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Achieving Better Service Delivery Through Decentralization in Ethiopia
by Andrew Sunil Rajkumar Marito GarciaAchieving Better Service Delivery Through Decentralization in Ethiopia examines the role decentralization has played in the improvement of human development indicators in Ethiopia. Ethiopia has made major strides in improving its human development indicators in the past 15 years, achieving significant increases in the coverage of basic education and health services in a short period of time. Improvements took place during a period of massive decentralization of fiscal resources, to the regions in 1994 and to woredas in 2002-03. The devolution of power and resources from the federal and regional governments to woredas appears to have improved the delivery of basic services. Surveys of beneficiaries reveal that they perceive that service coverage and quality have improved. Beneficiary satisfaction has increased markedly in education, and less conspicuously in water and health services. In the south, the decentralization to woredas in 2002-03 tended to narrow differences in per capita expenditures on education and health across woredas. Decentralization disproportionately favored woredas that are remote (more than 50 kilometers from a zonal capital), food-insecure, and pastoral, suggesting that decentralization has been pro-poor. Decentralization also narrowed the gap in educational outcomes between disadvantage and better-off woredas, especially in the south. Pastoral, food-insecure, and remote woredas gained in terms of the educational outcomes examined (gross enrollment rates, grade 8 examination pass rates, repetition rates, pupil-teacher ratios, and teacher-section ratios).
Balancing Act: Cutting Energy Subsidies while Protecting Affordability
by Caterina Ruggeri Laderchi Anne Olivier Chris TrimbleIn Eastern Europe and Central Asia there are significant pressures for residential energy tariffs to rise, as government budgets are increasingly stretched and cannot afford to pay large energy subsidies. Further pressures for tariffs to rise come from environmental concerns, as the tariff levels that households now face do not cover the social costs of energy production. Because reforms that would increase energy tariffs are likely to affect significantly the poor and the middle class, their political feasibility may be questioned unless appropriate ways of cushioning the impacts can be devised. Balancing these competing claims-fiscal and environmental concerns on the one hand, affordability and political economy concerns on the other-is a task that policy makers in the region are increasingly unable to put off. While challenging, the reforms needed for this balancing act can build on much that has been learned in the last decade in terms of improving the effectiveness of social assistance systems and increasing energy efficiency. This report suggests that a policy agenda that focuses on cutting subsidies to the energy sector, while investing in energy efficiency and supporting households at the bottom of the distribution, amounts to a new wave of policy reforms for the energy sector in transition countries. The feasibility of such an integrated policy agenda and the ability of these policies to balance the competing claims of fi scal responsibility and social concerns are explored through different policy scenarios, which, in their simplicity, help clarify the parameters of the policy choices many countries ECA are facing. This report is a part of a series of 3 regional reports. The series includes Growing green: The economic benefits of climate action in Europe and Central Asia, Balancing act: Cutting energy subsidies and protecting affordability and Lessons learned from energy efficiency success cases.
Bridging the Technological Divide: Technology Adoption by Firms in Developing Countries
by Xavier Cirera Diego Comin Marcio CruzMany of the main problems facing developing countries today and tomorrow--growth, poverty reduction, inequality, food insecurity, job creation, recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and adjustment to climate change--hinge on adopting better technology, a key driver of economic development. Access to technology is not enough: firms have to adopt it. Yet it is precisely the uptake of technology that is lagging in many firms in developing countries. Bridging the Technological Divide: Technology Adoption by Firms in Developing Countries helps open the “black box†? of technology adoption by firms. The seventh volume in the World Bank Productivity Project series, it will further both research and policy that can be used to support technology adoption by firms in developing countries.
