World Bank Quarterly Information Brief,
South Africa Country Office
April - June 2007
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This quarterly electronic information brief provides relevant information on recently published reports, seminars and events. To subscribe, please visit www.worldbank.org/afr/za. We also invite you to please access other similar information on the websites of our countries:
South Africa (www.worldbank.org/southafrica)
Botswana (www.worldbank.org/botswana)
Namibia (www.worldbank.org/namibia)
Lesotho (www.worldbank.org/lesotho)
Swaziland (www.worldbank.org/swaziland)
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News Flash
17th World Economic Forum on Africa, Cape Town, South Africa,
20 June 2007
This year’s conference theme, “Raising the Bar,†underscored the objective of the meeting––to tackle issues such as investment, infrastructure, energy, governance, skills development, malaria and other health issues, urbanization, and climate change. The conference brought together diverse players from the continent as well as other countries. Among those participating in the event was World Bank Vice President for the African region Obiageli Ezekwesili who participated in panel discussions, including the opening plenary where she joined South African President Thabo Mbeki and Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade. Ezekwesili noted that it is more important than ever for the world to support Africa, “It is critical to support countries to make the right decisions and ensure they have the institutions and technical capacity to sustain growth. There are still huge areas that need reform.†For more information visit
Namibia: First Education and Training Sector Improvement Program
The objective of this project is to contribute to the Government of Namibia’s efforts to equitably increase the immediate supply of middle to high level skills required to meet current labor market demands and, to lay a foundation for a sustainable supply of skills required for future equitable growth and for facilitating Namibia’s transition to a knowledge-based economy. For more on this project click here
Launch of the Namibia Development Information Center (NDIC), Windhoek, Namibia, 22 June 2007
In June, the Namibian Development Information Center (NDIC) was launched at the Namibia Polytechnic. The new center is a partnership between the Bank and the Polytechnic of Namibia, which is hosting the center, the Namibia Network of Aids Organizations, the Namibian Economic Policy Research Unit and the European Union. The center is aimed at enhancing knowledge and information sharing around development issues and challenges as well as consultation with all stakeholders through development dialogue. For more on the center click here
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Upcoming Event
Achieving the Millennium Development Goals: Poverty Reduction, Reproductive Health and Health Sector Reform, 20 – 31 August 2007, Bangkok, Thailand
This two week course explores key elements in designing efficient, equitable and financially sustainable population policies and reproductive health programs in the context of health sector reform and Millennium Development Goals. After attending the course, participants learn to recognize how the changing international and national policy environments affect their work in population and reproductive health and to identify the linkages among health, gender and poverty. To register online click here
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Past Event
2007 Spring Meetings
Each Spring, the IMF?s International Monetary and Financial Committee and the joint World Bank-IMF Development Committee hold meetings to discuss progress on the work of the Fund and Bank. Plenary sessions of the IMF and the World Bank?s Boards of Governors are only scheduled during the Annual Meetings in the autumn. For more information click here
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World Bank Institute
The World Bank Institute (WBI) is the capacity development arm of the World Bank, and helps countries share and apply global and local knowledge to meet development challenges. WBI?s capacity development programs are designed not only to build skills among groups of individuals involved in performing tasks, but also to strengthen the organizations in which they work, and the sociopolitical environment in which they operate.
Upcoming Course
Contractualization in WSS Sector, 27- 31 August 2007, Durban South Africa
The objective of the workshop is to provide local decision makers with a wide range of options to improve the institutional framework of water supply and sanitation, including many practical cases of success and failure. For more
WBI Past Event
WBIHD Pilot E-learning Course on Basics of Health Economics, May/June 2007
This flagship course on Sustainable Health Financing, the Health and AIDS program of WBIHD is an easily accessible e-learning course the objective of the course is to reach non health economists, who need a basic understanding of these concepts in order to communicate with health economists and ministry of finance staff. The e-learning course is based on materials of the flagship course, earlier produced web-based materials and newly developed content reflecting current trends in Health Economics thinking, such as equity and selected health financing topics. For more information contact jhindriks@worldbank.org
WBI Learning Catalogue
Link to WBI Learning Catalogue
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Recent Publications
2007 Worldwide Governance Indicators
The World Bank views good governance and anti-corruption as central to its poverty alleviation mission. Nowadays, hundreds of governance and anti-corruption activities are taking place throughout the World Bank Group. They focus on internal organizational integrity, minimizing corruption on World Bank-funded projects, and assisting countries in improving governance and controlling corruption. Governance Indicators for 1996-2006 presents the latest of the Bank’s estimates of six dimensions of governance covering 212 countries and territories between 1996 and 2006. For more
Where is the Wealth of Nations?
This book describes estimates of wealth and its components for nearly 120 countries. The book has four sections. The first part introduces the wealth estimates and highlights the level and composition of wealth across countries. The second part analyzes changes in wealth and their implications for economic policy. The third part deepens the analysis by considering the importance of human and institutional capital, and by linking wealth to production. The fourth part reviews existing applications of resource and environmental accounting in developed and developing countries. Click here for full text.
