From transport to health, food to construction and textiles, plastics are among the most abundant materials in our economy. Globally, the plastic industry is valued at USD 600 billion and provides employment to millions of people worldwide. But plastic pollution has become a crisis of monumental proportions, with 8 million tons ending up in oceans annually. Around the world, different regions face unique challenges ranging from community awareness to waste and recycling capacity, to weak stakeholder engagement.

Over 80% of worldwide new coal-fired power plants due to begin operating between now and 2020 will be in middle-income countries in Asia: China, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines and Pakistan. Together with the existing plants in operation in these countries, this will lock-in 260 gigatons of carbon dioxide emissions over their remaining lifetimes, which would exceed the carbon budget available to the power sector to be consistent with limiting global warming within 2 degrees.

Employing women in the digital economy is a significant step in ensuring inclusiveness. In Pakistan, according to the Global Gender Gap Report 2017, women make 25.7% of the whole labor force, but this number is much lower in the tech sector, only 14%, as per a study conducted by P@SHA1 in 2012.

P@SHA or Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT and ITES is a trade body and a registered association that was founded in the year 1992, primarily to promote and develop the software and services industry in Pakistan and to protect the rights of its members

The Internet has become an integral part of the delivery of quality education nearly worldwide, except in countries such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal that lack easy, cost-effective Internet access. Wanting to address this academic isolation and improve higher education, these four countries approached the World Bank for help. In response, the World Bank organized a South-South Knowledge Exchange with Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam to share information on how to establish and manage National Research and Education Networks (NRENs).

The Government of Pakistan initiated a reform process for the country’s agriculture research system. To support the government reform process, a South-South knowledge exchange program was carried out between the Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) and Pakistan’s Ministry of National Food Security and Research and the Brazil Enterprise for Agricultural Research (Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuaria - EMBRAPA),  an example of successful adoption of new agricultural technologies with a focus on demand-oriented research.

The Government of Nepal needed to address the organizational effectiveness of its National Identification Management Center (NIDMC), specifically with focus on operational efficiency, effective communications, stakeholder relations, and results. Pakistan had implemented a similar program with success.  Through the exchange, Nepal set out to learn about Pakistan’s experience in its good practice approach to implementing, processing, establishing rules of action, and enhancing staff capacity toward a successful NID program.