Other ESW Reports

317 items available

Permanent URI for this collection

https://hdl.handle.net/10986/2209

This includes miscellaneous ESW types and pre-2003 ESW type reports that are subsequently completed and released.

Items in this collection

Now showing 1 - 10 of 13

The Brazil of the Future: Towards Productivity, Inclusion, and Sustainability
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-11-13) World Bank Group
In 2022, Brazil celebrated its 200th anniversary. What will Brazil celebrate at its 220th anniversary, in 2042? Following the recent elections there is a window of opportunity for reforms that will shape Brazil’s development over the next decades. “The Brazil of the Future: Towards Productivity, Inclusion, and Sustainability” takes a long-term perspective on Brazil’s development, exploring how prudent actions today can generate opportunities for a more prosperous, inclusive, and sustainable society over the next 20 years. The report aims to stimulate public debate about a virtuous cycle for 2042, illustrated by four alternative future scenarios. With the right reforms Brazil can become an economic powerhouse that offers opportunities for all. A more inclusive social contract can facilitate critical reforms.
Unlocking the Potential of Women and Adolescent Girls - Challenges and Opportunities for Greater Empowerment of Women and Adolescent Girls in Madagascar
(Washington, DC, 2023-10-04) World Bank
This Overview presents the findings from the mixed-method study on gender inequalities in Madagascar, illustrating the key gender gaps in the country and shedding light on the unique challenges that young Malagasy women face in their educational, professional, and family trajectories. Due to the persistence of financial, social, and institutional barriers, Malagasy women and girls encounter significant disadvantages across all dimensions of well-being and are unable to access opportunities in an equal manner with men and boys in the country. They are largely constrained in their ability to accumulate human capital in education and health, and to participate in economic opportunities; and they face severe limitations in agency and decision-making, particularly with respect to family formation. Women and girls also appear to be disproportionally affected by the impacts of climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, which further widen preexisting gender gaps and amplify vulnerability to poverty, violence, and discrimination. On the basis of the research findings, the Overview presents key gender gaps in Madagascar and proposes four strategic lines of policy recommendations to (i) assist girls and young women in completing school education, (ii) improve women’s and girls’ access to professional health care and prevent teenage pregnancy, (iii) enhance women’s economic opportunities, and (iv) improve women’s and girls’ voice and agency through the elimination of all forms of gender-based violence. Four thematic notes accompany this Overview and present detailed findings in the four key dimensions: education, health, economic opportunities, and agency.
Unlocking the Potential of Women and Adolescent Girls in Madagascar - Challenges and Opportunities in Enhancing Girls’ and Women’s Agency: Cahier 4
(Washington, DC, 2023-10-04) World Bank
This thematic note is part of a broader mixed-method study on gender inequalities in Madagascar, which intends to illustrate the key gender gaps in the country and shed light on the unique challenges that young Malagasy women face in their educational, professional, and family trajectories. Due to the persistence of financial, social, and institutional barriers, Malagasy women and girls encounter significant disadvantages across all dimensions of well-being and are unable to access opportunities in an equal manner with men and boys in the country. They are largely constrained in their ability to accumulate human capital in education and health, and to participate in economic opportunities; and they face severe limitations in agency and decision-making, particularly with respect to family formation. Women and girls also appear to be disproportionally affected by the impacts of climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, which further widen preexisting gender gaps and amplify vulnerability to poverty, violence, and discrimination. This thematic note provides in-depth analysis of the limitations that Malagasy women and girls encounter in respect to their agency and proposes several strategic lines of action to improve women’s and girls’ voice and decision-making and to eliminate all forms of GBV. This note is accompanied by the overview of all study findings and three thematic notes that present in-depth insights in the following key dimensions: education, health, and economic opportunities.
COVID-19 in Solomon Islands - Economic and Social Impacts: Insights from the January-February 2022 Round of High Frequency Phone Surveys
(Washington, DC, 2022-07) World Bank
This report focuses on the socio-economic impacts of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Solomon Islands. The fourth round of the high frequency phone survey (HFPS) interviewed 2,671 households in January-February 2022 on the socio-economic impacts of Coronavirus (COVID-19), including employment and income, community trust and security and COVID-19 vaccination. The January-February 2022 round occurred at the onset of the first wave of COVID-19.