Building Better Policies
by Keith Mackay Philipp Krause Gladys Lopez-AcevedoGovernments around the world face ongoing pressures from citizens to provide more and better services, and to do this while restraining taxation levels. This provides the context for government efforts to ensure their policies and programs are as effective, and as efficient, as possible. An emphasis on government performance has led a number of governments to create formal systems for monitoring and evaluating their performance--on a regular, planned, and systematic basis--with the objective of improving it. The focus of this book is on these government monitoring and evaluation (M and E) systems: what they comprise, how they are built and managed, and how they can be used to improve government performance.
Collapse and Recovery: How the COVID-19 Pandemic Eroded Human Capital and What to Do about It
by Norbert Schady Alaka Holla Shwetlena Sabarwal SilvaWorldwide, the COVID-19 pandemic has been an enormous shock to mortality, economies, and daily life. But what has received insufficient attention is the impact of the pandemic on the accumulation of human capital—the health, education, and skills—of young people. How large was the setback, and how far are we still from a recovery? Collapse and Recovery estimates the impacts of the pandemic on the human capital of young children, school-age children, and youth and discusses the urgent actions needed to reverse the damage. It shows that there was a collapse of human capital and that, unless that collapse is remedied, it is a time bomb for countries. Specifically, the report documents alarming declines in cognitive and social-emotional development among young children, which could translate into a 25 percent reduction in their earnings as adults. It finds that 1 billion children in low- and middle-income countries missed at least one year of in-person schooling. And despite enormous efforts in remote learning, children did not learn during the unprecedentedly long school closures, which could reduce future lifetime earnings around the world by US$21 trillion. The report quantifies the dramatic drops in employment and skills among youth that resulted from the pandemic as well as the substantial increase in the number of youth neither employed nor enrolled in education or training. In all of these age groups, the impacts of the pandemic were consistently worse for children from poorer backgrounds. These losses call for immediate action. The good news is that evidence-based policies can recover these losses. Collapse and Recovery reviews governments’ responses to the pandemic, assessing why there was a collapse in human capital accumulation, what was missing in the policy architecture to protect human capital during the crisis, and how governments can better prepare to withstand future shocks. It offers concrete policy recommendations to recover losses in human capital—programs that will end up paying for themselves in the long term. To better prepare for future shocks such as climate change and wars, the report emphasizes the need for solutions that bring health, education, and social protection programs together in an integrated human development system. If countries fail to act, the losses in human capital documented in this report will become permanent and last for multiple generations. The time to act is now.
Delivering Services in Multicultural Societies
by Alexandre MarcOver the last two decades the world has witnessed an important transformation of the concept of citizenship and social integration, increasingly recognizing that cultural and ethnic diversity need to be considered when designing and implementing social policies. The increasing cultural diversity of societies, along with the important role culture plays in forming identities in these societies, creates major challenges for national and local governments in ensuring social cohesion and social inclusion. 'Delivering Services in Multicultural Societies' reviews recent approaches to recognizing cultural diversity when delivering basic services. It first discusses how supporting cultural diversity can help achieve social inclusion and social cohesion. It then considers the debate over multiculturalism from various perspectives and discusses the risks and benefits of policies that support cultural diversity. Also examined are policies and programs that support cultural diversity in the delivery of basic services, such as education, health care, customary law, traditional governance systems, and cultural services. For each of these services the author reviews main challenges and describes best practices. Finally, the book offers a synthesis of what has been learned about taking cultural diversity into account in service delivery.
Development Evaluation in Times of Turbulence
by Ray C. RistThe presence of turbulence in multiple areas of our society--food, fuel, and finances-being but three critical areas presently being impacted means that long-held assumptions are no longer true, that the past is not prologue, and that the future is not clear. And enter into this unstable present the discipline of evaluation-a discipline formed and shaped in the past fifty years of stability, little turbulence, and strong assumptions that everything will go according to plan. If things do not go well, it is because of either a poor theory of change on how to bring about positive outcomes, or weak efforts at implementation. It is not because of the stormy present upsetting our quiet past. As it is, conventional evaluation behavior and beliefs are ill suited for these times. The transformational nature of the 'Arab Spring' is just one arena in which it is clear that a business as usual approach to evaluation is entirely inappropriate. The papers in this volume are from the 2011 Global Assembly of the International Development Evaluation Association (IDEAS). Nearly 350 development evaluators from eighty-five countries came together in Amman, Jordan to discuss and analyze the consequences of turbulence on evaluation. The intent of these papers is to systematically assess what changes have come during this time of turbulence and how these changes are impacting the craft of development evaluation. To be clear: this book is not about how to assess the impacts of crises on development and on people's lives. It is about the meaning of a changed world and changed assumptions on the concepts and methods used in evaluation.
