USAID- Making Cents International through YouthPower
Feed the Future Project Design Guide for Youth-Inclusive Agriculture and Food Systems: Research paints a dynamic picture of youth in agri-food systems. Overall, rural youth earn “mixed livelihoods” from a diverse stream of sources—on-farm, off-farm, and non-farm—with self-employment playing a particularly important role.
Creating jobs for rural youth- in agricultural value chains: The brief argues that youth-inclusive investments to modernize the agricultural sector will unleash its huge potential, offer attractive employment opportunities and create a level playing field for rural youth.
Challenges and opportunities in agriculture for African youth: The brief explores the challenges and opportunities facing young people trying to enter the agricultural and agribusiness sector.
What Works in Soft Skills Development for Youth Employment? This report summarizes areas of consensus regarding soft skills from the perspective of the Youth Employment Funders Group (YEFG), a network of donors working together to generate and share more and better evidence-based knowledge on what works in the field of youth employment.
Empowering Youth to Engage in Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems: This report aims to enhance understanding on the main challenges and opportunities to empower youth to carry out and benefit from responsible agricultural investment by giving voice to those most concerned – young farmers, agri-entrepreneurs and workers, and those who support them. It summarizes the main findings from a series of multi-stakeholder capacity assessment workshops with participants from six countries – Côte d’Ivoire, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Uganda.
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2018
The Future of Rural Youth in Developing Countries: Rural youth constitute over half of the youth population in developing countries and will continue to increase in the next 35 years. This study looks at local actions and national policies that can promote agro-food value chains and other rural non-farm activities using a youth employment lens.
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) Attract Youth into Profitable Agriculture in Kenya: Youth cherishes technology, efficiency, and innovations and accommodate entrepreneurial risks. The objectives of this study were to show the beneficial use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in agriculture among the youth in Kenya, assessed ICT application and commonly used tools, experienced challenges, impacts and suggested future ICT use. Using radio, short message services (SMS) and social media, they discussed agricultural topics and shared successes.
Informal is the new normal improving the lives of workers at risk of being left behind: In 2009, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) publication is informal normal? Marked the acceptance of a new understanding of informality in mainstream thinking. The book argued that, rather than being a stage of development to be reduced and eventually – as far as possible – eradicated as the entire labor force graduated to higher quality and more formal employment, the informal sector was likely to grow.
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay South Asian Studies Programme National University of Singapore
Agriculture, Technology, Livelihoods, and Employment: Debates, Issues, and Concerns: The lack of technological transformation in agriculture has drastically reduced income-earning opportunities. The sector is still plagued by several challenges related to widespread rural poverty, natural resource degradation, and attaining competitiveness in the increasingly globalized economy.
The U.S. Agency for International Development, Partners in Food Solutions, TechnoServe, 2017
Food Processing in Sub-Saharan Africa: Solutions for African Food Enterprises: Food processing is a significant driver of local economies, creating supplier linkages for millions of small-scale farmers and helping elevate rural incomes across East and Southern Africa.
The Emerging ‘Quiet Revolution’ in African Agrifood Systems: This brief focuses on the new opportunity of farmers, via rural-urban food supply chains, to link to the massive and growing and diversifying urban food market in Africa.
Agriculture, Food and Jobs in West Africa: The share of agriculture in food economy employment varies significantly across countries – in Mali and Niger it is more than 90%, whereas in Cabo Verde, Ghana and Nigeria it is closer to 60%.
Critical Capital for African agrifood SMEs: A review of demand for and supply of risk capital for agrifood SMEs in Sub-Sahara Africa. Based on field studies in Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and Mali.
Royal Tropical Institute, Centre for Development Innovation and the Young Professionals for Agricultural Development, 2018
Youth in Agricultural Cooperatives: Challenges And Opportunities: the main objective of this study is to explore youth’s perspectives and needs for engaging in agricultural cooperatives. The following knowledge questions were formulated, which we hope to give answers to throughout the report.
Youth for Growth: Transforming Economies through Agriculture: This report presents recommendations for how the US government can lead global efforts to promote broad-based agricultural development as a catalyst for improving youth livelihoods while preparing and empowering youth to contribute to that growth themselves.
