Other ESW Reports

271 items available

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This includes miscellaneous ESW types and pre-2003 ESW type reports that are subsequently completed and released.

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  • Publication
    Fostering Rwanda Competitiveness and Resilience in the Post-COVID-19 Era
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-10) World Bank Group
    Rwanda achieved rapid export growth in the decade before the pandemic. In addition, Rwanda has expanded business tourism by promoting the meetings, incentives, conferences/conventions, and events/exhibitions industry. Air transport services was another key export, as a growing number of international airlines are serving Rwanda. However, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic depressed goods and especially, services exports in 2020. Sustained growth in trade will be a key driver for achieving the government’s goal of becoming an upper middle-income country by 2035. While exports have increased significantly over the past two decades, Rwanda remains a less open country than the middle-income countries the government aspires to match. Regional integration can not only provide the needed economic scale for Rwandan firms to improve their productivity and competitiveness, but can also serve as a vital training ground for learning to export and produce higher-quality goods The aim of this report is to assess policy options to foster international trade, deepen regional integration, and reinforce the government diversification strategy through services. The first part of this report assesses Rwandan trade performances and trade potential in recent years, with a special emphasis on regional trade, trade in services, and the impact of the COVID-19. The second part of the report assesses the main drivers and challenges to international and regional trade in Rwanda including: i) trade policy, with special emphasis on non-tariff barriers and the African Continental Free Trade Agreement; ii) trade facilitation with special emphasis on Rwanda’s trade logistic ambitions; iii) supply side trade constraints at the firm-level; and iv) specific trade challenges to trade in service and data exchanges. The third part of the report discusses potential recommendations.
  • Publication
    Urban Mobility in African Cities: Developing National Urban Mobility Policy and Delivering at the City Level - Summary Report
    (Washington, DC, 2022-01-31) World Bank
    African cities are growing at an extraordinary rate. Unfortunately, many cities are growing so fast that national, provincial, and city governments cannot manage how they develop or assure the provision of the services people need. This has many negative consequences for national and city economies and the people who live in these areas. Urban mobility is one of the key challenges for African cities. In many cities, the transport system has failed to keep up with urban growth. There is inadequate provision of dependable, affordable, and safe transport services to meet the travel needs of the people. Private vehicle ownership and use is increasing, congesting the roads. The informal sector provides much of the general transport service, using very large numbers of small vehicles. At the same time, the travel system impacts the city through congestion, increased costs, pollution, accidents, noise, intrusion, and long delays for both users and non-users. Cities cannot resolve these things alone. National Governments need to lead by guiding the development of cities, developing urban mobility policies, improving the implementation frameworks, and mobilizing finance. Critical to this strategy is ensuring city level capabilities are built to develop and implement locally appropriate strategies. The Africa Transport Policy Program (SSATP) aims to provide African decision-makers with the tools necessary to support the implementation of such policies and measures. Within this work, SSATP has developed guidance and prepared specific recommendations for urban mobility policy for 12 Sub-Saharan African countries. This note also provides a concise synthesis of the key issues and guidance, which can then be read in detail in the technical reports.
  • Publication
    Traffic Management in African Cities: The Way Forward
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-01-31) Arroyo Arroyo, Fatima; Frame, Gladys; SSATP
    This report explores how to establish important priorities in traffic management. It is neither a toolkit nor a quick fix; rather, it focuses on realistic options for traffic management policies and measures that can be used by local transport officials, international and national transport agencies, universities, and local entrepreneurs. Each theme explored in this report provides a roadmap and guidelines for traffic authorities to follow. The implementation of a Functional Road Hierarchy (FRH), for example, is animportant factor for determining the predominant function of a road within mixed functions, and achieving safe, efficient road use.This report also presents five separate and complementary themes that provide African policymakers with tools to develop a strongerinstitutional foundation for sustainable, safe, and affordable urban traffic management in Sub-Saharan African cities. Known as the “EASI” (Enable, Avoid, Shift, Improve) Framework, these themes emphasize a more people-centric approach to adopting non-motorized modes of transport and addressing parking challenges, while embracing Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) and technology to improve safety and efficiency across the board. See a comprehensive outline of the EASI principles below. The five themes are influenced by successful outcomes in European, South American, and Asian cities. These cities evolved in similar circumstances to Sub-Saharan African cities and crafted their own roadmaps to traffic management success. Moreover, these themes are entirely consistent with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 11: “Making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.” The proposals also build on some measures that are currently evolving in a few Sub-Saharan African cities.
