Netherlands for the World Bank

Your guide to the World Bank Group

Netherlands for the World Bank

Tackling corruption: A collective global responsibility

Corruption remains a persistent global challenge, with its impacts evolving alongside economic pressure and shifting governance landscape. While some countries are making progress, others are witnessing long-standing achievements come under scrutiny. In this context, there is a growing need to adapt strategies to new realities in our interconnected world. Collective action builds trust, fosters collaboration and innovation, and sustains momentum for achieving successful outcomes.

Continue reading

Rated Criteria – A Game Changer for Promoting Value in World Bank Procurement

· World Bank Procurement in Investment Project Financing helps borrowers achieveRated-Criteria-Image sustainable development objectives through value-based, principled, and transparent procurement guidance and support.

· The World Bank Procurement Framework launched in 2016 promotes a strategic, fit-for-purpose approach to procurement that focuses on impact and overall value-for-money.

· In keeping with the value-focused approach, most World Bank-financed Procurement will require the use of Rated Criteria which will promote the inclusion of key quality and sustainability criteria rather than using just the lowest evaluated price for award decisions.

Continue reading

Transforming Transportation 2023: Join the global conversation

If you’re as enthusiastic about transport and development as we are on this blog, you’veTT_RectPostcard01 probably already heard about Transforming Transportation, the annual sustainable mobility conference hosted jointly by the World Bank and the World Resources Institute. Every year, the multi-day forum brings together a prestigious lineup of global leaders and industry experts for an extensive program of events at the nexus of transport, development, and climate action.

Continue reading

We are losing a generation: The devastating impacts of COVID-19

Governments across the globe will spend about $5 trillion on K-12 education this year.  Butindermit_lead unless they get all children and young people back to school, keep them in class, and recover the central elements of learning, this generation could lose twice or three times that amount in earning losses.

The first impact was the millions of lives lost due to the disease caused by the COVID 19 virus. The second was the human suffering caused by job instability and poverty. The third is on children and youth who should have been in school but were told to stay at home.

Continue reading

An open letter to the young people in Africa

This is one of 38 winning blogs from the 2021 Blog4Dev competition, the World Bank Africa annual writing contest, inviting young people to weigh in on a topic critical to their country’s economic development. Blog4Dev winners responded to the question: How can young people work with their governments and civil society organizations to respond to the impact of COVID-19 and build a stronger post-pandemic economic and social system?

Continue reading

FAST-Infra: Promoting sustainable growth through common standards on sustainability

Much of the infrastructure built in the last century—which people need to thrive: energy, transportation, sanitation, hospitals, and schools—has been significantly carbon intensive. And the world needs much more infrastructure in the coming years as the population expands, urbanization increases, and the ambitions of people to improve their livelihoods grow. In the face of an intensifying climate crisis, unless we quickly develop ways to deliver a new generation of infrastructure that is sustainable, it will be impossible to meet our national and global decarbonization goals in line with the Sustainable Development Goals and Paris Agreement commitments.

Continue reading

What the world thinks, and why it matters

Ah, to be a scientist or a doctor. Then, you could walk the streets with your head held trust-3.jpghigh! Maybe not so much, if you’re an advertising executive. This, according to a new IPSOS global poll that looks at how different professions are trusted in 23 countries.

Overall, the latest news on trust differs profoundly across constituencies, countries, and the globe; hence, it’s almost impossible to conjure up one narrative about trust. For instance – to say with certainty that trust is up, or down, or just remaining fairly consistent over time, does not allow for enough nuance related to gender, country, and socioeconomic variables. There is also evidence of dramatic differences between decision makers and the general public.

Continue reading

What holds back about half of the world’s population from using the internet?

Investing in resource efficiency – the economics and politics of financing the resource transition

“Moving towards a more responsible and efficient use of natural resources is key, not only aerial-bay-business-1554646.jpgto address resource scarcity, wastage, and the associated environmental effects, but also for incentivising innovation and modernisation towards a circular economy. Resource efficiency essentially means doing more with less, as it allows us to create more value using fewer natural resources. This transition can contribute to sustainable economic growth that generates welfare, while limiting harmful impacts on the environment and hence future generations.” Ángel Gurría, Secretary General, OECD (from Preface, Flachenecker & Rentschler, 2018)

Continue reading

Reengaging finance ministers in the fight against climate change

At the One Planet Summit in December 2017, French President Emanuel Macron Wind turbine farmcautioned that “we are losing the battle” on climate change and are “nowhere near” being able to contain rising temperatures to between 1.5°C to 2°C. Instead, Macron warned, temperatures could rise by 3.5°C or more by the end of this century.

Continue reading