While MENA has made strides in improving women and girls’ health, much more needs to be done. Understanding the impact of conflict on women and girls is critical for designing both preventive…

Fadia Saadah, Sameera Al Tuwaijri |

In early 2020, Cameroon had a well-established safety net. The Social Safety Net Project had reached almost 10% of the poor (140,000 households) with either cash transfers or, mainly for youth,…

Ioana Botea, Omar Ndiaye |

Following the regional trend, migration flows from the North of Central America -El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua-, have also intensified in the past ten years. Around 3.8 million…

Carolina Mejia-Mantilla, Stephanie González Rubio |

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 |

Most workers in developing countries are in informal employment-- that is, a job that does not come with social security benefits and leaving them with limited means to manage risks to their…

Nadir Mohammed, Roberta Gatti, Marco Ranzani, Gladys Lopez-Acevedo, Nistha Sinha, Adam Elsheikhi |

Banking supervisors in Central Asia need to be prepared for a potentially sharp rise in NPLs. A recent World Bank policy paper assesses the NPL resolution framework in four Central Asian countries…

Emiko Todoroki, Ismael Ahmad Fontan, Fernando Dancausa, Maksym Iavorskyi |

Businesses worldwide feel the repercussions of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but how exactly is the private sector faring in Central Asia—a region with deep trade and investment ties to Russia…

Mariana Iootty, Martin Melecky |

Of the region’s 450 million people, nearly two-thirds, almost 300 million people, are under the age of 35. Unfortunately, this vast human resource is highly “untapped,” and nearly 80 percent of…

Anna Bjerde |