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

Stabilizing climate change entails
bringing net emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) to zero. CO2
stays in the atmosphere for hundreds, if not thousands, of
years. As long as one emit more than captured or offset
through carbon sinks (such as forests), concentrations of
CO2 in the atmosphere will keep rising, and the climate will
keep warming. Countries can follow three principles in their
efforts to create a zero-carbon future: (a) planning ahead

This report provides a baseline
institutional and regulatory assessment of the oil and gas,
mining (including jade and gemstones) and the hydropower
sectors in Myanmar. As such the report is an input to
Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in
Myanmar. However, it is not exhaustive with respect to all
the sectors that may be considered under a scoping study for
EITI .This report is the first in-depth study of the context

In mid-2014, the Government of Ukraine
(GoU) requested technical assistance and financial support
from the inter¬national community to assess and plan
priority recovery and peacebuilding efforts in the
conflict-affected regions of eastern Ukraine. Following
these requests, and within the framework of the 2008 Joint
Declaration on Post-Crisis Assessments and Recovery
Planning, the EU, UN, and WBG agreed to support the

After several years of strong economic
performance, Zambia now confronts several important
challenges that must be managed carefully to ensure
sustained and inclusive growth in the future. On the one
hand, the economy grew by an estimated 5.5–6.0 percent in
2014, somewhat above the average for African economies.
Monthly copper production increased by an average of 8
percent during the second half of 2014, reversing the sharp

The political and security transition
continues to take a heavy toll on Afghanistan’s economy.
Economic growth is estimated to have fallen further to 2
percent in 2014 from 3.7 percent in 2013 and an average of 9
percent during 2003-12. Political uncertainty combined with
weak reform progress dealt a further blow in 2014 to
investor and consumer confidence, already in a slump from
uncertainty building since 2013. As a result, growth in the

Economic development critically involves
diversification and structural transformation—that is, the
continued, dynamic reallocation of resources from less
productive to more productive sectors and activities. This
paper documents that, over an extended period, developing
Asia has on average been particularly successful in
diversifying its exports, particularly in comparison with
Sub-Saharan Africa. Much of the progress has occurred

Natural resources offer opportunities,
but also bring challenges. They have generally been linked
to a series of negative outcomes like economic decline,
corruption, and conflict. Oil and minerals reserves, in
particular, are often very spatially concentrated, and their
discovery becomes a potential source of conflict between the
governments, the people of the producing areas, and those of
the rest of the country. But can this increased risk of

During the past decade, Georgia’s
pursuit of economic reforms led to impressive economic
growth, capital inflow, and investments. It helped improve
the business environment and infrastructure, strengthened
public finances, and liberalized trade. Georgia achieved
most of the human development targets of the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs). This progress did not result,
however, in improved environmental governance or better

Migration is transforming rural
economies, landscapes, and potentially, gender relations.
Migration is one of the drivers of the so-called
feminization of agriculture in Latin America. This
feminization has relevance for everyone given agriculture’s
role in regional food security, national shared prosperity,
and household resilience to shocks. The objective of this
study is to investigate the feminization of agriculture as

Over the past two decades,
community-based approaches to project delivery have become a
popular means for governments and development agencies to
improve the alignment of projects with the needs of rural
communities and increase the participation of villagers in
project design and implementation. This paper briefly
summarizes the results of an impact evaluation of the
National Solidarity Program, a community-driven development

This paper analyzes the socioeconomic,
fiscal, and governance impact of gold mining in Mali. The
analysis finds that, at the national level, mining plays an
important role by contributing to export earnings and
overall government fiscal revenue. In 2013, the mining
sector represented 7 percent of gross domestic product,
contributed 1.5 percent to growth in total gross domestic
product, and accounted for 65 percent of total export