Africa’s partnership with the G-20: Compact with Africa in 2018

Germany’s presidency of the G-20 in 2017 introduced a new initiative for supporting African countries’ development: the G-20 Compact with Africa. The compact brings together interested African countries with the World Bank Group, the International Monetary Fund, the African Development Bank, and other multilateral and bilateral partners to develop and support policies and actions that are essential for attracting private investment. To date, 10 countries have signed up for the initiative and outlined their aspirations and reform programs under a framework adopted by the G-20 finance ministers in March 2017.

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The Disaster Risk Management Challenge for Small Cities

Colombia has been frequently hit by disasters. In 2016 alone, nearly a million Colombians were affected by disasters associated with adverse natural events, mainly caused by floods and droughts. In a region such as Latin America, where the number of recorded disasters tripled between 1970 and 2014, strengthening policies for disaster risk management and climate change adaptation is crucial and increasingly urgent.

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Ec2: DEVELOPMENT OF COASTAL MULTI-HAZARD MAPPING, VULNERABILITY AND RISK ASSESSMENTS AND INVESTMENT FRAMEWORK FOR COASTAL INTERVENTIONS IN SELECTED COASTAL COMMUNITIES IN VIETNAM

Deadline: 10-Feb-2018 at 11:59:59 PM (Eastern Time – Washington D.C.)

Objective: The World Bank is providing support to the Government of Vietnam (GoV) for the implementation of the second phase of the Technical Assistance (TA) funded by the imagesGlobal Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), Supporting Resilience of Critical Infrastructure Investments in Vietnam, which was undertaken in 2016-2017 in the coastal regions of Northern and Central Vietnam, and which aimed at obtaining a rapid overview of the greatest coastal risks in these regions. This TA was thought of as a first phase to be followed up by a second phase where a detailed assessment of these risks would be undertaken in selected areas, and the necessary measures and investments that could mitigate the consequences of these hazards would be identified and prioritized.

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Guarantees light the way for clean energy through renewable auctions

What is a common thread between Argentina, Maldives, and Zambia? In each of these countries, the World Bank provided guarantees to support transparent auctions for renewable energy. Through these, I have seen how the Bank’s involvement helped increase private investors’ confidence, attract world-class developers, and ultimately reduce tariffs.

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Mobilizing Islamic Finance for Infrastructure Public-Private Partnerships

This PPIAF-funded report aims to discuss and disseminate information on how Islamic finance has been applied in infrastructure projects through PPP schemes, what the structural challenges and solutions are, and what can be done to deepen and maximize the use of Islamic finance for this purpose. This report has two broad dimensions. The first is to enhance the understanding of Islamic finance building blocks as they relate to financing infrastructure PPP projects, and the second, and perhaps less well understood, is to explore how the building blocks of Islamic finance can fit within a PPP context. This report paves the way for providers of Islamic finance capital to become partners in infrastructure development and thus contribute to its overall global financing pool. Read the full report here.

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Ec2: BASELINE DATA COLLECTION FOR THE CEDIAM PROJECT MALI

Deadline: 23-Jan-2018 at 11:59:59 PM (Eastern Time – Washington D.C.)

Objective: The International Finance Corporation proposes to conduct a baseline data collection exercise, which will include topics on agri techniques, food consumption, access to finance, and gender. The data collection, aimed at farmers, will be conducted in two rounds: baseline and end-line.

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Ec2: Maldives Scoping Study

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

Objective: The main objective of this assignment is to identify existing private sector investment opportunities in the Maldives. The scoping exercise should look at the Maldivian GDP private sector contribution and identify key industries, players and conglomerates through a market mapping exercise.

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Ec2: SUDAN TRANSACTION ADVISORY SERVICES FOR AGRO-INDUSTRIAL AND AGRI-BUSINESS PARKS

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

Objective: IFC is seeking to recruit a firm to provide customer acquisition services that will help to deliver on customer acquisition targets for a mobile money service in Cameroon. This acquisition activity will be centered around mobile money agents through interactive engagements with the market to register/activate and transact on the wallet.

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PPP & Infrastructure: A critical piece of the infrastructure puzzle

A major factor hindering infrastructure implementation and delivery is the absence of good governance, according to the 130 delegates from 27 countries who came together for the first Regional Roundtable on Infrastructure Governance in Cape Town in November.

There’s no denying infrastructure is crucial to Africa’s growth prospects. Nor can one ignore the ever-growing need for infrastructure on the continent—in Sub-Saharan Africa, only 35% of the population has access to electricity, and 23% still lack access to safe water and sanitation. Despite an estimated shortfall of nearly $100 billion in infrastructure investment in Africa, lack of financing is not the biggest problem.

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Water PPPs that work: The case of Armenia

Downtown Yerevan. Gusty winds, frosty air. Inside a hotel in the town square, cocktails and canapés, speeches and signatures. On this evening in November 2016, representatives of the State Committee for Water Economy (the Armenian water authority) and Veolia (a large international water operator) gathered to celebrate the signing of a new partnership: a 15-year national lease to provide water and wastewater services for the whole country. The lease began in January 2017, thus marking the start of a “second generation” of water PPPs in Armenia. Solid gains had already been made under the “first generation” between 2000 and 2016. At this crucial juncture, a World Bank study reviewed Armenia’s experience so far and analyzed the way forward under the new national lease.

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