World Bank Podcasts

Nigerian star Nneka stops by World Bank headquarters to share her music and talk about women’s rights. For more information go to: http://wrld.bg/PmaXN At 03:49, Nneka performs her song "My Home"

Lever les obstacles au commerce régional pour nourrir l’Afrique de l’Ouest L'insécurité alimentaire, le manque de productivité agricole et les obstacles au commerce en Afrique de l'Ouest, sont des problèmes bien connus. Dans cette région où vivent 300 millions de personnes (soit un tiers de la population du continent), l’agriculture emploie 60 % de la population active Un nouveau rapport de la Banque mondiale, intitulé «Connecter les marchés des produits alimentaires de base et les marchés des intrants en Afrique de l'Ouest », analyse la manière dont les États pourraient développer un marché régional, améliorer la sécurité alimentaire et multiplier les débouchés pour les agriculteurs. Jean Christophe Maur, économiste en chef à la Banque mondiale, est l’un des auteurs de ce rapport : Le rapport est motivé par le fait que lorsqu’on regarde les économies d’Afrique et d’Afrique de l’Ouest en particulier, le secteur agricole est particulièrement important ; je dirais en particulier pour les gens les plus pauv

The Nigerian superstar shows his support for gender equality with his new single, ExtraOrdinary.

World Bank Vice President for Africa, Makhtar Diop, discusses the importance of The Bank's support for the development of Ghana's SANKOFA Gas Project.

Food insecurity caused by fragility, lack of agricultural progress and trade barriers in West Africa is a well-documented concern. A 2012 World Bank report, Africa Can Help Feed Africa showed that increasing the supply of food staples could be improved by better connecting African markets to each other. That report called for a stronger focus on removing trade barriers and building on the forces of regional integration. Now, World Bank Analysts have taken those concepts further. A new report, Connecting Food Staples and Input Markets in West Africa: A Regional Trade Agenda for ECOWAS Countries explores how West African governments can build an integrated, regional trade market for food staples. World Bank Senior economist, and author of the Report, Jean Christophe Maur: “There is actually very active trade in most products, whereas people often tend to focus only on a subset of products. Trade along borders is particularly important for instance. West Africa’s 2011 population of 342 million is expect

Muhammad Yunus (Organization Leader),Microfinance (Industry),World Bank Group (Organization),Nobel Prize (Award),Nobel Peace Prize (Award Category),social business,Social Enterprise (Organization Type),access to finance,finance,financial inclusion In the world of microfinance, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus is a rock star. He was the founder of the Grameen Bank that provides small, low-cost loans to people seeking to pull themselves out of poverty. Join the World Bank Group's Pabsy Pabalan and get his insight into what it takes to succeed. #PabsyLive THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS WERE ANSWERED AND DISCUSSED: 00:19 What gave you the idea to start Grameen Bank? 02:02: So you mentioned that you approached banks. What did they tell you? I mean what reason did they give that they don’t lend money to the poor? 02:35 Let's imagine that I was one of Grameen Bank’s clients and I have a loan. What mindset do I need for myself to succeed? 03:41 You talked about young people being job creators instead of bein

http://wrld.bg/OOeEo: The coffee rust fungus, also known as “La Roya,” is destroying coffee farms across Central America. How is this affecting farmers? What are the ways large global coffee buyers are adapting to changes in their supply chains? Pabsy Pabalan speaks to Craig Russell, Starbucks Executive Vice President for Global Coffee, and Amy Obregon, a Nicaraguan coffee farmer. The International Finance Corporation, Ecom, Starbucks, and Inter-American Development Bank are coming together to help Nicaraguan farmers combat coffee rust disease. For more information on the La Roya Coffee Project visit http://wrld.bg/OOeEo

Poland’s development experience over the past few decades can provide many lessons for countries seeking to determine their own transition paths. On 22-23 June, 2015, development professionals from Poland and the Eastern Partnership countries got together in Tbilisi, Georgia to exchange ideas, knowledge and experiences. Anna Kowalczyk asks attendees what they think countries can learn from Poland.

A new report shows that populations across Europe and Central Asia are aging, but people are not living longer. What does that mean for health, education, and pension systems? And what are the opportunities of aging societies? Pabsy Pabalan finds some answers in an interview with Hans Timmer, World Bank Chief Economist for Europe and Central Asia. #PabsyLive

Celebrated Swedish statistician Hans Rosling visits the World Bank and tells Pabsy Pabalan that he supports the Bank’s open data policy; believes statistics represent stories about people and that his favorite number is zero. Then he pulls out some dollar bills and things get even more interesting. #PabsyLive

Did you know that in the next decade many of the world’s largest cities will be in Africa? But water, air and indoor pollution are killing urban residents, and the poor suffer most. Watch what’s happening in Lagos, Nigeria and how life could be changed for the better.

