Miscellaneous Knowledge Notes

664 items available

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https://hdl.handle.net/10986/9388

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Monitoring Impacts of COVID-19 and Other Shocks on Households in Uganda: Findings from the 17th Round of the High-Frequency Phone Survey, Round 17, January - February 2024
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-06-06) Atamanov, Aziz; Cochinard, Frédéric; Ilukor, John; Kemigisha, Audrey; Mupere,, Andrew; Ponzini, Giulia
In June 2020, the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), in collaboration with the World Bank, officially launched the Uganda High Frequency Phone Survey (UHFPS) to track the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic regularly. In June 2022, the scope of the survey was expanded to monitor economic sentiments and the socioeconomic impact of other shocks, such as the Russia-Ukraine war, the Ebola outbreak, and extreme weather events. In addition, the survey is also being used to collect perceptions on different development policies and programs. The survey aimed to recontact the entire sample of households interviewed during the Uganda National Panel Survey (UNPS) 2019/20 round and that had phone numbers for at least one household member or a reference individual. The sample was refreshed in the 13th round, conducted in July/August 2023, by adding households from the Uganda National Household Survey 2019/20. This brief focuses on the socio-economic well-being of Ugandans, as reported in the 17th round conducted in January-February 2024.
Does Fiscal Policy Have a Role in Improving Child Well-Being in Ethiopia?
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-04-01) Ambel, Alemayehu A.; Belete, Getachew Yirga; Fiala, Oliver
Taxes, government spending, and public transfers affect the well-being of children and adults, albeit in different ways. There is, however, a dearth of empirical evidence on the impact of these policies on the well-being of children in low-income countries. This policy brief summarizes a recent study by Ambel, Belete, and Fiala (2024), which investigates the effects of fiscal actions on poverty and inequality among children in Ethiopia. The study applies the Commitment to Equity for Children (CEQ4C) methodology on survey data integrated with administrative data. It finds that the fiscal system in Ethiopia is progressive, poverty-reducing, and equalizing for children. However, there are observed differences in the effects of some of the fiscal policy components, as many of these effects are stronger for girls and children in rural areas. The study also highlights the essential role of public services in improving children’s well-being.
Addressing Inefficient Distribution of Teachers Between Schools: The Case of Tanzania With Malawi and the Gambia
(Washington, DC, 2023-11-20) World Bank
Teachers are the single most important input to learning, and in many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa teachers’ emoluments account for most of the spending on basic education (Bold et al., 2017). However, in many countries in the region teachers are poorly distributed between schools. Schools in remote areas are frequently understaffed compared to those closer to towns and large villages, reflecting a reluctance among teachers to accept postings in areas with significant hardship (Mulkeen, 2010). By contrast, schools in or close to towns and larger villages, where more facilities and amenities are available, often have more teachers than required by government standards, even where the overall supply of teachers nationwide is inadequate. An estimated 28 percent of the variation in staffing between schools in the region cannot be explained by variation in the size of enrollments in schools (Majgaard and Mingat, 2012). This represents a major source of inefficiency in public education expenditure, with significant shares of finance being spent to maintain teachers in comparatively overstaffed schools where they have limited marginal impact on learning outcomes. The impacts of these inefficiencies may be exacerbated by the need to ensure a suitable range of subject expertise among the teachers at a school.
Ensuring Efficient Provision of Teaching and Learning Materials: The Case of Mozambique
(Washington, DC, 2023-11-15) World Bank
Books are one of the most important inputs in student learning and are generally considered a cost-effective input for increasing the quality of primary education (Fredriksen et al., 2015). After salaries, which typically account for around 80 percent of spending on basic education in Sub-Saharan Africa, textbooks are in many countries the next largest area of recurring spending on basic education, accounting for 5–10 percent on average (ibid.). For textbooks to be beneficial for learning, they need to be appropriate to students’ language needs, and teachers need to be adequately trained to utilize them (Glewwe, Kremer, and Moulin, 2009); textbooks need to be utilized by teachers in class instead of simply being stored at school (Sabarwal, Evans, and Marshak, 2014). Where they are appropriately designed and utilized, however, providing textbooks has been found to be one of the most cost-effective inputs for learning at primary level (Michaelowa and Wechtler, 2006; McEwan, 2014). Despite their importance for learning, many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa struggle to deliver an adequate number of textbooks to students on time. Among 38 Sub-Saharan Africa countries, 21 had pupil-textbook ratios in reading and math higher than 1.5 in the period 2010-15, with 12 having very high ratios of three or more (Bashir et al., 2018). As education systems have grown rapidly across Sub-Saharan Africa in response to the introduction of free education policies, governments have found it increasingly difficult and expensive to ensure that every student has the books they need to learn.
