Other papers
2,014 items available
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These are stand alone informal publications of high-level research.
Items in this collection
1 - 10 of 2014
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Publication
Vulnerabilities of ICT Procurement to Fraud and Corruption
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-08-28)Information communication technology (ICT) contracts are prone to fraud, corruption, bid rigging and collusion. The OECD foreign bribery report which shows that in 2014, 10 percent of the foreign bribery cases occurred in ICT sector. Integrated financial management systems (IFMIS) and other ICT systems play important roles in improving transparency and accountability and reducing the opportunities for fraud and corruption in developing countries. The procurement and implementation of such systems, however, present significant opportunities for abuse. The main reasons include: (a) the systemic corruption in many parts of the developing world where many such systems are procured, ironically in an attempt to reduce the impact of corruption and improve governance; (b) the large scale and complexity of such systems, which provide many opportunities to improperly rig contract specifications, manipulate implementation and inflate prices, and which make it difficult to detect such abuses; (c) the expense and potentially large profit margins of such systems, which provide ample margins to offer and pay substantial bribes to corrupt officials; (d) the relatively low risk of vendors or officials being caught and sanctioned, which is virtually nonexistent in many developing countries. -
Publication
Adoption of eGP in Africa
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-08-28)The objective of this paper is to provide information on Electronic Government Procurement (eGP), a digital technology that can help public procurement organizations optimize spend, improve the performance of supplier markets, and minimize corruption in the procurement lifecycle. This paper aims to: Detail the impact of eGP on governance; Describe the preconditions that are required for successful eGP implementation; Provide country case studies that illustrate the benefits of eGP implementation; Review the progress of eGP adoption across Africa; Provide solutions and recommendations for countries that are interested in upgrading existing or introducing new eGP solutions and/or modules. -
Publication
ICT Procurement in Africa
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-08-28)The objective of this background paper is to provide the reader with an understanding of information and communications technology (ICT) procurement with a focus on Africa. The intended audience of this background paper includes country officials working in ICT and procurement in Africa, including ministries of finance, regulatory agencies, and other government bodies. -
Publication
Monitoring Food Insecurity and Vulnerability in Yemen: Results from the Yemen Mobile Phone Monitoring Survey - Round II
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-08-24)The World Bank carried out a second phone survey to monitor food insecurity and vulnerability in Yemen. The survey, implemented between January and March 2023, aims to provide an update on the welfare of Yemeni households. The survey draws on a probability sample of 1,455 respondents, 711 of whom are based in rural areas, while 467 and 277 are living in urban and semi-urban areas respectively. Most of the respondents are male (1,116 men versus 339 women). The results show that around 43 percent of households have inadequate food consumption, among whom 20 percent experience poor food consumption. A relatively large proportion of households live on an unbalanced diet composed mainly of staple starches. Disparities in food insecurity are significant and relate to characteristics such as displacement and employment status. Notably, food security has improved, particularly in Houthi-controlled areas. The share of households with poor or borderline food consumption scores decreased from 50 to 43 percent between Round 1, implemented in August-September 2022, and Round 2, conducted between January and March 2023. In Round 1, we found that households in Houthi-controlled areas were worse off in terms of food security compared to their counterparts in IRG-controlled areas. This changed in Round 2, where food security is better in Houthi controlled areas. This improvement could be explained by the easing of restrictions on fuel at Al Hodeida port in early 2023, a decrease in international wheat prices, and potentially the introduction of price caps for food items in Houthi controlled areas since December 2022. -
Publication
Monitoring Food Insecurity and Employment in Yemen: Results from the Yemen Mobile Phone Survey Monitoring - Round I
