Miscellaneous Knowledge Notes
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Publication
Protecting Women from Violence: Bridging the Implementation Gap Between Law and Practice
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-12)For years, Marta was abused by her husband. Eventually she reached out to the police, the Carabineros de Chile – who are tasked with helping survivors of domestic violence. The police referred Marta to a public prosecutor for immediate protection and Marta and her daughter were placed in a shelter run by a government-funded non-profit organization Fundación Honra. With Fundación Honra’s help Marta eventually rented an apartment and got a job. Marta’s story is not unique to Chile. Many women worldwide who experience violence do not readily report it or seek help. This is often due to the lack of quality services and adequate support networks, as well as social and cultural norms.2 Survivors of violence3 may also feel the police are unwilling or unable to help.4 A study examining Demographic Health Surveys (DHS) data across 24 countries found that 40 percent of women experiencing gender-based violence disclosed it to someone, but only 7 percent reported to a formal source.5 In many cases, even when women seek help from the authorities, the response can be inadequate. Recognizing the need to enhance efforts to address violence against women, governments have started implementing recommendations and adopting additional protection measures and services set out in international and regional instruments including the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, the Belem do Pará Convention and the Maputo Protocol. According to these legal frameworks, adopting implementation measures aiming at increasing effectiveness of legislation is part of the State’s duty to act in protecting women from violence. -
Publication
Book Chain: Incentivizing Actors in the Book Chain to Increase Availability of Quality Books for Children
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-12)The Results in Education for All Children (REACH) Trust Fund builds evidence on results-based financing in education, including by capturing operational lessons around its use. In the PRACTICE series, experts share their experience from working in the field to provide practical advice on how to apply results-based approaches to boost education outcomes. Reports in this series highlight key discussion points from REACH roundtables, backed by direct though anonymous quotes from participating experts to allow for frank discussion. -
Publication
South Africa - Results-Based Financing and the Book Supply Chain: Motivating Writers and Publishers to Create Quality Storybooks
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-12)Literacy serves as an essential building block for learning, so when children master reading, they are more likely to succeed in school generally. To support the South African government’s campaign to improve literacy rates and foster a love of reading among children, room to read implemented an initiative that included results-based elements to increase the availability of affordable, quality storybooks in African languages. The project brought together public and private sector players in the book supply chain to develop new national standards on storybooks and translations, and helped to identify and build capacity of smaller publishers and writers to publish African-language storybooks. In doing so, the project demonstrated how results-based financing can be effective in the production and procurement stages of the book chain in South Africa. Results-based financing motivated and engaged publishers and writers to participate and stay engaged in the two-year project, which armed them with the skills and knowledge they need to continue to create and publish quality storybooks on their own. The success of the South Africa project underscores the potential of using innovative models such as pooled procurement, open licensing, and one day one book workshops along with results-based financing to increase the availability of quality children’s books in a cost-efficient manner. By strengthening the book chain, the project ultimately helped to foster children’s love of reading and helped them to become better learners. -
Publication
Behavioral Insights for Tax Compliance
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-12-01)This brief provides evidence from World Bank field experiments that consider the social, psychological, and economic factors influencing taxpayer decision-making. Complementary studies from Costa Rica, Guatemala, Poland, Latvia, and Kosovo demonstrate how context-specific, behaviorally informed messaging can offer an immediate, low-cost solution to bureaucratic and technological barriers. -
Publication
Tanzania: A Simple Teacher Incentive System Can Improve Learning
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-12)Tanzania devotes about one-fifth of government spending to education, focusing much of the funding on expanding school access. Primary school enrollment rates have surged, yet the quality of education services and learning outcomes remain poor, with only 38 percent of children aged 9–13 able to read or do arithmetic at the second grade level. Teachers play a critical role in helping children learn, but in Tanzania, many do not show up to teach. Poor motivation and lack of accountability have contributed to the high absenteeism and commensurate loss of instructional time. One way to strengthen teacher motivation and management is through performance pay. Teacher incentive schemes link bonuses or other rewards to specific targets, whether outputs (e.g., verified classroom presence) or outcomes (e.g., student test score improvement). Performance pay can help achieve learning results at low cost compared to teacher base salaries. In Tanzania, the Results in Education for All Children (REACH) Trust Fund supported a randomized control trial comparing two types of teacher performance pay systems and their effect on early grade learning. -
Publication
Living Conditions and Asset Ownership for the Host and Rohingya Populations in Cox's Bazar
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-11-25)The modules on housing characteristics and assets were administered as part of the household questionnaire of the Cox’s Bazar Panel Survey (CBPS) to the household head or an adult member (age 15+) with substantial knowledge about the daily activities of the household. Data was collected from 5,020 households across camp and host settlements (Camp settlements are defined as areas within the camp boundaries set by the government, UNHCR and IOM jointly. Host settlements are defined as all areas outside of the camp boundaries), on topics of housing conditions and asset holdings. This includes information on the construction material of housing, water and sanitation facilities, lighting and electricity usage, and current and past ownership of assets. The module generates representative statistics for hosts and displaced Rohingya population in Cox’s Bazar; and it can be further disaggregated into hosting areas with low and high exposure to the Rohingya influx -
Publication
Insights from the Labor Module on Work and Wages in Cox's Bazar
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-11-19)The labor market module was administered as part of the adult questionnaire of the Cox’s Bazar Panel Survey to 2 randomly selected adults from every household in the sample, amounting to a total of 9,045 individuals. The module generates representative statistics for the adult (15+) population of hosts and displaced Rohingya in Cox’s Bazar; and it can be further disaggregated into hosting areas with low and high exposure to the Rohingya influx, and by gender. Besides collecting information on the participation of adults in the labor force and their employment status, the module collects details on wage and non-wage employment, wage rates, sectors of employment and barriers faced in obtaining work. -
Publication
Insights from the Household Roster on Demographics and Educational Attainment in Cox's Bazar
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-11-03)Administered to 5020 households, evenly split between Rohingya campsites and host communities, the household roster collects basic information on all members of the household. In addition to basic demographic characteristics, the module includes information on education for all members of the household. The descriptives confirm that the Bangladeshi population living in Cox’s Bazar is vulnerable and poor by national standards; and this was the case even before the influx of the Rohingya into the sub-districts of Teknaf and Ukhia. At the same time, the Rohingya population living in campsites faces high levels of need, and fare worse than the host community across a range of indicators related to household demographics and education. -
Publication
Civil Service Recruitment: Recruiting the Right Persons the Right Way
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-11)Skilled and motivated personnel are arguably the most important determinant of an effective government. How does a government recruit the best and the brightest? This Governance Note examines different approaches to recruiting through career- and position-oriented systems; measuring knowledge versus competencies; screening applicants through written or oral tests; and recruiting junior- and senior-level civil servants. It also compares the advantages and disadvantages of centralized and decentralized recruitment processes. Although this note primarily focuses on civil servants, many of the findings presented here are generalizable to other public employees, such as teachers and health workers. -
Publication
Using Big Data to Expand Financial Services: Benefits and Risks
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-11)Big data is transforming financial services around the world. Advances in data analytics and computational power are allowing firms to exploit data in an easier, faster, and more reliable manner, and at a larger scale. By using big data, financial firms and new entrants from other sectors are able to provide more and better financial services. Governments are also exploring ways to use big data collected by the financial sector more systematically to get a better picture of the financial system as a whole and the overall economy. Despite its benefits, the wider use of big data has raised concerns related to consumer privacy, data security, discrimination, data accuracy, and competition. Hence, policy makers have started to regulate and monitor the use of big data by financial institutions and to think about how to use big data for the benefit of all.