The development objective of the Secondary Education Quality Improvement Project for Kenya is to improve quality in basic education and transition from primary to secondary levels, all in targeted areas.
... See More + Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures are includes: (i) ensure that construction materials left over the end of the construction activity will be used in other projects within the School; (ii) dust suppression techniques should be implemented through applying water and covering any loose or exposed excavated material; (iii) designate specific access routes and parking for vehicles and mobile machinery during construction; (iv) ensure minimal damage or loss of materials through proper storage; (v) ensure electrical equipment, switches and appliances are switched off when not in use; (vi) waste water effluents, oil and hazardous materials and wastes should be managed; (vii) prevent uncontrolled releases of hazardous materials such as electronic waste components and laboratory chemicals to the environment; (viii) ensuring all waste water producing facilities are located away from above ground water sources and the drainage doesn’t impact underground water sources; (ix) installing suitable mufflers on engine exhausts, generators, heavy duty machinery and compressor components; (x) ensure that machinery, equipment, personal protective equipment, appliances and hand tools used in construction do comply with the prescribed safety and health standards and be appropriately installed maintained and safeguarded; (xi) promote the equitable sharing of benefits from the use of cultural heritage.
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Across Latin America, school dropout is a growing concern, because of its negative social and economic consequences. Although a wide range of interventions hold potential to reduce dropout rates, policy makers in many countries must first address the basic question of how to target limited resources effectively for such interventions.
... See More + Identifying who is most likely to drop out and, therefore, who should be prioritized for targeting, is a prediction problem that has been addressed in a rich set of research in countries with strong education system data. This paper makes use of newly established administrative data systems in Guatemala and Honduras, to estimate some of the first dropout prediction models for lower-middle-income countries. These models can correctly identify 80 percent of sixth grade students who will drop out in the transition to lower secondary school, performing as well as models used in the United States and providing more accurate results than other commonly used targeting approaches.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS8142 JUL 10, 2017
Occupational segregation is a central contributor to the gap between male and female earnings worldwide. As new sectors of employment emerge, a key question is whether this pattern is replicated.
... See More + This paper examines this question by focusing on the emerging information and communications technology sector in Nigeria. Using a randomized control trial, the paper examines the impacts of an information and communications technology training intervention that targeted university graduates in five major cities. The analysis finds that after two years the treatment group was 26 percent more likely to work in the information and communications technology sector. The program appears to have succeeded only in shifting employment to the new sector, as it had no average impact on the overall likelihood of being employed. However, viewed through the lens of occupational segregation, the program had a surprising effect. For women who at baseline were implicitly biased against associating women with professional attributes, the likelihood that the program induced switching into the information and communications technology sector was more than three times as large than that of unbiased women. These results suggest that training programs can help individuals overcome self-defeating biases that could hamper mobility and reduce efficiency in the labor market.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS8141 JUL 10, 2017
The development objective of the Secondary Education Quality Improvement Project for Kenya is to improve quality in basic education and transition from primary to secondary levels, all in targeted areas.
... See More + Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures are includes: (i) ensure that construction materials left over the end of the construction activity will be used in other projects within the School; (ii) dust suppression techniques should be implemented through applying water and covering any loose or exposed excavated material; (iii) designate specific access routes and parking for vehicles and mobile machinery during construction; (iv) ensure minimal damage or loss of materials through proper storage; (v) ensure electrical equipment, switches and appliances are switched off when not in use; (vi) waste water effluents, oil and hazardous materials and wastes should be managed; (vii) prevent uncontrolled releases of hazardous materials such as electronic waste components and laboratory chemicals to the environment; (viii) ensuring all waste water producing facilities are located away from above ground water sources and the drainage doesn’t impact underground water sources; (ix) installing suitable mufflers on engine exhausts, generators, heavy duty machinery and compressor components; (x) ensure that machinery, equipment, personal protective equipment, appliances and hand tools used in construction do comply with the prescribed safety and health standards and be appropriately installed maintained and safeguarded; (xi) promote the equitable sharing of benefits from the use of cultural heritage.
