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Sep 26, 2017

Case Study—Borusan. Tackling Childcare: The Business Case for Employer-Supported Childcare

Borusan Group is one of Turkey’s leading industrial conglomerates, employing around 9,000 people in 12 countries. This case study examines the company’s childcare initiatives, which include subsidies and financing of the construction of crèche facilities.

English | 21 pages | IFC

Sep 26, 2017

Case Study—Akamai. Tackling Childcare: The Business Case for Employer-Supported Childcare

Akamai has one of the world’s largest cloud-delivery platforms, with nearly 7,000 employees in more than 50 countries. This case study discusses how Akamai supports working parents in its U.S. operations by providing back-up care benefits. These benefits help make the company a competitive employer in a tight labor market.

English | 17 pages | IFC

Sep 26, 2017

Case Study—Afrifresh. Tackling Childcare: The Business Case for Employer-Supported Childcare

Afrifresh is a South African producer and exporter of fresh fruit, with buyers in over 50 countries. This case study discusses how Afrifresh helps working parents by providing childcare on its farms. Following the initiatives, the company saw a boost in its retention rates and greater access to experienced workers. It now has a greater availability of workers during the busy harvesting periods.

English | 15 pages | IFC

Sep 6, 2017

Derisking and other challenges in the emerging markets Financial Sector

Findings from IFC’s Survey on Correspondent Banking: Recent efforts to strengthen the global financial system will ultimately contribute to greater financial stability and a safer world. However, the resultant de-risking is reportedly having a negative impact on banking in emerging markets. With this 2017 Correspondent Banking in Emerging Markets Survey of over 300 banking clients in 92 countries, IFC brings important new information and data to the de-risking discussion. It gives a detailed overview of the challenges banks face, how they adapt, and it lays out a set of solutions for helping banks thrive.

Sep 1, 2017

Tackling Childcare: The Business Case for Employer-Supported Childcare

English | 260 pages | IFC 2017

Aug 31, 2017

Nam Ou River Basin Profile Resources Page

This one-stop page includes all related publications to the Nam Ou River Basin profiling process.

Aug 24, 2017

IFC's Engagement in the Apparel and Textile Sectors in Emerging Markets

IFC works with apparel businesses and brands to increase their competitiveness while promoting their performance on sustainability standards. This brochure provides an introduction to IFC's initiatives in the sector, including partnerships, such as the IFC-ILO Better Work partnership; resource efficiency; gender programs; and financial innovations, such as Global Trade Supplier Finance (GTSF).

Aug 21, 2017

Blockchain in Financial Services in Emerging Markets Part II

Blockchain, or distributed ledger technology, is now disrupting the financial services industry as part of a larger wave of external innovations by digital financial technologies. Emerging markets—due to their higher banking risks, lower bank penetration, and greater presence of digital financing—are an ideal backdrop for the adoption of blockchain-based financial solutions, and benefits could include a technological leap forward and a boost to financial inclusion and growth. This note focuses on selected regions in emerging markets where distributed ledger technology is already affecting the provision of financial services, including Africa, Latin America, and Asia.

English | 5 Pages - August - Note 44 | IFC, 2017

Aug 21, 2017

Blockchain in Financial Services in Emerging Markets Part I

Financial institutions around the world find themselves continually barraged by external innovations they are often unable to absorb and internalize. The emergence of innovative digital financial technologies has challenged traditional players in the sector by demonstrating new ways to deliver value across the entire financial value chain. Blockchain, or distributed ledger technology, is just such a disruptive—and possibly game-changing—innovation. Emerging markets may provide an ideal backdrop for the adoption of blockchain-based financial solutions, which can provide the basis for a technological leap forward and a boost to financial inclusion and growth.

English | 8 Pages - August - Note 43 | IFC, 2017

Aug 15, 2017

Newsletter: Corporate Governance Updates - April-June 2017

Quarterly newsletter that highlights IFC's corporate governance work around the world, including news and events, latest indicators, media coverage, reports and publications.

Aug 10, 2017

Digital Financial Services: Challenges and Opportunities for Emerging Market Banks

A digital transformation is taking place in the financial services industry, with a host of non-bank innovators offering both customer facing and back office financial technology products and services. This transformation includes emerging market economies, and in many places offers a viable digital alternative to traditional banks, which have left significant populations underbanked. This note explores the challenges and opportunities that financial technology innovations present for banks in these nations.

English | 9 Pages - August - Note 42 | IFC, 2017

Aug 1, 2017

Increasing the Use of Alternative Fuels at Cement Plants: International Best Practice

This report, and an accompanying report on thermal and electric energy efficiency, provide a summary of international best practice experience in the cement sector and focus on specific technical measures that could be implemented by cement plants to reduce their operating costs and improve their carbon footprints. The reports provide a plethora of practical information from implemented projects and include detailed technical descriptions, estimates of capital and operating costs, as well as case studies and references from locations where the measures have been implemented. A combination of general and in-depth information will make these reports a helpful read to both management and technical and operating personnel of cement plants as well as to a larger range of stakeholders.

Jul 31, 2017

Good Practice Note: IFC Life and Fire Safety: Hospitals

The Life and Fire Safety Good Practice Note on Hospitals is a guideline for investment projects in both new and existing occupancies.

