Podcasts about World Development Report

CGD's Eeshani Kandpal speaks with Twaweza founder Rakesh Rajani and the World Bank's Halsey Rogers about how Twaweza's learning assessments influenced the 2018 World Development Report on education. Together they shed light on how partnerships between international actors and local institutions can have outsize impact on policy worldwide.

This episode is a recording of a panel conversation that took place at the University of Oxford's Blavatnik School of Government during the RISE Annual Conference in September 2023. For the purposes of clarity and length, this podcast is an edited version of the conversation.The panel featured Nompumelelo Mohohlwane from the Department of Basic Education in South Africa; Rachel Hinton from the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office; and former RISE Research Director, Lant Pritchett. This conversation was moderated by Laura Savage from the International Education Funders Group.The panel looks back at the questions that existed at the start of RISE and whether enough has been learnt ten years later. They reflect on the difference between the motivating questions for RISE and the What Works Hub for Global Education. They go on to debate what commitment to learning really means and what cultural shifts are needed for it to materialise, and connected to this, what implementation science really means. The conversation ends with a reflection on the meaning of the thematic shift from systems to implementation. LinksNompumelelo Mohohlwane (webpage)Rachel Hinton (webpage)Lant Pritchett (webpage)Laura Savage (webpage)Contract teachers – Why do they work in an NGO setting but not with government? (journal article) South Africa Department of Basic Education Research Agenda, 2019 – 2023 (report)South Africa's 5-year NDP “Medium-Term Strategic Framework 2019 – 2024” (report)South Africa's Presidential Youth Employment Initiative (report)Rewriting the Grammar of the Education System: Delhi's Education Reform (A Tale of Creative Resistance and Creative Disruption) (book)State of education research (slide in video)Smart Buys Report 2023 (report)The RISE Podcast: Denis Mizne on Transforming Brazil's Education System to Deliver Learning (podcast)World Development Report 2018 (report)Applying

Another episode of the Murder, Mystery, and Mayhem Laced with Morality Podcast is coming with Lyn Squire

