Tag Archives: Sub-Saharan Africa

Which Way to Livable and Productive Cities? : A Road Map for Sub-Saharan Africa

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For African cities to grow economically as they have grown in size, they must create 9781464814051_pdfproductive environments to attract investments, increase economic efficiency, and create livable environments that prevent urban costs from rising with increased population densification. What are the central obstacles that prevent African cities and towns from becoming sustainable engines of economic growth and prosperity? Among the most critical factors that limit the growth and livability of urban areas are land markets, investments in public infrastructure and assets, and the institutions to enable both. To unleash the potential of African cities and towns for delivering services and employment in a livable and environmentally friendly environment, a sequenced approach is needed to reform institutions and policies and to target infrastructure investments. This book lays out three foundations that need fixing to guide cities and towns throughout Sub-Saharan Africa on their way to productivity and livability.

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The jobs challenge is bigger than ever in the poorest countries

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Over the next decade, close to 600 million people will be looking for jobs, mostly in the The West Africa Agricultural Productivity Program (WAAPP) - Ghanworld’s poorest countries. The South Asia region alone will need to create more than 13 million jobs every year to keep pace with its demographics. In Sub-Saharan Africa, despite a smaller population, the challenge will be even greater—15 million jobs will need to be created each year.

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Across Africa, disaster risk finance is putting a resilient future within reach

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Sub-Saharan Africa knows more than its fair share of disasters induced by natural across-africa-disaster-risk-finance-is-putting-a-resilient-future-within-reach-780x439.jpghazards. The past few months alone have seen drought in the Horn of Africa, floods in Mali and Rwanda, and landslides in Ethiopia and Uganda. Between 2005 and 2015, the region experienced an average of 157 disasters per year, claiming the lives of roughly 10,000 people annually.

Disasters can have a debilitating impact on countries’ growth and development prospects. Losses from disasters are only expected to rise as the impacts of climate change intensify across the region. Given these challenges, governments have often been reliant on external aid and budget reallocation to pay for disaster recovery. However, this financing strategy comes at a cost. Uncertainty and delays in aid flows tend to complicate planning for relief and recovery efforts, and budget reallocations can divert funding from vital development programs.

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Why the World Bank is adding new ways to measure poverty

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The 2018 Poverty and Shared Prosperity Report shows how poverty is changing and World Bank buildingintroduces improved ways to monitor our progress toward ending it.

The landscape of extreme poverty is now split in two. While most of the world has seen extreme poverty fall to below 3 percent of the population, Sub-Saharan Africa is experiencing extreme poverty rates affecting more than 40 percent of people. The lamentable distinction of being home to the most people living in extreme poverty has shifted, or will soon shift, from India to Nigeria, symbolizing the increased concentration of poverty in Africa.

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The Race for Universal Energy Access Speeds Up

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS energy

  • A billion people still live without electricity, but certain countries are starting to adopt new approaches to expand electricity services – reaching millions of people in the past few years.
  • The number of people gaining access to electricity in Sub-Saharan Africa has begun to outstrip population growth for the first time. In South Asia, progress has been even faster.
  • Much more work will be needed to achieve universal electrification by 2030, as called for in SDG7. The World Bank is significantly ramping up financing for energy access programs, with support for mini-grid and off-grid projects growing the fastest.

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The State of Social Safety Nets 2018

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safety-nets-2018-report-cover-1Safety nets protect vulnerable households from impacts of economic shocks, natural disasters, and other crises

  • An estimated 36 percent of the very poor escaped extreme poverty because of social safety nets, providing clear evidence that social safety net programs are making a substantial impact in the global fight against poverty.
  • In developing and transition countries, 2.5 billion people are covered by safety net programs. Of these, 650 million people are from the poorest quintile.
  • Yet, in low-income countries, only 1 in 5 of the poorest are covered by safety net programs.

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eC2: Open Cities Participatory Mapping in Kinshasa

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Deadline:  29-Mar-2018 at 11:59:59 PM (Eastern Time – Washington D.C.)jhb

Objective: Open Cities Africa will be carried out in 8-10 cities in Sub-Saharan Africa, to engage local government, civil society, and the private sector to develop the information infrastructures necessary to meet 21st century urban resilience challenges. Each project will: 1) Create and release open spatial data about the built environment, critical infrastructure, and natural hazards; 2) Develop targeted products and/or tools to assist key stakeholders to utilize risk information towards addressing natural disaster risk in the selected city; 3) Enhance the local capacity and institutional development necessary to support the design and implementation of evidence-driven urban resilience interventions; and  4) Promote peer mentorship and build regional networks across cities.

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eC2: Handbook on Digital Financial Services & Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa

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Deadline: 11-Dec-2017 at 11:59:59 PM (Eastern Time – Washington D.C.)

Objective: The objective of the assignment is to develop a handbook on digital financial services and agriculture initiatives, focusing on Sub- Saharan Africa. The handbook should serve as a practical tool for implementing DFS and agri projects on the continent. The handbook will assess failures and successes within partnership structures, and aggregate best practices from a variety of implementations at the intersection of DFS and smallholder farming. While there is a myriad of DFS and agri implementations and publications, IFCs handbook should aim to interpret and consolidate available information and translate it into actionable steps DFS providers can take to deploy successful financial or non-financial services for smallholders.

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The biggest bang for our limited water and sanitation buck: can investing in small towns lead the way?

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While the share of poor people in Sub-Saharan Africa decreased from 56 percent in 1990 to 43 percent in 2012, the region’s rapid population growth outpaced the decrease in the_biggest_bang_for_our_limited_water_and_sanitation_buck_investing_in_small_towns_-_graphpoverty, resulting in higher number of poor people than before. More specifically, Africa’s urban population is expected to triple in size in the next half century, which is putting pressure on scarce resources in cities, exacerbated by capacity, budget and governance bottlenecks. The densely-populated areas with low levels of water and sanitation services pose a serious threat to public health – cholera epidemics have broken out in urban areas in several African countries in recent years.

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eC2: Lighting Africa – PAYG Market Attractiveness Index

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Deadline: 12-Sep-2017 at 11:59:59 PM (Eastern Time – Washington D.C.) solar-energy

IFC has supported development of the off-grid sector through a series of programs including Lighting Africa. To help broaden the reach of the PAYG business model, IFC is seeking the services of a firm to develop a Market Attractiveness Index that will provide PAYG companies with a diverse set of variables and market related information to inform their market expansion strategies for numerous countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Index will provide the necessary strategic framework for decision-making about market entry into new countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

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