World Bank Group

09/03/2026

Wildlife does not respect borders. Neither does knowledge. In April 2026, a delegation of senior Ugandan government officials traveled to Tanzania to exchange lessons, share experiences, and deepen a cross-border wildlife conservation partnership that both countries are committed to sustaining long into the future.

The visit was supported by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and led by the World Bank Group under the Global Wildlife Program (GWP) Twinning Initiative, which pairs GEF-funded projects across countries to accelerate peer-to-peer learning and strengthen collective impact. This exchange brought together Uganda's GEF-8 Kidepo Landscape Integrated Conservation and Development Project (KLICDP) and Tanzania's GEF-6 project on Combating Poaching and the Illegal Wildlife Trade through an integrated approach (IWT).

Tanzania's project is in its final phase and has accumulated years of experience in community-based conservation and coordinated law enforcement. Uganda's KLICDP is just getting started and was eager to learn from a country that had already navigated many of the same challenges.

The exchange was two-way by design. Tanzania, in turn, gained new perspectives from Uganda's successful model of nature-based tourism revenue sharing with communities, including its globally recognised Gorilla and Chimpanzee tourism.

From April 19 to 25, 2026, the Ugandan delegation, led by Permanent Secretary Ms. Doreen Katusiime of the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities, traveled from Uganda to Dodoma and Arusha for a week of field visits, institutional meetings, and open dialogue with Tanzania's project team and government counterparts.

The teams visited communities in Itigi, where beekeeping associations demonstrated how nature-based livelihoods create real economic alternatives to poaching. At Randilen Wildlife Management Area, they explored how communities are empowered to manage and benefit directly from wildlife. A visit to Manyara National Park brought to life Tanzania's coordinated approach to combating poaching, one that brings together government agencies, law enforcement, and international partners working in close collaboration. The week also included visits to Tanzania's national wildlife research institute and park management institutions, with rich discussions on digital tools for wildlife crime monitoring and data sharing across borders. The visit was concluded at the famous Ngorongoro Conservation Area, a world heritage site and a cradle of man kind

Uganda returned with concrete plans. The team is looking to adopt digital wildlife crime monitoring tools, develop community livelihood programs including beekeeping in the Kidepo landscape, and strengthen inter-agency coordination for anti-poaching efforts. Both teams also identified nature-based revenue opportunities, including carbon trade initiatives and canopy walks, as areas for further exploration.

For Tanzania, the exchange brought fresh thinking on tourism revenue sharing as a long-term conservation incentive, and renewed momentum around formalising transboundary cooperation with Uganda, particularly around shared ecosystems along the Kagera river.

Perhaps the most significant outcome of the exchange was the commitment by both governments to work toward a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on combating illegal wildlife trade and managing transboundary landscapes. Building on the foundation of the 2014 Arusha Declaration, the MoU is expected to be finalised by June 2026 and will provide a lasting framework for cross-border cooperation between the two countries.

LEARN MORE: https://bit.ly/3TV3icu

09/03/2026

Across East Asia and Pacific, young people are creating businesses, developing new skills, and improving their communities, but much more needs to be done to close the region’s jobs gap. Meeting this challenge will require all the stakeholders to work together, in particular, the private sector, since mobilizing private capital is critical to creating jobs at scale.

How the World Bank Group is helping young people in East Asia and Pacific access better jobs, develop strong skills, and build brighter futures.

09/02/2026

Private investment is essential to creating jobs, rebuilding infrastructure, and supporting businesses in countries affected by fragility, conflict, and violence (FCV). But what does it take to attract investment in some of the world's most challenging markets?

In this edition of You Ask, We Answer, World Bank Group experts answer questions from audiences around the world about the challenges and opportunities of investing in fragile and conflict-affected economies.

Drawing on real projects and practical experience, they will discuss how financing, guarantees, and partnerships can help address the risks that hold investors back—and how the public and private sectors can work together to create jobs and economic opportunities.

Submit your questions in advance at https://worldbank.org/live, join us on September 2 for a conversation shaped by your questions, and learn how the World Bank Group helps mobilize private investment in fragile and conflict-affected settings.

09/02/2026

Is AI going to leave developing countries behind? That is the central question at the heart of the World Development Report 2026: The Promise of Artificial Intelligence.⁠
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🗣️ WDR Director Gaurav Nayyar draws a striking lesson from history: the countries that benefited most from past transformative technologies weren't always the ones that invented them. They were the ones that built the foundations and developed the applications. AI can follow that same pattern — with the right choices made now. ⁠
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👉🏼 Explore the full report: https://bit.ly/4g0Lww3
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09/02/2026

Scaling transport electrification in Africa requires four practical shifts:

1️⃣ Governments should measure the right outcomes. Counting electric vehicles sold reveals little about whether fuel import dependence is declining. Targets should be set in terms of petroleum displaced and foreign exchange saved, the indicators that matter for reducing external vulnerability.