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The development objective of the Secondary Education Quality Improvement Project for Kenya is to improve student learning in secondary education and transition from primary to secondary education, in all targeted areas.
... See More + Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures are includes: (i) inequitable access to the schools due to distance from their community and transport issues; (ii) possibility of elite capture especially the scholarship program at the community and county levels thus excluding target groups; (iii) nepotism in the selection of eligible candidates for the scholarship programs; (iv) Lack of ownership or support of the project by the target groups if they are not involved fully from the onset; (v) leakages of inputs and resources due to weak monitoring and accountability systems at the grass root level; (vi) VMGs exclusion in the implementation and management of the project at all levels ( assuming them to be receipts ) limiting the chance of sustainability; (vii) project will ensure that all project design frameworks and consecutive processes and activities are disclosed in culturally appropriate and accessible manner using FPI-Consultation guidelines stipulated in this document; (viii) ensure that VMGs and their organizations are fully incorporated in selection, design, and implementation process; (ix) ensure coordinated attempt to equitably distribute project services; (x) SEQIP to undertake specific impact assessments of proposed project on the economic and social development of VMGs and dominant communities.
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Sub-Saharan Africa faced another challenging year in 2016. Economic activity continued to weaken, amid less favorable terms of trade, slowdown in global growth, and difficult domestic conditions.
... See More + Output growth decelerated sharply to 1.3 percent, the slowest pace in over two decades and not as stellar as the average annual growth of around 5 percent in the pre-global financial crisis period of 1995–2008. Regional growth in 2016 was insufficient to raise gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, which contracted by 1.3 percent. At the same time, Sub-Saharan Africa's poverty rate remains high: 41 percent of the region's population—nearly 390 million people—were living in extreme poverty in 2013. Weak economic performance threatens gains in poverty reduction, and the region urgently needs to regain momentum on growth and make it more inclusive.
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Sub-Saharan Africa faced another challenging year in 2016. Economic activity continued to weaken, amid less favorable terms of trade, slowdown in global growth, and difficult domestic conditions.
... See More + Output growth decelerated sharply to 1.3 percent, the slowest pace in over two decades and not as stellar as the average annual growth of around 5 percent in the pre-global financial crisis period of 1995–2008. Regional growth in 2016 was insufficient to raise gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, which contracted by 1.3 percent. At the same time, Sub-Saharan Africa's poverty rate remains high: 41 percent of the region's population—nearly 390 million people—were living in extreme poverty in 2013. Weak economic performance threatens gains in poverty reduction, and the region urgently needs to regain momentum on growth and make it more inclusive.
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The development objective of the Secondary Education Quality Improvement Project for Kenya is to improve quality in basic education and transition from primary to secondary levels, all in targeted areas.
... See More + Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures are includes: (i) ensure that construction materials left over the end of the construction activity will be used in other projects within the School; (ii) dust suppression techniques should be implemented through applying water and covering any loose or exposed excavated material; (iii) designate specific access routes and parking for vehicles and mobile machinery during construction; (iv) ensure minimal damage or loss of materials through proper storage; (v) ensure electrical equipment, switches and appliances are switched off when not in use; (vi) waste water effluents, oil and hazardous materials and wastes should be managed; (vii) prevent uncontrolled releases of hazardous materials such as electronic waste components and laboratory chemicals to the environment; (viii) ensuring all waste water producing facilities are located away from above ground water sources and the drainage doesn’t impact underground water sources; (ix) installing suitable mufflers on engine exhausts, generators, heavy duty machinery and compressor components; (x) ensure that machinery, equipment, personal protective equipment, appliances and hand tools used in construction do comply with the prescribed safety and health standards and be appropriately installed maintained and safeguarded; (xi) promote the equitable sharing of benefits from the use of cultural heritage.
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In developing countries, younger and better-educated cohorts are entering the workforce. This developing world-led education wave is altering the skill composition of the global labor supply, and impacting income distribution, at the national and global levels.
