International Development in Focus
96 items available
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The International Development in Focus series comprises original, well-developed studies that highlight current development issues and are intended to influence programs and policy. These books result from research and analysis carried out as part of the World Bank's operational work around the world.
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Publication
Rising from the Depths: Water Security and Fragility in South Sudan
(Washington, DC : World Bank, 2023)In 2022, South Sudan was ranked as the world’s most vulnerable country to climate change and the one most lacking in coping capacity. South Sudan is also one of the world’s most politically fragile countries. Rising from the Depths explores opportunities and trade-offs for aligning South Sudan’s water-related investments and policies with its commitment to peace and its climate change adaptation needs. This report elevates water security as an issue critical for national development and stability—not just as a humanitarian need. With a focus on water security for people, production, and protection, the report shows that water insecurity is an existential threat to South Sudan. One in two South Sudanese live in areas exposed to moderate flood hazard; the country ranks seventh in the world for share of population exposed to river floods. Lack of access to safe drinking water supply and sanitation is also a core concern: more than 60 percent of the population use unimproved sources and 75 percent practice open defecation. Women and girls tend to be disproportionately impacted by these water-related threats. The report illustrates the negative implications of these challenges on health and nutrition, forced displacement, gender, and conflict. Yet, the challenges of water in South Sudan are also an opportunity. Rising from the Depths shows that South Sudan can harness the ubiquity of water as a tool to advance national development and stability. Priorities include strengthening nascent policy and institutional frameworks to guide water sector investments and ensure their sustainability, using a portfolio of infrastructure options to manage water resources, and addressing the country’s water supply and sanitation crisis. The identification, design, and implementation of investments should be guided by comprehensive feasibility assessments that include the investments' impact on the country’s rich biodiversity and social and conflict dynamics. Although infrastructure will be needed, it will not be enough. Water security in South Sudan will be achieved not solely by trying to control water and divert its flow but also by focusing on increasing community preparedness; delineating areas for water; and making productive use of water for household consumption, livelihoods, and development. -
Publication
Health Financing Reform in Ukraine: Progress and Future Directions
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-06-30)In 2015, the government of Ukraine initiated fundamental reform of its health system with the goals of improving the health outcomes of the population and providing financial protection from excessive out-of-pocket health care payments. This reform was to be implemented through modernizing and integrating the service delivery system, introducing changes to provider payment arrangements that incentivize efficiency, and improving the quality of care. It culminated in the passage of a new health financing law—the Law on Financial Guarantees for Health Care Services 2017—which established a health benefit package called the Program of Medical Guarantees (PMG) and created the National Health Service of Ukraine to serve as the strategic purchaser for this program. Health Financing Reform in Ukraine: Progress and Future Directions provides a comprehensive description and assessment of the development and implementation of policies associated with the PMG reform from the start of the reform in 2017 through mid-2021. It examines (1) how the PMG is financed, (2) strategic purchasing of the different components of the PMG benefit package, and (3) the governance arrangements of the PMG. The report also positions these developments within broader contextual discussions of the financing and organization of health care in Ukraine to make the key features of the financing reforms and their importance accessible to domestic and international audiences. -
Publication
Strategic Investment Funds: Establishment and Operations
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-06-16)Strategic investment funds (SIFs) have gained prominence over the past two decades as governments and other public sponsors globally have increasingly co-opted the investment fund model to further policy objectives. Since 2000, more than 30 SIFs have been formed at the national level, typically to boost economic growth through infrastructure or small and medium enterprise investment. In the current COVID-19 pandemic environment, governments have frequently turned to sovereign investment vehicles to address the economic effects of the pandemic, echoing the emergence of new SIFs in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. However, SIFs are not devoid of challenges, and the setup and operation of such funds can be fraught with risks, particularly in contexts of weaker governance, inadequate rule of law, and limited financial market regulation. The intent of Strategic Investment Funds: Establishment and Operations is to provide guidance to practitioners and policy makers considering a SIF model where little widely available, practice-based experience has been documented and disseminated. The book provides a reference for policy makers who are creating or strengthening the operations of SIFs, particularly as governments examine the value of such funds as a policy instrument in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. -
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Developing China’s Ports: How the Gateways to Economic Prosperity Were Revived
