The technical assistance (TA) will support the Kingdom of Cambodia in building resilience within, and improving the competitiveness of the country's private sector by enhancing the capacity of state institutions to support adoption of digital technologies and to foster innovation and diversification in micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), where women entrepreneurs and workers are traditionally prevalent.

The proposed Facility will finance five small-scale activities to support preparation and implementation of transformative projects. The activities will include feasibility studies, detailed designs, preparation of safeguard documents, financial and economic analysis and operation and maintenance for ensuing projects, as well as pilot-testing of advanced technologies and management approaches, extending capacity building and implementation support, governance reform support and knowledge products.

Extending across seven provinces and two autonomous regions, the Yellow River Ecological Corridor (YREC) comprises the second largest river basin in the People's Republic of China (PRC) with a population of 120 million. The basin is critical for food security yet faces complex ecological and environmental challenges. The region suffers from severe water scarcity, impacts from climate change and environmentally unsustainable development.

The Secondary Education for Human Capital Competitiveness Project will support priorities of phase 2 of Cambodia's Secondary Education Blueprint 2030. The project's impact is aligned with the vision of the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport (MOEYS) and the government's strategy, which highlight the importance of high-quality human resources to develop a knowledge-based society.2 The outcome will be effectiveness of a gender-inclusive upper secondary education system improved.

The Government of Bangladesh (GOB) has recently launched the Bangladesh Climate and Development Partnership to drive climate actions at scale and with urgency. The BCDP is an example of country-led climate platform established to scale up implementation of climate actions and is being recognized as an important modality by the global community to deliver climate actions at scale.

The program aims to improve the quality of health care as stipulated in the Government Program, 2021-2026, Health Sector Strategy 2023-2026, the UHI Concept Paper, and the Quality of Care Strategy 2022-2026.

The U-Tapao International Airport is the core infrastructure of the EEC and its expansion project is to be implemented via Public-Private Partnership modality. Land transport network connecting the U-Tapao International Airport in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) to the rest of the Pattaya City and country cannot adapt to changing needs as a result of the expansion plan of the airport due to the limitations of the existing land transport network to cope with traffic increase.

The Precision Agriculture for Resilient Commercial Horticulture Sector Project will promote horticulture commercialization by (i) catalyzing the formation of producer groups and (ii) strengthening vertical market linkages between producer groups and downstream agribusiness. The project location is in Bakhmal district in the Jizzakh region, directly benefiting at least 170 small-scale farmers while indirectly supporting at least 85 agricultural workers and their families.

The proposed project will expand a targeted, nutrition-sensitive conditional cash transfer (CCT) program to up to 30,000 poor households in areas with high rates of poverty, malnutrition, and climate risks, and make social protection systems more adaptive and shock-responsive. The CCT targets poor pregnant women and mothers of children under two as adequate nutrition is critical during the first 1,000 days of a child's life.

This report examines the progress of trade facilitation in Asia and the Pacific, highlights recent trends in paperless trade, and evaluates the impact of trade facilitation initiatives on trade costs and overall trade.

This brief shows how India sparked a digital payments boom and boosted financial inclusion through the introduction of its Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and outlines ways countries in the region can ramp up their own digital transformation.

This report shares insights on economic corridor development (ECD) from the 2023 Regional Cooperation and Integration (RCI) Conference, discussing how ECD can help diversify trade, cut costs, and support regional growth.

The project will be aligned with the following impacts: (i) modern public health service system ensuring well-being of all Thais in an effective, fair, sufficient, and sustainable manner developed; and (ii) UHC, including access to essential health care services, sustained. The outcome is: access to quality public hospital services by all in selected provinces improved.

The project will build and equip 3 climate-resilient and energy-efficient border crossing points (BCP) between the Kyrgyz Republic and Kazakhstan on the Kyrgyz side of the border and a training center for the Kyrgyz Border Service (the project EA). The project with the total loan and grant financing of $37 Million will help facilitate trade and tourism between the Kyrgyz Republic and Kazakhstan and will contribute to the sustainable economic development along the Almaty-Bishkek Economic Corridor.

