The Nam Theun 2 (NT2) dam project in the Lao People's Democratic Republic marked the return of international financiers to the business of funding large-scale hydropower in an untested country settin
Rapid advances in information technology (IT) and the resulting global connectivity are fueling dynamic growth in the services sector. Demand for IT and IT-enabled services (ITES) is estimated to repr
Diversity in Career Preferences of Future Health Workers in Rwanda is part of the World Bank Working Paper series. These papers are published to communicate the results of the Bank's ongoing research
Sri Lanka has long been regarded as a model of a successful welfare state in a low-income setting, yet it has not succeeded in creating a sufficient number of “good jobs” for the increasing number of
This paper reviews the performance of the health sector in Uganda. It addresses concerns in the Ugandan health community that health financing must be increased to improve health, nutrition, and popul
Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have made substantial progress in universalizing primary school completion. Many young Africans are completing primary schooling, and many more will do so in the coming
The development aid community has placed a great deal of emphasis on the need for rural mobility in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Thus far, most development partners and governments in SSA have relied on
Nigeria has a bold national vision of becoming one of the world’s top 20 economies by 2020. However, despite being the 8th most populous country in the world, it ranks 41st in terms of GDP and 161st i
Governments in developing countries have been increasingly involved in the support of agricultural (crop and livestock) insurance programs in recent years. In their attempts to design and implement ag
Growth in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector has exploded over the past 20 years. Continuous dynamic market and technology developments in this sector have led to a phenomenon k
“The crisis has deeply impacted virtually every economy in the world, and although growth has returned, much progress in the fight against poverty has been lost. More difficult international condition
The education sector plays a key “external” role in preventing and reducing the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS. It also plays an important “internal” role in providing access to care, treatment, and supp
Countries around the world are increasingly relying on individual pension savings accounts to provide income in old age for their citizens. Although these funds have now been in place for several deca
The microfinance sector in Bangladesh has matured rapidly in the past 30 years and now boasts the largest number of clients in the entire world. Despite these successes, the day-to-day operations of m
This study surveys economic development in Beijing and Shanghai, and recommends strategies, based on the experiences of other global megacities, for each city to sustain economic growth in the medium
The recent crises underscore the need for modern, sophisticated systems to govern the resolution of business distress, in order to maximize value in the distressed estate and to protect economic insti
Vegas, an education economist in the Human Development Department of the World Bank, and Santibanez, who is associated with a non-profit think tank in Mexico City focusing on education and public poli
This book is the fourth in a series on the role of health care financing in improving access to care for low-income populations. The study presented here shows that private voluntary health insurance
'From Privilege to Competition: Unlocking Private-Led Growth in the Middle East and North Africa' sheds new light on the difficult quest for stronger and more diversified growth in a region of unquest
'Investing with Confidence: Understanding Political Risk Management in the 21st Century' is the latest book in a series based on the MIGA–Georgetown University Symposium on International Political Ris
In recent years, growth rates in the so-called 'Tiger economies' of Southeast Asia have been above the average not only for developing countries but for the world as a whole. Yet they fall short of th
'Public-Private Partnerships for Urban Water Utilities: A Review of Experiences in Developing Countries' analyzes the market growth of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in the developing world sinc
In Africa, with the expansion of coverage of primary education in recent decades, many of the remaining out-of-school children are in hard to reach areas, with low population density and poor transpor
Argentina approaches its bicentennial as an independent republic and has a window of opportunity in social protection policy. Following the most serious economic crisis in its history during 2001-02,
Bolivia's informal economic sector is the largest in Latin America, and women-owned businesses tend to be overrepresented in the informal sector and to be less profitable than firms in the formal sect
Starting in 1994, Cameroon introduced regulatory and market-based reforms to regulate access to its rainforests, balance public and private interests in those forests, and integrate wider economic, cu
Fiscal discipline and public sector efficiency became prominent issues in Latin America and the Caribbean in the late 1980’s following external debt crises that troubled many countries in the region.
In high-income countries, the percent of the population covered under mandatory old-age pension programs is typically high but often incomplete; in low- and middle-income countries, coverage is low an
While public-private partnerships in education in the United States have received a lot of attention, research on such partnerships elsewhere has been limited—even though such partnerships have been s
To investigate whether the weak creation of productive jobs in Latin America and the Caribbean is the result of a lack of dynamism in the economy, this report looks at the behavior of firms and how re
'School Construction Strategies for Universal Primary Education in Africa' examines the scope of the infrastructure challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa and the constraints to scaling up at an affordable c
India has experienced accelerating growth in the last decade, yet why do millions of people remain mired in poverty? This book brings together the voices of the poor from villages in the Indi
‧ Does investing in health raise economic growth? ‧ Can governments achieve rapid growth or high incomes without investing in health? ‧ What are the options and benefits of different analytic approach
People with disabilities in Sierra Leone are disadvantaged in regards to their access to social services and the economic opportunities available to them. Oftentimes, they are marginalized and their
This survey assembles recent theoretical and empirical advances in the literature on economic informality and analyzes the causes and costs of informality in developed and developing economies. Using
In recent years, a number of emerging economies has begun to play a growing role in the finance of infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa. Their combined resource flows are now comparable in scale to tr
This World Bank study of poverty in India is different from others, according to project director Narayan, in that the focus is on realities from the bottom up; the dynamics of social, political, and
Reliable information on how health service strategies affect the poor is in short supply. In an attempt to redress the imbalance, 'Improving Health Service Delivery in Developing Countries' presents e
Why abolish school fees in Africa? The answer seems obvious: to achieve the right to education for all and thus promote equitable participation in economic growth and political action. However, moving
Vanuatu is a traditional and largely patriarchal society; women have extremely low representation in Parliament and in other decision-making bodies. Despite this, women are increasingly involved in pr
