Publication: Sri Lanka : Attaining the Millennium Development Goals in Sri Lanka, How Likely and What Will it Take to Reduce Poverty, Child Mortality and Malnutrition, and to Increase School Enrollment and Completion?
Loading...
Date
2005-06
ISSN
Published
2005-06
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
This report focuses on the attainment of five major human development-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by sub-national units in Sri Lanka relating to poverty, under-five and infant mortality, child malnutrition, schooling enrollment and completion, and gender disparities in schooling. The selection of these MDGs for detailed analysis was based in large part on the availability of reliable sub-national data. The report concludes that of these MDGs, Sri Lanka has already attained the numerical goals relating to universal primary enrollment and completion. Indeed, the country had almost met these goals as far back as 1990-91, and is far ahead o f the other countries of South Asia in terms of having reached near-universal primary enrollment and completion. Sri Lanka has also attained the MD goal of gender parity in primary and secondary school enrollments, again having met this target as early as 1990-91. However, Sri Lanka faces considerable challenges in ensuring good quality primary education, with substantial shortfalls in cognitive achievement in the country as a whole. Further, Sri Lanka experiences sharp regional disparities in learning outcomes. Improving the quality of primary education in the country, with special emphasis on educationally disadvantaged areas, will require strategic policy development, effective service delivery and efficient investment of resources.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2005. Sri Lanka : Attaining the Millennium Development Goals in Sri Lanka, How Likely and What Will it Take to Reduce Poverty, Child Mortality and Malnutrition, and to Increase School Enrollment and Completion?. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/8635 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 Bangladesh : Attaining the Millennium Development Goals in Bangladesh, How Likely and What Will it Take to Reduce Poverty, Child Mortality and Malnutrition, Gender Disparities, and to Increase School Enrollment and Completion?(Washington, DC, 2005-06)This report focuses on the attainment of five major human development-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Bangladesh - consumption poverty, infant and under-five mortality, child malnutrition, schooling enrollment and completion, gender disparities in schooling. The report stipulates that of these MDGs, Bangladesh has already attained (or nearly attained) the goal relating to elimination of gender disparity in schooling opportunities. Bangladesh is the only country in South Asia (other than Sri Lanka) to have achieved parity in male and female enrollments, not just at the primary level, but also at the secondary level. The analysis in this report suggests that attainment of two other MDGs - in particular, the reduction of consumption-poverty and under-five mortality - is also feasible with a combination of interventions, including sector-specific interventions (such as expanding immunization coverage and reducing pupil-teacher ratios), economic growth, improved coverage of infrastructure, and social safety-net programs (such as the District Education Stipends Program, and the Vulnerable Group Development programs). However, it will be challenging for Bangladesh to attain the child malnutrition-related MDG, as well as the education MDGs relating to universal net primary enrollment, and primary completion. A factor that is likely to be important in explaining Bangladesh's relative success in attaining positive social outcomes is the work of its nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Bangladesh may well be the world's leader in using NGOs as vehicles of development. Yet another factor in explaining the country's success, especially its ability to eliminate gender disparity in enrollment, even at the secondary level, is the use of targeted public interventions, such as the Female Secondary School Stipend Program (FSSS). However, there are problems in attaining the MDGs, i.e., very large regional disparities, and, the problem of governance - in particular, poor service delivery. The report notes there is evidence of significant synergies among the different MDGs, i.e., a reduction in the proportion of underweight children is strongly associated with a reduction of child mortality. At the same, it needs to be realized that the different MDGs are not necessarily internally consistent. For instance, simultaneous attainment of the poverty and child malnutrition MDGs by Bangladesh would result in 30 percent of the population being poor, but 34 percent of the children being underweight. This inconsistency indicates a problem in the manner in which poverty and/or underweight thresholds are established. But the importance of systematically monitoring MDGs outcomes at disaggregated levels, and evaluating the impact of public programs cannot be overemphasized.Publication Attaining the Millennium Development Goals in India : How Likely and What Will It Take to Reduce Infant Mortality, Child Malnutrition, Gender Disparities and Hunger-Poverty and to Increase School Enrollment and Completion?