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.

Items in this collection

Now showing 1 - 10 of 59

Implementing Right to Information

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-09) Dokeniya, Anupama

Over the last two decades, several developing countries have adopted right to information (RTI) laws, bringing the number of countries with such laws to more than 90. But empirical evidence on how effectively RTIs have worked, whether they have been effectively enforced, and if they have had any impact on improving accountability, is limited. This note examines how RTI laws have worked in different country contexts, drawing from an analysis of their implementation in eight countries spanning different regions, income levels, political forms, and administrative traditions. The experiences of these countries show that implementation has faced challenges across countries, but has been especially difficult in countries where the broader governance environment is weaker on dimensions such as the rule of law, government effectiveness, voice and accountability, civil liberties, and political rights. During the implementation phase, with the erosion of the initial political momentum behind the law, the incentives for officials to comply with the new legislation also tended to erode, resulting in efforts to undermine the law. The evidence suggests that as countries with challenging governance environments and capacity limitations adopt RTI laws, they will need to both devise implementation solutions that can adapt to these limitations and undertake complementary initiatives to strengthen their broader governance environment.
The Current State of Fiscal Transparency: Norms, Assessment, and Country Practices

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-09) Petrie, Murray

Over the last 15 years, there has been a growing effort globally to promote fiscal transparency, reflecting both that the public has a right to information, and that transparency contributes to more equitable, efficient, and effective fiscal policies. However, the overall state of budget transparency is poor: measured against the Open Budget Index, the national budgets of 77 countries, home to half the world’s population, fail to meet basic standards of budget transparency. Efforts are underway to improve the coherence of the multiplicity of standards, strengthen the assessment of country practices, and to address important gaps in the normative architecture, such as norms for legislative oversight and direct public participation. Many governments could rapidly improve transparency by publishing reports they already produce internally, which points to the need to strengthen incentives for governments to be more transparent.
Public Participation in the Budget Process in the Republic of Korea

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-06) Kang, Young Kyu ; Min, Saw Young

In January 2013, the International Budget Partnership (IBP) released the latest Open Budget Survey (OBS) with a new section on public participation. The survey results are not encouraging. For the 100 surveyed countries, the average score for public participation in the budget process is 19 out of 100. However, one country stands out. With a score of 92, Korea emerges as the only country ‘that provides extensive opportunities for public engagement’ (IBP 2012, 33). What makes Korea an exception? This note investigates the different public participation mechanisms in Korea and illustrates how public inputs are reflected in the country’s budget process and fiscal policies.
The Changing Politics of Tax Policy Reform in Developing Countries

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-02) Moore, Mick

Who shapes tax policy reform in developing countries? A wider range of political actors are beginning to exercise influence. A brief history in this report will explain who they are and how they operate.
Strengthening PFM in Post-Conflict Countries: Lessons for PFM Practitioners and Country Programming Staff

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-12) Fritz, Verena

Myriad challenges, but also opportunities, surround public financial management (PFM) reforms in postconflict environments. This note provides recommendations that focus on the special characteristics of postconflict environments and their implications for the design and implementation of PFM reform initiatives, and on links to the wider goals of state-building and service delivery. This note principally draws on a cross-country review of the design, implementation, and impact of public financial management (PFM) reforms in eight postconflict states. Focusing on the PFM reform experience over a 7–10-year period from the early 2000s to 2010, the goal of the study was to understand what has worked in countries’ efforts to strengthen PFM systems, and how PFM strengthening impacts wider state-building goals.
Use of Social Accountability Tools and Information Technologies in Monitoring and Evaluation

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011-02) Sharma, Rajiv

This note attempts to cover the basic concepts relating to the use of social accountability and information technology to monitor and evaluate public services and other governance processes that affect citizens. With the help of simple though practical examples that use these concepts, the note explains how to bring a qualitative change in monitoring and evaluation by making the whole process more citizen centered and outcome oriented. In turn, these practices can help improve the quality of service delivery. The note also covers a few country-specific initiatives from India to support the related arguments.
Conceptual Framework for Monitoring and Evaluation

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2010-08) Mackay, Keith

This is the first note in a monthly series on government monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems led by the PREM, or Poverty Reduction and Equity Management under the guidance of Jaime Saavedra, Gladys Lopez-Acevedo, and Keith Mackay, with contributions from several World Bank colleagues. The main purpose of this series is to synthesize existing knowledge about M&E systems and to document new knowledge on M&E systems that may not yet be well understood. The series targets World Bank other donor staff who are working to support client governments in strengthening their M&E systems, as well as government officials interested in learning about the uses and benefits of M&E and in adopting a more systematic approach toward M&E in their governments.
Gender Issues in Child Labor

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2005-08) World Bank ; Holtz, Paul

This note reviews the available evidence on developing effective policies against child labor, outlining it requires attention to gender differences among working children. This is so because standard definitions of child labor tend to underestimate girls' work, because economic activities of boys and girls differ by country and industry; because determinants of child labor may differ by gender; and, because the consequences of child labor may differ by gender. A number of policy implications stem from evidence presented in this note, i.e., that including time use modules in household surveys would capture unpaid household chores performed by children, thereby providing more accurate estimates of total work time; interventions to reduce child labor should address its specific causes, and should recognize that these causes may differ by gender. The determinants of child labor should be examined by running separate regressions for boys and girls, or by interacting the gender dummy, with the main explanatory variables. Furthermore, investing in water infrastructure, providing low-cost child care, and increasing access to health care facilities can significantly reduce the time that girls spend on household chores, thereby increasing their school attendance. Finally, interventions aimed directly at increasing children's schooling-such as providing subsidies for school fees, reducing distance to schools, and improving school quality-are also likely to reduce the prevalence of child labor.
Operationalizing Political Analysis : The Expected Utility Stakeholder Model and Governance Reforms

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2004-11) Nunberg, Barbara ; Green, Amanda

Changes in public sector institutions and governance systems in developing countries may be relatively easy to achieve technically, but very tough to implement politically. Such reforms create winners and losers, so understanding the political realities that shape the incentives of key stakeholders in a given program or policy is vital to securing consensus-and may mean the difference between a well-designed intervention that mobilizes critical support and a failed initiative that alienates crucial clients.
Building Blocks of e-Government : Lessons from Developing Countries

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2004-08) Bhatnagar, Subhash ; Deane, Arsala

E-government is about changing how governments work, share information, and deliver services to external and internal clients. It harnesses information and communications technology to transform relationships with citizens and businesses, and between arms of government. Benefits can include reduced corruption, increased transparency, greater convenience, higher revenues, and lower costs. But case studies show that these benefits do not result solely from the use of information and communications technology. Instead, e-government initiatives should be part of broader reforms to improve public sector performance.