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Urban Heat: Assessing Risks and Identifying Interventions
No full textHeat stress is causing unnecessary deaths, illness, economic losses, and reductions in infrastructure and urban service quality across cities worldwide. Assessing urban heat risks can help cities reduce these adverse impacts by providing an evidence base for planning, prioritizing, designing, and implementing policies and investments for heat resilience. This Technical Note aims to help readers plan a heat risk assessment and identify policies and investments to address the identified risks. Section 1 presents key considerations for planning a heat risk assessment. Section 2 presents methodologies for such an assessment. These are divided into methodologies to assess heat hazard (2.1), the likelihood and severity of its impacts on human health (2.2), and the city’s economy and infrastructure (2.3). Section 3 presents key policies and investments that can be undertaken in response to the urban heat challenge and discusses the roles of city- and national-level stakeholders in implementing them. The note concludes with a simplified catalogue of actions
Economic Analysis of Land Administration Projects : A Guidance Note for TTLs
No full textLand administration projects are inherently complex, sensitive, and challenging to design and implement, often encompassing a broad range of interventions such as legal and regulatory reform, development of information and communication technology (ICT) systems for land records, demarcation of public land, recognition of customary and informal rights, provision of accurate geospatial information, establishment of dispute resolution mechanisms, and capacity building across multiple levels of administration. The diversity of these interventions, together with the multiple and sometimes indirect ways in which they affect communities and institutions, makes it difficult for task team leaders (TTLs) to clearly articulate their value, secure inclusion in country portfolios, and justify investment decisions to World Bank management and the Board. Economic analysis (EA) is the primary tool used by World Bank teams to assess whether such projects are likely to generate positive socioeconomic impacts and represent sound investments for both the institution and its clients. While required by World Bank policy, EAs are not merely a compliance exercise; they play a critical role in strengthening project design, informing results frameworks, identifying risks, and supporting implementation as well as monitoring and evaluation. Following project completion, EAs also provide a foundation for impact assessment and benchmarking across operations. This guidance note aims to help TTLs recognize the value of economic analysis, understand its core elements, and apply it effectively throughout the project preparation process. It focuses specifically on cost benefit analysis, the most commonly used form of EA, and provides a step by step framework for identifying problems, selecting an appropriate analytical approach, estimating costs and benefits, and addressing uncertainty and risk. The note concludes with practical recommendations and good practices intended to help TTLs allocate resources effectively, integrate EA early in project preparation, and make better use of its findings throughout the project lifecycle
Turning Inward and/or Outward: Impact of Different Types of Socioemotional Skills in Nigeria
No full textSocioemotional skills (SES) — such as self-efficacy, assertiveness, and negotiation — are increasingly recognized as critical drivers of labor market success.
Emerging evidence suggests that psychology-based programs that strengthen SES can improve economic outcomes in low- and middle-income countries (e.g.,
Campos et al. 2017, 2025; Bossuroy et al. 2022). In theory, SES may influence economic empowerment by improving household dynamics, the ability to find jobs
and create businesses, or improving work or business performance. However, little is known about which types of SES generate the highest economic returns and how
these returns vary by gender and social norms (Lippman et al., 2015). For example, interpersonal skills, such as negotiation and collaboration, are outward-facing and
facilitate social awareness and relationship building, while intrapersonal skills, such as self-control and perseverance, are inward-facing and focus on self-awareness and self-regulation. Using an impact evaluation of a socioemotional skills training intervention across six states in Nigeria, we examine whether trainings focused on interpersonal
skills yield higher economic returns when combined with intrapersonal skills among men and women and assess impacts by gender norms
Farming for Clearer Skies: How Agriculture Contributes to Clean Air Solution
No full textAir pollution and agriculture share a complex, two-way relationship in which agricultural activities both contribute to air pollution and are adversely affected by it. Practices such as pesticide application, fertilizer use, and livestock management release pollutants including volatile organic compounds, ammonia, and nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere, contributing to smog formation and secondary air pollutants, while some pesticides react with other atmospheric chemicals to worsen air quality. In turn, air pollution negatively impacts agriculture, as fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ground-level ozone can damage crops by disrupting photosynthesis, reducing yields, and impairing plant growth. Moreover, polluted air can degrade soil quality, interfere with nutrient cycling, and harm beneficial soil microorganisms that are essential for healthy crop production, making it crucial to both reduce agricultural contributions to air pollution and address its harmful effects to ensure sustainable food production and environmental health. This report contributes towards the World Bank’s “Accelerating Access to Clean Air for a Livable Planet” report, which identifies the main sources of current air pollution and uses scenario modeling to demonstrate how integrated climate change and air quality management policies could yield significant reductions in future air pollution
Do Investments in Digital Infrastructure Improve Employment Outcomes? Evidence from Türkiye
Full text linkThis paper examines the impact of improvements in digital infrastructure on labor market performance, focusing on employment and productivity, measured by average wages. The empirical setting exploits the staggered expansion of high-speed fiber broadband across provinces in Türkiye, using linked employer-employee administrative data and complementary Labor Force Surveys. Across specifications, better digital connectivity raises formal employment and wages, with effects concentrated in occupations amenable to remote work. Most of these gains arise from workers—disproportionately women—entering teleworkable occupations enabled by high-quality internet access. Detailed occupational data reveal that these effects are driven by within-province switches from non-teleworkable to teleworkable jobs, consistent with the relaxation of mobility constraints and the expansion of work-from-home opportunities as a key channel. Wage gains are concentrated among high-skilled workers, although employment effects also extend to lower-skilled women in teleworkable roles. In contrast to the effects of digital connectivity, comparable investments in road infrastructure that enhance physical connectivity produce more mixed results: reduced travel times can improve access to jobs, but competition from nearby regions may offset these benefits
