Growing a business is not easy, and for women firm owners the challenges can be acute, 
especially when they are poor and run subsistence level firms. In developing countries, 22 percent of women discontinue their established businesses due to a lack of funds, and women are more likely than men to report exiting their businesses over finance problems, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. Meanwhile, personal savings are a crucial source of entrepreneurial financing, and nearly 95 percent of entrepreneurs globally state that they used their own funds to start or scale up their businesses. Women, however, face unique constraints in accumulating savings to invest in growing their firms.
Tag Archives: World Bank Group
eC2: Abidjan BRT. GIF Project Definition Activity. PPP assessment.
Deadline: 03-Dec-2018 at 11:59:59 PM (Eastern Time – Washington D.C.) 
To tackle urban mobility challenge in the Greater Abidjan Agglomeration, the Ivorian authorities have chosen to promote mass transit systems and envisage a 20-km long Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) infrastructure on an east-west corridor. The capital investment in the required infrastructure might be partially-financed publicly however the system could be operated and maintained by private sector operators under a PPP modality.
The objective of the assignment is to assess the various PPP options for designing, financing, building, operating and maintaining the BRT system, and possibly mobilizing private sector financing in infrastructure, rolling-stock and supporting systems of the BRT/feeders, to recommend a preferred business model (using a robust options appraisal model), and to outline the main legal, regulatory, financial, technical and cost and risk sharing aspects of that preferred model, seek market input on the model and prepare an outline structure.
Tackling gender inequality through investments in health equity
Still today, in almost all societies around the world, women are less well-off than men.
Women are still paid less than men; they are less represented in business, politics and decision-making. Their life chances remain overwhelmingly less promising than those of men.
This inequality hurts us all. The world would be 20% better off if women were paid the same as men. Delaying early marriage in the developing world by just a few years would add more than $500 billion to annual global economic output by 2030.
Towards a water security assessment in Latin America and Caribbean
Water Security is the new buzzword in the water sector… but what does it mean, really?
And how is it applied to real life?
In a world of rapid changes, unequal water resources, polluted water bodies, growing demands, and increasing climate variability and climate change, our relationship with water is quickly shifting. For countries and governments, the term national water security means having adequate water, both in quantity and quality, to meet all demands of the population, the productive sectors and the environment, but also dealing well with extremes, and overall managing the resource adequately and efficiently.
eC2: Consulting services for update of the National Methodology for Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment and Flood Hazard & Risk Mapping, and implementation of PFRA & identification of areas at risk.
Deadline: 03-Dec-2018 at 11:59:59 PM (Eastern Time – Washington D.C.)
The objective of this assignment is the update of the National Flood Risk Assessment Methodology for stage I and II of the FRMP, and implementation of stage I of the FRMP: Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment (PFRA) and identification of associated APSFR in accordance with the EU Flood Directive and the national Water Act, and based on the updated (and approved) methodology. Bulgaria is an EU member state and covers 4 River Basins or Units of Management; Black Sea River Basin, Danube River Basin, East Aegean River Basin and West Aegean River Basin. This assignment covers the entire country and should be built upon the work done for the 1st cycle FRMP.
Global solidarity to finance the Sustainable Development Goals
Achieving sustainable development depends on incremental investments in six priority 
transformations: building human capacities (health, education, new job skills); decarbonising energy; promoting sustainable agriculture and biodiversity; building smarter cities; implementing the circular economy; and harnessing the digital revolution. As such, sustainable development and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in particular pose a financing challenge. There are three distinct financing conundrums to solve: financing complex infrastructure, financing public services and amenities, and shifting investments from unsustainable to sustainable technologies. I discuss these in turn.
Five ways to do better post-disaster assessments
Post-disaster assessments changed my life by starting my career in disaster risk 
management. Three months after arriving in Indonesia as the World Bank’s environment coordinator, the Indian Ocean tsunami and related earthquakes struck Aceh and Nias at the end of 2004. I was asked to pull together the economic evaluation of the disaster’s environmental impact as part of what was then known as a damage-and-loss assessment. Subsequently, the World Bank, United Nations and European Union agreed on a joint approach to crisis response in 2008, including a common methodology for post-disaster needs assessment (PDNA).
eC2: Occupational Health Economist – Improvement of Health and Safety in Construction and other High-Risk Sectors
Deadline: 26-Nov-2018 at 11:59:59 PM (Eastern Time – Washington D.C.)![medical-appointment-doctor-healthcare-clinic-health-hospital-medicine[7]](https://nl4worldbank.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/medical-appointment-doctor-healthcare-clinic-health-hospital-medicine7.jpg?w=252&h=168)
The objective of this analytical work is to assess the positive and negative impacts of increasing OHS standards. Tasks are expected to include:
1. Economic analysis of the direct and indirect costs associated with accidents in the workplace and occupational diseases. The costs associate4d with workplace accidents and illness must be balanced against the expenses associated with improving OHS standards. The analysis would provide two outputs: an estimate of the cost to Ethiopia of the current level of fatal and serious injury accidents, and an indication of optimal levels of OHS expenditure.
2. Assessment of the consequences of a do-nothing scenario in which no additional actions are taken to strengthen OHS.
3. Estimation of the costs and benefits of alternative institutional structures to administer OHS.
4. Consultation with private investors to determine the potential impacts of enforcing compliance with recognized international OHS standards.
eC2: TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TO STRENGTHEN THE EARLY WARNING SYSTEM FOR FOOD INSECURITY IN ETHIOPIA AND ITS LINKS TO A SCALABLE RURAL PRODUCTIVE SAFETY NET PROGRAMME
Deadline: 03-Dec-2018 at 11:59:59 PM (Eastern Time – Washington D.C.) 
The main objectives of this consultancy assignment are to (1) conduct a review on the design and operation of early warning systems operating in Ethiopia which are used to trigger and inform food and cash support to drought affected households; (2) advise on improved protocols and monitoring systems and tools for alert triggering; and (3) provide concrete options for the design of an enhanced and scalable social safety net system based on early warning information.
eC2: Report and Training Material on Energy Consumption and Energy Efficiency in Mexicos Public Schools
Deadline: 28-Nov-2018 at 11:59:59 PM (Eastern Time – Washington D.C.)
The objective of this assignment is to help pave the way – and to contribute to preparing an enabling environment on the ground – for the PRESEMEH through a report that will provide a technical foundation to contribute to enhancing the awareness and understanding on energy consumption and energy efficiency in schools of relevant officials and staff from the public education sector, as well as other relevant stakeholders. The assignment will also be expected to inform other capacity building activities carried out by SENER under the PRESEMEH, and generally provide greater/deeper insights on the energy consumption and energy efficiency potential opportunities in public schools. The assignment will complement the more macro/aggregated picture available on energy in schools by focusing on a specific large public secondary school to generate concrete data and examples to help train education and school staff.
Netherlands for the World Bank 
You must be logged in to post a comment.