From an origin in military and security applications, the use of unmanned aircraft (UA) technology is currently transforming commercial and humanitarian activity.
... See More + Its evolution started many decades ago, but was limited by the technology of the time; in recent years, advances in this area havefacilitated an increasingly rapid expansion of UA technology that has started to move into a variety of sectors. As the societal benefits of UA become clearer, organisations across the commercial and government spectrum seek to exploit the technology to improve their business models and offer a safer, cleaner, and more cost-effective alternative to traditional data-capture methods.
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Technology is one of the main drivers of productivity and economic growth. Developing countries have traditionally had difficulties in both developing technology and absorbing foreign technology.
... See More + However, the recent emergence of tech startups present an opportunity. Tech start-ups are an effective a mechanism to both create local technology and absorb foreign technology. The objective of this report is to provide a better understanding of the status of Beirut’s start-up ecosystem and provide policy recommendations for policy makers and other stakeholders who are interested in supporting the growth and sustainability of the ecosystem. The report is based on an in-depth survey of startups and supportive stakeholders of the ecosystem. The findings point out to an early-to middle stage start-up ecosystem that has passed its nascent growth phase but is still far from maturity. Skills, supportive infrastructure, finance pipeline, and community and networks are examined and gaps are identified. Policy recommendations to tackle these gaps are presented based on international practices.
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The development objective of the Palau Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) Connectivity Project for Pacific Islands is to reduce the cost and increase the availability of internet communication technology (ICT) services needed to support social and economic development in the Recipient’s territory.
... See More + Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures include: (1) the new cable will be laid adjacent to the existing cable potentially impacting a corridor no more than 1-2 m wide. The cable route has been surveyed previously and there is no habitat or species of particular ecological and conservation significance present; (2) there will be no landside works undertaken that has the potential to affect terrestrial ecological resources; and (3) the method to contain silt generated during the process to access the cable duct will minimize offsite movement of suspended material potentially affecting offsite benthic and fish communities.
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This book is comprised of one study and three field evaluations of civic tech initiatives in developing countries. The study reviews evidence on the use of twenty-three information and communication technology (ICT) platforms designed to amplify citizen voices to improve service delivery.
... See More + Focusing on empirical studies of initiatives in the global south, the authors highlight both citizen uptake (yelp) and the degree to which public service providers respond to expressions of citizen voice (teeth). The first evaluation looks at U-report in Uganda, a mobile platform that runs weekly large-scale polls with young Ugandans on a number of issues, ranging from safety to access to education to inflation to early marriage. The following evaluation takes a closer look at MajiVoice, an initiative that allows Kenyan citizens to report, through multiple channels, complaints with regard to water services. The third evaluation examines the case of Rio Grande do Sul’s participatory budgeting - the world’s largest participatory budgeting system - which allows citizens to participate either online or offline in defining the state’s yearly spending priorities. While the comparative study has a clear focus on the dimension of government responsiveness, the evaluations examine civic technology initiatives using five distinct dimensions, or lenses. The choice of these lenses is the result of an effort bringing together researchers and practitioners to develop an evaluation framework suitable to civic technology initiatives.
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The development objective of the Statistics for Results Project for Senegal is to better inform public and private sector decision-makers by filling gaps in the statistical knowledge base in the areas of employment, tourism, construction, and services, as identified in the National Strategy for Development of Statistics (NSDS), as well as build capacity for the production and dissemination of reliable and relevant data.
... See More + The restructuring includes following changes: (i) the United States (U.S.) 1 million dollar additional finance (AF) will be combined with the remaining U.S. 300,000 dollars of the original grant (for a total budget of U.S. 1.3 million dollars) to pursue: (i) the production of statistics (component 1), (ii) the support of the overall capacity teaching of the school national school of statistics and economic analysis (ENSAE) (component 2), and (iii) the project management and monitoring and evaluation (M and E) (component 3); (ii) component 1, production of statistics (U.S. 1.15 million dollars), the aim is to continue statistical production activities by extending the geographical coverage of the construction cost index at national level and by introducing new activities related to the improvement of sectoral statistics (employment, agriculture, education, justice, security); (iii) component 2, ENSAE Senegal and training (U.S. 0.02 million dollars, this is to pursue the overall capacity teaching of ENSEA by: (i) continuing grant laptop to female students who succeed entrance exam, and (ii) decentralizing the certification training program at local level (other regions of the country) for survey field staff (enumerators, controllers, cartographers); (iv) component 3, coordination and M and E (U.S. 0.13 million dollars, this is to capitalize on the initial project organizational arrangements and to respond the demand needs as suggested the annual users satisfaction surveys by respectively: (i) maintaining the project management including M and E, and (ii) enabling to users to accede easily to microdata via web; and (v) the results framework is being revised at the intermediate outcome level to measure the results of activities financed by the AF.
