Good teachers are essential for high-quality educational systems. However, little is known about teachers' skills formation during college. By combining two standardized tests for Colombian students, one taken at the end of senior year in high school and the other when students are near graduation from college, this paper documents the extent to which education majors relatively improve or deteriorate their skills in quantitative reasoning, native language, and foreign language, in comparison to students in other programs.
... See More + Teachers' skills vis-a-vis those in other majors deteriorate in quantitative reasoning and foreign language, although they deteriorate less for those in math-oriented and foreign language-oriented programs. For native language, there is no evidence of robust differences in relative learning mobility.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS7168 JAN 01, 2015
Social programs are often designed under the assumption that individuals make rational decisions that improve their welfare. Yet, informational and behavioral constraints limit the extreme and chronic poorapos;s access and participation in social programs.
... See More + This paper reviews the implementation and performance of two quot;social intermediation servicesquot; that were designed to address these constraints, improve beneficiariesapos; access to social programs, and help the poor surmount poverty: Chile Solidario, the first such service in Latin America, and Red Unidos, implemented later in Colombia. The analysis provides insights on key factors influencing performance, cost effectiveness, and the impacts that such services can be expected to have.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS7136 DEC 01, 2014
The objective of the Forest Conservation and Sustainability in the Heart of the Colombian Amazon Project for Colombia is to improve governance and promote sustainable land use activities in order to reduce deforestation and conserve biodiversity in the project area.
... See More + The project has four components. (1) Protected areas management and financial sustainability component will: (a) strengthen the management effectiveness of the Natural Chiribiquete Mountain Ridge National Park (PNNSCH) and its buffer zone through inter alia, the design and implementation of a management plan for the PNNSCH; and (b) increase the financial sustainability of about 2.7 million hectares of PAs within the PNNSCH and its buffer zone. (2) Forest governance, management, and monitoring component seeks to: (a) enhance the institutional capacity and financial sustainability for sustainable landscape governance, management, and monitoring; (b) enhance the institutional capacity to monitor greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions; (c) enhance the capacity of indigenous peoples authorities for sustainable land-use practices and forest governance within indigenous territories; and (d) support the disclosure of data on reduction of deforestation. (3) Sectoral programs for sustainable landscape management component seeks to: (a) support improvement of crosssectoral policy coordination and consistency to achieve long-term reductions in deforestation; (b) support the development and adoption of guidelines and programs in, inter alia, the agriculture, extractive industries and infrastructure sectors, aimed at reducing pressures on forests and biodiversity, and GHG emissions and restoring ecosystems; (c) support the promotion of sustainable land-use and natural resource management practices that contribute to the restoration of vegetation, reduce pressure on forests and advance the livelihoods of local communities in the municipalities of San Jose del Guaviare, Calamar and Cartagena de Chaira. (4) Project coordination, management, and monitoring and evaluation component will strengthen the Project Coordination Unit (PCU) to ensure coordination, management, monitoring, evaluation, and communication in connection with the implementation of the project.
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This Program Document presents a proposed Development Policy Loan (DPL) in the amount of US$ 700 million for the Republic of Colombia. This is the second of a series of two single-tranche programmatic DPLs.
... See More + The objective of the program is to strengthen the Government of Colombias (GoC) policy framework on productive, sustainable and inclusive cities. Specifically, the program will support policy and regulatory reforms that aim to: (a) strengthen urban and metropolitan management, address the externalities created by increased motorization and improve urban transport service provision, and mitigate vulnerability to natural disasters for the urban poor; (b) promote the provision of affordable and safe low-income housing solutions; (c) strengthen the ability of subnational entities to coordinate and finance the structuring and implementation of regional and metropolitan development initiatives; and (d) increase the productivity of the System of Cities (SoC) through improved connectivity within the network of cities and between cities and ports to external markets. The operation and proposed reforms build on the activities supported by the first DPL that targeted policies to boost productivity and improve sustainability of low-income populations in the urban and transport sectors, and on a broader programmatic engagement that includes knowledge, convening, and financial services, all in support of sustainable, productive and inclusive cities in Colombia.
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