Africa Region Findings & Good Practice Infobriefs

415 items available

Permanent URI for this collection

http://hdl.handle.net/10986/9389

These briefs report on ongoing operational, economic, and sector work carried out by the World Bank and its member governments in the Africa Region.

Items in this collection

Now showing 1 - 10 of 16

Mali - Private Sector Assistance Grant

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-03) Mastri, Lawrence

The principal objective of the project was to help foster the development of private sector enterprises, so that they could lead the growth of Mali's economy. The project aimed at putting in place mechanisms and measures to support the government's strategy of breaking from past reliance on the public sector. The project proposed to achieve this by: (a) completing implementation of improvements to the regulatory environment that had been introduced starting in the late eighties; (b) assisting a private business support structure, APEP, the Agence pour la Promotion de l'Entreprise Privee, to coordinate a program of institutional support to private non-financial enterprises; (c) improving the functioning of economic chambers (principally the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Mali), the Government's office charged with public enterprise reform, BEP, and departments of the administration responsible of administering regulations affecting private enterprises; and (d) inducing the strengthening of the banking sector and the preparation of a coherent financial sector strategy.
Decentralizing Infrastructure Services : Lessons from the East Asia Experience

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-02) Elisa Muzzini

Decentralization is the transfer of responsibilities from the central government to subnational agencies empowered to act as increasingly autonomous entities within their geographical and functional domains. In theory, decentralizing infrastructure services can deliver efficiency gains when service benefits accrue mainly to the local population-such as in water and sanitation, urban transit, and waste management. Subnational agencies are indeed better placed than the central government to tailor infrastructure services to the needs of local constituencies (allocative efficiency) and deliver them at lower costs (productive efficiency). In practice, the economic benefits of decentralized infrastructure services are by no means a given, as they are contingent upon effective coordination among tiers of governments (regional coordination) and accountability mechanisms for results achieved.
Tanzania’s Coffee Sector : Constraints and Challenges in a Global Environment

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2004-04) Baffes, John

Coffee, Tanzania's largest export crop, contributes about 115 dollars to the country 's export earnings. About 95 percent of coffee is produced by some 400,000 smallholders on average plots of 1-2 hectares. Most do not use purchased inputs such as chemicals and fertilizers. Before 1990 all coffee marketing (including input provision, transportation, and processing) was handled by the state coffee board and the cooperative unions. Modest reforms were implemented in 1990 affecting inputs, price announcements, and retention of dollar export earnings. More comprehensive reforms were introduced beginning in 1994/95, allowing private traders to purchase coffee directly from growers and process it in their own factories for the first time in more than 30 years. While producers ' share of export prices increased, official statistics show no supply response. Coffee processing capacity, marketing efficiency, and investment in new plantings increased. Several issues remain to be addressed. Taxes should be consolidated, lowered, and rationalized across all export crops and other exports and the tax code should be simplified. Licensing procedures need to be reexamined. Licenses should be suspended only in accordance with the Coffee Industry Act of 2001, and not in response to requests by the cooperative unions or the Ministry of Cooperatives. The coffee auction should be voluntary, substantially reducing the costs of vertically integrated exporters and enhancing cross-border trade. The Tanzanian Coffee Board should be responsible for disseminating price and other information and for monitoring the quality of auction coffee sales and other coffee statistics. The power of the board and the ministry ought to be substantially reduced and their respective roles clearly defined.
Private Sector Participation-based Roadmap for Reforms in Water and Sanitation

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2002-12) Kriss, Paul

Political interference and low tariff policies have led to inefficiency and chronic financial weakness of public utilities. The inability of water supply and sanitation (WSS) utilities to maintain and extend services has led typically to situations where in fact subsidized services are denied to the poor who have to rely on more costly and lower quality alternatives. A well-performing utility is a necessary condition for enhancing the economic efficiency of cities and for accelerating the provision of services to low-income areas. However, water utilities in Africa have limited prospects for improving their performance unless they undergo structural reform. Service delivery is not keeping pace with demand, especially for the fast growing number of low-income households living in informal settlements.
Nigeria : The National Fadama Development Project

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2002-12) Mohan, P.C.