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A digital transformation is taking place in the financial services industry, with a host of non-bank innovators offering both customer facing and back office financial technology products and services.
... See More + This transformation includes emerging market economies, and in many places offers a viable digital alternative to traditional banks, which have left significant populations underbanked. This note explores the challenges and opportunities that financial technology innovations present for banks in these nations.
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Ratings for the Institutions Building Technical Assistance Project for Uruguay were as follows: outcomes were satisfactory, the risk to development outcome was low or negligible, the Bank performance was satisfactory, and the Borrower performance was also satisfactory.
... See More + Some lessons learned included: broadly focused institutional strengthening projects can be successful within the right context of small countries with a high level of political commitment and implementation capacity – which in the case of this Project, translated into strong existing coordination mechanisms – but this experience may not be easily transferable to other countries.contemplating space for a more flexible approach to some activities within Project design to allow for inevitable adjustments in reform trajectories can be of great value to the client and the Bank.The Bank needs to revisit its approach to working in high capacity countries such as Uruguay.although at the corporate level, the Bank is now prioritizing larger lending operations, IBTAL demonstrates that small loans can also be very important.Information management is not simply a technical issue – it is a political one that requires institutional change accompanied by a solid change management strategy. by correctly sequencing a series of reforms, greater support for more challenging issues can be generated.
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Implementation Completion and Results Report ICR4065 JUN 30, 2017
Ratings for the Adaptable Program Loan (APL) on Strengthening Regional Cooperation For Wildlife Protection in Asia for Bangladesh and Nepal were as follows: outcomes were moderately satisfactory, the risk to development outcome was moderate, the Bank performance was moderately satisfactory, and the Borrower performance was also moderately satisfactory.
... See More + Some lessons learned included: regional approach proved to be effective in addressing trans-boundary and common issues, and project design should allow differentiating performance assessment by country. biodiversity conservation projects should build better Results Frameworks, collecting evidence about broader social and economic benefits.regional projects focusing on global public goods are difficult to design and implement and good prior analysis of capacities and respective commitments through adequate preparation time is not optional.focusing and supporting institutional strengthening is the key to achieve regional shared goals.projects trying to pilot novel ideas and cooperation on transboundary issues need to have measurable indicators from the beginning. a comprehensive organizational capacity building is more effective than providing activity-based training to concerned staff.
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Implementation Completion and Results Report ICR4038 JUN 29, 2017
Is your organization missing important lessons from its operational experiences? This step-by-step guide shows you how to systematically capture such knowledge and use it to inform decision making, support professional learning, and scale up successes.
... See More + The captured lessons knowledge assets, the central element needed for learning are consistently formatted documents that use operational experience to answer a specific question or challenge. The guide describes how to create and use knowledge assets in five steps: (1) identify important lessons learned by participants, (2) capture those lessons with text or multimedia documents, (3) confirm their validity, (4) prepare them for dissemination, and (5) use them for sharing, replication, and scaling up. Included tools, templates, and checklists help you accomplish each step
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Information and communication have always mattered in agriculture. Ever since people have grown crops, raised livestock, and caught fish, they have sought information from one another.
... See More + Agriculture is facing new and severe challenges in its own right. With rising food prices that have pushed over forty million people into poverty since 2010, more effective interventions are essential in agriculture. Understanding and addressing global agriculture developments—both advantageous and not—are critical to improving smallholder livelihoods, in which Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) can play a major role. Each module in this Sourcebook discusses the key challenges, enablers, and lessons related to using ICT in a specific subsector of agriculture. These are derived from a range of experiences, and summarize the knowledge gained during pilot projects and wider initiatives. While different in type of intervention and approach, a string of themes emerges from the modules. These themes—namely, the why and how of using ICT in agricultural development—demonstrate the great potential of ICT and help to clarify the way forward. To facilitate learning, the Sourcebook is split into this introductory module plus fourteen modules focusing on specific aspects of the agricultural sector in relation to ICT. At the beginning of each module, an, In this Module box briefly describes the content in the module, including the overview, Topic Notes, and innovative practice summaries. The innovative practice summaries are bulleted underneath the description of the Topic Note, and can be viewed directly by clicking on the title. Many of the tools, examples, and projects discussed also include links to websites and other useful resources
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The development objective of the Catalytic Project to Strengthen the National Statistical Institute (INS) for Congo, Democratic Republic of is to strengthen the capacity of INS to generate and disseminate statistical information.
