Bøger af World Bank

Tourism energizes economies and fuels the economic transformation of countries from Cape Verde to South Africa. Its benefits are clear: it can trigger infrastructure improvements, create good jobs, increase domestic consumption, and diversify exports. It also empowers women, young people, and marginalized populations, contributes to each countrys national image, and stimulates cultural heritage and environmental conservation. Whats more, tourism is a demonstration sector which leads private sector growth through its linkages across other sectors. It has demonstrated resilience over the years and through economic and natural crises. This book presents how tourism initiates these outcomes, while highlighting how Sub-Saharan Africa can address the persistent constraints to the growth of tourism in the region. The challenges that can be overcome pertain to land availability; investor access to finance; taxes on tourism investments; the level of tourism skills; security; safety and crime; public health; international and intraregional transportation; and an unpredictable business climate.Going beyond an analysis of the sector, the 24 case studies gathered in this report from around the world illustrate how tourism development can succeed. Based on these, recommendations for tourism development in Sub-Saharan Africa are elaborated for countries at different development stages. Some strategies are more applicable to destinations initiating tourism, others are for those looking to scale up tourism or to deepen tourism success. The case studies reveal that despite destination needs, challenges, and approaches that change over time, the basic elements needed to initialize, increase, or intensify tourisms success are applicable across Sub-Saharan Africa.

Reviews the experience of workers in developing countries during the global financial crisis of 2009, asseses the recovery, and provides new evidence on the policy response that countries undertook in response to the crisis.

Evaluates the outcomes of World Bank Group support to Afghanistan from 2002-11. Despite extremely difficult security conditions, which deteriorated markedly after 2006, the World Bank Group has commendably established and sustained a large programme of support to the country.

Updates previous studies measuring the economic impacts of biological losses attributable to global overfishing, with new estimates that these "sunken billions" amount to $83 billion annually. It shows that a clear path can lead to the recovery of these losses, including through significant reduction in global fishing over-capacity.

"A copublication of Agence franocaise de daeveloppement and the World Bank."

As part of its strategy to support global trade, the World Bank Group seeks to help enhance trade finance in emerging markets. The International Finance Corporation, part of the Bank Group, introduced the Global Trade Finance Program to support the extension of trade finance. IEG's evaluation assesses the pr

For the past decade, most South Asian countries have directed their efforts towards achieving universal access to elementary education. While these investments have led to more children being retained in school, they have not translated into better learning outcomes. This report comprehensively analyzes the performance of South Asian educational systems in terms of student learning. It attempts to answer three questions: How well do education systems in South Asia perform? What determines student learning outcomes? What policy options are effective in improving learning outcomes, especially given increasing demand and competition for public resources? Because learning outcomes and skill acquisition in the region are low in both absolute and relative terms, schooling does not translate, as it should, into better life chances, including escape from poverty for many more. Nor does schooling contribute to higher productivity and economic growth, so that countries in the region find it difficult to accelerate economic and social development. Governments in the region now fully realize that they need to direct their attention toward improving quality so that students can aspire to fuller lives as both individuals and labor market participants. Merely spending time in school is not enough; students need to register a significant gain in both noncognitive and cognitive skills if countries in the region are to reap full returns on their investments and generate gains in employment, job creation, and productivity. To examine what policies hold promise for improving student learning, the report reviews evidence from large-scale national learning assessments and findings from impact evaluations being conducted in the region. It identifies the following strategic priorities for improving learning outcomes in South Asia: (1) Make learning outcomes the central goal of education policy; (2) Invest in early childhood nutrition; (3) Improve teacher effectiveness and accountability; (4) Provide additional support to disadvantaged children in early grades; (5) Use financing effectively; (6) Leverage the contribution of the non-state sector; and (7) Build learning assessment systems. Each of these policy options will need to be integrated within a larger agenda of inclusive economic growth and governance reform to be truly effective.