They are young, dynamic and solving problems in their community—Diepsloot township, a mixed formal and informal settlement of 139,000 people to the north of Johannesburg. These are some of the…

Evidence from population-based surveys in Latin America and the Caribbean shows that children living in homes in which women experience intimate partner violence are more likely to experience…

Women are notoriously underrepresented in the tech sector. Why is that, and how can we change the status quo? To find out, the World Bank invited 30 women leaders from Silicon Valley to share…

What does providing security to prevent thefts on farms do? Increases productivity and market sales.

Reducing attrition in phone surveys

Only three weeks after my arrival in South Africa, the country that is to be my home for the next three years, my team and I are in Tembisa, a township east of Johannesburg. Tembisa, where nearly…

The experience of Bangladesh is a microcosm of the larger trend in global extreme poverty. Several countries at various levels of development have shown in the last few decades that it is possible…

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

In Guatemala and Honduras, education is legally compulsory through ninth grade, but nearly 40% of sixth graders drop out before getting there. This is the reality for many countries middle and low…

Last weekend, I attended a conference, titled “Innovations for Shared Prosperity” at Stanford University, jointly organized by, among others, the Golub Capital Social Impact Lab and Microsoft…