World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
Not a member yet
39632 research outputs found
Sort by
Does LLM Assistance Improve Healthcare Delivery? An Evaluation Using On-Site Physicians and Laboratory Tests
Get PDFThis study tests the effects of large language model (LLM) decision support on patient care at two outpatient clinics in Nigeria. Health workers were given the option to make revisions to their initial care plan based on LLM feedback. The unassisted and assisted plans are evaluated using (1) comparisons with independent care plans created by on-site physicians, (2) laboratory tests for malaria, anemia, and urinary tract infections, and (3) a blinded randomized assessment by the on-site physician who saw the same patient. In response to LLM feedback, health workers changed their prescribing for more than half of the patients and reported high satisfaction with the recommendations. In a selected sample, retrospective review by academic physicians also suggested improvements in care related to long-term risk management. However, the three metrics show mixed effects of LLM-assistance, with on average no significant improvement in diagnostic alignment with physicians, detection rates for the tested conditions, or physician subjective assessments. Health workers follow LLM recommendations that agree with the physician's decisions only slightly more often than those that do not. These results suggest that, despite some benefits, LLM-based frontline health worker support is not yet a public health priority in low- and middle-income countries
Market Study: Access to Green Finance for Coffee Sector in Ethiopia
Get PDFEthiopia, the birthplace of coffee and Africa’s leading producer, holds a pivotal position as the world’s fifth largest coffee producer. The coffee sector is deeply embedded in the national economy and culture, contributing 30-35 percent of total foreign exchange earnings and employing over 15 million people. This market study, commissioned by the World Bank, finds that access to finance is the top business challenge for nearly 90 percent of enterprises in the sector, and the estimated total green finance market size for the coffee sector is US2.4 billion. The study identifies critical green investment priorities across the value chain, assesses the current supply and demand for green finance, and proposes tailored recommendations to support growth and resilience of the coffee sector in Ethiopia
Running Faster, for Longer: Structural Transformation, Productivity, and Good Jobs
Get PDFThe Indonesia Country Growth and Jobs Report (CGJR) analyze the binding constraints to growth and good jobs in the country, and outlines policy options to overcome these constraints. The report begins with macro and microeconomic diagnostics of Indonesia’s progress and the challenges to growth and employment (Chapters 1–2). It then links these challenges to specific policies and institutions that require reform (Chapters 3–5). It concludes by presenting a package of policy and institutional reforms, along with an assessment of long-term impact (Chapter 6). Indonesia can unlock faster growth and better jobs by shifting focus toward business enabling reforms and a stable regulatory environment. This will increase the demand for stronger foundational infrastructure (physical and human capital) and for private capital. Foundational infrastructure, coupled with good governance and sound macroeconomic management, has supported investment and structural transformation from low-productivity agriculture to moderately productive manufacturing and services. Slower progress on business-enabling policies - regulation, competition, trade - has kept resources concentrated in low-value activities and constrained private capital. Reforms in these areas are essential to attract new players, knowledge, and technologies that are needed to raise productivity and generate better jobs
Services Competitiveness for Growth and Jobs in Indonesia
Get PDFIndonesia’s services sector has emerged as a key driver of economic growth and employment. Services have also been the driving force of global trade and investment. Advances in technology are expected to further improve the tradability of services, creating new opportunities for Indonesia. With the right policies, Indonesia can capitalize on the ongoing reconfiguration of global value chains (GVCs) and the increasing demand for services. Under the Job Creation Omnibus Law, Indonesia substantially opened services sectors to foreign investment. Significant barriers to services hinder Indonesia’s ability to compete in global markets and access to essential imports of services. Policies to shield key sectors and firms may have supported growth and job creation, but their effectiveness is approaching their limits. Addressing barriers to services will be crucial to achieving Indonesia’s development objectives and other national priorities. Looking ahead, Indonesia has set ambitious targets for the growth of services exports in its 2025-2029 Medium-Term National Development Plan. This report provides a first comprehensive assessment of the role of services and related policies in Indonesia’s economy, incorporating both backward- and forward-looking perspectives. Chapter 1 provides introduction. Chapter 2 looks back at the past decade to analyze how services contributed to value addition, job creation, domestic and foreign investment, and export revenues. Chapter 3 provides a systematic review of the regulatory framework, examining domestic and cross-border policies affecting the four modes of services delivery and within Indonesia’s trade agreements evaluates the restrictiveness of regulatory measures. Chapter 4 looks ahead, quantifying the impacts of various policy alternatives on Indonesia’s growth and development objectives. Finally, chapters 5 and 6 provide detailed deep dives into two key service sectors - information and communication services and transport services - both critical for enhancing Indonesia’s value addition, economic growth, and development
Climate and Social Sustainability in Fragility, Conflict, and Violence Contexts
Get PDFClimate change is widely recognized as a driver of violent conflict, but its broader social effects remain less understood. Ignoring these dimensions risks a vicious cycle where climate policies might undermine socially just adaptation. Evidence is still limited on how climate shocks influence political participation, trust, or migration. This paper helps fill that gap by examining links between climate change, conflict, and social sustainability, with a focus on inclusion, resilience, cohesion, and legitimacy. Using secondary data from 2019–24, the study applies simple correlation-based methods to test three hypotheses on the nature, severity, and composition of these associations. The analysis combines multiple climate impact measures, new conflict classifications, recent social sustainability frameworks, and controls for population and geography. The results reveal strong correlations—not causation—between climate events and contexts of fragility, conflict, and violence. Climate impacts are most pronounced in both national and subnational conflict settings. The study also finds robust links between fragility, conflict, and violence and low levels of social sustainability, reflecting its role as both a driver and consequence of conflict. Some dimensions—such as violent events and insecurity—appear weaker in areas most affected by climate shocks. Two of the hypotheses are supported, and one remains inconclusive
Viet Nam Macro Monitoring, February 2026
No full text2026 opened with the successful conclusion of Viet Nam’s 14th Party Congress, which reaffirmed ambitions to become a high-income country by 2045 and set an ambitious 2026-2030 reform agenda centered on supporting higher growth while safeguarding macro stability. Early-year activity was strong, with January industrial production rising in line with trade momentum. Household consumption remained cautious amid higher living costs, particularly for housing and other non-discretionary services. Core inflation stayed relatively elevated despite softer headline CPI. FX pressures eased amid broad US$ weakness. The SBVs 2026 credit growth target (15 percent) aims to rebuild banking sector liquidity buffers and steer credit toward safer, productive uses. Capital markets remained buoyant, led by strong domestic equity participation and improving confidence around the FTSE Russell upgrade path, while the corporate bond market continued to normalize - dominated by bank and real-estate issuance - supporting longer-term funding
Nourish and Flourish: Water Solutions to Feed 10 Billion People on a Livable Planet
No full textNourish and Flourish addresses the urgent challenge of sustainably feeding a projected 10 billion people by 2050. Although an additional 2 billion people have been fed in the last 20 years, current agricultural water management (AWM) practices must be transformed if future needs are to be met without environmental damage.
