Africa Region Findings & Good Practice Infobriefs

415 items available

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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.

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Burundi - Investing in Leadership Development through the Rapid Results Approach

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-08) World Bank

The government of Burundi appealed to the World Bank Institute (WBI) for help in strengthening the capacities of leadership to implement policies and programs that would achieve measurable results. The new government needed to make tough decisions on competing priorities, including allocating an estimated US$12 billion to achieve the millennium development goals, and carrying out reforms to ensure efficient allocation of public resources. The government understood it would need to invest in leadership development in order to drive change at the institutional level and achieve results, and that this would require more than the traditional classroom method of leadership training. Instead, the following approaches were needed: 1) training programs adapted to the needs of leaders; 2) a learning-by-doing approach to capacity development; and 3) a participatory approach to action planning, work planning, and defining modalities for resource management.
Ghana - Highway Sector Investment Program

(Washington, DC, 2004-07) World Bank

The objective of the project (IDA credit of $100 million over the period 1997-2001) was to assist the Government of Ghana to increase economic growth by (a) maintaining, rehabilitating and reconstructing roads and (b) ensuring sustained improvements in the road sector by (i) developing and implementing cost recovery policies, (ii) building indigenous capacity in the public and private sectors, and (iii) improving financial management control in the road sector.
Eritrea - Rapid Results Initiative (RRI) on HIV/AIDS

(Washington, DC, 2004-06) World Bank

In January 2003, the Eritrean Ministry of Health prepared a National Strategic Plan on HIV/AIDS for 2003-2007. In an effort to boost progress in the Community Managed Response (CMR) component of the plan, the government and the World Bank explored the rapid results approach to accelerate the number of community project proposals. The initiative was launched in Asmara on February 24, 2003 through a two day workshop. Specific 100-day goals were agreed upon, self selected teams were assembled, and leadership and resource structures of support and accountability were established. At the conclusion of the workshop the participants agreed on four major areas to focus their initial actions: (a) voluntary counseling and testing, (b) school prevention, (c) behavioral change, and (d) home-based care.
Urban Air Quality in Cotonou

( 2002-09) World Bank ; Washington, DC

This note shows the results of the "Clean Air Initiative in Sub-Saharan African Cities," a study to evaluate air pollution launched and coordinated by the World Bank. The following items are addressed: (i) estimation of the present global level of air pollution in Cotonou; (ii) determination of transportation's role; (iii) evaluation of the risk to human health and estimation of resulting expenses; (iv) examination of foreseeable future pollution evaluation of results of measures likely to be taken to reduce pollution and (v) proposal of a strategy for the implementation of these measures.
Uganda : Policy, Participation, People

(Washington, DC, 2002-08) World Bank

When the government of President Museveni assumed power in Uganda in 1986, it took over a shattered postwar economy. Market-oriented reforms led to a remarkable recovery. International Development Association (IDA) operations in Uganda initially tackled economic recovery, rehabilitation, and stabilization, then turned slowly to institutional and private sector development as the country stabilized. Since 1995, IDA has focused on poverty reduction and social progress. An OED (Operations Evaluation Department) assessment of IDA assistance to Uganda during 1987-99 found that IDA has excelled at policy dialogue, economic and sector work (ESW), and fostering participatory processes; had signal success in mobilizing resources and debt relief; and broadened the stakeholder dialogue on aid coordination. There is room for improvement, however, in some aspects of project implementation. The Bank and other donors were involved on a very high plane in Uganda, and important successes were achieved, partly because of the government's strong political leadership, its eagerness to learn from experience, its good use of technical assistance in core government agencies, and its recognition of the need to deepen its commitment and broaden the ownership of reform.
Zimbabwe : Personal and Institutional Safety Nets - The Long-Term Consequences of Failure