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-05-17)Many countries in Africa and Asia have coastlines that present opportunities for them to become gateways for trade between the hinterlands and global trading routes. However, policy makers struggle to translate this potential into engines of economic development and social transformation. In the past 40 years, China has taken advantage of its strategic geographical location and its status as one of the world’s top manufacturing regions. From a very low position on almost all metrics, today China has become home to more than half of the world’s top 50 ports. The rapid development of China’s ports was critical for the country’s remarkable economic growth. What China achieved can be informative; how and why China revived and modernized its port sector is especially relevant and provides valuable lessons for other countries. This book explores the transformation of China’s port sector through four topics and four periods, beginning with China’s major economic reforms that started in 1978. The first topic addresses the links between China’s macroeconomic and regional development strategies and development of the port sector. During this period—through about 1991—China began decentralizing port management to facilitate development of special economic zones. The second topic—during the period 1992 through about 2001—is more specific about the ports and analyzes changes in port governance, including the way in which essential investments were determined and financed. The third topic examines the relationship of ports to the cities where they are located and to the hinterlands on which they depend—coinciding with the period 2002–11. Domestic and international investment resulted in many new export-oriented processing factories during this period. The accompanying boost in trade required further expansion of port capacity. The fourth topic addresses how—from 2011 onward—human resource and innovation policies in the port sector have responded to changing demands as the country looks to become a less resource-dependent and more regionally balanced economy. -
Publication
Toward Safer and More Productive Migration for South Asia
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-05-16)International migration for temporary employment is key to South Asia’s development path, in terms of both jobs and remittance flows. Overseas markets are a critical source of employment for South Asian economies that may not be able to absorb workers sufficiently or quickly enough into the domestic labor market. Migrant workers typically experience wage gains of at least three times their earnings back home, in addition to acquiring new skills and accumulating savings that can be used to start up entrepreneurial activities upon returning home. Remittances sent by migrants while abroad also boost household consumption and support macroeconomic stability in countries of origin. However, multiple challenges exist that prevent migration from achieving its full development potential. These challenges include high monetary costs, information gaps on employment opportunities in destination countries, a lack of protection while abroad, and high concentrations of migrants in few sectors and destinations. These often prevent the poorest from migrating overseas and may place those who actually migrate in situations of considerable vulnerability. Building on rigorous analytics, this book highlights policy actions that can be taken at all stages of the migration life cycle, including after return, to minimize the risks and maximize the benefits of migration for migrants themselves, their families, and the home economy. The book provides policy options to address information gaps on employment opportunities overseas at the departure stage, to prepare migrants adequately for their experience overseas, to diversify destinations and occupations abroad, and to maximize the benefits of return migration. -
Publication
Financing Solutions to Reduce Natural Gas Flaring and Methane Emissions
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-03-18)Global oil and gas emissions fell to historic lows in 2020 as a result of the decline in global demand associated with the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic. Data released by the International Energy Agency suggest that CO2 emissions are on the rise as energy demands increase after the pandemic. Whether emissions will rebound to precrisis levels largely depends on governments’ emphasis on clean energy transition in their efforts to reboot economic growth. In 2019, direct and indirect emissions from the oil and gas sector represented about 15 percent of the global energy sector’s greenhouse gas emissions. More than half of these emissions came from flaring and methane released during oil and gas operations. This book aims to create awareness of the business case for reducing gas flaring and methane emissions. It provides a framework for policy makers to evaluate the feasibility and financial attractiveness of flaring and methane reduction (FMR) projects, analyzes investment barriers, and identifies key variables and success factors, backed by lessons learned from case studies. Simplified financial modeling templates are suggested to help policy makers to assess FMR options. The book focuses on midsized flares that collectively represent 58 percent of the global flare volumes. These flares are typically too small to be prioritized by oil companies but still allow for profitable monetization. Smaller FMR projects are unlikely to be economically viable, unless clustered in larger projects or propelled by an enabling and compulsory regulatory framework. Large-scale capture projects require tailored projects, large ancillary infrastructure, government planning, and capital injections costing hundreds of millions of dollars. Although potentially attractive in terms of equity returns to developers, midsized flares face various barriers to the financing and execution of FMR solutions. Navigating these barriers requires project developers with specific FMR expertise, as highlighted through six detailed case studies discussed in this book. -
Publication
Transforming Agribusiness in Nigeria for Inclusive Recovery, Jobs Creation, and Poverty Reduction: Policy Reforms and Investment Priorities