The United States Agency for International Development, ACDI/VOCA USAID/E3’s Leveraging Economic Opportunities, USAID’s Bureau for Food Security and Feed the Future, 2016
Youth Engagement in Agricultural Value Chains across Feed the Future: A Synthesis Report This report aims to inform Feed the Future (FTF) efforts moving forward to more strategically and deliberately engage youth in market systems by providing insights from current FTF country programs, Guatemala, Liberia, Nepal, and Uganda.
Women-Led Farms and Producer Organizations are Recreating the Litchi Value Chain in India. This holistic, market-based approach to transforming the litchi value chain for women is making a great change in the community.
Case Studies on Youth Employment In Fragile Situations: report by ILO, UNDP, and UNHCR presents examples of good practices from around the world, showcasing innovative approaches to youth employment that help to build peace and resilience in fragile and conflict-affected situations.
The Changing Nature Of Work:The World Development Report (WDR) 2019: The Changing Nature of Work studies how the nature of work is changing as a result of advances in technology today. Fears that robots will take away jobs from people have dominated the discussion over the future of work, but the World Development Report 2019 finds that on balance this appears to be unfounded. Work is constantly reshaped by technological progress. Firms adopt new ways of production, markets expand, and societies evolve. Overall, technology brings opportunity, paving the way to create new jobs, increase productivity, and deliver effective public services.
Creating opportunities for rural youth: This report is based on substantive evidence and attempts to provide the kind of analysis that can inform policies, programs, and investments to promote a rural transformation that is inclusive of youth. It examines who rural youth are, where they live, and the multiple constraints they face in their journey from dependence to independence. A distinguishing feature of this report is that it examines rural development in the context of the transformation of rural areas and the wider economy. Opportunities for young women and men begin with a transformation towards a dynamic rural economy. These opportunities depend on the national, rural, and household settings in which young people reside. Only by understanding these multiple layers can governments and decision makers design effective policies and investments to enable young rural women and men to become productive and connected individuals who are in charge of their future.
Pathways to Better Jobs in IDA Countries - Findings from Jobs Diagnostics: This report documents cross-country findings from an analysis conducted by World Bank staff working on Jobs Diagnostics. It identifies some key insights for policymakers to take into account when designing policies and programs for inclusive growth. The findings are drawn from three different sources. The macroeconomic section analyzes data for over 16,000 overlapping episodes of economic growth in 125 countries. The labor supply section analyzes labor data from the latest household surveys in 150 countries around the world. The firm-level analysis draws on business data from countries for which—at the time of writing—the World Bank had conducted a Jobs Diagnostic.
Promoting a New Economy for the Middle East and North Africa:Countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) possess all the ingredients they need to leapfrog into the digital future. They have large, well-educated youth populations that have already adopted new digital and mobile technologies on a wide scale. They have a highly educated female population. That combination has immense potential to drive future growth and job creation. The question is whether the region can adapt to a new economic reality.
Labor and Welfare Impacts of a Large-Scale Livelihoods Program : Quasi-Experimental Evidence from India: Improving the livelihoods of poor households and transitioning more women back to the labor force is a major challenge in South Asia. Self-employment promoted through women's groups has often been cited as a promising intervention towards this end. However, the evidence on the impact of such programs on household income and labor outcomes is limited, especially for government programs like the National Rural Livelihoods Mission in India. This study aims to provide empirical evidence on the welfare impacts of an "intensive approach" adopted under this program.
Myanmar's Future Jobs- Embracing Modernity: There are more than 24 million jobs in Myanmar, consisting of both income and in-kind earning activities. These jobs are behind Myanmar’s enviable recent economic growth rates and are the main source of income for households, particularly poor households, and they can strengthen social cohesion, a particularly valuable outcome in an ethnically diverse and conflict-affected country. Building on the Myanmar government’s Myanmar Sustainable Development Program (MSDP), which provides a framework for jobs policy reform.
Communities Livelihoods Fisheries- Governance, Growth, and the Blue Economy in Mozambique: To support Mozambique’s blue economy and promote sustainable rural development, the World Bank is working to make the fishing sector more sustainable and profitable by aligning economic development with the sustainable management of marine resources. Capturing blue economy opportunities requires an integrated, cross-sectoral approach.
Timor-Leste Poverty - Making Agriculture Work for the Poor: About 80 percent of the poor households in Timor-Leste live in rural areas and are dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. It is therefore widely acknowledged that growth in the agriculture sector is an important channel through which poverty can be reduced in the country.
Mozambique – Jobs Diagnostic: The report focuses on the challenge of Mozambique's jobs transition: how to accelerate the shift into higher value-added activities and better livelihoods.
