World Bank Podcasts

The 2015 World Bank Group-International Monetary Fund Annual Meetings took place in Lima, Peru, from October 9-11, bringing together 16,000 participants from 188 countries. This major event featured seminars, regional briefings and press conferences, focused on global economy, international development, and the world's financial markets. It is designed to foster creative dialogues among the private sector, government delegates, and World Bank Group and IMF officials. Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group, gave a press conference at the opening of the event to highlight the mission of the World Bank Group and the aim of the Annual Meetings. To watch a replay of the event, visit: http://live.worldbank.org/annual-meetings-2015-opening-press-conference

The livestock market in Garu Tempane is buzzing with activity as buyers and sellers rush to make a deal before closing time. There are vendors selling chickens and goats but guinea fowl seems to be an especially big draw. This is because in Ghana, guinea fowl is one of the most popular sources of animal protein . The bird is native to West Africa and has long been a part of the region’s cuisine and history. The high nutritional content of guinea fowl makes it an important contribution to a food system that can feed every Ghanaian. Today, demand for guinea fowl is outpacing supply. In order to meet this demand, the World Bank-funded West Africa Agricultural Productivity Program, or WAAPP, is working with farmers in Ghana to increase production. With knowledge and the right equipment, guinea fowl can be a low-maintenance livestock to raise. Yeboah: “Guinea fowl, naturally they are heartier and they can also subsist even on vegetation. As they go around, they pick grains and insects. It is easier to manage them and less expensive to also maintain.” That’s Franklin Yeboah. He’s the assistant director with Ghana’s Ministry of Agriculture and he directs the livestock component of the WAAPP. The program has provided supplies and support to guinea fowl farmers who are just starting out. Yeboah: “We have selected 40 districts in these 3 regions and we’ve selected 2 farmers per district. And each farmer –40 of the farmers have been supported with incubator and generator sets.” “We are also giving eggs – that’s 500 eggs each. We are giving feed, and we also are giving vaccines.” As with all types of farming, there are challenges to raising guinea fowl. Yeboah: “When you take guinea fowls, for instance, hatchability is a problem. It’s very low. You have people hatching maybe 20-30% when they set eggs and they normally use the hens to hatch the eggs. “You also have high mortality because you are not able to maintain the kids. That’s when they have the kids following the hens, you have hawks and other predators also attacking the kids.” But the incubators provided by the WAAPP help the farmers achieve a higher hatchability of eggs. And with training and support, the farmers are able to raise the young guinea fowl to mature levels at which they are no longer threatened by predators. The program has been quite successful, creating jobs in rural Ghana where unemployment is high, particularly for young people. And with the constant demand for guinea fowl, the growth potential of this industry to contribute to the economy and alleviate poverty is strong. Yeboah: “The high level goal is to the reduce poverty and to increase wealth. And also to support animal protein intake.” Beneficiary farmers have experienced a large jump in their incomes, but they’re not the only ones who have profited from the program. Other farmers in the communities have been able to use the incubators for their own eggs. Now that everyone has access to the tools, more and more farmers are able to raise healthy flocks, putting them on the path to productive livelihoods. Yeboah: “It’s a source for raising extra income. Most of the farmers in Ghana do crop farming. And yet, they also do some use of subsistence livestock farming. “Now the livestock serves as a bank of wealth. So whenever they need money to do anything, they sell their animals, raise money and use the money to do whatever they need to do.”

We want to create a system that feeds every person, everywhere, every day. It sounds like a dream, but it could be a reality. Especially if we take steps to make agriculture climate-smart -- more productive, more resilient and less harmful to the environment. Join Pabsy Pabalan for this fascinating interview with Ethel Sennhauser, Director of Agriculture Global Practice at the World Bank Group, in advance of the World Bank-International Monetary Fund Annual Meetings in Peru. To learn more: http://live.worldbank.org/future-of-food-climate-smart-food-system http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/agriculture

Open a business. Find a passion. Start a movement. World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim tells Pabsy Pabalan that young people have the power to make a lasting impact on the movement to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity. The two caught up at the Young Dialogues event in Washington, D.C., on the eve of the Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund in Lima, Peru. No matter your age, take a listen! #PabsyLive