Discovering the Real World: Health Workers' Career Choices and Early Work Experience in Ethiopia
by Magnus Lindelow Jose Garcia Montalvo Pieter Serneels Danila SerraThis paper presents unique evidence on health workers' career choices in Ethiopia. It shows that challenges like health workers' limited willingness to work in rural areas, as well as their likelihood to migrate abroad vary substantially and are correlated with background, motivation, and job satisfaction. Governments in Africa have identified human resources for health as a priority to improve health outcomes. This study is a valuable resource to better understand health worker choices and help toward the design of more effective human resource policies. This working paper was produced as part of the World Bank's Africa Region Health Systems for Outcomes (HSO) Program. The Program, funded by the World Bank, the Government of Norway, the Government of the United Kingdom and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), focuses on strengthening health systems in Africa to reach the poor and achieve tangible results related to Health, Nutrition and Population. The main pillars and focus of the program center on knowledge and capacity building related to Human Resources for Health, Health Financing, Pharmaceuticals, Governance and Service Delivery, and Infrastructure and ICT.
Eurasian Cities: New Realities along the Silk Road
by Souleymane Coulibaly Uwe Deichmann William R. Dillinger Marcel Ionescu-Heroiu Ioannis N. Kessides Charles Kunaka Daniel SaslavskyThis report responds to pressing questions for policymakers in Eurasian cities and national governments. Faced with changing economic circumstances and a reorientation of trade toward Europe and Asia, will Eurasia's cities be able to adjust? Will some cities be granted the flexible regulations and supportive policies necessary for growth? And will some be permitted to shrink and their people assisted in finding prosperity elsewhere in the region?Even as Eurasian cities diverge, they face shared challenges. Policymakers have a key role in assisting spatial restructuring, particularly in addressing imperfect information and coordination failures. They can do so by rethinking cities, better planning them, better connecting them, greening them and finding new ways to finance these changes. Eurasian cities will also have to find the right balance between markets and institutions to become sustainable. As the World Development Report 2009: Reshaping Economic Geography illustrates, Eurasia (excluding Russia) is a 3D region- a region with low density, long distance, and many divisions. Securing accessibility to leading regional markets such as China, India, and Russia is thus critical. This will require key institutions to be developed to unite the countries, key connective infrastructures to be established between domestic and regional markets, and targeted interventions to be undertaken to compensate countries for short-term losses from this deepened economic integration. Policymakers at the highest levels in these countries should put accessibility at the top of their agendas.
