative support. The center will be supported by practice managers and knowledge experts based in Singapore as well as global experts as needed.