Printable version available here The World Bank, Islamabad Office
December, 2008 The World Bank, Islamabad Office Logo: Coming Together of Tradition and Modernity  This month we unveil the resulting image which we hope captures the spirit of our work in Pakistan and the imagination of those who use our publications. We hope it depicts the vibrant cultures that run through the land like the mighty Indus but that it also speaks to Pakistan’s aspirations for the future. It shows the lifestyles and livelihoods, distinctive features and common threads of culture running through the country.
To read more, please click here
================================ National Education Assessment System The National Education Assessment System (NEAS) was established to undertake systematic evaluations of student learning achievement across Pakistan and share the analytical results with both policy makers and practitioners to inform the education quality reform process.
To read more, please click here ================================ Improving the Well-being of Under-served Low-Income Communities The World Bank has supported two land-mark Community Infrastructure Projects (CIPs) in Pakistan: One in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the other in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). Both projects aim to promote the well being of un-served and under-served low income communities by supporting investments in community development activities, provision of community led basic services (water supply, streets, footpaths, foot bridges, access to local road network, etc.), and small scale productive infrastructure, while strengthening capacity at the local government and community levels to plan and deliver cost effective and sustainable basic infrastructure and services. Decentralized planning and implementation assistance and community development, ownership and participation are central to the design of both projects. To read more plick click the printable version ================================ Post-Earthquake Rural Housing Reconstruction Program in AJK and NWFP The post-earthquake Rural Housing Reconstruction Program (RHRP) in the nine affected districts of AJK and NWFP is nearing physical completion by the third anniversary of the earthquake. The RHRP is a flagship earthquake recovery program of the Government of Pakistan which is being implemented through the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) and the home-owners themselves. Both the pace and quality of implementation under the RHRP has been remarkably impressive – specially when compared with similar homeowner-driven housing reconstruction programs elsewhere in the region and internationally, which in most cases have met with only partial and belated success. To read more plick click the printable version ================================ A New Sense of Security for Earthquake Survivors Shamim Bibi, 33, lost her husband and daughter in the earthquake that hit Northern Pakistan on October 8, 2005. Today, three years later, she still remembers those horrifying moments, pulling her children from the rubble. “When I went to school to check on my children, the school had already collapsed. I managed to get two of my kids out of the rubble alive, but my daughter died. After that I went to check on my husband, and he also died,” said Bibi.
To read more, please click here ================================ Doing Business 2009 No reforms were recorded in Pakistan this year, but the government has a Doing Business study underway to track business regulations in 12 cities. The goal is to facilitate the sharing of best practices locally and foster cooperation among various levels of government. For more information click here ================================ Can South Asia achieve both high and inclusive growth? During the 1990s, South Asia’s economies grew rapidly at an average of 6 percent annually. This accelerated to 6.5 percent during 2000-2007, with India approaching near double-digit growth. In comparison, from 1960 to 1980, South Asia grew at only 3.7 percent per year. South Asia’s prospects changed in the 1980s as it adopted pro-growth policies. It opened up markets to international competition, replaced the public sector with the private sector as the engine of growth, and improved macroeconomic management. The results were impressive. For more information click here
================================ Publications  Innovative Financing for Development: Developing countries need additional, cross-border capital channeled into their private sectors to generate employment and growth, reduce poverty, and meet the other Millennium Development Goals. Innovative financing mechanisms are necessary to make this happen. Innovative Financing for Development is the first book on this subject that uses a market-based approach. It compiles pioneering methods of raising development finance including securitization of future flow receivables, diaspora bonds, and GDP-indexed bonds. It also highlights the role of shadow sovereign ratings in facilitating access to international capital markets. It argues that poor countries, especially those in Sub-Saharan Africa, can potentially raise tens of billions of dollars annually through these instruments.
 For Protection and Promotion: The Design and Implementation of Effective Safety Nets Safety nets are noncontributory transfer programs targeted to the poor or vulnerable. They play important roles in social policy. Safety nets redistribute income, thereby immediately reducing poverty and inequality; they enable households to invest in the human capital of their children and in the livelihoods of their earners; they help households manage risk, both ex ante and ex post; and they allow governments to implement macroeconomic or sectoral reforms that support efficiency and growth.
 Transport Prices and Costs in Africa: A Review of the Main International Corridors Transport prices for most African landlocked countries range from 15 to 20 percent of import costs. This is approximately two to three times more than in most developed countries. It is well known that weak infrastructure can account for low trade performance. Thus, it becomes necessary to understand what types of regional transport services operate in landlocked African nations and it is critical to identify the regulation disparities and provision anomalies that hurt infrastructure efficiency, even when the physical infrastructure, such as a road transport corridor, exists.
 Equality for Women : Where Do We Stand on Millennium Goal 3?Upon signing the Millennium Declaration in 2000, the international community committed itself to eight development goals with timebound targets and measurable indicators. The third of these eight goals was to "promote gender equality and empower women". The third Millennium Development Goal (MDG3) in the Millennium Declaration has spurred national and international efforts to improve women's situation around the globe. Equality for Women: Where Do We Stand on Millennium Goal 3? tracks countries' progress with implementing and financing MDG3 by examining national experiences and successes with policies and programs. It also contains an assessment of the effectiveness of different strategies in achieving MDG3 and the financial requirements needed to attain MDG3 by 2015. Equality for Women will be useful for gender analysts, policy makers, government officials, and others working to promote gender mainstreaming.
 Distortions to Agricultural Incentives in Latin America: The vast majority of the world's poorest households depend on farming for their livelihood. During the 1960s and 1970s, most developing countries imposed pro-urban and anti-agricultural policies, while many high-income countries restricted agricultural imports and subsidized their farmers. Both sets of policies inhibited economic growth and poverty alleviation in developing countries. Although progress has been made over the past two decades to reduce those policy biases, many trade- and welfare-reducing price distortions remain between agriculture and other sectors as well as within the agricultural sector of both rich and poor countries.
================================ Publications Pakistan Infrastructure Implementation Capacity Assessment Pakistan Country Assistance Strategy Pakistan's Country Water Assistance Strategy Doing Business Pakistan Strategic Country Environmental Assessment Pakistan Promoting Rural Growth and Poverty Reduction Pakistan Higher Education Policy Note Pakistan Growth and Export Competitiveness Transport Competitiveness in Pakistan Pakistan Country Gender Assessment NWFP Economic Report Punjab Economic Report World Bank Documents & Reports website |
RSS