The objective of this report is to identify policies, financing and delivery mechanisms with the view of scaling-up thermal retrofit of existing residential and public buildings in Bulgaria, Croatia, Poland, and Romania. These two segments of the building sector are critical to national goals...

This report reviews Europe's experience in spearheading CE policy. Its aim is not only to highlight its features and accomplishments, but also identify existing barriers to future progress and key measures to overcome them. Its objective is dual: contributing to CE policy development within the...

Trade can dramatically improve women's lives, creating new jobs, enhancing consumer choices, and increasing women's bargaining power in society. It can also lead to job losses and a concentration of work in low-skilled employment. Given the complexity and specificity of the relationship between...

As part of the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) program for Trade-Related Assistance to Least Developed Countries (LCDs), which Myanmar joined in April 2013, the Government of Myanmar has asked the World Bank Group (WBG) to be the implementing agency for a Diagnostic Trade Integration Study...

This report summarizes the main challenges that men- and women-led companies (also referred to as traders or trade firms) and customs brokers face in undertaking cross-border trade of merchandise goods in the Republic of Tajikistan. The report also provides recommendations to address these...

Although global economic activity is recovering and output in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) is expected to grow in 2021, containing COVID-19 remains a challenge in the region. Enterprise survey data for the emerging and developing countries in the region show that COVID-19 had a profound and...

In February 2022, the world was shocked by the Russian Federation's invasion of Ukraine. The war is having a devastating impact on human life and causing economic destruction in both countries, and will lead to significant economic losses in the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region and the rest...

In 2018, the World Bank launched the Human Capital Index (HCI), which is designed to highlight how improvements in current health and education outcomes will shape the productivity of the next generation of workers. The HCI measures the amount of human capital that a child born today can expect...

The Europe and Central Asia (ECA) Education Team's vision is for education systems to empower all to reach their full potential. In line with this vision, the purpose of this guidance note is to provide recommendations and policy advice for decision-makers on potential education responses to the...