According to recent estimates, South Asia is facing a shortage of 38 million housing units, largely affecting low and middle-income households. It comes as no surprise that informal settlements, slums and squatters are growing in all major urban centers across Asia to supplement the demand from urban poor. India alone has 52,000 slums inhabited by 14 percent of its ...

In the World Bank, we recently did a report titled Bangladesh:  Towards Accelerated, Inclusive and Sustainable Growth—Opportunities and Challenges.  For this study, we did a survey of 1,000 garment firms to get their perspectives on the drivers and obstacles to urban competitiveness.  I report below some key findings from the survey presented in the growth report.            Dhaka City ...

Social Entrepreneurs: the Government of Bihar wants to partner with you!   Traditionally, both government and the private sector have struggled to reach remote and poverty stricken parts of India, especially eastern states such as Bihar. Even social entrepreneurs and civil society organizations struggle to apply their innovations because of poor reach and lack of absorption,. However, Jeevika, a ...

There is little empirical regularity that is as universal as the following: no matter what the path of economic development a country has followed, urbanization has been an inevitable consequence across the world. Already half the world’s population is urban. Currently, Asia and Africa are the least urbanized regions, but they are expected to reach their respective tipping points–that ...

“Bye sir!” Rahul was running ahead into the distance. It was hard for me to imagine how he could be running… The cracked soil was incredibly hot and extended all the way to what looked like a lake in the distance. It was not a lake…it was a mirage. “He wants to be a doctor,” said his mother, who was ...

​The latest science, described in the World Bank report “Turn Down the Heat,” indicates that we are heading toward a 4° C warmer world, with catastrophic consequences in this century. While carbon dioxide (CO2) is still the No. 1 threat, there is another category of warming agent called short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs). Mitigating these pollutants is a must if ...

Coal has been a mainstay of Indian energy. It accounts for 63% of India’s energy consumption and demand is set to grow dramatically over the coming decades. Coal use for electricity generation is projected to grow 2% every year, almost doubling its share of India’s generating capacity by 2030. According to the International Energy Agency, India is likely to ...

Baglung, Nepal You might be wondering how buses and social accountability are related. In Baglung, western region of Nepal, they are not just related - one is the direct result of the other. Nepal, with its diverse topography has amazing landscapes for tourism but when it comes to accessible roads, it is one of the rural community’s biggest concerns. In ...

It looked like an ordinary little drugstore. A reasonable supply of medication on the right, and man behind a small desk in the middle. But what was on the desk was not ordinary: a netbook laptop and a fingerprint scanner. And on the left were boxes, all the same medication, with names written on them. “Try it,” Neema said. “Scan ...

It looked like an ordinary little drugstore. A reasonable supply of medication on the right, and man behind a small desk in the middle. But what was on the desk was not ordinary: a netbook laptop and a fingerprint scanner. And on the left were boxes, all the same medication, with names written on them. “Try it,” Neema said. “Scan ...

Considering the costs, it was never obvious to me how investments in a national identity program might add development value in a resource-crunched country like Nepal with so many competing priorities. It clicked when a senior official at Pakistan’s National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) said, “The national identity program has allowed us to construct one big family tree of ...

Une simple invitation a suffi à provoquer une avalanche de réactions. Plus de 1 200 jeunes d’Asie du Sud ont répondu à notre appel, en nous faisant part de leurs solutions pour lutter contre les violences sexistes dans leur région. Le jury a eu la tâche délicate de désigner 10 lauréats parmi les quelque 60 finalistes, mais bien d’autres ...

All it took was an invitation to open the floodgates. More than 1,200 South Asian youth responded to our call to share ideas on how to end gender-based violence in the region. The judges had the difficult task of picking 10 winners from about 60 finalists, but there were many more great solutions submitted. Here are some of my personal favorites that were not selected. read more

Aكل ما كان لتبادل الأفكار حول كيفية وضع حد للعنف القائم على نوع الجنس في المنطقة. وتولي المحكمون المهمة الصعبة المتمثلة في اختيار 10 فائزين من بين حوالي 60 متسابقاً ومتسابقة وصلوا إلى النهائيات، ولكن كان هناك العديد من الحلول العظيمة التي تم تقديمها. وفيما يلي بعض من المشاركات المفضلة لي بشكل شخصي والتي لم يتم اختيارها.مطلوباً هو دعوة ...

Bastó una invitación para abrir las compuertas. Más de 1.200 jóvenes de Asia meridional (i) respondieron a nuestro llamado y compartieron ideas sobre cómo poner fin a la violencia de género en la región. Los jueces tuvieron la difícil tarea de escoger a los 10 ganadores (i) de entre alrededor de 60 finalistas, pero llegaron muchas más fabulosas soluciones. ...

The emergence of mega-regions, as metropolitan areas merge to form a system of cities, has demonstrably contributed to growth in the developed countries. With South Asia experiencing one of the highest urbanization rates, connecting cities presents opportunity to mobilize people, goods and services, and develop supply chains over larger spatial areas. However, this also implies unraveling overlapping commuting patterns, economic ...

"Phones today are more powerful than computers I used as a kid, apps become increasingly awe-inspiring and problems are solved everyday using technology." Technology excites me so much I get goosebumps just thinking about how cool it is, and how much cooler it will be with every passing year. read more

One day, I was driving in a remote town in Sri Lanka, when I saw this encouraging scene. Few school kids were playing Cricket on a rainy day, and they had made a wicket out of three umbrellas. It might look simple, but a very powerful message about innovation is hidden right there. An innovator in my view is somebody ...

The Dalai Lama once said - that if you ever feel you are too small to make a difference then try sleeping in a room with a mosquito. And the same goes for business. Every big business starts as a small business. General Electric was at one time the world's biggest company and it started with a simple but revolutionary ...

Vinay Kumar Vutukuru Mukesh Chandra Saran Abhishek Gupta Bihar, a state in Eastern India has more than 100 million inhabitants and is India’s second poorest state. Ninety percent of the population lives in rural areas and the state has lagged behind in increasing access to finance in these areas. The credit-to deposit ratio of Bihar at 37% (an indicator ...