World Bank [to 14 March 2015]
http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/all
[We limit coverage to regional and global level initiatives, recognizing that a number of country-level announcements are added each week]
Building a New Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction
New resources for disaster risk reduction
With a growing disaster risk management portfolio, totaling $5.3 billion in fiscal year 2014, the World Bank Group sees resilience and risk reduction as central to its goals of alleviating poverty and boosting shared prosperity. The World Bank Group and GFDRR will contribute to sessions in Sendai, including ministerial round-tables, multi-stakeholder working sessions, and public forum sessions. These will focus on critical disaster risk management issues, include building back better after disasters, enhancing resilience of small island states, and, through a special edition of the Resilience Dialogue, advancing post-2015 resilience goals. The conference will also feature the launch of a Challenge Fund to support disaster risk identification projects, supported by GFDRR and the UK Department for International Development.
Date: March 12, 2015
World Bank Group to Seek Key Certification on Workplace Equality
WASHINGTON, March 11, 2015—The World Bank Group has committed to achieving EDGE certification—a key global standard for workplace gender equality, President Jim Yong Kim announced Monday. “We cannot go out and talk about gender equality if we’re not serious about it here,” Dr. Kim told staff gathered to mark International Women’s Day. “Women and men deserve the same opportunities to succeed here. And study after study shows that diversity has a positive impact on productivity. These are the reasons each of the entities that make up the World Bank Group and the organization as a whole have targets for reaching gender equity in our middle and management ranks.” “We track our performance in meeting these targets in the corporate scorecard and have regularly raised them to ensure they are ambitious. While we’ve made progress in meeting these targets, there is more to be done—in some areas, much more.”
Date: March 11, 2015
World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim’s statement on the Fourth Anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami
TOKYO, March 11, 2015 — The following is a statement by the World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim:
“On the occasion of the Fourth anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, the World Bank Group remembers the thousands of people and families affected by the disaster. We would like to pay tribute to the determination and resilience of the people of Tohoku, which is a source of inspiration around the world. The Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, hosted by the Government of Japan in Sendai, alongside related events in Aomori, Iwate, Fukushima and Yamagata prefectures, offers an historic occasion for global leaders to renew their commitment to curb rising losses stemming from disasters and protect the poor and vulnerable from the threat of future disasters. The World Bank Group reaffirms its commitment to work with its partners towards creating a safer world, by building on the knowledge and experience of the people of Japan.”
Date: March 11, 2015
Breaking the Cycle of Chronic Poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean
New analysis highlights need for better coordination and a focus on behavioral barriers alongside effective social and economic policies.
LIMA, Peru, March 9, 2015 – One out of every five Latin Americans or around 130 million people have never known anything but poverty, subsisting on less than US$4-a-day throughout their lives. These are the region´s chronically poor, who have remained so despite unprecedented inroads against poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean since the turn of the century. Their situation is becoming more precarious as the economic boom that significantly contributed to reduce poverty dwindles. Regional GDP growth has slowed, from about six percent in 2010 to an estimated 0.8 percent in 2014. This contraction will likely take away one of the biggest drivers behind the strong reduction in poverty: an improved job market.A new World Bank report, Left Behind, Chronic Poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean, takes a closer look at the region’s entrenched poor…
Date: March 9, 2015