... See More + The restructuring includes: (i) a revision of the results framework (changes to some of the indicators to better capture project results); (ii) an extension of the closing date by 22 months from June 30, 2017 to April 30, 2019 to allow sufficient time to complete all remaining project activities; (iii) reallocation of funds within project components to ensure sufficient funding for the demolition and reconstruction of the INS building; and (iv) triggering of OP/BP 4.11 in anticipation of potential impacts on cultural resources due to the demolition and reconstruction of the INS facilities.
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Ratings of Second Phase of National Roads Improvement and Management Program for Philippines were as follows: outcomes were moderately satisfactory, risk to development outcome was modest, Bank performance was moderately satisfactory, and Borrower performance was moderately satisfactory.
... See More + Some of the lessons learned included: (i) Transformation of governance is a long-game requiring a series of projects adaptable to the needs of the client and involving Government, the Bank and CSOs; (ii) Properly designed long-term engagement can effectively tackle substantial governance challenges in the sector; (iii) Information technology is an important tool for tackling weak governance; (iv) For biggest reform impact, think big and tackle an entire agency; and (v) Staffing continuity at the Bank could have led to improved client support during implementation.
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Implementation Completion and Results Report ICR3186 JUN 21, 2017
This request package requests the disclosure of Board records. It concerns the Executive Directors are hereby notified that the 158 Board records set out in Annex A are responsive to a public request for access to certain records (Access to Information Case No.
... See More + AI4473). These records have been determined by the Corporate Secretariat to be eligible for declassification and disclosure under the Bank’s Policy on Access to Information (“AI Policy”). This public request is for Board minutes and transcripts for IBRD/IDA-related matters involving Argentina and Chile from the 1940s-1990s. The Bank has identified the Board minutes listed in Annex A as responsive to this public access request. Under the AI Policy, all 158 minutes are subject to the Deliberative Information exception, the minutes noted in item 113 of Annex A are additionally subject to the Financial Information (not related to banking or billing) exception, and they all have satisfied their applicable declassification schedule: Under the AI Policy, information restricted under the Deliberative Information exception or the Financial Information (not related to banking or billing)exception is eligible for declassification and disclosure in accordance with the AI Policy’s declassification schedule, provided that the documents concerned do not also contain or refer to restricted information not eligible for declassification. The declassification schedule for minutes of regular Board sessions prepared before April 1, 2005 is five years and it is twenty years for minutes of executive Board sessions. The declassification schedule for a Board record containing information subject to the Financial Information exception (not related to banking or billing) is twenty years. The AI Policy provides that the Board may, under exceptional circumstances, exercise the Bank’s prerogative to restrict access to Board Records that would normally be disclosed, if it determines that the disclosure of the records would likely cause harm that would outweigh the benefits of the disclosure.
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The objective of the Additional Financing for the Economic Governance Technical Assistance and Capacity Building Project is to re-establish and strengthen basic systems and practices to improve the management of publicfinancial and human resources in Guinea.
... See More + The AF will help deepen the development impact of the original project and support the implementation of the Social and Economic National Development Plan, 2016–2020 (Plan National de Développement Economic et Social, PNDES) and a new component on statistical capacity building. The project has disbursed 95 percent of IDA US$10 million and has been rated moderately satisfactory or higher for both development objectives and implementation progress over the last two years. Noticeable progress has been achieved in human resource management (HRM) with the elimination of a large number of ghost workers and in public financial management (PFM) through the adoption of a new budget organic law and a new public procurement management framework. Still, significant challenges remain, particularly in the areas of the macro‐fiscal framework, public investment programming, multiyear budgeting, value‐for‐money, financial reporting, and interagency coordination.
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The objective of the Digital Foundations Project for Malawi is to increase access to affordable, high quality internet services for government, businesses and citizens and to improve the government's capacity to deliver digital public services.
... See More + There are four components to the project, the first component being Digital Ecosystem. The aim of component one is to contribute to making Malawi a more attractive and competitive place for digital investment and innovation, ensuring that the benefits of digital technology are reachingall citizens and helping lay the groundwork for growth of the digital economy. This component includes three sub-components: ICT regulation, strategy, and policy development, regulatory and policy implementation, capacity building, and institutional development, and digital skills development and innovation. The second component is the digital connectivity. The aim of this component is to leverage strategic public investments and incentives to improve access to high‐speed, affordable connectivity for government, citizens, and businesses across Malawi. This component includes three sub-components: connectivity for public institutions, connectivity for higher education, and innovative rural broadband access solutions. The third component is the digital platforms and services. The aim of this component is to build the core infrastructure and capacity necessary to support digital public service delivery and to enhance the efficiency of the Government’s internal operations. This component includes three subcomponents: strengthening institutional capacity to deliver digital services, shared digital public services delivery platform, and demonstration digital applications and services. Finally, the fourth component is the project management. This component will support essential project management functions of the project.
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