Diagnostic study of barriers for strengthening livelihoods of low-income rural women in Uzbekistan: Due to the strong economic growth maintained in the last 15 years, Uzbekistan made progress in reducing gender inequality. At the same time, several demographic and structural challenges remain; and effectively engaging women in the economy is one of them. While modernizing various sectors of the economy will foster progress and development, it may also result in setbacks for women, as they lack the skills and education needed to successfully adjust to a changing reality. While women constitute around 50 percent of the national population, their participation in the formal labor market is limited. Active women’s participation offers a reserved potential for further national economic growth and improved livelihoods for women in Uzbekistan.
Jobs Diagnostic Côte d'Ivoire: Employment, Productivity, and Inclusion for Poverty Reduction:The Côte d’Ivoire jobs diagnostic provides a comprehensive empirical analysis and solid evidence-base of employment challenges and opportunities in Côte d’Ivoire to inform strategies and policy actions.
Jobs Diagnostic Tajikistan: The objectives of this report are twofold. First, it analyzes the main challenges facing the country in terms of jobs at the macro, firm, and household levels. Second, it outlines a set of policies and programs that can facilitate structural transformation to achieve the country’s development objectives through i) a higher rate of job creation in the formal sector; ii) improvements in the quality of jobs, particularly those in the informal sector; and iii) better access to jobs among vulnerable population groups.
Monitoring and evaluation of jobs operations: The Jobs M&E Toolkit provides a package of resources for project teams and clients to support mainstreaming the Jobs Agenda in World Bank Group (WBG) lending operations. The aim is to help teams working with government counterparts with simple tools for the data collection on jobs, without the burden of resource-intensive survey efforts. The toolkit contains a set of guidance on indicators for key results on jobs, data collection forms, and manuals, which are tailored by beneficiary type: individuals and firms
This paper examines what the evidence shows about the utility of community-driven development programs for helping governments improve the lives and futures of the poor. The paper also addresses recent critiques of the community-driven development approach.
Vietnam– Second Northern Mountain Poverty Reduction Project
This Results Report assesses the Second Northern Mountains Poverty Reduction Project in Vietnam. Its objective is to enhance living standards by improving: access to productive infrastructure, productive and institutional capacity of local governments and communities, commune integrated investment planning, and market linkages and business innovations.
Sustainable Livelihoods: A Case Study of the Evolution of DFID Policy
This paper explores the influence of research on a particular shift in policy for DFID. In 1997 DFID made the sustainable livelihoods approach a core principle of its policy after its initial appearance in research in the 1980s. This Working Paper examines the progression from research to policy.
A Decade of Rural Transformation: Lessons from the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project
This paper documents a decade of JEEViKA. The project ended in 2016 and a follow-up project has begun to build on its successes. The booklet shares lessons learned on local economic development through livelihood enhancement, financial inclusion, value chains, agriculture intervention, data management, and other issue areas.
This evaluation assesses the WBG's record on implementation of the shared prosperity goal since 2013. It analyzes institutional requirements for effective implementation of the goal, and evaluates the extent to which the WBG was already incorporating distributional issues in its activities during the period 2005-13, before the adoption of the goal.
Jobs from Agriculture in Afghanistan, World Bank
This report details the engagement of women and youth in the rural farm sector and evaluates the role of interventions in supporting agriculture-related employment. It recommends increasing linkages between the rural poor and markets and other private-sector businesses.
Untapped Potential: Household Enterprises in Tanzania
The WBG and the Tanzania Social Action Fund assessed the constraints and opportunities faced by non-farm household enterprise owners when starting a business. The report highlights the findings from a qualitative toolkit and a quantitative analysis.
Tina River Hydropower Community Benefit Sharing Paper - Hydropower Asia 2018
This paper presents the case of the Tina River Hydropower Development Project in the Solomon Islands where the WBG is supporting a community benefit-sharing scheme as part of a Build, Own, Operate, Transfer public-private hydropower operation.
Jobs Diagnostic Côte d'Ivoire: Employment, Productivity, and Inclusion for Poverty Reduction
This report provides a comprehensive empirical analysis and evidence-base of employment challenges and opportunities in Côte d’Ivoire to inform strategies and policy actions.
Information and Communication Technologies Attract Youth into Profitable Agriculture in Kenya
This studies explores the beneficial use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in agriculture among youth in Kenya. It assesses ICT application, commonly used tools, challenges, impacts and suggested future ICT use.
