Ratings for the Mining Governance and Growth Support Project for Malawi were as follows: outcomes were satisfactory, the risk to development outcome was low or negligible, the Bank performance was satisfactory, and the monitoring and evaluation quality was substantial was substantial.
... See More + Some lessons learned included: mineral commodity prices are cyclic and can sometimes even reach historic highs and lows during the lifetime of a project, as was the case during this project. Thus, project components, objectives, and outputs are best placed when they are not directly affected by the commodity price cycle. For instance, focusing on the basics (enhancing the geological knowledge base, streamlining administrative and legal processes, establishing modern tools for sector governance, and building capacity) required for good sector governance, such as in this project, safeguards the development objectives from impacts of commodity price fluctuations. At the same time, it can deliver favorable economic and investment‐related results indirectly, especially in the long term. Following a project focused on enhancing mineral exploration, demand arises for support towards realizing sector investments. This project supported enhanced geo‐data, governance frameworks and systems that facilitated increased mineral exploration in Malawi. Following successes at exploration, stakeholders in Malawi including the mining industry and government, have expressed interest in support for facilitating transactional closure of mining sector investments. However, the government’s ability to officially request such support is influenced by: (i) their approved borrowing limits, and (ii) the size of theforeseen lending operation in relation to the line‐ministry’s other operations. Smaller lending operations, though important, may be prioritized lower depending upon the staffing resources available with the line‐ministry.
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Implementation Completion and Results Report ICR4573 APR 30, 2019
Financial inclusion can help promote development. Inclusive financial systems allow people to invest in their education and health, save for retirement, capitalize on business opportunities, and confront shocks.
... See More + In the Europe and Central Asia region, there is great variation in financial inclusion. In the euro area, most adults already own an account. Account ownership -- which is the first step of entry into the formal financial system has increased in the developing countries in the region, to 65 percent of the adult population from 45 percent in 2011. Tajikistan, Armenia, Moldova, the Kyrgyz Republic, and Georgia are among the countries that have seen the greatest increases globally, despite starting from a very low base. These experiences underline the potential role of digital payments in driving financial inclusion. Nevertheless, almost 30 percent of unbanked adults report lack of trust in banks as a barrier, which is nearly double the developing country average. And in some countries, gender and income gaps in account ownership remain significant. For example, the gender gap is close to 30 percentage points in Turkey, which is three times the average gap in developing countries. And in Romania, the gap between richest 60 percent of the population and poorest 40 percent is 33 percentage points, which is more than twice the average gap in developing countries. But there are many opportunities to increase account ownership. Over 80 percent of the unbanked have a mobile phone, and simply moving public sector pension payments into accounts would reduce the number of unbanked adults in the region by up to 20 million, including 8 million in the Russian Federation alone. Given the heterogeneity of experiences, there are ample opportunities for countries in the region to learn from each other, which lays out a rich research and operational agenda going forward.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS8830 APR 24, 2019
Nepal ranks 105 out of 149 countries on the Global Gender Gap Index 2018 conducted by the World Economic Forum, indicating that there is still a critical need to focus on gender equality across various spheres.
... See More + This brief presents a summary of the key gender issues in Nepal covering the areas of health, education, economic participation, political empowerment and gender-based violence.
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This paper studies the impact of PROBEMS, a scholarship program in Mexico aimed at improving graduation rates and test scores among upper secondary school students from poor backgrounds.
... See More + The identification strategy is the random allocation into the program, which took place in 2009. The strategy allows measurement of the effects of PROBEMS on test scores and graduation rates three years later in 2012. The paper finds that, on average, the program has no discernible impact on graduation rates or math or Spanish test scores. The size of the sample allows investigation of the reasons for this disappointing result. The paper finds that the program is substantially mis-targeted, with the majority of the recipients not coming from the most disadvantaged families. However, the most plausible explanation for the absence of positive impacts is that many eligible students do not seem to have the minimum learning level to face successfully the academic requirements of upper secondary school. An important policy implication is that a well-targeted scholarship program should be complemented with a remedial education intervention.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS8826 APR 22, 2019
De Hoyos Navarro,Rafael E.; Attanasio,Orazio Pietro; Meghir,CostasDisclosed
Somalia’s education system has transitioned through three major phases since the country gained independence in 1960. The first, in the 1970s and 1980s, saw two decades of centralization and improvements to education.
... See More + Following this, the overthrow of Siad Barre in 1991 resulted in a civil war and two decades of fragmentation and system breakdown. The third and current phase has seen nearly a decade of efforts by central, sub-national, local, and non-government actors to deliver schooling to the next generations of children who will need an education to grow to be effective parents, workers, and leaders in a strategically important country that is moving towards stability and prosperity. In this context, the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) has expressed its interest in learning from the experience of other federal countries that have also faced socio-political challenges related to how the functions of education are governed and managed across their jurisdictions at the national, sub national, or local levels. As well, there is a need for Federal Member States to implement their functions as assigned to Federal and FMS education ministries as per the recently signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). This paper examines and compares the education systems of three countries that have very different federal systems to Somalia’s own in order to draw comparisons and identify possible lessons for Somalia. These lessons are meant to help Somalia address challenges in education access, equity, and quality within the framework of a federal system.
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