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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Lesotho - Education Sector Development Project

( 2008-05) Mastri, Lawrence

The objectives of the Education Sector Development Project (ESDP) addresses critical needs in the areas of basic education, such as expanding access through the construction, and furnishing of new classrooms. The project aimed to revise curricula, develop instructional materials, and strengthen the system of assessment. In addition to recruiting more teachers, training for teachers at both pre-and-in service was planned to upgrade the standards of teaching. To address the needs of students enrolled in Technical and Vocational Education programs, the project proposed to introduce standardized craft curricula, strengthen skills certification and testing, and improve policy and management capacity within the sub sector. The project planned to support the National University of Lesotho in its efforts to introduce quality enhancement and cost containment measures. Finally, the objectives included improving sectoral management by reorganizing the Ministry of Education (MOE), promoting decentralization, and school level management.
PREM Anchor Support to the Africa Region

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-04) Danny Leipziger

The goal of the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management (PREM) Network is to shape policies and to help countries build successful national strategies for sustained, shared growth, and to strengthen partnerships at the country level for improved aid effectiveness. There is no region in which this goal is more challenging than in Africa. In support of the Africa Action Plan (AAP), the PREM Anchor has actively stepped up its support to the Africa Region (AFR) in fiscal year 2006 (FY06).As of the end of January 2006, Anchor staff had provided nearly 83 staff weeks in direct cross-support alone. Activities have included knowledge generation, high level policy support on missions, the development of toolkits and diagnostics to improve policy advice on growth strategies, among others. Most of this work has been provided on a demand driven basis, and PREM plans to continue providing such services subject to its budgetary and skills capacity. This note illustrates how the PREM Anchor's support to the PREM Anchor support to the AFR connects with the objectives of the AAP. The PREM Anchor is working closely with the AFR on ways to improve the results focus and analytical foundations of poverty reduction strategies (PRSs). A study is under way on the integration of PRS reporting and budget implementation covering eight African countries to improve existing reporting instruments and assess how to better align PRS reporting with budget reporting. Work is also under way to strengthen the quality of second generation PRSs and their relevance as a framework for scaling up and improving aid effectiveness.
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.
Mozambique - Municipal Development Project

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-11) Mastri, Lawrence

The project was designed as a long-term capacity building and institutional development project utilizing a pilot funding program, Municipal Grant Fund (MGF), as the first stage of support for municipal infrastructure and services. The original four components included (a) Legal and Institutional Reform; (b) Municipal Capacity Building; (c) Municipal Grants; and (d) Project Management and Technical Assistance. The restructured project development objectives were to assist the Government of Mozambique to operationalize the legal, institutional and fiscal framework for municipal governance; develop a sustainable training and technical assistance system and increase the capacity of municipality officials and personnel; and establish an operating mechanism for providing grants to municipalities through a pilot program in eight cities to finance capital investments for municipal capacity building and infrastructure. Some of the lessons learned are as follows: (a) The design of a project and in particular of a pilot program should be simple and within the capacity of the staff and agencies responsible for its implementation. (b) Team leaders from government and Bank project teams must develop strong working relationships built on effective communication so that both organizations are working toward the same objective.
Making Aid Work : The End of the Cold War and Progress Toward a New Aid Architecture Should Make Aid More Effective

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-09) Sundberg, Mark ; Gelb, Alan

Findings reports on ongoing operational, economic, and sector work carried out by the World Bank and its member governments in the Africa Region. This issued focuses on the new aid architecture and how aid coming in now has development objectives where as in the past it was often guided by geopolitical considerations linked to the interest of the donor countries. This issue not only discusses the changing aid picture, but it also looks at where the aid has gone and some encouraging aid trends that are occurring.
Senegal - Agricultural Services and Producer Organizations Project

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-08) Mohan, P. C.

Findings Info briefs reports on good practice in ongoing operational, economic and sector work carried out by the World Bank and its member governments in the Africa Region. This issue looks at the Senegal Agricultural Services and Producer Organizations Project. The objective of the program was the substantial increase of smallholder agricultural productivity, production and incomes through technological change. The objective of the first phase was to set in place institutional reforms to achieve autonomy and accountability of public agencies and empower producer organizations. This info brief discusses the project impact and gives lessons learned from the project.
Ghana : The AIDS Response Project (GARFUND)

( 2007-05) Mohan, P. C.

The specific objectives of this project - financed through an IDA credit of $28.7 million (2002-05) - were to: provide resources that would enable the government to implement a balanced, diversified multi-sector response, engaging all relevant government sectors, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and grassroots initiatives; to expand contributions made by the Ministry of Health ( MOH ) engage civil society in the fight against AIDS; and finance eligible activities conducted by civil society organizations, including NGOs, community-based organizations (CBOs), faith-based organizations (FBOs), trade and professional associations, associations of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAs), districts, and line ministries to ensure a rapid multisector scaling-up of HIV prevention and care activities in all regions and at all administrative levels.
Zambia : The Enterprise Development Project

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-03) Mohan, P.C.

The Enterprise Development Project (EDP) - 1998-2003 - was designed to support, with a credit of US$ 45 million, Zambia's Economic Reform Program that began in 1991. One of the key aspects of this reform program was to dismantle traditional state-supported enterprise development mechanisms and replace these with market-determined enterprise development structures. Three specific objectives were identified : (i) enhancing Zambian firms' technical know-how by providing demand-driven assistance to Zambian firms in the form of matching grants; (ii) enhancing Zambian firms' access to finance by providing a long-term credit facility for investments and a short-term credit line for exporters; and (iii) strengthening the financial system and availability of information resources in Zambia by providing technical assistance to help strengthen the institutional underpinnings of the financial system at the wholesale, retail and regulatory levels.
Burkina Faso : The Post-Primary Education Project

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-02) Mohan, P.C.

In September 1994, the Government of Burkina Faso held a national convention on post-primary education to analyze the status of this sub-sector and to define a forward-looking strategy. In August 1995, the government initiated a 10-year post-primary education development plan ( PDEPP ) which focused on the educational system as the key determining factor for human resource development. Following a request from the government, the World Bank agreed to providing a credit of US$ 36.6 million (1997-2004) which would support the plan through (i) the promotion of cost-effective and equitable use of education resources; and (ii) an increase in access to and the quality of education.
Credit Alternatives in Rural Finance : Rinancial Leasing

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006-05) Kloeppinger-Todd, Renate ; Nair, Ajai

Enterprises use credit to acquire productivity-enhancing assets. Rural enterprises in developing economies, however, often lack access to the credit they need. Key reasons for this lack of access include the low level and scattered nature of economic activity in rural areas, the enterprises' lack of collateral, inadequate capacity among the country's lenders to lend in rural areas, and legal and policy environments that discourage lending to rural enterprises. Traditionally, leasing has served as an alternative to credit for urban enterprises, but generally it has not been a feasible option for rural enterprises. This paper argues that rural leasing can be viable and highlights the key factors to facilitate successful rural leasing, including the advantages of leasing, an enabling environment, and institutional support. The paper concludes that leasing is a viable tool to finance rural assets.