Fail-Safe Management: Five Rules to Avoid Project Failure
by Jody Zall Kusek Marelize Goergens Prestidge Billy C. HamiltonThe decision to look at failures for answers is a bold one. Policy makers, planners and implementers have a tendency to look through prisms of success in framing working policies, programs and results when justifying them. Despite this, we still tend to address failures indirectly by looking at risk, critical success factors, unintended outcomes or consequences, and negative impacts to name a few. As the authors say, 'while success is desirable and we plan for it, failures are inevitable and we seldom plan to mitigate them. 'The authors have clearly emphasized the need to look at failures in an integrated manner by building them into the planning and budget process while at the same time identifying monitoring points for early detection that will provide critical information for timely intervention. Failures are real, and we must plan to face them when they emerge. This book will offer the necessary insight to managers. - Koshy Thomas, Head of the Outcome-based Budgeting Project Team, Ministry of Finance, MalaysiaThis book provides invaluable guidance on how to avoid the failure of interventions, whether for projects, programs, or policies. The authors note that although good design is essential, 'paying attention to details that only happen during implementation is essential in avoiding failure'. The five steps outlined are salutary, and point to the craft needed for good implementation-the range of issues which have continuously to be managed, the environment, stakeholders, resources, systems, and so on. As the authors point out, some elements are beyond the control of a project manager, but all too often it is the things that are controllable that are ignored at our peril. Good management is not sexy, but it usually makes thedifference between failure and success. This book deserves careful study by public and private sector managers and implementers. - Dr. Ian Goldman, Head of Evaluation and Research, Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, The Presidency, South AfricaFail-Safe Management provides much needed guidance aimed at preventing failure in program implementation. Considerable resources and effort are traditionally invested in the development and scientific evaluation of program interventions. Despite the availability of efficaciousinterventions, population-level programmatic impact is difficult to achieve. The gap between the availability of scientifically developed efficacious interventions and the scarcity of population-level programmatic impact is often attributable to inadequate strategic planning and implementation failures. This book promises to be of great help to program managers in avoiding the latter. - Dr Sevgi Aral, Associate Director for Science, Division of STD Prevention, U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)During the discussions on the Lagos Plan of Action, the late President of The United Republic of Tanzania, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere asked, 'why projects in Africa failed and what can be done to rescue the situation'. The answer was that projects failed because of corruption and greed, and the solution suggested was to set up anti-corruption commissions to root out corrupt practices. Decades later the problem remains. What then is the problem? This book sheds light on why projects fail and provides a critical path on 'how to avoid failure' while addressing inevitable development problems. It outlines five simple steps-that are not rocket science-for development practitioners to understand and apply. Perhaps this book should have written at the time of Mwalimu Julius Nyerere and the Lagos Plan of Action. He would have found the right answers in it. - Dr. Simon Muchiru, Director, Oakwood and Associates Consultants, Gaborone, Botswana
For Protection and Promotion: The Design And Implementation of Effective Safety Nets
by Azedine Ouerghi Emil Tesliuc Carlo Del Ninno Margaret GroshSafety nets are noncontributory transfer programs targeted to the poor or vulnerable. They play important roles in social policy. Safety nets redistribute income, thereby immediately reducing poverty and inequality; they enable households to invest in the human capital of their children and in the livelihoods of their earners; they help households manage risk, both ex ante and ex post; and they allow governments to implement macroeconomic or sectoral reforms that support efficiency and growth. To be effective, safety nets must not only be well intended, but also well designed and well implemented. A good safety net system and its programs are tailored to country circumstances, adequate in their coverage and generosity, equitable, cost-effective, incentive compatible, and sustainable. Good safety nets are also dynamic and change over time as the economy changes or as management problems are solved and new standards are set. Drawing on a wealth of research, policy, and operational documents from both academia and the World Bank's work in over 100 countries, 'For Protection and Promotion' provides pragmatic and informed guidance on how to design and implement safety nets, including useful information on how to define eligibility and select beneficiaries, set and pay benefits, and monitor and evaluate programs and systems. The book synthesizes the literature to date and enriches it with new examples on various program options-cash transfers (conditional and unconditional), in-kind transfers, price subsidies, fee waivers, and public works. It concludes with a comprehensive diagnostic for fitting safety net systems and programs to specific circumstances.
