Miscellaneous Knowledge Notes
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Publication
Addressing Inefficient Distribution of Teachers Between Schools: The Case of Tanzania With Malawi and the Gambia
(Washington, DC, 2023-11-20)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. -
Publication
Embedding Climate Resilience into Urban and Transport Projects
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-09-05)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. -
Publication
The Road Not Taken?: Responding to the Energy Price Shock in East Asia
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11-17)Several countries in East Asia have increased fossil fuel subsidies to keep consumer prices lower than currently high international prices. These subsidies are discouraging the shift in consumption away from fossil fuels, while high prices are encouraging investment in new fossil fuel infrastructure. Providing income transfers instead of price subsidies would encourage consumption of cleaner alternatives, while softening the welfare loss. And subsidizing investment in renewables would avert the risk of being locked in to fossil fuels. The total cost need not be higher than that of fossil fuel subsidies. -
Publication
Constraints to Women’s Use of Public Transport in Developing Countries, Part I: High Costs, Limited Access, and Lack of Comfort
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-08-03)This brief, the first in a two-part series, provides an overview of the evidence on key features of women’s travel behavior and the barriers they face in accessing public transport in developing countries, including affordability, frequency, coverage, and comfort. Women make more frequent, shorter trips with more stops along the way to combine multiple tasks. In contrast, men follow direct and linear routes. These patterns have important implications. As this brief shows, the cost and frequency of public transport affect women more than men, and given women’s income constraints, create trade-offs between travel and other economic opportunities. This brief also highlights how the current design of public transport does not accommodate the unique needs of women. Notably, coverage issues such as a poorly connected network, including last mile problems, limit women’s use of public transport and increase their reliance on private and informal modes of transport. Infrastructure design does not prioritize women’s comfort. Understanding the evidence on the challenges faced by women is a first step in identifying policies and interventions that could improve women’s accessibility. -
Publication
Constraints to Women’s Use of Public Transport in Developing Countries, Part II: Safety
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-08-03)Women and men travel differently in low- and middle-income countries and women face different constraints on their mobility. _is Brief is the second in a two-part series that provides an overview of the evidence on key features of women’s travel behavior and the safety barriers they face in accessing public transport in developing countries (see Borker 2022, which focuses on affordability, frequency, coverage, and comfort). This brief focuses on the safety concerns that limit women’s use of public transport, centering on two aspects of safety: safety from accidents and safety from violence. It highlights how women’s different travel behavior, as well as unsafe infrastructure, driving, and vehicle design, make women vulnerable to road accidents. It also shows that an overwhelming majority of women around the world have experienced sexual violence as they travel, whether verbal, visual, or physical. Women’s perceptions about violence and their actual safety in public spaces affect both their physical mobility and economic choices. Understanding the evidence on the challenges faced by women is a first step in identifying policies and interventions that could improve women’s accessibility. -
Publication
Social Protection and Jobs Responses to COVID-19: A Real-Time Review of Country Measures
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-02-07)As of January 2022, a total of 3,856 social protection and labor measures were planned or implemented by 223 economies. This constitutes a net increase of 523 measures, or 15.6 percent since the last update in May 2021. While noteworthy, such increase is the lowest among net additions observed over previous semesters. In fact, the global pace of measures’ introduction over January 2020-January 2022 has been slowing down. This report focuses on the real-time review of country measures in terms of social protection and job responses to Coronavirus (COVID-19). -
Publication
Water Supply and Sanitation (WSS): Strengthening Climate-Informed Project Design
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-02)Climate-informed projects aimed at boosting water utilities’ performance are likely to succeed in achieving intended results by investing in energy efficiency, nonrevenue water (NRW) reduction, climate resilience, and demand-side water use efficiency. Extending water supply and sanitation (WSS) services, especially to unserved or underserved segments in areas with high climate risks, requires managing water resources efficiently and taking into account climate change–related factors. -
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How Did the COVID-19 Crisis Affect Different Types of Workers in the Developing World?
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-08)The COVID-19 pandemic is the worst global macroeconomic shock since the Great Depression. This brief reports which groups of workers have been hit hardest by the economic fallout of COVID-19 in developing countries. Larger shares of female, young, less educated, and urban workers stopped working, with gender differences being particularly pronounced. Gender gaps in work stoppage stemmed mainly from differences within sectors rather than differential employment patterns across sectors. Among those that remained employed, changes in sector of employment and employment type were similar for all groups except for age, where young workers saw a slightly larger decline in industrial employment. Employment increased between April and October, with larger gains for the groups with larger initial job losses, but for most groups these gains fell far short of pre pandemic employment levels. Finally, evidence from five countries suggests that phone surveys give a generally accurate picture of group disparities in employment rates following the onset of the crisis and are proving to be a valuable tool for monitoring differential impacts of the crisis on workers -
Publication
Gender Implications of Rural Land Use Fee and Agricultural Income Tax in Ethiopia
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-06)Land use fees and agricultural income tax in Ethiopia are levied on rural landholders according to the size of agricultural landholdings. Summarizing the evidence presented in the authors paper based on new, nationally-representative data on taxation of households and individual landholdings and rights in the Fourth Ethiopian Socioeconomic Survey, this brief discusses how area-based land taxes are regressive and the tax burdens for female-only households are larger than for dual-adult households. Social norms limiting women’s roles in agriculture and a gender agricultural productivity gap are likely to be a source of this gender bias. Lower tax rates for smallholders can reduce women’s tax burdens, but area-based land taxation would continue to be regressive. -
Publication
Bridging the Gap Between Data and Policies in Remote Rural Municipalities in Nepal
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-02)Nepal's transition to a federal system provides new optimism to achieve inclusive development and economic growth. However, the scarcity of locally disaggregated data and lack of capacity to use it stymie evidence-based policy decisions, especially in remote rural areas. This note summarizes our recent collaboration with International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) to bring evidence-based policy decisions to local policy makers in remote rural municipalities in Karnali Province, western Nepal.