2️⃣ Aggregate demand. No single African country is large enough to negotiate competitive terms from global manufacturers on its own. Pooling procurement across cities, countries, and regional bodies reduces unit costs, attracts manufacturer commitment, and builds the supply chain depth needed for long-term maintenance.

3️⃣ Adapt financing to operator realities. The higher upfront cost of electric vehicles is a real barrier for motorcycle taxi riders, minibus operators, and small fleet owners who rely on informal credit. Financing structured around the fuel savings the vehicle generates, supported by blended finance instruments and fleet aggregation that creates bankable transaction sizes, can move these models from pilots to standard practice.

4️⃣ Treat charging infrastructure as a public good. Operators will not switch at scale without reliable charging. Governments need to plan for charging access with the same seriousness applied to roads and electricity connections, including in secondary towns and along freight corridors, and should recognize that transport electrification as an anchor load can also improve the economics of broader energy access investment under Mission 300.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE: https://bit.ly/4wp65Z7

09/01/2026

The World Bank Group’s Public Workforce Performance and Prosperity global report brings novel data analytics to the study of public administration and focuses on how to make the world’s 400 million public sector workers more effective in performing their core government functions. This report draws on more than a decade of data collection through the Bureaucracy Lab, a collaboration between the World Bank Group's Governance and Development Economics teams. It brings together two main data sources.

The first is the Worldwide Bureaucracy Indicators, which draw on labor force surveys covering more than 70 million individual observations across countries, providing data on public sector employment, wages, and workforce characteristics. The second consists of surveys of public sector employees that examine the human resource management practices that drive productivity. We've conducted these surveys in 30 countries, adding two or three more each year, and they now include roughly 200,000 individual observations.

Together, these datasets provide an unprecedented picture of the global public workforce. One headline finding is that there are approximately 400 million public sector employees worldwide. Another is that, on average, the public sector offers a 20 percent wage premium compared with the private sector.

One of our central findings is that developing countries are generally understaffed, but not necessarily underpaid — which runs counter to conventional wisdom. If you look at staffing levels on a per capita basis, developing countries have only about one-quarter as many public employees as high-income countries. As countries develop, they tend to expand their public workforce to deliver essential services more effectively.

At the same time, after controlling for education, age, and other observable characteristics, we find that the average public sector employee earns about 20 percent more than a comparable private sector worker. That estimate doesn't even include the value of benefits.

Over the past decade, research across labor economics, public economics, public administration, and political science has converged around four key drivers of public sector performance: staffing, compensation and incentives, management practices, and digital technologies. Those four pillars form the conceptual framework for this report.

Take management, for example. A growing body of evidence shows that merit-based recruitment—using competitive exams and behavioral interviews to assess public service motivation—leads to better outcomes, from improved student learning to stronger health services.

Our data show considerable variation in how countries use merit-based recruitment. Even more striking, however, is the variation within countries. In countries such as Ethiopia or Nigeria, some ministries rely heavily on meritocratic recruitment while others do not.

Reducing those disparities and expanding merit-based hiring across government would strengthen the quality of the public workforce and ultimately improve public service delivery. It's also a very practical reform that can be supported through World Bank Group operations.

For example, one survey in Malaysia revealed a substantial mismatch between the training civil servants wanted, particularly in AI and cybersecurity, and the training that was actually available.

The report points to three priorities: grounding digital training in regular needs assessments, providing foundational digital skills for all civil servants, and developing advanced digital specialists who can support innovation across government.

DOWNLOAD THE REPORT: https://bit.ly/4fNRQrM

09/01/2026

🤩 The WBG Young Professionals Program offers a unique opportunity to build technical expertise, gain international experience, and contribute to projects that address the world’s most pressing development challenges. Hear from current young professionals and apply for the new call for applications!

⏳️ Application period: September 1-30
🙌 New cohort starts in Washington, DC in September 2027
ℹ️ https://bit.ly/46v14n2

☑️ ELIGIBILITY
➤ Minimum graduate-level degree or a higher qualification in a relevant field, completed before September start date.
➤ 2 to 6 years of professional experience in related work area.
➤ Applicants must hold the nationality of a World Bank Group member country, as demonstrated by an officially issued passport or equivalent document.
➤ An excellent command of spoken and written English is mandatory. Fluency in additional languages is considered an advantage and may strengthen your application.

