Other Public Sector Study

328 items available

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https://hdl.handle.net/10986/2206

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Managing Groundwater for Drought Resilience in South Asia
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-01) World Bank
This report presents the findings of a diagnostic study examining pathways and options for strengthening the governance of South Asia’s groundwater resources in the face of climate change and increasing reliance on the resource by dependent communities, particularly during times of drought. This study identifies, analyzes, and recommends management interventions that aid reforms of groundwater governance and, thus, greater sustainability of groundwater; in addition, these management interventions can strengthen drought resilience within the South Asia region. A broad analytical framework and a series of case studies comprise most of the report. These cover a range of policy and management approaches in different hydrogeological and socioeconomic settings with reference to key groundwater challenges. They provide insights and potential solutions, tailored to specific groundwater resources and contextual problems across South Asia.
Institutional Assessment of the Central Statistics Organization of Afghanistan
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-06-01) World Bank Group
Afghanistan has achieved substantial development progress since 2001, but faces important upcoming challenges. Government efforts supported by aid inflows have fueled rapid economic growth, expanded the quality of and access to basic social services, and improved the capacity of public sector institutions. However, deterioration in the security situation following the security transition in 2014 combined with declining international assistance pose formidable challenges for Afghanistan to manage its economy and deliver public services. The availability of high quality, reliable economic, socio-economic, and demographic statistics is vital if appropriate policy responses to these challenges are to be identified and implemented.
Internet of Things: The New Government-to-Business Platform
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-11-02) World Bank Group
The buzz around Internet of Things (IoT) has gathered momentum but the IoT phenomenon is poorly understood by governments and businesses. Governments are under pressure to become more innovative, evidence-based, and collaborative and IoT seems to offer opportunities such as increased competitiveness and innovation, and regulatory improvements that reduce the burden on business and increase compliance. In this report we examine the evidence on the ground to see how the theoretical potential of IoT implementation matches up with the reality on the ground and what can we learn from government agencies at the forefront of IoT implementation. The report draws on lessons from cities around the world (Germany, UK, Luxembourg, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Finland, Canada, USA, Japan, UAE, and India); it also provides a review of the IoT marketplace. The questions it answers include - what is IoT and why should governments care, how are different cities implementing IoT based solutions, and what are the main policy and other implications for government to fully utilize the potential of the technology while managing the associated risks and challenges? Findings include the fact that IoT implementation is still nascent in governments, the business models to scale pilots are still under-developed, the policy environment remains very patchy, and there is need to invest in digital capacity, data practices, and IoT infrastructure. The report includes a rough toolkit for government agencies.
Strengthening the Citizen-State Compact through Feedback: Effective Complaint Management as a Pathway to Articulate Citizen Voice and Improve State Response
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-06-21) World Bank
The Palestinian Authority is committed to improving state-citizen relations through various mechanisms including the complaints resolution. The objective of this technical assistance, which has been undertaken at the request of the DGC, is to strengthen the Complaint Handling Mechanisms (CHMs) in five Palestinian ministries/government entities that are supported by World Bank-financed projects, as well as the DGC. This summary report synthesizes key findings that have emerged throughout the technical assistance and formulates Ministry-specific recommendations. It forms the basis of a possible phase II of the project, which would support the implementation of recommendations. The report presents the innovative methodology used to bring together the demand- and supply-side perspectives on CHMs in targeted ministries; the key findings from the survey and the ministry-by-ministry assessments; the key suggestions for improvement; and finally the next steps. The technical assistance has generated high client interest among the concerned Ministries, the DGC and development partners.The technical assistance has generated high client interest among the concerned Ministries, the DGC and development partners. This summary report synthesizes key findings that have emerged throughout the technical assistance and formulates Ministry-specific recommendations. It forms the basis of a possible phase II of the project which would support the implementation of recommendations. The technical assistance also aligns with the focus on strengthening the citizen-state compact specified in the WBG Assistance Strategy FY15-16 for the West Bank and Gaza. The report is structured as follows: Part two presents the context; Part three presents the methodology used to bring together the demand- and supply-side perspectives on CHMs in targeted ministries; Part four presents the key findings from the survey and the ministry-by-ministry assessments; Part five presents the key suggestions for improvement; and finally Part six presents the next steps.
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia: Evaluation of MDGs Specific Purpose Grant to Regions
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-03-29) World Bank
Ethiopia is a highly decentralized country. Presently, sub-national government taxes and revenues account for about 28 percent of general taxes and revenues, and sub-national expenditures amount to 51 percent of general government expenditures. The ensuing vertical mismatch is bridged by grants from the Federal government to the regions. Presently, these grants account for 57 percent of sub-national expenditures1. For many years, these grants consisted mostly of a block grant (the Federal General Purpose Grant) given without any strings attached, which means the regions could use it as they wished. The rest of the report is organized as follows. Section two provides the policy context that is the information, data, evolutions, etc. specific to Ethiopia, which are necessary to understand and interpret the MDGs grant policy. Section three present and discusses the policy content that is the components of the policy previously identified. Section four is a policy assessment, which utilizes the evaluation framework proposed above to analyze the relationships between the various components of the policy, and discuss its efficiency, its effectiveness and its success. Section five is a conclusion that summarizes the analysis, and attempts, prudently and modestly, to outline some potential avenues for future action.
Doing Business in Poland 2015: Comparing Business Regulations for Domestic Firms in 18 Cities with 188 Other Economies
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-06) World Bank Group