In this episode, we explore ONS's work with other countries to raise the world's statistical capabilities.    Transcript  MILES FLETCHER  Hello and welcome again to ‘Statistically Speaking', the Office for National Statistics' Podcast. I'm Miles Fletcher, and in this episode we're going international.   Now it hardly needs saying that global issues, climate change, population growth, inflation, to name a few are best understood and addressed with the benefit of good global statistics. So, to that end, the ONS works in partnership with a number of countries worldwide with the ultimate aim of raising the world's statistical capabilities. At the one end of Africa, for example, a continent where it's deeply involved, that includes embedding state of the art inflation indices and other economic data in Ghana. On the other side of the continent, it's meant using AI and machine learning to track the movement of displaced populations in Somalia. How do you run a census in places where nobody has a permanent address?   It's all fascinating work and here to tell us about it, Emily Poskett, Head of International Development at the ONS; Tim Harris of the ONS Data Science Campus's international development team; and joining us from Accra, our special guest, Government Statistician of the Republic of Ghana and head of the Ghanaian Statistical Service Professor Samuel Annim.  Emily then, to start give us the big overview if you would, set out for us the scale and the purpose of this international development work that the ONS is doing.    EMILY POSKETT  We work with countries around the developing world to support strong modern statistical systems wherever we see a suitable opportunity to do so.     MF  What form does that work take? Does it mean statisticians going out to these countries?     EP  Yes, it does, when that's the right way to go about things. So our work is usually through the form of medium-term partnerships with a small group of national statistical offices, or NSOs, from the developing world, and those partnerships are medium term over a number of years in order to build up a real understanding of the context in that country, that national statistical office's vision for modernization and how the ONS can be of most help to achieve their own goals under their own strategy.   That relationship will normally be led by a particular individual who spends time getting to know the context and getting to know the people, getting to know what ONS can do to help. A partnership might cover a range of topic areas from census to data science to leadership training to economic statistics, and the lead point of contact, the strategic advisor in many cases, will bring in the relevant experts from across ONS, and they'll work through virtual collaboration but also through on-site visits, and they will work out the best timing for those and the best delivery modality in order to ensure that the gains are sustained. Our primary focus really is to make sure that changes that we support in the partner organisation are sustainable, and the work that ONS does using the UK's aid budget is really impactful and leads to long term change.   We don't always work through direct partnerships, for example where we see opportunities to work alongside other organisations, so international institutions like the World Bank or other national statistics offices like Statistics Canada or Statistics Sweden, they might choose to bring us in to deliver small pieces of focussed technical assistance alongside their own programmes. One of our medium-term partnerships is with the United Nations Economic Commission For Africa (UNECA), and they work with all 54 countries of Africa, and they can choose to bring in our expertise alongside their own to target particular needs in particular countries. But I would say that 70% of our effort is through these medium-term partnerships.     MF  So the ONS is providing one part of a large patchwork of work, going on right across the developing world, but what is the ultimate purpose of that? What are all these countries trying to achieve together?     EP  Well, strong statistical systems are essential in all countries to aid effective planning and informed decision making. And this is even more important in developing countries where resources are often scarce and you're trying to use scarce resources to target a wide range of needs across the population. And that resource might include UK aid for example, and aid from other countries. The UK has been statistical capacity building for many, many years through different modalities, working with partners, and the ONS is just one implementing partner who can be called upon to provide that technical expertise. We're really proud to be a partner of choice for a number of developing countries and the ONS is seen worldwide as being a leader. We're really proud that countries like Ghana would choose to work with us, and that we want to do our bit to help them to achieve their own strategy and their own goals.     MF  Well, this seems like an excellent moment to bring in Professor Samuel Annim. Our great pleasure, great honour, to have you with us professor. From your perspective, and what you're looking to achieve in the Ghana Statistical Service, how important how useful is the work with ONS been for you?     PROFESSOR SAMUEL ANNIM  From the perspective of how it has been important for us, I mean, I look at it from several aspects. I got into office in 2019,  a year after the ONS and GSS collaboration had been established. And when I joined obviously, I had a sense of what I wanted to contribute to the office. Partnership that we've seen between National Statistical Offices over the years have always taken the dimension of statistical production partnerships, and what I simply mean by that is that they're going in to help the service deliver on its core mandate. So for example, if price statistics are the priority, then that is the area you want to focus on, but our partnership with ONS took a different dimension. In addition to focusing on the traditional mandate of the Institute, which is the production of statistics, we really have over the period achieved some milestones from the perspective of transformation, which is of high priority to me, and secondly, from the perspective of injecting technology or contemporary ways of dispensing our duty as a National Statistical Office. So from an individual point of view, it has it has been beneficial to the mission that I have, and since then we have kept on working in the area of transformation.     MF  Listening to what you have to say there, it does sound as though some of the big challenges you face at the moment are not too dissimilar from the ones faced by ONS, all about modernising statistics, particularly using big data and new technology.     SA  Indeed, and I must say that it is a wave across all national statistical offices, because we are now trying to complement traditional surveys and censuses with non-traditional data sources i.e. Big Data, administrative data, citizens generated data and other geospatial resources. So collaborating is the key thing here, because this is new to the statistical community. So it's important we collaborate to learn how you are dealing with issues that are not consistent with the production of official statistics. Now as a global community, we are all thinking about how to use citizens generated science, I mean, getting citizens to provide us with data. And this is an area in which there isn't any National Statistical Office that can claim authority, because the approach and the processes are pretty not consistent with the guidelines for production of official statistics. So it's important to learn how countries are doing it and see how we can collaborate to get this done.     MF  Yes, in the last episode of our podcast, interestingly, we talked about the challenges of getting our citizens here in the UK to take part in surveys. Are Ghanaians friendly to what you're trying to achieve? Or are they perhaps sceptical as well and difficult to engage?     SA  I wouldn't say they're sceptical, I think they really feel part of it. And that is one of the strengths of citizen generated data, because if you package it in a way that it is more demand driven, rather than supply, you don't just go and tell them ‘do this because I know how it's supposed to be done', but instead give them the platform to tell the National Statistical Office what their experiences are, provide them with platforms that they can easily engage so that they can feel part of the process and they really own the product. In our case, it is not a product that is owned by the statistical service but it is a product that is owned by the sub national agencies, and that is, as I said earlier, the beauty of citizen generated data. It is co-creation and co-ownership of the statistical product. So they are not sceptical, they are very receptive to it, and they are getting a better understanding of what we do as a National Statistical Office.     MF  Thinking internationally, thinking globally, what sort of shape do you think the world's statistical system is in now, as a result of partnerships like this or other developments, generally looking across Africa and looking beyond Africa, when we think about key issues, particularly climate change - how good is the statistical system now in tracking these very important changes, and the impacts they're having?     SA  We have as national statistical offices been very content with the traditional statistics - labour statistics, price statistics, GDP - and you do that either monthly, quarterly, or in some instances annually, and even the social indicators, I mean, it's only a few countries like the UK that has been able to do social indicators annually, for those of us in the Global South, a lot of the social indicators are being collected every five years, or every seven to eight years. So this was the way national statistical offices, up until about 2017 or 2018, were shaped. But with the data revolution that we saw around 2014, and since the World Development Report, the data for better lives document, that came out in 2021, clearly, we now have to approach statistics from a different point of view.   And this is simply asking the question, how do I contextualise the statistics beyond what international communities would be expecting national statistical offices to do? I mean, now we are doing everything possible to ensure that we have a monthly GDP, and this is something that we are also learning from the partnership with ONS, because we are aware that they are developing models to ensure that beyond GDP they have some indicators that would readily give us insight on economic performance.   And related to the issue of climate change that you are you talking about Miles, it's one of the areas that you cannot simply dispense your statistics in that one area as a standalone National Statistical Office, because this is something that has a continental dimension, something that has a global dimension. And at the moment we have data sitting in different silos, and the only thing that we can do is through partnership, see how we can bring these datasets together to help us get a better understanding of issues around climate change.   So going forward, in my point of view, if we really want to sustain the transformation that we are seeing as a global Statistical Office, the only way out is through partnership, is through collaboration. And one of the things that I'm putting on the table is that we better begin to measure partnerships. Because we've treated partnerships as a qualitative engagement. And really, nobody knows which partnerships are working and which are not working. So if we're able to measure it, we can more clearly see the benefits of partnerships, although we all hold the view that it is the way to go.     MF  Interesting what you said about how we've traditionally concentrated on those classical measures of economic progress, and notably GDP. You might be interested to hear that the charity Oxfam, the big NGO, was in the news here in the UK recently when they said that GDP was ‘colonialist', and it was ‘anti-feminist', because it ignored the huge economic value of unpaid work, which they said is largely undertaken by women.   Well, whether you agree with that or not, it does perhaps highlight the need for going beyond GDP and producing these alternative, and perhaps richer, wider measures of economic progress and economic value.     SA  I mean, I clearly associate with that submission, and we currently doing some work with the United Nations Development Programme on the National Human Development Report. And the focus of this report is exactly what you are talking about, Miles. We are looking at the current value of work, and we are looking at the future value of work. And we are going beyond the definition of who is employed, which strictly looks at whether the work that you are doing comes with remuneration or not, because once you broaden it and look at the value of work, you definitely have the opportunity to look at people who are doing unpaid work, and indeed their contribution to the progress that we are seeing as a human society, and the National Human Development Report has a sharp focus on this gender issue. They're going to look at that closely. And again, this is coming on the backdrop of an ongoing annual household income and expenditure survey that we are doing. So traditionally, government and international organisations would ask what is your employment and what is your unemployment rate? And then in this report, we tell them that we need to begin to look at those who are working, but we see they're not employed, simply because they are not working for pay or profit, and the proportion of people who are in there, and then once you disaggregate based on sex, age and geography, it's so revealing that we are losing a number of insights from the perspective of unpaid work. And so I fully subscribe to that view.     MF  That's interesting. Professor, for now thank you very much, and I hope you'll join the conversation again later, but we're going to broaden out to talk about, well, it's actually a related development, Emily, talking about women and unpaid work, that's been another theme of ONS's work with the UN Economic Commission for Africa.     EMILY POSKETT  There was a request put forward by national statistic offices around Africa to undertake leadership training, and this was part of the country's modernization vision. Countries recognise that in order to achieve modernisation, they need to have strong leadership. So they asked the UNECA to deliver leadership training and ONS partnered with UNECA to design and pilot this leadership training programme in a range of countries. As part of delivering that we noticed and recognised a lack of female leaders in a number of National Statistics Offices around the continent, and thought with partners about what we can do to help support that, so now as well as running a leadership training for the top tier of leadership in in each organisation, we also run a women into leadership training for potential future female leaders from within the staff. And it's been really, really successful. Some of the feedback that we've had from leaders in those organisations is that they've seen their female staff becoming more confident, more outspoken, more ambitious, putting themselves forward for positions, putting their ideas forwards as well, and generally feeling more confident to contribute in the workplace. We're really proud of that success and hope to roll it out in many more countries around the continent.     MF  A country that's the other side of Africa in a number of important senses, and that is Somalia, which of course if you've followed the news to any extent over the last few decades, you'll know the serious turmoil that's affected that part of Africa, Tim Harris, bringing you in, what's been going on in Somalia that the ONS has been involved in, particularly when it comes to measuring population and population movement. Tell us about that.     TIM HARRIS  Well, as you say, Somalia is a very fragile context. It's been affected by conflict and climate change and environmental issues for many years. And that's made it very challenging to collect information, statistical information, on a range of things. But particularly on population, which is a key underpinning piece of statistics which any country needs, and in fact, there hasn't been a census in Somalia since the 1970s, almost 50 years now, but there are plans to do a census next year, with support from the UN Population Fund, UNFPA, and other various institutions in Somalia and development partners, as well as the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office. And Emily's international development team are also trying to form a partnership, or are forming a new partnership, with the Somalia National Bureau of Statistics. So there are plans to do a census next year, and we're really in the preparatory phase for that at the moment. And we're looking to see in our team how we can use data science, new techniques, new data sources, to try and help prepare to run that census.   One of the particular issues in Somalia is that there are significant numbers of people who are displaced from where they usually live, by the conflict, by climate change. There's also been a drought for the last few years, and so there are hundreds of thousands, in fact millions, of people who are displaced from where they usually live. They tend to congregate in what we call Internally Displaced People Camps, or IDP camps. So they're not refugees, they haven't crossed an international boundary, but they are displaced from where they usually live. And these IDP camps tend to be quite fluid and dynamic. They're often in areas that are difficult to get to, so information on them is very difficult to obtain. They change very quickly, they grow, they contract, and a lot of them are on private land. So we're looking to see whether we can use new data techniques, and new data sources, to give us information about the broad scale of population in that area.     MF  And those new data sources are necessary presumably because it's very difficult to actually get out and physically see these people in those areas and count them physically.     TH  That's right, and they change very quickly. So if you're running a census, you want to know where your people are, so you can send the right number of enumerators to the right places, you can draw boundaries of enumeration areas and so on.     MF  You need an address register essentially, but these are people effectively without addresses.     TH  That's right. That's the way that you do it in the UK. It's not possible in many of these IDP camps in Somalia. So we're looking to see whether we can use high resolution satellite imagery, which we can task for a particular period of time, say in the next week or the next month. And we use that satellite imagery to see whether we can identify structures on the ground in these camps. And in fact, the UN Population Fund has been doing this in a very manual way for some time now. So someone looks at the satellite imagery, and they put a point on each tent, and they try and count the tents and the structures within these camps. That's obviously a very time-consuming way of doing it. So we're looking to see can we do it in a more automated way.  So we've procured some satellite data and we've developed what we call training data. So in certain parts of the camps, we manually draw around the outlines of the tents, and we use techniques called machine learning. We show computers what areas are tents and what areas are not tents. And we try and train them using these algorithms to be able to predict in areas they haven't seen which areas are tents and which areas are not tents. So we're trying to develop models where we can use high resolution satellite imagery to predict the areas where there are tents, to produce numbers of tents, and in this way, we can help to estimate the broad numbers of people in these areas, and that can feed into the preparations for the census to help it run more smoothly and more efficiently.     MF  And trying to count an ever-shifting population allowance, in that we've got seasonal variations going on, some people unfortunately being evicted, and then you've got a population that would be nomadic anyway.     TH  People in these camps, they're a whole mixture of people, some who've been forced to move because of drought, some have been forced to move because of conflict, and as you say, there are large numbers of nomadic people as well. And they have tended to also congregate in these IDP camps in recent times because of the drought and other climate conditions.     MF  And it's thought there could be up to 3 million people at the moment living under those conditions in Somalia.     TH  That's right. I mean, that I think highlights one of the particular issues, in that the numbers are very uncertain. So there is some information from camp management administrative data, there is some information from some limited surveys that the Somalia National Bureau of Statistics has undertaken, but the estimates from those two different sources produce very, very different results. And so this is what we're trying to do, to see whether objectively we can count the number of tents, and therefore have some objective measure of at least the number of tents and structures, obviously then we need to move to how many of those tents and structures might be occupied. How many people on average might be in each of those tents and structures. But can we add something to the information context that produces some more objective measures, at least of the number of tents and the number of structures in those areas.     MF  Well, that's the kind of cutting-edge stuff that the Data Science Campus is all about. But Emily, the ONS has been involved in other censuses in Africa over the longer term, hasn't it?     EMILY POSKETT  Yes, that's right, Miles. So we've been involved in a number of censuses around Africa, including Ghana, also Kenya, Rwanda and a number of other countries through our partnership with the UNECA. And we've been able to really support countries to move from using paper for data collection to using tablets for data collection, during what they call the 2020 census round. And between ONS and the UNECA, we've been able to support on a number of different aspects, including how to make the most of that tablet technology. So you don't just move from using paper to using tablets and do the same processes. There are a number of advantages to using tablets in terms of how you can monitor the quality of the data coming in in real time, and how you can speed up that data collection and that data processing, and we've been able to work with NSOs around the continent on that.   We've also been using modern data matching techniques to support countries with their post enumeration surveys, which is a way of testing and improving the quality of the census. We've also been working with partners on using data visualisation and new techniques for improving the dissemination and user engagement with the products coming out of the census and therefore increasing the value of the census data products.     MF  It's interesting what you say about introducing tablet technology for data gathering in the field, to be honest, it's not that long ago that the ONS actually moved to use that, rather than the traditional what was once described as ‘well-meaning people with clipboards' going around asking questions. And it strikes me that in developing and working with these partner countries, the sort of methods the sort of technology being introduced, is not far behind where we're at really is it?     EP  No, absolutely. The ONS experts that get involved in these projects really learn a huge amount from the partners that they're working with as well, because often the partners we're working with have far fewer resources to deliver on similar goals. So the staff have to be incredibly innovative and use all sorts of different techniques and resources in order to achieve those goals. And people coming from ONS will learn a huge amount by engaging with partners.     MF  Well, on the modernisation theme, the census is another area where we've been working with Ghana isn't it, Professor?      PROFESSOR SAMUEL ANNIM  That's correct. We had support in all three phases of the census engagement, that is before the data collection, during the data collection, and after the data collection. We were very clear in our minds that we were going to use tablets for the data collection. And one of the things that we didn't know, or struggled with, had to do with the loading of the materials onto the tablet for the data collection.   Our original plan would have taken us about six months or four months to do that. And it wasn't going to be new for Ghana. We had other countries that had taken that length of time just to load the materials onto the tablet to enable the data collection exercise. And through the ONS and UNECA collaboration, we got technical assistance to provision the tablets in a much shorter duration. If I recall correctly, it took about six weeks to get all the items on the tablet. And we had been using tablets for data collection, but we hadn't been able to do remote real-time data monitoring because we didn't have a dashboard. We didn't know how to develop it. And through the partnership we were able to get a dashboard. The benefit of that was that after 44 days of exiting the field, we were able to put out a preliminary report on the census because during every day of the census we had a good sense of what the numbers were, whatever corrections we had to make we were making them. So after 44 days of exiting the field, we were able to announce the preliminary result.     MF  Wow, you had a provisional population total after 40 days?    SA  44 days, yes.     MF  44 days! Well, that puts certain countries to shame, I think, but anyway, let's not dwell on that. That's very impressive, Professor. And there's another project you've been working on, which I suppose is close to your heart as an economist, and that's the production of CPI? Modernising that?     SA  Absolutely. Absolutely. One of the first things that happened when I took office in 2019 was as part of the partnership, I visit ONS to understand what they are doing and how the collaboration can be deepened. And one of the things that we explored, and that was the first time I had heard of it, was how to produce a reproducible analytical pipeline. And all that simply means is that if you keep on doing something over and over again, you should think about automating the process. And that is the relationship that we have when it comes to CPI now. We have completely moved away from Excel. When I got in I said in addition to excel, let's use data, because when the process is not automated, and you have heavy dependence on human beings doing it, the likelihood of error is high. So we really bought into this and now we do our traditional ways, Excel, data, and then we do the reproducible analytical pipeline to compare the results. And ultimately, we're going to move away from the traditional XLS database and rely on this automated process. And this again, would allow us to hopefully reduce the length of time that it takes. So that is the extent to which we are modernising our CPI based on our collaboration.     MF  That's very impressive. And so through the process of speeding up the lag time of those regular indicators, you get a much timelier picture of what's going on in the economy.     EMILY POSKETT  This is one of the areas we will be working with a number of partners on. This idea of using new technology to deliver reproducible analytical pipelines and really, this is where national statistics offices around the world, but particularly those with low resources, can really utilise new technology to save time and improve quality. And this is something that we're really excited to be working with a number of different offices on, on a number of different topics, to really save human resources and ultimately improve quality.     MF  Tim, bringing you in...     TIM HARRIS  I think this really illustrates one of the other benefits of data science. We've talked a lot about the mobile phone records, call detail records, and their use in Ghana for producing mobility statistics, talked about using satellite imagery and machine learning in Somalia. But data science, and the tools of the digital age, can do a lot more of the basic underpinning work in statistical modernisation really well, and I think we really need to focus on that and see where we can benefit from that. And the work that Professor Annim talks about, about automating the CPI, I think that is really important. For that we can use the tools of coding, lessons from software engineering, like version control, and auditing processes, to really help us to get much greater efficiencies in these key statistical processes which any statistics office undertakes.   And we've been very pleased to work with the Ghana Statistics Service on automating their consumer price index. I think that we're seeing that it's speeded up the process, it's reduced the scope for human error, it's enabled us to put in quality assurance checks. The process has enabled us to produce much more transparent processes, and processes that can be maintained over time, because people can understand and see what's been done rather than things being hidden in a black box. So this process of automating statistical processes is really important.  I think the way we've engaged with the Ghana Statistics Service also highlights what we're trying to do in terms of building capacity for people within statistics offices to do this work for themselves. So partly we've done some of the work to help them automate. But we've also tried to build the capacity of Professor Annim and his colleagues so that they can then do this work themselves and take it forward, and not only within the consumer price index, but also seeing how they can plan more strategically about how this work can be done in other areas of statistics production.     MILES FLETCHER  Emily, what are the priorities for the future of this international development work of the ONS?     EMILY POSKETT  So our priority for the next phase of this work is to continue with the partnerships that we have and to build new partnerships. So Tim mentioned that we are working towards a new partnership with the Somalia National Bureau of Statistics. We're also considering new partnerships in Tanzania and Zimbabwe, to add to the ones we already have in Ghana, Rwanda, Kenya, Namibia and with the UNECA. And that's just in Africa. We're also looking to see what we can do to support in other regions. We have a partnership with Jordan, and a new one with the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, and we're looking to do more in that region and beyond into Asia and the Pacific as well, but also looking to consolidate the kind of topics which we've worked on previously. So we've mentioned census, data science, women into leadership training, open SDG platform, and we're also looking to do more in new topic areas. So we're looking to do more in climate and environment statistics. We think this is a really important area that we're looking to do more in, in geography and geographical disaggregation of data.  And I think we're looking to do more really on the usability of statistical outputs and dissemination of statistical outputs. I think a number of our partners do a really great job of collecting data, but there's a lot more that can be done to make use of new technology to better disseminate and improve the use of that data. So we're ambitious in the reach that we have with our small budget, but we want to make sure that we don't lose sight of sustainability, and by spreading ourselves too thinly, we could reduce the sustainability of the work that we do, and I think we're forever trying to balance off those two things.     MF  Professor Annim, perhaps I could give you the last word on this. How do you see the future of collaboration between the ONS and Ghana?     PROFESSOR SAMUEL ANNIM  We really want to push the collaboration beyond the two statistical agencies, and let me indicate that that's started already. One of the things that we want to achieve is more utilisation of our data. I mean, we are fine with the production of it. We are technical people. We can continue to improve on it. But what I see with this partnership is to scale our relationship as two national statistical offices. Our relationship should be scaled up to the data users. So we don't want to just sit as two statistical offices, improving the production of statistics, but really getting into the realm of the utilisation of statistics, and that is where we need to bring in other government agencies, based on what ONS and GSS are nurturing.     MF  There you have it, statistics are important, but it's outcomes that really matter.   That's it for another episode of ‘Statistically Speaking', thanks once again for listening.   You can find out more about our international development work, read case studies and view our ambitious strategy, setting up the ONS's vision for high quality statistics to improve lives globally, on the ONS website, ONS.gov.uk, and you can subscribe to new episodes of this podcast on Spotify, Apple podcasts and all the other major platforms.   You can also get more information, or ask us a question, by following @ONSFocus on Twitter.  I'm Miles Fletcher and our producer at the ONS is Alisha Arthur. Until next time, goodbye    ENDS 

