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The World Bank Team at the Royal Netherlands Embassy tweets about news related to Dutch organizations interested in working with the #WorldBank. #NL4WorldBank

High-Performance Health-Financing for Universal Health Coverage: Driving Sustainable, Inclusive Growth in the 21st Century

Just over a decade out from the SDG deadline of 2030, many developing countries are notUHC_v6 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 

Fighting climate change by planting trees in the sea

I started reading about the Aral Sea disaster in 1989 ahead of my first visit, as a student Aral_Sea_4Y2A1499_0and 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.

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Why measuring poverty impacts is more difficult than simply using score cards

Ending poverty is not only one of the twin goals of the World Bank, but also one of the mombasa_image.jpgSustainable Development Goals. To design and optimize projects for poverty reduction, we need to measure their impact on poverty. This is quite difficult because changes in the poverty rate might take some time, and it is usually hard to attribute the impact to a particular project, especially without conducting a randomized controlled trial (RCT). But even if we manage to overcome these challenges, we need to measure poverty before the start of the project – as a baseline and to understand whether the project adequately targets the poor – and at the end of the project to assess its impact. And that is also not easy.

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Lifelines for Better Development

STORY HIGHLIGHTS Image

  • Resilient infrastructure is about people. Particularly in developing countries, infrastructure disruptions are an everyday concern that affects people’s well-being, economic prospects, and quality of life.
  • There is a significant economic opportunity from investing in resilient infrastructure: the overall net benefit of doing so in developing countries would be $4.2 trillion over the lifetime of new infrastructure.
  • For infrastructure investors, governments, development banks and the private sector the message is clear: rather than just spending more, also spend better

Chart: 47 million people are connected to a mini grid

A mini grid is an electric power generation and distribution system that provides electricity to a localized community. Mini grids will be critical in achieving universal electricity access by 2030. According to a new World Bank report “Mini Grids for Half a Billion People: Market Outlook and Handbook for Decision Makers”, mini grids are often the most economically viable solution for remote areas with high population density and demand and where extending the main grid is prohibitively expensive.

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Today, 47 million people are connected to a mini grid.  Afghanistan, Myanmar, India and Nepal have the highest number of mini grids, followed by China, Philippines, Indonesia. Analysis by the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) shows that by 2030, nearly half a billion people could be connected to a mini grid. 

Mini Grids for Half a Billion People: Market Outlook and Handbook for Decision Makers

STORY HIGHLIGHTS MIniGrids_WebBanner.jpg

  • Mini grids have the potential to provide electricity to as many as 500 million people by 2030, with the right policies and about $220 billion of investment to build around 210,000 mini grids.
  • Over the past decade, mini grid costs have declined significantly, while the quality of service has increased. The per kWh cost of mini grid electricity is expected to decrease by two thirds by 2030.
  • Significantly more mini grids will need to be deployed in the top 20 electricity access deficit countries – from 10-50 mini grids currently deployed each year per country to over 1,600.

eC2: Digital Government Strategy Inputs Sint Maarten

Deadline: 11-Jul-2019 at 11:59:59 PM (Eastern Time – Washington D.C.)index

Recovery and Resilience Trust Fund, the Govt of Sint Maarten(SXM)is embarking on a digital govt transformation. The objective is to improve the efficiency, resiliency& accessibility of govt services. The WB is seeking a firm to support the development of a digital govt strategy that will articulate the vision, mission, key objectives and provide a roadmap to deliver on the digital govt transformation agenda. The strategy(i)should draw on international best practices, from globally recognized leaders in digital/e-govt(Estonia, Singapore and Netherlands);(ii)will need to reflect the unique history, culture and demographics of SXM as a Caribbean small island state that is highly vulnerable to natural disasters. This will entail conducting activities in3phases: 1. Data gathering& identification of stakeholder groups; 2. Consultative Strategy Development; 3. Implementation Roadmap & Strategy Execution.

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eC2: Chemical status assessment methodology reflecting the impacts of the climate changes on the status of surface water

Deadline: 11-Jul-2019 at 11:59:59 PM (Eastern Time – Washington D.C.)

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The assignment consists of the following activities:
Activity 1. Pressure and impact analysis taking into account new priority pollutants included in Directive 2013/39/EC and new industrial activities.
Activity 2 Chemical Status assessment.
Activity 3: Training of experts on the application of developed methodology for chemical status assessment.
Activity 4. Assessment of chemical status of water bodies in the country based on defined background concentrations, refined methodologies for chemical status assessment (including application of BLM) and available results (EEA).
Activity 5. Proposal for new monitoring programs or at least proposal for new monitoring points and pollutants for measurement. Critical evaluation of concentration of pollutants that has never been introduced in the country and never measured above EQS and proposal for their elimination from monitoring programs.

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eC2: Assessing & Designing an End-to-end Data System for Disaster Risk Financing in Indonesia

Deadline: 15-Jul-2019 at 11:59:59 PM (Eastern Time – Washington D.C.) vn-communitybased-disasterrisk-780x439

To help the Government of Indonesia better produce and utilize Disaster Risk Financing (DRF) analysis for decision making, the World Bank is seeking a suitably experienced and qualified firm to help the Government assess and design an end-to-end data system for DRF. Functional specifications of an end-to-end risk data flow include, but are not limited to following components: (i) Data collection & valuation module; (ii) Damage reporting, loss assessment, and claims management module; and (iii) Risk data analysis for decision-making module.

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