The objectives of the loan (1993-1999) were to build on the achievements of some of the Northern agricultural development projects (ADPs) in developing small-scale irrigation through the extraction of shallow groundwater with low-cost petrol-driven pumps. By making agricultural production less dependent on erratic rainfall, farmers' incomes were expected to be raised and food security augmented. this article, largely excerpted from the Implementation Completion Report no. 19730 describes the project's impact, lists the lessons learned, and underscores the aims of the follow-up project in preparation.
Mauritania : Effective Ownership of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) Process

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2002-11) Lemrabott, Mohamed ; Rahman Khan, Aisha

The Mauritanian PRSP focuses on poverty reduction, strong country ownership, and the active participation of civil society. The PRSP reflects many of the recommendations of civil society. Nongovernmental organizations commented mainly on issues related to governance, education, and health and nutrition. The alliances and partnerships forged through the PRSP process have laid the groundwork for a country-driven, operationally focuses PRSP.
Uganda : The First Urban Project

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2002-02) Mohan, P.C.

The project's original objectives were to: a) improve living conditions and alleviate poverty in Kampala; b) improve urban financial management; and 3) strengthen institutional capacity. As part of the mid-term restructuring, monitor modifications were made to these objectives: 1) strengthen the Kampala City Council's (KCC) ability to better deliver, finance, and maintain basic urban services for all Kampala residents, particularly the poor; 2) assist KCC in getting demonstratable physical improvements on the ground aimed at gaining credibility with the people it serves; and 3) strengthen the institutional capacity of sector institutions. The Note discusses the impact on the ground and the lessons learned from implementing the project.
Adult Education in Sub-Saharan Africa

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2001-11) Lauglo, Jon

The note describes the major findings of the study "Engaging with adults", which reviews the international experience with adult basic education (ABE), with a focus on Africa. As a foundation for improved conditions of life, basic education serves not only the young, but adolescents and adults who may have been missed by the educational system. Illiteracy is a major barrier to poverty alleviation, and needs to be addressed, through quality education, and effective ABE programs. The note outlines a range of policy issues for governments to strengthen its support of ABE, from targeting vulnerable groups, through the roles governments and nongovernmental organizations can play - including those of businesses and industry - to institutionalizing ABE, thus enhancing literacy and numeracy, as well as information technology. Recommendations suggest strong political leadership, and considerable investment in institutional development to diversify programs so as to be responsive to local demand.
Mozambique : Private Participation in Isolated Electrical Grids

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2001-03) Sakairi, Yuriko

The note outlines the impacts of the Urban Household Energy Project in Mozambique, identifying cost-recovery tariffs, employment generation, and improved services, including the significant achievement of power sector reforms, which allowed the creation of independent grids. Following the passage of the Electricity Law in 1997, which de-monopolized the national power utility, and allowed private sector participation in the industry, the above mentioned project funded a pilot isolated grid electrification project in two coastal towns, which extended low-cost services to these isolated areas, after an enabling framework had been created for private participation.
Restructuring Highway Agencies - The FinnRa Case : Options for Africa?

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2000-08) Ojala, Lauri ; Sirvio, Esko

Until the late 1970s, the Finnish Road and Waterways Administration (RWA), under Finland's Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC), operated as a highly centralized, monopolistic agency. The country's thirteen road management districts had little or no decision-making authority. Outsourcing construction works was limited, contracting maintenance services was rare, and RWA often implemented its road construction projects using in-house labor and rented machinery and vehicles. Following the oil crisis of 1974, public resources were constrained and road expenditure was targeted at maintenance rather than at new construction. Simultaneously, RWA's focus shifted to construction management (rather than actual execution of works) and to maintenance activities. Outsourcing of planning, design, and construction services became more prevalent. New, more user-friendly procurement procedures were introduced, facilitating the use of private small contractors. This trend continued through the 1980s, when individual road districts assumed the practice of slicing up the procurement of works into sufficiently small contracts to allow small regional-based contractors to bid for them.