ISG e-Government Practice in collaboration with IT Strategic Learning Center, e-Development Thematic Group, GICT, PREM, WBI and other partners delivered a very successful two-day training workshop for Bank staff and clients on April 26-27, 2005 during PREM Learning Week on "Designing and Implementing e-Government: Key Issues, Best Practices and Lessons Learned". The workshop brought together so...

INTRODUCTION Smoking rates and corresponding levels of premature mortality from smoking-related diseases in the former Soviet Union (fSU) are among the highest in the world. To reduce this health burden, greater focus on smoking cessation is needed, but little is currently known about rates and characteristics of cessation in the fSU. METHODS Nationally representative household survey data fr...

This paper examines the impact of a decade of transition on the living standards of people living in seven of the poorest Republics of the former Soviet Union – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan (known as the CIS-7). Data are drawn from a wide variety of sources, providing a comprehensive overview of household and individual welfare within the region....

OBJECTIVE To assess how the frequency of low fruit and vegetable consumption has changed in countries of the former Soviet Union (FSU) between 2001 and 2010 and to identify factors associated with low consumption. DESIGN Cross-sectional surveys. A standard questionnaire was administered at both time points to examine fruit and vegetable consumption frequency. Logistic regression analysis was ...

While in other parts of the world it is on decline, incidence of HIV infection continues to rise in the former Soviet Union (FSU) countries. The present study was conducted to investigate the patterns and modes of HIV transmission in FSU countries. We performed phylogenetic analysis of publicly available 2705 HIV-1 subtype A pol sequences from thirteen FSU countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belaru...

Somewhat incongruously, as global economic integration progressed the trend towards regionalism also strengthened. This paper introduces readers to the contemporary wave of regionalism. It delves into the principle characteristics of the second wave of regionalism, how it is different from the first and what is its texture. It focuses on regionalism in the Asia-Pacific region, which was slow to...

The relationship between small business and poverty is inadequately substantiated, despite being an important economic social nexus. We test the direct impact of on poverty, business. Using panel data across 115 post-Soviet cities in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Russia Ukraine, we examine early (1995–2002) later (2003–08) transition periods. findings show can reduce urban dur...

In a nutshell, 21st century regionalism is not primarily about preferential market access as was the case for 20th century regionalism; it is about disciplines that underpin the tradeinvestment-service nexus. This means that 21st century regionalism is driven by a different set of political economy forces; the basic bargain is “foreign factories for domestic reforms” – not “exchange of market a...

Mismatch of territories under authority of local governments with urban-regional activity domains, on one hand, has caused numerous problems and, on the other hand, has hindered taking maximum advantage of regional capacities and partial and competitive advantages. Hence, application of a new regionalism approach, which focuses on shared planning and management by all stakeholder groups within ...