Books in the International development in focus series

This book begins with an extensive descriptive account of villagers' dealings in the markets for labor, tenancies, credit, and crops, drawing on interviews and household surveys from the early 1980s. The book subsequently analyzes various alternative contractual arrangements and villagers' choices among them.

Vietnam stands out as one of the most dynamic emerging countries in the East Asia and Pacific region. Since major reforms in the 1990s, the country has experienced an annual average growth rate of 6-7 percent, and extreme poverty rate has fallen from over 50 percent to 3 percent. Yet, the rapid growth and decentralization process have brought significant pressure on provincial governments in terms of local infrastructure investments and urban services delivery.With an annual shortfall of US$9 billion in funding for local infrastructure investments, provincial governments in Vietnam need to move toward a more market-driven financing model. This transition will require enhanced financial and technical capacity of local governments as well as an enabling environment for subnational borrowing.This report explores the development of a pilot financial instrument that could catalyze the subnational borrowing market in Vietnam. The report presents the findings of three assessments, which focused on (a) the borrowing capacity and creditworthiness of selected provincial governments, (b) the capacity of the commercial banking sector to invest in provincial governments, and (c) the current status of Vietnam's regulatory framework. The findings of this report will be useful to policy makers in Vietnam, providing an understanding of the key issues associated with a shift toward a more affordable and efficient local infrastructure financing model and presenting a preliminary roadmap for development of a pilot instrument. The report will also be of interest to policy makers in other transition countries that are facing similar challenges.

A sustainable path to development has profound consequences for all economic activities and related policies. The mining industry, which provides input to almost every product and service in the world, is highly relevant to the goal of achieving sustainable development in mineral-rich countries and in the global economy. In addition, environmental sustainability is a critical concern for mining companies, whose growth is increasingly affected by climate change. Given the centrality of minerals and metals to our way of living, Building Resilience: A Green Growth Framework for Mobilizing Mining Investment investigates the extent to which the mining industry can contribute to green growth. Despite what ought to be a tight nexus of public and private interest in targeted green sector investment, this report finds that there is a misalignment between mining companies' investment in climate-sensitive production processes, and policy makers' efforts to develop a cohesive green economy framework for industry to navigate. The private and public sectors regard the climate agenda and the development of local economic opportunity as separate matters. Neither industry nor government have yet to effectively leverage their climate imperatives and mandates to seize green growth opportunities. To address this misalignment, this report proposes a framework to help mining companies and governments integrate climate change and local economic opportunity activities. Going further, the report offers examples of projects and policies that support green growth: particularly climate-related activities that create scalable economic value and invest in long-lasting green infrastructure.

Malgre de multiples efforts, les economies fragiles d'Afrique subsaharienne comme celles du Mali, du Tchad, du Niger et de la Guinee se classent toujours parmi les moins diversifiees du monde, avec une part elevee des ressources naturelles dans leur produit interieur brut ou dans leurs exportations.

How can countries revive inland waterway transportation? A study of how and why China improved its inland waterways for transportation can be informative for other countries, providing relevant insights and valuable lessons.

Presents key activities, promising practices, and lessons learned from the World Bank Tuberculosis in the Mining Sector Initiative - a multisectoral, multicountry, public-private regional initiative in southern Africa. It examines how ministries, sectors, and partners have been brought together to address the epidemic's varied dimensions.

For African cities to grow economically as they have grown in size, they must create productive environments to attract investments, increase economic efficiency, and create livable environments that prevent urban costs from rising with increased population densification. What are the central obstacles that prevent African cities and towns from becoming sustainable engines of economic growth and prosperity? Among the most critical factors that limit the growth and livability of urban areas are land markets, investments in public infrastructure and assets, and the institutions to enable both. To unleash the potential of African cities and towns for delivering services and employment in a livable and environmentally friendly environment, a sequenced approach is needed to reform institutions and policies and to target infrastructure investments. This book lays out three foundations that need fixing to guide cities and towns throughout Sub-Saharan Africa on their way to productivity and livability.

Budget Rigidities and Fiscal Performance in Latin America

Fostering Human Capital in the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries

Unemployment and underemployment are global development challenges. The situation in Ghana is no different. In 2016, it was projected that, given the country's growing youth population, 300,000 new jobs would need to be created each year to absorb the increasing numbers of unemployed young people. Yet the employment structure of the Ghanaian economy has not changed much from several decades ago. Most jobs are low skill, requiring limited cognitive or technology know-how, reflected in low earnings and work of lower quality. An additional challenge for Ghana is the need to create access to an adequate number of high-quality, productive jobs. This report seeks to increase knowledge about Ghana's job landscape and youth employment programs to assist policy makers and key stakeholders in identifying ways to improve the effectiveness of these programs and strengthen coordination among major stakeholders. Focused, strategic, short- to medium-term and long-term responses are required to address current unemployment and underemployment challenges. Effective coordination and synergies among youth employment programs are needed to avoid duplication of effort while the country's economic structure transforms. Effective private sector participation in skills development and employment programs is recommended. The report posits interventions in five priority areas that are not new but could potentially make an impact through scaling up: (1) agriculture and agribusiness, (2) apprenticeship (skills training), (3) entrepreneurship, (4) high-yielding areas (renewable energy-solar, construction, tourism, sports, and green jobs), and (5) preemployment support services. Finally, with the fast-changing nature of work due to technology and artificial intelligence, Ghana needs to develop an education and training system that is versatile and helps young people to adapt and thrive in the twenty-first century world of work.