Informal is the new normal: improving the lives of workers at risk of being left behind
This paper considers the nature and size of the informal economy, including definitions of the term, unpacks and disaggregates the informal workforce, and sets out policy responses.
Critical Capital for African agrifood SMEs This paper uses field studies in Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and Mali to review the demand for and supply of risk capital for agrifood SMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Case Studies on Youth Employment In Fragile Situations Under the Global Initiative on Decent Jobs for Youth,
This joint report by ILO, UNDP and UNHCR showcases from accross the world, innovative approaches to youth employment that help to build peace and resilience in fragile and conflict affected situations.
Technology Platforms for Connecting Women Farmers with Agrimarkets (India)
This presentation overviews how JEEVIKA is supporting women-owned farmer producer companies that use technology for mobile-based crop/price advisory, electronic commodity trading, and mobile banking. These solutions have improved post-harvest practices, reduced transaction costs, and reduced vulnerability to fluctuating prices.
Working with Smallholders : A Handbook for Firms Building Sustainable Supply Chains
This handbook seeks to enable the development of more sustainable, resilient and productive supply chains for agribusinesses and to illustrate the substantial development impact. Smallholder farmers are both an opportunity and a challenge for agribusinesses.
Mixed migration, forced displacement and job outcomes in South Africa (Vol. 2):main report
This publication shares results of a quantitative analysis on the impact of immigration on local jobs in South Africa. One immigrant worker generates approximately two jobs for South Africans during the period analyzed (1996 and 2011).
Desk Review on Livelihoods and Self-Reliance for Refugees and Host Communities in Kenya
This report takes stock of relevant studies and assessments pertaining to livelihoods of refugees and host communities in Kenya, analysing them with a focus on economic opportunities.
What Are the Economic Costs of Gender Gaps in Ethiopia?
This brief examines the costs of gender gaps in agriculture, entrepreneurship, and wage employment and estimates the gains from closing them. Despite Ethiopia's economic progress, challenges remain to realizing women's full economic potential.
Taking the Pulse of Africa’s Economy Africa’s Pulse
is a biannual analysis of the region's near-term macroeconomic outlook. In this edition, the growth story of the region is one of faltering recovery from the worst economic crisis of the past two decades.
E-Commerce Participation and Household Income Growth in Taobao Villages
This paper examines the role of e-commerce participation in household income growth, drawing from a survey of Taobao Villages in 2017. E-commerce participation is higher among households with younger household heads, is associated with higher income, and yields benefits that are shared among participants.
World Development Report 2020: Trading for Development in the Age of Global Value Chains (Vol. 1)
This book examines whether there is still a path to development through Global Value Chains (GVCs) and trade. GVCs can continue to boost growth, create better jobs, and reduce poverty provided that developing countries promote GVC participation; industrial countries pursue open, predictable policies; and all countries revive multilateral cooperation.
Drivers of Socio-Economic Development Among Ethnic Minority Groups in Vietnam This study attempts to examine why and how certain ethnic groups have managed to rise to the ‘top' as ‘best performers' while the other groups seem to stand on the ‘bottom' as ‘least performers' in Vietnam.
Gender Differences in Time Use: Allocating Time between the Market and the Household
This paper analyzes gender differences in the allocation of time among market work and unpaid domestic work in 19 countries. Women of prime working age are the most penalized regarding labor market participation, unpaid domestic work, and leisure time. Men are not necessarily penalized for, and sometimes benefit from, marriage or parenthood.
Using community platforms to address malnutrition in Bihar, India
This paper summarizes the experience of JEEViKA; a 2006 WBG-supported program that targets women in poor rural households, helping them improve their livelihoods and enhance household income.
Blog » Knowledge Products
Knowledge Products
USAID- Making Cents International through YouthPower
Feed the Future Project Design Guide for Youth-Inclusive Agriculture and Food Systems: Research paints a dynamic picture of youth in agri-food systems. Overall, rural youth earn “mixed livelihoods” from a diverse stream of sources—on-farm, off-farm, and non-farm—with self-employment playing a particularly important role.
Link
CTA, 2019
Creating jobs for rural youth- in agricultural value chains: The brief argues that youth-inclusive investments to modernize the agricultural sector will unleash its huge potential, offer attractive employment opportunities and create a level playing field for rural youth.