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-08-24)This report highlights the lived experience of Yemeni households when it comes to livelihoods and food insecurity. As Yemen has been grappling with multiple crises and the repercussions of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, multiple challenges - including shrinking access to income, disruptions in imports, and further currency depreciation, have exacerbated the precarious living conditions of Yemenis. This report briefly describes the results of a phone survey completed in August and September of 2022, showing the precarity of living conditions and livelihood options across the country, but highlighting worse conditions amongst parts of the population. Employment conditions and food security are worse off in rural areas, amongst the displaced and in the areas under Houthi control. Those working in elementary occupations and in the construction, manufacturing or agriculture sectors are also worse off. Amid a devastating and protracted conflict, with limited information on the living conditions in Yemen, a phone survey was carried out to monitor food insecurity and livelihoods. The survey, implemented in August and September 2022, seeks to provide a snapshot of the situation for Yemeni households. The survey draws on a probability sample of 1,297 respondents, 623 of whom are based in rural areas, while 480 and 193 are living in urban and semi-urban areas respectively. Most of the respondents are male (1,045 men vs. 252 women). The results suggest that almost one-quarter (23 percent) of Yemeni households are currently displaced due to the conflict, with differences by area of residence. For example, relatively more displaced households are based in semi-urban and urban areas compared to rural areas. Some (16 percent) of the households that were once displaced have returned to their pre-conflict places of residence. But the prevalence of return from displacement differs depending on area of residence and area of control. -
Publication
A Retrospective of IFC’s Implementation of the World Bank Group Gender Strategy
(World Bank Group, Washington, DC, 2023-08)This document reflects the significant expansion of IFC’s gender work, ranging from innovative research, new product development, broadened private sector advisory solutions, increased gender-lens investments, and robust partnerships. This expansion was fueled by a clear business case that explained why gender equality matters to the private sector, set ambitious institutional corporate targets, deployed an increasing number of decentralized gender resources, fostered a deeper engagement between the World Bank (WB) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) as one World Bank Group (WBG) addressing gender barriers, broadened financing instruments, and expanded the use of blended finance. As a result, long-term finance commitments with a gender lens increased from $1 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2019 to $8.99 billion in FY23. IFC’s share of women directors nominated for IFC board seats rose from 26 percent in FY18 to 62 percent in FY23. New advisory projects with a gender lens rose from 25 percent in FY16 to 55 percent in FY23. IFC also invested $575 million across six gender bonds issued by private sector financial institutions – each was the first in its market. Finally, this document highlights key areas of learning during the implementation of the first gender strategy and summarizes what more can be done to accelerate gender equality through the forthcoming World Bank Group Gender Strategy. Due to the negative impact of COVID-19 on gains in gender equality, new investments are required that advance affordable, safe quality childcare, prevent and mitigate gender-based violence, and increase women’s labor force participation rate. On an equally and increasingly important agenda, women are disproportionately impacted by climate change but are less represented in efforts to address it, gender equality and climate need to be better connected in development efforts. While some progress has been made, more efforts will be needed to accelerate gender equality and tackle the backlash against the inclusion of women and other marginalized groups in many countries. This could include integrating more gender perspectives into IFC investments via tools such as corporate targets, ramping up the use of blended and sustainability linked finance, partnering with investors to mobilize and allocate gender-smart finance; and deploying multi-sector gender programs at country level in close collaboration with the World Bank to tackle stubborn gender inequalities. IFC can further connect its ambitious gender program with programs targeting marginalized groups (low-income/base of the pyramid, migrants/refugees, forcibly displaced people, LGBTI, and persons with disabilities) to better tailor solutions to country and client needs. Finally, gender results measurement was limited to inputs, processes, and some outputs, and this retrospective suggests collecting more standardized monitoring indicators and embedding better evaluation approaches to measure and publicly report on aggregate outcomes and impacts of gender equality efforts. -
Publication
Gender Equality and Collective Wellbeing: The Power of Changing Mindsets
