This paper is part of a series of four Urban Policy Notes that provide a critical review on emergent challenges to Bhutan's increasing urbanization and its ramifications for growth, livability and sustainability in line with the directives of the 12th Five-Year Plan (FYP) and the Vision 2020....

In March 2018, the World Bank finalized an agreement with Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) to conduct a demand survey for housing across Egypt. The survey consisted of a sample of 10,300 households across eight governorates. The inclusive housing finance program...

Government initiatives to reduce the housing deficit in Colombia go back more than a hundred years, but it was only after the creation of the Ministry of Housing as an independent agency, a decade ago, that national housing policy took on the relevance that it has today. Since then, Colombia has...

In 2022, Brazil celebrated its 200th anniversary. What will Brazil celebrate at its 220th anniversary, in 2042? Following the recent elections there is a window of opportunity for reforms that will shape Brazil's development over the next decades. "The Brazil of the Future: Towards Productivity,...

Over the past decade, illegal gold extraction has increased significantly in the Amazon region, partly due to the high international prices of this mineral, the less stringent attitude of some countries in relation to the environment and the pursuit of immediate economic opportunities....

Bleak short-term economic outlook raises the risk that social and environmental achievements may not be sustained. The changed economic circumstances have exposed shortcomings in Brazil's development model, epitomized by the struggle to achieve a sustainable fiscal policy. Against this...

This study presents options for disaster risk financing in Brazil, drawing from international experience. The study presents a series of complementary options for disaster risk financing, based on a preliminary fiscal risk analysis and a preliminary review of the current budget management of...

A set of case studies were prepared as part of the World Bank's Water Global Practice initiative "Wastewater. Shifting paradigms: from waste to resource" to document existing experiences in the water sector on the topic. The case studies highlight innovative financing and contractual...

Evidence on the impacts of many teacher policies remains insufficient and scattered, and the impact of many reforms depends on specific design features. In addition, teacher policies can have very different impacts, depending on the context and other education policies already in place. Systems...