Africa Region Findings & Good Practice Infobriefs
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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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Publication
Gender and Law : Eastern Africa Speaks
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 1999-01)Gender issues, particularly with respect to women's status and rights, have for a considerable period, been in the forefront of donors' dialogue on social issues with Africa. While Africa countries have fully acknowledged the seriousness of the issues and the urgent need for action, the dialogue has been largely donor-driven and issues and priorities been donor-set. Recognizing the need for a new approach in this important area for Africa's progress, the Bank, in collaboration with the Economic Commission for Africa, initiated a Gender and Law Program, in October 1997, at a Conference held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Program shifts responsibility for identification and implementation of themes, issues, and priorities to in-country stakeholders rather than with donors. During the Conference, each country delegation voiced its priorities for change. The issues included land-related challenges, family law, violence against women, employment and labor, and decentralized governance frameworks. Land and the division of household property are prime areas where gender-based disparities marginalize and disenfranchise women of Eastern Africa. In an effort to improve women's social and economic life, two main themes emerged: the impact of customary laws and practices and the need for effective implementation. The delegates emphasized the need to initiate action for change at grassroots, institutional, and policy making levels. -
Publication
Land Degradation in Tanzania : Village Views
( 1997-07)Declining soil fertility due to inadequate farming practices, deforestation and overgrazing are among the primary impediments to increased agricultural productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa. These causal factors, driven by social, economic and political forces, manifest themselves in market, policy and institutional failures, inappropriate technologies and practices. This is also the case in Tanzania where over 90 percent of the population is rural and depends on land resources for its livelihood. This study examines the most significant issues affecting levels of productivity and land quality at the community and village level, where local land users take decisions on cropping and livestock management. The specific objectives of the study were to examine farmers' perceptions, particularly their understanding and interpretation of factors and indicators which they link to soil erosion and fertility decline, the level of degradation of crop and pastureland, and the institutional capacity to implement soil conservation and fertility measures with particular regard to land tenure policies, local organizations and extension service. The investigators also sought to identify the technologies, best practices and indigenous knowledge used by households to control erosion, enhance soil fertility, and increase crop and livestock productivity among smallholders. -
Publication
Benefit Sharing in Protected Area Management : The Case of Tarangire National Park, Tanzania
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 1997-06)Conservation is often viewed as a tradeoff between the development of short-term benefits and protection for long-term benefits. However, with the appropriate mechanisms, it is possible to achieve both aims. The justification to protect parks in developing countries can be based on an economic rationale rather than a primarily social or environmental one. Enhancing the revenue earning potential of protected areas from tourism, and directly returning those benefits to the appropriate set of stakeholders can result in a balanced approach to long-term environmental conservation and short-term economic development. Currently, approximately 14 percent of Tanzanian territory is designated as protected areas. Though national parks, game preserves, and other protected areas have generated revenue for the government, not much of this revenue has been retained to enhance the conservation efforts in these areas or to compensate the local communities. Funding for the Tarangire National Park (TNP) as it is for the Tanzania National Parks Authority (TANAPA), the national park authority, is limited and gate revenues are supplemented by external donors, both through TANAPA and directly to TNP. Within TNP, actual revenues have consistently been greater than expenditures since the 1991 financial year. TNP operates at a profit which has increased variably by approximately 23 percent to 140 percent per year. Surplus revenues are contributed to TANAPA. -
Publication
Improving the Commercial Practices of an Electrical Utility : Electricity Dispenser System in Tanzania - A Component of the Tanzania Power VI Project
(Washington, DC, 1996-06)The Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO) has experienced major problems with billing and collecting revenues. To improve customer services; and improve the collection of revenues, the utility company switched to an electricity prepayment system using Electricity Dispensers (ED). The ED which is an electric meter fitted with a circuit breaker, a computer logic chip and an input device, is installed in the customer's premises. The input devices are either magnetic card readers, similar to those on Automated Teller Machine (ATM), or numeric keypads similar to a telephone keypad. The input device allows the customer to control electricity-related consumption and expenditure.