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-07-17)This paper proposes a framework for the World Bank Group’s approach to gender equality. Women’s achievements in such fields as education, health, and economic and political participation have not changed the unequal power relations with men. The author makes three main proposals for changing this inequality in power relations. First, shift the focus from the individual to changing collective mindsets, by mobilizing collective agency within organizations and changing the gender norms that prop up inequality. Second, since power is relational, don’t bypass men in programs and discussions to bring about change. And third, since gender training in early life is traumatic for all genders, power and love have to be re-examined and re-braided, so that approaches to change are caring and compassionate. Only then will there be a shift in mental and moral maps about the nature of right relations between men and women and with people of all Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) across social divides, without further violence. In summary, this paper addresses the following question: How do we bring about collective mindset shifts about unequal power relations among women, men, and SOGI groups -
Publication
Assessing the Effects of the Fiscal System on Gender Disparities in Armenia: Pilot-Study for the Engendered CEQ Methodology
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-06-20)This report applies the Engendered Commitment to Equity (E-CEQ) methodology to understand the effects of the fiscal system on gender disparities in Armenia. The authors leverage data from the Living Conditions Survey (ILCS), the Labor Force Survey (LFS), and administrative sources, and we follow recommendations from the recently produced Methodological Paper on Engendered CEQ, as well as specific recommendations from the Technical Advisory Panel, to empirically test the E-CEQ method in Armenia. Since budget and fiscal data disaggregated at the intra-household level is unavailable in Armenia, as in many other countries, the authors develop a typology of households, aiming to identify characteristics associated with potential gender disparities for each household surveyed in the ILCS. In addition to calculating the standard CEQ estimators for Armenia, the authors disaggregate the effects of the fiscal system by household type. The authors find that the fiscal system in Armenia particularly, direct taxes reduces gender disparities by affecting the incomes of households that rely economically on women earners less than proportionally to those that rely on men’s earnings. The results, however, do not necessarily imply that Armenia’s fiscal system reduces overall gender disparities. The lower tax incidence on women may reflect their exclusion from formal labor markets. The results also suggest that childcare and elderly care constrain mostly women’s economic opportunities. This report constitutes a pilot for testing the first generation of E-CEQ studies. The results and scope of this assessment should be expanded in subsequent research in Armenia and other low and middle-income countries. -
Publication
Myanmar Subnational Phone Surveys (MSPS) of the World Bank: Coverage, Reliability, and Representativeness
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-06-05)Myanmar subnational phone surveys (MSPS) are designed to monitor household wellbeing at the state and regional level. The first round of MSPS interviews were conducted between November 2022 to March 2023 and collected detailed information regarding labor market participation, education levels, consumption, migration, exposure to economic shocks and coping strategies. In this note, the author validates the representative properties of MSPS at the subnational level and address potential concerns about survey bias. The author also examines MSPS’ compatibility with other benchmark household surveys and provide evidence that vulnerable households that are generally overlooked in other telephonic surveys (low‐educated, poorer, female‐headed, migrant households) have been well‐represented in the MSPS’ survey sample. The author finds that 306 of 330 townships in Myanmar have been covered in MSPS, reflecting approximately 98 percent of the country’s population. Shares of demographic indicators at the state and regional levels - such as female population, female headed households, urban population, and age‐distribution - obtained from MSPS correspond closely with MLCS‐2017 survey. Moreover, the share of displaced populations in MSPS match closely with displacement estimates from UNHCR for the same period. MSPS also has significant representation of minority population based on religious and linguistic characteristics. Finally, the author finds that MSPS yields consistent estimates of education, asset ownership, consumption and labor market indicators when compared to IFPRI’s MHWS surveys. Overall, these result underscore the unbiased properties of MSPS surveys and show that these surveys provide reliable estimates of household wellbeing at the subnational level. -
Publication
Who is Most Vulnerable to the Transition Away from Coal? Ruda Śląska Residents’ Preferences Towards Jobs and Land Repurposing
(World Bank, 2023-05-24)After Germany, Poland is the EU’s second largest coal producer and consumer.1 96 percent of EU-27 hard coal production, or 54.4 million tons, is extracted in Poland (EURACOAL, 2020). In 2020, over 40 percent of the country’s total energy supply (TES) and 70 percent of its electricity generation come from coal and lignite (IEA, 2022), the highest rate in Europe. Coal in Poland also continues to employ about 88,000 people directly in the mines, down from about 444,000 in 1989. Europe’s commitment to stop its fossil fuel imports from Russia following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is slowing down Poland’s coal phase-out to ensure energy security in Europe,2 but Poland remains committed to a complete coal mine closure by 2049.