From Right to Reality
by Ian Walker Helena Ribe David RobalinoThis study highlights the interaction between social protection (SP) programs and labor markets in the Latin America region. It presents new evidence on the limited coverage of existing programs and emphasizes the challenges caused by high informality for achieving universal social protection for old age income, health, unemployment risks and anti-poverty safety nets. It identifies interaction effects between SP programs and the behavioral responses of workers, firms and social protection providers, which can further undermine efforts to expand coverage, summarizing evidence from recent work across the region. The book argues for a re-design of financing to eliminate cross subsidies between members of contributory programs and subsidies that effectively tax income from formal employment. It advocates well-targeted, tax-funded, tapered subsidies to provide incentives to the savings efforts of low-income workers, coupled with an effective safety net for the extreme poor who have no capacity to contribute to financing their own social protection arrangements. It also argues for the consolidation of programs and harmonization of benefits packages across different insurers. The book develops an overall conceptual framework and presents in-depth analysis of the main SP sectors of pensions, health, unemployment insurance and labor market programs, and safety net transfers.
Gender and Governance in Rural Services
by International Food Policy Research Insti The World Bank'Gender and Governance in Rural Services' provides policy-relevant knowledge on strategies to improve agricultural and rural service delivery with a focus on providing more equitable access to these services, especially for women. It focuses India, Ethiopia, and Ghana, and focuses on two public services: agricultural extension, as an example of an agricultural service, and on drinking water, as an example of rural service that is not directly related to agriculture but is of high relevance for rural women. It provides empirical microlevel evidence on how different accountability mechanisms for agricultural advisory services and drinking water provision work in practice, and analyzes factors that influence the suitability of different governance reform strategies that aim at making service provision more gender responsive. It presents major findings from the quantitative and qualitative research conducted under the project in the three countries, which are analyzed in a qualitative way to identify major patterns of accountability routes in agricultural and rural service provision and to assess their gender dimension. The book is intended for use by a wide audience interested in agricultural and rural service provision, including researchers, members of the public administration, policy makers, and staff from nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and international development agencies who are involved in the design and management of reform efforts, projects, and programs dealing with rural service provision.
Gender in Agriculture Sourcebook
by International Fund for Agricultural Development World Bank Food And Agriculture OrganizationThe 'Gender in Agriculture Sourcebook' provides an up-to-date understanding of gender issues and a rich compilation of compelling evidence of good practices and lessons learned to guide practitioners in integrating gender dimensions into agricultural projects and programs. It is serves as a tool for: guidance; showcasing key principles in integrating gender into projects; stimulating the imagination of practitioners to apply lessons learned, experiences, and innovations to the design of future support and investment in the agriculture sector. The Sourcebook draws on a wide range of experience from World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and other donor agencies, governments, institutions, and groups active in agricultural development. The Sourcebook looks at: access to and control of assets; access to markets, information and organization; and capacity to manage risk and vulnerability through a gender lens. There are 16 modules covering themes of cross-cutting importance for agriculture with strong gender dimensions (Policy, Public Administration and Governance; Agricultural Innovation and Education; Food Security; Markets; Rural Finance; Rural Infrastructure; Water; Land; Labor; Natural Resource Management; and Disaster and Post-Conflict Management) and specific subsectors in agriculture (Crops, Livestock, Forestry, and Fisheries). A separate module on Monitoring and Evaluation is included, responding to the need to track implementation and development impact. Each module contains three different sub-units: (1) A Module Overview gives a broad introduction to the topic and provides a summary of major development issues in the sector and rationale of looking at gender dimension; (2) Thematic Notes provide a brief and technically sound guide in gender integration in selected themes with lessons learned, guidelines, checklists, organizing principles, key questions, and key performance indicators; and (3) Innovative Activity Profiles describe the design and innovative features of recent and exciting projects and activities that have been implemented or are ongoing.