Link
CTA, 2019
Challenges and opportunities in agriculture for African youth: The brief explores the challenges and opportunities facing young people trying to enter the agricultural and agribusiness sector.
Link
Youth Employment Funders Group, 2017
What Works in Soft Skills Development for Youth Employment? This report summarizes areas of consensus regarding soft skills from the perspective of the Youth Employment Funders Group (YEFG), a network of donors working together to generate and share more and better evidence-based knowledge on what works in the field of youth employment.
Link
FAO, 2019
Empowering Youth to Engage in Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems: This report aims to enhance understanding on the main challenges and opportunities to empower youth to carry out and benefit from responsible agricultural investment by giving voice to those most concerned – young farmers, agri-entrepreneurs and workers, and those who support them. It summarizes the main findings from a series of multi-stakeholder capacity assessment workshops with participants from six countries – Côte d’Ivoire, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Uganda.
Link
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2018
The Future of Rural Youth in Developing Countries: Rural youth constitute over half of the youth population in developing countries and will continue to increase in the next 35 years. This study looks at local actions and national policies that can promote agro-food value chains and other rural non-farm activities using a youth employment lens.
Link
Tailor & Francis, 2015
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) Attract Youth into Profitable Agriculture in Kenya: Youth cherishes technology, efficiency, and innovations and accommodate entrepreneurial risks. The objectives of this study were to show the beneficial use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in agriculture among the youth in Kenya, assessed ICT application and commonly used tools, experienced challenges, impacts and suggested future ICT use. Using radio, short message services (SMS) and social media, they discussed agricultural topics and shared successes.
Link
Overseas Development Institute, 2018
Informal is the new normal improving the lives of workers at risk of being left behind: In 2009, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) publication is informal normal? Marked the acceptance of a new understanding of informality in mainstream thinking. The book argued that, rather than being a stage of development to be reduced and eventually – as far as possible – eradicated as the entire labor force graduated to higher quality and more formal employment, the informal sector was likely to grow.
Link
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay South Asian Studies Programme National University of Singapore
Agriculture, Technology, Livelihoods, and Employment: Debates, Issues, and Concerns: The lack of technological transformation in agriculture has drastically reduced income-earning opportunities. The sector is still plagued by several challenges related to widespread rural poverty, natural resource degradation, and attaining competitiveness in the increasingly globalized economy.
Link
The U.S. Agency for International Development, Partners in Food Solutions, TechnoServe, 2017
Food Processing in Sub-Saharan Africa: Solutions for African Food Enterprises: Food processing is a significant driver of local economies, creating supplier linkages for millions of small-scale farmers and helping elevate rural incomes across East and Southern Africa.
Link
Michigan State University, IFPRI, Harvard, 2013
The Emerging ‘Quiet Revolution’ in African Agrifood Systems: This brief focuses on the new opportunity of farmers, via rural-urban food supply chains, to link to the massive and growing and diversifying urban food market in Africa.
Link
OECD, 2018
Agriculture, Food and Jobs in West Africa: The share of agriculture in food economy employment varies significantly across countries – in Mali and Niger it is more than 90%, whereas in Cabo Verde, Ghana and Nigeria it is closer to 60%.
Link
AgriProFocus, ICCO Cooperation, Rabobank Foundation, 2018
Critical Capital for African agrifood SMEs: A review of demand for and supply of risk capital for agrifood SMEs in Sub-Sahara Africa. Based on field studies in Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and Mali.
Link
Royal Tropical Institute, Centre for Development Innovation and the Young Professionals for Agricultural Development, 2018
Youth in Agricultural Cooperatives: Challenges And Opportunities: the main objective of this study is to explore youth’s perspectives and needs for engaging in agricultural cooperatives. The following knowledge questions were formulated, which we hope to give answers to throughout the report.
Link
Chicago Council on Global Affairs, 2018
Youth for Growth: Transforming Economies through Agriculture: This report presents recommendations for how the US government can lead global efforts to promote broad-based agricultural development as a catalyst for improving youth livelihoods while preparing and empowering youth to contribute to that growth themselves.
Link
The United States Agency for International Development, ACDI/VOCA USAID/E3’s Leveraging Economic Opportunities, USAID’s Bureau for Food Security and Feed the Future, 2016
Youth Engagement in Agricultural Value Chains across Feed the Future: A Synthesis Report This report aims to inform Feed the Future (FTF) efforts moving forward to more strategically and deliberately engage youth in market systems by providing insights from current FTF country programs, Guatemala, Liberia, Nepal, and Uganda.
