The World Bank is collaborating with African countries and regional institutions to empower people, unleash trade, and optimize shared natural resources and economies of scale to achieve Africa’s transformation.
The World Bank is collaborating with African countries and regional institutions to empower people, unleash trade, and optimize shared natural resources and economies of scale to achieve Africa’s transformation.
The Nouakchott+10 Forum marks a decisive step for the future of millions of people who depend directly on the vital sector of pastoralism and agropastoralism. In the face of these challenges, participants agreed to secure agro-pastoral land, improve land governance, and develop sustainable value chains to strengthen the resilience of pastoral and agro-pastoral systems.
Human capital is a cornerstone for sustained and inclusive growth. In today’s world, a nation’s wealth is shaped not only by its natural resources but also by the knowledge, skills, and health of its people. Human capital—the collective potential of individuals—is crucial to the transformation of African economies, and nowhere is this more evident than in the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) region.
The October 2024 edition of Africa’s Pulse reports a fragile economic recovery in Sub-Saharan Africa, with growth projected at 3% in 2024, up from 2.4% in 2023, driven by increased private consumption and investment. Inflation is expected to decline from 7.1% in 2023 to 4.9% in 2024 and 4.6% in 2025–26 due to tighter monetary and fiscal policies, stabilized currencies, and eased supply chain disruptions. Fiscal balances are improving as governments cut expenditures and raise revenues, but high debt service costs remain a challenge. The region's growth has been insufficient to reduce extreme poverty and boost prosperity, hindered by slow investment growth, conflicts, and climate change.
The government of Benin embarked on a substantial effort between 2017 and 2018 to biometrically enroll about 90% of the population into the National Registry of Physical Persons. It also joined the World Bank-supported Regional West Africa Unique Identification for Regional Integration and Inclusion (WURI) project to develop a foundational digital identification (fID) system, building on earlier efforts to facilitate access to services and enhance inclusion.
WACA has financed some twenty cross-border structures covering 42 km, from Agbodrafo in Aného to Hillacondji and Grand-Popo.
PARIIS is the first regional project designed following the adoption of the Sahel Irrigation Initiative (2IS) by Heads of State in 2013. It focuses on the combined use of simple and affordable technologies, incorporating local know-how to irrigate farmlands and enhance their potential.
In Nigeria alone, over 85 million people —more than 4 out of 10 Nigerians— are deprived of electricity. My trip to Abuja earlier this month reinforced what I already knew: the paradox of energy poverty in a land of plenty. Nigeria, an economic powerhouse with huge solar potential, has the largest electricity access deficit in the world. A shocking reality for a country beaming with energy.
Across the Sahel, young women are key contributors to the socio-economic development of their communities and countries. Empowered with access to better health services, schooling, economic opportunities, and participation in decision-making processes, they can play an even stronger role in economic growth, poverty reduction, improved health and education, and much more.
Kenya is coming up with ways of improving the safe production of popular, traditionally fermented milk. Fermented milk is often produced in non-standardized, unhygienic conditions that carry a food safety risk. The Kenyan government is building local capacity to produce starter cultures that make milk fermented in traditional ways safer to drink and more commercial.