Analyse de la fréquence et des conséquences des inondations au Tchad
Full text linkChad is consistently rated among the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change. Increasing temperatures and precipitation are raising the threat of drought, flood, heatwaves, and vector-borne diseases. Infrastructure limitations and Chad’s young, poor, and rapidly growing population amplify these vulnerabilities. Flood risk, in particular, is becoming increasingly salient in Chad due to a series of devastating floods in recent years, notably in 2012, 2022, and 2024. This report analyzes flood risk in Chad as well as flooding incidence over the past 10-15 years using multiple data sources, to assess current and projected exposure to flooding and identify areas with significant risk. The findings aim to inform flood response strategies through the national safety net program and support broader efforts to strengthen resilience.Le Tchad est régulièrement classé parmi les pays les plus vulnérables au changement climatique. L’augmentation des températures et des précipitations accroît les risques de sécheresse, d’inondation, de vagues de chaleur et de maladies vectorielles. Les limitations des infrastructures, ainsi que la jeunesse, la pauvreté et la croissance rapide de la population tchadienne, amplifient ces vulnérabilités. Le risque d’inondation, en particulier, devient de plus en plus préoccupant au Tchad en raison d’une série d’inondations dévastatrices survenues ces dernières années, notamment en 2012, 2022 et 2024. Ce rapport analyse le risque d’inondation au Tchad ainsi que l’incidence des inondations au cours des 10 à 15 dernières années à partir de multiples sources de données, afin d’évaluer l’exposition actuelle et projetée aux inondations et d’identifier les zones présentant un risque significatif. Les conclusions visent à éclairer les stratégies de réponse aux inondations par le biais du programme national de filets sociaux et à soutenir des efforts plus larges pour renforcer la résilience
Unreliable Electricity in Developing Countries: The Role of Weak Institutions
Full text linkUnreliable electricity supply in developing countries is a persistent problem with significant adverse consequences for economic growth. This paper uses a novel database on utilities, which provides systematic data on reliability, and links it to available data on country-level institutions to provide new evidence on variation in reliability across countries. The data reveal that utilities located in countries with weak institutions for controlling corruption perform significantly worse at delivering reliable electricity. The data also show that privately owned utilities perform better than publicly owned ones, consistent with standard reforms of privatization that are pursued to overcome governance problems. However, private ownership is less likely in countries with higher control of corruption, where public utilities perform better than their counterparts in countries with weaker institutions. Regardless of ownership, the estimates suggest that any given utility is likely to perform worse over time when the country in which it is located has weaker institutions. The paper forges links with available case studies to discuss potential mechanisms that may account for the correlations revealed in the data, yielding forward-looking ideas for how to turn around utility performance in weak institutional contexts
Group Consulting Continues to Benefit Firms after a Decade: Experimental Evidence from Colombian Auto Parts Firms
Full text linkA randomized experiment tested the effectiveness of individual and small group–based consulting services on firms in the Colombian auto parts industry, finding improvements in management and firm performance over three to four years. This paper uses administrative data to track these firms for up to a decade. Firms in the group consulting intervention are more likely to survive, have higher employment, and have increased sales and profits by approximately 50 percent. This longer-term growth appears to in part come through increased exporting as well as persistent management improvements. The more expensive individual consulting has smaller and not statistically significant long-run impacts
Financial Risks and Opportunities : Establishing Effective National and Regional Risk Financing Mechanisms for Brazil - Financial and Private Sector Development Policies for Fostering Sustainable Growth in Brazil
Full text linkThis report, developed under the World Bank’s technical assistance program “Financial and Private Sector Development Policies for Fostering Sustainable Growth in Brazil,” examines strategies for strengthening disaster risk financing in response to floods. It provides an overview of federal public expenditure on disaster risk, assesses financial implications of future flood events through probabilistic analysis under two climate scenarios, and explores options for using financial instruments to ensure predictable funding. Building on reforms introduced after the 2011 Rio de Janeiro floods, the report highlights opportunities to improve budgetary processes and incentivize risk transfer to the private sector at state and municipal levels. With climate change driving increased frequency and severity of extreme weather events, Brazil faces heightened exposure to hydrological risks, substantial fiscal pressures, economic disruption, and human losses. The findings underscore the need for strategic resource allocation and robust risk financing mechanisms to enhance resilience and mitigate future impact
The Global Sanitation Crisis: A Systems Approach to Resilient Citywide Inclusive Sanitation
Full text linkThis background paper highlights the urgent need for climate‑resilient sanitation systems as cities face increasing climate‑related pressures. The growing impacts of extreme weather events expose the deep interconnections between sanitation and other essential urban systems, including water supply, energy, transportation, stormwater, and solid waste management. Because these systems are tightly linked, the failure of one component can trigger cascading disruptions across multiple services, amplifying risks to public and environmental health. Sanitation failures can affect non‑sanitation sectors, just as breakdowns in other systems can compromise sanitation service delivery. These interdependencies underscore the importance of integrated resilience planning, where urban sanitation is recognized as a foundational element of overall city resilience. The paper also highlights the vital connection between sanitation and food systems through the safe reuse of wastewater and sludge, emphasizing the increasing relevance of circular economy approaches in fostering sustainable, climate‑adaptive transformations in the sector. With a primary focus on adaptation, the paper articulates why a systems‑based approach is essential for strengthening urban sanitation resilience and ensuring service continuity under climate variability and extreme events