Bøger i International development in focus serien

PEFA, Public Financial Management, and Good Governance

Countries exiting conflict and fragility face many urgent priorities and almost invariably suffer from substantial infrastructure deficits. There is typically very little infrastructure investment during periods of fragility and conflict, and existing installations are often damaged or destroyed. The purpose of this manual is to contribute to improvements in the quality of infrastructure regulation. It does so by identifying key principles for the governance of infrastructure regulators and by suggesting how these principles can be introduced successfully and maintained over time. The introduction of cross-cutting governance principles for regulators is based on the assumption that a uniform set of governance principles can be less costly and complex for governments to implement and enforce and will provide potential investors with a more consistent and predictable regulatory environment to navigate. The manual also discusses the process of implementing regulatory governance reforms in fragile contexts. Improvements in governance frameworks for infrastructure regulators will support better and accountable regulatory decision-making, as well as increased investment and overall economic development. Case studies from relevant country experience complement and provide context to the discussion on principles.

While Moroccan cities are the engines of today's demographic and economic growth, they face persistent challenges. This note identifies priority actions to be taken to allow public authorities help urban development boost economic growth and promote shared prosperity for all.

This report assesses and analyses the state of child nutrition in largely ethnic populations, and identifies gaps in policies and programmes aimed at reducing inequities in malnutrition in these areas.

Presents selected applications of the new methodologies developed by the World Bank's Trade and Regional Integration Unit to assess the competitiveness of countries services sector, discern the types of barriers to services that exist in the regulatory environment, and identify the resulting policy implications.

For African cities to grow economically as they have grown in size, they must create productive environments to attract investments, increase economic efficiency, and create livable environments that prevent urban costs from rising with increased population densification. What are the central obstacles that prevent African cities and towns from becoming sustainable engines of economic growth and prosperity? Among the most critical factors that limit the growth and livability of urban areas are land markets, investments in public infrastructure and assets, and the institutions to enable both. To unleash the potential of African cities and towns for delivering services and employment in a livable and environmentally friendly environment, a sequenced approach is needed to reform institutions and policies and to target infrastructure investments. This book lays out three foundations that need fixing to guide cities and towns throughout Sub-Saharan Africa on their way to productivity and livability.

Focuses on the problem of at-risk, out-of-school youth. The book synthesizes the evidence for what works, how, and why to reengage youth in education, exploring for whom and in what contexts interventions can be effective. It provides guidance to build theories of change for local policy - and programming-related design processes.

This report captures ways in which policy makers and senior officials in railway organizations from emerging economies can accelerate modal shift to rail. Such officials, as well as the general public, aspire for more freight to be moved by rail. The environmental and societal benefits of such a shift are compelling. And yet investment in railways is often not followed by a corresponding increase in freight moved by rail. This report highlights the fact that, in a world of changing global supply chains and logistics, the approach to regaining modal share needs to be different. The expectation that lower cost and efficient rail service will automatically lead to modal shift from road to rail has not been a reality in most emerging economies. Modern railways focus on understanding the logistics of targeted freight and positioning rail transport services as part of an overall logistics system aimed at meeting the needs of customers.

'The Impact of School Infrastructure on Learning: A Synthesis of the Evidence provides an excellent literature review of the resources that explore the areas of focus for improved student learning, particularly the aspiration for "accessible, well-built, child-centered, synergetic and fully realized learning environments." Written in a style which is both clear and accessible, it is a practical reference for senior government officials and professionals involved in the planning and design of educational facilities, as well as for educators and school leaders. --Yuri Belfali, Head of Division, Early Childhood and Schools, OECD Directorate for Education and Skills This is an important and welcome addition to the surprisingly small, evidence base on the impacts of school infrastructure given the capital investment involved. It will provide policy makers, practitioners, and those who are about to commission a new build with an important and comprehensive point of reference. The emphasis on safe and healthy spaces for teaching and learning is particularly welcome. --Harry Daniels, Professor of Education, Department of Education, Oxford University, UK This report offers a useful library of recent research to support the, connection between facility quality and student outcomes. At the same time, it also points to the unmet need for research to provide verifiable and reliable information on this connection. With such evidence, decisionmakers will be better positioned to accurately balance the allocation of limited resources among the multiple competing dimensions of school policy, including the construction and maintenance of the school facility. --David Lever, K-12 Facility Planner, Former Executive Director of the Interagency Committee on School Construction, Maryland Many planners and designers are seeking a succinct body of research defining both the issues surrounding the global planning of facilities as well as the educational outcomes based on the quality of the space provided. The authors have finally brought that body of evidence together in this well-structured report. The case for better educational facilities is clearly defined and resources are succinctly identified to stimulate the dialogue to come. We should all join this conversation to further the process of globally enhancing learning-environment quality! --David Schrader, AIA, Educational Facility Planner and Designer, Former Chairman of the Board of Directors, Association for Learning Environments (A4LE)

Bangladeshi women are increasingly economically empowered, yet their choices remain limited. Gender gaps persist in employment, financial assets, land, and entrepreneurship. Sexual harassment, limited mobility, costs, and limited childcare need to be addressed, and sex-disaggregated data need to be collected so that progress can be monitored.