Using Behavioral Science in Communication Outreach to Increase Female Participation in Natural Resource Management in Mexico
(Washington, DC, 2022-02-06) World Bank
While a range of public programs in Mexico exist to incentivize communities to conserve and manage forest natural resources, a gender gap persists in the use of these initiatives. The experiment discussed in this report was commissioned by the climate investment funds’ (CIF) evaluation and learning (E and L) initiative to understand how to improve outreach to and encourage women to engage in productive natural resource management (NRM) programs. Following an earlier behavioral diagnostic study, the World Bank and local partners conducted a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to assess the effectiveness of behaviorally informed additional outreach and engagement measures for NRM programs in Mexico. This report summarizes the findings of a field experiment commissioned by the CIF E and L initiative, with additional financing from the forest carbon partnership facility (FCPF). The experiment was designed to help identify promising strategies to improve outreach to women in order to encourage them to engage in productive natural resource management programs. This report presents the methodology used for the intervention and experimental design. It provides an analysis of the results at the locality and individual level. Finally, it provides conclusions and policy recommendations.
A Landscape Review of ICT for Disability-inclusive Education
(Washington, DC, 2022-01-15) World Bank
Information and communication technology (ICT) tools can have a catalytic effect in advancing both educational access and learning outcomes for children with disabilities. Despite tremendous potential, a gap exists between technology advancements and their large-scale application in educating children with disabilities in low- and middle-income countries. This landscape review of ICTs for disability inclusive education by the Inclusive Education Initiative seeks to understand the current status and trends in the practice of educational technology (EdTech) and the use of ICT in improving the educational participation and outcomes of children with disabilities. The review explores what factors enable or restrict this improvement within the wider EdTech ecosystem.
Defueling Conflict: Environment and Natural Resource Management as a Pathway to Peace
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022) Ahmadnia, Shaadee; Christien, Agathe Marie; Spencer, Phoebe; Hart, Tracy; De Araujo Barbosa, Caio Cesar
Fragile and conflict-affected situations (FCS), environmental degradation, and natural disasters are on the rise and threaten to reverse development gains. In the past decade, violent civil conflicts have tripled and the number of people living in proximity to conflict has nearly doubled, with forced displacement at a record high. The World Bank Group (WBG) Strategy for Fragility, Conflict and Violence (FCV) 2020–2025 marks a shift in the World Bank’s work in fragile and conflict situations, as it adopts a more holistic approach to prevention. The Strategy seeks to enhance the World Bank Group’s effectiveness in supporting countries’ efforts to address the drivers and impacts of FCV and strengthen their resilience, especially for their most vulnerable and marginalized populations. The FCV Strategy explicitly recognizes the importance of climate change as a driver of FCV and as a threat multiplier, as well as the need to address the environmental impacts and drivers of FCV. Delivering on this shift toward preventing conflict underscores the importance of understanding the role the environment and natural resources can have. This report seeks to build a strong narrative on the need for the World Bank Group to engage and invest in environment, natural resource management, and climate change resilience in FCV-affected situations. It further aims at facilitating the integration of a conflict-sensitive lens into World Bank operations and programs addressing natural resource degradation and climate change. The report is divided in six sections: Section 1 sets the Background, Context, and Approach; Section 2 describes the risks associated with the interplay between natural resources, climate change, fragility, and conflict across the conflict cycle; Section 3 connects those causal chains to the delivery of the FCV Strategy across its four pillars; Section 4 showcases a suite of options to improve conflict-sensitive project design and implementation; and Section 5 presents an annotated questionnaire that serves as a complementary tool to the report.
Taking Stock of Recent Migration Flows in the European Union
(World Bank, 2010-01-01) World Bank