Migration is a development challenge. About 184 million people—2.3 percent of the world's population—live outside of their country of nationality, and almost half of them are in low- and middle-income countries. In this episode of The Development Podcast, we explore the conversation around migration, from global economic imbalances, demographic changes, and conflict, to the opportunities it can bring to people and host communities.To unpack this and more, we speak to Xavier Devictor, the World Bank's co-Director for this year's World Development Report and four individuals, including two migrants in Colombia and the Philippines, who share their stories of success and survival outside of their home countries. Tell us what you think of our podcast here >>>. We would love to hear from you! Featured VoicesXavier Devictor, Co-Director, World Development Report 2023Paula Rossiasco, Senior Social Development Specialist, World BankAlejandra Botero, Former Director, Nation Planning Department ColombiaAlvin Ang, Professor in the Department of Economics, Ateneo de Manila UniversityDexibel Bravo, Venezuelan entrepreneurAngelito Castro, Philippine fish farmerTimestamps[00:00] Welcome and introduction of the topic[02:03] Colombia: Perspectives and stories from the ground[09:58] Philippines: Perspectives and stories from the ground[14:00] The state of migration around the world[18:08] The role of governments and policy makers[26:01] Closure and thanks for tuning in!ABOUT THE DEVELOPMENT PODCASTThis international development podcast brings together the data, research—and solutions—that can pave the way to a sustainable future. Through conversations focused on revealing the latest data, the best research, and cutting-edge solutions, let us introduce you to the folks working to make the world a better place. Listen and subscribe for free on your favorite platform. And rate our show! ;) Tell us what you think of our podcast here >>>. We would love to hear from you! ABOUT THE WORLD BANK GROUPThe World Bank Group is one of the world's largest sources of funding and knowledge for low-income countries. Its five institutions share a commitment to reducing poverty, increasing shared prosperity, and promoting sustainable development.

In this episode of 'UKICE (I Tell)' - formerly known as 'Brexit and Beyond' - Professor Ben Ansell, Professor of Comparative Democratic Institutions at Nuffield College, University of Oxford, talks to Professor Anand Menon about his new book, 'Why Politics Fails: The Five Traps of the Modern World & How to Escape Them', the merits of proportional representation and the politics of the housing crisis. --- Ben Ansell is Professor of Comparative Democratic Institutions at Nuffield College, University of Oxford. Following a PhD at Harvard he taught at the University of Minnesota for several years, becoming a full Professor at Oxford in 2013 at the age of thirty-five. He was made Fellow of the British Academy in 2018, among the youngest fellows at that time. His work has been widely covered in the media, including in the World Bank's World Development Report, The New York Times, The Economist, The Times and on BBC Radio 4's 'Start the Week'. He is the Principal Investigator of the multi-million-pound ERC project 'The Politics of Wealth Inequality', co-editor of the most-cited journal in comparative politics, and has written three award-winning academic books. 'Why Politics Fails' is his first for a general reader.

On this edition Rafael Behr talks to Professor Ben Ansell about his new book Why Politics Fails: The Five Traps of the Modern World & How to Escape ThemBen Ansell is Professor of Comparative Democratic Institutions at Nuffield College, University of Oxford. He was made Fellow of the British Academy in 2018, among the youngest fellows at that time. His work has been widely covered in the media, including in the World Bank's World Development Report, The New York Times, The Economist, The Times and on BBC Radio 4's 'Start the Week'. He was the Principal Investigator of the multi-million-pound ERC project 'The Politics of Wealth Inequality', is co-editor of the most-cited journal in comparative politics, and has written three award-winning academic books. Why Politics Fail is his latest book and his first for a wider audience.Link to buy Ben's new bookhttps://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/284663/ben-ansellLink to Ben's substackhttps://benansell.substack.comRafael Behr's first book was released Thursday 4 May, 2023**'Politics, A Survivor's Guide,'** is all about the infuriating toxicity of politics, how it got that way and how to resist the slide into cynicism and pessimism that are so corrosive of democracy. It's about the challenge of staying engaged without getting enraged; the need to empathise with people whose views we cannot share and how that is different to appeasement of politics we believe to be dangerous.Available from Waterstones:https://www.waterstones.com/book/politics-a-survivors-guide/rafael-behr/9781838955045Or, for those who are interested in signed copies, from City Books in Hove:https://www.city-books.co.ukPolitics on the Couch has been chosen by Feedspot as both one of the Top 25 UK Psychology Podcasts, and Top 25 Political Science Podcasts on the web.https://blog.feedspot.com/uk_psychology_podcastshttps://blog.feedspot.com/political_science_podcasts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The onset of the pandemic in 2020 marked a turning point in the 30-year pursuit of successful global poverty reduction. According to recent World Bank estimates, the incomes of the poorest 40 percent of the world's population likely fell by 4 percent in 2020. And as a result, the number of people living in extreme poverty likely increased by 11  percent in 2020—i.e. it increased from 648 million to 719 million. The pandemic also increased global inequality. In terms of lost income, the world's poor paid the highest price for the pandemic; Indeed, the percentage income losses of the poorest are estimated to have been double those of the richest. The rise in extreme poverty and decline of shared prosperity caused by inflation, currency depreciations, and broader overlapping crises facing development, pose numerous challenges for global development.Indermit Gill is Chief Economist of the World Bank Group and Senior Vice President for Development Economics. Before starting this position on September 1, 2022, he served as the World Bank's Vice President for Equitable Growth, Finance, and Institutions, where he played a key role in shaping the Bank's response to the extraordinary series of shocks that have hit developing economies since 2020. Between 2016 and 2021, he was a professor of public policy at Duke University and non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution's Global Economy and Development program. Indermit has published extensively on policy issues facing developing countries, sovereign debt, green growth, labor markets, poverty and inequality, and managing natural resource wealth. His pioneering work includes introducing the concept of the “middle income trap” to describe how developing countries stagnate after reaching a certain level of income. Indermit also spearheaded the influential World Development Report 2009: Reshaping Economic Geography. Twitter: @IndermitGillResources:The New Threat to Prosperity Everywhere (Indermit Gill, 13 March 2022, Project Syndicate)Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2022 (World Bank report)Key highlights:Introduction - 00:52How "development" has changed over the years - 03:22The current status of the World Bank's twin goals - 08:56Growing global poverty and how to best measure poverty - 13:38The "middle income trap" and natural resource curse thesis - 21:00Sustainable development, renewal energy, and climate change- 29:50Addressing the debt crisis - 40:15 Host:Professor Dan Banik, University of Oslo, Twitter: @danbanik  @GlobalDevPodApple Google Spotify YouTubehttps://in-pursuit-of-development.simplecast.com/

