Author Archives: NL4WorldBank
Operational Procurement vs Corporate Procurement
Over the last couple of months you may have noticed that we have published multiple tender announcements and opportunities on our blog, both under the ‘eConsultant2’ tab and the ‘Projects’ tab. You might be wondering, what is the difference? The difference between the opportunities published relates to the procuring entity. The Corporate Procurement (eConsultant2) is procured by the 
World Bank itself, while Operational Procurement (Projects) is procured by the borrowing countries. With operational procurement, the role of the World Bank is limited to oversight and issuing a ‘no objection’ – the World Bank has an oversight role in this but does not run the procurement process. Continue reading
Ebola Hampering Household Economies across Liberia and Sierra Leone
Press release published on the World Bank website.
Latest surveys point to declines in employment, food insecurity, and long-term welfare concerns
WASHINGTON, January 12, 2014—The socio-economic impacts of Ebola in Liberia and Sierra Leone are far-reaching and persistent, according to two new World Bank Group reports. Both countries continue to experience job losses, despite their differing health outlooks. These impacts have not been limited to the areas where infections have been the highest, which points to economy-wide slowdowns. As a result, many households have been forced to take short-term actions to cope, which can have substantial long-term effects on welfare.
eInstitute Webinar Series: Urbanization and Economic Growth in China
The World Bank’s eInstitute Webinar Series presents a webinar on urbanization and economic growth in China.
Structural change and reforms have been a key driver of rapid growth in China: over the last decades China specialized into new industries, its people moved to new locations and firms adapted to new global markets. But China’s urbanization and economic growth is at a crossroads. Gains from spatial reallocation of resources are set to decline and exports can no longer be a driver of economic growth. Because urbanization is one of the most important enabling processes in growth, making it work well is critical.
More information about the webinar and speaker Karlis Smits at eInstitute.
To register, please visit the eInstitute registration page.
IFC publishes Good Practice Note on Improving Animal Welfare
On December 31, 2014, the IFC published its latest Good Practice Note on Animal Welfare, a revision of the 2006 Good Practice Note on Animal Welfare. Input was provided by, amongst others, the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Atradius Dutch State Business – Export Credit Agency, and the Office of the Netherlands Executive Director.
This Good Practice Note contributes to IFC’s continued commitment to supporting clients in a responsible and forward-looking approach to traditional livestock production (dairy, beef, broiler chickens, layer chickens, pigs, and ducks) and to aquaculture in intensive and extensive systems to, among other things, help producers access and maintain entry to high quality and value market segments. Continue reading
Call for nominations to select 7 new members of the WB Civil Society Consultative Group on Health, Nutrition and Population
Public notice:
The World Bank Group recognizes the critically important role that civil society plays in policy dialogue, service delivery in global health and development. We are pleased to open the call for nominations to select 7 new members of the World Bank Group’s Civil Society Consultative Group on Health, Nutrition and Population (WBG-CSCG-HNP or the Group). Continue reading
Sahel Women’s Empowerment and Demographics Project
The development objective of the Sahel Women’s Empowerment and Demographic Dividend Project for Africa is to increase women and adolescent girls’ empowerment and their access to quality reproductive, child, and maternal health services in selected areas of the participating countries, including the recipients territory, and to improve regional knowledge generation and sharing as well as regional capacity and coordination. Continue reading
Towards Universal Health Coverage – Blog by Onno Ruhl & Somil Nagpal
Blog by Onno Ruhl, Dutch national and World Bank Country Director in India, and Somil Nagpal, Senior Health Specialist. This blog was published on December 16, 2014 on the World Bank website.
Scaling up public health investments alone will not suffice. It will be equally critical to improve accountability.
On Friday, 12 December, for the first time the world celebrated universal health coverage day. On this day two years ago, the United Nations unanimously endorsed a resolution urging governments to ensure that all people can access healthcare without financial hardship.
Until now, most people in India have dug deep into their pockets to pay doctors, pharmacies and diagnostic centres. Paying in this manner—or out-of-pocket spending, as it is called—has been the norm for a long time in India but this is not how most of the world pays for healthcare. In most other countries, including some less developed ones, out-of-pocket spending is far less common than we think. It is far more likely that people pay their medical expenses in some organized manner, such as through tax-financed healthcare or some form of health insurance.
Cheap technology to tackle corruption – Blog by Tony Verheijen
Blog by Tony Verheijen, Dutch national who is currently World Bank Country Director in Serbia, and previously Sector Manager of the Public Sector and Governance department in South Asia. This blog was published on December 15, 2014 on the World Bank website.
“Greetings! Sir, we purchased a property worth 11,000 Euros. We paid a tax for the purchase of 800 Euros and paid a bribe of 400 Euros for property registration”.
Citizens from the Pakistan Province (state) of Punjab – population of over 100 million citizens – send numerous SMS messages similar to this to Shahbaz Sharif, Chief Minister of Punjab, on a daily basis. Messages are then processed and consolidated feed-back on government services is posted on a public dashboard for everyone to see. But, more importantly, they provide Punjab’s administration (and the Chief Minister himself) with real time data about the delivery, quality, and efficiency of various public services. The key is, of course, that Sharif and his government follow up on the information they gather: fixing service delivery problems where they arise, rewarding bureaucrats for the good work and/or punish them for the lousy one.
Royal HaskoningDHV wins major contract coastal protection Bangladesh
Source: Press release by Royal HaskoningDHV.
Netherlands for the World Bank 
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