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Economic Assessment of Somalia's Accession to the East African Community
Get PDFSomalia’s accession to the East African Community (EAC) presents a transformative opportunity to accelerate its economic development and integrate more effectively into the regional economy. With membership, Somalia could access a broader market of over 300 million people, enhancing trade and investment opportunities, and facilitating a more diversified economic base. This accession would also pave the way for Somalia to engage in regional infrastructure projects such as the Northern Corridor, which promises to improve connectivity and reduce trade bottlenecks, facilitating smoother intra-regional trade. Additionally, aligning with the EAC’s regulatory frameworks could help enhance Somalia’s investment climate, attract foreign direct investment (FDI), and increase its competitiveness, thus spurring economic growth, generating jobs, and supporting development. Finally, Somalia stands to benefit from the EAC’s financial integration initiatives, which could provide access to regional financing mechanisms and deepen its banking sector. Somalia’s path to full integration within the EAC, however, is fraught with challenges. A significant hurdle is its reliance on a narrow range of exports, particularly livestock, which leaves the economy vulnerable to global price volatility and limits its capacity to adapt to economic shocks. Compounding this issue are underdeveloped infrastructure, weak regulatory frameworks, security challenges, and the unfinished federalism agenda, all of which may hinder Somalia’s ability to fully capitalize on the benefits of regional integration. Somalia’s fiscal dependence on customs duties, furthermore, creates vulnerabilities to the Common External Tariff (CET) changes. While an ad valorem tariff system could boost government revenue, it also risks increasing import costs, thereby raising consumer prices and the cost of living. This policy note presents an assessment of the economic impact of the EAC’s CET on imports and revenue. The assessment is based on UN Comtrade mirror data and looks at overall as well as sectoral impacts. The policy note proposes a set of reform options to maximize the benefits of Somalia’s EAC accession and address institutional gaps. A separate policy note3 looks at the legal aspects of EAC accession
Teaching in the Digital Era: What Digital Pedagogical Competencies Matter Most? - Insights From Global Frameworks
Get PDFThis review provides a comprehensive and curated analysis of digital skills frameworks for teachers at the global, regional, and national levels. It outlines the competency domains and individual competencies teachers are expected to develop to effectively integrate digital technologies into education. The analysis identifies sixteen competency domains forming the foundation of the Teacher Taxonomy used in this review. Four of these focus on pedagogical digital skills, namely teaching, evaluation and feedback, digital content creation, and personalized learning, which are further divided into 17 individual competencies. The review finds that most competencies in these frameworks assume teachers already possess basic to intermediate digital literacy to integrate technology into their classrooms. Additionally, these frameworks suggest a shift from teacher-centered to student-centered pedagogical practices, a transition many teachers are not adequately trained for. The rapid evolution of technology, including artificial intelligence, further underscores the need for continuous teacher training that incorporates fundamental digital skills and student-centered pedagogical practices, alongside the core competencies outlined in these frameworks. The review also provides step-by-step recommendations for countries interested in creating a localized competency framework. The paper is accompanied by an Excel dataset detailing the competency domains, specific competencies, and proficiency levels of all reviewed frameworks, as well as a custom-built chat box providing interactive access to both the paper and the dataset
A Review of the Evidence from Europe and Central Asia
Get PDFCountries in Eastern and Central Europe and Central Asia (ECA) are increasingly
vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, which are escalating in both frequency and
severity, and disrupting human capital—the health, skills, and productivity of individuals—
across multiple domains. However, there has been a lack of systematic documentation of
these impacts in ECA countries, limiting opportunities for evidence-based policy making. This
paper pulls together information on climate change and human development from a variety
of sources including news media, humanitarian sources, gray literature and academic
research. The evidence collected shows clearly that climate change is leading to adverse
health outcomes, disrupting education, reshaping job markets, and driving displacement
across ECA, and is affecting vulnerable groups more than others. The paper and its
accompanying database represent an initial step in filling this knowledge gap, providing a
resource that can support targeted, data-driven policy responses essential to fostering
resilient human capital in the region
Cyprus - Management of Wildfire Risk
No full textThe Republic of Cyprus (hereafter referred to as ‘Cyprus’) faces a significant and increasing risk of wildfires, as evidenced by recent large-scale fires. The island is becoming susceptible to extreme weather events, fueled by climate change. Despite being an island of less than 10,000 km², Cyprus ranks second out of 24 European countries in terms of the ratio of burned area to land mass. Wildfires pose a hazard across all regions of Cyprus, with forested areas being particularly at risk, and fire occurrence being frequently recorded in rural areas of the Paphos and Limassol districts. The likelihood of weather conditions leading to wildfires that can cause loss of life and property is estimated to be greater than 50 percent in any given year, with the highest risk between June and August, according to the National Risk Assessment (NRA). This report summarizes the results of a rapid review of wildfire risk and management capacity in Cyprus, highlighting potential risk management priorities to inform policy dialogue and future research. The review considers capacity across multiple dimensions, including governance, understanding wildfire risk, risk reduction and mitigation, early warning and public awareness, preparedness and emergency response, recovery and post-disaster financing, and cross-cutting topics such as social resilience and the role of the private sector. Drawing on available information, each chapter reviews the general context and current arrangements, including key challenges, as well as opportunities for improvement relevant to Cyprus
Dynamic, High-Resolution Wealth Measurement in Data-Scarce Environments
No full textAccurate and comprehensive measurement of household livelihoods is critical for monitoring progress toward poverty alleviation and targeting social assistance programs for those who most need it. However, the high cost of traditional data collection has historically made comprehensive measurement a difficult task. This paper evaluates alternative satellite-based deep learning approaches using detailed household census extracts from four African countries to accelerate progress toward comprehensive, fine-scale, and dynamic measurement of asset wealth at scale. The results indicate that transformer architectures solve multiple open measurement problems, by providing the most accurate measurement of local-level variation in household asset wealth across countries and cities, as well as changes in household asset wealth over time. Experiments that artificially restrict data availability show the model’s ability to achieve high performance with limited data. The proposed approach demonstrates the promise of combining satellite imagery, publicly available geo-features, and new deep learning architectures for hyperlocal and dynamic measurement of wealth in data-scarce environments
Economic Activity and Human Welfare
No full textThis paper delves into the
subnational relationship between free trade agreements
(FTAs) and human development worldwide. Utilizing a
difference-in-differences and an event-study approach with
high-spatial-resolution land-cover data and a comprehensive
time series of national-level FTA indicators for 207
countries, the study quantifies the effects of FTAs on
subnational development. The findings indicate a small
negative impact of FTAs on the Human Development Index but a
notable positive impact on economic activity, with urbanized
regions benefiting the most. Unequal and more vulnerable
regions grapple with declining human development indicators.
