Other ESW Reports

241 items available

Permanent URI for this collection

http://hdl.handle.net/10986/2209

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

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Romania - Poverty Monitoring Analytical and Advisory Assistance Program : Are the Most Vulnerable Protected?

(Washington, DC, 2008-06) World Bank

The rapid economic growth since 2000 has been the main driver of poverty reduction in Romania. However, even under the current positive growth scenario, there are still people who live in poverty, and some who are unlikely to benefit from future growth and thus may continue to be left behind. For these people an effective redistributive social policy and targeted interventions are needed. The purpose of this note is to assist the Ministry of Labor, Family and Equal Opportunities (MLFEO) to analyze and monitor the effectiveness of the main social safety net benefits to fight social exclusion and reduce poverty. To determine the extent to which social transfers offer protection to the poorest groups of the population, the paper uses the last available (2004-2006) rounds of the household budget survey data. The analysis presented here uses the consumption aggregate and the absolute poverty definition presented in the 2003 and 2007 poverty assessments. Three main indicators are used to assess the effectiveness of social protection (SP) programs: coverage (share of population covered by the programs), targeting (share of funds directed to each welfare group of population), and adequacy of benefit (share of the benefit in the consumption of beneficiaries). The paper begins with a review of the main findings, followed by an overview of the social protection system and its overall effectiveness. Then it assesses the main social assistance programs, and concludes with a review of key issues.
Enabling East Asian Communities to Drive Local Development

(Washington, DC, 2007-12-01) Worl

Local development activities have profound impact on poor people's welfare. Communities and local governments interact closest to where people live and where essential public services are delivered, such as local transport, water supply, health and education. Vibrant local development requires productive, balanced interaction between empowered communities and capable and accountable local governments. For this interface to function best, well-organized, well-informed communities demand development results, holding local authorities to account and, through participation in decisions and oversight of public service delivery, ensure that those authorities remain effective and open to citizen input. In tandem, local governments supply the capacity to deliver services, reliable resources and a desire to meet local citizens' needs. As a vision for local development, the supply of and demand for effective and responsive government are well-matched. In section one, this report lays out the scope of CDD operations in East Asia and presents three frameworks for organizing them: according to local government context, sectoral scope, and primary development objectives. Organizing six results hypotheses according to a generic CDD results template; section two presents available evidence from East Asia's CDD experience. And section three summarizes lessons learned from this flagship effort.
Yemen Poverty Assessment : Volume 2. Annexes

(Washington, DC, 2007-11) World Bank

From what was historically known as 'Arabia Felix', a land of prosperity and happiness, Yemen has become the most impoverished among the Arab countries. The government of the united Yemen, formed in 1990, has launched so far three five-year economic reform plans with the goal of restoring Yemen's prosperity. Have these efforts succeeded? What policies are needed to further reduce poverty? The poverty assessment report aims to answer these questions. This report measures poverty in Yemen in 2005-06, and evaluates the change in poverty compared to 1998, the two years for which comparable household budget surveys are available. The period between the two survey years (1998 and 2005-06), more or less overlaps the first two five-year economic plans and captures the effect of the economic reform programs launched since 1995. In addition to measuring poverty, this report has three objectives: evaluating the role of growth and past reforms on poverty, identifying better ways to target the vulnerable poor through public action, and an assessment of the poverty monitoring system. By examining the effect of the key policies on poverty, such as the petroleum price reform and the government's social protection mechanisms between 1998 and 2005-06, the study aims to equip policy makers and development partners with the knowledge needed to improve the effectiveness of their efforts to reduce poverty in Yemen.
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.
Brazil - Minas Gerais - World Bank Partnership : Building on a Strong Foundation and Leading to Next Steps

( 2007-06-06) World Bank

This document, Minas Gerais World Bank partnership: building on a strong foundation and leading to next steps, points the direction for next steps and emphasizes the elements and principles of a possible follow-up operation to the Development Policy Loan (DPL) that completed disbursement in April 2007, recognizing that it was premature to discuss the specifics of such an operation during this exercise. These elements and principles would provide the incentives and motivations for the choice of focus sectors under a possible Bank operation with Minas Gerais. Lead actively by the Governor and Deputy Governor, the Minas authorities have clearly identified enhancing the living conditions of citizens in the state as the overall priority. Nevertheless, the Minas Gerais targets are ambitious and by international standards there is ample room for additional progress. The report points out that fiscal policies and public sector reforms in Minas Gerais could be expected to yield continued stronger than national average economic growth and progress in creating jobs. The focus of this Partnership document is mainly on the Plano Mineiro de Desenvolvimento Integrado (PMDI) 2007-2023 long-term development strategy with an emphasis on broadening reforms. In short, the sectoral assessments are at the heart of the Partnership dialogue and could be used as the foundation for future development of the relationship, especially in areas of technical assistance or future Bank operations with Minas Gerais.
An Assessment of the Investment Climate in Botswana, Volume 2. Detailed Results and Econometric Analysis

