Books in the World Bank studies series

Provides an initial assessment of Libya's labour market and discusses policy options for promoting employability as part of a broader jobs strategy. It is intended as a contribution to evidence on Libya's labour market for the benefit of policy makers, civil society and the broader international community.

Examines the challenges and opportunities facing the livestock sector in dryland regions of sub-Saharan Africa. This paper presents a novel way of thinking about pastoral development, grounded in a conceptual framework and modeling that focuses on the multiple shocks faced by drylands livestock keepers.

Provides insights on how schools are managed in Uganda in terms of policy and practice.

The government of the Republic of Congo is taking a system approach to reorganising its health system. It is endeavouring to create a political, juridical, and regulatory environment to foster the development of its health care services under government leadership working with the private sector

Takes a detailed look at the complexity of the teacher management system in India. It compares and contrasts teacher management policies in nine Indian states with actual practice on the ground, identifying key implementation challenges.

Sub-Saharan Africans make their living from agriculture. Based on a detailed review of currently available technologies, this paper argues that improving the productivity and stability of agriculture has the potential to make a significant contribution to reducing vulnerability and increasing resilience.

Compiles useful trends and insights on the state of STEM research in Africa, and presents novel and important empirical analysis of the growing STI sector.

Offers a comprehensive assessment of early child development across Tonga using the Tongan Early Human Capability Index instrument.

Identifies the interventions and factors that have contributed to reducing maternal mortality ratio and improving maternal and reproductive health outcomes in SAR. In this study, the analytical framework assumes that improving MRH outcomes is influenced by a multitude of forces from within and outside the health system and considers factors at the household and community levels.

Discusses key components of EI sector policy, sector investment and production cycles, and identifies EI-related financing obligations of the public sector. The volume maps the institutional framework corresponding to the EI sector, including common responsibilities for various government entities

Depuis quelques dizaines d'annees, les pays en developpement riches en ressources naturelles utilisent ces dernieres en tant que garanties pour obtenir acces a des sources de financement pour leurs investissements.

Provides analysis, policy options, and implementation strategies, towards improving the performance of the Malawian higher education system.

Drylands account for three-quarters of Sub-Saharan Africa's cropland, two-thirds of cereal production, and four-fifths of livestock holdings. Today frequent and severe shocks, especially droughts, limit the livelihood opportunities available to millions of households and undermine efforts to eradicate poverty in the drylands. Prospects for sustainable development of drylands are assessed in this book through the lens of resilience, understood here to mean the ability of people to withstand and respond to droughts and other shocks. An original model was developed expressly to consistently and coherently evaluate different type of interventions on the ground, which provided a common framework to anticipate the scale of the challenges likely to arise in drylands, as well as to generate insights into opportunities for addressing those challenges. Such modeling framework consisted in a) estimating the baseline vulnerability profiles of people living in drylands (2010), b) estimate the evolution of vulnerability by 2030 under a range of assumptions, c) calculated the number of people affectedby drought in the different administrative units of each country, and d) evaluate different types of interventions in agriculture and livestock for mitigating drought impact by calculating the potential for reducing the number of people affected for each scenario and conducting a simplified - benefit/cost (B/C) analysis for each type of intervention. For livestock, simulation models were used to estimate the impacts of feed balances, livestock production, and household income resilience interventions under different climate scenarios). For agriculture, the DSSAT (Decision Support System for-Agrotechnology Transfer) framework was used to assess the potential impact on yields likely to result from adoption of five crop farming technologies: (1) drought-tolerant varieties, (2) heat-tolerant varieties, (3) additional fertilizer, (4) agroforestry practices, (S) irrigation (6) water-harvesting techniques and selected combinations thereof.

In the digital age, information is power. When information is effectively harnessed and aligned with studentlearning, it carries the potential to radically transform the delivery of education, as well as the sector as a whole.Increasingly, education systems are moving away from using education data narrowly for compliance purposes,and instead are embracing data as a tool to drive system-wide innovation, professionalization, and mostimportantly, learning. Whether to prioritize and optimize data and information systems around student leaming isno longer an option, but an imperative for education systems that aim to excel and achieve strong learningoutcomes.Over the last several decades, fundamental shifts have occurred in the way that education data is collected,managed and used. Today real-time learning data informs classroom instruction; predictive analytics identify atriskyouth before they drop out of school; and data from preschool to workforce (also referred to as P-20W) arelinked to help guide education reforms. These represent just a few of the innovative ways that schools and otherstakeholders across the United States are hamessing data to improve education.This study builds on a 2015 World Bank report that assessed education management information systems(EMIS) in the State of Maryland. That report uncovered a successful system and this one expands on lessonslearned and ways to apply them in practice. The goal of this study is to distill Maryland's good practices ineducation data systems, and share them in a way that is useful to education stakeholders interested inharnessing the power of data to strengthen learning outcomes. This study also examines the history of educationdata collection and use in the United States with a focus on the State of Maryland, including a review of federaland state legislation that has helped to shape Maryland's education data policies and systems.

