1 World Manga Passage 4:

1

• 1 World Manga (Passage 4)
• Manga are Japanese-style comics or graphic
  novels which have become the rage among young
  readers around the world. Teaming up with Viz, a
  leading English-language manga publisher, the
  Bank has launched a new series of comic books,
  each highlighting a key development issue. The
  stories follow the adventures of 15-year-old Rei
  who discovers that the only way to become a true
  warrior is to understand the challenges facing
  the poor and disadvantaged people he befriends
  along the way. Rei's humorous side-kick is a wise
  "spirit guide" which morphs into different animal
  guises as it introduces Rei to each new
  challenge.
• In this volume, mercenaries kidnap our hero and
  force him to fight in an illegal army side by
  side with other children ripped from their homes
  and families. Struggling just to survive from one
  day to the next, will Rei be able to escape, let
  alone lead his fellow child soldiers safely to
  freedom?
• The first three volumes focused on poverty,
  HIV/AIDS, and the environment. New volumes in the
  series focus on education for girls and
  corruption. An appendix in each book provides
  further information, websites, and other
  resources so readers can explore the themes
  introduced in the story.

Now available at the World Bank Public
Information Center/Poverty Reduction Strategy
Resource CenterHeritage Plaza I, 1st floor,
Kamaladi, KathmanduFor more informationE-mail
rshrestha1_at_worldbank.orgCall 4238545,
4249731Monday Friday, 900 am 500 pm
2

• AIDS in South Asia
• South Asia's HIV epidemic is highly
  heterogeneous. As a result, informed,
  prioritized, and effective responses necessitate
  an understanding of the epidemic diversity
  between and within countries. Further spread of
  HIV in South Asia is preventable. The future size
  of South Asia's epidemic will depend on an
  effective two-pronged approach firstly, on the
  scope and effectiveness of HIV prevention
  programs for sex workers and their clients,
  injecting drug users and their sexual partners,
  and men having sex with men and their other
  sexual partners and secondly, on the
  effectiveness of efforts to address the
  underlying socio-economic determinants of the
  epidemic, and to reduce stigma and discrimination
  towards people engaging in high risk behaviors,
  often marginalized in society, as well as people
  living with HIV and AIDS. This review was
  undertaken to provide a basis for rigorous,
  evidence-informed HIV policy and programming in
  South Asia.

Now available at the World Bank Public
Information Center/Poverty Reduction Strategy
Resource CenterHeritage Plaza I, 1st floor,
Kamaladi, KathmanduFor more informationE-mail
rshrestha1_at_worldbank.orgCall 4238545,
4249731Monday Friday, 900 am 500 pm
3

• Meeting the Challenges of Secondary Education in
  Latin America and East Asia
• In a context of increased primary school
  enrollment rates, secondary education is
  appearing as the next big challenge for Latin
  American and East Asian countries. This report
  seeks to undertake a detailed diagnostic of
  secondary education in these two regions,
  understand some of the main constraints to the
  expansion and improvement of secondary education,
  and suggest policy options to address these
  constraints, with focus on policies that improve
  the mobilization and use of resources.

Now available at the World Bank Public
Information Center/Poverty Reduction Strategy
Resource CenterHeritage Plaza I, 1st floor,
Kamaladi, KathmanduFor more informationE-mail
rshrestha1_at_worldbank.orgCall 4238545,
4249731Monday Friday, 900 am 500 pm
4

• The Role of Communication in Large
  Infrastructure
• Infrastructure development in the past was often
  implemented without adequately taking into
  consideration the possible negative environmental
  and social impacts. Drawing from the experience
  of the Bumbuna Hydropower project in Sierra
  Leone, this paper proposes to complement
  safeguard policies by establishing, at the
  beginning of the project identification phase,
  two-way communication mechanisms and a continuous
  consultation process, allowing the government and
  the donors to interact with key stakeholders.

Now available at the World Bank Public
Information Center/Poverty Reduction Strategy
Resource CenterHeritage Plaza I, 1st floor,
Kamaladi, KathmanduFor more informationE-mail
rshrestha1_at_worldbank.orgCall 4238545,
4249731Monday Friday, 900 am 500 pm
5

• Cooperative Financial Institutions
• The paper addresses topics on which an agreement
  is necessary to arrive at consensus guidelines or
  ?principles? of regulation and supervision of
  cooperative financial institutions (CFIs) in
  developing countries. Specifically we identify
  those aspects related to CFI industry structure,
  governance, legislation and regulation over which
  a well established base of knowledge exists we
  point out the most important gaps in
  understanding and those over which a considerable
  degree of disagreement among stakeholders appears
  to exist and that require research to consolidate
  opinions. Three main topics covered are (i) the
  fundamental structure of the sector in terms of
  its internal (micro) and inter-CFI (macro)
  organization, with focus on the agency conflicts
  inherent in the mutual structure, the extent to
  which they contribute to failure risk, and to
  whether and how these conflicts are controlled by
  existing governance mechanisms (ii) the existing
  legal frameworks in an international context,
  their origins and the implications for the
  functioning of CFIs and (iii) the regulatory
  frameworks under which CFIs operate and the
  different propositions by stakeholders about what
  should be an appropriate regulatory framework and
  an effective supervision mechanism.

Now available at the World Bank Public
Information Center/Poverty Reduction Strategy
Resource CenterHeritage Plaza I, 1st floor,
Kamaladi, KathmanduFor more informationE-mail
rshrestha1_at_worldbank.orgCall 4238545,
4249731Monday Friday, 900 am 500 pm
6

• Can Good Economics Ever Be Good Politics?
• In recent years, the power sector in several
  developing countries has suffered from a
  frustrating gap between strong, pro-reform
  rhetoric at the political level, and weak,
  hesitant implementation of the reform measures on
  the ground. Focusing on the recent experience of
  power sector reform in India, this paper looks
  afresh at the problem of the ?rhetoric-implementat
  ion gap? by taking the lack of political will as
  its starting point, and identifying the
  ingredients that comprise it in the current
  context of India. Assuming that people and
  institutions are not impartial but instead
  respond to political and economic incentives, it
  explains how the lack of political will often
  reflects rational political behavior. Using this
  more realistic framework, it examines the
  incentives, informal relationships, and interests
  that govern the behavior of people and
  institutions, and searches for the openings and
  opportunities that reformers must pursue.

Now available at the World Bank Public
Information Center/Poverty Reduction Strategy
Resource CenterHeritage Plaza I, 1st floor,
Kamaladi, KathmanduFor more informationE-mail
rshrestha1_at_worldbank.orgCall 4238545,
4249731Monday Friday, 900 am 500 pm
7

• International Financial Reporting Standards
• Now in its fourth edition, and with translations
  into 13 languages, this publication gives readers
  a broad and basic understanding of the key issues
  for each International Financial Reporting
  Standard. It summarizes each standard, providing
  a quick reference for managers and executives in
  the private and public sectors who may not have a
  strong background in accounting. All of the
  standards issued by the International Accounting
  Standards Board (IASB) through 31 May 2006 are
  included in this book.

Now available at the World Bank Public
Information Center/Poverty Reduction Strategy
Resource CenterHeritage Plaza I, 1st floor,
Kamaladi, KathmanduFor more informationE-mail
rshrestha1_at_worldbank.orgCall 4238545,
4249731Monday Friday, 900 am 500 pm