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Netherlands for the World Bank

Tag Archives: Sub-Saharan Africa

World Bank Group Announces Major Initiative to Electrify Sub-Saharan Africa with Distributed Renewable Energy

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Initiative 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.

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Fact Sheet: An Adjustment to Global Poverty Lines

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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.

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A bold response is needed to achieve a water-secure world

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Water is the most essential human need and is critical for development, growth, andwater_hero 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.

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What is driving COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in Sub-Saharan Africa?

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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. 

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The triple G of clean cooking: Green, gender, and good health

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As many of us stay at home and continue to work there during the COVID-19 pandemic, wecleancooking_leader 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.

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COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Drives Sub-Saharan Africa Toward First Recession in 25 Years

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WASHINGTON, April 9, 2020—Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa has been significantly shutterstock_1649775301impacted 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.”

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Doing more—and better—for Africa’s food system in the face of climate change

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Africa’s food systems are in the throes of a climate crisis.  From devastating droughts in Southern Africa and West Africa to cyclones and flooding in East Africa, extreme weather is threatening crops and livestock and putting millions of Africans at risk for food insecurity. 237 million people suffer from chronic undernutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa, a number that rose in 2017, derailing gains that were made in previous years. The message from the headlines is loud and clear: We urgently need to adapt Africa’s agriculture and food system to climate change. And we need to act now. 

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Disruptive Agriculture Technology Moonshot—Ready for Lift Off in Sub-Saharan Africa?

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Can Africa feed Africa? This question is frequently asked, especially when there are 25620190802-africafood1140x500 million people (1 in 5) in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) who are critically undernourished.  And the numbers are growing. Escalating weather volatility due to climate change further exacerbate food and nutrition insecurity. Frequent droughts and floods are triggering a food crisis in at least one or more countries every year, demanding emergency responses.

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New Findex notes showcase digital financial inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa

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We’re thrilled to release five new data notes in collaboration with the International 2019-Findex01Finance Corporation and Mastercard Foundation Partnership for Financial Inclusion outlining Sub-Saharan Africa’s successes and challenges in building digital financial inclusion. The notes—all of which are available for download at our homepage—draw on tens of thousands of surveys to explore how adults in the region use accounts, digital payments, and savings to manage their financial lives.

Sub-Saharan Africa leads one of the most exciting development innovations of our time—the rise of mobile money. Our first note explains how this technology can expand the use of financial services and describes how it has spread over time.

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Elsevier: Supporting Higher Education, Science, Technology and Global Competitiveness Globally by Partnering with the World Bank

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For over 140 years, Elsevier has supported more than 1,000,000 global scientific and ELS_Logo_Orange_RGBacademic communities in their pursuit for new and verified scientific knowledge through access to peer-reviewed content, strategic research management tools, and capacity-building activities that promote and celebrate world-class science.

Over the last 12 years, Elsevier has closely collaborated with partners such as the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the Dutch Organization for Internationalization in Education (NUFFIC) to support activities in emerging economies to enhance higher education and research, develop better science and technology, and improve local competitiveness. These efforts have allowed Elsevier and, specifically, the World Bank, to co-launch several regional and country initiatives and research metrics and evidence to contribute to promotion of discussions on research investment and collaboration.

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