Alexandre Marc is a political scientist and economist with over 30 years of experience working in areas of conflict and fragility across four continents. Alexandre was the Chief Specialist for Fragility, Conflict and Violence at the World Bank, and is the lead author of the United Nations-World Bank flagship report Pathways for Peace: Inclusive Approaches to Preventing Violent Conflict (2018). He also co-led the preparation of the World Bank's Strategy for Fragility, Conflict, and Violence 2020-2025.This is the second episode in a three-part series with Alexandre covering the Pathways for Peace report, the stories that underpin its core ideas, and his recent work on the geopolitics of fragility. We start by talking about why conflict prevention should constantly be on the minds of political actors, civil society, the private sector, and international organizations. Alexandre paints a vivid picture of how the ebb and flow of crises in the absence of prevention can get a country trapped in a downward spiral of conflict and how countries should aim to surf above the narrow corridor between peace and conflict. We then discuss how communication about the risk of conflict can interact with expectations about the trajectory of a country and the delicate balance between raising an alarm without degenerating into alarmism; and how to learn what works in prevention by looking at countries that come close to conflict but manage to avoid it.Our conversation then moves on to dealing with “wild cards” in prevention – from extremist groups to external actors – and how we can engage in prevention when key actors have an interest in maintaining or starting a conflict. We also talk about the need to capitalize on opportune moments to help a country get on the pathway to peace and whether there are red lines that international organizations should cross in order to prevent conflict. Further, we discuss the role of the private sector in preventing conflict and the conditions in which it should play a role. Alexandre makes it clear that while the private sector is an important actor, it is no panacea and warns us not to force the private sector into situations where it can only succeed by being a bad actor.As a preview to our next episode with Alexandre on the geopolitics of fragility, we wrap up this conversation by talking about prevention in an interconnected world: how the global stage has changed since the release of the report in 2018, what should motivate citizens in Western countries to care about prevention, and the shifting roles and interests of China, Russia, Iran, and Turkey.Listen to the episode to hear Alexandre deliver a masterclass in prevention!*****Dr. Alexandre MarcWebsite: https://www.alexandremarc.orgTwitter: https://twitter.com/AlexanMarc1International Institute for Strategic Studies: https://www.iiss.org/people/conflict-security-and-development/alexandre-marcInstitute for Integrated Transitions: https://ifit-transitions.org/experts/alexandre-marc/*****Mihaela Carstei, Paul M. Bisca, and Johan Bjurman Bergman co-host F-World: The Fragility Podcast. Twitter: https://twitter.com/fworldpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/fworldpodcast/Website: https://f-world.orgMusic: "Tornado" by Wintergatan. Many thanks to Wintergartan for allowing us to use their wonderful music! This track can be downloaded for free at www.wintergatan.net. Video editing by: Alex Mitran - find Alex on Facebook (facebook.com/alexmmitran), Twitter (twitter.com/alexmmitran), or LinkedIn (linkedin.com/in/alexmmitran)EPISODE RESOURCES:United Nations; World Bank. 2018. **Pathways for Peace: Inclusive Approaches to Preventing Violent Conflict.**Washington, DC: World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/28337World Bank. 2011. World Development Report 2011: Conflict, Security, and Development. World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/4389International Crisis Group. 2022. Considering Political Engagement with Al-Shabaab in Somalia. Crisis Group Africa Report N°309. 21 June 2022. https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/horn-africa/somalia/309-considering-political-engagement-al-shabaab-somaliaAlexandre Marc, Bruce Jones. 2021. The New Geopolitics of Fragility: Russia, China, and the Mounting Challenge for Peacebuilding. The Brookings Institution. Washington, DC. https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/FP_20211015_new_geopolitics_fragility_marc_jones_v2.pdfTIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 Introduction00:01:07 How to build a path to prevention00:05:35 Prevention needs attention not alarmism00:13:25 How to learn what successful prevention looks like 00:21:19 “Wild cards” in prevention and conflict: external interference & extreme beliefs00:29:34 What to do when actors have an interest in undermining prevention?   00:34:31 How to break out of “indefinite conflict” 00:40:40 How to capitalize on opportune moments for prevention00:47:22 Red lines and tradeoffs in prevention00:53:44 The private sector - does it have a role in prevention?01:02:10 Prevention in an interconnected world01:06:42 Why should we care about prevention?01:11:14 The competition between models of governance 01:16:46 Wrap-up

Manuel Schönfeld is the founder and CEO of PowerX, a company with the mission to combat climate change. PowerX is venture-backed by Seqouia Scout Fund, Y Combinator and Antler.Manuel spent several years working for McKinsey and Company as a project manager. He advised governments and private sector on innovative energy solutions (ie. Power-to-X, hydrogen to chemicals, solar to cooling) and worked with clients from all continents.Before joining McKinsey, Manuel worked for the World Bank and Morgan Stanley Hong Kong with a focus on renewable energy and intelligence testing. He authored different books and articles, which have been quoted in renown publications such as the World Development Report 2018 (WB, United Nations).Connect with Behind Company Lines and HireOtter Website Facebook Twitter LinkedIn:Behind Company LinesHireOtter Instagram Buzzsprout

Sarah Cliffe is the director of New York University's Center on International Cooperation (CIC). Prior to that, she held several leadership positions at the World Bank and United Nations. Sarah pioneered the work on fragile and conflict-affected states at the World Bank, serving also as the Special Representative for the 2011 World Development Report on Conflict, Security, and Development. At the UN, she spearheaded efforts to help countries build civilian capacities to strengthen peacebuilding and post-conflict transitions. Sarah's vast experience ranges from countries as diverse as Afghanistan, Rwanda, South Africa, Indonesia, and Timor-Leste. She began her career in the United Kingdom and has degrees from Cambridge University and Columbia University. This episode is full of big questions and insightful answers from the very beginning.  To start, we speak to Sarah about her formative years, and how her early impressions of fragility and conflict were actually shaped by her upbringing in a mining town in Wales at a time of social upheaval in the United Kingdom. She also shares her perspectives on what communities at risk in the UK, South Africa, and Rwanda had in common – and why some were more resilient. Our conversation then turns more conceptual, as we take a look at how the insights of her work at the World Bank on conflict, security, and development can help us understand today's global fragility trends. We then explore in depth the big challenges on the world stage ahead of the UN's General Assembly meetings in September. How are the growing tensions between the US, Russia, and China affecting global governance, especially the UN? How has Russia's invasion of Ukraine divided the international community and what are the perspectives of developing countries? What factors have influenced responses to refugees from Ukraine and beyond? How is the future of multilateralism intertwined with domestic politics? And are there any silver linings to geopolitical fragmentation and the new Cold War between the US and China? We conclude on a high note, talking about reasons to be hopeful – listen to the episode to hear Sarah share many more insights into geopolitics, fragility, and the future of global governance.  We conclude on a high note, talking about hope and how history can give us reasons to be hopeful. Listen to the episode to hear Sarah share many more insights into geopolitics, fragility, and the future of global governance.  *****Sarah CliffeTwitter: https://twitter.com/sarah_cliffeThe Center on International Cooperation (CIC) at New York University: https://cic.nyu.edu/people/sarah-cliffe*****Mihaela Carstei, Paul M. Bisca, and Johan Bjurman Bergman co-host F-World: The Fragility Podcast. Twitter: https://twitter.com/fworldpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/fworldpodcast/Website: https://f-world.orgMusic: "Tornado" by Wintergatan. Many thanks to Wintergartan for allowing us to use their wonderful music! This track can be downloaded for free at www.wintergatan.net. *****EPISODE RESOURCES: World Bank. 2005. Low-Income Countries Under Stress: Update. Washington, DC: World Bank, https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/458871468328174684/pdf/34789.pdfWorld Bank. 2011. World Development Report 2011: Conflict, Security, and Development. Washington, DC: World Bank, https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/4389Sarah Cliffe and Karina Gerlach. Development Competition is Heating Up: China's Global Development Initiative, the G7 Partnership for Infrastructure, and the Global Alliance on Food Security. New York: Center on International Cooperation, July 22, 2022, https://cic.nyu.edu/sites/default/files/development_competition_is_heating_up_july_2022.pdfSarah Cliffe et all. How to Maintain International Unity on Ukraine (Part II). New York: Center on International Cooperation, May 31, 2022, https://cic.nyu.edu/sites/default/files/what_needs_to_be_done_to_maintain_international_unity_on_ukraine_part_ii.pdfSarah Cliffe et all. Recent UN Votes on Ukraine: What Needs to be Done to Maintain International Unity (Part I). New York: Center on International Cooperation, April 4, 2022, https://cic.nyu.edu/sites/default/files/what_needs_to_be_done_to_maintain_international_unity_on_ukraine_april_2022.pdfGeneral Assembly of the United Nations, High-Level Meetings of the 77th Session, https://www.un.org/en/ga/77/meetings/United Nations, Our Common Agenda: Report of the Secretary-General, New York: United Nations, https://www.un.org/en/content/common-agenda-report/assets/pdf/Common_Agenda_Report_English.pdf*****TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 Introduction00:01:12 Growing up in Wales, working in South Africa, Rwanda after the genocide 00:04:31 Fragility & conflict in the UK, then and now 00:07:33 Trade unions as community leaders in the UK & South Africa00:10:19 Conflict vs. contestation: What stressors exacerbate violence? 00:14:53 Conflict, security, & development (World Development Report 2011)00:21:22 Fragility drivers: External stressors, group-based inequality, technology & identity 00:27:55 Geopolitical fragmentation, UN General Assembly Meetings 00:33:09 Multilateralism and domestic politics in a changing world order 00:37:05 Reforming the UN in a time of crisis 00:41:18 Russia's invasion of Ukraine, maintaining the credibility of the UN00:48:12 Ukraine, Iraq & the accountability of great powers 00:55:00 Responses to refugees: Ukraine, Syria, Libya 01:00:19 Refugees, identity, & double standards 01:05:50 Geopolitical fragmentation & conflict risks01:09:12 US vs. China: Is a new Cold War a bad thing? 01:14:18 Free speech & joy as proxies for good governance  01:17:47 History as a reason for hope   01:19:59 Wrap-up 

