In 2006, civil unrest led to bloody riots in the Tongan capital of Nuku’alofa. Although devastating, the events also presented an opportunity for modernization during the subsequent clean-up.
... See More + After fires had swept through the capital, burning down the country’s paper-based business registry, Tonga rebuilt the company registry with the help of New Zealand software and IFC expertise. In 2009, IFC helped the government of the Pacific Island nation of Tonga cut the time business owners require to register their business from one month to just one day, supporting private sector growth by allowing businesses to begin trading quickly and easily. Unlike the old registry, the online version is transparent and easy to use where features that cut down the steps required for business registration, and go a long way in enabling enterprises to develop, grow, and become more competitive.
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IFC is helping a newly formed businesswomen’s association on the Pacific island of Tonga to set up a network that provides support and training in addressing regulatory hurdles and challenges women face when doing business.
... See More + The women in sustainable enterprises (WISE) association aims to connect businesswomen across all industries in Tonga and provide them with a platform to lobby for reforms that will encourage women to set up businesses, create jobs, support their families, and foster sustainable economic growth across communities and the country. The women in sustainable enterprises association was established after a group of Tonga-based businesswomen returned from a workshop where women from across the Pacific discussed about the economic opportunities for Pacific women in business. One of WISE’s key aims is to explain the benefits of registering a business, such as better access to credit, more legal protection, and stronger local government support.
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This paper evaluates and compares two randomized interventions in Tonga, one targeting the home environment of children up to age 5 and one targeting the school environment for first and second grade students.
... See More + The first intervention supports communities to set up and run playgroups that aim to improve caregiver-child interaction at home and ultimately improve children's readiness for school. Among children of mothers without high school education, being in a treatment community positively affects the school readiness literacy domains and overall score by 0.19 and 0.2 standard deviation, respectively, for girls and the literacy domains for boys by 0.17 standard deviation. The second intervention provides teachers with training, materials, and coaching to improve reading instruction practices and students’ reading ability. It increased average early grade reading scores by approximately 0.18 standard deviation per year of exposure. Two cohorts of children were potentially exposed to both interventions, providing an opportunity to compare, for the same population of children, the effects of an early childhood intervention with a school-based intervention using a common measure of learning achievement. The school readiness intervention is found to have positive effects on early grade reading scores only among children in the reading intervention’s control group; effect sizes of approximately 0.29 standard deviation were found at the end of second grade for children exposed to one year of the school readiness intervention and at the end of first grade for girls exposed to two years of the intervention.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS8682 DEC 19, 2018
The development objective of the Pacific Aviation Investment Project for Tonga is to improve operational safety and oversight of international air transport infrastructure.
... See More + This restructuring includes: (i) extend the current closing date of the project from December 31, 2018 to December 31, 2019; and (ii) include additional regional activities under component C: strengthening airport operations and management capacity.
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The development objective of the Climate Resilient Transport Project under the Pacific Climate Resilient Transport Project for Tonga is to improve the climate resilience of the Recipient's transport sector, and in the event of an Eligible Crisis or Emergency, to provide an immediate response to the Eligible Crisis or Emergency.
... See More + It has four components. First component, Sectoral and Spatial Planning Tools involves technical assistance that will improve the way that climate change is addressed in Tonga’s transport sectors and allows for the financing of updates to analytical and sector planning tools to enable policymakers to make informed decisions based on the most accurate and up‐to‐date information available. Second component, Climate Resilient Infrastructure Solutions involves feasibility studies, design and physical works of identified road, aviation and maritime assets to improve their resilience to climate related hazards and/or events. Third component, Strengthening the Enabling Environment will provide funding to support institutional and regulatory reforms for transport sector asset management and maintenance, including measures to strengthen local capacity and to increase the sustainability of climateresilient investments under the project; and Fourth component, Contingency Emergency Response is designed to provide swift response in the event of an Eligible Crisis or Emergency, by enabling the Government to request the World Bank to re‐allocate Project funds to support emergency response and reconstruction.
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