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-03-15)Nigeria has for decades placed enormous emphasis on diversifying its economy beyond oil and into sectors such as agribusiness and manufacturing. Lack of progress on the diversification agenda could be blamed on weak implementation and misalignment of public spending, but it also reflects more profound underlying issues. For example, declarations that any particular sector should drive diversification without offering clarity on specific investment priorities and expected outcomes will not persuade budget holders to allocate development resources. The lack of clarity also deprives policy makers and practitioners of the information, inspiration, and conviction to develop and execute sector plans that could operationalize diversification. Transforming Agribusiness in Nigeria for Inclusive Recovery, Jobs Creation, and Poverty Reduction: Policy Reforms and Investment Priorities aims to provide that clarity by illustrating the potential of the agribusiness sector to accelerate inclusive growth, create jobs, and reduce poverty. Building on an early finding that this sector provides the best prospects for inclusive growth and more and better jobs, the book identifies the specific agricultural value chains with the highest potential to create jobs, reduce poverty, and improve nutrition outcomes. The findings demonstrate, however, that the value chains with the most potential to pursue one policy objective are not necessarily as effective for other objectives, clearly calling for selectivity of value chains, depending on policy objectives. The book also estimates the level of growth required to meet specific jobs targets and finds that the growth burden is lower when on-farm and off-farm segments of agribusiness grow in tandem and higher if either segment stagnates. It concludes that a whole-of-agribusiness approach that emphasizes coordinated investments between on-farm and off-farm segments is needed to enable the sector to meet its potential in creating jobs and generating inclusive growth. With that whole-of-agribusiness approach in mind, the book next highlights the complex set of factors affecting the performance of agricultural value chains, distinguishing among issues that pertain to upstream primary agriculture, those that affect downstream off-farm agribusiness, and cross-cutting challenges. The agribusiness-enabling environment takes center stage, focusing on identifying specific policy reforms to effectively regulate seed development and quality control, fertilizer quality control, warehouse receipts, agricultural trade, and land reforms for responsible and inclusive agricultural investments. Finally, the book identifies policy reforms and investment priorities to increase competitiveness in the priority value chains for jobs creation, poverty reduction, and nutrition enhancement. -
Publication
Skilled Migration: A Sign of Europe's Divide or Integration?
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-03-09)Skilled Migration: A Sign of Europe’s Divide or Integration? examines the trends, determinants, and impacts of migration of high-skilled workers within the European Union in the past two decades. High-skilled migration, whether internal or international, is largely a symptom rather than a cause of the gaps in labor market and educational opportunities, productivity, welfare, and the quality of institutions across the regions. Free movement within the European Union is an incentive for workers and firms to take advantage of these gaps by moving from low- to high-productivity sectors and regions. This process, however, results in winners and losers depending on the extent of the complementarity and substitutability between migrants and natives and on the capacity of the sending regions to realize benefits from return or circular migration and other knowledge spillovers. This study assesses the economic benefits and the costs of skilled migration in the short and long runs, emphasizing the potential implications of a large outflow of highly qualified workers on the economies of the originating regions. This book uses empirical analysis to present recommendations for labor market and education policies and identify effective ways to address the various costs that migration induces among different skill groups within regions that send migrants and those that receive migrants. These methods must also improve cross-country coordination to more effectively unlock the overall benefits of migration. -
Publication
Digital Senegal for Inclusive Growth: Technological Transformation for Better and More Jobs
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-02-03)Digital Senegal for Inclusive Growth explores possible solutions for a more intensive use of digital technologies, especially by small and medium enterprises, to increase their productivity and create more quality jobs. The report will contribute to helping women and young people in particular to gain access to decent work and therefore reduce their exposure to poverty. Appropriate use of this report will make it possible to succeed in the challenges of digital transformation, especially in the context of a relatively young population that is more open to innovation and change. -
Publication
Making Devolution Work for Service Delivery in Kenya
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-02)Kenya adopted a new constitution and began the process of devolution in 2010, ceding many formerly national responsibilities to new county governments. As an institutional response to longstanding grievances, this radical restructuring of the Kenyan state had three continuing main objectives: decentralizing political power, public sector functions, and public finances; ensuring a more equitable distribution of resources among regions; and promoting more accountable, participatory, and responsive government at all levels. The first elections under the new constitution were held in 2013 and led to the establishment of 47 new county governments. Each county government is made up of a county executive, headed by an elected governor, and an elected County Assembly that legislates and provides oversight. Making Devolution Work for Service Delivery in Kenya takes stock of how devolution has affected the delivery of basic services to Kenyan citizens nine years after the “devolution train” left the station. Whereas devolution was driven by political reform, the ensuing institutions and systems were expected to deliver greater socioeconomic equity through devolved service delivery. Jointly coordinated by the government of Kenya and the World Bank, the Making Devolution Work for Service Delivery (MDWSD) study is the first major assessment of Kenya’s devolution reform. The study provides key messages about what is working, what is not working, and what could work better to enhance service delivery based on currently available data. It provides an independent assessment of service delivery performance in five sectors: agriculture, education, health, urban services, and water services. This assessment includes an in-depth review of the main pillars of devolved service delivery: accountability, human resource management, intergovernmental finance, politics, and public financial management. In addition to its findings for the present, the MDWSD study provides recommendations on how Kenya can improve its performance in each of these pivotal areas in the future.