Getting Better
by Son Nam Nguyen Owen SmithFifty years ago, health outcomes in the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia were not far behind those in Western Europe and well ahead of most other regions of the world. But progress since then has been slow. While life expectancy in the ECA region today is close to the global average, the gap with its western neighbors has doubled, and other middle-income regions have all surpassed ECA. Some countries in the region are doing better, but full convergence with the world's most advanced health systems is still a long way off. At the same time, survey evidence suggests that the health sector is the top priority for additional investment among populations across the region. The experience of high-income countries also suggests that popular demand for strong and accessible health systems will only grow over time. Yet these aspirations must be reconciled with current fiscal realities. In brief, health sector issues are a challenge here to stay for policy-makers across the ECA region. This report draws on new evidence to explore the development challenge facing health sectors in ECA, and highlights three key agendas to help policy-makers seeking to achieve more rapid convergence with the world's best performing health systems. The first is the health agenda, where the task is to strengthen public health and primary care interventions to help launch the "cardiovascular revolution" that has taken place in the West in recent decades. The second is the financing agenda, in which growing demand for medical care must be satisfied without imposing undue burden on households or government budgets. The third agenda relates to broader institutional arrangements. Here there are some key reform ingredients common to most advanced health systems that are still missing in many ECA countries. A common theme in each of these three agendas is the emphasis on improving outcomes, or "Getting Better".
Inclusion and Resilience
by Victoria Levin Joana Silva Matteo MorgandiThe report aims to meet two broad objectives: (a) enhance knowledge about the current state of existing social safety nets (SSNs) and assess their effectiveness in responding to new and emerging challenges to the poor and vulnerable in the region by bringing together new evidence, data, and country-specific analysis; and (b) open up and inform a debate on feasible policy options to make SSNs in the Middle East and North Africa more effective and innovative. The first chapter, 'a framework for SSN reform,' describes and illustrates the reasons for the region's growing need for SSN reform and establishes the framework for renewed SSNs. It identifies key goals for SSNs (promoting social inclusion, livelihood, and resilience) and illustrates how these goals have been achieved in some parts of the region and elsewhere. The second chapter, 'key challenges that call for renewed SSNs,' analyzes the challenges facing the region's poor and vulnerable households, which SSNs could focus on as a priority. Two large groups are at higher-than-average poverty risk: children and those who live in rural or lagging areas. The third chapter, 'the current state of SSNs in the Middle East and North Africa,' analyzes SSN spending and assesses different aspects of the SSN systems' performance. The fourth chapter, 'the political economy of SSN reforms in the Middle East and North Africa: what do citizens want?' presents new evidence on citizens' preferences concerning redistribution and SSN design, using newly collected data. It also discusses how political economy considerations could be taken into account in designing renewed SSNs in the region. The fifth chapter, 'the way forward: how to make safety nets in the Middle East and North Africa more effective and innovative,' proposes an agenda for reform and the path for moving forward, using global experience and the evidence presented in the preceding chapters.
The Innovation Paradox: Developing-Country Capabilities and the Unrealized Promise of Technological Catch-Up
by Xavier Cirera William F. MaloneySince Schumpeter, economists have argued that vast productivity gains can be achieved by investing in innovation and technological catch-up. Yet, as this volume documents, developing country firms and governments invest little to realize this potential, which dwarfs international aid flows. Using new data and original analytics, the authors uncover the key to this innovation paradox in the lack of complementary physical and human capital factors, particularly firm managerial capabilities, that are needed to reap the returns to innovation investments. Hence, countries need to rebalance policy away from R and D-centered initiatives †“ which are likely to fail in the absence of sophisticated private sector partners †“ toward building firm capabilities, and embrace an expanded concept of the National Innovation System that incorporates a broader range of market and systemic failures. The authors offer guidance on how to navigate the resulting innovation policy dilemma: as the need to redress these additional failures increases with distance from the frontier, government capabilities to formulate and implement the policy mix become weaker. This book is the first volume of the World Bank Productivity Project, which seeks to bring frontier thinking on the measurement and determinants of productivity to global policy makers.