48 pages | © July 2017 IFC | Complimentary

Jul 31, 2017

Good Practice Note: IFC Life and Fire Safety: Hotels

The Life and Fire Safety Good Practice Note on Hotels is a guideline for investment projects in both new and existing occupancies.

46 pages | © July 2017 IFC | Complimentary

Jul 30, 2017

Gender Intelligence for Banks Moving the Needle on Gender Equality

A study by IFC and Habib Bank Limited (HBL) on how gender awareness training can help banks attract more female depositors and provide women with crucial access to credit. The study surveyed over 13,000 HBL employees and examined the differences between employees who had undergone gender awareness training and those who had not. Gender Intelligence for Banks Moving the Needle on Gender Equality

English

Jul 26, 2017

Blockchain in Development -- Part II: How It Can Impact Emerging Markets

Blockchain has enormous potential for emerging markets. These nations appear poised for a more rapid adoption of blockchain, though a framework is needed to assess how the technology can be deployed and which applications and use cases are likely to be seen first. While the potential of blockchain is great, the technology is still at an early stage of development and will need to overcome potential setbacks—technical, regulatory, and organizational—before it becomes mainstream. In such a context of uncertainty, companies in emerging markets can neither afford to wait until the outcome is evident nor expose their existing business models to overly risky wholescale blockchain initiatives. Instead, they will need to adopt an experimental approach that allows them to develop options and thereby learn in the process, inform their strategies, and improve their value propositions.

English | 7 Pages - July - Note 41 | IFC, 2017

Jul 26, 2017

Blockchain in Development -- Part I: A New Mechanism of 'Trust'?

Blockchain is an exciting new technology that may prove to be a radical innovation with the power to disrupt existing economic and business models. It has the potential to deliver productivity gains to multiple industries, from the financial sector to energy markets, supply chains, intellectual property management, the public sector, and beyond. And blockchain may also prove particularly valuable in emerging market economies. Yet the technology is in early stages of development and serious challenges and risks, both technical and regulatory, will need to be addressed before it achieves widespread adoption. Questions remain about blockchain’s scalability, interoperability, security, transition costs, data privacy, and governance. And business leaders and policy makers will need to think long and hard about when and under what conditions a blockchain initiative may be warranted.

English | 6 Pages - July - Note 40 | IFC, 2017

Jul 24, 2017

Mapping the Oil and Gas Industry to the Sustainable Development Goals: An Atlas

The oil and gas sector is an important global industry and, as this Atlas demonstrates, it can have both positive and negative impacts on a range of areas covered by the SDGs. The Atlas is intended to facilitate conversation on, and greater awareness of, the ways in which oil and gas companies, working both individually and collaboratively with governments, communities, civil society and other partners, can help to achieve the SDGs.

Jul 20, 2017

CG Focus Indonesia: Improving Board Effectiveness, Issue 3

CG Focus is a regular installment produced by the IFC Corporate Governance Group in Indonesia to provide IFC clients with insights into the evolving corporate governance landscape in Indonesia and advocate the adoption of leading governance practices.

Jul 19, 2017

Solid Waste Efficiency Case Study

Jul 18, 2017

Emisores de Valores and Gobierno Corporativo - Un Análisis a Las Encuestas de Código País 2007-2014

La publication analize el impacto generado por el Codigo Pais 2007 sobre las practicas organizacionales de los emisores de valores en Colombia.

Jun 30, 2017

Sustainability Matters: Stories of Impact from Lao PDR's Hydropower Sector 2013-2017

The following features are a compilation of IFC’s Hydro Advisory team work with EDL-Gen, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Ministry of Energy and Mines and the Hydropower Developers' Working Group with support from the Australian government from 2013-2017 in Lao PDR.

Jun 27, 2017

Converting Biomass to Energy - A Guide for Developers and Investors

This report serves as a practical tool for developers and investors who are interested in biomass-to-energy projects and wish to assess the technical and financial feasibility of different options for their businesses and industries. It covers modern biomass-to-energy technologies where biomass derives from the agricultural, food and beverage, and wood processing sectors. It can help with the adoption of best practices in the development, construction, operation, and financing of projects in this area.

Jun 26, 2017

Draft Environmental and Social Impact Assessment Guidelines for Hydropower Projects In Myanmar and English Languages

 These ESIA guidelines are required to provide clear, consistent and comprehensive guidance on legal requirements; key  issues in project design, construction, commissioning,  operation and decommissioning; and management plans that will provide guidance on what should be in an ESIA and how to review it. The current drafts in English and Myanmar language are now released for review and comment by all interested stakeholders by July 27, 2017.

Jun 22, 2017

HANDBOOK: Data Analytics and Digital Financial Services

The Data Analytics and Digital Financial Services Handbook gives financial service providers an overview of the potential that data and data analytics present for financial inclusion in terms of improving efficiency of operations and effectiveness of product development and marketing, as well as increase outreach through innovative data-driven lending methods.. It is the third handbook on digital financial services published by IFC and The MasterCard Foundation as part of The Partnership for Financial Inclusion.

English | 160 pages | 2017 IFC