Building Climate Resilient and Environmentally Sustainable Health Systems in Africa: A Summary of Findings and Recommendations from Climate and Health Vulnerability Assessments (CHVAs) Funded by AFRI-RES Across Four Countries
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-09-06) World Bank
This note summarizes lessons and practices deployed in embedding climate resilience into the design of projects that received catalytic funds from The Africa Climate Resilience Investment Facility (AFRI-RES). It draws from application of the Resilience Booster Tool to specific projects, as relevant, Compendium Volume on Climate Resilient Investment in Sub-Saharan Africa (World Bank (2023) and Guidance, Standards, and Good Practice Notes developed under the program.
Embedding Climate Resilience into Urban and Transport Projects
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-09-05) World Bank
This note summarizes lessons and practices deployed in embedding climate resilience into the design of projects that received catalytic funds from The Africa Climate Resilience Investment Facility (AFRI-RES). It draws from application of the Resilience Booster Tool to specific projects, as relevant, Compendium Volume on Climate Resilient Investment in Sub-Saharan Africa (World Bank (2023a) and Guidance, Standards, and Good Practice Notes developed under the program.
Embedding Climate Resilience into Ecosystem and Water Projects
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-09-05) World Bank
This note summarizes lessons and practices deployed in embedding climate resilience into the design of projects that received catalytic funds from The Africa Climate Resilience Investment Facility (AFRI-RES). It draws from application of the Resilience Booster Tool to specific projects, as relevant, Compendium Volume on Climate Resilient Investment in Sub-Saharan Africa (World Bank (2023a) and Guidance, Standards, and Good Practice Notes developed under the program.
Embedding Climate Resilience into Agriculture Projects
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-09-05) World Bank
This note summarizes lessons and practices deployed in embedding climate resilience into the design of projects that received catalytic funds from The Africa Climate Resilience Investment Facility (AFRI-RES). It draws from application of the Resilience Booster Tool to specific projects, as relevant, Compendium Volume on Climate Resilient Investment in Sub-Saharan Africa (World Bank (2023a) and Guidance, Standards, and Good Practice Notes developed under the program.
Monitoring Impacts of COVID-19 and Other Shocks, Round 12, Feb-Mar 2023
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-07-28) Cochinard, Frédéric; Atamanov, Aziz; Ilukor, John; Kemigisha, Audrey; Kilic, Talip; Mupere, Andrew; Ponzini, Giulia
In June 2020, the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), in collaboration with the World Bank, officially launched the Uganda High Frequency Phone Survey (UHFPS) to track the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on a regular basis. In June 2022, the scope of the survey was expanded to monitor economic sentiments and the socioeconomic impact of other shocks such as the Russia-Ukraine war, Ebola outbreak and extreme weather events. In addition, the survey is being used to collect perceptions on different development policies and programs. The survey aimed to recontact the entire sample of households that had been interviewed during the Uganda National Panel Survey (UNPS) 2019/20 round and that had phone numbers for at least one household member or a reference individual. This brief presents findings from the most recent round (12th) of the UHFPS, conducted in February-March 2023.
Financing Basic Education: The Financial Implications of Zambia’s Education for All Policy
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-07-31) World Bank
Zambia introduced free and compulsory general education in 2011, but its implementation has been incomplete. In 2021, the government introduced the “Education for All” policy which abolished all formal and informal fees in general education (pre-primary, primary, and both lower and upper secondary levels), with fees replaced by compensatory increases in grants to schools. This note presents simulation results of the fiscal implications of the Education for All policy from 2022 to 2035. However, the introduction of measures to reduce costs and increase further the share of the budget allocated to education are likely to make the successful implementation of Education for All achievable. The note presents a range of cost-saving policies, similar to those employed by other countries to reduce costs during periods of rapid system expansion without negatively impacting learning. These include rationalized use of teachers’ housing, administrative offices, and laboratories and improved utilization of secondary school teachers. Implementing these policies, alongside the increases in education outlined in the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) would make the Education for All policy more affordable. However, our most expansive enrollment scenario would only be affordable if these cost-saving policies were coupled with further increases in education’s share of the government budget.