Economics & Development

The development objective of Water and Sanitation Development Project for Kenya is to improve water supply and sanitation services in select coastal and northeastern regions in Kenya. Some of the negative impacts include: impacts on water resource; impacts on soil resources; impacts on air quality; noise and vibrations impacts; impacts on vegetation cover; community health safety and security impacts; Worker Health and Safety and Workers Management impact; Sexual Exploitation Abuse and Harassment (SEAH); and HIV/AIDs. Some of the mitigation measures include: all wastewater which may be contaminated with oily substances must be managed in accordance with an appropriate Waste Management Plan (WMP); spread mulch generated from indigenous cleared vegetation across exposed soils after construction; impose speed limits on haul routes and in construction compounds to reduce dust generation; where practicable noisy equipment will be orientated to face away from the nearest Human settlement and other receptors; the use of existing cleared or disturbed areas for the Contractor’s office, stockpiling of materials shall be encouraged; Contractor will implement a Community Grievance Mechanism; Contractor will establish contractual clauses (signed code of conduct) to be embedded in the contracts of the workers and sub-contractors that require adherence to Kenyan law and international standards to be upheld related to worker rights; ensure clear human resources policy against sexual harassment that is aligned with national law; and ensure safety of women and girls in provision of VCT services.

Using unique nationally representative school and system survey data from 13 education systems in low and middle-income countries collected through the World Bank’s Global Education Policy Dashboard (GEPD), we examine how the pedagogical practices, including practices to foster student engagement and subject content knowledge of primary-school teachers, correlate with their students’ learning outcomes. The authors find that student performance on literacy (and, to a lesser extent, math) assessments are correlated with receiving instruction from teachers with better-measured pedagogical skills. While the better-pedagogy effect is modest for the entire sample, it is statistically robust and quite substantial for the upper-middle-income countries. Based on a sub-sample of those education systems, we also find that using learning strategies that support greater student engagement appears to be highly predictive of student learning outcomes in literacy. Better pedagogical practices correlate with teachers’ exposure to more practical, school-based pedagogical support, for example through induction or mentoring and feedback on lesson plans, and with better teacher evaluation at the school level. The findings confirm the important role of interventions providing direct pedagogical support and feedback to teachers through training, instructional leadership, and evaluation, and they highlight the potential for interventions to foster student engagement and improve learning outcomes.

واجه نظام التعليم في لبنان اضطرابات شديدة منذ عام 2019، مما أدى إلى خسائر كبيرة في التعلم. اختبر برنامج تجريبي حديث نهج التدريس في المستوى الصحيح (TaRL) ، والذي يجمع الطلاب حسب مستوى التعلم بدلا من العمر أو الصف. وشمل المشروع التجريبي اللغة العربية واللغة الأجنبية (الإنجليزية والفرنسية) والرياضيات، وشمل 3,686 طالبا في الفترتين الأولى والثانية في المدارس الحكومية في الصفين الثالث والرابع. تشير التحسينات في نتائج التعلم التي لوحظت في جميع المواد والتعليقات الإيجابية الواردة من الطلاب والمعلمين ومديري المدارس إلى أن TaRL يمكن أن يكون نهجا فعالا لمعالجة فجوات التعلم في لبنان.

Lebanon’s education system has faced severe disruptions since 2019, leading to significant learning losses. A recent pilot tested the Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) approach, which groups students by learning level rather than age or grade. The pilot covered Arabic, foreign language (English and French), and mathematics, and included 3,686 first- and second-shift public-school students in Grades 3 and 4. The improvements in learning outcomes observed across all subjects and positive feedback received from students, teachers, and school principals suggest TaRL can be an effective approach for addressing learning gaps in Lebanon.

Gender-based violence (GBV) remains a pervasive social and public health issue globally. It is internationally agreed that one effective way to reduce GBV and help address the devastating consequences is through strengthening health professionals’ competencies in addressing GBV. To ensure that health professionals are well equipped with the knowledge on GBV, the World Health Organization (WHO) and many studies give a strong recommendation that a critical way of empowering health professionals to take on this role is to educate, train, and support them throughout their careers and to provide bespoke guidance depending on their working context. The GBV shall be part of all the health professional education programs. The Cambodia Ministry of Health (MOH) is committed to addressing the competency gap in the health workforce in providing services to GBV survivors. The Strengthening Pre-Service Education System for Health Professionals (SPESHP) Project, implemented by the MOH and co-financed by the World Bank (WB) and Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), supports mainstreaming GBV into competency based curricula for undergraduate students in Health Training Institutes (HTIs). During the project implementation, the Project Management Team (PMT) requested the WB team to share knowledge and experience in addressing GBV in preservice education for their consideration in the development of competency-based education programs for health students. The Briefing Note Preparing health students to address gender-based violence in Cambodia was compiled by the WB team in response to this request.

Hundreds of millions of young people in the Global South face uncertain futures due to poor access to quality education, inadequate skills, and limited employment opportunities. By 2033, the Global South will host 1.2 billion people ages 15 to 24. However, unless current trends are reversed, only 480 million will attend school, and 420 million will have jobs (often precarious ones), leaving 300 million inactive. Youth inactivity negatively impacts lifelong opportunities, earnings, mobility, and mental health. It also erodes productivity and human capital development, hinders economic growth, and may lead to antisocial behavior and social unrest. Programs and policies that support youth entry into the labor market fall into three categories: those enhancing employment opportunities, training programs to address skills gaps, and those facilitating youth integration into the workforce. Evidence shows that proper program design and implementation are crucial for success, emphasizing the need to tailor interventions to local contexts and youth profiles. The private sector role has a critical role to play beyond job creation. The private sector should be involved in policy decisions to ensure that programs address employers' needs. Its efforts should also complement the public sector in providing quality training and employment services. When wage employment opportunities are scarce, private self-employment and small-scale entrepreneurship initiatives should also become significant pathways for youth to access the labor market. Looking ahead, successful youth employment initiatives need to be brought to scale to unleash the potential of the next generation.

This World Bank in India newsletter for January 2025 includes the following sub-headings: women entrepreneurs in Rural Tamil Nadu; transforming northern India’s logistics and connectivity; some recent blogs, new videos; new projects; support to Maharashtra's economic growth initiative, support to adolescents in Meghalaya to continue education and prepare for jobs, and support to Amaravati city for inclusive and sustainable development; and new publications

The development objective of Water and Sanitation Development (WSD) Project for Kenya is to improve water supply and sanitation services in select coastal and northeastern regions in Kenya. The Government of Kenya (GoK) and Coast Water Works Development Agency (CWWDA) in association with the International Development Association (IDA) has undertaken to implement the Construction of Water Supply Distribution Pipelines (Short Term Works Lot 1A) in Mombasa North Mainland under the main project. The sub-project(contract) which is in Mombasa North Mainland specifically in Kisauni and Nyali Sub-Counties. Some of the negative impacts include: Loss of livelihood by the small business operators along the road reserve on the pipeline relocation; Small scale business operators along the road reserve where the pipes will be laid; and the impacts on the 6no structures will be on concrete verandas of the shops and include floor & tile works, masonry, roofing and beam construction. Some of the mitigation measures include: All the PAPs, irrespective of their legal status, have been identified and are eligible for some form of compensation as they operated a livelihood activity within areas earmarked for project implementation by the ‘cut-off date’ which was agreed as of 20th November 2024; Support to the vulnerable, who in this ARAP is a PLWD (deaf) - aide provision, 10 percent of the compensation value; and Additional 15 percent of compensation for disturbance.