Africa is home to the largest share of the world’s unelectrified population—an estimated half a billion people, mostly in rural areas. In recognition of the significant role of electricity in economic development, the region is poised to erase this unwelcome statistic by achieving universal access by 2030 through several national and multilateral initiatives.
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A common misunderstanding persists about job creation in Africa. Many envision cities as the epicenters of economic opportunity. Yet for millions in Sub-Saharan Africa, the path to decent work still winds through agriculture. With youth unemployment rising and cities unable to absorb the growing labor force, agriculture—still the region’s largest employer—must be transformed into a more productive, appealing, and innovative sector.
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Across Sub-Saharan Africa, a quiet revolution is underway. Smallholder farmers are increasingly leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI), once a futuristic concept, to transform agriculture. AI now plays a crucial role in addressing the region’s most pressing challenges: food insecurity, environmental degradation, and economic inequality.
Continue readingInitiative will use solar off-grid, mini-grids and other means to promote universal access to electricity
Washington, Nov. 9, 2022—The World Bank Group announced today an innovative initiative to accelerate the pace of electrification in Africa to achieve universal access by 2030. The World Bank, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and other development agencies will promote private investment in distributed renewable energy (DRE) systems to electrify targeted areas quickly and efficiently. The Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-Up Platform (DARES) calls for joint action by government, private investors, and development agencies to solve Africa’s immediate needs while developing DRE solutions that can be applied globally.
Why did the World Bank decide to update the International Poverty Line, and why now?
As differences in price levels across the world evolve, the global poverty line has to be periodically updated to reflect these changes. Since 2015, the last update, we have used $1.90 as the global line. As of fall 2022, the new global line will be updated to $2.15.
Water is the most essential human need and is critical for development, growth, and
resilience. Clean water, safe sanitation, and good hygiene are necessary for achieving positive health outcomes.
Yet one-quarter of the world’s population – 2 billion people – lack safe drinking water and half – 3.6 billion people – lack safe sanitation.
As African countries accelerate the deployment of COVID-19 (coronavirus) vaccines, the issue of vaccine hesitancy looms. Globally, there has been a rise in general vaccine hesitancy but especially towards COVID-19 vaccines. In Africa, hesitancy must be viewed in the context of significant vaccine shortage; hesitancy does not explain fully the low vaccination rates in Africa. The slow vaccine rollout on the continent is due to supply constraints, structural issues, and logistical barriers.
As many of us stay at home and continue to work there during the COVID-19 pandemic, we
are spending a lot more time in our kitchens than ever before. For some of us, this is about cooking in the comfort of a modern cooking environment.
WASHINGTON, April 9, 2020—Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa has been significantly 
impacted by the ongoing coronavirus outbreak and is forecast to fall sharply from 2.4% in 2019 to -2.1 to -5.1% in 2020, the first recession in the region over the past 25 years, according to the latest Africa’s Pulse, the World Bank’s twice-yearly economic update for the region.
“The COVID-19 pandemic is testing the limits of societies and economies across the world, and African countries are likely to be hit particularly hard,” said Hafez Ghanem, World Bank Vice President for Africa. “We are rallying all possible resources to help countries meet people’s immediate health and survival needs while also safeguarding livelihoods and jobs in the longer term – including calling for a standstill on official bilateral debt service payments which would free up funds for strengthening health systems to deal with COVID 19 and save lives, social safety nets to save livelihoods and help workers who lose jobs, support to small and medium enterprises, and food security.”
Netherlands for the World Bank 
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