Alexandre Marc is a political scientist and economist with over 30 years of experience working in areas of conflict and fragility across four continents. Alexandre was the Chief Specialist for Fragility, Conflict and Violence at the World Bank, and is the lead author of the United Nations-World Bank flagship report Pathways for Peace: Inclusive Approaches to Preventing Violent Conflict (2018). He also co-led the preparation of the World Bank's Strategy for Fragility, Conflict, and Violence 2020-2025.This is the first episode in a series with Alexandre covering the Pathways for Peace report, the stories that underpin its core ideas, and his recent work on the geopolitics of fragility. We start by talking about Alexandre's upbringing and how traveling with his parents – an adventure worthy of an Indiana Jones movie - led him to discover the wonders of different cultures. Experiences such as staying in an archeological mission in Egypt, crossing Afghanistan and Iran by car, and a road trip from Paris to Jordan sparked Alexandre's interest in how different cultures coexist and led him to try to understand conflict. We then talk about to the relationship between the price of bananas and witchcraft in Cameroon – and we sure had questions about it! Alexandre then shares with us how caring about people, culture, and history helps you better understand the origins and dynamics of conflict, the need to differentiate between conflict and violent conflict, and how the rise in what he calls “conflicts of fragility” led to the Pathways for Peace report. The conversation also explores how actors, institutions, and structural factors can push a country towards peace or conflict, why peace is desirable, the dangers of horizontal inequality, and the importance of dignity. And there's so much more! Listen to the episode to hear Alexandre share many more insights into fragility, conflict, and peace. *****Alexandre MarcWebsite: https://www.alexandremarc.orgTwitter: https://twitter.com/AlexanMarc1International Institute for Strategic Studies : https://www.iiss.org/people/conflict-security-and-development/alexandre-marcInstitute for Integrated Transitions: https://ifit-transitions.org/experts/alexandre-marc/*****Mihaela Carstei, Paul M. Bisca, and Johan Bjurman Bergman co-host F-World: The Fragility Podcast. Twitter: https://twitter.com/fworldpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/fworldpodcast/Website: https://f-world.orgMusic: "Tornado" by Wintergatan . Many thanks to Wintergartan for allowing us to use their wonderful music! This track can be downloaded for free at www.wintergatan.net. Editing by Alex Mitran - find Alex on Facebook (facebook.com/alexmmitran), Twitter (twitter.com/alexmmitran), or Linkedin (linkedin.com/in/alexmmitran)*****EPISODE RESOURCES: United Nations; World Bank. 2018. Pathways for Peace: Inclusive Approaches to Preventing Violent Conflict.Washington, DC: World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/28337 World Bank. 2011. World Development Report 2011: Conflict, Security, and Development. World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/4389Great Britain. Foreign Office. Historical Section. Cameroon. London, H. M. Stationery off, 1920. Pdf. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/a22000968/Douglass C. North – Facts. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2022. Tue. 2 Aug 2022. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/1993/north/facts/Stewart, Frances. 2011. Horizontal Inequalities as a Cause of Conflict: A Review of CRISE Findings.Washington, DC: World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/9126 Marc, Alexandre; Willman, Alys; Aslam, Ghazia; Rebosio, Michelle; Balasuriya, Kanishka. 2013. Societal Dynamics and Fragility: Engaging Societies in Responding to Fragile Situations. New frontiers of social policy. Washington, DC: World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/12222Alexandre Marc, Bruce Jones. 2021. The New Geopolitics of Fragility: Russia, China, and the Mounting Challenge for Peacebuilding. The Brookings Institution. Washington, DC. https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/FP_20211015_new_geopolitics_fragility_marc_jones_v2.pdfTIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 Introduction00:01:21 Indiana Jones-like childhood and the discovery of different cultures00:04:35 Banana trade and witchcraft00:06:58 How to see the world in a different way00:09:08 Caring about people, culture, and history helps you better understand conflict00:12:25 What is conflict?00:15:42 Does conflict differ across different cultures? 00:18:48 The rise of "conflicts of fragility"00:23:57 The role of institutions in fragility and conflict00:29:00 What is fragility? Depends on who is asking.00:33:53 The interplay of actors, institutions, and structural factors00:41:19 Leadership must come from inside00:46:15 Actors have a choice - focus on structural factors that enhance dignity00:47:55 Development aid shouldn't be ideological00:54:20 Why is peace desirable?01:01:07 What people fight about, a.k.a. the arenas of contestation.01:09:49 How do the actors, structural factors, and institutions interact in the arenas?01:15:05 Horizontal inequality – when economic issues connect to identity issues01:22:46 On the inequality of dignity & future episodes in the Pathways for Peace series01:24:26 Wrap-up

Koen Davidse is the World Bank Group's Executive Director from the Netherlands since 2018. He represents a group of countries that also includes Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Georgia, Israel, North Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, and Ukraine. Previously, he served as the Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Mali and held senior positions in the Netherlands' Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the beginning of our conversation, Koen shares his reasons for choosing a career in diplomacy and development, with stints in India, Sudan, Mali, and also at the World Bank and UN. We then talk about why security sector reform (SSR) that builds effective but also affordable militaries, police, and justice institutions is essential to make progress on economic development in fragile states. Next, we delve deeper into his work in Sudan and Mali. We discuss the challenges of being an honest broker in the implementation of the peace agreement leading to South Sudan's independence in 2011 and what it's like to lead a peacekeeping mission aiming to bring stability in Mali. Throughout the episode, Koen shares his insights about why we need peace entrepreneurs to make lasting change, what it takes to achieve better coordination between peace, development, and humanitarian actors, and how to put vulnerable people at the center of global efforts to help fragile states. This episode was recorded on June 18, 2021. Mihaela Carstei, Paul M. Bisca, and Johan Bjurman Bergman co-host F-World: The Fragility Podcast. Twitter: https://twitter.com/fworldpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/fworldpodcast/Website: https://f-world.org Music: "Tornado" by Wintergatan . Many thanks to Wintergartan for allowing us to use their wonderful music! This track can be downloaded for free at www.wintergatan.net. Free License to use this track in your video can be downloaded at www.wintergatan.net.  EPISODE RESOURCES:Paul Collier, 2007. “The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It.” New York: Oxford University Press. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-bottom-billion-9780195311457?cc=us&lang=en&#Security and Development in Fragile States: The Netherlands Strategy (2008-2011) https://www.government.nl/binaries/government/documents/reports/2011/12/23/strategy-setting-out-the-principles-governing-dutch-policy-on-fragile-states-for-2008-2011/english-version-fs-strategy-02-03-2009.pdfUnited Nations, 2006. Delivering as One: Report of the Secretary-General's High Level Panel. New York: United Nations https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/publications/Delivering-as-One.pdfNew Deal for Fragile States (2011),  https://www.pbsbdialogue.org/en/new-deal/about-new-deal/World Bank. “World Development Report 2011: Conflict, Security, and Development.” Washington, DC: World Bank https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/4389Bernard Harborne, William Dorotinsky, and Paul M. Bisca (eds). “Securing Development: Public Finance and the Security Sector.” Washington, DC: World Bank, 2017 https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/25138Sudan Comprehensive Peace Agreement (2005) https://peacemaker.un.org/sites/peacemaker.un.org/files/SD_060000_The%20Comprehensive%20Peace%20Agreement.pdfUnited Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission In Mali (MINUSMA), https://minusma.unmissions.org/enCalin Trenkov-Vermuth and Paul M. Bisca. 2021. “Global Fragility Act: A Chance to Reshape International Security Assistance?” Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace                                                                                                                           https://www.usip.org/publications/2021/01/global-fragility-act-chance-reshape-international-security-assistanceFood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2020. “Visualizing the P in the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU45k07s70I

In this episode, I invited Jennifer Bair and  Benjamin Selwyn to share their insights on the World Bank's 2020 World Development Report. The WDR is the World Bank's flagship publication, which aims at defining a hegemonic framework for thinking about development. In 2020, the WDR was entitled “Trading for Development in the Age of Global Value Chains”. Jennifer and Benjamin both recently published critical papers on the  WDR 2020: We talk about the methodological and theoretical contradictions of the WDR, what it says about the strange non-death of neoliberalism, but also how the Global Value Chain (GVC) concept can be reclaimed by organized labor at a transnational level. To access the two papers we discuss: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/98024/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0308518X211006718You can follow Jennifer's work at: https://twitter.com/BairJennhttps://sociology.as.virginia.edu/people/profile/jlb5mdTo follow Benjamin's work:https://sussex.academia.edu/BenSelwynTo read more on the topic:https://monthlyreview.org/2021/11/01/world-development-under-monopoly-capitalism/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/dech.12132 

In this episode of the RISE Podcast, Carmen Belafi, RISE Research Associate at Oxford University's Blavatnik School of Government, speaks with Professor Brian Levy. During the episode, they discuss Brian's decades of work on governance, and how governance interacts with institutions and power. They talk about systematic ways to analyse different governance contexts, and how this can guide action. They also discuss Brian's latest book, “The Politics and Governance of Basic Education: A Tale of Two South African Provinces,” and how issues around governance matter for aligning education systems for learning. Not least, Brian offers insights on the legacy that South Africa's first democratic government inherited from the Apartheid regime, and he compares and contrasts the unique challenges that persist in the different South African provinces until today. Links: Levy, B., Cameron, R., Hoadley, U. and Naidoo, V. 2018. (Eds.). The Politics and Governance of Basic Education: A Tale of Two South African Provinces. Oxford: Oxford University Press.  Levy, B. 2014. Working With The Grain. Integrating Governance and Growth in Development Strategies. Oxford: Oxford University Press. World Bank. 2018. World Development Report 2018: Learning to realize education' promise. Washington DC: World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/28340 (https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/28340).  World Bank. 1997. World Development Report 1997: The State in a Changing World. New York: Oxford University Press and World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/5980 (https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/5980).  Guest biography: Brian Levy is a Professor of the Practice of International Development at the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC and Academic Director of the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, University of Cape Town. Prior to this, Brian had a 23-year career at the World Bank, where he was at the forefront of sustained efforts to integrate governance concerns into the theory and practice of economic development. Between 2007 and 2010 he was head of the secretariat responsible for the design and implementation of the World Bank Group's governance and anti-corruption strategy. He worked in the Bank's Africa Vice Presidency from 1991 to 2003, where his role included leadership of a major effort to transform and scale-up the organisation's engagement on governance reform. He has worked in over a dozen countries, spanning four continents. He has published numerous books and articles on the institutional underpinnings of regulation, on capacity development in Africa, on industrial policy, and on the political economy of development strategy. He received his PhD in economics from Harvard University in 1983.  Attribution:  RISE is funded by the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office; Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade; and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Programme is implemented through a partnership between Oxford Policy Management and the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford. The Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford supports the production of the RISE Podcast.

