In 2012 Papua New Guinea undertook a
national Service Delivery Assessment of rural water, rural
sanitation, urban water and urban sanitation services to
identify coverage and targets, how well services are being
delivered and the financing shortfalls in these subsectors.
Immediately following this assessment, stakeholders, through
a national policy task force, have developed a draft of the
country s first National Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

The need for countries in Sub-Saharan
Africa to build more productive, modern, and market-oriented
farming sectors is one of our most pressing development
challenges. In coming years, African agriculture will have
to increase food production and expand and intensify value
chains in order to meet changing demand on the part of a
rapidly expanding and urbanizing consumer base. The process
of doing this will enable African countries to begin pushing

Fast growth in Rwanda since the turn of
the century has been accompanied by solid poverty reduction.
Between 2000 and 2013, gross domestic product (GDP) grew at
eight percent per year, resulting in a 170 percent increase
in real GDP. As the poor almost uniquely depend on labor to
generate income, the strong reduction in poverty suggests
tangible improvements in employment outcomes over this
period. This jobs and employment study focuses on the recent

The Country Partnership Framework (CPF)
will succeed the Myanmar interim strategy note (FY13-14) and
be the first full country strategy for Myanmar since 1984.
This CPF comes at a time of great opportunity for Myanmar;
over the three year period covered in this CPF, the reforms
initiated in 2011 have the potential to bring Myanmar into a
new era of peace and prosperity. Myanmar s history, ethnic
diversity, and geography combine into a unique set of

As Vietnam enters a crucial period of
urbanization corresponding to its present stage of economic
development, the Government of Vietnam has placed strong
emphasis on developing its system of cities. In accordance
with this objective this Urbanization Review is dedicated to
understanding the key dimensions and aspects of
Vietnam's urbanization process and to identifying
trends, opportunities, challenges and core policy priorities

This issue includes the following
headings: finding the right broadband public-private
partnership (PPP): whats key for emerging economies?; reform
has its rewards: telecom takes off in Myanmar; e-gov
excellence: models from Colombia, Ghana, India, and
Portugal; know what you know: creating a government
technology strategy; and closing the gap: Facebook and intel
connect the unconnected.

While the negative impacts of climate
change on urban areas are well-known and widely discussed,
its implicit impacts on historic downtowns have not been
studied as extensively. In recent years, cultural heritage
conservation and valorization have increasingly become
drivers of local economic development. Many projects
supported by the World Bank in this field help leverage
cultural heritage for economic development while developing

The overall goal of this report is to
assist the World Bank Group (WBG) to achieve greater impact
for women from its current activities in agribusiness in
Papua New Guinea (PNG), and to provide clear recommendations
on additional interventions aimed at improving outcomes for
women. The report focuses on the supply chains for coffee,
cocoa, and horticultural products (fresh produce), as there
is a wealth of knowledge on these supply chains and on

Over the past 18 months, the World Bank
has been working on a comprehensive plan to address the
challenge of productive jobs in Tanzania. This study
represents a step towards a better understanding of how to
promote job creation in Tanzania. Indeed, the growth of
productive jobs is vital for alleviating poverty and
promoting shared prosperity - two important goals of
Tanzania's economic strategy. This booklet highlights

Bolivia’s distinct characteristics and
aspirations are a key for understanding its development
trajectory. Bolivia is one of the countries with the highest
share of indigenous population, representing a tapestry of
different groups with different historical, cultural and
economic features, with a significant influence in policy
decision making. The country is landlocked and one of the
most sparsely populated in the world. As a result, long

This issue of the Cambodia economic
update covers the following selected issues: 1) making the
most of the Cambodian rise sector; and 2) creating
opportunities for firms as reflected in findings from the
investment climate assessment. For FY2014 economic growth
held up well despite domestic uncertainty and instability in
neighboring countries. Real growth is estimated to reach 7.2
percent, driven by the garment, construction, and services

Previous research on sex-selective
abortions has ignored the interactions between fertility,
birth spacing, and sex selection, despite both fertility and
birth spacing being important considerations for parents
when deciding on the use of sex selection. This paper
presents a novel approach that jointly estimates the
determinants of sex-selective abortions, fertility, and
birth spacing, using data on Hindu women from India's