Life Chances in Turkey: Expanding Opportunities for the Next Generation
by Meltem Aran Arzu Uraz Jesko Hentschel Jérémie Gignoux Raif Can Francisco H. G. FerreiraChildren in Turkey have vastly different odds of success. Their paths are affected by factors over which they have no control, such as how wealthy or educated their parents--and even grandparents--are. By investing in its children and youth, Turkey can create a virtuous cycle whereby these children and youth contribute more to their country's economic growth and social development, helping to realize its ambitious goals.
The Little Data Book on Africa 2012/2013
by World BankThe Little Data Book on Africa 2012/2013 is a pocket edition of Africa Development Indicators 2012/2013. It contains some 115 key indicators on economics, human development, governance, and partnership and is intended as a quick reference for users of the Africa Development Indicators 2010 book and African Development Indicators Online. The country tables present the latest available data for World Bank member countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, covering about 1,700 indicators from 1961 to 2011. Key themes are : - Basic indicators- Drivers of growth- Participating in growth- Capable states- PartnershipsDesigned to provide all those interested in Africa with quick reference and a reliable set of data to monitor development programs and aid flows in the region, this is an invaluable pocket edition reference tool for analysts and policy makers who want a better understanding of the economic and social developments occurring in Africa. For free access to Africa Development Indicators online, please visit http://data. worldbank. org/data-catalog.
The Little Data Book on Gender in Africa 2012/13
by World BankThe Little Data Book on Gender in Africa 2012/13 provides a summary collection of gender statistics on Africa available in one volume. It contains 60 indicators, covering 53 African countries. Additional data may be found on the companion CD-ROM or online, covering about 1,700 indicators from 1961 to 2011. Key themes are : - Basic demographic indicators- Education- Health- Labor force and wages- Women's empowermentDesigned to provide all those interested in Africa with quick reference and a reliable set of data to monitor development programs and aid flows in the region, this is an invaluable pocket edition reference tool for analysts and policy makers who want a better understanding of the economic and social developments occurring in Africa. For free access to Africa Development Indicators online, please visit http://data. worldbank. org/data-catalog.
The Quality of Life in Latin American Cities
by Eduardo Lora Andrew Powell Pablo Sanguinetti Bernard M. S. van PraagA growing number of cities around the world have established systems for monitoring the quality of urban life. Many of those systems combine objective information with subjective opinions and cover a wide variety of topics. This book assesses a method that takes advantage of both types of information and offers criteria to identify and rank the issues of potential importance for urban dwellers. This method-which combines the so-called "hedonic price" and "life satisfaction" approaches to value public goods-was tested in pilot studies in six Latin American cities: Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Lima, Medellín, Montevideo, and San José of Costa Rica. It provides valuable insights to address key questions such as, Which urban problems have the greatest impact on people's opinions of city management and the most widespread effects on their lives? Do gaps between perception and reality vary from one area of the city to another, especially between high- and low-income neighborhoods? Where can homebuilders most feasibly seek solutions to problems such as inadequate road infrastructure, a lack of recreational areas, or poor safety conditions? Which problems should government authorities address first, in light of their impact on the well-being of various groups of individuals and given private actors' abilities to respond? Which homeowners benefit the most from public infrastructure or services? When can or should property taxes be used to finance the provision of certain services-or the solution of certain problems? 'The Quality of Life in Latin American Cities: Markets and Perception' proposes a monitoring system that is easy to operate and that entails reasonable costs but also has a solid conceptual basis. Long the ideal of many scholars and practitioners, such a system may soon become a reality and have the potential to make a significant contribution to the decision-making processes in any city concerned with the well-being of its residents.
Rural Informatization in China
by Kaoru Kimura Nagy Hanna Asheeta Bhavnani Christina Zhen-Wei Qiang Randeep SudanChina's recent economic growth has expanded industrialization and urbanization, upgraded consumption, increased social mobility, and initiated a shift from an agricultural-based economy to one based on services and industry. However, more than half of China's population still lives in rural areas, where the average per capital income is less than a third of the urban average. The government of China has increased its commitment to rural development and poverty-reduction programs, with attention to narrowing the rural-urban divide. Informatization-defined as the transformation of an economy and society driven by information and communications technology (ICT)-is increasingly being explored as a way of helping poor people. Rural Informatization in China presents an overview and in-depth analysis of rural ICT initiatives in China. This study reviews the present-day status of China's rural informatization infrastructure, examines and summarizes by organizational model the key initiatives in the past decade, and provides policy recommendations to address current challenges. Case studies of different financing models of rural ICT initiatives from China and other countries are included.
