World Bank Podcasts

It’s fascinating how one small change in payments processing can create a ripple effect that changes worlds. In Bihar, India, women are now receiving timely incentive payments, which means better healthcare for their babies and means new access to financial services. Listen to this positive chain reaction and if you like what we’re doing, like us on Facebook.

Despite the threat of violence, outbreaks of gunfire and delays at polling stations, citizens of the Central African Republic turned out for the December 13th referendum on a new constitution. The referendum on the constitution is part of the electoral process that could help stabilize the Central African Republic amid sectarian conflicts that plagued the country for decades. There are still serious problems in parts of the country, where warring factions are intent on retaining control and declaring self-rule. National elections are planned for December 27, however violence has displaced most of the population. United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Central Africa Republic, Abdoulaye Bathily says the renewed electoral process is critical to restoring peace in the country. “The Bangui forum held last May clearly indicated the ways out of the crisis. This country doesn’t lack in human or natural resources. There’s just a need for leadership and accountability on the political level. To me, this is fundamental, and it is essential that these elections take place in the established timeframe, which means before the end of the year. We have almost 11 million voters registered, which is practically the same level as before the crisis. Previous elections did not have as many registered voters. This means that the population has enthusiastically welcomed these elections.” Despite its significant mineral deposits and other resources, the Central African Republic is among the ten poorest countries in the world, and has the lowest level of human development, ranking 187th out of 187 countries.

Dan: Hey, Paschal. Take a moment to think about your health. Breathe in; breathe out. How do you feel today? Good? Paschal: Pretty Good. Dan: Great. We all know that good health is an important part of day-to-day life. If you are not feeling well, you are not going to be as productive as you typically would be. And when we scale that same concept out to an entire country, it still applies. The healthier a population is, the more productive it is likely to be. Paschal: But we’ll all face illness at some point. So, what do you do if you are poor and living in a country in which health services are expensive or are hard to access? Seeking health treatment might be incredibly difficult. Dan: It’s a complex challenge, one facing many countries: How to ensure that all people have access to the health care they need without suffering financial hardship? In this episode, we’re looking at how developing countries around the world are working toward meeting the goal of universal health coverage. Paschal: Universal health coverage—making quality, affordable health care available to everyone—is seen by many as one element of building healthier, more-equitable, and inclusive societies. It is even a target that was recently adopted as part of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. So, here we are—the moment is now—everyone can start working toward this goal! Right? Dan: Actually, you might be surprised—and happily so—to learn that many developing countries have already taken up the challenge of providing universal health coverage. I wanted to find out more about this, and why it’s important that such efforts focus specifically on the poor, so I reached out to Daniel Cotlear. Daniel is the lead author of the new report titled Going Universal: How 24 Developing Countries Are Implementing Universal Health Coverage Reforms from the Bottom Up. Daniel Cotlear: “There’s now plenty of evidence showing that unless a very special effort is made to protect the poor, then health programs tend to be very pro-rich. The better off populations tend to have better contacts, better access because of where geographically they are in relation to the hospitals and clinics." Paschal: Starting with a focus on the poor sounds like an appropriate, but daunting challenge. How will countries achieve it? Dan: Well, the authors were careful not to offer prescriptions or recipes for implementing universal health coverage – this report is no roadmap. But they did note the different kinds of approaches countries were taking. Daniel Cotlear: “Some countries use what we call a “supply-side approach.” One where programs are developed that are trying to take more doctors, more health teams, better equipment into areas where the supply did not exist before. Others take what we call a “demand-side approach,” which is some way of making care more affordable" Paschal: It sounds as though a big part of the transition to universal health coverage is figuring out what approach works best for a given economy. Dan: Exactly. A lot of factors have to be taken into account when building a system for universal health coverage. Along the way each country needs to address its own unique circumstances and challenges. Daniel explained this as well. Daniel Cotlear: “So, countries are different in many dimensions. Two that are particularly relevant have to do with where they are in terms of development. Some of the countries that we studied across the 24 have relatively low income per capita. These countries also tend to have a larger proportion of the population in poverty and a very large proportion of the population in the informal sector. India is an example of that." The authors hope that the people working to implement universal health coverage can use this research to make better decisions.

Au Sénégal, les petits producteurs récoltent les bénéfices de pratiques agricoles climato-intelligentes. Grâce aux semences certifiées et aux nouvelles technologies, ils produisent davantage de vivres pour leurs familles, font mieux face aux effets du changement climatique et réduisent leur impact sur l’environnement. #AfricaFeedsAfrica

