PREM Notes

176 items available

Permanent URI for this collection

http://hdl.handle.net/10986/9424

This note series is intended to summarize good practices and key policy findings on poverty reduction and economic management (PREM) topics.

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 28

Implementing Public Expenditure Tracking Surveys for Results : Lessons from a Decade of Global Experience

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-11) Gurkan, Asli ; Kaiser, Kai ; Voorbraak, Doris

Public Expenditure Tracking Surveys (PETS) can serve as a powerful tool to inform prevailing public financial management (PFM) practices and the extent to which government budgets link to execution and desired service delivery objectives and beneficiaries. Since the first PETS in Uganda in 1996, tracking exercises have now been conducted in over two dozen other countries, often as part of core analytical and advisory work related to PFM. This note synthesizes the findings and lessons from a number of recent PETS stocktaking exercises and indicates their potential benefits for enriching PFM and sectoral policy dialogues in a variety of country settings. Key findings include: (i) PETS have proven to be useful as part of a broader policy strategy aimed at improving service delivery results; (ii) PETS has become a brand name for very different instruments, but at its core there is a survey methodology that requires skilled technical expertise and a solid knowledge of budget execution processes; (iii) policy impact in a variety of PETS experiences could be further strengthened by stronger country ownership and effective follow-up; and (iv) the Bank could enhance PETS results through strategic partnering, and greater emphasis on dissemination and communication strategies aimed at involving actors who can foster actions on the ground.
A Note on Vulnerability : Findings from Moving Out of Poverty

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-04) Dudwick, Nora ; Hull, Katy ; Tas, Emcet

Poverty studies typically focus on people who live below the poverty line. Few studies have examined how people are able to not only move out of but also stay out of poverty. The fifteen, country study, moving out of poverty: success from the bottom up, by Deepa Narayan, Lant Pritchett, and Soumya Kapoor, is one of the few large-scale comparative research attempts to analyze mobility out of poverty rather than poverty alone. The study focused largely on rural communities over a 10-year period between 1995 and 2005, when developing countries exhibited overall relatively strong growth.
The Economic Participation of Adolescent Girls and Young Women : Why Does It Matter?

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-12) Morrison, Andrew ; Sabarwal, Shwetlena

This note summarizes available research on the impact of schooling and employment of adolescent girls and young women on earnings and poverty reduction, demographic outcomes, child development outcomes, and female empowerment. It identifies key implications of this research for the formulation of public policy.
A Stocktaking of PRSPs in Fragile States

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-11) Dudwick, Nora ; Nelsson, Adam

In 1999, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) introduced poverty reduction strategy papers (PRSPs) as a condition for highly indebted countries to receive debt relief under the HIPC initiative. Since then, PRSPs have become a condition for aid to International Development Association (IDA) countries, for which they are considered instrumental in refocusing attention on poverty, democratizing policy making, and improving donor coordination. While PRSPs may play that role in many IDA countries, their usefulness in fragile states, including those just emerging from conflict, has been questioned. Increased donor attention to the specific problems of such states was the impetus for a Poverty Reduction Group (PRMPR) stocktaking of PRSPs in fragile environments.
“Brain Drain” and the Global Mobility of High-Skilled Talent

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-09) Leipziger, Danny M.

This note outlines the challenges of retaining and attracting high-skilled professionals, briefly assesses both the 'brain gain' and the 'brain drain' in the health sector, and examines some of the existing programs that encourage return. It provides an overview of the role of the diaspora in fostering the transfer of knowledge, technology, capital, and remittances.
Assessing Our Work on Impact Evaluation

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-08) Goldstein, Markus ; Skoufias, Emmanuel ; Fiszbein, Ariel

Over the last several years, the World Bank has increasingly engaged in impact evaluations as means of building evidence for results. During this process, the Bank has also produced an extensive variety of knowledge products. However, there are several institutional and resource issues that constrain the effectiveness of our impact evaluation work. This brief outlines recent gains in the Bank's work on impact evaluation, highlights several issues, and proposes some options to continue improving and expanding the Bank's efforts in this area.
Reducing Poverty on a Global Scale

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006-08) Moreno-Dodson, Blanca

Development practitioners have been working for half a century to help pull millions of people out of poverty, disease, and fear. However, the challenge of poverty remains enormous. The disparity in levels of income, health, and education across countries grows greater, even as levels of absolute poverty decline. Many countries have made great achievements, but the lack of capacity to collect their experiences, learn from them, and extract lessons to emulate have kept their stories from being sufficiently explored. Such great work could be adopted and adapted to make remarkable change in other poor people's lives.
Contracting for Delivering Health

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006-02) Loevinsohn, Benjamin ; Harding, April

Substantial improvement in the delivery of health services will be necessary to achieve the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). A review of developing country experience with contracting for health service delivery was undertaken to examine its effectiveness, determine the extent to which the posited difficulties actually occur in practice, and make recommendations regarding future efforts in contracting. The focus of the review was instances in developing countries of governments contracting with non-state providers (NSPs) to deliver primary health care services including nutrition (but excluding hospital care or ancillary services such as drug procurement and distribution). Based on the success thus far, health services' contracting should be significantly expanded in developing countries as a way of helping achieve the MDGs, and increasing accountability. While the evidence for contracting is reasonably good, future efforts should still include rigorous evaluations to obtain more robust estimates of the effects under various conditions and address unresolved issues, such as the effectiveness of performance bonuses, and means for improving contract management.
Engendering Justice : A Gender Assessment's Impact on Project Design

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2005-05) Bhansali, Lisa L.

Gender equality is an important indicator of a country's progress toward sustainable development and is one of the Millennium Development Goals. Yet World Bank teams often find gender equality a difficult concept to include in projects. One solution is to conduct a targeted gender assessment, which can help ensure that a project design addresses gender concerns and promotes equitable access to public services.
Legislation on Freedom of Information : Trends and Standards

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2004-10) Mendel, Toby

Coined at the dawn of the scientific age, Bacon's aphorism has taken on new meaning today, when government agencies have at their disposal massive amounts of information about nearly every aspect of modern life. Striking an appropriate balance between the power of government and of citizens to control it demands widespread access to government-held information. As a result there is growing consensus that the right to information is a crucial element of democratic, accountable, responsive government. Recognition of this right has come swiftly. Just over a decade ago it was guaranteed in only a handful of countries. Now more than 50 countries have freedom of information laws, and 15-20 more are considering them. Moreover, a growing number of intergovernmental bodies-including the World Bank, European Union, and United Nations Development Programme-have such policies.