09/01/2026

Rural farmers in Bangladesh🇧🇩 often face low yields, climate challenges, and limited access to reliable support, while young people struggle to find work. Through the Better Life Farming initiative, local agri-entrepreneurs are helping farmers access better tools, advice, and markets, boosting productivity, increasing incomes, and creating new opportunities across rural communities.

Bangladesh's smallholder farmers, the millions of men and women who cultivate small plots across the delta, have always lived at the intersection of hope and precarity. Agriculture remains the backbone of the country's rural economy, employing nearly 40 percent of the total workforce of the country.

08/31/2026

Private investment is essential to creating jobs, rebuilding infrastructure, and supporting businesses in countries affected by fragility, conflict, and violence. But what does it take to attract investment in some of the world's most challenging markets? Join us for this LIVE conversation.

MIGA and IFC experts answer your questions about enabling private investment in fragile and conflict-affected countries.

08/31/2026

Emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs) face a jobs challenge of historic proportions. Between 2025 and 2035, around 1.2 billion young people in these economies are expected to reach working age, the largest youth cohort the world will likely ever see, according to a new World Bank Group study. In Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East and North Africa, the coming wave of young people will be the largest these regions have seen to date. Creating sufficient job opportunities for these young women and men is therefore an urgent development policy priority.

There is no “silver bullet” solution for durably generating jobs at scale. Yet country experiences show that sustained job creation is achievable. The five case studies examined here highlight how complementary reforms helped these economies create the conditions for sustained and strong employment growth. Although country circumstances differ, these diverse episodes show some common themes and suggest that well-designed domestic policies can make a meaningful difference.

The experiences of five countries offer useful lessons on sustaining job creation. Australia (1994-2008), Chile (1979-92), Colombia (2002-08), the Republic of Korea (1986-97), and Singapore (2004-14) all experienced prolonged periods of strong employment growth, identified using an algorithm based on several criteria, including prioritizing sustained increases in the employment-to-population ratio over at least seven years.

During these episodes, employment grew by an average of 3.4 percent a year, roughly twice the pace recorded in other years, typically accompanied by rising labor force participation and falling unemployment.

➤ Sustained investment in physical and human capital gave firms a platform to expand and create jobs. In Chile and Colombia natural resource development was facilitated by robust infrastructure networks. Singapore's emergence as a regional logistics and financial hub rested on investment in transportation, digital connectivity, education, and public services. Korea and Singapore moved up the value chain through innovation and workforce skills , with rising education attainment helping align workers' skills with firms' demands as growth strategies evolved.

➤ Sound macroeconomic management, more effective regulation, credible institutions, and greater labor market flexibility reduced uncertainty and created conditions for firms to invest and hire. Institutional and regulatory reforms preceded or coincided with strong employment growth in Chile, Colombia, and Korea, while Australia and Chile increased labor market flexibility. In Chile, fiscal reforms and stronger central bank autonomy helped improve macroeconomic credibility and price stability. Colombia adopted inflation targeting, improved tax administration, induced debt sustainability guidelines, and implemented labor market reforms. Together, these measures helped to reduce informality and underemployment, shorten unemployment spells, and accelerate job creation, especially among young people.

➤ Mobilizing private capital to finance investment supported job creation at scale. Across the five episodes, investment growth averaged nearly 10 percent a year, almost four times higher than in other years. Chile's pension reform deepened domestic capital markets; Korea’s National Pension Scheme channeled assets into public infrastructure and capital markets; Singapore expanded public-private partnerships; and Colombia privatized banks and strengthened corporate governance.

These experiences do not offer a single formula. Starting conditions, institutions and growth models differed and today’s policy makers face challenges not directly comparable with those of earlier decades. Yet a consistent framework emerges: sustained job creation was supported by complementary, mutually reinforcing policies. Investment surged, output growth was roughly 50 percent higher than outside these episodes, and productivity growth was solid.

The global jobs challenge is daunting, but it is not destiny. With the right opportunities, the record cohort of young people approaching working-age in EMDEs can strengthen domestic demand, support development progress, deepen international links, and contribute to global prosperity. Realizing that potential will require comprehensive policy packages centered around foundational infrastructure, a strong business environment, and the mobilization of private capital. The case studies offer grounds for optimism that today’s jobs challenge can become an opportunity for transformation.

✍️ By Jiwon Lee Economist, Rafaela Martinho Henriques, and Kersten Stamm; Prospects Group, World Bank Group