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Early Integration of Ukrainian Refugee Students into Italy’s Schools
Get PDFThe paper examines the early
integration of Ukrainian refugee students into Italy's
education system following the Russian Federation’s
full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Using administrative
and survey data, the study presents enrollment trends,
academic performance, and barriers to educational
integration. Findings from the analysis indicate that
Ukrainian refugees face lower enrollment rates, higher
absenteeism, and lower test scores than other students,
particularly in subjects requiring language proficiency.
Despite these challenges, teachers often recommend Ukrainian
refugee students for advanced educational tracks, thus
revealing their optimism about the potential of these
students. Language barriers, mental health challenges, and
uncertain futures are identified as major obstacles to
integration. The study highlights the importance of tailored
interventions, such as psychological support and more
dedicated teaching time, to foster refugee students'
academic and social inclusion
Opportunities, Risks, and Challenges
Get PDFDigitalization accelerated by the pandemic has exponentially
increased the number and variability of alternative data
sources. The stay-at-home requirements during the pandemic
forced several business models to be digitized. This helped
spur the digitization that had been ongoing pre-pandemic,
largely driven by governments as countries sought to leverage
the benefits of the digital economy. Advances in technological
innovations are also facilitating the development of advanced
credit underwriting models and the use of structured and
unstructured data to assess creditworthiness. This has enabled
the financial industry to actively integrate alternative data to
gain a competitive edge.
This study examines the evolution of the use of alternative
data in creditworthiness assessment since the ICCR issued its
Policy Guidance Note in 2018. The report identifies the use cases
of alternative data in creditworthiness and the emerging models
across geographical regions. After assessing the evolution of
associated legal and regulatory frameworks, it concludes by
offering recommendations and policy considerations. The
findings of the study are detailed below
The December 17, 2024 Mw 7.3 Earthquake in Port Vila, Vanuatu
Get PDFThe objectives of this report include
providing an estimate of the direct economic damage to
physical assets caused by the December 17, 2024, earthquake
in Vanuatu, providing information on the sectoral and
spatial distribution of damage, and, in so doing, supporting
the development of a roadmap for recovery and
reconstruction. The data sources used are highlighted in
Annex A. This GRADE assessment is intended as a rapid remote
estimate prepared within a short timeframe to inform early
decision-making. It is not intended as a substitute for
detailed on-the-ground analysis, which may be conducted
weeks and months after an event. The GRADE assessment should
be interpreted as a first-order estimation of direct
damages, albeit with a significant degree of reliability.
While there is confidence in the overall damage estimates
and distribution of damage, the confidence level at the
individual asset level is low. Therefore, results are
presented at aggregated levels
Jordan Digital Public Infrastructure Diagnostic
Get PDFIn recent years, Jordan has
increasingly strengthened its commitment to enhancing public
service delivery through digital public infrastructure
(DPI). DPI refers to foundational and reusable digital
platforms and building blocks—such as digital ID, digital
payments, and data sharing—that underpin the development and
delivery of trusted, digitally-enabled services across the
public and private sectors, including social protection,
health, public finance, and banking. Jordan’s National
Digital Transformation Strategy and Implementation Plan for
2021-2025 reflects the country’s strategic commitment, with
the Government actively establishing DPI building blocks,
such as digital identity and data sharing platforms to
accelerate the digitalization of public services using a
secure and scalable architecture. Despite these increased
efforts, the adoption of digitalized public services remains
limited. Only about 1.4 million Jordanians are registered on
Sanad, the integrated e-services platform that is central to
the country’s digital public service delivery. This
diagnostic provides a comprehensive review of the digital
public service delivery enabled by Jordan’s DPI ecosystem
and presents recommendations on features that bolster trust,
interoperability, security, and people centricity
FY 2024 Belize Country Opinion Survey Report
No full textThe Country Opinion Survey in Belize
assists the World Bank Group (WBG) in better understanding
how stakeholders in Belize perceive the WBG. It provides the
WBG with systematic feedback from national and local
governments, multilateral/bilateral agencies, media,
academia, the private sector, and civil society in Belize on
1) their views regarding the general environment in Belize;
2) their overall attitudes toward the WBG in Belize; 3)
overall impressions of the WBG’s effectiveness and results,
knowledge work and activities, and communication and
information sharing in Belize; and 4) their perceptions of
the WBG’s future role in Belize
Evidence from a Novel Experiment on SMEs in Tanzania
Get PDFThis paper presents the results from
a novel field experiment that examined the impact of in-
creasing the presence of revenue authority officers on tax
compliance and tax morale among small and medium-size
enterprises in a lower-income country. The experiment was
embedded in the implementation of a representative,
face-to-face survey of SMEs across mainland Tanzania. An
independent survey firm was accompanied by Tanzania Revenue
Authority officers, who observed the interviews in a
