Stand alone books
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Publication
Demanding Good Governance : Lessons from Social Accountability Initiatives in Africa
(World Bank, 2010)This is a challenging time for Africa. The combined effects of the global economic crisis, the need for equitable allocation of natural resource assets, and the ever-changing balance of influence and power between the developed and developing worlds are requiring African countries to re-evaluate their governance structures. "Social accountability," as defined in this book, is an approach to enhancing government accountability and transparency. It refers to the wide range of citizen actions to hold the state to account, as well as actions on the part of government, media, and other actors that promote or facilitate these efforts. Social accountability strategies and tools help empower ordinary citizens to exercise their inherent rights and to hold governments accountable for the use of public funds and how they exercise authority. Global experience has shown that such initiatives can be catalytic and that they increasingly play a critical role in securing and sustaining governance reforms that strengthen transparency and accountability. The case studies presented in this book represent a cross-section of African countries, drawing on initiatives launched and implemented both by civil society groups and by local and national governments in countries with different political contexts and cultures. Over the past decade, a wide range of social accountability practices- such as participatory budgeting, independent budget analysis, participatory monitoring of public expenditures and citizen evaluation of public services-have been developed and tested in countries such as Brazil, India, the Philippines, and South Africa. In less developed Sub-Saharan African countries, civil society and government actors are also actively creating and experimenting with social accountability approaches (and tools), but these experiences, their outcomes, and lessons have received less attention and been less documented, studied, and shared. This volume aims to help fill this gap by describing and analyzing a selection of social accountability initiatives from seven Sub-Saharan countries: Benin, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. -
Publication
Abolishing School Fees in Africa : Lessons from Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, and Mozambique
(World Bank, 2009)This book constitutes one of the main outputs of the School Fee Abolition Initiative (SFAI). The initiative, launched in 2005 by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Bank, was designed to support countries in maintaining and accelerating progress toward universal primary education as outlined in the Millennium Development Goals and the Education for All (EFA) goals. Specifically, SFAI strengthens country efforts to eliminate school fees and/or implement targeted exemptions, subsidizations, and incentives to reduce education costs for the poor. The initiative has now grown into a broad partnership through the involvement of other key development partners and constituencies as well as research and academic institutions. SFAI promotes access to quality basic education worldwide through three specific and interlinked goals. The first is to construct a knowledge base on school fee abolition in order to inform sound and sustainable policies, strategies, and interventions. SFAI recognizes that school fee abolition is a complex process that requires both the development of a credible database and the solid analysis that builds on lessons learned from experience. The second goal is to provide guidance and support to countries in planning and implementing school fee abolition policies. Engagement by SFAI partners is taking the form of both technical and financial assistance within the framework of ongoing national planning processes. The third goal is to advance the global policy dialogue on the financial barriers to education access and to build on existing EFA partnerships. The result will ensure a good understanding of the complexities involved in school fee abolition, facilitate the articulation of complementary roles, and create an environment for success. -
Publication
Poverty and Social Impact Analysis of Reform : Lessons and Examples from Implementation
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2006)Poverty and Social Impact Analysis (PSIA) is an approach used increasingly by governments, civil society organizations, the World Bank, and other development partners to examine the distributional impacts of policy reforms on the well-being of different stakeholders groups, particularly the poor and vulnerable. PSIA has an important role in the elaboration and implementation of poverty reduction strategies in developing countries because it promotes evidence-based policy choices and fosters debate on policy reform options. This publication presents a collection of case studies that illustrate the spectrum of sectors and policy reforms to which PSIA can be applied; it also elaborates on the broad range of analytical tools and techniques that can be used for PSIA. The case studies provide examples of the impact that PSIA can have on the design of policy reforms and draw operational lessons for PSIA implementation. The case studies deal largely with policy reforms in a single sector, such as agriculture (crop marketing boards in Malawi and Tanzania and cotton privatization in Tajikistan); energy (mining sector in Romania and oil subsidies in Ghana); utilities (power sector reform in Ghana, Rwanda, and transition economies, and water sector reform in Albania); social sectors (education reform in Mozambique and social welfare reform in Sri Lanka); taxation reform (Nicaragua); as well as macroeconomic modeling (Burkina Faso). -
Publication
Aid and Reform in Africa : Lessons from Ten Case Studies
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2001-04)This book synthesizes the findings from ten case studies that investigate whether, when, and how foreign aid affected economic policy in Africa, and reveals the range of African policy experience. Results varied enormously, for example, while Ghana and Uganda were successful reformers that grew rapidly reducing poverty, Cote d'Ivoire and Ethiopia have shown significant reform recently, but its sustainability remains to be seen, and, in other countries, policies changed little, or even worsened. Based on the World Bank's Country Policy and Institutional Assessment, the study relates foreign aid in the 1990s, to a measure of overall economic policy, a broad measure that covers macroeconomic management, as well as effectiveness of the public sector in providing essential services for growth, and poverty reduction. In assessing aid, and reform policy, the study subdivides these countries in three groups: the post-socialist reformers (Ethiopia, Mali and Tanzania); the mixed reformers (Cote d'Ivoire, Kenya and Zambia), and the non-reformers (The Democratic Republic of Congo - Zaire - and Nigeria). Although defining "good policy", and how to measure it may be controversial, research and experience established a fair knowledge: absence of high inflation, functioning foreign exchange, openness to foreign trade, effective rule of law, and delivery of key services. Conclusions stipulate that key to successful reform, is a political movement for change; that key to beneficial aid is its disbursement alongside actual policy improvements; and, that technical assistance, and policy dialogue should continue a high level of finance in productive environments.