Link
TechnoServe, 2017
Women-Led Farms and Producer Organizations are Recreating the Litchi Value Chain in India. This holistic, market-based approach to transforming the litchi value chain for women is making a great change in the community.
Link
ILO, UNDP, UNHCR, 2017
Case Studies on Youth Employment In Fragile Situations: report by ILO, UNDP, and UNHCR presents examples of good practices from around the world, showcasing innovative approaches to youth employment that help to build peace and resilience in fragile and conflict-affected situations.
Link
World Development Report, 2019
The Changing Nature Of Work: The World Development Report (WDR) 2019: The Changing Nature of Work studies how the nature of work is changing as a result of advances in technology today. Fears that robots will take away jobs from people have dominated the discussion over the future of work, but the World Development Report 2019 finds that on balance this appears to be unfounded. Work is constantly reshaped by technological progress. Firms adopt new ways of production, markets expand, and societies evolve. Overall, technology brings opportunity, paving the way to create new jobs, increase productivity, and deliver effective public services.
Link
IFAD Rural Development Report, 2019
Creating opportunities for rural youth: This report is based on substantive evidence and attempts to provide the kind of analysis that can inform policies, programs, and investments to promote a rural transformation that is inclusive of youth. It examines who rural youth are, where they live, and the multiple constraints they face in their journey from dependence to independence. A distinguishing feature of this report is that it examines rural development in the context of the transformation of rural areas and the wider economy. Opportunities for young women and men begin with a transformation towards a dynamic rural economy. These opportunities depend on the national, rural, and household settings in which young people reside. Only by understanding these multiple layers can governments and decision makers design effective policies and investments to enable young rural women and men to become productive and connected individuals who are in charge of their future.
Link
The World Bank, 2018
Pathways to Better Jobs in IDA Countries - Findings from Jobs Diagnostics: This report documents cross-country findings from an analysis conducted by World Bank staff working on Jobs Diagnostics. It identifies some key insights for policymakers to take into account when designing policies and programs for inclusive growth. The findings are drawn from three different sources. The macroeconomic section analyzes data for over 16,000 overlapping episodes of economic growth in 125 countries. The labor supply section analyzes labor data from the latest household surveys in 150 countries around the world. The firm-level analysis draws on business data from countries for which—at the time of writing—the World Bank had conducted a Jobs Diagnostic.
Link
The World Bank, 2019
Promoting a New Economy for the Middle East and North Africa: Countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) possess all the ingredients they need to leapfrog into the digital future. They have large, well-educated youth populations that have already adopted new digital and mobile technologies on a wide scale. They have a highly educated female population. That combination has immense potential to drive future growth and job creation. The question is whether the region can adapt to a new economic reality.
Link
The World Bank, 2019
Labor and Welfare Impacts of a Large-Scale Livelihoods Program : Quasi-Experimental Evidence from India: Improving the livelihoods of poor households and transitioning more women back to the labor force is a major challenge in South Asia. Self-employment promoted through women's groups has often been cited as a promising intervention towards this end. However, the evidence on the impact of such programs on household income and labor outcomes is limited, especially for government programs like the National Rural Livelihoods Mission in India. This study aims to provide empirical evidence on the welfare impacts of an "intensive approach" adopted under this program.
Link
The World Bank, 2018
Myanmar's Future Jobs- Embracing Modernity: There are more than 24 million jobs in Myanmar, consisting of both income and in-kind earning activities. These jobs are behind Myanmar’s enviable recent economic growth rates and are the main source of income for households, particularly poor households, and they can strengthen social cohesion, a particularly valuable outcome in an ethnically diverse and conflict-affected country. Building on the Myanmar government’s Myanmar Sustainable Development Program (MSDP), which provides a framework for jobs policy reform.
Link
The World Bank, 2019
Communities Livelihoods Fisheries- Governance, Growth, and the Blue Economy in Mozambique: To support Mozambique’s blue economy and promote sustainable rural development, the World Bank is working to make the fishing sector more sustainable and profitable by aligning economic development with the sustainable management of marine resources. Capturing blue economy opportunities requires an integrated, cross-sectoral approach.
Link
The World Bank, 2019
Timor-Leste Poverty - Making Agriculture Work for the Poor: About 80 percent of the poor households in Timor-Leste live in rural areas and are dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. It is therefore widely acknowledged that growth in the agriculture sector is an important channel through which poverty can be reduced in the country.
