Miscellaneous Knowledge Notes

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Social Assistance Programs and Household Welfare in Eswatini: Study Brief

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-12-17) World Bank

This study brief on “Social Assistance Programs and Household Welfare in Eswatini” examines the performance of Eswatini’s main social assistance programs. These programs employ varying combinations of categorical and self-targeting to reach the poor and vulnerable.
Innovation in Education: Improving Learning Outcomes through ICT Technology

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-06-24) World Bank

Many countries in sub-Saharan Africa identify technology as a viable complementary tool to improve learning outcomes in primary and secondary education. New research evidence from The Gambia suggests that a student-centered computer-assisted learning (CAL) program significantly improves student performance and teaching effectiveness in secondary schools. Policy action to complement traditional pedagogical methods with interactive technology in classrooms can help countries translate their gains in access to education into greater achievements in learning and skills.
Rethinking Electrification in Sub-Saharan Africa: Why we Should Stop Counting and Start Thinking Big

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019) World Bank

If African nations want to see their economies transform, the issue of electricity must be tackled head-on. Expansion needs investment too, and for that, utilities must recover their costs. Yet all over the region utilities are running at a loss. This report takes a broader look at the issue to show that the problem in Africa is not power but poverty. It shows that affordability, reliability, and coordination are the missing links to making utilities financially viable and expanding their consumer base. The report emphasizes that access to electricity cannot be a stand-alone goal. Policymakers must rethink their approach to electrification by placing the productive use of electrification at center stage. Given the resource constraints, governments need to coordinate investments in other aspects of their infrastructure at the same time as they invest in electricity. Policies and programs need to focus on improving access to markets through better roads and expanding credit for new businesses. In this way, electricity can energize agriculture in rural areas and industry in urban areas. This report shows that, to generate income, create jobs, and alleviate poverty in Africa, electricity has to be part of a package.
Urban Water and Sanitation in Tanzania: Remaining Challenges to Providing Safe, Reliable, and Affordable Services for All

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-02) World Bank

The purpose of the brief Urban Water and Sanitation in Tanzania: Remaining Challenges to Providing Safe, Reliable and Affordable Services for All is to outline the ways in which the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) framing of water and sanitation is helping us to understand not previously seen problems with urban services. For water services we see a reduction in the gap in access to improved and piped supply between rich and poor since 2005, with overall coverage currently standing at 85 in 2016. However, the low reliability of supply leads to a dependence on more expensive, informal service providers as a secondary source. This dependence can hit the poor hardest. In contrast, for sanitation we see a persistent and widening gap between rich and poor in improved access with a high proportion of shared facilities. Furthermore, as the SDG standards point out, lack of safe treatment and disposal of fecal matter can lead to a greater risk of contaminated water being ingested by the population, increasing the likelihood of waterborne disease such as cholera. Tanzania's cities, have experienced frequent outbreaks of cholera, with 4,985 cases reported in 2017.