This report explores the potential of maturing technologies to address specific health financing challenges in East and Southern Africa. To the extent possible, it draws on examples from countries in the region and shows how some technologies have been used in other sectors that could inform...

The Southern African Customs Union (SACU), as a bloc, is compelled to commit to trade in environmentally friendly goods. This study investigated the short-run and long-run relationships between trade openness and environmental quality in the SACU. The Cross-Sectional Autoregressive Distributed...

Financial inclusion is an important enabler of economic development and aligns with several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In most sub-Saharan African countries, financial inclusion efforts take place in the presence of concentrated and bank-dominated systems. This study...

The objective of this combined evaluation was to produce an independent evaluation covering the period of 2019-2023 of two key components, namely: the EU's humanitarian interventions in the Southern Africa and Indian Ocean (SAIO) region (Part A), and DG ECHO's WASH policy (Part B). Part A...

Understanding the relationship between health capital and economic performance is crucial for policymakers in Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries. This study explores this relationship in 14 SADC countries over a 14-year period (2005-2019), with GDP per capita as a measure of...

A severe drought is currently affecting southern Africa and the Zambezi basin, with extremely dry and warm conditions from October 2023 to March 2024. Heatwaves are exacerbating the impacts of the lack of precipitation. The average temperature is abnormally high, registering record values since...

This study investigates the association between infrastructure development in China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to southern Africa, using a propensity score matching-difference-in-difference (PSM-DID) regression. The empirical examination is based...

Purpose - This paper aims to assess the impact of digital financial innovation on financial system development in Common Market for eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). This paper evaluates the dynamic relationship between digital financial innovation measures and financial system development...

In Sub-Saharan Africa, health care facilities face critical challenges in water supply, sanitation, and hygiene services; health care waste management; and environmental cleanliness. With coverage below 50 percent, these deficiencies pose significant health risks to patients and health care...

The report (Volume 1) is structured in the following way: The first section provides an overview ofthe condition of the physical infrastructure and some of the challenges in maintaining and improving the network. The second section looks at the projected growth on the transport network up to...

According to the GovTech Maturity Index (GTMI) 2022 update for the East and Southern Africa (AFE) region, eight countries are in group A or B, and the remaining 18 countries are in group C or D, exhibiting medium to low focus on GovTech initiatives in general. GovTech initiatives were primarily...

The levels of human capital and skills differ widely between continents and over time. While skills and human capital on the African continent have improved over time, a gap with other continents remains (Penn 2019). Of more concern, the gap in human capital between Africa and the rest of the...

This paper examines the key determinants of firm growth in three Southern African countries of Eswatini, Lesotho and Namibia and assesses whether exporting activity and use of information communication technology play any role in growth of the firms. The paper uses data collected by the World...

Revealing the harsh reality of trafficking in persons and forced labour within the Southern Africa and Indian Ocean Region, the Regional Baseline Assessment sheds light on prevalent challenges and critical gaps in addressing these criminal activities. Despite efforts to combat trafficking,...

In addition to performing their basic fiscal functions, governments in developing economies are constantly challenged by new and re-emerging socioeconomic issues such as insecurity, hunger, natural disaster, collapsing infrastructure and disease outbreaks. These piles of challenges have made the...

Southern African Customs Union (SACU) countries are under pressure to commit themselves to sustainable environmental activities. This study employed data from 2007 to 2021 using quantile regression to determine the heterogenous effects of industrialisation on environmental degradation in SACU...

External shocks disrupt the effectiveness of the central bank in stabilising prices. Therefore, this study investigates the effect of exchange rate movement on consumer prices in the SACU region for the period from 1990 to 2021 (31 observations for each nation). To achieve this, panel...

"In the 1890s financial speculation and market manipulation were prominent features of the Southern African gold mining industry. Extravagantly capitalised, starved of working capital, and poorly managed, many mines could not be made to pay. Investors suffered more at the hands of Randlords than...

"This book delves into the critical issue of ensuring the long-term financial viability of local governments in the diverse region of Southern Africa. Across Southern Africa, cities and communities are facing a multitude of challenges, from rapid urbanization and infrastructure challenges to...

1. Introduction -- 2. Entrepreneurship in the Republic of Botswana (formerly Bechuanaland) -- 3. Entrepreneurship in the Kingdom of Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) -- 4. Entrepreneurship in the Kingdom of Lesotho (formerly Basutoland) -- 5. Entrepreneurship in the Republic of Mozambique (formerly...

The struggle to combat climate change remains complex and challenging. Currently, two climate change approaches, namely, mitigation and adaptation, have been widely supported. These are empirical, requiring further explanation of the main drivers of carbon emissions. This research seeks to...

The struggle to combat climate change remains complex and challenging. Currently, two climate change approaches, namely, mitigation and adaptation, have been widely supported. These are empirical, requiring further explanation of the main drivers of carbon emissions. This research seeks to...

Resilience offers a useful lens for studying how human well-being and the systems on which it depends can absorb and recover from a range of shocks and stressors, including events such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Looking beyond the direct effects of observable shocks and individual or household...