Selon Makhtar Diop, vice-président de la Banque mondiale pour l’Afrique, le ralentissement de la croissance représente une opportunité pour les pays africains de changer la structure de leurs économies. Éditions précédentes d'Africa's Pulse Avril 2015 : http://www.banquemondiale.org/fr/news/press-release/2015/04/13/africa-end-of-the-commodity-super-cycle-weighs-on-growth

World Bank Vice President for Africa, Makhtar Diop, discusses the regions slowing growth amid weak global financial conditions. Africa's slowing growth is one of the findings of the Fall 2015 Africa's Pulse Report, a biannual publication of The World Bank that analyses issues shaping Africa's economic future.

A new initiative launched by the World Bank and the governments of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda aims to address the daily hazards faced by small scale traders and at the same time boost a vital part of the region’s growing economy. Implemented in cooperation with the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa or COMESA, the Great Lakes Trade Facilitation Project aims to clear logistical and administrative logjams at busy border crossings, reduce corruption and the harassment of traders—particularly women—boost local and regional economies, and alleviate poverty.

The Nashville singer/songwriter stopped by World Bank to share some of his music and talk about his work with charitable organizations like One Egg and Blood: Water. He also urges fans to do their part to end poverty. To watch the interview and concert, visit our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8Ck9c3w4Xw

Three months from now, negotiators from around the globe will be in Paris to finalize an accord to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and begin slowing the impacts of climate change. Rachel Kyte, World Bank Group Vice President and Special Envoy for Climate Change, sits down with Pabsy Pabalan to discuss what we should be looking for in a climate deal and how we can get to a zero-carbon future. #PabsyLive #ClimateAction Watch the full replay of Climate Action Event here: http://live.worldbank.org/Climate-Action-Paris

As the world strives to curb greenhouse gas emissions and scale up low carbon energy solutions, geothermal power holds tremendous promise as one of the most plentiful and cheapest renewable energy options available. The Climate Investment Funds delivering geothermal investments at scale to empower climate-smart transformation.

In recent years, Ghana has suffered serious energy shortages that have affected the poor the most. The World Bank Group’s one-of-a-kind $700 million in guarantees for the “Sankofa Gas Project” aims to change that. Listen to the World Bank’s Anita Marangoly George and Pankaj Gupta talk about why this project is a “game changer” and how it aims to make reliable, clean and affordable electricity accessible for Ghana’s people. Learn more: http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/ghana/brief/what-is-the-sankofa-gas-project

Most government policies have the potential to broaden equality and bring positive change to the lives of individuals and communities. However, even well-designed policies can have unintended negatives consequences on certain groups of the population. In an effort to improve the ability of countries to use evidence to assess the potential social and economic impacts of policy reforms, The World Bank has created a series of learning events to bring together policymakers, development practitioners, academics, members from civil society, and international organizations, to share their insights and lessons learned in their countries. The most recent of these Poverty and Social Impact Analysis or PSIA learning events was a collaborative effort between The Bank and one of Africa’s most highly regarded academic institutions, The University of Cape Town. About 20 African countries were represented at the workshop in Cape Town, South Africa, as well as thought leaders and policy makers from India. World Bank acting Chief Economist for the Africa Region, Punam Chuhan-Pole. “PSIA helps policy makers and helps stakeholders understand what would would be the appropriate policies for addressing issues.” One of the aims of the workshop is to prove to policy makers that more research may in fact pay off down the line, while also keeping the varied needs of constituents at the forefront of policy decisions. Dr. Shrikant Baldi is Additional Chief Secretary for finance & Planning in the Government of Himachal Pradesh in India. He says policy discussions usually happen after implementation, which leads to a waste of resources, if these interventions have not been successful. “Generally what happens is that a policy at the state level – you have some stakeholders that suggest something and then it is implemented, good or bad. If it has been implemented badly, then resources have gone. So if we have a concurrent PSIA study, that tells us what is going to be the impact, specially on deserving section, we can make a better policy based on evidence.” Oxford University Professor of Public Policy, Mthuli Ncube, says objectively measuring impacts allows for greater accountability through the policy making system. “The PSIA is very helpful in trying to get African policy makers and citizens to understand how policy can change things for the better. We are all worrying about where the poverty trends are headed for 2030 and the SDG’s are headed for 2030, and this Poverty and Social Impact Analysis really gives us insight into which policies will make the biggest positive impact on poverty reduction. For more information on the World Bank’s work in Africa, visit WorldBank.org/Africa.

