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World Bank IDA Window for Host Communities and Refugees
The World Bank IDA Window for Host Communities and Refugees (WHR) provides dedicated concessional financing to eligible low-income countries hosting significant refugee populations. It supports medium- to long-term development opportunities for refugees and host communities. Under IDA20, $2.4 billion was allocated and the Bank reported policy reforms supported in 12 of 17 IDA-eligible countries. During IDA21 negotiations (2024-2025), proposals under the Bank's 'SimplifIDA' agenda considered merging the WHR into a broader Regional and Global Solutions Window; the WHR instead retained its ring-fenced allocation of at least $2.4 billion and its distinct eligibility criteria going into IDA21.
Why it matters: The window is central to fiscal architecture because it recognizes that host countries incur development costs when hosting refugees. The political economy archetype is conditional fiscal absorption: development finance can make inclusion more feasible, but only where host-state policy and project systems align. The WHR's survival of the SimplifIDA consolidation push is analytically significant: ring-fenced, purpose-specific financing instruments face real institutional pressure to be absorbed into broader windows, and the fact that refugee-specific financing held its dedicated status is evidence of sustained donor and advocacy coalition strength behind the instrument, not an automatic outcome.
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