What if talking about menstrual health wasn’t a taboo— but a path to purpose, profit, and public health?
In rural communities across Bangladesh, dedicated champions like Rita Majumder are quietly driving change. A mother and teacher from Shilua, Rita is now also a menstrual hygiene entrepeneur. With limited household income, she needed a way to support her family. But her decision to sell sanitary napkins wasn’t only about earning money.
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Data is at the heart of development, powering the decisions and investments that help to reduce poverty and build a sustainable future. Yet most national statistical systems in low- and middle-income countries are under-resourced and ill-equipped to provide the timely, granular, and policy-relevant data needed for sound decision-making. Traditional surveys, which are often cross-sectional, infrequent, and costly, struggle to keep up with the blistering pace of economic and social change.
Continue readingThe world faces a collective action problem: countries naturally prioritize domestic investments while global challenges like climate change, pandemics, and food crises demand joint action. This creates systemic underinvestment in global public goods. Join country and development leaders at the 2025 Hamburg Sustainability Conference, as they explore ways to reshape the international finance to unlock transformative solutions. Discover the World Bank’s Framework for Financial Incentives and IDA’s Global and Regional Opportunities Window—innovative mechanisms that reward countries for projects with cross-border benefits. From energy transformation to water management, learn how small grants through the new Livable Planet Fund make big global impact possible.
On Monday December 23, a sense of normalcy prevailed at Hospital Justinien; the most important hospital in Haiti’s Northern region. This, despite persistent and surprising rain which affected the region for more than a week. Nestled in the heart Haiti’s historic city of Cap-Haitien, the Justinien University Hospital (JUH) is the largest public hospital in northern Haiti and the second-largest teaching hospital in the country. Thanks to a variety of available services, the hospital serves a population of over 1 million from Cap-Haitien and surrounding areas.
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Sangay Choden, in her own words, displayed much Tha Dhantse—a Bhutanese concept of having the courage to do the right thing with integrity and loyalty. Choden was the first female science graduate in her family and now handles complex power projects with ease as the manager with the Bhutan Power Corporation Limited. She has climbed mountains, both literally and metaphorically, she says.
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Every year, the world produces over two billion tonnes of municipal waste, a figure expected to rise by 73 percent to nearly four billion tonnes by 2050. Managing this surge will be a major investment and policy challenge for cities in low- and middle-income countries.
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Despite increasing food production over the past three decades, 58% of Africans remain food insecure. Transport is an often-overlooked contributor to this challenge. Poor transport connectivity, failures at critical ports and border crossings, and high trade costs create long food supply chains that fail to reliably get staple products to people.
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The idea behind debt-for-development swaps is straightforward: A country exchanges its expensive debt for cheaper debt, often supported by a credit enhancement like a guarantee, and then redirects the savings into development spending.
Continue readingIn national parks and ecological corridors globally, community champions are fostering harmony between people, wildlife, and other biodiversity, while creating jobs and other economic opportunities in their local areas.
The Global Wildlife Program (GWP) is one of the largest global partnerships created to support country-led initiatives that tackle illegal and unsustainable wildlife trade, mitigate human-wildlife conflict and zoonotic spillover risk, and promote wildlife-based livelihoods. With funding from the Global Environment Facility, the World Bank-led program works with community champions across 38 countries, including in South Africa, Indonesia, Mali, and Ecuador.
Continue readingDhaka, May 14, 2025 — The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors today approved $270 million financing to bolster Bangladesh’s flood recovery efforts and enhance its resilience to future disasters, including support for constructing and rehabilitating critical infrastructure, strengthening agricultural system and improving livelihoods in areas devastated by the August 2024 floods.
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Netherlands for the World Bank 
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