Publication:
Kosovo Country Economic Memorandum, November 2021: Enhancing Human Capital by Improving Education

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Files in English
English PDF (1.16 MB)
394 downloads
English Text (167.86 KB)
39 downloads
Published
2021-11
ISSN
Date
2022-01-31
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
This note assesses pre-university education in Kosovo and identifies policies that can improve education quality and equity. There is a substantial need for improvement to the foundations of the education system, especially in terms of coverage and quality. If Kosovo is to reap the benefits of its demographic dividend for faster growth and poverty reduction, making it a policy to invest in human capital through education must be a priority. The low levels of foundational literacy skills limit the ability of Kosovars to develop the skills the labor market requires, especially for those living in rural areas and minority communities and those of low socioeconomic status. Kosovo has made considerable progress in increasing access to preprimary and primary education, but more needs to be done to equitably increase coverage of preschool and secondary education. Narrowing the wide geographic, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities in education outcomes and ensuring that all children have access to quality education is paramount. The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is expected to further erode Kosovo’s modest improvements made in education. Employers in Kosovo note the poor quality of the education system and the limited practical and professional skills students acquire.
Link to Data Set
Citation
World Bank. 2021. Kosovo Country Economic Memorandum, November 2021: Enhancing Human Capital by Improving Education. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36898 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Report Series
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Publication
    Kosovo Country Economic Memorandum, November 2021
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-11) World Bank
    Kosovo, one of the youngest countries in an aging Europe, took its first steps on the road to greater prosperity a quarter of a century ago. Kosovo’s economy has experienced significant growth in recent years. The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has triggered Kosovo’s first ever recession in 2020. While spending on education has more than doubled, the quality of human capital needs to improve. And barriers to women’s economic empowerment need to be lifted. Proximity to major markets in Europe and a youthful population provide an opportunity for growth. Kosovo is one of the youngest countries in an aging Europe. Trade facilitation and logistics connectivity are getting better. Proximity to a large and affluent market, low taxes and labor costs, a resilient and liquid financial sector, and strong ties with its diaspora will help support growth.
  • Publication
    Kosovo Country Economic Memorandum, November 2021
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-11) World Bank
    Igniting farm productivity can support growth and job creation in Kosovo. Agricultural production, in real terms, has been decreasing in Kosovo since 2009 but employment has not changed much. This note examines drivers of agricultural productivity and its growth in Kosovo, and implied constraints on growth of agriculture, using farm-level data. The results of the productivity analysis suggest that in Kosovo there is a considerable misallocation of resources that if remedied can boost growth and job creation. In Kosovo, which suffers from low technical efficiency (TE), an average farm can produce the same amount of output using 72.8 percent less inputs. For micro and small farms, the current design of farm support does not facilitate income smoothing. On the other hand, agribusiness, mainly food processing, has been growing steadily in terms of number of firms, annual turnover, and employment. Finally, the impacts of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on Kosovo agriculture have been multiple and so have been policy responses.
  • Publication
    Kosovo Country Economic Memorandum, November 2021
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-11) World Bank
    Foreign direct investment (FDI) can bring many benefits to Kosovo’s economy, creating more and better jobs and spurring greater and more resilient economic growth. Many transition economies have used FDI as a pillar of their structural transformation and modernization efforts. The small number of firms in Kosovo that include FDI are more productive than other firms, and they were more resilient in the wake of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) economic recession. In Kosovo, FDI inflows have been concentrated in sectors that provide limited potential for productivity spillovers and benefits to the domestic economy. Kosovo needs to adopt proactive policies to strengthen its investment competitiveness and investor outreach in order to unlock more and higher-quality FDI. This note presents an ambitious reform agenda that can help improve Kosovo’s investment competitiveness and investor outreach. It presents a step-by-step reform program for unlocking the full potential of FDI for economic growth and job creation in Kosovo that the government can implement in the short to medium term. The note is structured in three sections. The first section looks at Kosovo’s FDI performance and assesses the quantity and quality of the FDI attracted so far. The second section benchmarks Kosovo’s locational FDI determinants, considering a set of macroeconomic and microeconomic indicators for its overall FDI competitiveness. The third section combines the findings from the first two sections with an in-depth assessment of Kosovo’s policy, legal, and institutional framework for investment to present a targeted reform agenda and policy action plan to help attract more and higher-quality investments to Kosovo.
  • Publication
    Kosovo Country Economic Memorandum, November 2021
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-11) World Bank
    To boost economic growth and foster sustained formal job creation in Kosovo, igniting firm productivity is crucial. Based on detailed micro-data, this note examines the characteristics and recent evolution of firms in Kosovo, with particular attention to firm productivity. For the last decade, the landscape of firms in Kosovo has been dominated by microenterprises with low productivity, employment, and survival rates. Firm creation and growth,small firm density, average size, and the likelihood of survival are all low, which implies that there are severe constraints on private sector development. Kosovo’s firms are only tenuously linked to global markets and the country is lagging in the share of female-run companies. Positive and rising net job creation in 2015-18 was driven by higher formalization of jobs and the increasing size of incumbent firms, especially young small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Kosovo needs a multidimensional policy strategy to foster growth in firm productivity. Based on the study findings and the results of other notes prepared for Kosovo’s country economic memorandum (CEM), this note presents a policy strategy that targets the three main sources of firm productivity growth: (1) firm productivity (the within component); (2) market reallocation (the between component); and (3) firm dynamics (entry and exit). Section one examines the characteristics and recent dynamics of Kosovar firms. Section two analyzes the drivers and evolution of productivity, with emphasis on the links between productivity and access to credit. It also assesses the main barriers to productivity growth. Section three sheds light on how Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has affected Kosovar firms. Section four concludes by discussing tentative policy implications of the analysis.
  • Publication
    Tanzania - Sustaining and Sharing Economic Growth : Country Economic Memorandum and Poverty Assessment, Volume 1. Main Report
    (Washington, DC, 2007-03-01) World Bank
    Tanzania's National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (NSGRP) sets an ambitious target of 6 to 8 percent annual economic growth to achieve rapid reduction in poverty. This report focuses on three issues that are central to the success of Tanzania's poverty reduction efforts: 0 what factors explain Tanzania's recent acceleration in economic growth; has the accelerated economic growth translated into reduced poverty; and what must be done to sustain economic growth that is pro-poor. The report presents evidence from the macroeconomic, sectoral, and firm and household levels that shed light on these questions. The report is presented in two volumes. Volume I summarizes the main findings and recommendations. Volume II contains the main report.

