Since gaining independence, African governments have spent a substantial portion of their national budgets to develop the education sector.
... See More + Investments of this magnitude were justified at the time as a means to produce rapidly the skilled manpower required for economic and social development. African education officials reiterated the important role of the university in Africa as an expression of national pride and sovereignty. Higher education in Africa as it is currently financed does not provide incentives to invest resources in fields that promote development, nor to invest in the amounts of education that most benefit society. Most countries in the region spend more money than they can afford on student subsidies and academic and administrative staff salaries and benefits, and not enough on laboratory equipment, books and journals for libraries, or research and technical training for development. The quality of the education provided has suffered as a result. The meetings explored ways of reducing costs and increasing quality and efficiency. Even though the meetings did not seek a consensus on any specific policy recommendation, common viewpoints emerged on the following: (1) the unlikelihood of additional public resources becoming available to expand or improve higher education in the region; (2) the possibility of generating additional resources to expand or improve higher education by using existing resources more efficiently; (3) the substantial public sacrifice required to implement adjustment strategies; (4) the need to increase the private costs of higher education, student subsidies and non-academic expenditures were cited as areas where public expenditure could be reduced despite the political difficulties; (5) the need to rationalize curricula and course offerings and to promote regional collaboration through supra-national institutions; and finally (6) the need for higher education to receive the continued financial and technical support of development assistance agencies. Education officials have recognized the gravity of the situation of higher education finance. Several have already attempted some technical solutions with varying degrees of success and failure. Notwithstanding, most were uncomfortable with proposals to shift cost savings from higher education to secondary or primary education. It was thought that such savings from politically risky changes to make higher education more efficient might best be reinvested in the sector to improve the quality of African universities.
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Working Paper (Numbered Series) EDI12 DEC 07, 1998
This report is based on papers prepared for, and discussions held at the regional seminar on "Forestry Management for Sustainable Development" which took place in Genting Highlands, Malaysia.
... See More + The papers discuss the crisis in Asian forestry, of which three immediate causes are identified: clearing the forest for farming, demand for firewood and fodder, and excessive commercial logging. These factors are aggravated by population growth and infrastructure and industrial development. The messages which emerged from the seminar are that forests have multiple uses and users; that the demands placed by society on forestry institutions have changed in the past four decades, but forestry institutions are unprepared to cope with the changes; that Asian forests are in crisis and unless forests are seen in a new light and used to fuel economic development and alleviate poverty, they will remain in crisis. The major failures behind the forestry crisis - failure of economic policy, failure of forestry institutions to anticipate and adjust to new demands, and technological failure. Solutions to these failures were discussed.
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Publication EDI32 AUG 31, 1993
D'Silva, Emmanuel; Appanah, S.; Forestry Research Institute, Malaysia
The seminar on International Finance Strategies for Developing Countries was the first senior policy seminar on the subject of economywide financial resource management strategies for developing countries.
... See More + It focused in particular on the approaches that countries can adopt to assess the financial risks they face as well as the techniques they can employ to reduce these risks. The objectives of the seminar were to review with developing country financial policymakers and industrial country bankers the issues involved in structuring an international finance strategy for the management of their external financial resources and to exchange experiences among the participating countries on their external asset and liability management practices. More generally, the objective was to assist in strengthening the capacity of financial agencies and institutions in developing countries in the fields of international finance, external debt, external investments and financial adjustment. This report follows the seminar program and discusses special topics which have become an important part of financial strategies for many developing countries.
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Of the estimated 1 billion people in the developing world who survive in conditions of extreme poverty, 70 percent live in Asia. The majority of these people live in rural areas and agriculture is their main occupation.
... See More + Most of the rural poor are small and marginal farmers, landless agricultural workers, fisherfolk, artisans, female headed households, the aged and infirm, and children. The incidence of poverty is highest among female heads of households and children. The seminar on "Poverty Alleviation through Agricultural Projects" provided thirty development practitioners with an opportunity to consider strategies, policies, and practices that help alleviate rural poverty. The seminar discussed four key issues of relevance to policy makers: (1) poverty cannot be measured by income alone; (2) poverty cannot be alleviated through a short-term, piecemeal approach; (3) agricultural projects constitute one of the many means available to governments for alleviating rural poverty; and (4) the role of public sector in poverty alleviation needs to be reconsidered.
