Learning to Realize Education’s promise

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The World Development Report 2018 (WDR 2018)—LEARNING to Realize Education’s Promise—is the first ever devoted entirely to education. And the timing is excellent: education has long been critical to human welfare, but it is even more so in a time of rapid economic and social change. The best way to equip children and youth for the future is to place their learning at the center. The 2018 WDR explores four main themes: 1) education’s promise; 2) the need to shine a light on learning; 3) how to make schools work for learners; and 4) how to make systems work for learning.

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Towards a cleaner Bangladesh: Safe water, sanitation, and hygiene for all

Community-Led Total Sanitation might be the greatest Bangladeshi export you’ve never heard of.  In countries across Asia, Africa and lgsp1Latin America, a consensus has emerged that the best approach is Community-Led Total Sanitation, which is widely credited with changing people’s behavior around the world to no longer defecate in the open, which has greatly improved global health.
Bangladeshis can take plenty of pride in these far-away accomplishments. That’s because it is Northern Bangladesh – more specifically the Mosmoil village in Rajshahi district – that pioneered this approach seventeen years ago. Its success at home led to its widespread adoption abroad.

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Horticulture offers hope for growth and jobs in rural Afghanistan

Afghanistan is struggling with unemployment and poor economic performance because afg-nhlp-lagman-sep19of drastic reductions in foreign aid and continued social instability. While efforts have been made to improve the private sector, including several sectors like mining and manufacturing, the gains have been modest as Afghanistan remains beset by conflict and instability.

Yet investments in agriculture, particularly horticulture, have produced tangible returns as unique weather conditions are favorable to growing produce that are in-demand in local and regional markets.

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Early Childhood Education in Morocco: A Critical Window of Opportunities

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While good quality ECD is important for all children, it is essential to support the development of children in disadvantaged settings. Indeed, various studies have demonstrated how investment in ECD can help reduce inequality and break the cycle of poverty.

As Nobel laureate Professor James Heckman put it, “Children raised in disadvantaged environments are not only much less likely to succeed in school or society, but they are also much less likely to be healthy adults.” Effective early childhood programs can lead to improved economic prospects of children by helping them gain the foundational skills they need to be more productive in the future workforce.

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How community-based early childhood programs can impact child development

250 million children under the age of five in the developing world are failing to reach amerecd_0their full development potential. Faced with this challenge, governments and donors across the globe have turned to early childhood education and development (ECED) services. These are a cost-effective way to overcome the developmental losses associated with growing up in a disadvantaged environment. The services can be delivered in different ways, such as through kindergartens and community-based playgroups.

But how effective are these, in practice?

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Somali Authorities Make Urban Resilience a Priority

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  • The Government of Somalia is ramping up their efforts to increase urban resilience with the aim of reducing instability.
  • Local governments across the country are spearheading inclusive urban development with the help of the World Bank.
  • Preparations are underway for a larger scale, World Bank supported infrastructure project

Improving Weather Forecasts Can Reduce Losses to Development in Africa

ADDIS-ABABA, September 12 2017‒“Hydromet” or weather, water, and climate servicesafr-improving-weather-forecasts-can-reduce-losses-to-development-in-africa-780x439 affect the decisions people, communities, and governments make every day. A family at their farm, a shopkeeper in a store, or a government worker on a dam, all need accurate, timely information to make well-informed day-to-day decisions. This can come from something as simple a river gauge, which warns of rising water levels, to more advanced weather forecasting systems alerting an entire country of the approach of a cyclone.

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Three critical ingredients for successful education reform

Over the past decades, education investments in the developing world have led to jaimeindiaunprecedented enrollment rates. Yet, even with these historic investments, children sit in classrooms every day without learning. More than a schooling crisis, we face a learning crisis. Despite progress in countries as diverse as Vietnam, Colombia and Peru, millions of children leave school without knowing how to read a paragraph or solve a simple two-digit subtraction.

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Mighty Mangroves of the Philippines: Valuing Wetland Benefits for Risk Reduction & Conservation

Mangroves are weeds; if you give them half a chance they grow in some of the most port_barton_palawan2inhospitable environments; with their knees in seawater and their trunks in the air. They create forested barriers between the wrath of the seas and our coastal communities providing benefits in coastal defense and fisheries. Unfortunately there are too many examples where we have not given mangroves half a chance; hundreds of thousands of hectares have been lost to pollution, aquaculture and other developments. These represent real losses to the coastal communities – often some of the most vulnerable communities living in the highest risk areas.

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