Adaptive social protection (ASP) helps to build the resilience of poor and vulnerable households to the impacts of large, covariate shocks, such as natural disasters, economic crises, pandemics, conflict, and forced displacement. Through the provision of transfers and services directly to these households, ASP supports their capacity to prepare for, cope with, and adapt to the shocks they face--before, during, and after these shocks occur. Over the long term, by supporting these three capacities, ASP can provide a pathway to a more resilient state for households that may otherwise lack the resources to move out of chronically vulnerable situations. Adaptive Social Protection: Building Resilience to Shocks outlines an organizing framework for the design and implementation of ASP, providing insights into the ways in which social protection systems can be made more capable of building household resilience. By way of its four building blocks--programs, information, finance, and institutional arrangements and partnerships--the framework highlights both the elements of existing social protection systems that are the cornerstones for building household resilience, as well as the additional investments that are central to enhancing their ability to generate these outcomes. In this report, the ASP framework and its building blocks have been elaborated primarily in relation to natural disasters and associated climate change. Nevertheless, many of the priorities identified within each building block are also pertinent to the design and implementation of ASP across other types of shocks, providing a foundation for a structured approach to the advancement of this rapidly evolving and complex agenda.

Learning outcomes in Lebanon have been lower than the international average and with a declining trend since 2007. This volume uses a political economy approach and a system-level analysis to uncover why the education system in Lebanon is not reaching its full potential.

The agriculture sector can play an important role in poverty reduction and sustained growth in Afghanistan, primarily through productive and inclusive job creation. Using an "agricultural jobs lens" and multidimensional approach, this report explores the sector's direct and indirect roles in explaining the dynamics of rural employment.

Transition to Payment by Diagnostic Related Groups Payment: How Did They Do It?

This book provides a granular diagnostic of Bangladesh's logistics system, its demand and associated costs, and the actions needed to improve its performance. It provides insights on chokepoints and makes a case for a comprehensive yet strategic approach to addressing them.

Using rich data collected from the OECD School User Survey (LEEP) and the "Trends in Mathematics and Science Study" (TIMSS), this book analyzes how the physical characteristics and psychological climates of Russian Federation schools, in conjunction with the teaching methods used, may affect the progress and success of students.

This book aims to inform the development of a feasible nutrition policy and strategy and to guide nutrition investments over the coming years in Egypt. It looks at Egypt's nutrition situation, interventions currently in place, and opportunities to scale up, along with the fiscal requirements of doing so.

While Moroccan cities are the engines of today's demographic and economic growth, they face persistent challenges. This note identifies priority actions to be taken to allow public authorities help urban development boost economic growth and promote shared prosperity for all.

Focuses on the problem of at-risk, out-of-school youth. The book synthesizes the evidence for what works, how, and why to reengage youth in education, exploring for whom and in what contexts interventions can be effective. It provides guidance to build theories of change for local policy - and programming-related design processes.

The benefits of including work-based learning (WBL) as part of vocational education and training (VET) are widely recognized. But little is known about how school-based systems can best incorporate WBL. This report provides recommendations and international examples for expanding the use of WBL in VET.

Brazil approaches its 2018 election with an economy that is gradually recovering from the deepest recession in its recent economic history. This book explores the drivers of future employment and income growth. Its key finding: Brazil needs to dramatically improve its performance across all industries if the country is to provide better jobs.

This book is motivated by the need to understand the possible drivers of future income and employment growth. Its key finding: Brazil needs to dramatically improve its performance in terms of productivity if the country is to generate lasting gains in incomes and provide better jobs for its citizens.

Brings together public financial management and public sector reform experiences from eight countries in East Asia. This book examines how reforms have been implemented in those countries and explores key lessons that can help reformers to further advance their endeavors.

With growing global water scarcity and projections that indicate the need to increase both agricultural production and agricultural water use, it is increasingly advocated to focus efforts on improving agricultural water productivity and efficiency - and thus achieve more crop per drop.

Focuses on the challenge of youth engagement in school and at work. This report shows that youth prospects in the labor market are dimmed by policies favoring existing workers. Also, youth are often ill equipped to meet an increasingly challenging labor market. It discusses new policies, targeted at youth, that Brazil could prioritize.

Liberia has been influenced by the Ebola crisis since 2014, but the economy is now recovering quickly. Still, significant challenges lie ahead. Agriculture, an important sector that employs approximately half of the labor force, still has a weak growth trajectory. Many rural people are not well connected to markets and live below the poverty line. To use limited resources effectively, strategic planning and prioritization of public investment are essential. Particularly, the Ebola crisis revealed the vulnerability of the country's transport connectivity and health systems. This book analyzes the country's transport connectivity, identifying the existing bottlenecks and possible economic potentials. By taking advantage of the country's first-ever georeferenced road network data, the analysis casts light on various aspects of connectivity, such as rural accessibility, market access, access to port and health facilities and multimodal connectivity, including cabotage. It is shown that transport connectivity is crucial to increasing agricultural production, stimulating agglomeration economies, and supporting people's access to health care services. Significant resources are likely to be required to meet the existing gap. The book estimates the financial needs by development objective and discusses important policy issues, including the possibility of public-private partnerships to finance transport infrastructure.