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Publication EDI30 AUG 31, 1992
D'Silva, Emmanuel; Bysouth, Kaye; Asian Development Bank; Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP)
This report summarizes the discussions that took place at the senior policy seminar September 10-12, 1990, on the subject of Financial Sector Reform in Transitional Socialist Economies.
... See More + The purpose of the seminar was to exchange ideas and experiences about key issues of financial sector reform that were relevant to the emerging situation of transitional economies, especially in the Central and Eastern European countries. Detailed issues such as the appropriate steps required to restructure banks; the implications that enterprise restructuring, including privatization, might be expected to have for the financial sector; and the appropriate stance of supportive macroeconomic policies constituted the central focus of the seminar. The report focuses on the following seven areas: (1) key issues in the financial structure needed to condition the design of reform programs; (2) aspects of the overall monetary policy of an economy that can have important effects on the process of financial sector reform; (3) institutional preconditions for a healthy financial system; (4) the main issues involved in restructuring productive sector enterprises; (5) the restructuring of banks and financial institutions; (6) selected longer term issues in financial reform, especially the role of nonbank intermediaries, money, and capital markets; and (7) a synthesis of the different themes of the discussion to establish the extent to which it is possible to specify a blueprint for future action.
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This report documents discussions on urban poverty issues in the developing countries of Latin America, Africa, and Asia related to the urban poor's access to basic infrastructure services.
... See More + Basic infrastructure services are services that allow the urban poor to live under conditions that facilitate their income-generating activities so they can maintain a good nutritional level and participate in the normal activities of society. Services include housing, transportation, water, sanitation, solid waste disposal, and energy for cooking and lighting. In addition to discussing ways to improve the conditions of the poor in urban areas through the provision of basic infrastructure services, the workshop also laid the groundwork for follow-up regional senior policy seminars in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. While workshop participants did not attempt to conclude with formal policy recommendations, they did develop general areas of consensus. The focus of the workshop discussions were on the following concerns: financial issues; the role of nongovernmental organizations; the role of governments; and the relationship between nongovernmental organizations and the governments.
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This report is a selective account of the major substantive issues discussed at the seminar "Adjustment with Growth and Public Finance in Latin America", held in April 1989 in Santiago, Chile.
... See More + The focal issue for discussion was the analysis of fiscal policy and the functioning of the public sector within the framework of economic stabilization, growth and adjustment programs in Latin America. The crisis affecting development and growth in the region is intimately linked to the parallel problems of external debt and public finance; therefore, it seemed logical to design the seminar to analyze Latin American economic problems from the angle of changes required in fiscal policy and the working of the public sector. The report consists of four sections. The first presents a summary on fiscal initiatives. The second discusses diverse aspects relating to the concept of fiscal adjustment as part of a general economic program. The next section analyzes specific issues concerning public finance such as public enterprises, and lastly, the report discusses issues surrounding the political, social and institutional viability of fiscal adjustment.
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The paper deals with many detailed issues relating to the policy framework in which African management development institutions (MDIs) operate.
... See More + This summary covers the following general, key issues which emerged during the seminar: (a) potential role of the MDIs; (b) conditions for fulfilling that role; (c) relationship between MDIs and African leadership; (d) goverance of the MDIs; (e) focus on faculty development and management; (e) financial structure of the MDIs; and (f) responsibility for taking initiatives for reform. The paper also discusses key recommendations for future impact of MDIs and strategies for policy reform.
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This seminar brought together ministers and other senior officials of five middle-income countries form Eastern and Southern Europe which form a part of the World Bank's Europe, Middle East, and North Africa region.
... See More + One of the major points of interest in the seminar was to establish the sense in which centrally planned economies face a fundamentally different set of problems when trying to reform trade policies than do market economies. This summary paper attempts to synthesize the major issues which arose from the seven presentations as well as from the lively discussion from the floor of the seminar which characterized each of its sessions. This is done by reference to the following broad themes: the origins of the need for adjustment; the nature of the necessary adjustments; the role of trade reform in the adjustment process; the special trade reform problems in socialist countries; the policy content of adjustment and the role of devaluation; sequencing and the characteristics of successful trade liberalization; and the international environment for trade reform. On some of these themes there was considerable unanimity of view across the very diverse set of countries whose experiences were recounted. On others, such as whether trade reform is a substantively different problem in socialist as compared to capitalist systems, there were a number of different perspectives which were not reconciled by discussion.
