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.
Madagascar - Building Leadership and Management Capacity through the Rapid Results Approach

( 2008-06) Mastri, Lawrence

In 2002 Madagascar's new government under President Mark Ravolamana recognized the urgency of addressing the peoples' high expectations for concrete economic and social improvements. While it rushed to put the economy back on track and improve the quality of life, its vision and strategy for reform was no match for the realities on the ground. By the time the Ravolamanana government assumed power in 2002, GDP had declined by 13 percent, key public services were discontinued, and the poverty rate soared from 69 percent in 2001 to 80 percent. There was widespread joblessness and high inflation. Within the government, there was little capacity for policy planning or monitoring and evaluation in most sectors. Collaboration was weak, with no existing mechanism to allow for a joint ministerial response to problems that cut across sectors. In February 2005, when the government launched its first rapid results pilot, the goal was to mitigate the effects of a significant shortfall in rice production, importation, and distribution. The crisis was solved by a combination of policy-based and technical interventions. Rice production increased significantly in two of the four targeted regions when the rapid results approach (RRA) was applied. In the region of Boeny, production went from 2.5 tons per hectare in 2004 to 4 tons per hectare in 2005, and in the region of Menabe, it increased from 22,000 tons to 37,000 tons.
The Rapid Results Approach : A Tool for Leadership Development and Institutional Change

( 2008-05) Mastri, Lawrence

The World Bank is using the rapid results approach (RRA) to link leadership to managing for results through practical capacity support to clients. The Bank helps leaders engage operational teams in government to achieve tangible results in 100 days. In the process the RRA reveals institutional bottlenecks; and diagnosing and removing these can help make a government more effective. The RRA has been applied in about 23 Bank operations in 21 countries since 2002, primarily in Africa, and also in South Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, North Africa, and to a lesser extent in Eastern and Central Europe, with some notable successes. The RRA has been used by the Bank and its clients to: (i) improve capacity for diagnosing institutional constraints; (ii) improve capacity for project/program planning and implementation; (iii) increase the results focus of a project/program; (iv) strengthen a sense of accountability; (v) enhance engagement between leadership and other stakeholders across multiple sectors; and (vi) jump-start implementation of difficult or problem projects. For public sector reform, good leadership means the ability to drive change toward achieving the right results. The Marseille Forum cases document how RRA has been used to strengthen the capacity of government leadership to make change happen in countries in transition, including those in postconflict situations, in newly elected governments, and in governments undertaking large-scale reforms.
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.
Building Capacity in Management and Financing in the Road Sector

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-01) Brushett, Stephen ; Sampson, Les ; Waithaka, Solomon

This report as about onging operational, economic, and sector work carried out by the World Bank and its member governments in the Africa Region.This note focuses post-experience training in disciplines including, but not limited to, management and finance to enable the new institutions and the governments concerned to reap the benefits of international best practices and to effectively internalize the key lessons of experience. It argues that short course programs aimed at an executive audience can be considered a highly effective and timely means of delivery of the benefits of training.
Cameroon - Higher Education Technical Training Project

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-12) Mastri, Lawrence

The Higher Education Technical Training Project's objective was to introduce, develop, and test a new and improved model of public higher technical education in Cameroon in the Institut Universitaire Technologique (IUT) Douala. If successful, the model could then be used as a basis for reforming other higher education institutions in Cameroon. The IUT Douala was among the most advanced in this process, and IDA believed that it could serve as a reference for other institutions. The project had defined eight indicators to evaluate the achievement of the development objective in establishing a new model for technical higher education. The indicators provided a measure of the involvement of the private sector and of the impact on students. Except for two indicators, which were dependent on the granting of full financial autonomy, all other indicators were fully met. Some of the lessons are as follows: (a)The development of a pilot in an institution requires an assessment of the organizational and managerial capacity of the institution to carry out the experiment. (b) Well defined qualitative indicators are crucial to help pilot the implementation process. (c) Developing a cooperative relationship with the private sector takes time. The private sector needs to be convinced that real and sustainable benefits can be gained from this cooperation. (d) Study tours by key stakeholders to countries which have undergone a similar process helps gain support for the reform and build momentum.
The Tanzania Second Social Action Fund (TASAF II) : Knowledge Sharing and Learning for Better Delivery of Results

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-11) Ida , Manjalo

This report is currently implementing the second phase of the Tanzania Social Action Fund, known as TASAF II. The main objective of TASAF II is to empower communities to access opportunities so that they can request, implement, and monitor sub-projects that contribute to improved livelihoods that are linked to indicator targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as stipulated in the National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty, popularly known by its Kiswahili acronym MKUKUTA. One major challenge of delivering TASAF II is its expanded mandate and full mainstreaming into local government authorities (LGA) operations. LGAs had to be provided with the opportunity to internalize an objective assessment achievements and challenges observed during the implementation of TASAF I, through the sub-project cycle. This would provide opportunity for the joining LGAs to learn from the experiences of TASAF I, thus create space and environment for efficient and cost-effective delivery of TASAF II.
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 - Nutrition Enhancement Program (NEP) First Phase

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-07) 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: Nutrition Enhancement Program (NEP), first phase which was the first nutrition project in Sub-Saharan Africa to use the Adaptable Program Lending (APL) instrument for the design of the program. The three project components were (i) Community Nutrition and Growth Promotion; (ii) Capacity Building and Monitoring and Evaluation and (iii) Program Management. Project interventions were conducted in the 3 poorest rural regions of Senegal, and in 34 Health Districts selected on the basis of social indicators. This info brief reports on the project impacts as well as lessons learned.
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.