Publication: Decentralized Service Delivery for the Poor : Volume 2, Background Papers
Loading...
Published
2006-08
ISSN
Date
2012-06-15
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
This report on the decentralized service delivery for the poor is structured in two volumes. Volume one is a cross-sectoral report, the core report. The first part includes the program and performance overview which describes the programs (including their poverty goals) and their process of decentralization, the overview of expenditures, the access of the poor to these services, and the evidence on the quality of services. The second part of the core report is on the institutional dimensions of decentralized service delivery which includes the World Development Report (WDR) 2004-type framework of accountability, adapted to the situation in Mexico. Volume two contains the sectoral pieces. For this report-the third phase of a programmatic series of studies on poverty in Mexico-Mexico's social cabinet requested that the Bank analyze service delivery of a specific list of programs that are essential to the government's development strategy in the context of decentralization. The elements of the government's strategy considered here-basic education, health care for the population without social security coverage, local social infrastructure, and local rural development-all aim directly or indirectly to reduce poverty. Both social and economic services shape the opportunities of poor people. Social services contribute to human capital formation and risk management, while economic services shape access to markets. The analysis presented in this report does not pretend to be exhaustive of decentralized service delivery for the poor. Important areas for future research include the following: (i) analysis of the compliance of the law or of the detail regulations in programs; (ii) systematic comparisons of state interventions in the sectors analyzed in this report; (iii) analysis of the implications and requirements to implement per capita funding in health and education, and freedom to choose providers; and (iv) systematic compilation of information at the state and municipal level on the performance of the programs.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2006. Decentralized Service Delivery for the Poor : Volume 2, Background Papers. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/8183 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Mexico : Determinants of Learning Policy Note(Washington, DC, 2005-07)This report aims to identify the determinants of learning in Mexico, focusing on equity, cross-country comparisons and national studies. The present report provides new analytical work on the determinants of learning using international and national assessments, as well as new work on the returns to quality of education and an assessment of media coverage of international assessments. The report is organized as follows: Chapter 1 reviews the existing international and Mexican literature on education quality and the determinants of learning. Chapter 2 presents an overview of the state of education in Mexico. Chapter 3 discusses the analysis of the National Assessments (Estandures Nacionales) from 1998 to 2000 and the results of the analysis of PISA 2000 and PISA 2003 data. Finally, Chapter 4 concludes the main report with an agenda for action, which responds to the education situation in Mexico. The report's main message is that Mexico needs to increase secondary school enrollment rates. The country continues to do well at maintaining equity in terms of the impact of family background on scores and the very low dispersion between top and bottom achievers, which is unusual for a Latin American country participating in international achievement tests. To improve quality, Mexican schools need to improve the school climate and continue efforts to move decision-making from the state level education secretariats to the school level, thus increasing school autonomy. Also, accountability needs to be further strengthened by involving parents and the community more and setting clear goals and clear vision for the school system. Finally, Mexico's remarkable efforts to improve assessment of the system should continue, with continued participation in international achievement tests, as well as improvements of the national assessment system.Publication How Can Bulgaria Improve Its Education System? An Analysis of PISA 2012 and Past Results(Washington, DC, 2012-09-26)Bulgaria's performance on all three disciplines of the program for international student assessment (PISA) 2012 was slightly better than its PISA 2000 performance, after having dropped between 2000 and 2006. The improvements in performance between 2006 and 2012 promoted shared prosperity, but equality of opportunities is still a major challenge. In fact, disaggregating students' PISA scores across a number of variables for example, location and ethnicity - shows that large inequalities exist in Bulgaria's education system. Peer characteristics and school segregation are the key drivers of the Bulgarian education system's performance. An in-depth analysis into math and reading skills shows imbalances in performance in Bulgaria. The main areas in which Bulgaria can further improve its educational system involve: delaying the tracking of students to reduce segregation in schools; continue improving the quality of educational resources to ensure that all students learn in an environment with books, lab equipment, and technological hardware and software; encouraging longer pre-primary education for all children; learning from successful schools to improve accountability mechanisms for schools countrywide, particularly in rural areas; reevaluating the curriculum and assessment framework to better align student learning to the envisaged country goals; and promoting effective classroom management and strengthening teaching practices.Publication Colombia - The Quality of Education in Colombia : An Analysis and Options for a Policy Agenda(Washington, DC, 2008-11-04)The main objective of this report is to analyze student learning in Colombia in order to foster policies to improve education quality that are grounded in research and the Colombian context. In 2006, Colombia participated for the first time in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which provides an important opportunity to benchmark the quality and equity of its education system globally and to inform its education policy. Using the PISA results, this