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 - 7 of 7

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.
Rwanda - Agricultural and Rural Market Development

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006-04) Mohan, P. C.

This Credit of US$5 million was a Learning and Innovation Loan ( LIL ) -- implemented 1999-2003 -- whose objective was to contribute to revitalizing the country's agricultural and rural economy by identifying policies and institutional mechanisms to promote efficient, private sector-based local agricultural input distribution and out put marketing systems in order to raise modern farm input use among farmers and thereby the productivity of labor and levels of income in the rural sector. The project was implemented in 20 districts, representing about 25 percent of the total number of districts. It affected 21,00 farm families, with a population of 1.05 million, including about 1,000 lead farmers and 1,000 Farmers'Associations.
Community-Based Health Insurance in Rwanda

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2005-11) Pathé Diop, Francois ; Butera, Jean Damascene

Rwanda has lived one of the most tragic moments of its history with the genocide of 1994, which resulted in nearly one million deaths, and the destruction of the social fabric of the country. Mutual aid and community solidarity value systems have remained resilient traits of Rwanda's society, and continue to be translated in coping strategies in the health care area. After the 1994 war, however, mutual aid initiatives have emerged in the health sector as community responses to the reintroduction of user-fees in public, and mission health facilities. Building on these community initiatives, health authorities, and non-government organizations have moved these emerging strategies to a deliberate strategy of building community-based health insurance schemes in the health sector. Community-based health insurance schemes (CBHI) provided also a platform for the compilation of information to support the assessment of CBHI schemes, and to familiarize health sector actors, and partners with the strategies needed to support their implementation on a large scale. CBHI schemes in Rwanda are health insurance organizations based on a partnership between the community and health care providers. As consensus built-up on the benefits of the CBHI schemes, a multi-level leadership developed in the country to provide support to the adaptation, and extension of the schemes. Political leaders at the central level, starting from the Presidency, called for the mobilization of all actors to support the implementation of CBHI schemes throughout the country.
Child Soldiers - Lessons Learned on Prevention, Demobilization, and Reintegration

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2002-05) Verhey, Beth

As highlighted in the seminal UN study on the "Impact of armed conflict on children," an increased involvement of recent decades, stands as one of the most egregious child rights violations. Yet, a new study "Child soldiers: preventing, demobilizing, and reintegrating," demonstrates that children, and youth involved in armed conflict can re-engage positive social relations, and productive civilian lives. Such reintegration of child soldiers, in tandem with community recovery for children affected by armed conflict, is a key area of post-conflict reconstruction, and sustainable development goals. The study draws on experiences, and lessons learned, primarily from in-depth case studies in Angola and El Salvador, and integrates other country program experiences. Prevention lessons outline the vital role of civil society, and the need for external support; demobilization lessons stress that child soldiers must be specifically included in peace agreements and demobilization processes; and, reintegration lessons highlight three components essential to effective reintegration: family reunification; psychosocial support; and, education and economic opportunity.
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.
Empowering Farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa : Best Practices

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 1995-02) Beaudoux, Elaine ; Bourque, Andre ; Collion, Marie-Helene ; Delion, Jean ; Gentil, Dominique ; Kabuga, Charles ; Schwettman, Jurgen ; Shah, Ashih

This article previews a study defining "farmer empowerment" (increasing the capacities of disadvantaged people to move out of poverty). The study discusses specific country case studies (Uganda, Nambia, Cameroon, Burundi, Mali, and Madagascar) and their dealings with farmer organizations and practices.
Agricultural Research in the Sahel : Challenge and Response

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 1994-03) Weijenberg, Jan

The problem which this report seeks to address is the slow rate of technology generation of the agricultural research system in the Sahel. To overcome this problem, the report proposes to strengthen the national agricultural research systems in the region through a three-pronged effort: (a) institutional reforms of the national agricultural research systems to evolve an enabling environment for creativity, innovation and improved performance; (b) new modes of regional cooperation based on the principles of comparative advantage and the relative strengths of national agricultural research systems; and (c) a series of cross-cutting actions to support the revitalized national and regional efforts. It is expected that a more demand-driven national/regional research agenda and more vibrant linkages between scientists and clients will lead to faster rates of technology generation, as was demonstrated by the success of cotton research in the Sahel.