Following an intense research and writing process over the last 10 months, I am pleased 
to announce that a draft of the World Development Report (WDR) 2020 – Trading for Developing in the Age of Global Value Chains is now available online for public comment.
Why Global Value Chains (GVCs) and why now?
The World Bank’s last report on trade was more than thirty years ago – WDR 1987 Industrialization and Foreign Trade. In the meantime:
forced to ask friends and family for money. It was out of desperation after the birth of her fifth child, a little boy with a life-threatening condition that needed specialist treatment in the capital. Dieynaba was forced to leave her job teaching French and hurriedly relocate to Dakar, where she was able to find the health services he needed.But the expenses quickly piled up. Hospital bills, a tracheostomy, medicines, dressings, fees for nurses and doctors, plus the cost of food and transportation to and from the hospital. As she took a break from paid employment for four years to focus on her son’s health her family’s economic conditions deteriorated. It took the family years to recover.
Deadline: 16-Jul-2019 at 11:59:59 PM (Eastern Time – Washington D.C.)
Assignment of developing:
A) A market overview of the logistics sector in Indonesia (traditional plus e-logistics) including a demand-supply analysis now and in the next 5 years.
B) A market share estimation for the Platform with estimated revenues, which necessarily includes an estimation of fares and Average Order Value (AOV) evolution.
C) An overall assessment of the Platform business plan, including growth assumptions, estimated necessary resources, Capex and Opex to achieve the objectives, like facilities, fleet, human resources and systems.
Article by Donna Barne & Florina Pirlea| www.worldbank.org.
The money workers send home to their families from abroad has become a critical part of many economies around the world. Based on the most recent data, remittances, as this money is called, will only grow in importance. Officially recorded remittances amounted to a record $529 billion in 2018, and are on track to reach $550 billion in 2019.
This money is flowing at about the same levels as foreign direct investment (FDI), but if China is excluded, they are the largest source of foreign exchange earnings in low- and middle-income countries, according to Migration and Remittances Brief 31, published by the World Bank Group and KNOMAD, the Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development. In other words, if China is excluded from the analysis, remittances have already overtaken FDI as the biggest source of external financing.
The force of digitalization is driving the global economy, creating distinct groups of 
leaders and laggards. Through institutional reform that leverages the advantages of digitalization, the Mashreq can become a vital hub in international data networks. Furthermore, digital transformation can assuage pressing challenges. It can deliver higher transparency, accelerate lackluster productivity and increase economic opportunities for all, especially the youth of this region. A new report, Mashreq 2.0, charts the roadmap for the region to capitalize on this rapidly emerging opportunity, and assesses the prospect of a digitally integrated regional market.
Deadline: 17-Jul-2019 at 11:59:59 PM (Eastern Time – Washington D.C.)
This assignment specifically focuses on increasing women-led SMEs access to domestic 
and export markets through e-commerce, and to increase their sales from e-commerce in Lebanon.
There are two main sub-activities envisaged: (1) scoping and market analysis to understand where are the key challenges and constraints to e-commerce for womens SMEs; and (2) develop and deliver a package of support services to women-led SMEs, in partnership with local stakeholders, that will increase sales, markets and profits via e-commerce.
Deadline: 17-Jul-2019 at 11:59:59 PM (Eastern Time – Washington D.C.)
The objectives of the market assessment are to understand the plastics sector in Nigeria, 
as well as scope out opportunities for impactful private sector interventions structured around circular supply chain for plastics. The assessment will specifically focus on the food & beverage and textile/garment value chains and associated packaging activities in Nigeria. It will look into overall market size for applicable types of plastics, current practices for the use of plastics material, as well as recycling, reuse and disposal practices. The study will scope out value chain players and opportunities to increase the circularity linkages, including through offset of the virgin raw materials.
Just over a decade out from the SDG deadline of 2030, many developing countries are not
on track to meet Universal Health Coverage (UHC) targets to ensure access to quality, affordable health services to all. People in developing countries pay over half a trillion dollars annually out-of-pocket for health services, which is pushing about 100 million people into extreme poverty each year. The evidence is strong that progress towards UHC would spur not just better health but also inclusive and sustainable economic growth, yet this report estimates that in 2030 there will be a UHC financing gap of $176 billion in the 54 poorest countries. This threatens decades-long progress on health, endangers countries’ long-term economic prospects, and makes them more vulnerable to pandemic risks. This report, launched to inform the first-ever G20 Finance and Health Ministers session in Osaka, Japan in June 2019, lays out an action agenda for countries and development partners to bridge the UHC financing gap, and makes a strong case for a focus on innovation in health financing over the next decade.
Download Full report and Executive summary
I started reading about the Aral Sea disaster in 1989 ahead of my first visit, as a student 
and tourist, to Uzbekistan, then still a Soviet republic. In Karakalpakstan, the autonomous republic in current-day Uzbekistan, the Aral Sea has all but disappeared. Where fishing communities once thrived, all that remains is a scarred, desert landscape. Rusted ships are perched precariously on piles of sand and salt, along with a potent, unhealthy mix of toxic pollutants from industrial agriculture.
Netherlands for the World Bank 
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