The Role of Information and Communication Technologies in Postconfl ict Reconstruction studies explores the transformative role that Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can have in postconfl ict nations during the process of reconstruction. It examines how policymakers, the donor community, and the private sector have prioritized and sequenced ICT initiatives in the aftermath of confl ict. Case studies look at countries at different stages of post-confl ict reconstruction in Afghanistan, Liberia, Rwanda and Timor-Leste, and postrevolution in Tunisia. In addition, the report...

Improving the returns to labor for low-paid workers is a key policy challenge, especially in low-income countries (LICs) where earnings increases are the single most important source of poverty reduction and an important engine of shared prosperity. Yet, the understanding of individual earnings dynamics remains limited. The small--but growing--body of empirical literature on the factors leading to larger and faster pay increases points to strong persistence in earnings over time. However, it remains unclear to what extent this is due to differences in individual endowments rather than to the...

In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, it is hard to find any macroeconomic policy report that does not include some reference to financial stability or systemic risk and the resulting need for "macroprudential policies." While there is a large and growing literature on macroprudential policies and financial stability, less attention has been paid to how macroprudential policies may facilitate macroeconomic stabilization in the presence of large capital flows. To fill such a gap, this report looks at the use of reserve requirements (RR) as a macroprudential tool. Its findings should...

The report first summarizes the key findings from the following three studies in three provinces (Guizhou, Jilin, Shandong): (a) a demand survey to assess rural ICT access and attitudes; (b) a library study including scoping the status of ICT use in rural libraries; and (c) a limited impact evaluation to examine how ICT interventions have affected rural uers. Then the report addresses the challenges and policy recommendations of ICT use in the Chinese Countryside.

This Book has been prepared by the World Bank, based on an extensive consultation-based diagnostic exercise initiated at the request from the East African Community (EAC) Secretariat. The EAC - in its ongoing efforts to deepen the economic linkages within its fast-growing region and strengthen the competitiveness of its Partner States - launched a review of the conduciveness of the existing legal, regulatory, institutional and financial framework in place within the region to foster increased public-private partnership investments in regional infrastructure. The World Bank team, in close...

In recent decades, resource-rich developing countries have been using their natural resources as collateral to access sources of finance for investment, countervailing the barriers they face when accessing conventional bank lending and capital markets. One of the financing models that have emerged as a result is the Resource Financed Infrastructure (RFI) model, a derivation of previous oil-backed lending models pioneered by several Western banks in Africa. Under a Resource Financed Infrastructure (RFI) arrangement, a loan for current infrastructure construction is securitized against the net...

Biochar is the carbon-rich organic matter that remains after heating biomass under minimization of oxygen during a process called pyrolysis. Its relevance to deforestation, agricultural resilience, and energy production, particularly in developing countries, makes it an important issue. This report offers a review of what is known about opportunities and risks of biochar systems. Its aim is to provide a state of the art overview of current knowledge regarding biochar science. In that sense the report also offers a reconciling view on different scientific opinions about biochar providing an...

"Empirical research has found that entrepreneurial activity correlates positively with innovation and job creation, and governments around the world have shown a growing interest in interventions that promote entrepreneurial success. However, research on whether entrepreneurial success can be taught has reached mixed conclusions, and even the landscape of what is being taught is poorly known. This study looks closely at entrepreneurial education and training (EET) programs in three case study countries in Africa-Kenya, Ghana, and Mozambique-which are all experiencing sustained economic growth...