Narrator: There’s a line out the door at the Sope Nabi Bakery in Thies, Senegal. The bread that’s sold here is delicious, but it’s special for another reason. It’s made of a composite flour that uses local climate-smart crop varieties. The World Bank-funded West Africa Agriculture Productivity Program or WAAPP is providing more bakers with this flour as it builds a climate-smart food system. Aifa Ndoye: “We are developing the value chain around the composite flour. We are doing it for millet and maize with an incorporation rate of 15% for bread and 50% for cake and this can help farmers get income with dry cereal. This project will also help to reduce the import of wheat because all the bread before was made by wheat 100%. Narrator: That’s Aifa Ndoye, Senior Agricultural Economist at the World Bank. She co-leads the WAAPP program in Senegal. The program develops climate-smart crop varieties—like the millet and maize that’s being used in the bread. WAAPP has delivered 160 climate-smart crop varieties, technologies and training to 5.7 million farmers across West Africa. This has been important in Senegal. Aifa: Last year…the rainy season was very delayed. Instead of starting in mid-June, it started in August. In Senegal like in other Sub Saharan African countries, the rainy season is becoming very short. Narrator: Erratic rainfall has slashed harvests and caused hunger for many farmers. WAAPP’s climate-smart agriculture interventions are helping to turn things around. WAAPP varieties developed in Senegal are yielding bigger harvests. Aifa: “We have generated 7 new varieties characterized by their high productivity, moving from 1 ton per hectare to 2 to 3 tons per hectare for dry cereal like millet, sorghum and maize. In total we’ll have 14 new varieties, drought resistant, with high yield and early maturing varieties because sorghum we move from 120 days to about 100 days and cowpea, we are having varieties that move from 3 months to like 1.5 months. So in terms of reducing the production cycle it fits the rainy season. And these varieties, like the sorghum varieties, are very drought resistant because they can stay 2-3 weeks without having rain.” Narrator: WAAPP also helps farmers get access to climate-smart technologies. Aifa: In terms of planting we are using SRI, the intensive rice production system, a system that can help farmers save more seed. Instead of using 60 kg per hectare they are using 20 kg of seed per hectare. It is a way to have high outcome over the limited cropped area. In addition to these varieties, we are supporting a project on sustainable land management that enable farmers to use agroforestry to regreen their field and to use organic material in order to limit the use of mineral fertilizer in the plot without dampening the level of yield. So WAAPP is transferring a package of technology that can reduce in some way the greenhouse gas emissions.

Sub-Saharan Africa has some of the world’s highest fertility rates, a young population, and a significant number of dependent youths. This demographic composition could be leveraged for greater prosperity, or lead to challenges that increase poverty. This episode looks at what policy makers could do to make the most of the region’s population trends.

Face à un changement et une variabilité climatiques entravant le développement de l’Afrique subsaharienne, un nouveau plan de la Banque mondiale présente les actions nécessaires à mener pour améliorer la résilience face au climat et promouvoir un développement à faibles émissions de carbone afin de préserver la croissance future et maintenir les objectifs de réduction de la pauvreté. Considérant que le changement climatique est la cause de la plupart des chocs maintenant ou plongeant les foyers africains dans la pauvreté, Accélérer un développement résilient au changement climatique et à faibles émissions de carbone : le Business plan pour le climat en Afrique vise à la fois à sensibiliser et à accélérer la mobilisation des ressources en faveur des initiatives prioritaires en matière de résilience au climat et de faibles émissions dans la région.

The World Bank Group today unveiled a new plan that calls for $16 billion in funding to help African people and countries adapt to climate change and build up the continent’s resilience to climate shocks. Titled Accelerating Climate-Resilient and Low-Carbon Development, the Africa Climate Business Plan will be presented at COP21, the global climate talks in Paris, on November 30. It lays out measures to boost the resilience of the continent’s assets – its people, land, water, and cities - as well as other moves including boosting renewable energy and strengthening early warning systems.

The Los Angeles-based band shares their twist on Cambodian ‘60s rock, a musical style that was nearly wiped out during the Khmer Rouge era, and talks about Cambodian Living Arts, a non-profit that pairs traditional artists with young people as a means of cultural preservation. To watch the musical performance, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhEWRSgS1FQ

For an engaging pair of digit-loving World Bank economists, Nobuo Yoshida and Umar Serajuddin, the number 77 brings up mixed emotions. That’s how many countries lack data on those living in poverty. Watch our intrepid economists explain why that’s bad news, and share their ideas on how to decrease the number 77 down to, oh say zero?

The world is urbanizing at staggering, unprecedented rates. With rapid urbanization, fragile cities can emerge with “differently” governed spaces and subsequently, rising levels of crime and violence. Affecting more acutely the poorest and most marginalized populations, crime and violence needs to be a part of our broader development strategy at the Bank. Listen to what the Social and Urban Development Teams are doing to address this challenge! Read more @WBG_Cities on Twitter!

If knowledge is power, then few tools are as powerful as climate services. The Climate Investment Funds is helping communities and countries hit by changing weather not just survive but thrive by getting the right information to the right people at the right time. To learn more, please follow https://twitter.com/CIF_Action or go to http://www.climateinvestmentfunds.org

Going to an event at the 2015 World Bank Group-International Monetary Fund Annual Meetings in Lima, Peru can be a daunting exercise. There are meetings at all hours of the day. Several meetings that you would have wanted to go to are running conjointly or are only attended by professionals. Not so with the Civil Society Townhall. Anyone and everyone with ideas or just recriminations can address their complaints or queries directly to the President of the World Bank Group, Jim Yong Kim, or the Managing Director of the IMF, Christine Lagarde. It’s democracy at work. To watch a replay of the Townhall event, visit: http://live.worldbank.org/civil-society-townhall-2015

Throughout the last 20 years, Uganda’s population density has been growing rapidly, placing significant pressure on the use of land. If managed properly, this increase can support economic growth, but the right systems must be in place to promote efficient land use, according to a new World Bank economic update. The update, Searching for the Grail – Can Uganda’s Land Support its Prosperity Drive?, evaluates the complex challenges associated with better land management in Uganda, which can support the processes of agricultural transformation and urbanization, and enable the country to raise its level of productive and achieve economic transformation.

With its large number of participants, important seminars and meetings held in conjunction with the 2015 World Bank Group/IMF Annual Meetings in Lima, Peru, it was particularly difficult to choose which event to focus on. However, in this city, known around the world for its culinary excellence, one meeting in particular attracted the attention of many participants. Food power. To watch a replay of the event, visit: http://live.worldbank.org/future-of-food-climate-smart-food-system