The depth of FTAs does not sway these outcomes. These
patterns raise questions about the inclusivity and equitable
distribution of the benefits of trade liberalization. While
prior literature has examined the national implications of
FTAs, this paper provides insight into the subnational
repercussions of FTAs. It emphasizes the role of inequality
in hindering holistic developmental benefits from FTAs
Dualistic Nature of Employment in Somalia
No full textSomalia’s labor market displays some unique traits for its level of income. Somalia has very low labor force participation, likely driven by the limited viability of agricultural and low non-agricultural labor demand. There is also evidence of a dual labor market: i) a small pool of good jobs, typically accessed by the better educated, and ii) a larger, but still limited, pool of low-quality, low-pay jobs that individuals do out of necessity. These better jobs are often within the government, international organizations, or NGOs. Policies should focus on increasing human capital and overall labor demand
Supporting Disability-Inclusive Employment and Education in the Kyrgyz Republic
No full textPeople with disabilities represent a significant portion of the global population, and their exclusion from employment and education perpetuates cycles of poverty and inequality, undermining economic development efforts. The analytical report on disability inclusive employment and education in the Kyrgyz Republic aims to analyze the challenges and opportunities faced by people with disabilities in accessing the labor market and receiving education in the Kyrgyz Republic. The report examines the current situation in the Kyrgyz Republic with respect to the recently ratified United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and identifies key barriers to inclusion, including limitations in policy and legislative frameworks and their implementation, expectations and challenges of employers, issues with educational access and attainment of skills, difficulties in accessing workplace and learning environments, as well as social stigma. The findings presented in this report are based on an extensive desk-research review and 20 qualitative interviews, as well as 13 focus groups with key informants, including representatives of organizations of persons with disabilities, people with disabilities, parents with children with disabilities, and employers. The note also presents a range of recommendations for enhancing the participation of people with disabilities in the labor market and education based on best international and local practices
The Path to Sustainable and Affordable Energy for All
No full textThe electricity industry is
undergoing a transformative evolution driven by three
overarching trends: decentralization, digitalization, and
decarbonization (3Ds). To ensure access to clean,
affordable, and reliable energy for all by 2030 - UN
sustainable development goal 7 (SDG7) - countries need to
repurpose their power market designs to adapt to this
transformation and unlock new opportunities. This report
provides a fresh global perspective on how to leverage
existing designs to effectively mobilize private capital at
scale, complementing public investment to achieve SDG7. It
draws on a new global database that tracks the evolution of
power market structures in all 230 global economies over the
past three decades. As countries strive to meet ambitious
targets on sustainable energy and access, purposeful power
market design will be critical to unlocking the investment
needed to meet SDG7
Regulatory Approaches and Lessons from Global Case Studies
No full textSecurity token offerings (STOs)
recently have gained attention as an alternative mechanism
for funding. By leveraging blockchain technology, STOs
facilitate the issuance of tokens that are backed by
tangible assets and adhere to regulatory frameworks,
presenting a more secure and regulated option than that
provided by initial coin offerings (ICOs), which often
operate in ambiguous legal environments. This enhanced
security and regulatory compliance ensures greater investor
protection and transparency. The growing adoption of STOs is
driven by their potential to democratize access to capital
markets and improve liquidity for assets that have
traditionally been illiquid. This innovative financial
instrument has the potential to affect developing countries
by providing an inclusive and efficient means of gaining
access to capital. Although STOs are a relatively new market
and are still in the early stages of development, presenting
inherent risks and challenges for future development, they
show promise in the entrepreneurial finance landscape.
Recognizing the rapid development and potential of STOs to
introduce new methods of capital aggregation and to drive
industry innovation, this primer aims to clarify the
definition of STOs, outline their benefits and risks, and
capture regulatory approaches and lessons from global case studies