Monthly Archives: December 2021
Reversing the pandemic’s education losses
When schools around the world moved online due to COVID-19, children in
developing countries suffered the most. Even though digital learning does not produce the same outcomes as in-person education, technology used effectively can close educational gaps and prevent learning loss.
IDA: Stepping Up
September 26, 1960 marked the beginning of a new chapter in the World Bank’s history b
y introducing one of the most effective instruments in the global fight to eradicate poverty: “The International Development Association (IDA), a new international agency for financing economic growth in the less developed countries, came into being today as an affiliate of the World Bank,” read the release.
Mobilizing against child malnutrition
A child born at the start of 2020 was less likely to become malnourished than a child born at 
the turn of the Millennium. Investment, innovation and commitment has seen rates of malnutrition fall. Yet despite this progress, malnutrition is still blighting lives around the world. What’s more, it is being dramatically exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has rolled back decades of progress in child undernutrition and worsened the growing challenge of overweight and obesity. This has been compounded by disruptions to health and nutrition delivery systems, which are crucial in preventing, diagnosing and treating malnutrition.
How a novel financing tool is helping bring the private sector into difficult markets
More than one-third of people in Senegal work in agriculture, many tending to small plots of 
millet, rice, and ground nuts. Despite their importance to Senegal’s economy, these farmers often cannot afford the fertilizers and high-yield seeds so crucial to improving productivity.
To change that, one of Senegal’s leading microfinance institutions, Union des Mutuelles Alliance de Crédit et d’Epargne pour la Production (UM-ACEP), has long been providing loans to farmers. But it faces a challenge — one I have seen all too often in Sub-Saharan Africa. To reach more farmers, UM-ACEP needs capital, and many financial institutions are hesitant to lend the company money. They fear that UM-ACEPs business is too risky because their customers are smaller businesses with limited experience and undocumented financial performance.
So, IFC has stepped in.
Partnering for green, resilient and inclusive development in Tanzania
I had the opportunity to visit Tanzania last month, my first mission to Africa since joining the 
World Bank. It was a long-awaited trip, as I wanted to see for myself what more we can do to support countries that are striving to recover from COVID-19. Coming from Indonesia, I also thought there were experiences that I could share from my own country’s development.
Taking the pulse of business: COVID recovery and policy implications
As the global economy gradually finds its way out of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are 
reminded each day of the fragility of recovery – threatened by new variants, outbreaks, and case spikes. It’s also a recovery that is uneven and unequal. Many low- and middle-income countries continue to face high levels of transmission as well as bottlenecks to vaccination, which contribute to business activity remaining below pre-pandemic levels.
Development Policy Financing (DPF) Retrospective 2021 Share your views
In the busy streets of Male, the capital of Maldives, Aminath Waheed picks up passengers, 
blazing a trail as the city’s only female taxi driver. In the hills of Nepal, 30-year-old Madhukala Adhikari works
The 2021 Development Policy Financing Retrospective reviews one of the World Bank’s three financing instruments – non-earmarked budget financing that supports policy and institutional reforms to help clients achieve sustainable growth and poverty reduction. This Retrospective presents key takeaways on trends and performance of DPFs and their role in supporting development priorities. The analysis is focused on DPFs committed between FY16 and FY21. The World Bank systematically distills lessons from DPF Retrospectives as part of an ongoing effort to learn from implementation. This is the fifth DPF Retrospective since the DPF Operational Policy (OP 8.60) was introduced in August 2004.
Netherlands for the World Bank 
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