(Washington, DC, 2004-12-02)Since the launch of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at the Millennium Summit in New York in September 2000, the MDGs have become the most widely-accepted yardstick of development efforts by governments, donors and NGOs. The MDGs are a set of numerical and time-bound targets related to key achievements in human development. They include halving income-poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education and gender equality, reducing infant and child mortality by two-thirds and maternal mortality by three quarters, reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases, and halving the proportion of people without access to safe water. These targets are to be achieved by 2015, from their levels in 1990.Publication Malnutrition in Sri Lanka : Scale, Scope, Causes, and Potential Response(Washington, DC, 2007-09-24)The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are a set of eight goals which United Nations member countries are committed to reach by 2015. The first MDG is to eradicate poverty and hunger. This report focuses on the attainment of human development-related MDG by sub-national units in Sri Lanka relating to poor and integrating nutrition with other sectoral activities, including health, agriculture, education, economic reform, and rural development. It primarily focuses on developing a programmatic framework for the health sector. Malnutrition includes both under nutrition and overweight. Overweight predisposes the population to higher risks of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and other noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Even with relatively optimistic assumptions about economic growth, it alone is insufficient to meet the MDGs. The Government of Sri Lanka's (GOSL'S) current policy response to malnutrition consists of three broad strategies: direct food assistance programs, poverty reduction programs and the provision of an integrated package of maternal and child health and nutrition services through the Ministry of Healthcare and Nutrition. Complementary strategies to reduce poverty or to improve access to safe water and sanitation must be specifically designed to reduce inequalities. GOSL and the World Bank both recognize the need to address malnutrition. Sri Lanka needs to focus on three key changes to appropriately address malnutrition: (a) Finance a technically correct set of strategies and interventions in an economically justifiable formulation to maximize cost-effectiveness; (b) Ensure a high level of political commitment to sustain these actions; and (c) Identify the appropirate instiutional arrangements and develop necessary capacities in these instiutions.Publication Poverty Assessment : Poverty in Pakistan - Vulnerabilities, Social Caps, and Rural Dynamics(Washington, DC, 2002-10-28)This report is part of an ongoing project to understand poverty, growth, and human development in Pakistan. It argues that if the country does not close its social gap, its long-term ability to grow economically, alleviate poverty, and sustain its debt will be fundamentally compromised. Spanning social, economic, and fiscal difficulties, the country's current predicament is not rooted in a discrete set of policies amenable to rapid rectification, but in structural factors linked very often to issues of governance. It is within this context of a broader failure of policy and implementation that one should understand Pakistan's inability to take sufficient advantage of the growth that it has enjoyed in the past, to attract investment, build enough infrastructure, or to promote adequate advances in social indicators. Over the past decade, stagnating policy and a persistent, even widening, social gap are direct legacies of these failures. As this report suggests, issues of governance, for instance, in the form of the lack of accountability, are at the heart of many of the dificulties encountered in mitigating poverty and broadening access to social services in Pakistan. Neither debt reform nor the mere availability of donor funds is likely to dispel these problems. The strategies and tactics outlined in this report take this into account, emphasizing the need to consider and implement concomitant policies in a comprehensive, mututally reinforcing manner.Publication Madagascar - Poverty and Socioeconomic Developments : 1993 - 1999(Washington, DC, 2002-09-20)The report provides a synthesis of the main results obtained on the evolution of poverty, and other indicators of well being over the 1990s, and is intended to facilitate debate on strategy options for poverty reduction in Madagascar. Section I provides the setting for study, and presents a synthesis of macroeconomic trends in the country during the last decade. Section II looks at the evolution of poverty, inequality, and other indicators over the 1993-1999 period. The analysis is developed both at the national, and regional level, and, when possible, international comparisons are presented. Section III further investigates which groups have been more vulnerable to economic changes during the 1990s, and which factors can help explain this evolution over time. Section IV examines developments in provision of health, and education services by reviewing the degree of program coverage, and progressiveness of services in the two sectors. Section V presents community perceptions of socioeconomic development priorities, namely physical infrastructure development, while Section VI examines the prospects for poverty reduction of different growth rates of the economy as a whole for the next twenty years, and by further investigating the potential impact of different sectoral patterns of growth. Further work should be focused on understanding the causes for geographic variations in poverty, and on the functioning of agricultural labor and land markets, to include a labor market analysis focused on off-farm employment, as a route out of poverty. Most importantly, a thorough understanding of the poverty impact of recent reforms is recommended, to build successful anti-poverty policies.