World Bank Podcasts

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 the National Park surrounding Arusha in the north of the country.” After scrutinizing Tanzania’s tourism industry data, Morisset contends that the country could easily expand to offer more than just the beautiful National Parks or beaches for tourists. “Most of the tourists are very high hand tourists, in that they are ready to spend quite a lot of money to go to National Parks. We believe that Tanzania is so big, that you can do different kind of tourism in different kind of locations.” Diversification within the sector has other positive impacts for the local community. The report finds that local inclusion could enhance the historical and cultural tourism. The Hotel Association of Tanzania, which was established in 2008, is a non-profit working to enhance tourism in the country. Board member Jeroen Hardewijk: “You have to make strategic decisions on how you position the destination. Mass tourism has a bad connotation for most of us, and you want to be a bit careful going entirely that route. However, having said that, having a well-positioned, diverse product offering in your destination would be a good thing for the operator definitely as well.” While branding is vital, Hardewijk says physical infrastructure and also attracting international airlines are both vital for growth. Currently some of the neighboring countries, most notably Kenya, attract a lot of the intercontinental flights. Improving that would be really helpful.” Lathifa Sykes, who is Chief Executive Officer of the Hotel Association, makes some strong claims about tourism growth with support from the private sector. “Tanzania private sector believes that we can double the growth rate of Tanzania tourism by 2025. Tanzania is one of the most reserves of fresh water, one of the largest wild life numbers and a good track record in quality tourism.”

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.

Mohammed Sidie Sheriff (or Sidie as he is known) is one of nearly 900 health workers who have been infected during the current outbreak of Ebola. The lab technician at Maculey Street Government Hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone completed as many as 100 blood tests on suspected Ebola patients before falling victim to the hemorrhagic fever himself. He believes he contracted the disease while taking a blood sample from a 4-year-old boy, who was infected with Ebola, and later died. He was wearing full protective gear, when he believes a single drop of blood breached his defenses. Within a week, he started to show symptoms. We met him at his work in the lab at the Maculey Street Government Hospital where he told the story of the day he believes he became infected. SOUNDBITE: “I went into the holding center with the necessary precautions. And I went there purposefully to get this child’s blood. So I went to the mother, and I asked her, I said to her, Madame, please help me I have come to take the blood of this child. I called her more than 5 times, becoming quite annoyed…. Not knowing that this young lady… is dead.” Faced with a traumatized child, Sidie told jokes, and tried to calm the little boy down before drawing the sample. SOUNDBITE: “I saw a tiny vein, I went into the vein, but the child was crying, shouting. I managed to get 3ml’s, then, this child drew his hand away from me, so the blood sprayed up.” When he started showing symptoms, Sidie immediately feared the worst. SOUNDBITE: “I called these people, I said, look, please give me the result of that child. Well they said that child died of Ebola. I said, “Oh, I am gone.” I told me wife, I said, “Please call me 117.” So she called 117. Within 20 minutes, 117 came. That was a horrible thing for me, because as soon as 117 was coming to my area, everybody was running helter skelter to see which house this 117 ambulance was going.. When I came out, I saw people lining up. I saw…. (crying) That is the most emotional to me, whenever I think of that, because my wife crying… everybody crying. Sidie lost 3 of his colleagues to Ebola during the outbreak. But, he is now Ebola free, and has resumed the work that he is passionate about. He says the mistakes of the past have helped him and medical workers like him, reduce the spread of Ebola. SOUNDBITE: “The hospital now, the staff, the nurses, the doctors, we who are working in the holding center, have already learned more new things, and this has reduced the death rate of patients being admitted for Ebola.” For more information about The World Bank’s Ebola response, visit worldbank.org/ebola.

Earthquakes, tsunamis, storms: Being well prepared for natural disasters is key to overcoming their impact on people and economies. Learning from the Japanese model of disaster preparedness is on top of the agenda for World Bank Group President, Jim Yong Kim. Kim is attending the third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, Japan. A cyclone that destroyed wide parts of the island nation of Vanuatu shortly before the start of the conference added ever more urgency to the discussion of disaster preparedness.

Who wants to be a trillionaire? Well in developing countries, the clean technology market is estimated to be worth a staggering 6.4 trillion (with a T) dollars over the next decade. Michael Ehst, from the World Bank Group’s infoDev program, is excited about the massive growth of technologies that will help mitigate climate change. And he explains exactly how many zeros we’re talking about here. For more information visit http://www.infoDev.org/climate 'My Favorite Number' is a series: When economists get excited, it’s usually for a good reason.

https://www.climateinvestmentfunds.org/cif/ - One of the winners of 2014’s UN Momentum for Change awards, Wandee Khunchornyakong, has been transforming Thailand’s renewable energy capacity with utility-scale solar farms. To get finance flowing for what was then a new industry in the country, she worked with the World Bank Group's International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Climate Investment Funds to access blended finance. The project is increasing clean energy capacity while helping drive economic growth in one of Thailand’s most impoverished regions.

Van Anh Vu Hong est arrivée en Haïti en 2010 peu après le tremblement de terre pour travailler sur des projets de secours d'urgence, y compris un projet de nettoyage des canaux d'eaux usées qui risquaient de propager des maladies. Cinq ans plus tard, dit-elle, de nombreux défis demeurent. L’un d’eux est la decentralisation de l'économie de la capitale Port-au-Prince vers les aux autres régions, afin de créer plus d'opportunités d'emploi pour la population croissante de Haïti.

Van Anh Vu Hong arrived in Haiti soon after the earthquake in 2010 to work on emergency relief projects, including one to clean canals filled with sewage that risked spreading disease. Five years later, she says many challenges remain. A major one is decentralizing the economy to other regions from the capital Port au Prince, in order to create more job opportunities for Haiti’s growing population.

Why do some people choose to use toilets...or not? Or to take medicines that will save them...or not? The World Development Report for 2015 looks at this and other health-related behaviors. Kenneth Leonard was directly involved in some of the fieldwork and spoke of his experience. If you want to learn more about the India toilet program that Kenneth talks about, check out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGEMldM48k0

Mamta Murthi is the Country Director for Central Europe and the Baltic Countries, based in Brussels, Belgium. In this podcast she discusses why the World Bank has offices in Brussels, what kind of work they do there, and why Brussels is a key focal point for development in the region.

The number of Ebola cases are dropping, but the epidemic will continue to cripple the economies of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. That’s the conclusions of a new World Bank Group report released on the eve of the World Economic Forum in Davos. Listen to World Bank Senior Economist David Evans, co-author of the report, as he explains why the cost of Ebola is so high and why impoverished people who never got the disease are suffering.

Following the Arusha Peace Agreement in 2000, which ended the Burundian civil conflict, a decentralization reform emerged as a clear policy objective to improve and encourage state-citizens interactions. In 2005, after the adoption of a new constitution, Burundi began a trans-formative process of decentralization to empower local entities known as communes to bring basic services to Burundi’s entire population. This will increase citizens’ access to education, health care, clean water and better food.