Poland’s economic growth over the last 25 years has been spectacular. In that period, Poland has more than doubled its income per capita and became a European growth champion. It was the only EU country to avoid a recession in 2009. Its current GDP growth rate is strong. Poland seems to be on the brink of its new ‘golden age.’ Doing Business in Poland 2015 is the first subnational report of the Doing Business series in Poland. It measures business regulations and their enforcement from the perspective of a small to medium-size domestic firm. The idea is a simple one: if entrepreneurs spend fewer resources on regulatory burdens, they will have more time to devote to productive activities. If laws and regulations are clear, accessible, and transparent and, at the same time, enforceable before the courts, entrepreneurs will feel more confident to do business with people they don’t know, and expand their client and supplier network. The gap between the 18 cities benchmarked is significant. By adopting existing good practices found across the country in the four areas measured by this report, Poland would rank 24th out of 189 economies globally, eight positions higher than Poland’s current ranking according to Doing Business 2015, placing the country ahead of France and the Netherlands. Promoting convergence among regions and cities towards the top performers and thus improving the ease of doing business in the whole country is a challenge worth taking.
Water and Wastewater Services in the Danube Region: Croatia Country Note
(Washington, DC, 2015-05) World Bank
To evaluate and reflect the sustainability of services in the region, an overall sector sustainability assessment was done taking into account four main dimensions: access to services, quality of services, efficiency of services, and financing of services. Each of these dimensions is measured through three simple and objective indicators. For each indicator, best practice values are established by looking at the best performers in the region, and the countries closest to those best performers are deemed to have a more mature sector. A more complete description of the methodology to assess sector sustainability is included in the annex of the state of the sector regional report from the Danube Water Program. The outcomes of this assessment for the Croatia water sector are displayed in Figure 9, which also shows average and best practices in the Danube region. The Croatian sector sustainability score is 72, which is above the Danube average sustainability of 64. The assessment shows that on average, the country performs well in terms of access to piped water and flush toilets, continuity of service, nonrevenue water and customer satisfaction. The main deficiencies of the Croatia water sector identified through the sector sustainability assessment are the wastewater treatment coverage and the operating cost ratio. The main challenges are: financing compliance with the European environmental acquis; ensuring affordability of future tariffs; implementing successfully the aggregation reform; and strengthening regulation in the water sector.
Water and Wastewater Services in the Danube Region: Kosovo Country Note
(Washington, DC, 2015-05) World Bank
To evaluate and reflect the sustainability of services in the region, an overall sector sustainability assessment was conducted taking into account four main dimensions: access to services, quality of services, efficiency of services, and financing of services. Each of these dimensions is measured through three simple and objective indicators. For each indicator, best practice values are established by looking at the best performers in the region, and countries closest to those best performers are deemed to have a more mature sector. A more complete description of the methodology to assess sector sustainability is included in the annex of the state of the sector regional report from the Danube water program. The outcomes of this assessment for the Kosovo water sector are presented, which also shows average and best practices in the Danube region. As a result, the Kosovo sector sustainability score is 63, which is close to the Danube average sustainability of 64. The assessment shows that, on average, the country performs well in terms of access to piped water and flush toilets, continuity of service, staffing level and operating cost ratio. The main deficiencies identified through the sector sustainability assessment are the investment level, nonrevenue water, and wastewater treatment coverage. The main sector challenges are: securing stable and long-term financing for compliance investments; increasing water utility billing collection; and improving the efficiency of utilities to enhance their sustainability.
Water and Wastewater Services in the Danube Region: Slovenia Country Note
(Washington, DC, 2015-05) World Bank
To evaluate and reflect the sustainability of services in the region, an overall sector sustainability assessment was done, taking into account four main dimensions: access to services, quality of services, efficiency of services, and financing of services. Each of these dimensions is measured through three simple and objective indicators. For each indicator, best practice values are established by looking at the best performers in the region, and countries closest to those best performers are deemed to have a more mature sector. A more complete description of the methodology to assess the sector sustainability is included in the annex of the state of the sector regional report from the Danube Water Program. The outcomes of this assessment for the Slovenia water sector are displayed, which also shows average and best practices in the Danube region. The Slovenian sector sustainability score is 84, which is above the Danube average sustainability score of 64. The assessment shows that, on average, the country performs well in terms of access to piped water and flush toilets, affordability, continuity of service, customer satisfaction, nonrevenue water, and collection ratio. The main deficiencies of Slovenia’s water sector identified through the sector sustainability assessment are wastewater treatment coverage, operating cost ratio, and investment level. The main sector challenges are: increasing the rehabilitation of the water infrastructure and improving its reliability; and improving monitoring and reporting practices.
Water and Wastewater Services in the Danube Region: Serbia Country Note
(Washington, DC, 2015-05) World Bank
To evaluate the sustainability of services in the region, an overall sector assessment has been done taking into account four main dimensions: access to services, quality of services, efficiency of services, and financing of services. Each of these dimensions is measured through three simple and objective indicators. For each indicator, best practice values are established by looking at the best performers in the region, and the countries closest to those best performers are deemed to have a more mature sector. A more complete description of the methodology to assess sector sustainability is included in the annex of the state of the sector regional report from the Danube Water Program. The outcomes of this assessment for the Serbian water sector are presented, which also shows average and best practices in the Danube region. The Serbian sector sustainability score is 61, which is below the Danube average sustainability of 64. The assessment shows that, on average, the country performs well in terms of access to piped water and flush toilets, nonrevenue water, and affordability. The main deficiencies of the Serbian water sector identified through the sector sustainability assessment are the level of investment, wastewater treatment coverage, and the operating cost ratio. The main sector challenges are: strengthening and clarifying sector governance; ensuring tariff setting according to the cost recovery principle to improve overall performance in preparation for EU accession; and enhancing water utility staff capacity and training.