The report shows how this challenge can be met through three paradigm shifts: (1) embrace complexity to balance the requirements of people, prosperity, and the planet; (2) establish incentives to transition from hardware to services; and (3) end the guesswork by collecting and using data for transparent, evidence-based decisions. These shifts are complemented by a new water-food nexus framework that categorizes countries by their level of water stress (high/low) and food trade position (net importer/exporter), enabling tailored, context-specific solutions rather than one-size-fits-all approaches. Combined with examples of country experiences, the report illustrates pathways to AWM transformation at scale.
Nourish and Flourish addresses the question of how these changes will be financed—because no government can do this alone. It outlines how existing agricultural finance can be better allocated and how sources of financing can be exp anded and diversified, including a greater role for private sector participation and investment. It also addresses how innovations can be integrated to improve governance, service performance, financial sustainability, and productivity.
The report reframes AWM not only as a means to improve production but also as a platform to deliver economywide gains across sectors. The analysis shows that strategic AWM investments can unlock major development dividends. One action alone—expanding sustainable irrigation—could create at least 245 million jobs, before accounting for the multiplier effect across storage, processing, transport, and markets. By transforming how countries manage agricultural water, policy makers can simultaneously boost food production, create jobs, build climate resilience, cut emissions, and protect ecosystems, nourishing people while enabling economies and landscapes to flourish on a livable planet
Soft Skills, Networks, and the School-to-Work Transition in Rwanda
No full textAcross many countries, young adults face a persistent skills mismatch, with firms reporting difficulty finding candidates with adequate soft skills. In Rwanda, young women face particularly acute barriers to securing employment. This study evaluates a two-week intensive soft skills training program delivered to recent tertiary graduates, who were randomly assigned to participate. Implemented during the COVID-19 recovery period, the program accelerated participants’ entry into the labor market and expanded their professional networks, contributing to faster job finding. Although employment gains diminished over time as the labor market recovered, women experienced larger initial employment gains than men and shifted their job search toward more professional networks. These findings suggest that targeted soft skills training can help ease school-to-work transitions, particularly in periods of economic disruption, while highlighting the need for cost-effective models that translate early employment gains into sustained improvements in earnings and job quality
Building Statelessness-Sensitive ID Systems
No full textThis publication provides policymakers, practitioners, and development partners with practical guidance for integrating statelessness considerations into the planning, design, and implementation of foundational identification systems. As countries accelerate the development of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), including digital identification (ID), millions of stateless people risk being excluded or further marginalized due to legal and administrative barriers and other challenges. To help address these risks, the publication sets out concrete measures to make ID systems more inclusive for stateless people - such as incorporating statelessness assessments during project preparation, adapting enrollment procedures to overcome legal and documentation barriers, strengthening birth registration systems, ensuring data protection and due process safeguards, and aligning national frameworks with international standards to prevent and reduce statelessness. By embedding statelessness-sensitive approaches into ID system design and implementation, governments and partners can advance the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 16.9) of legal identity for all and help ensure that no one is left behind in the digital transformation
Demographic Transition and Education Expenditure in South Asia: Opportunities and Challenges
Get PDFDecline in the school-age population due to demographic changes presents an opportunity to redirect resources within the education sector to improve access and quality. However, the experiences of countries that have gone through similar demographic transitions show that a shrinking student population does not automatically translate into more efficient spending due to structural and political challenges. Realizing the potential fiscal space depends critically on how education systems adapt in practice to demographic changes. This paper projects public education expenditure as a percentage of gross domestic product from 2020 to 2050 across eight South Asian countries, considering demographic shifts and different scenarios related to education system coverage, efficiency, and economic growth. The findings show that demographic changes could allow for reinvesting educational resources for basic education equivalent to 0.6 percentage points of gross domestic product on average by 2050 (compared to 2020), even after achieving universal basic education. Although the reinvestment potential for pre-primary and tertiary education is smaller, it remains significant at an estimated 0.14 percentage points of gross domestic product on average