Since the industrial revolution, the
economic development of Western Europe and North America was
characterized by continuous urbanization accompanied by a
gradual phasing-in of urban land property rights over time.
Today, however, the evidence in many fast urbanizing
low-income countries points towards a different trend of
“urbanization without formalization”, with potentially
adverse effects on long-term economic growth. This paper

The growing availability of free or
inexpensive satellite imagery has inspired many researchers
to investigate the use of earth observation data for
monitoring economic activity around the world. One of the
most popular earth observation data sets is the so-called
nighttime lights from the Defense Meteorological Satellite
Program. Researchers have found positive correlations
between nighttime lights and several economic variables.

The World Bank Group (WBG) Country
Partnership Framework (CPF) for Egypt forFY15-19 has been
prepared at an important juncture in Egypt’s history to
support transformational changes to the economic and social
space. It builds on the Government of Egypt’s (GOE)
medium-term strategy and national priorities for economic
development, responds to client demands, and is informed by
consultations with a broad array of stakeholders in Egypt.

This Country Partnership Framework (CPF)
is designed to support the forthcoming Chad Five-Year
Development Plan (2016-2020). It succeeds the Interim
Strategy agreed with the Government of Chad in March 2010.
The Interim Strategy Note (ISN) set out the World Bank
Group’s (WBG’s) support to Chad for the period 2010-2012.
The strategy was composed of three main pillars:
strengthening governance; improving livelihoods and access

The main objective of this Economic and Sector Work (ESW) is to identify opportunities for stronger linkages between domestic agricultural supply chains and the tourism sector in the OECS, and to outline priority interventions with potential to strengthen these linkages. Since this topic has been analyzed in a number of studies, the approach for this ESW is not to conduct yet another comprehensive study.

The major role tropical forests play in
biodiversity and climate change has led the world to search
for effective ways to slow down deforestation. Community
forest management (CFM) is an example of the broader concept
of community-based natural resources management (CBNRM). As
part of the decentralization policy in many countries,
mainly in Africa and Asia, CFM was expected to promote: (i)
a more effective stewardship of the resources by involving

Tajikistan’s economy exceeded
expectations during the first six months of 2015 despite a
challenging external environment. According to official
data, GDP growth slowed only moderately from 6.7 percent in
the first half of 2014 to 6.4 percent year on year (y/y) in
the first half of 2015, even as remittances from Russia
fell, global demand weakened, and prices for the country’s
key export commodities such as aluminum and cotton dropped

In the context of Romania’s push toward
sustainable and inclusive development, the government has
asked the World Bank to support the harmonization of public
investments financed by the European Union and the state
budget. The current report describes the national program
for local development (PNDL’s) framework and project cycle
and provides an overview of the program’s project portfolio
in 2014. It also draws a number of preliminary observations

This Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD)
covers eight small Pacific island countries (PIC8):
Kiribati, Marshall Islands, the Federated States of
Micronesia, Palau, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. The
objective of the SCD is to identify the most critical
constraints and opportunities facing the PIC8 to meet the
global goals of ending absolute poverty and boosting shared
prosperity in a sustainable manner. The report is intended

This report is on possible improvements
on management of revenues from auctioning of European Union
Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) allowances and use of
flexibility mechanisms in Romania. The principal objective
of this report is to propose improvements on management of
revenue from the auctioning of EU ETS allowances, as well as
describe possible use of flexibility mechanisms in Romania,
in order to mobilize and enable both public and private

In support of the Climate Change and Low
Carbon Green Growth Program of Romania (LCGGP), the World
Bank has prepared the current report with the aim of helping
the Romanian Government to operationalize the strategic path
chosen by the country for implementing its National Climate
Change and Low Carbon Green Growth Strategy 2016-20302
(NSCC) and the associated 2016-2020 Action Plan for Climate
Change (APCC). This includes some relevant institutional

Agricultural water management projects
that take an inclusive, participatory gendersensitive
approach at all levels of the project
cycle help increase project effectiveness and
improve account of livelihood concerns of
women and the rural poor. Participatory
planning methods; creation of genderspecific
indicators; continuous monitoring;
and beneficiary-led impact assessment are
key features of this approach.