Ratings for the Education Quality and Secondary Education Project for Guatemala were as follows: outcomes were moderately satisfactory, the risk to development outcome was substantial, the Bank performance was moderately unsatisfactory, and the Borrower performance was moderately satisfactory.
... See More + Some lessons learned included: the PDO, results framework, and interventions all need to be aligned with each other for a project to be successful. The decision to allow funds to pay for teacher salaries shifted in the focus from quality towards access, but a formal shift of the PDO to explicitly reduce the emphasis on quality would have improved the final outcome rating. After scaling up flexible modalities over the course of eight years, the effectiveness and efficiency of these schools remains unknown due to the elimination of the impact evaluations. Although enrollment, learning, and non-systematic qualitative data exist, without ongoing analysis of implementation and results, future administrations cannot know whether they are a worthy investment. Incorporating evaluation and systems learning into the PDO would emphasize the importance of gathering information for making informed decisions in the future. Despite the temptation to include many indicators for a more nuanced understanding, overburdening the Government with data requirements reduces the likelihood of receiving any meaningful reporting. In addition, indicators based on the multiplication of multiple values (such dividing by the population) increase the number of assumptions made when creating targets. Simpler, raw numbers with explicit explanations on how they were calculated are more effective. Creation of targets should be well founded in unit costs of implementation, to allow future revisions to be founded in the same logic as project design.
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Implementation Completion and Results Report ICR3667 JUN 30, 2016
This paper presents results from a large (43,387) nationwide randomized controlled trial in Guatemala that used reminders to promote tax compliance.
... See More + The trial varied the letter received by taxpayers (individuals and firms) who had failed to pay their income tax for the 2013 tax year. Taxpayers were randomly allocated to receive either no letter, the letter originally used by the Guatemalan Tax Authority, or four letter variants adapted using behavioral design. The study finds that although all letters increased the rate of declaration, only two of the letters were successful at increasing the rate of payment and the average amount paid per letter received. The best performing treatments were a deterrent message framing non-declaration as an intentional and deliberate choice, rather than oversight (designed to overcome status quo bias), and a social norms message that referred to the 64.5 percent of taxpayers that had already paid this tax (join the status quo). These two interventions increased the rate of payment as well as the average amount paid conditional on paying, overall more than tripling tax receipts. The paper estimates that if sent to all taxpayers in the sample, in 11 weeks the social norms letter would have generated additional tax revenues of approximately US$760,000, which is 36 times the cost of sending the letters. The effects are persistent and remain at 12 month follow up, suggesting the letters are effective in increasing revenue for the tax authority rather than just bringing tax receipts forward.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS7690 JUN 01, 2016
Ratings for the Fiscal Space for Greater Opportunities First Programmatic Development Policy Loan Project and Enhanced Fiscal and Financial Management for Greater Opportunities Development Policy Loan Project for Guatemala were as follows: outcomes were moderately satisfactory, risk to development outcome was substantial, Bank performance was satisfactory, and Borrower performance was moderately satisfactory.
... See More + Some lessons learned included: Guatemala remains a difficult implementation environment for reforms and requires simple project design. Extensive consultations in a politically polarized environment were essential to the successful program implementation. Strong analytical underpinnings and technical assistance can ensure an adequate program implementation.
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Implementation Completion and Results Report ICR3756 MAR 31, 2016
Evidence on the impacts of a large-scale expansion in pre-primary education is limited and mostly circumscribed to high- and middle-income nations.
... See More + This study estimates the effects of such an expansion on progression in primary school in rural communities in Guatemala, where the number of pre-primary schools increased from about 5,300 to 11,500 between 1998 and 2005. Combining administrative and population census data in a difference-in-differences framework, the analysis finds that access to pre-primary education increased by 2.4 percentage points the proportion of students that progress adequately and attend sixth grade by age 12. These positive although limited effects suggest the need for complementary actions to produce substantial improvements in adequate progression.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS7574 FEB 22, 2016
Bastos,Paulo S. R.; Bottan,Nicolas Luis; Cristia,JulianDisclosed
Ratings for the Second Land Administration Project for Guatemala were as follows: outcomes were moderately satisfactory, risk to development outcome was high, Bank performance was moderately unsatisfactory, and Borrower performance was moderately satisfactory.
... See More + Some lessons learned included: future efforts should provide increased focus at the municipal level to help promote local development and sustainability of cadastral information. The case of Guatemala shows that in challenging social and political contexts, land regularization can be approached incrementally through piecemeal reforms and piloting rather than comprehensive laws. Detailed information about land tenure and land use is crucial to guide implementation. Social communication campaigns should be implemented by a dedicated unit and involve the participation of technical and legal staff. The approach to implementation of cadastral surveying should provide flexibility and support learning and innovation based on an evolving strategy.
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Implementation Completion and Results Report ICR3658 FEB 19, 2016