Global Monitoring Report 2007: Confronting the Challenges of Gender Equality and Fragile States
The 2007 Global Monitoring Report on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) assesses the contributions of developing countries, developed countries, and international financial institutions toward meeting universally agreed development commitments. Fourth in a series of annual reports leading up to 2015, this year?s report reviews key developments of the past year, emerging priorities, and provides a detailed region-by-region picture of performance in the developing regions of the world, drawing on indicators for poverty, education, gender equality, health, and other goals.
Subtitled "Confronting the Challenges of Gender Equality and Fragile States", this year?s report highlights two key thematic areas-gender equality and empowerment of women (the third MDG) and the special problems of fragile states, where extreme poverty is increasingly concentrated.
These publications and more are available at the Public Information Centre
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Can Sub-Saharan Africa leap into global network trade?
This paper examines opportunities for Sub-Saharan African countries to effectively participate in globalization, particularly given the increasing interest of China and India in Sub-Saharan Africa. How can Sub-Saharan Africa fully engage and gain benefits from global network trade? Over the past 15 years Asia has become Africa?s fastest growing export market. Asian countries are much more open to trade than Europe or America. There seems to be no evidence to suggest that this trend will not continue in the near future. Click here for full-text.
Climate change adaptation in Africa: a microeconomic analysis of livestock choice
This paper uses quantitative methods to examine the way African farmers have adapted livestock management to the range of climates found across the African continent. The authors use logic analysis to estimate whether farmers adopt livestock. They then use three econometric models to examine which species farmers choose: a primary choice multinomial logit, an optimal portfolio multinomial logit, and a demand system multivariate probit. Comparing the results of the three methods of estimating species selection reveals that the three approaches yield similar results. Click here for full text.
Migration, remittances, poverty, and human capital: conceptual and empirical challenges
This paper reviews common challenges faced by researchers interested in measuring the impact of migration and remittances on income, poverty, inequality, and human capital (or, in general, "welfare") as well as difficulties confronting development practitioners in converting this research into policy advice. On the analytical side, the paper discusses the proper formulation of a research question, the choice of the analytical tools, as well as the interpretation of the results in the presence of pervasive endogeneity in all decisions surrounding migration. Particular attention is given to the use of instrumental variables in migration research. On the policy side, the paper argues that the private nature of migration and remittances implies a need to carefully spell out the rationale for interventions. Click here for full text.
World Bank Research Newsletter
Subscribe to the World Bank’s newsletter at: www.econ.worldbank.org/research_digest
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B-SPAN
This is an internet-based broadcasting service that streams World Bank seminars, workshops and conferences to the public on the Internet.
Most-Watched Presentations
(available on the B-SPAN homepage):
1. International Migration: Problem or Opportunity?
2. World Bank and Donors Must Change to Reach MDGs Says Jeff Sachs
3. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
4. On Measuring Governance: A Roundtable Discussion
5. Workshop 5: Compensation and Compulsory Licenses: implementing the
Doha Declaration and advancing the Millennium Development Goals (Part
Two) with Ramesh Govindaraj, Jean Lanjouw, Aidan Hollis, and James Love
B-SPAN Pod-casting Series
The World Bank Institute’s Multimedia Center and B-SPAN introduce the Bank’s first pod cast, the “Best of B-SPANâ€. A series of downloadable radio programs distributed automatically on the 1st and 15th of every month, the series will cover a different development topic in each show using excerpts from the extensive B-SPAN video archive. Listeners can hear programs individually, or subscribe to the pod-cast fee to have new content delivered to them automatically with each update. For more information and to view the latest pod-casts click here.
VOD
Video on Demand (VoD) is a video portal developed & provided by the GDLN Multimedia Center that disseminates and archives videos collected from various sources, such as B-SPAN and WBI video collection. VoD allows users to add, browse, query, and play back videos over the Internet.
Most-Watched Presentations (available on the VOD homepage):
1. Joseph Stiglitz and Kenneth Rogoff discuss: Globalization and its Discontents
2. The Roaring Nineties by Joseph Stiglitz
3. World Bank and Donors Must Change to Reach MDGs Says Jeff Sachs
4. Knowledge, Archives and Development with Hernando de Soto
5. Peter Piot: AIDS: The Need for an Exceptional Response to an
Unprecedented Crisis
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New Disclosed Project Documents
For these and additional project documents please access the Documents and Reports website.
Project Documents
Namibia – Education and Training Sector Improvement Program (ETSIP)
Project Appraisal Documents
South Africa - Renewable Energy Market Transformation Project - 39789
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Public Information Center
For Additional Information, please contact our Public Information Center (PIC):
Location: 1250 Pretorius Street, ProEquity Court 1st Floor, Hatfield.
Opening Hours: Monday - Friday (09:00 - 16:00)
Telephone: 012 431 3103/0
Fax: 012 431 3134
Email: salibrary@worldbank.org
Contact: Mmenyane Seoposengwe
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