How do the estimated 500 million smallholder households worldwide manage their money and what kind of financial services would better serve this important group?
Until now, very little was known about how financial services could effectively respond to the varied needs of smallholder families around the world. In CGAP's year-long financial diaries study, researchers tracked the financial lives of 270 total smallholder households in Mozambique, Pakistan and Tanzania and came away with unique insights into how these families manage their income, plan for expenses and cope with the unpredictable nature of lives rooted in agriculture.
It is the first time the financial diaries methodology has been used to research the financial lives of smallholders.
Join CGAP on February 25 for an event featuring a panel of experts who will highlight key findings from the Smallholder Diaries and discuss opportunities to design and improve financial solutions for smallholder households.
Type: Event
With the increased focus on health – and universal health coverage – as a core part of the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), being as efficient and effective as possible with health funding and interventions, is essential. However, work to prevent and treat TB and HIV, or work to improve child health, needs to be carried out in ways that do not compromise equity or quality of service delivery. Governments and partners will need to achieve better health results in a more efficient way. This session will pose the question: How do we get health services to the right people, in the right places, in the right way, and at the right time?
Type: Event
The World Bank’s Global Partnership for Social Accountability (GPSA) convenes 47 governments and more than 260 civil society and private sector partners to solve governance challenges around the world. Today, the GPSA seeks to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by helping citizens and governments to address what Amina Mohamed, the UN Secretary-General's Special Adviser on the SDGs, has called “the one knot we haven’t tied”: Accountability.
Type: Event
A growing economy, a bigger middle class, and less poverty: three attributes which aren’t necessarily associated with a country that has seen 50 years of armed conflict. However, Colombia is all this and more, and the hopes for the country’s well-being are even higher in a post-conflict era.
While the country is ready to finally put an end to half a century of violence, it is also winning other battles, for example the fight against poverty, which lifted more than 6 million Colombians from poverty between 2002 and 2014. Colombia’s vibrant economy is projected to grow more than the regional average of 3%, which will protect the social gains of the last decade. Nonetheless, the enormous challenge of consolidating the peace process in a lasting and sustainable way remains.
Colombia has learned many lessons and faces yet more challenges on how to deal with development and the conflict, some of which will be the topic of a diverse online debate this week.
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Type: Event
Digital technologies have boosted growth, expanded opportunities, and improved service delivery. Yet their development benefits have fallen short and are unevenly distributed. For digital technologies to benefit everyone everywhere requires closing the remaining digital divide, especially in internet access. But to get the most out of the digital revolution, countries also need to work on strengthening regulations that ensure competition among businesses, adapting workers’ skills to the demands of the new economy, and ensuring that institutions are accountable.
Type: Event
The Open Learning Campus is an online destination for development learning that will build the leadership and technical capabilities of all development stakeholders—partners, practitioners, policy makers, staff and the public. With the OLC you can access development lessons captured in easy to understand and versatile formats - from bite-sized lessons to full-length courses, and MOOCs to peer learning conversations. With these tools you can access the information you need to better help you understand disaster risk management, health policy reform or any of your other learning needs as a development professional. The OLC will be launched at an event discussing the future of development learning. This conversation will be moderated by NY Times columnist Thomas Friedman, and panelists include World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim and edX CEO Anant Agarwal. The panel discussion will be followed by a series of lightning talks by three young innovators who have changed the landscape in this field.
Type: Event
As one of the most dispersed regions in the world, the Pacific faces unique challenges in providing affordable and accessible electricity – with a heavy reliance on diesel-fueled generators in many areas to power homes and businesses. Electricity prices in the region are among the highest in the world, with some countries spending as much as 25% of gross domestic product on fuel imports – leaving household incomes, inflation levels and national finances all highly vulnerable to volatile Asia-Pacific oil markets. To mitigate this exposure, Pacific governments are increasingly turning to alternative and renewable energy sources, including biofuels, wind, solar and hydro systems. In addition to issues of cost, the shift to renewables may help to address the need for energy which is cleaner and easier to generate in remote areas. As eyes turn to Paris ahead of COP21, what actions are being taken in the Pacific region to increase the uptake of renewables? Are new technologies worth investing in? And what role ...
Type: Event
World Bank researchers have been trying to assess the extent of extreme poverty in the world since 1979. Two ingredients have been key: an international absolute poverty line and purchasing power parity (PPP) exchange rates. The latest PPP update led to a substantial re-assessment of relative purchasing powers around the world, and hence to a large nominal change in the poverty line: from $1.25 to $1.90/day. Join us for this month’s Policy Research Talk as Francisco Ferreira reviews the principles, practices, and pitfalls involved in the latest update, and then discusses some of the ideas being floated for the future of global poverty measurement.
Type: Event
Each year, 15 million girls are married before the age of 18. When girls marry early, they often drop out of school, have more children over their lifetime, are at greater risk of HIV infection and intimate partner violence, and face serious health complications and even death from early pregnancy and childbearing. Child brides are often isolated, with limited opportunity to participate in the development of their communities. Child marriage therefore hampers efforts to eradicate poverty and achieve sustainable global development. Join us to discuss the findings of a groundbreaking World Bank/International Center for Research on Women research project to understand the economic costs of child marriage.
Type: Event
Climate change is an acute threat to poverty reduction. This new World Bank Group Report "Shock Waves: Managing the Impacts of Climate Change on Poverty" finds that without rapid, inclusive and climate-smart development, there could be more than 100 million additional people in poverty by 2030. At the same time, immediate emission reduction efforts and pro-poor climate mitigation policies are needed to prevent even worse long-term impacts. This event will present the results of this report and discuss its implications heading towards the international climate conference in Paris.
Type: Event