Monthly Archives: September 2020

September 21, 2020: COVID-19 response, new research on human capital, and looking ahead to our Annual Meetings

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I would like to provide another update on some of the work underway at the World Bank Group wbhq_2 to address the COVID-19 pandemic and other significant development challenges.

The pandemic is hitting developing countries hard, and the inequality of that impact is clear. From declining remittances to the collapse of the formal and informal markets, the pandemic has disproportionately impacted the world’s poorest, especially women and children.  It threatens to push over 100 million people into extreme poverty and is exacerbating inequality throughout the world. The negative impact on health and education may last decades—80 million children are missing out on essential vaccinations and over a billion are out of school.

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eC2:  South Asia Water Initiative (SAWI) Rivers and Plastics – Plastic Pollution Management in India – Inland Waterways to Seas

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Deadline: 05-Oct-2020 at 11:59:59 PM (Eastern Time – Washington D.C.) eu-plastic-regels-2019

The assignment includes but not limited to undertaking baseline study to identify and quantify of key types of plastics, as per consumer goods/use, that pollute marine environment, identifying main drivers of plastic pollution, data analysis of plastics including material flow analysis and life cycle analysis, gap analysis of relevant existing policy and institutional architecture, stakeholder consultations, developing and implementing a methodology for sampling, testing, and data analysis of macro/microplastic load, development of stakeholder plan as well as contingency response plan in COVID-19 situation, and providing actionable recommendations based on primary and secondary research.

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How to Build Back Better After the COVID-19 Crisis? A Practical Approach Applied to Fiji

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​Water touches every aspect of development and flows through nearly every Sustainable sd: By Sam Fargher and Stephane Hallegatte

Like every other country, the Republic of Fiji faces the unprecedented challenge of managing the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the number of cases remains low, in a country where international tourism is a cornerstone of the economy, the implications of the crisis are massive. GDP is expected to contract by more than 20 percent in 2020, with a 75 percent drop in international tourist arrivals and 40,000 tourism jobs already lost. In response, the government is planning a 3.7-billion-Fijian-dollar stimulus package to protect the population and support economic activity.

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How AI can help developing countries rebuild after the pandemic

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Technology has been a lifeline to developing countries during the COVID-19 crisis, helping to ug-business owner uses her phone for mobile banking-Anna Koblanck IFCmaintain essential services and keep companies in business. It has also offered a glimpse of a brighter future, one in which gains in income and employment are driven by technologies such as artificial intelligence.

Even before the pandemic, commercial uses for AI were expanding rapidly in emerging markets, in fields ranging from manufacturing and energy to education and financial services. The necessary lockdowns and travel restrictions imposed by countries have accelerated that trend. Companies like Clinicas de Azucar in Mexico are using AI to analyze data and improve health outcomes for thousands of at-risk diabetic patients. In India, 1mg uses AI to help customers compare prices for medical services from different labs.

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eC2:  Opportunities to promote gender considerations and empowerment in low-carbon value chains.

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Deadline:  01-Oct-2020 at 11:59:59 PM (Eastern Time – Washington D.C.)

Mongolia women trade

The objectives of the assignment are to:

i. Review women’s role in forest-related livelihoods and economic activities, women’s access to low carbon value chains and constraints to and opportunities around such access including good practices in selected Emission Reductions Program countries.
ii. Recommend specific measures to mitigate risks and empower women to be engaged in low carbon livelihood value chains.
iii. Develop 4 detailed feasibility studies for piloting low-carbon women dominated value chains.

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Pandemic Threatens Human Capital Gains of the Past Decade, New Report Says

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WASHINGTON, Sept. 16, 2020 – The COVID-19 pandemic threatens jakartahard-won gains in health and education over the past decade, especially in the poorest countries, a new World Bank Group analysis finds. Investments in human capital—the knowledge, skills, and health that people accumulate over their lives—are key to unlocking a child’s potential and to improving economic growth in every country.

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eC2: AQUACULTURE WASTE MANAGEMENT STUDY AND TECHNICAL TRANSFER PLANNING

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Deadline:  05-Oct-2020 at 11:59:59 PM (Eastern Time – Washington D.C.)solid waste

The overall objective of this consultancy is better aquaculture waste management in Pakistan through technical transfer of aquaculture waste management from Korea to Pakistan. The consultancy tasks are composed of three sub-tasks; (1) compiling aquaculture waste management baseline study in Pakistan with coordination with the World Bank Task Team and the Pakistani counterparts; (2) analyzing suitable advanced aquaculture techniques to be transferred to Pakistan, focusing but not limiting on advanced environmentally friendly less waste aquaculture techniques in Korea; and (3) developing two-years practical technical transfer plan from Korea to Pakistan, based on findings and recommendations of the (1) and (2) studies.

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