Africa is not on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal of eradicating extreme poverty. While many countries were successful in reducing poverty during the years before the pandemic,…

Camilla Holmemo, Christian Bodewig, Robert S. Chase, Suleiman Namara |

Being born a woman in Benin doesn’t come with the same opportunities as being born a man. Being born a rural woman limits one’s prospects even further. The Country Gender Assessment presents a…

Miriam Muller, Felicien D. Accrombessy |

This blog is a biweekly feature highlighting recent working papers from around the World Bank Group. It introduces five papers published from March 16 to March 31 on various topics, including…

Marcelo Buitron, Policy Research Working Paper team |

Cash transfers have been extensively used as a tool to soften the negative impacts of the COVID19 pandemic. A recent working paper uses data from a randomized cash transfer experiment in Guinea to…

Damien de Walque, Dimitris Mavridis |

From public transit quality to land use patterns, there are many factors that may impact people's ability to access essential services like healthcare or education. A new World Bank study…

Aiga Stokenberga, Karla Dominguez Gonzalez |

Mobile government (mGov) offers developing countries several benefits for their citizens including financial inclusion, wider access to services and improved government social accountability.

Khuram Farooq, Peter Kustor |

Africa is the future and the future is African. More than a thought, this highlights Africa's tremendous potential to advance its development. With the youngest population globally, African…

Moulaye Ibrahim Bamba, Michael Geiger |

Having worked as a Task Team Leader for health projects related to Guinea for close to 20 years, I have experienced and have had to handle almost all the major health crises faced by the country…

Ibrahim Magazi |

This week, global development experts focused on strengthening supply chains to protect the safe development and delivery of future COVID-19 vaccines, and the importance of civil society and non-…

Priyanka Ripley |