Clearly, Africa’s strong reform drive is cause for celebration. The sober truth, however, is that the world’s most difficult places for businesses are still largely found in Africa

It is undeniable that progress has been made in reducing extreme poverty over the last quarter century—from 36 percent of the world population in 1990 to an estimated 8.6 percent in 2018—and that…

  The Richtersveld Community Conservancy on the south border of the Richtersveld National Park in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. Photo: John Hogg/World Bank  This week I was at the G7…

Closing Plenary of the Investor Forum. © World Bank “Private capital is often an important source of sustainable finance. Public finance alone may not be sufficient to meet the demands for…

© Maria Fleischmann/World Bank Sustainability is the holy grail of development. There are many interventions that yield positive results in the short term but somehow fail to be sustained over…

Juan and his sisters proudly show their identification. © Daniel Silva Yoshisato/World Bank Peru has placed so much emphasis on the importance of identification that it has created a museum…

Mbarak Mbigo helps his colleagues who are software developers at Andela, in Nairobi, Kenya. © Dominic Chavez/IFC We only have to look at the way we communicate, shop, travel, work and entertain…

Challenge funds can help harness technology for development – here, a team from the international Water Management Institute (IWMI) shows off an open source mobile weather station developed for…

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development rightfully points out that sustainability has three dimensions: economic, environmental, and social. The first two are well understood and well measured…

Registered nurses look after newborns at a maternity hospital in Freetown Sierra Leone. © Dominic Chavez/World Bank Last week on World Population Day, I was thinking of the joy of children and the…