  • Publication
    African Cities Facing the Urban Mobility Crisis: The Challenge of National Mobility Policies in Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali and Togo Confronted with the Proliferation of Motorized Two-Wheelers - Transnational Report
    (Washington, DC, 2022-01-31) World Bank
    Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo and Benin are experiencing rapid urban growth, supported by strong demographic growth. Between 2018 and 2030, the cities in these four countries are expected to have an extra 17 million inhabitants. By 2030, the populations of Ouagadougou and Bamako are expected to double: these two capitals will reach 5.4 and 4.6 million inhabitants, respectively. Lomé and Cotonou are forecast, with lower growth rates, to reach roughly 3 million inhabitants. These metropolitan areas will need to restructure to meet the challenges inherent to their size. However, their growth-related challenges should not overshadow those of the other, so called secondary cities. Although urban migration and growth tend to center on the capitals, the secondary cities, which are much smaller, will by 2030 see increases in population exceeding the capacity of their infrastructure systems. An extra 10 million inhabitants will move to urban areas that often lack infrastructure and basic urban services. This report focuses on a cross analysis of the work conducted simultaneously in 2019 in the four West African countries. The methodology adopted is described below. In each of the countries, under the authority of the ministries in charge of urban mobility, the Consultant produced a diagnostic report and organized a national mobility forum involving all public and private institutional players (at central and local level), civil society and technical and financial partners. Conducted under the supervision of the pertinent ministries and local authorities, these national workshops provided the opportunity to discuss the experts’ recommendations in more depth and to define the elements of reform required to enable implementation of a sustainable urban mobility policy. This exercise made it possible to propose, for each country, a draft urban mobility policy letter, a national strategy document in line with the EASI concept (Enable-Avoid-Shift-Improve), and a priority action plan for implementation. A sub-regional workshop was organized in Bamako on 6 and 7 February 2020 with a view to promoting the sharing of experience and enabling a comparative analysis of the methods and results. It was attended by delegations from the four countries covered by this SSATP support program, creating an opportunity to define a shared vision of urban mobility, both for the capital cities and for the secondary cities, and to identify areas of transnational cooperation. This report is based on the work conducted in the four countries and offers a common interpretation of the situation in the four countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali and Togo), supported by an analysis of the specific local contexts and national situations.
  • Publication
    Innovation in Fare Payment Systems for Public Transport in African Cities
    (Washington, DC, 2022-01) Arroyo Arroyo, Fatima; Van Ryneveld, Philip Clive; Finn, Brendan; Greenwood, Karin Chantal; Coetzee, Gerhardus Koch
    This study of African fare payment systems seeks to understand the emerging payment landscape in public transport in Sub-Saharan Africa, identifying key trends and their implications. The research draws on case studies undertaken in five African cities—Cape Town,Kigali, Lagos, Maputo and Nairobi—selected to cover a variety of contexts, innovations and language regions. A sixth case is included from India, identified through a wider international scan and which embodies some significant innovations relevant to the African context.
  • Publication
    Missing Food : The Case of Postharvest Grain Losses in Sub-Saharan Africa
    (Washington, DC, 2011-04) World Bank
    Low-income, food-deficit countries have become especially concerned about the global and national food situation over the past three years. While the proximate cause of this heightened concern was the surge in food prices that began in 2006 and peaked in mid-2008, concerns remain for other reasons, among them the higher market-clearing price levels that now seem to prevail, continuing price volatility, and the risk of intermittent food shortages occurring repeatedly far into the future. For lower-income Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries, ongoing contributing factors include persistently low productivity, difficulty adapting to climate change, financial difficulties (inability to handle the burden of high food or fuel prices or a credit squeeze), and increased dependence on food aid. Yet there is an additional, often-forgotten factor that exacerbates food insecurity: postharvest losses (PHL). They can and do occur all along the chain from farm to fork, which reduces real income for all consumers. This especially affects the poor; as such a high percentage of their disposable income is devoted to staple foods. This report is based on the desk study undertaken by experts of the U.K. Natural Resources Institute (NRI). Data were collected by direct contact (e-mail or telephone), with authorities holding information on past and current projects; by searching the Internet for details about projects; and by reviewing published and 'gray' literature. Data were also collected from the personal experiences of the NRI review team who had worked on numerous and diverse projects to reduce grain PHL in SSA over the last 30 years and from experts in the field. These experts were identified and asked to complete a questionnaire that would draw out their experiences to indicate the weakest links in the postharvest chain, the interventions that deserve to be prioritized for future action, and those that should be avoided. Of about 40 invited respondents, a total of 20 returned completed (or partially completed) questionnaires.