The proposed SMEDP2-Phase 2 will consist of a $100 million concessional loan from ADB's ordinary capital resources and an attached technical assistance of $950,000 in aggregate from TASF-7 and Financial Sector Development Partnership Special Fund. It will finance the continuation and expansion of activities financed under the SMEDP2 project by increasing the number and size of commercially viable cottage, micro, small and medium enterprises (CMSMEs), as well as supporting employment in the CMSME sector.

The project will reduce trans-boundary animal diseases (TAD), food safety and zoonotic disease risks and strengthen livestock value chains and COVID-19 responses through investments in infrastructure, capacity building and policy support. The project will have the following outcome: health, value chains, and formal trade of livestock and livestock products improved. The project will be aligned with the following impact: GMS vision as a leading supplier of safe and environmentally friendly agriculture products realized.

The TA will provide implementation support to a series of ongoing and ensuing projects. It's objective will be to strengthen the quality of implementation of ongoing projects. The focus will be on procurement, contract management, DPP/TAPP approvals, project design and management.

The TA will focus on evaluating the wind potential of various site/s for government investment in wind energy. A feasibility analysis of viable wind sites will be carried out, which will inform the government on the scale of wind projects and how best to develop this potential. The TA will also fund the equipment for measuring wind speeds and directions to confirm site selection and build capacity for wind energy development in the EA.

The project will support an expansion of Indonesia's geothermal generating capacity to contribute to the sustainability, resiliency, and sufficiency of the electricity system. The project will support PT Geo Dipa Energi (GDE), a state-owned geothermal company, to commission an additional 110 megawatts (MW) of geothermal electricity generating capacity at the Dieng geothermal field in Central Java.

It's time to expect the unexpected, says Natalie Cabrol, one of the world's top astrobiologists and author of an authoritative book on the hunt for life's origins – and ET

This week, we journey to the early 2030s, when machine learning first allowed us to communicate with sperm whales. Rowan Hooper tells us what they have to say

All living creatures use only the left or right-handed forms of certain molecules, and now we might understand why

The noises made by organisms like ants and worms as they move around in the soil can be used to assess whether an ecosystem is in good shape

Is it worth including activated charcoal in your terrarium’s potting mix? James Wong isn’t convinced by this pricey product

Marmosets are the first non-human primates shown to use personalised signifiers to refer to each other – the discovery could help us better understand how language evolved

The largest pterosaurs, ancient reptiles that were the first vertebrates to master flight, may have mostly soared while smaller ones flapped their wings, a pattern that persists in today's birds

The books, TV, games and more that New Scientist staff have enjoyed this week

X-ray videos of Japanese eels swallowed whole by dark sleeper fish have revealed how the eels can make a daring escape from being digested

Feeding bees edible bits of hydrogel increases their odds of surviving pesticide exposure by 30 per cent

From migrating sauropods and semi-aquatic predators to doting parents, palaeontologists are finally uncovering the mysteries of the lifestyles of dinosaurs

African giant pouched rats proved adept at detecting four commonly trafficked products derived from endangered species including rhino horn and elephant ivory

Our gardening columnist James Wong isn’t convinced, and does the maths to get some answers

In most vertebrates, a pattern of chemical marks on the genome is a reliable indicator of age, but in axolotls this clock seems to stop after the first four years of life

A pair of ctenophores, or comb jellies, can fuse their bodies together, merging their digestive and nervous systems, without any issues with immune rejection

During a fight between two male mice, one will often run to a female mouse to distract their aggressor, a bait-and-switch strategy that could help abate social conflicts

The natural motors that power tail-like appendages in bacteria seem to have a single evolutionary origin, allowing parts from different species to be combined to create a tiny new engine

Britain should be too cold for the invasive Aesculapian snake to survive, but it is thriving by exploiting the warmth of attics, wall cavities and compost heaps

The oriental hornet shows no ill effects – or behavioural changes – when it spends a week drinking an 80 per cent alcohol solution

Orca – Black & White Gold digs deep into the dirty waters surrounding the killer whale trade and captures a daring rescue mission

DNA analysis suggests Pando, a quaking aspen in Utah with thousands of stems connected by their roots, is between 16,000 and 81,000 years old

Experiments where vampire bats were made to run on a treadmill have revealed how they extract energy from protein in their latest blood meal