Dr. Shanta Devarajan is a professor at Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, where he teaches development economics. Previously, Shanta worked for nearly three decades at the World Bank, where he was the Senior Director for Development Economics (DEC) and served as acting Chief Economist. This episode starts with Shanta's account of his early work on indicators to measure state fragility at the World Bank, and how his understanding of fragility has evolved over time. We then explore how country rankings are linked to aid allocations, and why venture capital is a better model to help countries escape the fragility trap than current practices. We also discuss how international financial institutions navigate the relationship with governments. Reflecting on his work prior to the Arab Spring, Shanta argues that development financing institutions should use knowledge and data to build greater trust with citizens – their ultimate clients. We then get more technical and discuss how taxation in oil-rich countries like South Sudan can promote solidarity, how conflict can shape government decisions on infrastructure development, and the role of macroeconomic policy in fragile states. This episode was recorded on April 14, 2021.Shanta's Blog ‘Future Development' at The Brookings Institution: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/future-development/EPISODE RESOURCES:Andrimihaja, Cinyabuguma, and Devarajan (2011) Avoiding the Fragility Trap in Africa - https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/3652/wps5884.pdf?sequence=1World Bank (2011) World Development Report 2011: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/4389World Happiness Report, Gallup: https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2021/USIP coverage and analysis of South Sudan: https://www.usip.org/programs/independence-south-sudanDevarajan and Giugale (2013). The Case for Direct Transfers of Resource Revenues in Africa https://www.cgdev.org/sites/default/files/direct-dividend-payments.pdfBanerjee (2016) Aadhaar: Digital Inclusion and Public Services in Indiahttps://thedocs.worldbank.org/en/doc/655801461250682317-0050022016/original/WDR16BPAadhaarPaperBanerjee.pdfBuller et al. (2018) A mixed-method review of cash transfers and intimate partner violence in low and middle-income countrieshttps://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/938-a-mixed-method-review-of-cash-transfers-and-intimate-partner-violence-in-low-and.htmlWorld Bank CPIA https://www.worldbank.org/en/data/datatopics/cpia

In this episode of the RISE Podcast, Carmen Belafi, RISE Research Associate at Oxford University's Blavatnik School of Government, speaks with Dr Ritva Reinikka. During the episode, they discuss the role that financing plays in education systems. Ritva shares her insights from having worked closely with the governments of Uganda and South Africa, and illustrates the crucial role that the Ministries of Finance have played in the transformation of education in both countries. She also talks about the importance of applying a system's approach to education, including not just the actors squarely within the education sector—the Ministry of Education, administrators, school principals and teachers—but the broader political and societal context in which the education sector operates. Links World Bank. 2004. World Development Report 2004: Making Services Work for Poor People. Washington DC: World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/5986 (https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/5986). Ritva's research on Uganda includes: Reinikka, R. and Svensson, J. 2005. Fighting Corruption to Improve Schooling: Evidence from a Newspaper Campaign in Uganda. Journal of the European Economic Association, Vol. 3, No.2/3. 259-267. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40004969?origin=JSTOR-pdf (http://www.jstor.org/stable/40004969?origin=JSTOR-pdf). Reinikka, R. and Svensson, J. 2004. Local Capture: Evidence from a Central Government Transfer Program in Uganda. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 119, No.2 (May). 679-705. https://doi.org/10.1162/0033553041382120 (https://doi.org/10.1162/0033553041382120). Ablo, E. and Reinikka, R. 1998. Do budgets really matter? Evidence from public spending on education and health in Uganda. June 1998. Available at https://ssrn.com/abstract=604999 (https://ssrn.com/abstract=604999). Ethnographic study of education reforms in Delhi: Aiyar, Y., Davis, V., Govindan, G. and Kapur, T. forthcoming. Rewriting the grammar of the education system: Delhi's education reform. A tale of creative resistance and creative disruption. Forthcoming RISE Working Paper. Webinar on the role of bureaucracies in successful education reform (chaired by Ritva, where Delhi reform is discussed): https://riseprogramme.org/events/bureaucratic-barriers-or-administrative-actions-role-bureaucracies-successful-education (https://riseprogramme.org/events/bureaucratic-barriers-or-administrative-actions-role-bureaucracies-successful-education).  Studies on stagnating learning outcomes in different countries: Indonesia: Beatty, A., Berkhout, E., Bima, L., Pradhan, M. and Suryadarma, D. 2021. Schooling progess, learning reversal: Indonesia's learning profiles between 2000 and 2014. International Journal of Educational Development, Vol. 85 (September). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2021.102436 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2021.102436).  Pakistan: Bau, N., Das, J. and Chang, A.Y. 2021. New evidence on learning trajectories in a low-income setting. International Journal of Educational Development, Vol. 84 (July).https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2021.102430 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2021.102430).  Guest biography Ritva Reinikka, a Finnish national, is Professor of Practice at the Helsinki Graduate School of Economics, based at Aalto University School of Business in Helsinki and former RISE Delivery Board Chair (2015 – 2020).  Ms. Reinikka worked at the World Bank in 1993-2013. She joined the Bank as a Country Economist in East Africa and was a Research Manager in the Development Research Group. She was Co-Director of the 2004 World Development Report Making Services Work for Poor People. During her career at the World Bank, Ms. Reinikka was also Country Director for South Africa, based in Pretoria; Director for Poverty Reduction, Economic Management, Private Sector and Finance in the Middle East and North...

In deze 10de episode van Data Voorstellingen spraken we met Maarten Lambrechts, zeer actief op twitter, jurylid bij Malofiej en prijswinnaar met zijn visualisaties. Een echte Dataviz Rockstar. Zijn naam viel al in het vorige gesprek met Daan Louter door zijn blogpost bij Flourish over connected scatterplots. Maar Maarten stond daarvoor al op onze lijst omdat hij een zeer gerenommeerde naam is in de dataviz-wereld, niet alleen in België en Nederland. Hij studeerde Forestry & Nature Conservation in Leuven, is daarna gestart als Agricultural Economist in Bolivia. Is daarna aan de slag gegaan als Project Coördinator Regionaal Landschap in Dijleland (België). Daar is hij begonnen met het schrijven van blogs over datavisualisaties en wat hem daarbij opviel. Dit viel op en werd daardoor gevraagd door een uitgever. Vandaar ging het snel en is hij freelancer geworden en we praten met hem over deze stappen en de gemaakte keuzes. We praten ook over zijn eigen bedrijf: wat doet hij, welke tools gebruikt hij, welke tips kan hij ons geven. Ook vertelt hij ons over de aandoening ‘xenographphobia'. Natuurlijk komen ook enkele mooie projecten van hem aan bod, zoals de blogpost over de connected scatterplot (hij legt uit hoe je dit kan lezen), de Rock 'n Poll en over zijn laatste grote project voor de Wereld Bank: het World Development Report 2021. We bespreken natuurlijk nog meer met hem en beluister het gehele gesprek via: Heb je vragen, opmerkingen, tips of andere opbouwende feedback voor ons, laat dit ons dan weten via: michel@datavoorstellingen.nl of ben@datavoorstellingen.nl. #dataliteracy #datadriven #dataviz #datavisualisation #datavisualiseren #datadesign #storytelling #rockstar #xenographphobia

During this episode of Why Change? co-hosts Jeff and Rachael discussing leading our way out of the pandemic with values at the fore, centering young people and anti-racist practices specifically. Jeff speaks with author, musician, and economist, Patrick Kabanda about his book The Creative Wealth of Nations and the role of arts and cultural education in sustainable development. Finally, these themes are applied to the ideas of “applied creativity” and how to be an “undercover artist” with values. In this episode you'll learn: About Patrick Kabanda's journey from growing up in Kampala, Uganda to music school, and then the World Bank; How arts education can contribute to sustainable development; and What “applied creativity” can contribute to the artistry in everyone. Check out some of the things mentioned during this podcast, including: AusDance Creative Generation's Principles The Creative Wealth of Nations by Patrick Kabanda Patrick's piece: At the UN, the Arts Emerge as a Force for Sustainable Development The concept of ‘creative natives' Robert and Michele Root-Bernstein's book Sparks of Genius Pivot podcast on big tech's military contracts Please download the transcript here. ABOUT PATRICK KABANDA: Patrick Kabanda's first book The Creative Wealth of Nations was published in May 2018 by Cambridge University Press, with foreword by the philosopher and Nobel economist Amartya Sen. A Juilliard-trained organist and a Fletcher-trained international affairs professional, he received Juilliard's William Schuman Prize for outstanding achievement and leadership in music in 2003, and from 2012 to 2013 he was a Charles Francis Adams Scholar at The Fletcher School. Besides concertizing and lecturing worldwide, he has taught at Phillips Academy, consulted for the World Bank's Office of the Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, and contributed to the World Development Report 2016 and to UNDP's 2015 and 2019 Human Development Reports. He was awarded the 2013 Presidential Award for Citizenship and Public Service from Tufts University, Massachusetts. WHERE TO FIND PATRICK: -Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickkabanda -Twitter: @Arts4Dev -Instagram: @p_kabanda -Website: www.musikaba.net This episode of Why Change? A Podcast for the Creative Generation was powered by Creative Generation. Produced and edited by Daniel Stanley. For more information on this episode and Creative Generation please visit the webpage and follow us on social media @Campaign4GenC --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/whychange/support

This seminar in the Economization of Global Health series focuses on the origins, production and reception of one of the major moments in the economization of global health: the World Bank's World Development Report 1993: Investing in Health (WDR93). Our speakers, both internationally recognized economists, played key roles in this venture: Dean Jamison was the lead author of the report, while Abdo Yazbeck was responsible for much of the technical work. In this seminar, the two discuss their work on the report and reflect on its origins and impact.