It is a large warehouse, with racks up to the ceiling. It is big, bright and humming with activity. Workers in white coats are going through purchase orders, using hand held scanners to pick items off the shelves: bottles of cough syrup, inhalers, syringes, antibiotics. We are in Nairobi, at the warehouse of the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority also known by its acronym - KEMSA. It is a state owned company with the mandate to procure, warehouse and distribute healthcare commodities to public health facilities across the country. Dr. John Munyu, chief executive officer at KEMSA: “With the coming of the devolved system of government in the year 2013, the health system underwent a paradigm shift. Previously health was centrally controlled by the central government from Nairobi, but with the adoption of the devolved system of government, the 47 counties are now responsible for health services management in their own counties. Therefore, KEMSA had to change its business model, we had to look at our architecture and reconfigure our business model to be able to serve the counties.” Changing its business model meant that KEMSA had to become much more demand driven. The World Bank, through the Kenya Health Sector Support Project put forward the necessary funds in order to stock KEMSA’s warehouse and provide it with a working capital. This enabled the agency to build a self-sustaining business model: since KEMSA now has its own funds, it can assess the needs of its customers, purchase commodities, process the county’s orders, get paid, and then use the money to replenish stocks and pay suppliers. Dr. Ramana Gandham, lead health specialist with the World Bank based in Nairobi: “The capitalization of KEMSA has really helped them along with the new supply chain management. Earlier, it used to be a much more bureaucratic organization depending on funding from the ministry of health, and there were always delays in cash flow, and as a result supplier payments could not be made in time. The Kenya medical supplies authority is now much more responsive and its model is much more demand driven, responding to the requests made by the county governments.” So how does this new model exactly work? In the past, purchase orders from the counties were sent via mail or courier. Many would end up getting lost and mistakes were made when trying to read someone’s handwriting. Now, health facilities can make their purchases directly through KEMSA’s online ordering portal. Back at the KEMSA warehouse, shopkeepers go through the purchase order, pick the requested items and prepare shipments. Packages are sent directly to the health facility’s doorstep using outsourced transport. Each vehicle is equipped with a GPS that allows KEMSA to track it in real time and make sure there are no delays and every shipment is accounted for. Dr. Irene Muchoki is the chief pharmacist at Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital in Nairobi. Being a public hospital, Mama Lucy procures most of medical supplies from KEMSA. “I have been around during the whole change in KEMSA. I would say the situation is way better compared to before when the lead times were just really bad so that you find you have run out of drugs completely. Right now there is a big change. We still have a few gaps, there is no system that is 100%, but compared to before, this is awesome, it’s good, it’s much better. For instance if we order today, at most it takes 2 days and drugs will be here.” To learn more about the work of the World Bank in Kenya, please visit www.worldbank.org/kenya.

Novak Djokovic may be known as the number one tennis player in the world, but his not-so-secret passion is helping children. The World Bank Group's Pabsy Pabalan catches up with Novak and World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim at UNICEF headquarters in New York, where they’ve announced a unique and far-reaching partnership to support early childhood development. Watch what they have to say – because it matters. #PabsyLive

Fantastic Negrito celebrates and preserves African-American culture through music. For more information visit: http://wrld.bg/R9QEd Questions asked in this interview: 00:34 You’ve switched to the name Fantastic Negrito, can you tell me what’s behind it? You play a lot of black roots music in Delta? 01:14 So it’s really important for you to preserve that musical cultural heritage? 01:21 You have a real great rags-to-riches story. You were a street musician at one time and now you’re? 02:22 Can you tell me more a little bit about your back story, and how you arrive to this point, to making this collective?