Increasingly the role of management and governance is recognized as important for providing and delivering effective services at all levels of education. In view of the growing demand for more and better services at secondary education levels, these are crucial issues that must be addressed urgently. Sub-Saharan Africa's secondary education and training systems must become more efficient and more effective. The current (unit) costs of junior and senior secondary education in most African countries prevent massive expansion of post-primary education. This demands a holistic approach to...

Economic and social changes, fast evolution of technology, and the growing importance of Internet services and international communications--all these require secondary education providers to adapt what is taught and learned in schools. However, in Africa the content of secondary curricula is in most cases ill-adapted to 21st century challenges, where young people are mobile, have access to 'more and instant information, ' and face health threats such as HIV/AIDS. In addition, implementation problems exist, and the time for instruction is often much less then what is required by the...

This study finds that pension reforms in recent years have improved the efficiency and sustainability of pension systems in the new member states of the European Union and Croatia. However, for many countries, these probably have not gone far enough to ensure long-term sustainability, given the aging of the population. Reforms have included changes to Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) systems, including increases in retirement ages (not at least for women), new benefit formulas, and new indexation mechanism. Some countries (Latvia and Poland) have further strengthened the link of contributions and...

La utilizacion coordinada de los enfoques tradicionales y modernos de comunicacion como herramienta tecnica de apoyo en los programas agricolas permite, con una perspectiva estrategica, realizar programas mejor articulados que involucran a distintos grupos sociales a traves de metodos y medios que optimizan los resultados e impactan en sus condiciones socio-economicas y estilos de vida. La posibilidad de utilizar medios de comunicacion de masas asi como medios de comunicacion alternativa e interpersonal, permite no solo conectar mejor a las ciudades y el campo; permite tambien generar o...

Public Expenditure Policies in Southeast Europe is part of the World Bank Working Papers series. These papers are published to communicate the results of the Bank's ongoing research and to stimulate public discussion.

The Caribbean Region is second only to Africa in the impact of HIV and AIDS. The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has responded to this challenge by promoting a multisectoral response to the epidemic. UNESCO has provided regional leadership in strengthening the education sector component of this response. In 2005, UNESCO launched, with CARICOM and the World Bank, a regioinal dialogue involving representatives of Ministries of Education, national HIV and AIDS coordinating councils, development partners, and regional institutions providing leadership in the HIV response, which led to the...

Climate change is one of the key challenges of this century. At the same time, energy use the primary source of climate-altering global greenhouse gas emissions is increasing at unprecedented rates and is vital to the continued economic growth of developing countries. This poses a serious dilemma that can only be reconciled with new and improved clean energy technologies that balance climate change mitigation and increased energy needs in developing countries. Despite a recent increase in investment, public and private research, development, and deployment (RD&D) funding rates are well below...

This thematic study consists of case studies of Ghana, Malawi, and Uganda, as well as, a review of studies undertaken over the past ten years on education in Africa with particular attention to girls' and secondary education. Gender equity at the primary level has been the focus of considerable attention within the Education for All Framework of Action, but much less so at the secondary level. Evidence of gender inequity and inequality in terms of access, retention and performance in secondary education in SSA raises many questions. While transition rates from primary to secondary are higher...

This study reviews aid flows to the health sector in Somalia over the period 2000-06. In close collaboration with the Health Sector Committee of the Coordination of International Support to Somalis, the authors collected quantitative and qualitative data from twenty-six international agencies operating in Somalia, including bilateral and multilateral donors. The paper reaches three main conclusions. First, aid financing to the health sector in Somalia has been constantly growing, reaching US$7-10 per capita in 2006. Although this is a considerable amount compared to other fragile states, it...

Cette analyse sectorielle de l'education en Republique Centrafricaine (RCA) s'ajoute a la liste croissante des Rapports d'Etat des Systemes Educatifs Nationaux (RESEN) que la Banque Mondiale a soutenu dans la region Afrique. Comme dans les rapports similaires, le RESEN de la RCA est le produit de la collaboration entre une equipe nationale composee de cadres du Ministere de l'Education et d'autres ministeres et une equipe d'appui de la Banque Mondiale et des partenaires au developpement, en particulier le Pole de Dakar en analyse sectorielle (UNESCO-BREDA). Le rapport est destine a etablir...