World Bank's Open Learning Campus (audio)

After the first two webinars that introduced the EDGE certification software, the World Bank Group is now providing step-by-step instructions on how to apply for green building certification for your projects, walking you in detail through the 5 certification steps:

Create a profile in the EDGE software;

Register your project with a certification provider;

Select an EDGE auditor;

Apply for certification, including submitting compliance documentation;

Certify your project and increase the marketability of your building.

To help companies mainstream green buildings in emerging markets, IFC has developed EDGE, an online platform that allows design teams to estimate the efficiency of a building by using practical solutions and alternative materials. EDGE makes it faster, easier, and more affordable than ever before to build and brand green in emerging markets. The EDGE software shows quickly how a few practical energy and water-saving options improves building performance at little or no cost. EDGE is smart, fast, affordable, and inclusive.

EDGE defines a green building as one that is projected to reduce the consumption of energy and water by at least 20 percent, as well as the energy used to make the construction materials.

EDGE illustrates the potential cost savings and greenhouse-gas reductions from efficient heating and cooling systems, natural ventilation, water-saving devices, and building materials with lower environmental impact. The effort pays off for owners and tenants by lowering monthly heating, electricity and water bills while also reducing the carbon footprint of buildings.

The program’s objective is to convert 20 percent of the new buildings being built into green buildings within seven years in rapidly urbanizing countries. On the residential side alone, the results would equate to 1.3 million green homes and a reduction of a million tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

Builders can choose to use EDGE software free of cost at the design stage or take their projects all the way through to certification at modest cost. Developers with projects in nearly 125 countries can now certify their buildings as green when they meet the EDGE standard, with case studies showcasing their progress. Local certification providers have initiated services in key markets, including Costa Rica, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and South Africa.

Two of the world’s leading certification providers, GBCI and thinkstep, in partnership with SGS, have also announced their commitment to deploy EDGE across the world in an effort to stimulate and satisfy rising demand. EDGE is now available virtually everywhere in the emerging markets: we offer a global reach with location-specific results.

Building on themes explored in the World Bank’s 2016 World Development Report Digital Dividends, this session will consider and debate the issues surrounding the growing threats to citizens’ rights to access public archives in the digital world, a world which has made access to and review of records a more complex and challenging issue. It will use a recent conference hosted by Northumbria University as its starting point. The conference provided a unique opportunity for to engage in a critical discussion between leading UK and international figures experienced in dealing with access issues at the most senior levels in government, academia and the records management and archives profession. Featuring: Victoria Loise Lemieux

Exclusion based on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Gender Expression (SOGIE) exists in different forms across cultures, countries and regions. Homosexuality is punishable by death in some countries and illegal in many others, although it is common for lesbian, gay, or bisexual people to face social exclusion even where homosexuality is not illegal. Transgender or intersex people may not be homosexual at all, but are frequently classified as “gay” regardless. Social stigma driven by homophobia, transphobia, and discriminatory laws fuels the exclusion of LGBTI people, creating barriers to accessing markets, essential services, and spaces. Such social stigma also often precludes participation by LGBTI persons in social institutions and decision-making, and exposes them to violence. Social inclusion that is accepting of human diversity is key to sustainable development. As Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group stated, “LGBTI inclusion will help alleviate poverty and give everyone the respect, dignity they deserve.”

During this webinar, Chloe Schwenke will give an overview of SOGIE issues in development, share her experience with the design, implementation, and evaluation of LGBTI programs and policies, and highlight examples of successful initiatives from around the world that focus on LGBTI inclusion. Prof. Schwenke will discuss the role development could and should play to help address SOGIE-based exclusion, and how best we could forge a more inclusive society.

Building the evidence base for inclusion of indigenous peoples is a complex task. In different countries, and within them, indigenous peoples are described by different names: ethnic minorities, scheduled tribes, first peoples/nations, aboriginals, ethnic groups, Adivasi, hill people and others. There is no single definition. Estimates of the number of indigenous peoples worldwide also vary, from 300 to 370 million people.

At the micro level, there are many ethnographic and anthropological studies about individual indigenous groups. What is still needed, in order to get clearer understanding of development challenges faced by indigenous populations around the world, is systematic, comparable research on a global scope.

In the developing world, most research on indigenous peoples has focused on Latin America. However, widening the lens to capture the entire developing world reveals a stunning result - the largest share of indigenous peoples actually live outside of this region; and while there are some encouraging instances where indigenous peoples are beginning to close the development gap, the global indigenous population often remain among the poorest of the poor, and faces many common challenges.

During this webinar, Gillette Hall, the co-author of the first global study on indigenous populations and poverty, will recap some the research findings from the book Indigenous Peoples, Poverty and Development, and discuss holes in the research that are still needed to be addressed.

The Innovation Labs team is excited to have the second of a series of webinars as part of our course “Innovative Business Models: Health Edition.” This webinar will focus on how Zeena Johar, a social entrepreneur working in rural India, used the principles of collaborative leadership in her enterprise which has reached 70,000 patients with a network of 9 clinics. Manuel Contreras, a collaborative leadership expert, will moderate the discussion.

