By 2050, Africa will host a quarter of the global population, boasting the world’s largest and youngest workforce, primed for economic growth. Yet, a significant policy hurdle remains: empowering…

Michael O’Sullivan, Estelle Koussoubé |

School leadership plays a major role in shaping the quality of education, acting as a strategic lever to foster conducive learning conditions for students. Despite this, the characteristics of…

Nathalie Guilbert, Carolina Alban Conto, Fabricia Devignes, Juan D. Barón |

Imagine a world where every girl and woman and can manage her periods with dignity and without hindering her education, health, sense of self-esteem, social mobility, and economic opportunities.…

Saroj Kumar Jha, Hana Brixi, Jaime Saavedra, Thorsten Kiefer |

There is growing recognition that natural resource exploitation and environmental pressures can fuel violent conflict. Compounding this threat, situations of conflict and environmental stress also…

Agathe Christien, Phoebe Spencer |

This blog is a biweekly feature highlighting recent working papers from around the World Bank Group. It introduces six papers published from April 16 to April 30 on various topics, including…

Marcelo Buitron, Policy Research Working Paper team |

It is Saturday at 7 am in Antananarivo. Little by little, the big courtyard of the technical high school of Alarobia fills up. Beneficiaries of the Tosika Fameno, an unconditional cash transfer…

Julia Rachel Ravelosoa |

Despite the fact that the government changed the legal minimum age of marriage to 18 in 2007, child marriage is still practiced in various forms depending on the communities: there is “moletry,”…

Mamitiana Naharifelantsoa |

Sub-Saharan Africa has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world. Nearly four in 10 girls marry each year before their 18th birthday, many of them becoming mothers at a young age.…

Hafez Ghanem |

With Madagascar’s health system under strain from the COVID-19 pandemic and schools shuttered for the foreseeable future, the health, education, and overall wellbeing of the Malagasy people are…

Peter Holland |