report calls attention to the need for improved student learning in Colombia and provides new analytical work on the factors associated with learning in Colombia and other participant countries. Based on an assessment of the current state of the Colombian education system (chapter first), a review of the relevant literature (chapter second), an analysis of PISA (chapter third), and the report concludes with a set of policy options that may inform a future agenda for system design and reform (chapter fourth).Publication Education Quality and Opportunities for Skills Development in Albania : An Analysis of PISA 2000-2012 Results(Washington, DC, 2012)Albanian students improved their performance on PIS A1 reading, math, and science assessments between 2000 and 2012, a period over which access to upper secondary education expanded dramatically. The improvements are equivalent to a quarter to half a year of schooling in math and science and more than one year of schooling in reading. The improvements were realized despite substantial increases in enrollment and the attendant changes in the PISA sample composition. The gross enrollment rate in upper secondary education was only about 40 percent in 2000, but increased markedly to 72 percent in 2009 and 83 percent in 2012. A spike in enrollment usually results in lower average student performance due to the inclusion of poorer and traditionally excluded students. In the context of a rapidly expanding education system, it is remarkable that Albania managed to improve its average PISA scores. It is even more notable that the improvement came from significant advancements made by low-achieving students. Albania s improved PIS A scores coincide with the launch of intensive reform efforts in its education sector. The Government of Albania initiated the education sector strategy formulation process in 2002, which resulted in the 2004 passage of the National Education Strategy (NES) and the first attempt to develop a long-term roadmap for the sector. The NES served as the catalyst for a range of reforms, including: improved teacher recruitment, compensation, and management; a revised curriculum for basic and general upper secondary education; enhanced transparency and accountability through reform of the Matura, the national student assessment; reduced price and improved textbook quality through a reformed procurement process; and provision of textbook subsidies to the poorest households. While it is beyond the scope of this report to determine a causal relationship between the range of policy reforms and improved PISA scores, this report shows that socioeconomic variables played an important role. Explanatory analyses show that the effect of education variables cannot be disentangled from the effect of socioeconomic variables. Furthermore, with economic growth averaging 4.9 percent per year from 2000-2012, a viable explanation is that the general improvement in economic conditions helped to raise the tide on all social indicators, including PISA performance.Publication Language, Literacy, and Learning in Primary Schools : Implications for Teacher Development Programs in Nigeria(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2007)Language, Literacy, and Learning in Primary Schools is a synthesis of the findings arising from four years of policy research and development in Nigeria's primary schools that focused on the gap between what teachers should know and be able to do, and the realities of teaching and learning in classrooms. It begins by critically examining the outcomes of primary schooling as measured by learning achievement results from national assessments, and by identifying some core learning problems for Nigerian primary school children. It reviews the findings from recent research reports that studied teaching and learning processes in primary school classrooms, and it identifies the pedagogical issues in primary classrooms that contribute to poor learning achievements. This report describes a research and development program that set out to improve teaching and learning in core learning skill areas of the curriculum.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Morocco Economic Update, Winter 2025(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-04-03)Despite the drought causing a modest deceleration of overall GDP growth to 3.2 percent, the Moroccan economy has exhibited some encouraging trends in 2024. Non-agricultural growth has accelerated to an estimated 3.8 percent, driven by a revitalized industrial sector and a rebound in gross capital formation. Inflation has dropped below 1 percent, allowing Bank al-Maghrib to begin easing its monetary policy. While rural labor markets remain depressed, the economy has added close to 162,000 jobs in urban areas. Morocco’s external position remains strong overall, with a moderate current account deficit largely financed by growing foreign direct investment inflows, underpinned by solid investor confidence indicators. Despite significant spending pressures, the debt-to-GDP ratio is slowly declining.Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.Publication Argentina Country Climate and Development Report(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11)The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.Publication Europe and Central Asia Economic Update, Spring 2025: Accelerating Growth through Entrepreneurship, Technology Adoption, and Innovation(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-04-23)Business dynamism and economic growth in Europe and Central Asia have weakened since the late 2000s, with productivity growth driven largely by resource reallocation between firms and sectors rather than innovation. To move up the value chain, countries need to facilitate technology adoption, stronger domestic competition, and firm-level innovation to build a more dynamic private sector. Governments should move beyond broad support for small- and medium-sized enterprises and focus on enabling the most productive firms to expand and compete globally. Strengthening competition policies, reducing the presence of state-owned enterprises, and ensuring fair market access are crucial. Limited availability of long-term financing and risk capital hinders firm growth and innovation. Economic disruptions are a shock in the short term, but they provide an opportunity for implementing enterprise and structural reforms, all of which are essential for creating better-paying jobs and helping countries in the region to achieve high-income status.