Maldives

National Identity Cards: Adding Value to Development

In addition to permanent centers, NADRA has a fleet of vans that it uses to register Pakistanis living in remote areas. Considering the costs, it was never obvious to me how investments in a national identity program might add development value in a resource-crunched country like Nepal with so many competing priorities. It clicked when a senior official at Pakistan’s National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) said, “The national identity program has allowed us to construct one big family tree of all Pakistani nationals. It is helping Pakistan establish a relationship between each member of our extended family and to redefine our obligations to one another — state to citizen and citizen to citizen.”

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A woman walks down a busy street in Nepal

All it took was an invitation to open the floodgates. More than 1,200 South Asian youth responded to our call to share ideas on how to end gender-based violence in the region. The judges had the difficult task of picking 10 winners from about 60 finalists, but there were many more great solutions submitted. Here are some of my personal favorites that were not selected.

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A woman walks down a busy street in Nepal

Une simple invitation a suffi à provoquer une avalanche de réactions. Plus de 1 200 jeunes d’Asie du Sud ont répondu à notre appel, en nous faisant part de leurs solutions pour lutter contre les violences sexistes dans leur région. Le jury a eu la tâche délicate de désigner 10 lauréats parmi les quelque 60 finalistes, mais bien d’autres propositions de qualité ont été soumises. Voici quelques-uns des messages qui m’ont le plus touchée, mais qui n’ont pas été retenus.

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A woman walks down a busy street in Nepal

كل ما كان لتبادل الأفكار حول كيفية وضع حد للعنف القائم على نوع الجنس في المنطقة. وتولي المحكمون المهمة الصعبة المتمثلة في اختيار 10 فائزين من بين حوالي 60 متسابقاً ومتسابقة وصلوا إلى النهائيات، ولكن كان هناك العديد من الحلول العظيمة التي تم تقديمها. وفيما يلي بعض من المشاركات المفضلة لي بشكل شخصي والتي لم يتم اختيارها.مطلوباً هو دعوة لفتح الباب على مصراعيه. فاستجاب أكثر من 1200 من الشباب من جنوب آسيا لدعوتنا

Also available in: English | العربية | Français

A woman walks down a busy street in Nepal

Bastó una invitación para abrir las compuertas. Más de 1.200 jóvenes de Asia meridional (i) respondieron a nuestro llamado y compartieron ideas sobre cómo poner fin a la violencia de género en la región. Los jueces tuvieron la difícil tarea de escoger a los 10 ganadores (i) de entre alrededor de 60 finalistas, pero llegaron muchas más fabulosas soluciones. Aquí están algunas de mis favoritas que no fueron seleccionadas.

Join an online discussion with Ismail on Tuesday, April 2nd at 8-11AM on the World Bank's South Asia Facebook page to ask questions and learn more about his experiences.

The Dalai Lama once said - that if you ever feel you are too small to make a difference then try sleeping in a room with a mosquito. And the same goes for business. Every big business starts as a small business. General Electric was at one time the world's biggest company and it started with a simple but revolutionary idea - the invention of the incandescent light bulb in 1878 and the vision of just one person Thomas Edison.

Walmart started with a single store in 1945 and is now the largest private employer in the world. Starting with one store and the idea of making lots of cheap goods available all over the US, Walmart has created more than 2 million jobs. And of course more recently we have lots of examples in the technology and innovation space Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Ebay, Dell and Facebook. All are multi-billion dollar companies that started out in a single room, a basement or garage with a simple idea shared at first by a one or two people.

Arne Hoel/World Bank It was heartening to attend the recent Partnership for Market Readiness (PMR) forum at the World Bank, where countries renewed their commitments to testing and piloting market-based instruments for greenhouse gas emission reduction. The PMR is country-led and builds on countries’ own mitigation priorities. Focus is placed on improving a country's technical and institutional capacity for using market instruments to scale up climate change mitigation efforts.

Women walking by a road in India Friday, March 15 is the deadline to join the World Bank in a call against gender-based violence. Participate in a text message contest for South Asian youth (18-25) – we want to hear your best ideas in response to the question, “What Will It Take to End Gender-Based Violence in South Asia?”

Get details of the competition here.

I grew up in Delhi, and it has always been unsafe for women and girls. In recent years I lived in Washington, D.C, which was a different world altogether. It was a welcome relief to travel on public transport without having men constantly staring at your body.

Then in December, just before I was to move back to Delhi, I heard about the brutal gang rape in my hometown. I felt outrage and deep anguish watching the news unfold the horrific story leading to the painful death of the victim.

The great artist Pablo Picasso once said, "The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls." It was with a similar vision that the South Asia region of the World Bank organized the art exhibition, 'Imagining Our Future Together' last month. The purpose was to unite South Asian artists from all countries to highlight the lack of unity that hinders progress in the region and to create a vision of a more cooperative and prosperous future.

As someone who joined the South Asia region fairly recently, the art brought to life for me the development challenges the region faces in terms of identity, conflict, and gender inequality. As I listened to Guest Joint Curator, Elena Grant, explain the stories depicted in the art work, I couldn’t help but marvel at the beauty of the art and the depth of the themes communicated: from the symbolism of the four animals represented on the Indian national emblem to the hopes and dreams of a single young woman dashed by the dark realities of an early marriage.

Arne Hoel/World Bank One in every three women in the world will be physically or sexually abused at some point in her life. This could include the woman sitting next to you on the bus, your little niece playing in the garden, or even a friend you have known all your life.

For years, Rumana Manzur, assistant professor at Dhaka University, had been silent about the abuse she suffered at the hands of her husband. But on June 5, 2011, Manzur was brutally attacked at home. Her husband beat her mercilessly, tried to gouge out her eyes, and bit off part of her nose in a fit of rage. Their 5-year-old daughter was in the room and witnessed this inhuman act. Manzur is now blind, her daughter traumatized for life.

Maldives

National Identity Cards: Adding Value to Development

Youth Have the Answers!

Les jeunes ont les solutions!

الشباب لديهم الإجابات!

¡La juventud tiene las respuestas!

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