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.

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 15

Multi-Dimensional Results Measurement in CDD Projects : Experiences from the Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda Social Action Funds

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-12) Pidatala, Krishna ; Lenneiye, Nginya Mungai

In the last decade, Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda have used the Community-Driven Development (CDD) approach to implement projects that exhibit multi-sectoral linkages, complex institutional structures and implementation processes, creative tension between the supply and demand sides, and convergence at the Local Government Authority (LGA) level in environments compounded by the pace of decentralization. The projects have broadened the issue of results focus from the measurement of a few input-output indicators to include intermediate outcomes (which measure beneficiaries potentially reached by outputs produced by the projects). In the process, these projects have been able to scale up from 'isolated boutique-type projects' to a mass production of outputs through participatory decision-making, local capacity development, and community control of resources. At the national level, the projects have contributed to: (a) poverty reduction, (b) improved social welfare, and (c) improved transparency and accountability.
Malawi - The Emergency Drought Recovery Project

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006-10) Mohan, P.C.

This project was designed and implemented (January 2003-November 2004) in response to Malawi's severe food crisis in 2002, caused by the drought and floods in 2001 and 2002, which resulted in a significant drop in maize output, the country's main staple food. The food crisis was exacerbated by a suboptimal harvest in the previous year. In addition, the Early Warning System (EWS) failed by predicting a food surplus when in fact a major food deficit was looming. Poor management of the Strategic Grain Reserve and an over-reliance on maize in the diet were additional factors which compounded the crisis. This combination of an IDA credit of $29 million equivalent and a grant of $21 million equivalent were used to finance 3 components. (i) Quick disbursing assistance to support critical imports through a positive list of import requirements linked to the drought and recovery efforts; (ii) Augmentation of the purchasing power of families whose incomes had been reduced as a result of the crisis; and (iii) Support for project implementation, technical assistance and studies. The bulk of the credit/grant ($40 million equivalent) went to support the first component.
Malawi : Some Targeting Methods in Public Works Programs

(Washington, DC, 2006-10) World Bank

Community Based Targeting (CBT) and self-targeting are the two main methods used in the largest programme of Public Works. This note assesses and compares the effectiveness and efficiency of these targeting methods in identifying the poor in Public Works Programmes funded by MASAF and CARE in Malawi's Central Region. It further seeks to identify challenges that hinder the effectiveness of these methods.
Citizen Oversight through Social Accountability : The Malawi Social Action Fund and the Comprehensive Community Scorecard Process

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006-08) Kajumi, Murphy

The Third Malawi Social Action Fund Project (MASAF 3) was designed in the context of the Malawi Government's Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) of April 2002. The PRS had the following four pillars: (a) sustainable pro-poor economic growth to empower the poor by ensuring access to credit and markets, skills development and employment generation; (b) human capital development to ensure that the poor have the health and education status to lift themselves out of poverty; (c) improving the quality of life for the most vulnerable by providing sustainable safety nets for those who are unable to benefit from the first two pillars; and (d) promotion of good governance, political will and mindset which will ensure that public and civil society institutions and systems protect and benefit the poor.
Malawi - Public Works Programme : Conditional Cash Transfers as an Emergency Response to a National Food Shortage

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006-05) Kalanda, Boniface ; Mandala, Charles ; Magwira, Joseph

This paper reports that in the 2004-2005 growing season, Malawi experienced a drought which affected farm produce and subsequently led to country-wide food shortages. Due to the food shortage, the Malawi Government implemented a Public Works Programme -- Conditional Cash Transfers (PWP-CCT) to transfer cash income to vulnerable households to enable them buy food and agricultural inputs for the 2005-2006 growing season. The paper explains the 2004-2005 drought, implementation of the PWP-CCT, and the issues and lessons learnt.
Population and Family Planning : Lessons from Malawi

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2004-12) Prakash, Siddhartha