Expanded employment opportunities across the continent have been one of the most significant changes to have taken place in Europe during the past 50 years. Since the inception of the European Economic Community in 1957 involving 6 countries (Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany) with a combined population of less than 200 million, the European Union (EU) has grown to encompass nearly 500 million people across 27 member countries that produce, in total, about 30 percent of the world's total gross domestic product. May 2010 marked the six-year anniversary of the inclusion of eight countries from Central and Eastern Europe (Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia) into the EU, followed by Romania and Bulgaria in January 2007. An important consequence of these 10 new member states (henceforth EU10) joining the EU has been to expand the internal EU labor market, albeit to varying extents for nationals of different member countries. Migration flows out of the EU10 following the 2004 enlargement is hampered by various technical and data constraints. As a result, the policy debates on the welfare consequences of migration following enlargement for both the host and sender countries have often been based on speculation and ideology rather than on the empirical evidence per se. Following the accession of EU10 countries to the EU, how large were the ensuing flows of migrant workers, and what were their main socio-economic characteristics?-in particular, how do migrants from within the EU compare to those from countries outside the EU? Are migrants poorer than the native-born population?-do they impose a high economic and social burden on the countries where they currently reside? Addressing these and other such key issues of policy interest are among the main questions addressed by this report. Using information from a variety of data sources, it takes stock of the nature, extent, and impact of EU migration following EU10 accession, and synthesizes the main lessons from this experience for future migration policy. In particular, the report highlights the positive contributions made by migrants in their host countries, as well as documents the growing importance of remittances in receiving countries.
From Social Funds to Local Governance and Social Inclusion Programs : A Prospective Review From the ECA Region - Technical Annexes
(2007-05-01) World Bank
The role and relevance of Social Fund Community-Driven Development (SF/CDD) has been highly debated in the international development community. Some conceive these programs only as parallel and temporary arrangements that can ensure short-term delivery of development benefits. Others emphasize the flexibility of the SF/CDD instrument in adopting different institutional forms depending on the country context, and their contributions to long-term development challenges. The aim of this study is to provide guidance on the question of social fund relevance. The report is organized into six chapters and a set of annexes. Chapter 1 defines social funds and their main rationales. Chapter 2 provides an overview of their origins in ECA, basic facts about the Bank operations and SF performance, and develops a typology based on policy objectives. Chapter 3 summarizes the institutional arrangements of social funds in the Region and then reviews them within the wider vision of optimal public sector arrangements. Chapter 4 looks at local infrastructure and governance funds, evaluating their design against a set of good practice benchmarks for promoting local governance, and drawing implications for the future. Chapter 5 conducts a similar exercise but for social inclusion funds. The final chapter summarizes the main answers to the study questions and elaborates a set of options for future engagement with social funds, taking into account different country contexts. In the Second Volume, Annexes provide more detailed background material.
Gender and Economic Opportunities in Poland : Has Transition Left Women Behind?
(Washington, DC, 2004-03-15) World Bank
The study addresses the most significant disparities in women's and men's access to economic opportunities and discusses the roots of inequalities in their socioeconomic and political contexts. In light of recent changes to the Polish Labor Code that were introduced to promote equal rights for women and men on the labor market, the authors have attempted to answer the question of legal discrimination regarding women and men in the labor market, the social insurance and family benefits system, and in the work and retirement benefits systems. Chapter 2 describes the roots of gender stereotypes and their impacts; chapter 3 describes the employment structure in Poland, taking into account gender differences; chapter 4 concentrates on the growth dynamics of self-employment among women and men in the transition period, and the characteristics of the Polish businesswomen; chapter 5 raises the question of the limits faced by women in their professional careers; chapter 6 shows to extent to which the retirement system in Poland reflects the difference between the status of women and men in the labor market and shows the roots of the lower status of professional women. Finally, chapter 7 shows how the status of women in rural areas is determined by the role that is attributed to them in the family, in the society, and in the traditional division of labor. The report concludes by providing a number of policy recommendations that may prove to be important instruments in eliminating gender disparities and building poverty reduction strategies.