Read the feature story here Earlier this year in Hatton, I met a group of talented, young adults who had just participated in a social innovation pilot program. They were enthusiastic and dynamic, brimming with potential. But the potential to realize that potential was going to be influenced along gender lines; the expectations and obligations to the families were the ...
Persistent myths, which can misguide policy, are barriers to improving water security for the people of Pakistan. Here are five:First, this problem of water security is often presented as one of water scarcity. But Pakistan is a water-rich country – only 35 countries have more renewable water. It is true that measured for each person, Pakistan is approaching a ...
Matching sheer ingenuity with technological prowess, the Netherlands (pop: 17 millions; about the size of Haryana state in India) today is one of the world’s most agriculturally productive countries, feeding people across the globe from its meager land area. Photo credit: Raj Ganguly Van Gogh’s famous painting of Potato Eaters depicts a family of poor peasants seated around a ...
Almost all fires in India are set by people intentionally or unintentionally. Ground fire in Chir Pine forests in Gumkhal, Pauri Garwal District, Uttarakhand, India. Credit: Vikas Gusain (April 2017) The three-day international workshop on forest fires organized by the World Bank and the Forest Ministry of India is a watershed event in the management of forest fires in ...
Saman Kelegama, a Sri Lankan economist and the Executive Director of the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS Sri Lanka) died prematurely in June 2017. He was a champion of deeper South Asian cooperation. Credit: Institute of Policy Studies I first met Saman in the early 1990s in Delhi. Over the years, our paths diverged. When I re-engaged on South Asia, I ran ...
Fire has been a part of India’s landscape since time immemorial. Every year, forest fires rage through nearly every state, ravaging more than half of India’s districts. Today, with growing populations in and around the forests, these fires are putting more lives and property at risk. Indian Space Research Organization estimates that in 2014 alone, nearly 49,000 sq.km of ...
New technologies offer an opportunity to strengthen economic measurement. Evening luminosity observed from satellites has been shown to be a good proxy for economic activity. Economic growth is a key concern for economists, political leaders, and the broader population. But how confident are we that the available data on economic activity paints an accurate picture of a country’s performance? ...
With India’s rapidly growing dairy industry, large-scale milk fortification of Vitamins A and D is a robust vehicle for increasing micronutrients intake across the population. Credit: India’s National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) Micronutrient deficiencies, especially Vitamin A and D, are prevalent in India. Yet, these deficiencies -- often referred to as ‘hidden hunger’ -- go largely unnoticed ...
October 17, 2017 – Today marks the 25th anniversary of the United National declaration of the International Day to End Extreme Poverty. Compared to many other countries in the world, Sri Lanka has done well in ending extreme poverty. Between 2002 and 2012, extreme poverty in Sri Lanka decreased from 8.3% to 1.9% while the national poverty level fell ...
Bicycles are the largest export of Bangladesh’s engineering sector, contributing about 12 percent of engineering exports. Credit: World BankThis blog is part of a series exploring new sources of competitiveness in Bangladesh Did you know that Bangladesh is the 2nd largest non-EU exporter of bicycles to the EU and the 8th largest exporter overall? Bicycles are the largest export ...
Two years ago, we started counting how many Sri Lankan agencies were involved in trade facilitation processes such as issuing permits and managing the movement of goods in and out of the country. We counted at least 22 agencies in this assessment, and today, the Department of Commerce estimates that number at least 34 agencies are involved in issuing ...
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Swachh Bharat Mission in 2014, it marked the beginning of the world’s largest ever sanitation drive. Now, a 2017 survey by the Quality Council of India finds that access to toilets by rural households has increased to 62.45 per cent, and that 91 per cent of those who have a toilet, use ...
Bijaya Chakma, trainer and founder of Knowledge Source Computer Learning Center, Rangamati. Photo: World Bank Not long ago, in 2005, one out of every four people in Bangladesh would go to bed hungry. By the end of 2017, however, it is projected that less than one person in every 10 would be skipping a meal each day.
According to a recent report, just over half of Afghan children attend primary school and most of them were boys. Photo Credit: Rumi Consultancy/ World Bank Fueled by unprecedented levels of aid, literacy, school enrollment, and access to basic services, Afghanistan made tremendous progress between 2007–08 and 2011–12. However, declining aid and increasing conflict during the period between 2011–12 and ...
براساس اخرین گزارش، فقط بیشتراز نصف اطفال واجد شرایط به مکتب ابتدایه میروند که البته اکثر انها را بچه ها تشکیل میدهد. عکس: شرکت مشورتی رومی/بانک جهانی با توجه به سرازیر شدن میزان بی سابقه کمک های مالی بین المللی، میزان سطح سواد، شمولیت در مکاتب و دسترسی به خدمات اساسی در افغانستان در جریان سالهای ۲۰۰۷ - ۲۰۰۸ ...
The Multi-Donor fund for Bhutan's Public Financial Management was launched September 21st in Thimphu Several years ago, a newspaper cartoon in a neighboring country caught everyone’s attention when it depicted the government machinery as a big pipe in which lots of water was being poured from one side as taxpayer’s money and only a drop reached the poor on ...
A view of the business district in Colombo. Credit: Joe Qian / World Bank Sri Lanka experienced strong growth at the end of its 26-year conflict. This was to be expected as post-war reconstruction tends to bring new hope and energy to a country. And Sri Lanka has done well—5 percent growth is nothing to scoff at. ...
