The main objective of this policy note is to assess key social protection and labor (SPL) policies, program expenditures and institutional arrangements in Cote d'Ivoire. The note aims to identify policy options for improving allocative and technical efficiency for key programs, including how to...

As a small transition economy, Albania has achieved significant progress, and the average year-to-year growth rate of trade from 2000 to 2017 has outperformed the world average reaching almost eleven percent. Yet, Albanian exports are very concentrated in terms of market destinations and product...

This note takes stock of productivity trends of the Albanian non-agricultural private sector using granular firm-level data. To understand better the sources of jobs and productivity growth, this note analyzes firm-level data from the Albanian annual Structural Business Survey (SBS) collected by...

Despite higher levels of poverty and extreme poverty in rural areas, access to basic services outside the capital is limited in Guinea-Bissau. The state's weak presence beyond Bissau has meant that donors, working in partnership with local non-governmental organizations (NGOs), have become an...

This note is prepared as a continuation of the long-standing collaboration between the Government of Poland and the World Bank in the area of Long-Term Care (LTC). Some of the earlier outputs of this collaboration include the 2009 report Long-Term Care and Ageing which examined the fiscal...

With the adoption of federalism through the 2015 Constitution, seven newly created provincial and 753 local governments are now placed at the frontline, tasked to manage substantial amount of public resources and deliver critical services to citizens. As result, Nepal is now in the middle of the...

The draft law on Railway Transport of Ukraine (the 'new Railway Law') is currently awaiting sign-off from other ministries and the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers. The Law, among other aims, is intended to align with commitments contained the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement 2014. The...

The European Union has reached a critical juncture in dealing with the fallout from the 2008 financial meltdown that started in the USA and spread to engulf banks and the financial markets of Europe. The ensuing recession or stagnation in many member countries was compounded by austerity...