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(Photo: IMF Photo) Agricultural productivity in Africa has lagged behind for decades, and now climate change is making things worse. But for Hamza Rkha Chaham, the prospect of helping African farmers increase crop yields prompted him to launch a startup that is transforming lives. Chaham was only 27 years old in 2018 when he co-founded SOWIT, a company that uses processed satellite imagery to provide farmers with invaluable data to optimize decisions related to irrigation and fertilization. In this podcast, he says startups in Africa can be challenging on many levels, but the rewards far outweigh the risks.    Listen to the podcast on: IMF.org | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Libsyn |  Soundcloud | Google Podcasts   Read the transcript     Thanks for listening to the podcast. We're always looking to improve your experience so let us know if you have any suggestions! Send your comments to me at bedwards2@imf.org.   Bruce Edwards Producer, IMF Podcasts

(CREDIT: FREDERIC BOS / ADOBE STOCK) Dear maria, What started with the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank on March 10 was followed by strains in other US regional lenders before the failure of Credit Suisse a week or so later and most recently of the US’s First Republic. In a conversation with F&D’s Marjorie Henriquez, Lucrezia Reichlin, professor of economics at the London Business School, discusses the state of financial regulation and why the recent events call for a reflection on the future of central banks. Read the full article F&D: New Directions for Monetary Policy The latest edition of F&D Magazine focuses on New Directions for Monetary Policy. Authors include Gita Gopinath, Raghuram Rajan, Markus Brunnermeier, Masaaki Shirakawa, Christoffer Koch, Greg Kaplan, Giancarlo Corsetti, Michael Weber, Claudio Borio, and many more. Want to get a print copy delivered to your home or office? Click here to subscribe   Have Your Say What do you think of this article? Please write to us directly and let us know your thoughts. We would love to hear from you. Nick Owen Senior Editor F&D Magazine nowen@IMF.org

Dear maria, We just published a new blog—please find the full text below.  Women Struggle for Equal Pay and Progression at Central Banks (Credit: Sylisia/iStock by Getty Images) By Mariarosaria Comunale, Petra de Bruxelles, and D. Filiz Unsal Less than half of workers employed in advanced economy central banks are women, but on average only a third of women are economists or managers, according to an IMF Survey. Instead, women occupy 80 percent of administrative and HR roles, which shows that occupational segregation is quite pervasive.   This is the first survey of its kind that we know of, with studies having so far focused on academia and the private and public sectors more broadly. Central banks can set high gender standards for other economic institutions and this work sheds light on how monetary authorities can improve their own performance. National central banks in the Group of Seven (G7) participated, as well as the European Central Bank. The topics covered include diversity policies, employment practices, earnings, leave and work arrangements, and childcare and other benefits. Using data from the survey, we designed a new index, the Human Resources Gender Index (HRGI), which uses a scoring from 0 to 1, with 1 being maximum equality. As our latest Chart of the Week shows, policies to eliminate gender gaps have been only partially successful. The ranges and wide variation in scores suggest that participating central banks could do more to reduce the gender gap. View the interactive version here. On average, central banks score highly on diversity policies, such as hiring targets or mentoring programs and guaranteed interview schemes. However, these are rarely enforced by law and are often limited to people with disabilities. Where central banks lag is the type of employment offered and pay—65 percent of the overall number of employees on part-time contracts are women. In some central banks, this percentage rises to as much as 80 percent. While these contracts offer flexibility, they can limit women’s career progression, contributing to the small number of women in managerial positions. The gender gap is even more staggering when it comes to pay—just 27 percent of women make the top 20 percent of annual earnings. Childcare and related subsidies are also limited, though parental leave and flexible work arrangements are widely offered. We plan to extend the coverage of this survey to more central banks in both advanced and developing economies, in line with the IMF’s strategy on gender, and numerous studies that show the economic benefits of diversity and equality. —This blog is based on a recent IMF working paper, titled “Who are Central Banks: Gender, Human Resources and Central Banking.” The authors are Mariarosaria Comunale, Petra de Bruxelles, Kalpana Kochhar, Juliette Raskauskas, and D. Filiz Unsal. Filiz Unsal is currently with the OECD, on leave from the IMF. Kalpana Kochhar is now Development Policy and Finance Director at the Gates Foundation. The authors thank the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) for the financial support for the study.   Jeff Kearns Managing Editor IMF Blog jkearns@IMF.org   Thank you again for your interest in IMF Blog. Read more of our latest content here. Take good care!