Development Research Group

As climate shocks intensify, how can people, firms, and governments move beyond coping with disasters to anticipate, prepare for, and reduce the severity of shocks before they occur?

On December 2 at 12:30 pm ET, join World Bank Senior Economist Forhad Shilpi for a Policy Research Talk on the new report Rethinking Resilience: Adapting to a Changing Climate.

She will share a layered strategy built on the Five I’s—income, information, insurance, infrastructure, and interventions—that can help countries shift from reactive relief to proactive adaptation, laying the foundation for inclusive growth and long-term prosperity.

While entrepreneurship training programmes can modestly enhance business survival, income, and management skills in developing countries, their effectiveness depends on tailored design, sustained engagement, and complementary support such as finance, peer learning, and technology.

The latest edition includes about 20 new studies, with more about the longer-term impacts of training and consulting interventions, business training for youth, training firms to enter export markets, and the early evidence on using AI to help train business owners.

Development succeeds when people are not just beneficiaries, but partners in shaping change. Yet too often, policies are designed and evaluated from the top down — guided by data and models that miss how people actually live, adapt, and respond.

On November 18, World Bank Lead Economist Vijayendra Rao shared insights from two decades of research on participatory and adaptive approaches to policymaking.

Drawing on examples from India, Malaysia, and South Asia, he explored how engaging citizens can make institutions more accountable, programs more effective, and development more inclusive.

The World Bank, the International Growth Centre, George Washington University, and Johns Hopkins University invite scholars and practitioners to submit papers on how cities influence jobs, firms, and economic development in developing economies. The deadline for paper submissions is 8 December, 2025 (at 23:59 GMT). 

The policy-focused research event will take place on 30-31 March 2026 in Washington, DC. Pre-registration to attend the conference will open in early 2026.