The objective of the Population and Family Planning (FP) Project, a Learning and Innovation Loan (LIL), was to test the feasibility of a comprehensive and district-wide Community Based Distribution (CBD) approach to Population and Family Planning Services in three districts, thereby increasing the Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR) for modern methods. Rigorous testing of the hypothesis was ensured in the design by selecting control districts and using the same instruments to collect both the baseline and end of project data. The three rural pilot districts - Chitipa, Ntchisi and Chiradzulu, represented the three mains regions of North, South and Central Malawi and were adjacent to the control ones with which they shared comparable socio-demographic characteristics such as household composition (female headship and number of residents), environmental exposure (water sources, latrines) and backgrounds of respondents (age, education, marital status).
Designing an Operational Knowledge and Information Sharing System : The Malawi Social Action Fund

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2004-09) Khan, Aisha Rahaman

The Malawi Social Action Fund (MASAF) has been in operation since July 1995 and was established specifically to directly finance communities to implement demand-driven sub-projects. Recently, (2004) under MASAF 3 it has begun the process of establishing a Knowledge and Information Sharing System (KISS) that will facilitate knowledge documentation and dissemination in order to improve the quality of project and program delivery. This system seeks to build on and integrate the experiences and lessons accumulated in the last nine years and move towards making MASAF a knowledge sharing and learning organization.
Integrating MDGs into the Malawi Social Action Fund

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2003-12) Lenneiye, N. Mungai

Responding to endemic poverty in Malawi, the government has consulted with communities, civil society, the private sector and other stakeholders in formulating a Malawi Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (MPRSP). The MPRSP is based on four 'pillars' -- promoting economic growth, enhancing human development, protecting the vulnerable, and promoting good governance. Within these, the broad issues of HIV/AIDS, gender inequalities, environmental degradation, and slow technological innovation in society are addressed.
Malawi - Lessons Learned From Public Works Programs

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2003-06) Mohan, P.C.

In designing Public Work programs (PWPs), it is important to clarify whether the objectives are developmental or to deal with short-term shocks. PWPs make a significant contribution to sustained poverty reduction only when carefully designed to include a graduation strategy (e.g., economic activities training, savings and life skills training) or where continuity of employment is viable (e.g., financed through routine maintenance budgets). Programs lasting twelve months or more can allow for asset acquisition, training and higher risk economic activity. In this way, beneficiaries can begin to graduate out of PWP employment. Valuable assets have been created under PWPs, contributing to economic growth (environmental protection, access routes etc.). In Malawi, full cost recovery will not be possible for some time. It is therefore essential that PWPs budget for maintenance of such assets. PWPs are a valuable vehicle for developing capacity and empowering local government bodies in Malawi. Adequate provision must be made however, for local government administrative and supervision costs. PWPs are a means of skills transfer in participating communities. As a result, follow-on programs find residual knowledge and organizational capacity in place.
Mitigating the Food Crisis in Southern Africa : From Relief to Development

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2003-03) Babu, Suresh

More than 10 million people in southern Africa-Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swazilan, Zambia, and Zimbabwe-are currently threatened with famine, with the crisis being particularly severe in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The immediate causes of the food shortage, namely of maize, the region's staple crop, are drought, flooding, and low levels of planting. However, what has made these countries so vulnerable to famine is chronic poverty, inadequate development policies and, in some cases, poor governance. Shocks such as drought bring collapse only to systems that are already weakened by these factors. The key to preventing food shortages and possibly famine, therefore, is effective and appropriate food security policies and responsible governance. Policies for mitigating the effects of a critical food shortage or famine lie on a spectrum ranging from immediate relief to recovery to initiating development. Preventing future famines requires long-term development policies. In addressing the crisis, policymakers should design measures that not only provide relief, but which also lay the foundations for development. Interventions must be combined and sequenced with each other, depending on a country's context, to generate the greatest possible short- and long-term benefits. Described here are policy approaches, that IFPRI research in Africa has shown to be effective in mitigating severe food shortage and enabling development.