Sub-Saharan Africa is home to over 50 million pastoralists. Helping pastoralists and agro-pastoralists by increasing access to productive assets, services and markets is key to ending poverty and boosting shared prosperity. The Regional Sahel Pastoralism Support Project – or PRAPS - has been designed to address the development needs of pastoralists across the Sahel in Sub-Saharan Africa. It aims to tackle the most important challenges faced by pastoralists: drought, animal diseases, climate change, conflicts and dwindling access to land and water resources. The PRAPS project is a collaboration between six Sahelian countries: Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal under the regional coordinating umbrella of the CILSS -the permanent Interstate Committee for Drought control in the Sahel- and overall political guidance from ECOWAS and WAEMU. Aminata Mbengue Ndiaye, Minister of Agriculture and Animal Health, Senegal: "The regional pastoralism support project is an initiative that grew

L’Afrique subsaharienne abrite plus de 50 millions d’éleveurs nomades. Pour pouvoir mettre fin à la pauvreté et promouvoir une prospérité partagée, il est donc essentiel de venir en aide à ces pasteurs, en élargissant leur accès à des biens productifs et aux marchés.Le Projet régional d’appui au pastoralisme au Sahel, ou PRAPS, a précisément été conçu pour répondre aux besoins de développement des pasteurs du Sahel. Il vise à remédier aux principales difficultés que rencontrent ces éleveurs : la sècheresse, les maladies animales, le changement climatique, les conflits, l’amenuisement des pâturages et des sources d’eau. Le PRAPS associe six pays du Sahel : le Burkina Faso, le Mali, la Mauritanie, le Niger, le Sénégal et le Tchad. Il est coordonné à l’échelle régionale par le CILSS, le Comité permanent inter-États de lutte contre la sécheresse dans le Sahel, sous la direction politique de la CEDEAO et de l’UEMOA. S. E. Madame Aminata Mbengue Ndiaye Ministre de l’Elevage et des Productions Animales > La grande

Pensri sells food on the side of the road in Bangkok, and Francesca is a nurse in Santiago. A generation ago both women were suffering from pollution-related illnesses, but now they’re healthy thanks in part to bold moves to clean up their cities. Listen how Thailand and Chile are leading the way in pollution abatement, improving lives and economies. Other large cities are being urged to adopt some of the same methods. For more information visit: http://www.worldbank.org/pollution

Le Tchad vient d’atteindre le point d'achèvement de l'initiative en faveur des pays pauvres très endettés (initiative PPTE), mécanisme international d'allégement de la dette ciblant les pays les plus pauvres. En conséquence, le FMI et la Banque mondiale ont annoncé un allégement de la dette de 1,1 milliard de dollars en faveur du Tchad. Le Tchad est le 36e pays à atteindre le point d’achèvement de l’initiative PPTE, initiative lancée en 1996 par l’IMF et la Banque mondiale dans le but de ramener l'endettement des pays pauvres à un niveau considéré comme soutenable. En atteignant le point d’achèvement de l’initiative PPTE, le Tchad entre dans une nouvelle ère de développement. Kordjé Bedoumra, le ministre tchadien des finances et du budget, nous explique pourquoi.

Chad, Africa’s fifth largest country, has reached the completion point of the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, an international debt relief mechanism that provides special assistance to the world's poorest countries. As a result, the IMF and the World Bank have decided to support $1.1 billion in debt relief for Chad. First launched in 1996 by the World Bank and the IMF, the HIPC initiative’s aim is to ensure that no poor country faces a debt burden it cannot manage. Chad is the 36th country to reach the completion point under the HIPC Initiative Kordjé Bedoumra, Chad’s Minister of Finance and Budget, explains why reaching the HIPC completion point is such an important milestone for his country. World Bank, Africa, Chad, Highly indebted, HIPC, poverty, growth, debt reflief, devleopment

With popular attractions such as Mount Kilimanjaro and the archipelago of Zanzibar, Tanzania is home to some of Africa’s most popular tourist destinations. Tourism is the main foreign exchange earner for the Tanzanian economy; an estimated 2 million visitors contribute 2 billion dollars to the country’s coffers each year. The sector is also one of the fastest growing industries in Tanzania. A new report by The World Bank Group finds that a greater emphasis on diversifying tourist destinations, a stronger focus on community integration, and a more transparent governance approach could yield an even greater economic dividend in the coming years. Jacques Morriset, a lead economist at The World Bank Group in Tanzania, authored the Tanzania Economic Update 6, titled, “The Elephant in the Room, Unlocking the Potential of the Tourism Industry in Tanzania.” “You need to diversify in terms of what tourists are likely to see in Tanzania. Right now, all the tourists are coming to two locations – Zanzibar, and

Over 30 leaders from major world religions and heads of global faith-based organizations today launched a call to action to end extreme poverty by 2030, a goal shared by the World Bank Group. Listen to World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim outline the new initiative.

Even with 800 million people going to bed hungry every night, countries can end hunger by 2030 if they create systems that raise agricultural productivity in rural areas, improve nutritional outcomes, and invest in more climate-smart agriculture that can withstand a warmer planet, according to a World Bank Group report released today on the future of food.

Falling commodity prices, including tumbling oil prices, have slowed Sub-Saharan Africa’s growth this year. The World Bank Group reports that growth in the region has dropped to 4.0 percent in 2015, from 4.5 percent in 2014. The downturn largely reflects the fall in the prices of oil and other commodities, according to Africa’s Pulse, a twice-yearly World Bank Group analysis of the issues shaping Africa’s economic prospects. The 2015 forecast is below the 4.4 percent average annual growth rate of the past two decades, and well short of Africa’s peak growth rates of 6.4 percent in 2002-08. Excluding South Africa, the average growth for the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa is forecast to be around 4.7 percent.