In recent decades, resource-rich developing countries have been using their natural resources as collateral to access sources of finance for investment. This report provides an analytical discussion of RFI contracting from a project finance perspective.

"Agriculture is one of the most climate-sensitive of all economic sectors. In many countries, such as in Albania, the risks of climate change are an immediate and fundamental problem because the majority of the rural population depends either directly or indirectly on agriculture for their livelihoods. The risks of climate change to agriculture in Alabania cannot be effectively dealt with-and the opportunities cannot be effectively exploited-without a clear plan for aligning agricultural policies with climate change, developing the capabilities of key agricultural institutions, and making needed investments in infrastructure, support services and on-farm improvements. Developing such a plan ideally involves a combination of high-quality quantitative analysis, consultation with key stakeholders, particularly farmers and local agricultural experts, and investments in both human and physical capital. The experience of Albania, highlighted in this work, shows that it is possible to develop a plan to meet these objectives-one that is comprehensive and empirically driven as well as consultative and quick to develop. The approach of this study is predicated on strong country ownership and participation, and is defined by its emphasis on "win-win" or "no regrets" solutions to the multiple challenges posed by climate change for farmers in Albania. The solutions are measures that increase resilience to future climate change, boost current productivity despite the greater climate variability already occurring, and limit greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing The Vulnerability of Albania''s Agricultural Systems to Climate Change: Impact Assessment and Adaptation Options applies this approach to Albania with the goal of helping the country mainstream climate change adaptation into its agricultural policies, programs, and investments. The study projects impacts of climate change on agriculture across Albania''s three agro-ecological areas through forecast variations in temperature and rainfall patterns so crucial to farming. It offers a map for navigating the risks and realizing the opportunities, outlined through a series of consultations with local farmers. A detailed explanation of the approach is provided for those who would like to implement similar programs in other countries of Europe, Central Asia, or anywhere else in the world. This is one of four country studies that were produced under the World Bank''s program, "Reducing Vulnerability to Climate Change in European and Central Asian Agricultural Systems". The other countries included in this series are FYR Macedonia, Moldova, and Uzbekistan. The results from the four studies are consolidated in the book Looking Beyond the Horizon: How Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Responses Will Reshape Agriculture in Eastern Europe and Central Asia website."

"Agriculture is one of the most climate-sensitive of all economic sectors. In many countries, such as in Moldova, the risks of climate change are an immediate and fundamental problem because the majority of the rural population depends either directly or indirectly on agriculture for their livelihoods. The risks of climate change to agriculture in Moldova cannot be effectively dealt with-and the opportunities cannot be effectively exploited-without a clear plan for aligning agricultural policies with climate change, developing the capabilities of key agricultural institutions, and making needed investments in infrastructure, support services and on-farm improvements. Developing such a plan ideally involves a combination of high-quality quantitative analysis, consultation with key stakeholders, particularly farmers and local agricultural experts, and investments in both human and physical capital. The experience of Moldova, highlighted in this work, shows that it is possible to develop a plan to meet these objectives-one that is comprehensive and empirically driven as well as consultative and quick to develop. The approach of this study is predicated on strong country ownership and participation, and is defined by its emphasis on "win-win" or "no regrets" solutions to the multiple challenges posed by climate change for farmers in Moldova. The solutions are measures that increase resilience to future climate change, boost current productivity despite the greater climate variability already occurring, and limit greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing The Vulnerability of Moldova''s Agricultural Systems to Climate Change: Impact Assessment and Adaptation Options applies this approach to Moldova with the goal of helping the country mainstream climate change adaptation into its agricultural policies, programs, and investments. The study projects impacts of climate change on agriculture across Moldova''s three agro-ecological areas through forecast variations in temperature and rainfall patterns so crucial to farming. It offers a map for navigating the risks and realizing the opportunities, outlined through a series of consultations with local farmers. A detailed explanation of the approach is provided for those who would like to implement similar programs in other countries of Europe, Central Asia, or anywhere else in the world. This is one of four country studies that were produced under the World Bank''s program, "Reducing Vulnerability to Climate Change in European and Central Asian Agricultural Systems". The other countries included in this series are Albania, FYR Macedonia, and Uzbekistan. The results from the four studies are consolidated in the book Looking Beyond the Horizon: How Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Responses Will Reshape Agriculture in Eastern Europe and Central Asia website.."