randomly selected set of urban and peri-urban wards. This
translated into a temporary increase in the presence of tax
officers throughout parts of the country. The findings
indicate that an increase in tax officer presence did not
have a significant overall impact on tax compliance and tax
morale among SMEs, as measured using a combination of
administrative and survey data. However, there were
short-term increases in compliance in the largest city and
sustained increases in tax morale in the rest of the
country. A follow-up survey suggests that these results were
likely driven by an increase in the perceived credibility of
enforcement rather than meaningful increases in perceptions
of facilitation and trust
Experimental Evidence from Ghana
Get PDFHow do intrahousehold dynamics affect the investment of female entrepreneurs? This paper presents findings from a randomized controlled trial in Ghana that assesses the impacts of four alternative support mechanisms on women-owned businesses: (a) an unconditional grant provided through a mobile money account equivalent to two months of median profits, (b) an unconditional grant disbursed to the female entrepreneurs’ spouses in similar conditions; (c) a grant conditional on participating with their spouses in a training on joint decision-making; and (d) a grant conditional on reaching a savings goal under a dedicated bank account. In line with Fafchamps et al. (2014), the study finds no impacts of the unconditional grants on the business performance of female entrepreneurs. The disbursement to the spouse also has no impact on the sales, profits, or investment of female entrepreneurs. Although there is no evidence that the allocation of resources within households is efficient, the joint decision-making intervention leads to increased household support for the women’s businesses but does not impact business performance. The savings support mechanism leads to a 15 percent increase in sales and a 10 percent increase in profits. These effects are largest among female entrepreneurs who faced high expropriation pressure at baseline. This subgroup obtains a 29 percent increase in sales and a 23 percent increase in profits. The paper tests for alternative mechanisms, including self-control issues, liquidity constraints, and access to savings, but these do not explain the results. The findings substantiate that intrahousehold dynamics matter for women’s investment decisions, and highlight the importance of promoting autonomy in the face of expropriation pressures, for increased growth and investment
Building the Foundations for a Resilient and Equitable Fiscal Policy
Get PDFGhana’s development path, although
registering past successes, faces a series of current and
future challenges. Ghana succeeded inhalving its poverty
rate between 1991 and 2016, from 87 percent (US$3.65 per day
in 2017 purchasing power parity [PPP]) to about 50 percent
of the population, outpacing progress across Sub-Saharan
Africa (SSA), along with improvements in health and
education indicators. However, recent global crises have
pushed poverty upward, as the country faces multiple
challenges. Ghana needs to provide more and better jobs and
foster inclusive productivity growth, especially through
investments in human capital. At the same time, the
country’s growth path is increasingly vulnerable to climate
change and climate-related shocks. Tackling these challenges
will require fiscal policy to promote macroeconomic
stability, create the right incentives, and generate the
necessary public investments
Understanding Labor Market Demand in Real Time in Argentina and Uruguay
No full textThis paper explores how job vacancy data can enhance labor market information systems (LMISs) in Argentina and Uruguay where, as in many countries, data on in-demand skills is lacking. By analyzing job postings collected over four years in Argentina and Uruguay, this study assesses the potential of vacancy data to fill labor market data gaps. The findings reveal that vacancy data capture labor market dynamics across time and geography, showing a strong correlation with traditional labor market indicators such as employment and unemployment. However, the data are biased towards higher-skilled occupations. Despite these limitations, the large volume of postings allows for robust inferences and provides valuable insights into skills demand. The study presents three key applications of the data: 1) using postings as a leading indicator of labor market health; 2) identifying in-demand skills; and 3) mapping similarities between occupations to improve the information available to job counselors to provide advice about job transitions. Finally, the paper contributes methodologically by developing both a manually created skills taxonomy and an experimental machine learning approach to classifying skills. The machine learning method, while less comprehensive, highlights in-demand skills and can complement the manual approach by keeping it up to date with minimal input. Overall, the paper demonstrates the potential of job vacancy data to improve LMISs and inform labor market policies in Argentina and Uruguay with immediate practical applications for labor market analysis, skills development, and workforce training
FY 2024 Comoros Country Opinion Survey Report
No full textThe Country Opinion Survey in Comoros
assists the World Bank Group (WBG) in better understanding
how stakeholders in Comoros perceive the WBG. It provides
the WBG with systematic feedback from national and local
governments, multilateral/bilateral agencies, media,
academia, the private sector, and civil society in Comoros
on 1) their views regarding the general environment in
Comoros; 2) their overall attitudes toward the WBG in
Comoros; 3) overall impressions of the WBG’s effectiveness
and results, knowledge work and activities, and
communication and information sharing in Comoros; and 4)
their perceptions of the WBG’s future role in Comoros