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This paper focuses mainly on the problems related to financial stabilization and adjustment. Three general problems of particular topicality in Latin America today, are discussed : 1) management of the financing of the public deficit; 2) policies to deal with insolvency and illiquidity of financial intermediaries; and 3) policies, issues, and options for further development of financial systems.
... See More + With regard to point no. 1, three main questions are raised : a) taking a broad view of taxation, can the inflation tax be recommended as part of the taxation system?; b) what are the advantages and disadvantages of using external borrowing, as opposed to internal borrowing? and c) what is the relationship between deficit finance and financial policies in general? Problem no. 2 deals with financial distress which is acute in Latin America because of the generally high rate of inflation and high levels of debt. Other causes include a poor macroeconomic and fiscal environment, unfavorable external circumstances, problems in productive sectors of the economy, and mismanagement in the financial sector itself. The last broad theme concentrates on problem no. 3. At issue are longer term institutional developments and a way in which Latin American countries might seek to extend and strengthen their financial systems to better support longer-term economic development. This includes problems faced by public financial institutions and development of money and capital markets.
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Four broad themes emerged from the discussions during the seminar on structural adjustment and stabilization in Central America : a) the need for a general equilibrium analysis in economic and sociopolitical terms; b) the contribution of external financial flows to the attainment (or not) of stabilization, structural adjustment, growth, and development objectives; c) the appropriate development strategy with exports as an engine of economic development, and the balance between international and domestic markets in that context; and d) the importance of democracy as a facilitator of economic adjustment.
... See More + In summary, the need for economic general equilibrium analysis cannot be emphasized enough. But it should be placed in the context of the overall sociopolitical framework for the same reasons that economic general equilibrium analysis is to be preferred to partial approaches. Important links and feedbacks may otherwise be overlooked.
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This report is a selective account of the major substantive issues discussed at the seminar. The aim is to highlight the key issues facing middle-income, highly indebted countries, particularly in Latin America that are attempting to implement stabilization and structural adjustment measures.
... See More + These topics may be summarized as follows : 1) the growing economic realism and sophistication in the upper layers of the technocracy with regard to stabilization and adjustment policies; 2) the key stages of the adjustment process in Latin America in the 1980s; 3) the sociopolitical underpinnings of heterodox and orthodox adjustment programs; 4) the prolonged fiscal crisis that has plagued most of the region's economies; and 5) the potential conflict of interest emerging between the private commercial banks on the one hand, and the debtor countries and the Bretton Woods institutions on the other.
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How or why are certain agricultural policies implemented in developing countries? Why do programs in the field differ from their program designs?
... See More + Why has the past decade of conditional lending not successfully precipitated policy reform in developing agricultural sectors? These are some of the questions addressed at the policy seminar and contained in this report. The report is organized around several main themes : a) politics and agricultural policy; b) political management; c) sectoral issues; and d) managing the process of change.
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The aim of this paper is to probe the issues surrounding local government in Africa and develop some courses of action. This report presents the proceedings and conclusions of two workshops.
... See More + The premise underlying the seminars was that decentralization of decision-making from national to regional and local levels is a key to better urban management and to broader involvement by and commitment from the local communities being served, while alleviating already overextended governments. The decentralization process was seen by the participants as a central factor in the rehabilitation of public finances and in the mobilization of resources necessary to develop and maintain essential urban services. The seminars also led to the recognition that better and stronger local governments are fundamental in promoting and sustaining development.
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The aim of this report is to promote the exchange of ideas and experiences among senior African policymakers on the broad theme of institutional reforms for strengthening development management.
... See More + The discussions covered a wide range of elements of institutional development, however, participants were essentially concerned with the following four specific issues: (a) civil service improvement; (b) capacity building for policy analysis; (c) coordination and implementation of national development policies; and (d) training. The key recommendation that emerged from the discussions is the need to strengthen institutional capacity in sub - Saharan African (SSA) countries. Although the primary concern was with public sector institutions, it was also agreed that private sector institutions contribute in varying degrees to the development process. With regard to the public sector, a clearer understanding of the role of the state in national development is needed. Concerning the economic activities shed by the state to be managed by the private sector, it was stressed that alternative approaches to effective privatization/divesture should be explored.