Provides actionable advice on how to design and implement fiscal policies for both development and climate action. Building on more than two decades of research in development and environmental economics, it argues that well-designed environmental tax reforms are especially valuable in developing countries.

Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula faces growing risks from environmental hazards. Oil spills, hurricanes, coral bleaching, extreme flooding, and erosion have all been experienced over the past decade. This report explores selected topics that aim to inform decision-making in the region.

Presents key activities, promising practices, and lessons learned from the World Bank Tuberculosis in the Mining Sector Initiative - a multisectoral, multicountry, public-private regional initiative in southern Africa. It examines how ministries, sectors, and partners have been brought together to address the epidemic's varied dimensions.

Assesses the capacity expansion needs, operating efficiency, and landside access gaps of the 15 main ports in East and Southern Africa. For each port, this book provides policy recommendations regarding needed port and access infrastructure, port sector regulations, and institutional and management approaches to port operation and development.

A sustainable path to development has profound consequences for all economic activities and related policies. The mining industry, which provides input to almost every product and service in the world, is highly relevant to the goal of achieving sustainable development in mineral-rich countries and in the global economy. In addition, environmental sustainability is a critical concern for mining companies, whose growth is increasingly affected by climate change. Given the centrality of minerals and metals to our way of living, Building Resilience: A Green Growth Framework for Mobilizing Mining Investment investigates the extent to which the mining industry can contribute to green growth. Despite what ought to be a tight nexus of public and private interest in targeted green sector investment, this report finds that there is a misalignment between mining companies' investment in climate-sensitive production processes, and policy makers' efforts to develop a cohesive green economy framework for industry to navigate. The private and public sectors regard the climate agenda and the development of local economic opportunity as separate matters. Neither industry nor government have yet to effectively leverage their climate imperatives and mandates to seize green growth opportunities. To address this misalignment, this report proposes a framework to help mining companies and governments integrate climate change and local economic opportunity activities. Going further, the report offers examples of projects and policies that support green growth: particularly climate-related activities that create scalable economic value and invest in long-lasting green infrastructure.

Reviews China's high-speed rail experience and highlights key factors in the areas of planning, capacity building, markets, service design, construction and operations, finances, and economics. Countries considering investment in high-speed rail may find many aspects of China's experience relevant and useful.

This volume summarizes a series of studies undertaken to better understand the current socioeconomic context of the Northern and Eastern provinces in Sri Lanka. Nearly a decade after the end of the Sri Lankan civil war, the Northern and Eastern provinces lag in key social and economic measures. The study was made up of six background studies focused on (i) the provincial economies and economic structures of the North and East; (ii) labor force dynamics; (iii) demographic changes and impacts on vulnerability; (iv) the psychosocial needs of the local population; (v) community and social institutions; and (vi) livelihood trends and impacts of the war on productive assets. These studies were informed by both primary data collection, as well as secondary data sources and literature. The key findings from the assessment show that significant public investments in the Northern and Eastern provinces have resulted in growth and convergence between these provinces and the rest of the country. However, pockets of poverty and deprivation remain across these provinces, and the economic base of the region has yet to fully recover from the impacts of the civil war. Social vulnerabilities were persistent across the Northern and Eastern provinces, and were closely linked with poverty rates. With the demographic impacts of the war, vulnerabilities for women are growing in the region. There was a high rate of psychosocial needs recorded, and evidence that the social fabric has not been fully restored since the war. Citizen engagement, trust, and accountability remain important priorities, alongside economic revival, job creation, and restoring the social fabric and local institutions.

The benefits of including work-based learning (WBL) as part of vocational education and training (VET) are widely recognized. But little is known about how school-based systems can best incorporate WBL. This report provides recommendations and international examples for expanding the use of WBL in VET.

Brazil approaches its 2018 election with an economy that is gradually recovering from the deepest recession in its recent economic history. This book explores the drivers of future employment and income growth. Its key finding: Brazil needs to dramatically improve its performance across all industries if the country is to provide better jobs.

This book is motivated by the need to understand the possible drivers of future income and employment growth. Its key finding: Brazil needs to dramatically improve its performance in terms of productivity if the country is to generate lasting gains in incomes and provide better jobs for its citizens.

Brings together public financial management and public sector reform experiences from eight countries in East Asia. This book examines how reforms have been implemented in those countries and explores key lessons that can help reformers to further advance their endeavors.

With growing global water scarcity and projections that indicate the need to increase both agricultural production and agricultural water use, it is increasingly advocated to focus efforts on improving agricultural water productivity and efficiency - and thus achieve more crop per drop.

Focuses on the challenge of youth engagement in school and at work. This report shows that youth prospects in the labor market are dimmed by policies favoring existing workers. Also, youth are often ill equipped to meet an increasingly challenging labor market. It discusses new policies, targeted at youth, that Brazil could prioritize.