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication World Development Report 2011(World Bank, 2011)The 2011 World development report looks across disciplines and experiences drawn from around the world to offer some ideas and practical recommendations on how to move beyond conflict and fragility and secure development. The key messages are important for all countries-low, middle, and high income-as well as for regional and global institutions: first, institutional legitimacy is the key to stability. When state institutions do not adequately protect citizens, guard against corruption, or provide access to justice; when markets do not provide job opportunities; or when communities have lost social cohesion-the likelihood of violent conflict increases. Second, investing in citizen security, justice, and jobs is essential to reducing violence. But there are major structural gaps in our collective capabilities to support these areas. Third, confronting this challenge effectively means that institutions need to change. International agencies and partners from other countries must adapt procedures so they can respond with agility and speed, a longer-term perspective, and greater staying power. Fourth, need to adopt a layered approach. Some problems can be addressed at the country level, but others need to be addressed at a regional level, such as developing markets that integrate insecure areas and pooling resources for building capacity Fifth, in adopting these approaches, need to be aware that the global landscape is changing. Regional institutions and middle income countries are playing a larger role. This means should pay more attention to south-south and south-north exchanges, and to the recent transition experiences of middle income countries.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 World Development Report 2006(Washington, DC, 2005)This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.Publication Europe and Central Asia Economic Update, Fall 2024: Better Education for Stronger Growth(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-17)Economic growth in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) is likely to moderate from 3.5 percent in 2023 to 3.3 percent this year. This is significantly weaker than the 4.1 percent average growth in 2000-19. Growth this year is driven by expansionary fiscal policies and strong private consumption. External demand is less favorable because of weak economic expansion in major trading partners, like the European Union. Growth is likely to slow further in 2025, mostly because of the easing of expansion in the Russian Federation and Turkiye. This Europe and Central Asia Economic Update calls for a major overhaul of education systems across the region, particularly higher education, to unleash the talent needed to reinvigorate growth and boost convergence with high-income countries. Universities in the region suffer from poor management, outdated curricula, and inadequate funding and infrastructure. A mismatch between graduates' skills and the skills employers are seeking leads to wasted potential and contributes to the region's brain drain. Reversing the decline in the quality of education will require prioritizing improvements in teacher training, updated curricula, and investment in educational infrastructure. In higher education, reforms are needed to consolidate university systems, integrate them with research centers, and provide reskilling opportunities for adult workers.Publication Business Ready 2024(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-03)Business Ready (B-READY) is a new World Bank Group corporate flagship report that evaluates the business and investment climate worldwide. It replaces and improves upon the Doing Business project. B-READY provides a comprehensive data set and description of the factors that strengthen the private sector, not only by advancing the interests of individual firms but also by elevating the interests of workers, consumers, potential new enterprises, and the natural environment. This 2024 report introduces a new analytical framework that benchmarks economies based on three pillars: Regulatory Framework, Public Services, and Operational Efficiency. The analysis centers on 10 topics essential for private sector development that correspond to various stages of the life cycle of a firm. The report also offers insights into three cross-cutting themes that are relevant for modern economies: digital adoption, environmental sustainability, and gender. B-READY draws on a robust data collection process that includes specially tailored expert questionnaires and firm-level surveys. The 2024 report, which covers 50 economies, serves as the first in a series that will expand in geographical coverage and refine its methodology over time, supporting reform advocacy, policy guidance, and further analysis and research.