World Bank's Open Learning Campus (Video)

The rapid expansion of information communication technology in the developing world is opening a broad range of opportunities to promote government accountability and improve service delivery. A basic idea shared by a range of smart government applications is that a range of accountability and service delivery failures can be addressed by using technology to increase the flow of information. This webinar will introduce a framework for understanding how interventions designed to reduce information asymmetries between citizens and their government can improve service delivery and discuss evidence from several recent experiments aimed at operationalizing these ideas. The webinar will also focus on directions for the future of smart government.

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.

The Innovation Labs team is excited to have the fourth of a series of webinars as part of our course “Innovative Business Models: Health Edition.” This webinar will present a recent WBG-Intellecap study ‘Corridors for shared prosperity’ and a replication framework that has been developed using insights from 11 Indian businesses that have successfully expanded in Africa and/or other South Asian markets. The session will discuss the challenges and opportunities associated with replication of social enterprises business models and specifically present how the social enterprise Dimagi has used this toolkit to assess its internal capacity and potential target market readiness to expand from India to Myanmar.

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 third of a series of webinars as part of our course “Innovative Business Models: Health Edition.” This webinar will focus on how to best use Monitoring & Evaluation to more effectively manage a social enterprise in the health sector. Participants will have the opportunity to actively interact with an expert on Monitoring & Evaluation and gain exposure to examples of how M&E is implemented in the field.

In the Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states, PPPs are being increasingly seen as a solution for challenges related to efficiency, capacity and fiscal constraints. This webinar will discuss the main issues and challenges related to the frameworks for PPPs in key SADC countries that are active in the PPP space.

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 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.

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 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 free of cost at the design stage or take their projects all the way through to certification. Developers with projects in nearly 100 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, and Vietnam, with South Africa next on the horizon.

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.

The Innovation Labs team is excited to have the first of a series of webinars as part of our course “Innovative Business Models: Health Edition.” This webinar will focus on business model innovations in the health sector. Adarsh Desai will be the moderator for the discussion. Elaine Tinsley will present two health service delivery models, detailing the constraints and drivers for achieving scale.

Dr. Saif will present a number of cellphone-based systems developed by Government of Punjab to monitor government work, improve civic services and collect citizen feedback. This talk will explain how Punjab government uses smartphones to track and contain a Dengue epidemic, identify crime clusters, measure teacher presence, monitor visits of rural doctors, improve vaccination, coordinate relief activities and verify damage compensations in the recent floods. Dr. Saif will also talk about the large-scale Punjab effort to proactively seek beneficiary feedback to improve service delivery quality.