Link
The World Bank, 2018
Mozambique – Jobs Diagnostic: The report focuses on the challenge of Mozambique's jobs transition: how to accelerate the shift into higher value-added activities and better livelihoods.
Link
The World Bank, 2017
Diagnostic study of barriers for strengthening livelihoods of low-income rural women in Uzbekistan: Due to the strong economic growth maintained in the last 15 years, Uzbekistan made progress in reducing gender inequality. At the same time, several demographic and structural challenges remain; and effectively engaging women in the economy is one of them. While modernizing various sectors of the economy will foster progress and development, it may also result in setbacks for women, as they lack the skills and education needed to successfully adjust to a changing reality. While women constitute around 50 percent of the national population, their participation in the formal labor market is limited. Active women’s participation offers a reserved potential for further national economic growth and improved livelihoods for women in Uzbekistan.
Link
The World Bank, 2017
Jobs Diagnostic Côte d'Ivoire: Employment, Productivity, and Inclusion for Poverty Reduction: The Côte d’Ivoire jobs diagnostic provides a comprehensive empirical analysis and solid evidence-base of employment challenges and opportunities in Côte d’Ivoire to inform strategies and policy actions.
Link
The World Bank, 2017
Jobs Diagnostic Tajikistan: The objectives of this report are twofold. First, it analyzes the main challenges facing the country in terms of jobs at the macro, firm, and household levels. Second, it outlines a set of policies and programs that can facilitate structural transformation to achieve the country’s development objectives through i) a higher rate of job creation in the formal sector; ii) improvements in the quality of jobs, particularly those in the informal sector; and iii) better access to jobs among vulnerable population groups.
Link
The World Bank, 2017
Monitoring and evaluation of jobs operations: The Jobs M&E Toolkit provides a package of resources for project teams and clients to support mainstreaming the Jobs Agenda in World Bank Group (WBG) lending operations. The aim is to help teams working with government counterparts with simple tools for the data collection on jobs, without the burden of resource-intensive survey efforts. The toolkit contains a set of guidance on indicators for key results on jobs, data collection forms, and manuals, which are tailored by beneficiary type: individuals and firms
Link
Community-driven Development: Myths and Realities
This paper examines what the evidence shows about the utility of community-driven development programs for helping governments improve the lives and futures of the poor. The paper also addresses recent critiques of the community-driven development approach.
Link
Vietnam– Second Northern Mountain Poverty Reduction Project
This Results Report assesses the Second Northern Mountains Poverty Reduction Project in Vietnam. Its objective is to enhance living standards by improving: access to productive infrastructure, productive and institutional capacity of local governments and communities, commune integrated investment planning, and market linkages and business innovations.
Link
Sustainable Livelihoods: A Case Study of the Evolution of DFID Policy
This paper explores the influence of research on a particular shift in policy for DFID. In 1997 DFID made the sustainable livelihoods approach a core principle of its policy after its initial appearance in research in the 1980s. This Working Paper examines the progression from research to policy.
Link
A Decade of Rural Transformation: Lessons from the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project
This paper documents a decade of JEEViKA. The project ended in 2016 and a follow-up project has begun to build on its successes. The booklet shares lessons learned on local economic development through livelihood enhancement, financial inclusion, value chains, agriculture intervention, data management, and other issue areas.
Link
Growth for the Bottom 40 Percent
This evaluation assesses the WBG's record on implementation of the shared prosperity goal since 2013. It analyzes institutional requirements for effective implementation of the goal, and evaluates the extent to which the WBG was already incorporating distributional issues in its activities during the period 2005-13, before the adoption of the goal.
Jobs from Agriculture in Afghanistan, World Bank
This report details the engagement of women and youth in the rural farm sector and evaluates the role of interventions in supporting agriculture-related employment. It recommends increasing linkages between the rural poor and markets and other private-sector businesses.
Link
Untapped Potential: Household Enterprises in Tanzania
The WBG and the Tanzania Social Action Fund assessed the constraints and opportunities faced by non-farm household enterprise owners when starting a business. The report highlights the findings from a qualitative toolkit and a quantitative analysis.
Link
Tina River Hydropower Community Benefit Sharing Paper - Hydropower Asia 2018
This paper presents the case of the Tina River Hydropower Development Project in the Solomon Islands where the WBG is supporting a community benefit-sharing scheme as part of a Build, Own, Operate, Transfer public-private hydropower operation.
