7 books found
"Bangladesh is one of the poorest and most densely-populated countries in the world, yet it has achieved impressive progress since its independence in 1971. With a vibrant economy that has grown at nearly 6 percent per year in the last decade, Bangladesh has seen the number of poor drop by one-third during the same period. In this remarkable journey, the World Bank has enjoyed a strong relationship with Bangladesh that spans four decades. It has supported Government efforts in economic growth, power, infrastructure, disaster management, human development and poverty reduction. Since 1972, the World Bank has committed more than US$ 16 billion to advance Bangladesh’s development priorities. This publication provide a glimpse of the ongoing World Bank projects in Bangladesh and showcase an important partnership aimed at creating opportunities for the disadvantaged, the poor and the vulnerable. It conveys what the World Bank have come to learn through many years of engagement with this dynamic and resilient country—that with strong commitment, sound policies and effective government, Bangladesh has enormous potential to offer its people a better, brighter future. "
Contents of Volume 1: Message from the Chairman, The Board of Executive Directors, The World Bank Group, The Development Agenda, Regional Perspectives, Thematic Perspectives, Improving Development Effectiveness, Summary of Fiscal 2004 Activities, and About the World Bank.
by The World Bank
2010 · World Bank Publications
The evaluation finds that the content of the World Bank s Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) is largely relevant for growth and poverty reduction in the sense that it maps well with the determinants of growth and poverty reduction identified in the economics literature. However, some CPIA criteria need to be revised (in particular trade and finance), and one needs to be added (assessment of disadvantaged socio-economic groups). Second, the evaluation finds that the CPIA ratings are in general reliable and correlate well with similar indicators. The World Bank s internal review process helps guard against potential biases in having Bank staff rate countries on which their work programs depend. The CPIA ratings are found to correlate better with similar indicators for middle income countries than for low income countries. This could be because there is more information available on middle income countries, which increases the likelihood of different institutions having similar assessments on them. This could also be because the CPIA rating exercise takes into account the stage of development, which is more pertinent for low income countries, and which also subject the ratings of those countries to more judgment in an exercise that is already centered on staff judgment.
Inequality in South Asia appears to be moderate when looking at standard indicators such as the Gini index, which are based on consumption expenditures per capita. But other pieces of evidence reveal enormous gaps, from extravagant wealth at one end to lack of access to the most basic services at the other. Which prompts the question: How bad is inequality in South Asia? And why would that matter? This book takes a comprehensive look at the extent, nature, and drivers of inequality in this very dynamic region of the world. It discusses how some dimensions of inequality, such as high returns to investments in human capital, contribute to economic growth while others, such as high payoffs to rent-seeking or broken aspirations, undermine it. Drawing upon a variety of data sources, it disentangles the contribution that opportunity in young age, mobility in adult years, and support throughout life make to inequality at any point in time. Equally important, the book sheds light on the prospects of escaping disadvantage over time. The analysis shows that South Asia performs poorly in terms of opportunity. Access to basic services is partial at best, and can be traced to characteristics at birth, including gender, location, and caste. Conversely, the region has had a robust performance in terms of geographical and occupational mobility despite its cluttered urbanization and widespread informality. Migration and jobs have served disadvantaged groups better than the rest, highlighting the importance of the urbanization and private sector development agendas. Support falls somewhere in between. Poverty alleviation programs are pervasive. But the mobilization of public resources is limited and much of it is wasted in regressive subsidies, while inter-government transfers do not do enough to mitigate spatial inequalities.
by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
2023 · Food & Agriculture Org.