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

  • Publication
    Zanzibar Basic Education Public Expenditure Review
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-08-17) World Bank
    Since 2015, because of healthy economic growth and a strong commitment to strengthening human capital, Zanzibar has made significant progress in the provision of good quality basic education services. Government spending has risen and has supported ambitious plans to provide inclusive and equitable access to quality education and skills training. Since 2015, sector targets for increasing access to public services were largely met in education, and in some instances surpassed. Yet despite these significant successes, the basic education sector continues to face challenges in providing good-quality services and reaching the marginalized. This Zanzibar Basic Education Public Expenditure Review aims to: (i) assess the scale of the financing challenge in basic education (preprimary, primary, and secondary education); (ii) analyze the adequacy, efficiency, and equity of current levels and uses of public spending on education; and (iii) from this analysis, and drawing on relevant international practices, present a set of policy suggestions for improvements in public funding for basic education in Zanzibar.
  • Publication
    Gender Disparities and Poverty - A Background Paper for the Togo Poverty and Gender Assessment 2022
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-06-12) World Bank
    Gender gaps in Togo cut across many dimensions. Inequality starts in childhood, when girls are disadvantaged in access to schooling because of prevalent social norms and gender roles. It continues into adolescence, when a larger share of girls starts dropping out of school (with fewer than one in two completing secondary education), unable to continue education because of a number of factors, including child marriage, adolescent pregnancy, and time use patterns shaped by gender norms. In adolescence and adulthood, women face the constraints of limited education and economic opportunities, restrictive gender roles that leave women little time for participation in the labor force, financial inequities, high levels of acceptance of violence against women, health risks, and a lack of agency and decision-making capacity. This background paper to the Poverty and Gender Assessment Togo (2022) highlights the importance of addressing gender disparities to achieve continued poverty reduction in Togo.
  • Publication
    North Macedonia Public Finance Review - Education
    (Washington, DC, 2023-03-17) World Bank
    This section of the Public Finance Review (PFR) assesses the level, quality, efficiency, and equity of public spending on education in North Macedonia and recommends policies that could increase efficiency as well as outcomes. It also examines the status of recent education reforms in the country and provides directions that can contribute to a better education system in North Macedonia.
  • Publication
    Digital Africa
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13) Begazo, Tania; Dutz, Mark Andrew; Blimpo, Moussa
    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
    SABER Tools as a Framework for Education System Assessment
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-06) World Bank
    The World Bank Group’s Systems Approach for Better Education Results (SABER) initiative produces data on education system policies and institutions, analyzes and evaluates their quality, and provides decision makers and stakeholders with an assessment that fosters structured and informed policy dialogue on how to most effectively strengthen education systems. During its tenure, SABER has grown rapidly to become a key component in the design of education programming across the globe, providing countries with quality data and information. By generating a broader knowledge base on education systems worldwide, these tools are helping reform education at the country level while also building a high-quality knowledge base for education reforms at the global level. SABER materials, including framework and other background documents, user manuals, questionnaires, rubrics, as well as country reports and analytical papers, are made publicly available to encourage widespread use of SABER tools and publications, helping to strengthen education policy development and reform. The openness of SABER methodology and data also enables stakeholders to adapt SABER tools in a way that is relevant to their individual needs. The World Bank Group’s education team in China, in collaboration with researchers at the Shanghai Normal University, recently published a report ‘how Shanghai does it: insights and lessons from the highest-ranking education system in the world’, which uses SABER as a framework to organize and benchmark education policies across several areas of the education system. The findings of the report and the related analyses were highlighted during the global conference on equity and excellence in basic education in Shanghai in May 2016.