Link
Jobs Diagnostic Côte d'Ivoire: Employment, Productivity, and Inclusion for Poverty Reduction
This report provides a comprehensive empirical analysis and evidence-base of employment challenges and opportunities in Côte d’Ivoire to inform strategies and policy actions.
Link
Information and Communication Technologies Attract Youth into Profitable Agriculture in Kenya
This studies explores the beneficial use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in agriculture among youth in Kenya. It assesses ICT application, commonly used tools, challenges, impacts and suggested future ICT use.
Link
Informal is the new normal: improving the lives of workers at risk of being left behind
This paper considers the nature and size of the informal economy, including definitions of the term, unpacks and disaggregates the informal workforce, and sets out policy responses.
Link
Critical Capital for African agrifood SMEs This paper uses field studies in Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and Mali to review the demand for and supply of risk capital for agrifood SMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Link
Case Studies on Youth Employment In Fragile Situations Under the Global Initiative on Decent Jobs for Youth,
This joint report by ILO, UNDP and UNHCR showcases from accross the world, innovative approaches to youth employment that help to build peace and resilience in fragile and conflict affected situations.
Link
Technology Platforms for Connecting Women Farmers with Agrimarkets (India)
This presentation overviews how JEEVIKA is supporting women-owned farmer producer companies that use technology for mobile-based crop/price advisory, electronic commodity trading, and mobile banking. These solutions have improved post-harvest practices, reduced transaction costs, and reduced vulnerability to fluctuating prices.
Link
Working with Smallholders : A Handbook for Firms Building Sustainable Supply Chains
This handbook seeks to enable the development of more sustainable, resilient and productive supply chains for agribusinesses and to illustrate the substantial development impact. Smallholder farmers are both an opportunity and a challenge for agribusinesses.
Link
Mixed migration, forced displacement and job outcomes in South Africa (Vol. 2): main report
This publication shares results of a quantitative analysis on the impact of immigration on local jobs in South Africa. One immigrant worker generates approximately two jobs for South Africans during the period analyzed (1996 and 2011).
Link
Desk Review on Livelihoods and Self-Reliance for Refugees and Host Communities in Kenya
This report takes stock of relevant studies and assessments pertaining to livelihoods of refugees and host communities in Kenya, analysing them with a focus on economic opportunities.
Link
What Are the Economic Costs of Gender Gaps in Ethiopia?
This brief examines the costs of gender gaps in agriculture, entrepreneurship, and wage employment and estimates the gains from closing them. Despite Ethiopia's economic progress, challenges remain to realizing women's full economic potential.
Link
Taking the Pulse of Africa’s Economy Africa’s Pulse
is a biannual analysis of the region's near-term macroeconomic outlook. In this edition, the growth story of the region is one of faltering recovery from the worst economic crisis of the past two decades.
Link
E-Commerce Participation and Household Income Growth in Taobao Villages
This paper examines the role of e-commerce participation in household income growth, drawing from a survey of Taobao Villages in 2017. E-commerce participation is higher among households with younger household heads, is associated with higher income, and yields benefits that are shared among participants.
Link
World Development Report 2020: Trading for Development in the Age of Global Value Chains (Vol. 1)
This book examines whether there is still a path to development through Global Value Chains (GVCs) and trade. GVCs can continue to boost growth, create better jobs, and reduce poverty provided that developing countries promote GVC participation; industrial countries pursue open, predictable policies; and all countries revive multilateral cooperation.
Link
Drivers of Socio-Economic Development Among Ethnic Minority Groups in Vietnam This study attempts to examine why and how certain ethnic groups have managed to rise to the ‘top' as ‘best performers' while the other groups seem to stand on the ‘bottom' as ‘least performers' in Vietnam.
Link
Gender Differences in Time Use: Allocating Time between the Market and the Household
This paper analyzes gender differences in the allocation of time among market work and unpaid domestic work in 19 countries. Women of prime working age are the most penalized regarding labor market participation, unpaid domestic work, and leisure time. Men are not necessarily penalized for, and sometimes benefit from, marriage or parenthood.
Link
Using community platforms to address malnutrition in Bihar, India
This paper summarizes the experience of JEEViKA; a 2006 WBG-supported program that targets women in poor rural households, helping them improve their livelihoods and enhance household income.
Link