  • Publication
    Nigeria - State Level Public Expenditure Management and Financial Accountability Review : A synthesis Report
    (Washington, DC, 2011-01) World Bank
    This report synthesizes the findings of public expenditure management and financial accountability reviews (PEMFARs) that were conducted in seven states between 2008 and 2009. The states covered were Anambra, Bayelsa, Ekiti, Kogi, Niger, Ondo, and Plateau. The report seeks to analyze and summarize the key findings of the reviews from these states in order to ensure that the key messages from the otherwise voluminous reports are presented in a single, smaller report. The states have different socio-economic characteristics but all operate in a federal system that offers some reasonable operational autonomy in the context of a federal constitution. Under the federal system of government, states have been allocated significant responsibilities for service delivery. The constitution defines the expenditure and revenue collection responsibilities that are under their purview. To carry out their responsibilities, the Public Financial Management (PFM) institutional framework is modeled after that of the federal government. All three branches of government are in place with the executive governor as head of state administration. Given the relative autonomy that states enjoy, each state prepares and implements its own budget. Like the federal government, the framework for state PFM system is therefore defined by the budget process.
  • Publication
    Benin : Transport Assessment Note for Roads, Airports, and Port Sectors
    (Washington, DC, 2007-06-28) World Bank
    The purpose of this Economic Sector Work (ESW) is to: (i) provide a framework to help the government analyze transport sector issues and finalize the update of the transport sector strategy; and (ii) identify issues and challenges that can be addressed through donor funded operations. This ESW focuses on roads, air, and port transport. Transport infrastructure and services have a vital role to play in the economic and social development of the country. They were designed to facilitate the distribution and sale of income-generating products, mainly cotton; to promote goods transit towards neighboring countries; and to facilitate trade between towns and rural areas, and ensuring access to social infrastructure and services in the rural area. The formal transport sector contributes approximately seven percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), but its indirect contribution to the creation of added value is much greater.
  • Publication
    Tanzania - Subnational Costs of Doing Business in Tanzania : An Assessment of Doing Business in Arusha, Dodoma, Iringa, Kigoma, Mtwara, Mwanza, and Zanzibar
    (Washington, DC, 2007-05) World Bank
    This report assesses some of the more significant doing business indicators including how easy it is to register a business, obtain a license, transfer property, connect basic utilities, and obtain an overdraft in 8 regions of Tanzania. The time and cost of completing these transactions play a significant role for local investors in their decision of whether to operate in a country's formal sector, thus affecting its investment and growth performance. The doing business assessment provides an index for measuring the ease of doing business across 175 developing and developed countries. The assessment promotes awareness of and focus on private sector needs, and oftentimes competition in reform programs among countries.The indicators look at 10 key operating areas for a firm, ranging from starting up and getting credit to closing the business. The report studies a theoretical firm. Data is based on research of laws and regulations in a country's main business city or capital. Input and verification are supplied by local government officials, lawyers, business consultants, accountants, and other professionals who routinely administer or advise on legal and regulatory requirements. The most important objective of this sub national report and related survey is to help the local governments and agency officials who directly facilitate firm operations within the regions to better understand and more effectively help Tanzania's businesses increase their investment, enhance their productivity, and drive the country's economic growth.
  • Publication
    Mauritius - Country Economic Memorandum : Managing Change in a Changing World
    (Washington, DC, 2007-01) World Bank
    This Country Economic Memorandum subscribes to the overall direction of the reform program mapped out by this body of work and it goes deeper in three important areas: (1) public sector management, (2) labor markets and education and (3) science and technology policy. Chapters 2-4 of this report, each one largely self-contained, cover these topics in order. First, however, Chapter 1 gives the context for the transition now underway with an overview of past and present development focusing on the transformation of the economy from factor-intensive to skill- and knowledge-intensive development. Then a forward-looking section offers a medium-term forecast for the economy's emergence from the recent slowdown and discusses prospects for longer-term (potential) growth.