World Bank [to 19 December 2015]
http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/all
[We generally limit coverage to regional and global level initiatives, recognizing that a number of country-level announcements are added each week]

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International Migration at All-Time High
WASHINGTON, December 18, 2015 – The number of international migrants is expected to surpass 250 million this year, an all-time high, as people search for economic opportunity. And, fast growing developing…
Date: December 18, 2015 Type: Press Release Language: English

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Op-Ed by World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim: Climate Action After Paris
At the United Nations climate conference in Paris, courageous and visionary leaders recognized that people rarely change the world when they work within the constraints of what they think is possible….
Date: December 17, 2015 Type: Opinion Language: English

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Uniting Behind Universal Health Coverage
Conference on Universal Health Coverage in the New Development Era:Toward Building Resilient Health SystemsWorld Bank Group President Jim Yong KimTokyo, Japan December 16, 2015 Good morning. I’m extremely…
Date: December 16, 2015 Type: Speeches and Transcripts Language: English

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Despite $28 Billion Drop in Global Private Infrastructure Investment in Energy, Transport, and Water, Strong Showing of Renewable Energy Projects
WASHINGTON, December 15, 2015—Despite a sharp decline in private investment in energy, transport, and water infrastructure in developing countries in the first six months of 2015, investment in renewable…
Date: December 15, 2015 Type: Press Release Language: English

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World Bank Approves US$1.5 Billion to Support India’s Universal Sanitation Initiatives
More than 500 million rural people to gain access to toilets and other sanitation facilities with a focus on behavior change
WASHINGTON, December 15, 2015 – The World Bank today approved a US$1.5 billion loan for the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) Support Operation Project to support the Government of India in its efforts to ensure all citizens in rural areas have access to improved sanitation – such as a toilet or latrine with a focus on changing behaviors – in ending the practice of open defecation by 2019.
Specifically, this project will support the rural component, known as SBM – Gramin (SBM-G), over a five-year period using a new performance-based program which links funds directly to results, ensuring that benefits are delivered to the people in need – more than 60 percent of India’s rural population.
Today, of the 2.4 billion people who lack access to improved sanitation globally, more than 750 million live in India, with 80 percent living in rural areas. More than 500 million of the rural population in India continue to defecate in the open, suffering from preventable deaths, illness, stunting, harassment and economic losses.
The SBM-G program focuses on ensuring usage of toilets along with their construction. States and their implementing agencies will be given incentives for meeting performance standards. Performance will be measured against the states’ ability to reduce open defecation, sustaining their open defecation free (ODF) status and improving solid and liquid waste management in rural areas. The financing mechanism promotes the leadership of the states, which will have flexibility in innovating and adopting their own delivery models…
Date: December 15, 2015 Type: Press Release Language: English

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Call for Ideas to Improve Development Response for Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons
WASHINGTON, December 14, 2015 — As the number of refugees and internally displaced persons fleeing conflict, violence and persecution reaches historic highs, the World Bank’s Global Program on Forced Displacement (GPFD) is calling for proposals for innovative and transformational ideas that can improve the development response to forced displacement. Displacement tends to be protracted, and development programs in origin, host, transit, and destination countries are urgently needed to complement humanitarian assistance.

Innovative ideas may include analytical work, use of new technologies, or development projects. Many such ideas are often at the inception stage, requiring further work to be sufficiently detailed and specific for donors or investors to support them. GPFD will provide up to $40,000 for selected teams to develop their idea into a full concept note which would meet World Bank Group standards. The deadline for submission of Expressions of Interest is January 24, 2016…
Date: December 14, 2015 Type: Press Release Language: English