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The need for fundamental reforms to arrest economic and social decline and to provide a sound basis for promoting sustainable economic growth has been recognized.
... See More + The emphasis on sustainable growth implies, however, that adjustment involves medium and long term measures in addition to immediate (stabilization) policies. The main adjustment issues, as they emerged from the seminars, were the following: (a) reconciling the need for short term stabilization with protection of the most vulnerable groups; (b) preserving the environment as well as the medium and long term growth potential of the economies; (c) improving exchange rate policies and exchange regimes; (d) ensuring adequate supply responses to improved incentive frameworks; and (e) coping with uncertainty in the international trade, payments and monetary regimes. The seminars also revealed that the exclusive focus on national economic policy formulation should be modified to reflect an immediate objective of promoting interregional cooperation. Another significant finding was that African policymakers were very interested in engaging in substantive exchange with each other, and with the Fund and Bank on the content of structural adjustment programs.
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Land and water, the basic renewable resources upon which so much ultimately depends, are complex resource systems that present many management challenges.
... See More + Home to a majority of the world's population, Asia presents a rich diversity of ecosystems, economic and social systems, and levels of development. However, these resources are increasingly being subjected to intense pressures brought about by rapid population growth, widespread poverty and growing industrialization and urbanization. This report opens with an overview of the seminar discussions. It presents summaries of papers on four main subject areas; (a) leading issues in land and water resource management in Asia; (b) land, water, and climate information systems; (c) farming and other land-use systems; and (d) economic analysis, incentives and the policy environment. It then deals with specific experiences with voluntary and involuntary land settlements and country experiences (in Japan, Nepal, Philippines and Thailand). Finally, it concludes by summarizing group discussions and setting out the main themes for the consideration of country options.
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This paper summarizes a seminar which provides a group of countries with economic adjustment programs, discusses the design of these programs for their own particular circumstances, and compares the perceived and actual difficulties of implementation.
... See More + After a brief introduction, the paper is divided into five further sections. Section II collects certain ideas about the definition of the adjustment and about the assessment of the effects of adjustment programs. Section III discusses the social aspects of economic adjustment programs and the possible need for a more explicit political analysis to support the design and implementation of these programs. Section IV examines the key question of the sustainability of adjustment programs in terms of several major influences on this including the internal consistency or otherwise of domestic policies. Section V relates this question of the sustainability of programs to the constraints coming from the world economic environment. Finally, section VI highlights some of the major concerns about the process of adjustment design in most need of attention. The paper also contains four background papers examining the adjustment experiences of seven countries.
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This report describes the outcome of a seminar held in Santiago, Chile from June 20-24, 1988. The purpose of the seminar was to discuss how to reclaim social progress in Latin America.
... See More + In attendance were executive-level officials of the social sectors and ministries in various countries of the region, as well as distinguished academics and officials of international organizations. This report exposes the various themes that arose from the discussions. The first chapter explains the framework for the analysis of the problem of the recovery of social progress, and the main conclusions that can be deduced from the exchange of views and experiences among the participants in the seminar. The second chapter discusses the social cost of the problem in general and the role of public spending and social policy in promoting the recovery of social progress. Finally, the third chapter discusses the areas where intervention is needed to achieve greater efficiency of social policy.
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This paper synthesizes the discussions that took place at the Senior Policy Seminar on Managing Financial Adjustment in countries of Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa held in Istanbul in July 1987.
... See More + The seminar's aim was to consider the role financial policies and institutions play in the process of adjusting an economy to external shocks and structural changes in its operating environment. The discussions focused on the difficult problems of transition entailed by financial adjustment, that is, actual policy changes and implementation measures. The central topic was discussed under three main headings: (a) interdependences between general macroeconomic adjustment policies and specific financial adjustment policies; (b) causes and consequences of financial distress (sector-wide and among institutions); and (c) ways and means to extend and deepen financial systems, in particular, financial markets, in order to render them resilient to future external shocks and changes. Hence, this paper comprises three parts; namely, i) macroeconomic and financial policies, ii) financial crisis and financial distress, and iii) the extension and deepening of the financial sector.
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Working Paper (Numbered Series) EDI11 JUN 14, 1989
