09. Knowledge Notes
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Knowledge Notes are short briefs (typically 4-6 pages in length) that capture lessons of experience from Bank operations and research in a succinct and easily digestible format (and usually reference larger works found elsewhere in the OKR). Work is underway to expand the collection to draw in more lessons that the staff want to highlight from ongoing and recent lending and economic and sector work (ESW).
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Publication
Finding the Time and Labor to Farm: How Social Dynamics Drive Gender Differences in Agricultural Labor in Southern Nigeria
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-03-28)Across Sub-Saharan Africa smallholder farmers depend heavily on manual labor supplied by their households, families, and communities, but women are particularly labor constrained. This research paired a detailed quantitative examination of patterns of gender difference in the allocation of time and agricultural labor with an in-depth qualitative examination of how people explain those patterns. The descriptive findings and resulting conceptual framework can be used to guide future programming and research. In southwestern Nigeria, married women’s time and agricultural labor constraints are rooted in common social expectations that men’s farm plots take priority and that a woman’s own farming should not interfere with the agricultural production managed by her husband. Women access lower quantity and quality of labor because of off-farm commitments, and time constraints around when in the day and when in the season labor is allocated to their farm plots. Overcoming agricultural labor constraints for women farmers, especially married women, may require reimagining the role of women and men’s farms in the household. Several new Africa gender innovation lab studies suggest avenues for future innovations to support women producers. -
Publication
Thailand Monthly Economic Monitor: February 2023
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-03-14)Growth decelerated more than expected to 1.4 percent in Q4 2022 amid the global economic slowdown. Goods trade contracted while manufacturing production and investment weakened. However, robust private consumption and tourism recovery continued to strengthen the outlook. Headline inflation declined but the second-round impact on domestic prices remained. This prompted the Bank of Thailand to continue monetary policy normalization and the government to extend energy-related subsidies. The current account balance returned to surplus in Q4 2022 on the back of substantially improved tourism receipts, supporting the Thai baht. -
Publication
Helping Female Entrepreneurs Access Digital Platforms: The Importance of a Tech-Plus-Touch Approach and Other Lessons Learned - Case Study 1
(World Bank, Washington DC, 2023-03-12)Connecting female entrepreneurs to digital platforms that provide access to information and resources is possible, even in low-income and low-bandwidth settings. However, supporting initial take-up may require traditional, in-person marketing and onboarding. This brief shares lessons from a pilot of a digital mentoring platform in Ethiopia. The target users were female entrepreneurs in Ethiopia’s Somali region. The pilot found that on-boarding female entrepreneurs to digital platforms and helping them progress through the user experience is possible, but also suggests that thoughtful design modifications are critical. These modifications include: (a) using old-fashioned marketing strategies; (b) adopting a tech-plus-touch approach; (c) prioritizing a mobile-first low-bandwidth option; (d) simplifying onboarding requirements; and (e) providing educational and guidance resources. -
Publication
Mobility and Development, Spring 2023: Innovations, Policies, and Practices
(World Bank, Washington DC, 2023-03-09)This third issue of the Mobility and Development periodical unpacks an exciting transport sector narrative through seven articles. The issue explores the challenge and outlook on transport decarbonization. The narrative then highlights how digitalization can play a key role in building resilience in global trade and supply chains. Focusing on Africa, you get post-pandemic insights on the air transportation sector in five countries in Southern Africa. Moving to India, experts unpack 10 key insights from two decades of work on state highways. The ieConnect for Impact program then shares key lessons from evaluating the impact of transport infrastructure investments in Ethiopia, Pakistan, Rwanda, and Iraq. Landing in South America, the next article examines how the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted mobility of residents and businesses in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In closing, the periodical explores how to enhance green mobility through leveraging data and innovation in the UNESCO heritage cities of Siem Reap in Cambodia and Luang Prabang in Lao People’s Democratic Republic. -
Publication
Understanding the Interaction between Gender, Energy, and Forced Displacement
(World Bank, Washington DC, 2023-03-07)Women bear the greatest burden from energy poverty, and forced displacement further entrenches gender inequalities. This Live Wire aims to advance our understanding of how energy access can help bridge gender gaps in displaced settings to ensure equitable and true universal energy access for all. Energy is indispensable for powering economic opportunities and providing basic services two key pathways out of poverty. Electrical connections alone will not suffice; women must have the capacity, tools, and resources they need to fulfill their potential in a severely constrained environment. -
Publication
Exploring Two Years of Labor Market Policy Responses to COVID‑19: A Global Effort to Protect Workers and Jobs
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-01)To mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, countries have responded with an unprecedented number of social protection and jobs interventions. This brief is based on the COVID-19 social protection and jobs policy inventory and provides information on over 3,400 labor market policies in the inventory launched or announced between January 2020 and January 2022. -
Publication
Drivers of Public Debt in East Asia and Pacific Economies
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-12-16)Public debt in developing East Asia and Pacific (EAP) economies has increased markedly since the recession in 2020 induced by COVID-19 pandemic. This brief uses standard debt dynamic accounting decomposition to quantify the main drivers of debt accumulation in developing EAP countries since 2000. In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, larger primary deficits have been the main drivers of the increase in the ratio of public debt to GDP in most developing EAP economies. While strong GDP growth and, to a certain extent, inflation have helped deflate public-debt-to-GDP ratios during the past two decades, they have, on average, been more muted since the COVID-19 shock. -
Publication
Effectively Engaging the Private Sector in the Business Reform Process
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-12-09)This brief discusses critical considerations for engaging the private sector in the process of reforming and implementing business regulations, along with channels and mechanisms that have been successfully used around the world. Using novel data from the Business Reform Committee project (BRC) covering 160 economies, the Brief presents global trends across income groups on the existence of reform committees and stages of engaging the private sector while reforms are being implemented. The brief further draws from experiences across countries on making policy decisions and the implementation of reforms more consultative, while providing critical caveats so that policy makers can determine what mechanisms are best suited for their country. -
Publication
Helping Western Balkan SMEs Expand Exports Through Online Training and Consulting
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-12-01)One of the key challenges facing innovative small and medium enterprises is customer acquisition. This is especially a constraint in less populated countries like those in the Western Balkans, where domestic demand can be limited for specialized services and products. Exporting to larger and richer countries provides a potential solution, but expanding into foreign markets involves considerable search frictions, and small firms may lack the skills and confidence to market to foreign buyers. The authors test the effectiveness of a capacity building program that aimed to help firms bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic and help them expand their markets and export more. The results show that capacity building can help provide the skills and confidence for innovative SMEs to better reach and sell to foreign buyers. They also provide some of the first evidence on offering training virtually to firms in multiple countries at once, which offers promise for the scalability of such efforts. -
Publication
Public Services & COVID-19 – Reflections from the Pacific: Adaptable System Settings
(Washington, DC, 2022-12)The purpose of this note is to identify good practice in public sector management drawn from Pacific Island public service experiences of navigating the COVID-19 pandemic. These experiences were brought together through a World Bank engagement with Pacific Island countries in 2021 and 2022. The engagement identified five core aspects of Pacific Island public service management in response to COVID-19: trust, preparation, adaptable system settings, adaptable operating models, and sustainable wage bills. This first note in the series of five focuses on the importance of trust. The primary audience is public service leaders in Pacific Islands. The note will also be of interest to anyone working on designing and leading public sector management systems through rapid change, uncertainty and crises.