In the last two decades, effectual entrepreneurship, a cognitive-theoretic approach to action in high-uncertainty environments, has been successfully implemented in universities around the world. This approach spells out particular lessons learned by expert entrepreneurs that can be taught in a classroom. In addition to university courses, efforts are under way to create programs for K-12 and in fields outside business, such as the arts, engineering, and social/public sector. For the webinar, Dr. Sarasvathy will elaborate on five specific policy implications based on effectual entrepreneurship. These can be summarized as follows:

Teach entrepreneurship to everyone, not only to potential entrepreneurs

Collect data on exits

Focus on growing the middle class of businesses, not gazelles

Create an experienced entrepreneur corps of mentors

Learn to think about employment differently

Put simply, effectuation enables anyone and everyone to work with things already within their control to co-create a better future. For info on course content and supporting research: effectuation.org

This webinar aims to review Kenya’s infrastructure financing and PPP program from the lenses of its legal and regulatory frameworks.

Kenya issued a National PPP policy in 2012 and adopted a PPP Act in 2013 facilitating the establishment of a PPP Unit in the National Treasury. Efforts are also underway to develop a framework for Government Support Mechanisms and another for managing Fiscal Commitments and Contingent Liabilities (FCCL).

One challenge that Kenya faces with its PPP program is that, although there is strong interest from county governments in implementing PPPs as a means of financing local infrastructure development, there is a dearth of information on the potential pipeline of county PPP projects; the required policy, regulatory and institutional arrangements that need to be put in place to support county PPPs; and clarity on the roles and responsibilities of counties vis-à-vis national Ministries and agencies.

Space is limited, we encourage you to register early and we look forward to your participation.

To learn more about the PPP Webinar Series and other PPP news, follow us on Twitter @WBG_PPP - #PPPs.

The percentage of the world’s population that lives in cities is rising, approaching 70 percent by 2050. Rapid urbanization – particularly among the growing middle class in many low-income and emerging economies – is changing the traditional dynamics of energy systems and supply globally. Green growth strategies can help economies and societies become more resilient as they work to meet demand for food production, transport, housing, energy, and water. For example, lighting and cooling of buildings already make up half of global energy use, and by 2030 building-related GHG emissions are set to double, with emerging markets contributing the majority of emissions. Energy efficiency is widely recognized as one of the most effective ways to combat climate change while meeting rising energy demand. Information and communication technology (ICT) is an important driver for clean-tech and green growth. It enables the collection and processing of immense volumes of data that can be used for improved urban systems and new business models. It also allows developing countries to adapt successfully tested international solutions to their local needs, which can help them leapfrog and develop domestic clean technology markets.

The Negawatt Challenge taps into local and global talent to identify hardware and software solutions that can reduce urban energy use, improve quality of service delivery in energy sectors, generate new or improved data, and offer cost-efficient energy management tools for city residents and policymakers. In its first stage, focusing on resource efficiency and open data, the Negawatt has been piloted in four cities globally, including Accra, Dar es Salaam, Nairobi, and Rio de Janeiro. It aims to use an open innovation competition methodology to surface technology and business innovations that catalyze behavioral change and have the potential to transform cities into more sustainable and efficient places.

One billion people - 15% of the world’s population - live with some form of disability. They make up one of the largest excluded groups. Facing multiple barriers, persons with disabilities are more likely to be poor, less educated, discriminated against and unemployed.

To understand disability and design evidence-based and inclusive policies, governments and development organizations need reliable disability disaggregated data. However, multidimensional nature of disability makes measurement difficult. Data is patchy; where it is available, definitions and methodologies vary, making comparisons across countries problematic. Finding ways of collecting better data on persons with disabilities will help identify strategies to improve their well-being and implementing the SDGs.

In this webinar, Daniel Mont, an international expert on disability measurement and inclusive development, will discuss:

What are known data gaps on disability, and how they can be filled?

What are existing sources of data on disability?

What datasets could be analyzed from disability perspective?

How can we build and use evidence for more inclusive policy and development decisions?

The webinar will be moderated by Charlotte McClain-Nhlapo, Global Advisor on Disability of the World Bank Group.

The percentage of the world’s population that lives in cities is rising, approaching 70 percent by 2050. Rapid urbanization – particularly among the growing middle class in many low-income and emerging economies – is changing the traditional dynamics of energy systems and supply globally. Green growth strategies can help economies and societies become more resilient as they work to meet demand for food production, transport, housing, energy, and water. For example, lighting and cooling of buildings already make up half of global energy use, and by 2030 building-related GHG emissions are set to double, with emerging markets contributing the majority of emissions. Energy efficiency is widely recognized as one of the most effective ways to combat climate change while meeting rising energy demand. Information and communication technology (ICT) is an important driver for clean-tech and green growth. It enables the collection and processing of immense volumes of data that can be used for improved urban systems and new business models. It also allows developing countries to adapt successfully tested international solutions to their local needs, which can help them leapfrog and develop domestic clean technology markets.

The Negawatt Challenge taps into local and global talent to identify hardware and software solutions that can reduce urban energy use, improve quality of service delivery in energy sectors, generate new or improved data, and offer cost-efficient energy management tools for city residents and policymakers. In its first stage, focusing on resource efficiency and open data, the Negawatt has been piloted in four cities globally, including Accra, Dar es Salaam, Nairobi, and Rio de Janeiro. It aims to use an open innovation competition methodology to surface technology and business innovations that catalyze behavioral change and have the potential to transform cities into more sustainable and efficient places. With Alison Roadburg, Program Manager, iSpace Foundation Ghana