(Washington, DC, 2002-04) World Bank

The note looks at the evidence from the Zimbabwe drought in 1994-95, and points at the effects of weather-related shocks (although often other shocks as well can drastically affect incomes), of which not all households can smooth consumption as desired. Rather, many households maintain consumption only at the expense of their long-term income possibilities - e.g., by selling off productive assets, or by reducing investments in the health or education of their children. Unfortunately, while this recuperation can be rapid for households who retained their breeding stock, those who lost their breeding stock undergo hardship in restocking their herds. This implies a barrier to economic development of the very poor, which of course also includes poor nutritional status of children, and increased child mortality rates. Of particular concern is the inadequate utilization of credit and insurance, as well as the reliability on social assistance. The note outlines the extreme effects of such weather shocks in the country, specifying results for children's development, schooling, and/or delayed entrance to school, as a consequence of nutritional gaps, preventable provided personal and institutional safety nets are effective.
Ghana : Tracking Public Resource Flows in Schools and Clinics

(Washington, DC, 2002-04) World Bank

An accurate estimate of public expenditure flows must start from the distribution and recording systems which would permit accurate tracking. While the strategies to improve these systems in Ghana are beyond the scope of this study, it presents here the problems encountered while trying to track public expenditures. Hopefully, this will provide an entry point for relevant parties to discuss the best ways to increase the efficiency of public expenditure distribution. Estimated resource flows are also presented. Although the accuracy of estimates is not claimed in absolute terms, the patterns of the public expenditure distribution revealed by these estimates were consistent with the perceptions of district level education and health officers, to whom these results were presented at a workshop in Ghana.
Tanzania : Women in the Mining Sector

(Washington, DC, 2001-08) World Bank

The Government of Tanzania has, in recent years, focused on revitalizing its mining sector in order to attract foreign investment, with the goal of raising its contribution to Tanzania's Gross Domestic Product. With the support from the World Bank through the Mineral Sector Development Project (MSDP), the legal and fiscal regimes were revised and an environmental framework was put in place. As the growth of the small scale mining sub-sector continues, so do the challenges. This Notes discusses the obstacles faced by Tanzanian women and introduces the work of a women's nongovernmental organization -- Tanzania Women Miners Association (TAWOMA).
Botswana: An Example of Prudent Economic Policy and Growth

(Washington, DC, 2000-06) World Bank

Botswana is one of a small group of countries in the contemporary era, virtually the only African country that has sustained rapid economic growth over an extended period. Over the past three decades, Botswana's real per capita income grew by more than 7 percent per annum, which is comparable to rates of growth achieved by countries like Korea and Thailand. Remarkably, this growth, facilitated by mineral wealth, led neither to isolated enclaves nor to profligate spending. Growth continued to be high as a result of structural change within the economy as the growth in the of mining and government sectors slackened. Botswana's record in human development is equally impressive, with one important exception, HIV infection. Major emphasis has been placed on providing basic education and primary health care throughout the country. Primary school enrolment has gone from 66,100 in 1966 to 319,000 in 1995, representing an average compounded growth rate of 5.4 percent per annum. Further, in recent decades, the gender balance has consistently involved greater than 50 percent female enrollment. Meanwhile, secondary school and university enrolment, from a much lower base, both grew at double digit growth rates.
Chad - The Safe Motherhood Project : Strengthening the Health System

(Washington, DC, 2000-01) World Bank

In this largely Muslim population, only about a third of women have any schooling, most marry young (nearly 80 percent by the age of 19) and by the age of 18, more than half have had their first child. Nearly 1 in every 5 women joins in a polygamous marriage. As both women and men state they want 8 and 16 children, respectively, the use of modern contraception remains strikingly low at 1 percent among women and fertility is high. The objectives of this project are to: (a) enhance capability at the central level to support regional health services (16 percent); (b) ensure accessibility of the population to low-cost essential drugs (21 percent); and (c) improve access to basic health services in the regions of Guera and Tandjile (63 percent). While the scope of (a) and (b) are nationwide and support capacity building for health generally, (c) targets two regions for the implementation of these efforts with an emphasis on Safe Motherhood. This project builds on a prior Bank project that included support for the general health sector, the Social Development Action Project (PADS). To further support the nationwide health efforts, and specifically the newly-adopted National Drug Policy (NDP), the Bank assists to ensure overall geographical as well as financial accessibility of the population to essential generic drugs as a prerequisite to the successful implementation of cost-recovery. The NDP selects drugs essential for dealing effectively with at least 90 percent of the curative and prophylactic needs of the majority of the population, including the major complications that kill women.