The phrase “career goals” could mean many things to many people. In this episode, we will discuss what it may mean to some and how those goals may/will change over time while still being worth keeping in mind and possibly on the calendar. Credit to Matt Crape and Joe Houghes for keeping this episode on track. Extra credit is earned by Josh Duffney this week for joining us to share some hard earned insight and well placed video game references. Topics discussed: Josh is writing the book “become Ansible” and it is available for purchase here. Goals Change, Accept it, roll with it. Certifications Don't Matter But They Absolutely Do Matter Be Careful chasing certs. Possibly Helpful related book Atomic Habits by James Clear How ITR came to be? Learn to enjoy the process of doing what you do. Hone your craft. Thomas Edison, who said, "I have not failed 10,000 times. I have successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work." REFERENCE The World Bank. 1994. World Development Report 1994: Infrastructure for Development. New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press..." http://darwin.nap.edu/books/NX006728/html/35.html Links mentioned in this episode: Be the Master course retiring soon. Grab a copy while you can if interested. Join the ITR group in Slack

CoinDesk reporter Leigh Cuen is joined by Binance US CEO Catherine Coley and Stellar Development Foundation CEO Denelle Dixon to debunk myths about gender for International Women’s Day. There’s a common myth that women are less likely to be interested in bitcoin than men. The reality is people with higher income levels have a greater propensity for cryptocurrency and women still earn significantly less than men. Sexism isn’t only a problem in the so-called third world. A 2010 report by the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention showed roughly 11 percent of reports from women in abusive relationships came from upper-middle-class or wealthy households. Globally, women still have fewer inheritance rights than men as well. And, according to the World Development Report in 2012, it was common for 5-45 percent of women respondents in any given jurisdiction to say they don’t have control over their own income. Since financial abuse happens across income levels, two of the leading women executives in Silicon Valley share career advice and management tips. Later, we'll discuss how crypto startups can recruit diverse women and recognize untapped talent. Want more? Leigh also has an article about women in the blockchain industry.

The 2019 World Development Report focused on the Future of Work on a global scale, highlighting the real tension between job losses in “old” manufacturing sectors that are susceptible to automation, and potential job gains driven by innovation in “new” sectors. Our Africa-focused companion report, released in July 2019, finds that Africa has a chance to take a different path – if governments and businesses can take advantage of digital technologies, and if the right policies and investments are in place.   Part one of this two-part podcast looks at what’s different about the future of work in Africa compared to the rest of the world, and digs in to the potential of digital technologies to improve livelihoods and create jobs for all kinds of workers. Host Albert Zeufack welcomes Mark Dutz, Lead Economist in the Office of the Chief Economist for Africa at the World Bank, and co-author of the World Bank’s recent Future of Work in Africa report.

The 2019 World Development Report focused on the Future of Work on a global scale, highlighting the real tension between job losses in “old” manufacturing sectors that are susceptible to automation, and potential job gains driven by innovation in “new” sectors. Our Africa-focused companion report, released in July 2019, finds that Africa has a chance to take a different path – if governments and businesses can take advantage of digital technologies, and if the right policies and investments are in place.   Part two of this two-part podcast examines the role of social protection in helping workers, especially the most vulnerable, transition into the jobs and technologies of the future. Host Albert Zeufack welcomes Zainab Usman, Social Scientist in the Office of the Chief Economist for Africa at the World Bank, and co-author of the World Bank’s recent Future of Work in Africa report.

The 2019 World Development Report focused on the Future of Work on a global scale, highlighting the real tension between job losses in “old” manufacturing sectors that are susceptible to automation, and potential job gains driven by innovation in “new” sectors. Our Africa-focused companion report, released in July 2019, finds that Africa has a chance to take a different path – if governments and businesses can take advantage of digital technologies, and if the right policies and investments are in place. Part two of this two-part podcast examines the role of social protection in helping workers, especially the most vulnerable, transition into the jobs and technologies of the future. Host Albert Zeufack welcomes Zainab Usman, Social Scientist in the Office of the Chief Economist for Africa at the World Bank, and co-author of the World Bank's recent Future of Work in Africa report.

The 2019 World Development Report focused on the Future of Work on a global scale, highlighting the real tension between job losses in “old” manufacturing sectors that are susceptible to automation, and potential job gains driven by innovation in “new” sectors. Our Africa-focused companion report, released in July 2019, finds that Africa has a chance to take a different path – if governments and businesses can take advantage of digital technologies, and if the right policies and investments are in place. Part one of this two-part podcast looks at what's different about the future of work in Africa compared to the rest of the world, and digs in to the potential of digital technologies to improve livelihoods and create jobs for all kinds of workers. Host Albert Zeufack welcomes Mark Dutz, Lead Economist in the Office of the Chief Economist for Africa at the World Bank, and co-author of the World Bank's recent Future of Work in Africa report.

Sadaf (Safi) Lakhani is the Cofounder & CEO of Cognitiks a mission driven social enterprise. That works with organizations in emerging and high-risk markets to optimize social & environmental risk management and maximize social impact. Safi has 18+ years of experience working at the nexus of ESG, development and conflict for private firms and development agencies in countries around the world. Safi is a published thought leader and practitioner on social risk. She contributed to the World Development Report 2014 on Risk and Opportunity and World Bank flagship on Inclusion and Shared Prosperity and writes a regular blog for the Institute for Economics and Peace. She has worked for extractives, technology, coffee and consumer goods companies globally, managing social risk and community outreach as well as for the United Nations, World Bank, United States Institute of Peace and European Commission managing programs and policy on fragile and conflict contexts.

Episode 35: Ed Bourque (http://www.edbourqueconsulting.com) has more than a decade of experience in the domestic and international water sector, in research, technical writing, communications, and proposal writing roles. He has experience in urban water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), urban planning, watershed management, and water governance / political economy analysis. He has experience working with major donors (USAID, the World Bank, and UNICEF), numerous NGOs, government, and the private sector. Ed holds a B.A. in biology/environmental science from Colby College, an M.A. in international development from Brandeis University, and a PhD in geography from King's College London. He speaks French and Swahili. This episode's motto: "Co-dependency does not lead to good results." **Links of interest from David** https://www.ib-net.org http://www.aguanomics.com/2017/07/review-development-projects-observed.html The Divide: https://one-handed-economist.com/?p=857 https://soundcloud.com/jivetalking/29-giel-verbeeck-makes-water-systems-sustainable **Links of interest from Ed** Here are some links on some of the water governance topics we discussed (enabling environments, project failures/corruption, and tools to address some of these issues). Failure and corruption http://www.improveinternational.org/cause/why-do-water-points-fail/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Failures_of_water_supply_and_sanitation_systems http://www.edbourqueconsulting.com/why-do-water-sector-public-private-participation-projects-ppps-fail/ https://ssir.org/articles/entry/development_malpractice_in_ghana https://qz-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/qz.com/africa/1368422/the-2018-hilton-prize-went-to-a-kenyan-nonprofit-that-builds-aerial-water-systems-for-slums/amp/ http://www.edbourqueconsulting.com/corruption-water-sector-water-mafias-exist/ http://www.watergetenemy.org/ Assessing access and improving enabling environments/institutions, finances, systems, and accountability frameworks. https://washdata.org/ http://sanitationandwaterforall.org/ https://www.unwater.org/publication_categories/glaas/ https://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/monitoring/investments/trackfin/en/ https://www.ircwash.org/resources/blended-finance https://thecityfix.com/blog/urban-water-governance-in-the-developing-world-accountability-and-affordability-are-keys-to-access-water-ed-bourque/ https://www.ircwash.org/symposium http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/527371468166770790/World-Development-Report-2004-Making-services-work-for-poor-people-Overview https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282848264_Mapping_of_Water_Sanitation_and_Hygiene_Sustainability_Tools https://akvopedia.org/wiki/FIETS_sustainability_principles http://washplus.org/rotary-usaid.html Water wars: https://flows.hypotheses.org/1126 The Tanzania electricity scandal of 2008. https://www.africaresearchinstitute.org/newsite/publications/iptl-richmond-escrow-price-private-power-procurement-tanzania/ (NB: One major impact of failed electrical grids in Dar es Salaam was that deep water wells in the city that were dependent upon functional electrical grids were pretty much useless. It rendered the water supply for those off the piped water system (all but those who had a share of/access to those 50,000 or so water utility connections) non-existent for hours and days on end for months on end in that era.)

The main objective of the Paris agreement signed by 190 countries in 2015, is to reduce carbon emissions and ensure a transition to low emissions economies. A new IMF paper looks at the role of fiscal policies in helping countries implement their climate strategies. Andrew Steer, President and CEO of the World Resources Institute joined a panel to discuss the paper at the Center for Global Development. Before joining WRI, Steer held senior positions at the World Bank and was the Chief Author of the landmark 1992 World Development Report that placed environmental economics front and center. In this podcast, Steer says carbon emissions need to be dramatically cut from the global economy to avoid dangerous climate change, and carbon pricing can help do that. Read the paper: Fiscal Policies for Paris Climate Strategies

The changing nature of work is turning traditional employment on its head. More and more people are working in the gig economy or in jobs without formal employment contracts, and the payroll-based industrial-era social insurance policies are no longer providing the safety net for which they were designed. Michal Rutkowski oversees the World Bank’s work in developing systems that protect the most vulnerable sectors of society, and helped produce the 2019 World Development Report on the Future of Work. In this podcast, Rutkowski says 70 percent of the world’s population is now in the informal labor market without the means to contribute to health care insurance or pension plans. Rutkowski is author of Reimagining Social Protection featured in the December 2018 edition of Finance and Development Magazine. Michal Rutkowski is Senior Director for Social Protection and Jobs at the World Bank Group.

From our February event on Navigating Politics for Policy Effectiveness. Yongmei Zhou is Program Leader, Equitable Growth, Finance and Institution based in the World Bank Jakarta Office. Before moving to Jakarta, she was Co-Director of the World Development Report on Governance and the Law.