Offers a practical exploration of the three interdependent dimensions of trade connectivity in the Mediterranean: maritime networks, port efficiency, and hinterland connectivity. Understanding how trade connectivity works is important to policy makers concerned with the economic benefits of large investments in infrastructure.

Vietnam stands out as one of the most dynamic emerging countries in the East Asia and Pacific region. Since major reforms in the 1990s, the country has experienced an annual average growth rate of 6-7 percent, and extreme poverty rate has fallen from over 50 percent to 3 percent. Yet, the rapid growth and decentralization process have brought significant pressure on provincial governments in terms of local infrastructure investments and urban services delivery.With an annual shortfall of US$9 billion in funding for local infrastructure investments, provincial governments in Vietnam need to move toward a more market-driven financing model. This transition will require enhanced financial and technical capacity of local governments as well as an enabling environment for subnational borrowing.This report explores the development of a pilot financial instrument that could catalyze the subnational borrowing market in Vietnam. The report presents the findings of three assessments, which focused on (a) the borrowing capacity and creditworthiness of selected provincial governments, (b) the capacity of the commercial banking sector to invest in provincial governments, and (c) the current status of Vietnam's regulatory framework. The findings of this report will be useful to policy makers in Vietnam, providing an understanding of the key issues associated with a shift toward a more affordable and efficient local infrastructure financing model and presenting a preliminary roadmap for development of a pilot instrument. The report will also be of interest to policy makers in other transition countries that are facing similar challenges.

Liberia has been influenced by the Ebola crisis since 2014, but the economy is now recovering quickly. Still, significant challenges lie ahead. Agriculture, an important sector that employs approximately half of the labor force, still has a weak growth trajectory. Many rural people are not well connected to markets and live below the poverty line. To use limited resources effectively, strategic planning and prioritization of public investment are essential. Particularly, the Ebola crisis revealed the vulnerability of the country's transport connectivity and health systems. This book analyzes the country's transport connectivity, identifying the existing bottlenecks and possible economic potentials. By taking advantage of the country's first-ever georeferenced road network data, the analysis casts light on various aspects of connectivity, such as rural accessibility, market access, access to port and health facilities and multimodal connectivity, including cabotage. It is shown that transport connectivity is crucial to increasing agricultural production, stimulating agglomeration economies, and supporting people's access to health care services. Significant resources are likely to be required to meet the existing gap. The book estimates the financial needs by development objective and discusses important policy issues, including the possibility of public-private partnerships to finance transport infrastructure.

Promoting the smooth labor market integration and early labor market success of workers has increasingly become an important economic and social development aim globally. The Nepal government sees addressing the social and economic challenges of youth, and leveraging their social and economic prospects, as critical for the country’s economic growth and development. There has been limited systematic, policy-oriented empirical research conducted on labor and livelihoods in Nepal. Dedicated examinations of the labor conditions, behaviors, and outcomes of youth are rarer still. Responding to the knowledge needs expressed by the Nepal government and other stakeholders in the country, this book aims to improve our understanding of the labor market conditions, behaviors, and outcomes of Nepalese youth. It examines these aspects in Nepal’s domestic labor market as well as in relation to labor migration to India and other countries, including temporary 'foreign employment' of Nepalese workers under bilateral labor agreements between destination countries and Nepal. In so doing, the report seeks to present insights and implications for research and public policy, with the goal of improving the labor market prospects of Nepalese youth. The collective findings in the report point to three directions for orienting public policy and program initiatives. First is raising rural labor productivity, urban labor demand, and urban worker†“job matching efficiency. Second is supporting the labor market integration of rural youth migrating to urban parts of Nepal and of youth labor migrants returning from India and other countries. Third is improving the orientation and efficacy of labor skill training.

Integration into global markets can improve the efficiency of the Argentinian economy, providing opportunities for private investment to flourish and for the associated benefits to accrue to consumers. Among many policies that are important for integrating into the global economy, particularly relevant are trade, investment, and competition policies. They all share a common attribute: the capacity to shape the incentives of firms to improve resource allocation and to strengthen productivity while integrating into international markets. Once properly combined, investment, trade, and competition polices have mutually reinforcing relationships in the sense that growth dividends stemming from reforms in one policy area are reinforced when properly combined with reforms in the other two. Against this backdrop, this report follows a three-pronged approach. It presents a set of robust empirical analyses †“ drawing from both general and partial equilibrium exercises - to assess the potential impacts from trade, competition, and investment policy reforms. It offers a new comparative review of international experience with structural microeconomic reform programs to bring insights for Argentina’s design and sequencing of such reforms. Finally, it presents individual reform recommendations for each institution in charge of the three respective policy areas in an integrated step-by-step framework from the firm perspective to illustrate the critical challenges to investment and internationalization for Argentinian firms.

The agriculture sector can play an important role in poverty reduction and sustained growth in Afghanistan, primarily through productive and inclusive job creation. Using an "agricultural jobs lens" and multidimensional approach, this report explores the sector's direct and indirect roles in explaining the dynamics of rural employment.