Satisfaction with Life and Service Delivery in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union
by Pradeep K. Mitra Salman Zaidi Asad Alam Ramya SundaramThe past two decades in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union have been times of tremendous change, with countries undergoing rapid transformation from centrally-planned to market-oriented economies. While poverty increased during the initial years of transition, primarily on account of the sharp economic contraction, the resurgence of economic growth in the region since 1998 has resulted in a rebound in household incomes and living standards. Data from the 2006 Life in Transition Survey (LiTS)-a joint initiative of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank-provides a unique opportunity to investigate the extent to which citizens of ECA countries are satisfied with their lives and with the performances of their governments, and to study key factors influencing their outlook in a systematic way across all countries of the region. The main objective of the LiTS was to assess the impact of transition on people, covering four main themes. First, it collected personal information on aspects of material well-being, including household expenditures, possession of consumer goods such as a car or mobile phone, and access to local public services and utilities. Second, the survey included measures of satisfaction and attitudes towards economic and political reforms as well as public service delivery. Third, the LiTS captured individual 'histories'-key events and episodes that may have influenced their attitudes towards reforms, and information on family background, employment, and coping strategies. Finally, the survey also attempted to capture the extent to which crime and corruption are affecting peoples' lives, and the extent to which individuals' trust in other people and in state institutions has changed over time.
Silver Opportunity: Building Integrated Services for Older Adults around Primary Health Care
by Xiaohui Hou, Jigyasa Sharma, and Feng ZhaoWe live in a rapidly aging world, in which people who are age 60 and older outnumber children under the age of five. This book reveals large and growing gaps in care for older adults in countries at all income levels and shows how to leverage reforms for improving health outcomes for older adults and create healthier, more prosperous communities. Aimed at policy makers and other health and development stakeholders who want to promote healthier aging, Silver Opportunity compiles the latest evidence on care needs and gaps for aging populations. It argues that primary health care should be the cornerstone of integrated service delivery for older people, but primary health care systems must first build their capacity to respond to older people’s health needs. It presents an original framework for policy action to advance primary health care†“centered, integrated senior care; documents the experiences of pioneering countries in delivering community-based care to older people; and provides recommendations for decision-makers. The framework presents four policy levers with which to improve health care for seniors—financing, innovation, regulation, and evaluation and measurement—or FIRE. Finally, the book posits that by acting now, countries can leverage population aging to accelerate progress toward health equity and universal health coverage.
Silver Opportunity Case Studies: Experiences with Building Integrated Services for Older Adults around Primary Health Care
by Xiaohui Hou, Jigyasa Sharma, and Feng ZhaoHealth care systems must be prepared to address the expanding and complex needs of an aging population. Rather than a “silver challenge,†? this situation should be seen as an opportunity to reevaluate and reorganize the health care delivery system holistically. Silver Opportunity Case Studies presents a comprehensive examination of care for older adults in diverse economic and geographic contexts through a collection of country and regional case studies. This collection of case studies complements the synthesis volume of global evidence—Silver Opportunity: Building Integrated Services for Older Adults around Primary Health Care—by offering practical insights for decision-making, sharing knowledge, and encouraging cross-learning. The book provides a deeper understanding of the complexities involved and highlights key issues and current practices at the country level. The overarching goal of the volume is to inform policy makers, health care professionals, and other stakeholders about effective practices for caring for older adults and to support the development of evidence-based policies that enhance their health and well-being.d well-being.