This episode of the Circle of Knowledge features discussions by Matt Fritzsche, Brian Hubbard, and Jon Kovach Jr. from Amplified Minds on the topic 'don't have an IQ–have an ICan' from the book, "Blue Fishing," by Steve Sims. The Circle of Knowledge Podcast features exclusive content provided by the Amplified Minds core team. Content includes book and subject discussions that will help listeners elevate their businesses and take their goals to the next level. Corrected Thomas Edison quote from the audio: Thomas Edison said, "I have not failed 10,000 times. I have successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work." REFERENCE-The World Bank. 1994. World Development Report 1994: Infrastructure for Development. For more information about Amplified Minds or the Circle of Knowledge Podcast, visit www.amplifiedminds.com/circleofknowledgepodcasts. --- Book Blue Fishing Amazon Link: amzn.to/2rJ --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/circle-of-knowledge/support

Today, we do a deep dive into the World Bank’s 2018 World Development Report. With me is David Edwards, the Secretary-General of Education International, a federation of 32 million teachers and other educators affiliated with unions and associations in 173 countries. David takes us through the report’s main points and offers a series of critiques compiled in a new report called “Reality Check.” He also gives us a behind the scene look at global education governance and comments on the teacher strikes happening in many states in America.

How can we ensure everyone gets a decent education? Dr. David Evans (World Bank Lead Economist) discusses the World Development Report 2018. Key points: - Focus on learning (not school enrolement); - Build inclusive coalitions; - Galvanise support for reform by highlighting faster improvements in neighbouring places; - Iteratively adapt to identify what works in context. Intrigued? Read the full report: http://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr2018

This episode of Digital Workplace Impact takes us on a tour of the globe and explores how technology is enabling developing nations to kickstart their economies and inspire their younger generations. Paul Miller speaks with Samia Melhem, Global Digital Development Lead at the World Bank’s Transport and ICT Practice. With a dramatic rise in entrepreneurial spirit among the young, as well as the speed of response that comes with social media, governments need to digitally modernize from within to inspire and cater for the needs of their fledgling citizens. Paul and Samia discuss what is needed to drive these projects forward to a successful completion; how the word is spreading; and why ICT (information communication technology) has been key to the breakthrough in so many developing countries. Show notes, links and resources for this episode: “World Development Report 2016: Digital Dividends” - http://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr2016 Digital Nations Group meeting at World Bank HQ, Washington DC – https://digitalworkplacegroup.com/2017/04/27/digital-nations-group-convene-world-bank-hq-washington-dc Digital Workplace Impact: How NASA explores digital space in the 21st Century (with David Meza) – https://digitalworkplacegroup.com/dwg_podcast/nasa-digital-space-21st-century

Join Erik and Zarak for a new episode with guest Dr. Julian Jamison, member of the Mind/Behavior/Development (eMBeD) Team at the World Bank. Julian’s focus is on behavioral applications in international policy development in economics, health, and finance. His background includes a Ph.D. in Economics from M.I.T. and experience working with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, as well as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in Washington, D.C.   In 2015 the World Bank came out with a World Development Report titled “Mind, Society, Behavior.” Since then, there’s been an overt focus on using behavioral science in order to improve the way the World Bank attempts to fulfill its mission around the world. Julian discusses how the World Bank utilizes behavioral economics to tackle global issues such as poverty, early childhood development, household finance, health, and climate change. Follow the eMBeD Team’s current projects and publications on their website: http://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/embed. Julian also shares the behavioral similarities that are essentially universal to all human beings, and others that differ from culture to culture. He also discusses the history of field experiments and how his team utilizes them in their work. 

CID Research Fellow Tim McNaught interviews Lant Pritchett, Professor of the Practice of International Development at Harvard Kennedy School on the often overlooked gains of migration to both rich and middle income countries. Interview recorded on April 28th, 2017. About the Speaker: About the Speaker: Lant Pritchett is Professor of the Practice of International Development at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University (as of July 1, 2007). In addition he is a Senior Fellow of the Center for Global Development. He was co-editor of the Journal of Development Economics and worked as a consultant to Google.org. He graduated from Brigham Young University in 1983 with a B.S. in Economics and in 1988 from MIT with a PhD in Economics. After finishing at MIT Lant joined the World Bank, where he held a number of positions in the Bank's research complex between 1988 and 1998, including as an adviser to Lawrence Summers when he was Vice President from 1991-1993. From 1998 to 2000 he worked in Indonesia. From 2000 to 2004 Lant was on leave from the World Bank as a Lecturer in Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. In 2004 he returned to the World Bank and moved to India where he worked until May 2007. Lant has been part of the team producing many World Bank reports, including: World Development Report 1994: Infrastructure for Development, Assessing Aid: What Works, What Doesn't and Why (1998), Better Health Systems for Indias Poor: Findings, Analysis, and Options (2003),World Development Report 2004: Making Services Work for the Poor, Economic Growth in the 1990s: Learning from a Decade of Reforms (2005). In addition he has authored (alone or with one of his 22 co-authors) over 50 papers published in refereed journals, chapters in books, or as articles, at least some of which are sometimes cited. In addition to economics journals his work has appeared in specialized journals in demography, education, and health. In 2006 he published his first solo authored book, Let Their People Come, and in 2013 his second, The Rebirth of Education: Schooling Ain’t Learning.

Speakers: James Brumby, The World Bank; Luis Felipe Lopez Calva, The World Bank; Natasha Smith, DFAT; Dr Helen Szoke, Oxfam Australia; and Professor Veronica Taylor, ANU. The Oceania launch of the World Development Report 2017, including a presentation of the report and a panel discussion, was held on February 14 as a side event to the 2017 Australasian Aid Conference The World Development Report 2017 on Governance and the Law explores how policies for security, growth and equity can effectively achieve their goals by addressing the underlying drivers of governance. Building on the traditional concern about implementation problems resulting from limited state capacity, this report digs deeper to understand also how individuals and groups, with differing degrees of influence in the decision-making arena, bargain over the choice of policies, distribution of resources, and how to change the rules themselves to shape future interactions.

At this event UK Minister of State for International Development, Rory Stewart MP, delivers a keynote speech, offering his reflections on the World Bank’s 2017 World Development Report and how they link to the latest approaches of the Department for International Development.

Nearly five years after its publication, Ana Revenga and Sudhir Shetty, the Co-Directors of the World Development Report 2012 on “Gender Equality and Development,” look back on the report’s impact, and Caren Grown, Senior Director of the gender group at the World Bank Group, discusses how the organization’s new Gender Strategy was built on the lessons from the WDR 2012. To download the report, visit: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/4391 To learn more on the World Bank Group’s work on Gender, visit: http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/gender

Shanta Devarajan is the Chief Economist of the World Bank’s Middle East and North Africa Region.  Since joining the World Bank in 1991, he has been a Principal Economist and Research Manager for Public Economics in the Development Research Group, and the Chief Economist of the Human Development Network, South Asia, and Africa Region. Shanta was the director of the World Development Report 2004, ‘Making Services Work for Poor People’. Before 1991, he was on the faculty of Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Shanta is the author and co-author of over 100 publications, with his research covering public economics, trade policy, natural resources and the environment, and general equilibrium modeling of developing countries. Born in Sri Lanka, Shanta received his B.A. in Mathematics from Princeton University and his Ph.D. in Economics from University of California, Berkeley. In this episode, you will learn: why Shanta decided to take a sabbatical from lecturing and never went back. about Shanta’s passion to end world poverty. how experiencing living on a $1 a day with a poor family made Shanta realize that the failure lies with government. how empowering people in poverty-stricken countries with information could be the catalyst to end poverty. the huge government failures and market distortions threatening the economy in India. why teachers and doctors in India are absent from work 25% and 40% of the time respectively and how this is affecting progress. how the powerful medical union in India are making healthcare inaccessible to the poor. about how crony capitalism is preventing SMEs from growing in the MENA region. why Tunisia has failed to develop into an export-oriented economy due the legacy of the Ben Ali family and their connections to firms operating in heavily protected markets. that the failure for governments to continue with social contracts due to high deficits triggered the Arab Spring. about Colonel Gaddafi’s regime and how he managed to keep peace between tribes.   how water subsidies and water-intensive crops are depleting water resources in Yemen. and much much more. Never miss an episode by subscribing on iTunes and get access to all previous Economic Rockstar podcast episodes. Join my community of educators - teachers and lecturers - who want to learn how to build a website, launch a podcast and create educational videos. Take the Economic Rockstar podcast survey and be in with a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card.

Over 20 per cent of people in Pacific Island Countries (PICS) live in hardship, meaning they are unable to meet their basic needs. Increasing risks from natural and economic shocks also mean many traditional safety nets may not be as effective as they have been in the past. Two new reports shed light on these issues both in the Pacific and worldwide, the World Development Report for 2014, Risk and Opportunity: Managing Risk for Development and a new World Bank report, sponsored by the Australian aid program, Hardship and Vulnerability in the Pacific. At the Australian launch of both reports we found out the latest thinking on risk and risk management both worldwide and in our region. Kyla Wethli is a World Bank economist and a lead author of the World Bank flagship World Development Report 2014, Risk and Opportunity: Managing Risk for Development. Kyla has a BSc in Government and Economics and an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Dr Truman Packard holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. He was a lead author of the new Hardship and Vulnerability in the Pacific report, and will present the key findings from that report. Dr Michael Carnahan holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Michael will introduce the session.

Why do some people choose to use toilets...or not? Or to take medicines that will save them...or not? The World Development Report for 2015 looks at this and other health-related behaviors. Kenneth Leonard was directly involved in some of the fieldwork and spoke of his experience. If you want to learn more about the India toilet program that Kenneth talks about, check out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGEMldM48k0

"The Global Food Crisis: A World Development Report Perspective" The world food crisis has increased attention to the role of agriculture for development. But will this make a difference? Or will agriculture continue to be neglected by governments and international development agencies, falling back into business as usual with extensive rural poverty and recurrent food crises? This presentation discusses what could be done to induce business as UNUSUAL. Professor Alain de Janvry Co-Author of the World Development Report Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, UC Berkeley    

"The Global Food Crisis: A World Development Report Perspective" The world food crisis has increased attention to the role of agriculture for development. But will this make a difference? Or will agriculture continue to be neglected by governments and international development agencies, falling back into business as usual with extensive rural poverty and recurrent food crises? This presentation discusses what could be done to induce business as UNUSUAL. Professor Alain de Janvry Co-Author of the World Development Report Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, UC Berkeley