(Washington, DC, 2007-06) World Bank

The objective of the Botswana Investment Climate Assessment (ICA) is to evaluate the investment climate in Botswana in all its operational dimensions and promote policies to strengthen the private sector. The investment climate is made up of the many location specific factors that shape the opportunities and incentives for firms to invest productively, create jobs, and expand. These factors include macroeconomic and regulatory policies; the security of property rights and the rule of law; and the quality of supporting institutions such as physical and financial infrastructure. The main sources of information for the ICA are two firm-level surveys. The first survey covered Small, Medium, and Large Enterprises (SMLEs) with five or more employees in retail trade, manufacturing, and other services. The second covered micro enterprise with fewer than five employees in the same sectors. Information from the survey is supplemented with information from other sources, including the doing business report; analytical reports by the World Bank, the international monetary fund, other international organizations and the Government of Botswana; and academic papers and reports. Although the analysis in this report suggests that there are some areas where the investment climate might be improved, it is important to note none of these problems with the possible exception of worker skills appear to be particularly debilitating. This suggests that other factors are probably also playing a role. One such factor is likely to be the small size (in terms of population) and remoteness of the economy. Another factor is the effect that is the macroeconomic effects of the large mining economy has on the competitiveness of the rest of the economy. Improving living standards and cutting poverty depends on broad-based economic growth, which will only take place when firms improve worker productivity by investing in human and physical capital and technological capacity. But firms will only invest when the investment climate is favorable.
Nigeria - Competitiveness and Growth : Country Economic Memorandum, Volume 2. Main Report

(Washington, DC, 2007-05) World Bank

The theme of this report is Nigeria's competitiveness and growth. This report consequently focuses on constraints, opportunities and strategic choices associated with increasing productivity and growth of the Nigerian economy on a sustained basis. Its objective is not to present a "blueprint" for Nigeria's growth but rather to raise issues and provide some options for the consideration of policy makers and other Nigerian stakeholders. The report is structured in four main sections. The first section analyzes Nigeria's growth history, examines the recent growth pick up and assesses its sustainability. The second section analyses how the critical constraints to competitiveness and growth may be addressed. The third section discusses how trade -domestic and external - can be used more effectively to drive growth and poverty reduction. The final chapter provides policy conclusions and suggestions on what could be key elements of a growth agenda for Nigeria. The analysis in this report suggests the following key elements for a growth strategy for Nigeria: 1) Strengthening actions to tackle the most immediate constraints to the competitiveness of the economy presented by infrastructure and the business environment; 2) Using domestic trade more effectively to enhance productivity and competitiveness by strengthening their functioning, and building stronger linkages between the oil and non-oil sectors, and over time strengthening Nigeria's integration into global markets; 3) Ensuring that the poor can participate more fully in growth by placing urgent emphasis on (i) finding ways to give back some of the proceeds of oil windfall directly to Nigerians; (ii) raising agricultural productivity-including through enhanced technology; and (iii) encouraging the transition from informality to the formal sector; and 4) Building the human capital and technological base of the economy over the longer term.
From Social Funds to Local Governance and Social Inclusion Programs : A Prospective Review From the ECA Region - Technical Annexes

( 2007-05-01) World Bank

The role and relevance of Social Fund Community-Driven Development (SF/CDD) has been highly debated in the international development community. Some conceive these programs only as parallel and temporary arrangements that can ensure short-term delivery of development benefits. Others emphasize the flexibility of the SF/CDD instrument in adopting different institutional forms depending on the country context, and their contributions to long-term development challenges. The aim of this study is to provide guidance on the question of social fund relevance. The report is organized into six chapters and a set of annexes. Chapter 1 defines social funds and their main rationales. Chapter 2 provides an overview of their origins in ECA, basic facts about the Bank operations and SF performance, and develops a typology based on policy objectives. Chapter 3 summarizes the institutional arrangements of social funds in the Region and then reviews them within the wider vision of optimal public sector arrangements. Chapter 4 looks at local infrastructure and governance funds, evaluating their design against a set of good practice benchmarks for promoting local governance, and drawing implications for the future. Chapter 5 conducts a similar exercise but for social inclusion funds. The final chapter summarizes the main answers to the study questions and elaborates a set of options for future engagement with social funds, taking into account different country contexts. In the Second Volume, Annexes provide more detailed background material.
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.
Bangladesh - Prices of Essential Commodities : Recent Trends, Underlying Factors and Policy Options

(Washington, DC, 2007-04-07) World Bank

There is a concern in Bangladesh that prices of essential commodities, mainly food items including rice, wheat, pulses, sugar, edible oils, ginger, garlic, onion and potato, have shown an upward trend in the past several months. Media reports in recent weeks are full of government actions including pictures of personnel of Bangladesh rifles manning fair price shops and selling essential food items to the lower and lower-middle income classes. The government's concern of the impact of rising food prices on the welfare of the poor is quite understandable. According to the 2005 household and income expenditure data, these food items account for more than one-third of the annual household expenditure of the bottom 20 percent of the population. What is the true picture of rising food prices in Bangladesh? How much of the rise is due to changes in demand and supply in the international commodity markets? What domestic factors, particularly in the very short-run, i.e., a week to ten days, account for the price rise? What measures has the Government of Bangladesh taken to check the price rise and what other options exist to deal with the prevailing situation? This note addresses these questions.