... See More + This paper analyzes how this education wave reshapes global inequality over the long run using a general-equilibrium macro-micro simulation framework that covers harmonized household surveys representing almost 90 percent of the world population. The findings under alternative assumptions suggest that global income inequality will likely decrease by 2030. This increasing educated labor force will contribute to the closing of the gap in average incomes between developing and high income countries. The forthcoming education wave would also minimize, mainly for developing countries, potential further increases of within-country inequality.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS8135 JUN 30, 2017
Ahmed, S. Amer; Bussolo,Maurizio; Vargas Da Cruz,Marcio Jose; Go,Delfin Sia; Osorio-Rodarte,IsraelDisclosed
The World Bank is re-engaging in the education sector in Burundi at a time when the country has launched a major reform of its school education system, including the lengthening of the compulsory basic education cycle to 9 years in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.
... See More + Due to the withdrawal of many donors from the education sector, after the events of 2015, as well as the general fiscal and economic contraction, the gains achieved in the last decade, especially in primary education, might be rapidly eroded. Consequently, a stock-taking exercise was undertaken by the Bank, focusing on four areas identified at the time of the concept note review. This summary report is based on the four pieces of analytical work and is intended to help the World Bank engage with all stakeholders in order to consolidate the recent gains and move the reform forward. In the next fiscal year, the findings from these studies will be used to engage in a broader dialogue and consensus building with the key stakeholders.
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Working Paper 117128 JUN 29, 2017
000368252:Celia A Dos Santos Faias:cdossantosfai; as@worldbank.org;Disclosed
The objective of this report is to explain the relatively good performance of Burundi in the PASEC and EGRA tests. Burundi had the highest scores of all participating countries in the PASEC evaluation, well above other countries (one standard deviation, 100 points on a scale of 500).
... See More + The EGRA results are also relatively good with acceptable levels of reading fluency and reading comprehension, close to Kenya and better than many other African countries1. The core question here is: What drives this good performance? What are the reasons for Burundi’s relative success? What actions can be envisaged to sustain and foster education quality in Burundi? What actions could be funded under a World Bank project? The analysis of administrative and legislative documents and teaching supports focused on the old curriculum (pre 2012/3), syllabus and cycle four textbooks (lower secondary), as well as legislative texts related to the current reform. Most of the interviews with officials and education partners took place as part of a World Bank mission to Burundi from 13 to 24 March 2017. The authors met with education officials at ministerial, provincial, communal and school levels as well as the technical and financial partners in Bujumbura. The exchanges focused on the implementation of fundamental school reform: the challenges they face, school curricula and teacher training. Unfortunately, we did not have the time to meet with the pupil's parents or attend a recently established school management committee meeting, which would have allowed us to assess further community participation. These new structures are not yet rigorously and systematically implemented. Interviews with teachers and principals took place in the form of group focus sessions. They focused on the teaching of reading and writing in cycle one and, in some cases, were followed by classroom observations.
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Ratings for the Skills and Technology Development Project for Ghana were as follows: outcomes were moderately satisfactory, the risk to development outcome was moderate, the Bank performance was moderately satisfactory, and the Borrower performance was also moderately satisfactory.
... See More + Some lessons learned included: close collaboration with Government, other partners and key stakeholders is critical in ensuring buy-in to project design – particularly in terms of those activitiessupporting sector reforms.while there were delays in activities related to capacity-building of the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) Directorate, the decision to incorporate such support into project design as requested by the Government, is likely to reap important dividends in introducing and guiding sustainable change in these sectors.While the establishment and design of a robust Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) system is important early on – targeted technical support during implementation can be useful in addressing any limitations and ensuring adequate information to measure progress made under the Project.Appropriate sequencing of activities and linkages between project components and sub-components should be explicit in the PAD.Competitive skills funds, such as the Skills Development Fund (SDF), can guide and transform the provision and delivery of training with important dividends for industries and TVET providers alike.
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Implementation Completion and Results Report ICR4241 JUN 29, 2017
Ratings of Second Education Reform for the Knowledge Economy Project for Jordan were as follows: outcomes were moderately satisfactory, risk to development outcome was moderate, Bank performance was satisfactory, and Borrower performance was moderately satisfactory.
