This program document presents the World
Bank Group (WBG) FY17-22 Country Partnership Framework (CPF)
for Bulgaria. The timing of the new CPF follows the
preparation of theSystematic Country Diagnostic (SCD)
prepared in FY15, and informs the areas and objectives ofthe
CPF in support of the WBG’s twin goals to reduce poverty and
boost shared prosperity1 for the bottom forty percent of the
population. The CPF proposes to focus WBG support in

This note describes the trends in, and
composition of, absolute poverty based on household
expenditures, and is thus concerned, as a matter of policy
objectives, with access of the population to a particular
minimum standard of living. This should be viewed as
complementary to the companion note on social exclusion
based on Europe 2020 indicators including the relative
at-risk-of-poverty (AROP) rate, focuses on low income in

At the end of 2013, there were about 3.3
million people who remained forcibly displaced within the
Great Lakes Region (GLR) of Africa. Of these, 82 percent
were internally displaced persons (IDPs) and 18 percent
refugees; 64 percent were under 18 years old. This Report
analyzes the extent, causes, and character of this forced
displacement, with particular attention to certain situations.

The Government of Punjab, through
Government of India’s (GoI) Department of Economic Affairs
(DEA) had requested the World Bank to provide non-lending
technical assistance (NLTA) to provide high quality basic
urban civic amenities to the residents of cities of Ludhiana
and Amritsar in the areas of: water supply, sewerage, storm
water drainage, solid waste management, and modern urban
transport system. The study is expected to recommend

Women comprise 50 percent of the
agricultural labor force in Sub-Saharan Africa, but manage
plots that are reportedly on average 20 to 30 percent less
productive. As a source of income inequality and aggregate
productivity loss, the country-specific magnitude and
drivers of this gender gap are of great interest. Using
national data from the Uganda National Panel Survey for
2009/10 and 2010/11, the gap before controlling for

This note explores issues within the
urban logistics and port-cities thematic pillar. It is one
of three focus areas, or thematic pillars, for the
multi-donor trust fund for sustainable logistics (MDTF-SL).
The goal of this pillar is to finance activities that will
assist developing countries in two areas; addressing urban
congestion resulting from retail distribution of goods, and
improving the sustainable design and operation of

This paper defines economic inclusion as
the ability of all people, including the disadvantaged, to
share in economic gains, that is, the conditions that allow
for broadly shared prosperity. Beyond the “right” to access
consumption in cities, and beyond relatively standardized
safety net policies that support economic security,
inclusion demands intentional, flexible, context-appropriate
strategies aimed at shifting the dynamics of local land and

Recognizing the importance and
uniqueness of the Sundarbans, the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
declared the Indian portion of the forest a World Heritage
Site in 1987, and the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Program
has included the Sundarbans Biosphere Reserve in the Global
Network of Island and Coastal Biosphere Reserves
Contributing to Action on Climate Change and Sustainable

Horizontal inequalities (HIs) within a
country, or inequalities among groups, have been shown to be
an important source of violent conflict. Relevant group
categorizations include religion, ethnicity, and region. HIs
can also be measured in different ways. Ethnicity, language,
religion, race, and region are examples of potentially
relevant and salient group categorizations. In this paper
the authors will review the prevailing HIs and their

In 2012 Papua New Guinea undertook a
national Service Delivery Assessment of rural water, rural
sanitation, urban water and urban sanitation services to
identify coverage and targets, how well services are being
delivered and the financing shortfalls in these subsectors.
Immediately following this assessment, stakeholders, through
a national policy task force, have developed a draft of the
country s first National Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

The Country Partnership Framework (CPF)
will succeed the Myanmar interim strategy note (FY13-14) and
be the first full country strategy for Myanmar since 1984.
This CPF comes at a time of great opportunity for Myanmar;
over the three year period covered in this CPF, the reforms
initiated in 2011 have the potential to bring Myanmar into a
new era of peace and prosperity. Myanmar s history, ethnic
diversity, and geography combine into a unique set of

The paper investigates determinants of
civic participation in local budget processes in rural areas
in the Kyrgyz Republic by using data from the Life in
Kyrgyzstan survey, conducted in 2012. The analysis of the
data suggests that although civic awareness and interest in
local budget processes is relatively high, the participation
rate in local budgeting processes is low. The paper also
shows that interest, awareness, and participation are