For the past decade, most South Asian countries have directed their efforts towards achieving universal access to elementary education. While these investments have led to more children being retained in school, they have not translated into better learning outcomes. This report comprehensively analyzes the performance of South Asian educational systems in terms of student learning. It attempts to answer three questions: -How well do education systems in South Asia perform? -What determines student learning outcomes? -What policy options are effective in improving learning outcomes,...

Despite armed internal conflict and the global financial crisis, Sri Lanka has made remarkable progress in recent years, enjoying healthy economic growth and substantially reducing poverty. Moreover, Sri Lankans are the best-educated people in South Asia, with widespread access and high completion rates in primary and secondary education. Economic growth and structural changes in the economy, however, make skills development imperative as Sri Lanka implements its plan--the Mahinda Chintana (MC)--to become a regional hub in strategic economic areas. . Yet skills shortages and mismatches are...

Finland is known for its consistent progress in the economy and competitiveness, as well as the egalitarian society underneath it. Yet, the challenges experienced by Finland in the beginning of the 20th century were similar to those experienced by many countries today. Finland emerged as an independent nation in the midst of international economic and political turbulence. In spite of its remoteness, relative scarcity of natural resources, smallness of the home market and recent history characterized by wars and social cleavages, Finland transformed itself from an agriculture-based economy in...

H.M. Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, United Nations Secretary-General's Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development stated that 'the impact of helping migrants and their families will be lasting and global if we link remittances to other financial services and make them more affordable and more relevant to their needs." Remittances are a critical source of financing for most developing countries. The importance of remittances goes beyond numbers. For many households in developing countries, they are probably the most stable source of primary or additional income. At the same time,...

Agricultural Land Redistribution and Land Administration in Sub-Saharan Africa: Case Studies of Recent Reforms focuses on "how" to undertake land reforms in Sub-Saharan Africa, but with relevant lessons for other developing countries. It provides details, with case studies, on how reforms were undertaken to address a pressing and controversial development challenge in Africa - land ownership inequality - and an intransigent development issue - inefficiency and corruption in land administration. An equally important contribution of the book is assessing reforms and highlighting valuable...

This book illustrates the World Bank's commitment to assist countries to respond to the opportunities and challenges posed by climate change. Undertaken in collaborative partnership with policy makers, farmers, civil society, and other stakeholders in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, it provides a much needed response to the call for action by quantifying the impact and identifying key priorities for policies, programs, and investments to reduce the vulnerability of agricultural systems to climate change in the South Caucasus. The study responds to the urgent need for climate adaptation, as...

This book is a collection of articles, written by both academics and practitioners as an evidence base for citizen engagement through information and communication technologies (ICTs). In it, the authors ask: how do ICTs empower through participation, transparency and accountability? Specifically, the authors examine two principal questions: Are technologies an accelerator to closing the 'accountability gap' -- the space between the supply (governments, service providers) and demand (citizens, communities, civil society organizations or CSOs) that requires bridging for open and collaborative...

This publication is part of the Bank's multiyear program to enhance its knowledge of HRH policies. The program's ultimate objective is to strengthen knowledge and capacity to collect evidence, analyze, and evaluate the effectiveness of HRH interventions in the context of a country's health system strengthening strategy. It specifically addresses the theoretical and empirical evidence on health labor markets in low- and middle-income countries. Health labor market analysis has much to contribute to resolving globally widespread HRH problems, and their continuing neglect provides some...

Education has played an important role in making Vietnam a development success story over the last twenty years. In the 1990s and early 2000s Vietnam experienced rapid economic growth and poverty reduction in the wake of a rapid shift of employment from low-productivity agriculture to higher-productivity nonfarm jobs. Vietnam's committed effort to promote access to quality primary education for all has enabled this transformation and contributed to the country's reputation for having a young, well-educated work force. Skilling Up Vietnam argues that to continue its success story, Vietnam...

This World Bank review of India's power sector assesses state-wise progress in implementing the government's reform agenda two decades after the liberalization of India's economy and a decade after the passage of the forward-looking Electricity Act of 2003 (EA). It examines the performance of the sector along the following dimensions, drawing on in-depth background papers--achievements in access, the financial and operational performance of utilities, governance, private participation, and the coverage and targeting of domestic user subsidies. Despite considerable progress in implementing the...