... See More + Some of the lessons learned included: (i) The bottom-up change that was built around the school community was more effective than the top-down change that was driven by the Ministry of Education (MOE); (ii) Second Education Reform for the Knowledge Economy Project (ERFKE II) highlights the importance of a well-designed communication strategy; (iii) It is important early on in the design process to pay particular attention to costing inputs, to identify the risk associated with any resulting gap, and then to move quickly either to secure additional funding before project launch or to revise project dimensions to ensure that they fit within already committed funding; (iv) Where clear policy priorities exist within a national policy framework, a programmatic approach that brings donors together to cooperate on a single platform is quite appropriate and (v) Continuity within the membership of the World Bank team, including in the team leader position, was equally important in providing stability through turbulent times.
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Implementation Completion and Results Report ICR4001 JUN 29, 2017
Is your organization missing important lessons from its operational experiences? This step-by-step guide shows you how to systematically capture such knowledge and use it to inform decision making, support professional learning, and scale up successes.
... See More + The captured lessons knowledge assets, the central element needed for learning are consistently formatted documents that use operational experience to answer a specific question or challenge. The guide describes how to create and use knowledge assets in five steps: (1) identify important lessons learned by participants, (2) capture those lessons with text or multimedia documents, (3) confirm their validity, (4) prepare them for dissemination, and (5) use them for sharing, replication, and scaling up. Included tools, templates, and checklists help you accomplish each step
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Giving power over school management and spending decisions to communities has been a favored strategy to increase school quality, but its effectiveness may depend on local capacity.
... See More + Grants are one form of such a transfer of power. Short-term responses of a grant to school committees in Niger show that parents increased participation and responsibility, but these efforts did not improve quality on average. Enrollment at the lowest grades increased and school resources improved, but teacher absenteeism increased, and there was no measured impact on test scores. An analysis of heterogeneous impacts and spending decisions provides additional insight into these dynamics. Overall, the findings suggest that programs based on parent participation should take levels of community capacity into account: even when communities are willing to work to improve their schools, they may not be able to do so. The short-term nature of the experiment reduces the extent to which the results can be generalized.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS8125 JUN 27, 2017
The international community is increasingly aware of the negative impacts of child marriage on a wide range of development outcomes. Ending child marriage is now part of the Sustainable Development Goals.
... See More + Yet investments to end the practice remain limited across the globe and more could be done. In order to inspire greater commitments towards ending child marriage, this study demonstrates the negative impacts of the practice and their associated economic costs. The study looks at five domains of impacts: (i) fertility and population growth; (ii) health, nutrition, and violence; (iii) educational attainment and learning; (iv) labor force participation and earnings; and (v) participation, decision-making, and investments. Economic costs associated with the impacts are estimated for several of the impacts. When taken together across countries, the costs of child marriage are very high. They suggest that investing to end child marriage is not only the right thing to do, but also makes sense economically.
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The evidence base has long demonstrated that girls' education is among the most significant factors associated with age at marriage, with an extensive body of literature documenting lower levels of schooling as being strongly linked with a lower age at marriage.
... See More + Education also plays an important role in shaping girls' aspirations for their lives, giving them the skills they need to engage productively in their communities and the workforce, and enhancing their voice and agency in personal relationships. It is also an important determinant of their health and that of their children, and it is likely to affect the education of their children as well. Assessing the impact of child marriage on education also matters for estimating the economic costs of the practice, as discussed in a separate brief in this series. But at the same time, estimating the impact of child marriage on education outcomes, as well as understanding the costs of these impacts, has been challenging, partly because the decision to marry early and the decision to leave school are often made at or close to the same time and can be closely inter-related.
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While the proportion of girls marrying as children is declining globally, this decline is not occurring in all countries or taking place equitably within countries, nor is it happening at a sufficiently fast pace to see an end to the practice in the coming decades.
... See More + Indeed, rates of both child marriage and early childbearing have seen recent declines, but progress has been uneven, and many of the cultural, economic and social factors that have historically contributed to child marriage persist today. Further, because of the young age structures in many countries affected by child marriage, without significant changes in the immediate future, the total number of child brides in the world will remain stagnant or even increase. These alarming facts demonstrate the urgency of acting to end this harmful practice.
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