Tag Archives: Wereldbank Groep

World Bank Group Increases COVID-19 Response to $14 Billion To Help Sustain Economies, Protect Jobs

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Focus on private sector and workers spearheaded by IFC to mitigate financial and economic impact of crisis

WASHINGTON, March 17, 2020 — The World Bank and IFC’s Boards of Directors approved today an increased $14 billion package of fast-track financing to assist companies and countries in their efforts to prevent, detect and respond to the rapid spread of COVID-19. The package will strengthen national systems for public health preparedness, including for disease containment, diagnosis, and treatment, and support the private sector.

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How have women’s legal rights evolved over the last 50 years?

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Today, women have just three-quarters of the legal rights of men. In 1970, it was less womanthan half. The Women, Business and the Law 2020 report presented results from our recent effort to document how laws have changed since 1970. This exceptional dataset has already facilitated ground-breaking research that shows that a country’s performance on the Women, Business and the Law index is associated with more women in the labor force, a smaller wage gap between men and women, and greater investments in health and education. We hope that sharing the data and reform descriptions on our website will lead to more evidence that will inspire policymakers to change their laws so that more women can contribute to economic growth and development.

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It’s time we invest in healthy food systems for a safer world

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The World Bank Group last week announced it would make available a package of $12 Meta-chicken-COVID-corornavirusbillion — an unprecedented level of financing to help developing countries and businesses cope with the health and economic impacts caused by COVID-19. Much of that support will naturally be reactive, financing immediate measures designed to strengthen our response to a brand-new threat. But some of the financing will also be preventative — as it should be, if we are to learn our lessons from the past and strengthen our collective hand before the next bug hits.

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eC2: Strengths and limitations of satellite-derived soil moisture for drought risk financing

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Deadline:  25-Mar-2020 at 11:59:59 PM (Eastern Time – Washington D.C.) afr-moving-away-from-humanitarian-appeals-to-managing-droughts-in-ethiopia-feature-780x439

The main objective of this project is to support World Bank Crisis & Disaster Risk Finance activities in the area of anticipatory and/or parametric climate risk financing with tailored data- and research-driven approaches applied to promising satellite-derived datasets that have so far not been considered for operational purposes. In the context of the Next Generation Drought Index project, the World Banks Disaster Risk Financing and Insurance program is developing a technical toolbox to guide users at both micro and macro level through the entire process of data selection, index design, calibration, validation and related methods to strengthen sensitivity analysis and historical skill analysis. There is scientific evidence about the added-value of satellite-derived soil moisture products to close critical gaps between rainfall anomalies and the response of the land surface. However, a quantitative and qualitative analysis in 2-3 specific areas of interest is required to identify and explain the individual strengths and limitations of different products that may differ in sensor technology (radar/radiometer/combined), method (remote sensing vs. data assimilation), output variable (surface or root-zone soil moisture, soil moisture-based rainfall estimations), timeliness (annual updates vs. NRT products), revisit period (depending on area of interest) and spatial resolution (<1 km to >25 km). Since anticipatory financing mechanisms that decouple insurance payouts from loss assessments are a priority, the work on soil moisture products should highlight the potential predictive skill of various datasets, whereas the integration of both publicly available and, if available, commercial products in the analysis is encouraged.

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Coronavirus: Reflections of an epidemiologist and public health practitioner

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Not a day passes without us being bombarded by the rapidly evolving medical literature 1107952389_b03648b09d_c(002)and media on the hitherto unknown COVID-19. Rightfully so, as we now have an outbreak with more than 100,000 cases confirmed globally.

Yet, I cannot help but wonder how the general public is dealing with such an onslaught of information, if I, as a trained physician, epidemiologist and a global public health practitioner, find it too much to take in and digest. How do we expect a lay person to sift through it all, separate the chaff from the grain, avoid fear mongering  – No, you do not get COVID-19 if you receive a package from China, or eat in a Chinese restaurant –  and stick with the most relevant information and the essentials for behavioral change? This is ultimately what counts the most:, arming people with the right messaging and instructions for compliance with the science-based best practice. With local community transmission in about 20 countries across several regions of the globe, we must ask ourselves could we have done better? 

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COVID19: Reflections of an epidemiologist and public health practitioner

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Not a day passes without us being bombarded by the rapidly evolving medical literature041817_Tobacco Taxation_517_F and media on the hitherto unknown COVID-19. Rightfully so, as we now have an outbreak with more than 100,000 cases confirmed globally.

Yet, I cannot help but wonder how the general public is dealing with such an onslaught of information, if I, as a trained physician, epidemiologist and a global public health practitioner, find it too much to take in and digest. How do we expect a lay person to sift through it all, separate the chaff from the grain, avoid fear mongering  – No, you do not get COVID-19 if you receive a package from China, or eat in a Chinese restaurant –  and stick with the most relevant information and the essentials for behavioral change? This is ultimately what counts the most:, arming people with the right messaging and instructions for compliance with the science-based best practice. With local community transmission in about 20 countries across several regions of the globe, we must ask ourselves could we have done better?

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Doing More with Less – Smarter Subsidies for Water Supply and Sanitation

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New World Bank research shows that governments across the world are pouring money Subsidies-780-439--1-into water and sanitation subsidies but all too often that funding doesn’t flow to those who need it most. However, subsidies can be powerful and progressive tools in delivering water and sanitation when they are designed in smart and targeted ways and implemented effectively.

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Legislating gender equality in the workplace through pay transparency

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Author: Kathleen Beegle ;Lead Economist with the World Bank Gender Groupfinancial-inclusion-gender

A number of recent posts on Development Impact have focused on gaps in labor market outcomes for men and women. This includes some posts in the job market series in late 2019 and, in 2020, a look at the ‘dismal statistic’ on female-to-male labor force participation rates in India and Pakistan, changing the way women think about themselves and what they can do as a means to closing gaps, and a summary of the World Bank’s Research Group recruitment. The latter was underpinned by goal setting in the shortlisting process with respect to between men and women applicants. Fun fact: such quota setting with respect to the composition of candidates to interview is known in the U.S. as the Rooney Rule — established by the U.S. National Football League in 2003 and named after the former owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers (and intended not in regards to women hires but with regards to ethnic-minority candidates in coaching and senior league jobs, though it is now used more generally in the private sector).

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Procurement Training Webinars

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The Private Sector Liaisons are proud to present the first of four World Bank procurement i-love-procurement2training webinars.

World Bank contract bidding process webinar provides information about the bidding process for projects tendered by the client countries of the World Bank Group. The presenter is Nancy Bikondo-Omosa Senior Procurement Specialist.

We encourage you to view the recording of the webinar here: https://1930181.mediaspace.kaltura.com/media/1_bbk9429j

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eC2: Consultancy Services for Somali Electricity Supply Industry Institutional Design

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Deadline: 17-Mar-2020 at 11:59:59 PM (Eastern Time – Washington D.C.)

U.S. Electricity Output Rose 6.2% From A Year Earlier

a) Review available government legal, policy and strategy documents for the sector and undertake a detailed assessment of the performance of the electricity supply value chain.
b) Undertake an institutional and organizational review of the current ESI (public and private) institutional arrangements including skills audit and needs assessment.
c) Develop alternative options, clearly delineating the pros and cons, for the functional responsibilities and organizational structure of the ESI alongside the electricity value chain including generation, transmission and distribution functions, including the relations and transactions of the various entities in the ESI. The consultant shall recommend the optimal structure, clearly highlighting the rationale for the recommendation and the associated glide/transition phases as may be required.
d) Define the key responsibilities (value chains) for the management and operations of the ESI including policy and regulatory functions.

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