Women account for about half of the agricultural workforce and over 63 percent of the rural female workforce is engaged in agriculture in Bangladesh (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics [BBS], 2018). Under the leadership of the Government of Bangladesh, the country has made significant progress towards gender equality and advancing the status of women and girls, particularly in education and health care. The country ranked fiftieth among 153 countries in the Global Gender Gap Report for 2020. Bangladesh has adopted many laws and policies to promote gender equality, including the National Women Development Policy 2011. Gender inequality continues to manifest in forms of gender-based discrimination, which includes restrictive social norms, access to and control over resources, barriers to accessing services and involvement in decision-making processes. Beyond the burden of unpaid care work, the lack of economic empowerment is a massive loss for Bangladesh’s economy, which could otherwise benefit from the equal participation of women. FAO recognizes the centrality of gender equality in its mandate to achieve food security for all by raising levels of nutrition, improving agricultural productivity, natural resource management and improving the lives of rural populations. The FAO Policy on Gender Equality 2020–2030 aims to advance equality of voice, agency and access to resources and services between women and men in sustainable agricultural production and rural development, identifying gender mainstreaming and women-targeted interventions as a two-fold strategy.
by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
2023 · Food & Agriculture Org.
This case study is one of four undertaken by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the DSI-NRF (Department of Science and Innovation and National Research Foundation) Centre of Excellence in Food Security (CoE-FS) at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa. The purpose of these studies is to review the impact of social protection (SP) interventions on food system outcomes. The overall aim is to define a theory of change and a conceptual framework that link SP to food systems. The focus of this paper is an examination of the project titled “Enhanced Coastal Fisheries in Bangladesh” (ECOFISH-BD), within the Hilsa Fishery Management Action Plan (HFMAP). The HFMAP was implemented from 2005 in five coastal regions of Bangladesh and is a payment-for-ecosystem-services (PES) intervention that provides conditional in-kind assistance. In particular, the HFMAP provides rice to fishers in return for their compliance with fishing restrictions. ECOFISH-BD was initiated in 2014 and extends the HFMAP to include aspects of a “graduation” approach by providing adaptive co-management of the resource, training, alternative livelihood opportunities and support to ensure the inclusion of women and youth in the protected areas.
by A Report for the World Bank by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Analytics.
2013 · World Bank Publications
This report focuses on the risks of climate change to development in Sub-Saharan Africa, South East Asia and South Asia. Building on the 2012 report, Turn Down the Heat: Why a 4°C Warmer World Must be Avoided, this new scientific analysis examines the likely impacts of present day, 2°C and 4°C warming on agricultural production, water resources, and coastal vulnerability. It finds many significant climate and development impacts are already being felt in some regions, and that as warming increases from present day (0.8°C) to 2°C and 4°C, multiple threats of increasing extreme heat waves, sea-level rise, more severe storms, droughts and floods are expected to have further severe negative implications for the poorest and most vulnerable. The report finds that agricultural yields will be affected across the three regions, with repercussions for food security, economic growth, and poverty reduction. In addition, urban areas have been identified as new clusters of vulnerability with urban dwellers, particularly the urban poor, facing significant vulnerability to climate change. In Sub-Saharan Africa, under 3°C global warming, savannas are projected to decrease from their current levels to approximately one-seventh of total land area and threaten pastoral livelihoods. Under 4°C warming, total hyper-arid and arid areas are projected to expand by 10 percent. In South East Asia, under 2°C warming, heat extremes that are virtually absent today would cover nearly 60-70 percent of total land area in northern-hemisphere summer, adversely impacting ecosystems. Under 4°C warming, rural populations would face mounting pressures from sea-level rise, increased tropical cyclone intensity, storm surges, saltwater intrusions, and loss of marine ecosystem services. In South Asia, the potential sudden onset of disturbances to the monsoon system and rising peak temperatures would put water and food resources at severe risk. Well before 2°C warming occurs, substantial reductions in the frequency of low snow years is projected to cause substantial reductions in dry season flow, threatening agriculture. Many of the worst climate impacts could still be avoided by holding warming below 2°C, but the window for action is closing rapidly. Urgent action is also needed to build resilience to a rapidly warming world that will pose significant risks to agriculture, water resources, coastal infrastructure, and human health.