Books in the International development in focus series

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.