In 2015, Lao PDR is virtually unrecognizable from what it was just a decade ago. A more open, more outward trade landscape has transformed the country from a closed-off backwater into a fast-growing developing country, complete with coffee shops, restaurants, and billboards lining the streets of...

This paper reviews the alignment of the customs act of Jamaica to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) and recommends changes where gaps are identified. In part II of this paper, the customs act is reviewed against each of the TFA technical measures, in order...

Evaluation Insight Notes (EIN) offer new insights from existing evidence on important strategic and operational issues. This EIN draws on Independent Evaluation Group evidence to identify lessons for addressing institutional capacity development needs in Sub-Saharan Africa. Institutions shape...

This evaluation is the first stage of the Independent Evaluation Group's assessment of the World Bank's support for more, better, and more inclusive jobs through International Development Association (IDA) financing, and it assesses the implementation of IDA-supported interventions directly...

The private sector is essential for creating jobs and prosperity in poor countries, but developing it is challenging, especially in fragile and conflict-affected situations (FCS). The IDA Private Sector Window (PSW) is a blended finance facility that enables the International Finance Corporation...

To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, development institutions will need to leverage an unprecedented amount of private sector capital. This is more pressing in the current context as COVID-19 recoveries will require mobilizing both public and private sources in the short...

This policy note outlines options for aid coordination and delivery in Yemen. It draws on a vast amount of experiences and lessons learned from post-conflict recovery and peace building processes both in Yemen and elsewhere over the past decade.Its central message is that timely international...

Somalia is today among the poorest and most fragile countries in the world, facing myriad development challenges related to ongoing conflict, climate change, food insecurity, natural disasters, and displacement. Overlapping crises related to the COVID-19 pandemic, a prolonged drought, and...

The International Development Association (IDA) has included jobs as a special theme since the 17th Replenishment of IDA (IDA17) in 2014, when it explicitly recognized the role played by labor markets in intermediating between growth and inclusion. This acknowledgment of jobs marked a shift in...