This booklet examines the efforts of Bangladesh, Malawi, and Pakistan to increase the number of girls in school. These three countries have severe problems of access to education, ranking in the bottom third of developing countries on UNESCO's Basic Education Index. The document addresses several issues, including how governments grapple with the deep-seated cultural, institutional, and political factors that underlie the gender disparity in access to school, how parents and communities feel about these attempts, and what impact the reform efforts have on the people involved in managing and running the school system. It also follows the lives of some of the girls who have benefited from the reforms.
This report addresses the most important challenges facing the Latin America and Caribbean region as it attempts to replace its traditional economic and social structures, including populist institutions, with a modern, efficient, administrative state. The analysis focuses on the political economy of pending reforms and their ramifications. The report discusses (1) recent economic and political developments; (2) systemic issues such as high real interest and unemployment rates and declining export growth; (3) social policies and the need to consolidate macroeconomic stability; and (4) how to define and build the new Latin American state. An appendix provides detailed information on selected country performance.
The effective management of shared fish stocks stands as one of the great challenges towards achieving long-term sustainable fisheries. These resources account for as much as one-third of world marine capture fishery harvests. This paper explores the legal and economic aspects of the management of each of the several different categories of shared stocks, namely transboundary, highly migratory, straddling and discrete high seas stocks. The economics of the issue point to the conclusion that, with few exceptions, effective cooperation between and among states is a fundamental prerequisite for sustainable resource management.
In the past six years, the world's fishery sector has reached a turning point with global fish production reaching a plateau of approximately 100 million tons annually. While aquaculture output continued to grow, yields from capture fisheries were uneven and showed increasing signs of stagnation because of widespread overfishing and overcapitalization, ineffective management, deteriorating resource health, declining or flat global harvests, and inefficient economic and trade policies. This paper examines the role of subsidies in fisheries.
With external financial help and advice, Poland has made great strides toward sustainable growth. The country's currency is stable, its international creditworthiness has been restored, and its private sector now accounts for two-thirds of GDP. This review evaluates the overall relevance, efficacy, and efficiency of World Bank assistance to Poland and finds that the Bank's technical advice and intellectual support were pivotal in facilitating the work of Polish reformers. The book explores various stages in the evolution of the Bank's assistance to Poland: systemic and institutional transformation and social improvement; private sector and infrastructure development; implementation and supervision; and, results and recommendations. Boxes, figures, and tables illustrate the Bank's assistance strategy, including information on the distribution of Bank resources among Central Eastern and European countries, total Bank commitments to Poland by fiscal year, and a summary of the strengths and weaknesses of Bank assistance to Poland.
Analyses the trends in legal and administrative frameworks, management regimes and status of marine capture fisheries for 32 countries in the Indian Ocean. This book presents an informative reference for policy decision-makers, fishery managers and stakeholders, on the impetus for countries to strengthen their fisheries management.
The Scientific Advisory Committee on Fisheries (SAC) of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) held its twenty-second session online, from 22 to 25 June 2021. The session was attended by delegates from 19 Mediterranean contracting parties, 11 observers, as well as representatives of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Fisheries Division, the GFCM Secretariat and invited experts. The Committee reviewed the work carried out during the 2019–2021 intersession, including within the framework of the mid-term strategy (2017–2020) towards the sustainability of Mediterranean and Black Sea fisheries and in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, and provided advice on status of priority stocks and ecosystems and on potential management measures addressing key fisheries and vulnerable species in the Mediterranean. In line with the subregional approach, the Committee formulated advice focusing on: i) small pelagic and priority demersal fisheries in the Adriatic Sea; ii) common dolphinfish and blackspot seabream fisheries in the western Mediterranean; iii) small pelagic and bottom trawl fisheries exploiting demersal stocks, particularly European hake, in the central Mediterranean; iv) deep-water red shrimp fisheries in the eastern-central Mediterranean, including their interactions with vulnerable marine ecosystems; and v) round sardinella in the eastern Mediterranean. The Committee also agreed on the technical soundness of three FRA proposals for the Bari Canyon, the Ebro Delta margin and the Palmahim Disturbance, to be submitted to the Commission. At the regional level, the Committee provided advice on the following: i) fishing technology and bycatch, including minimal technical specifications for bottom-trawl nets and the need for targeted pilot projects to investigate possible mitigation measures; ii) data call for the database on sensitive benthic habitats and species and other effective area-based conservation measures for the protection of vulnerable marine ecosystems and essential fish habitats; and iii) advances in the adaptation strategy for climate change. Furthermore, the Committee discussed additional work in support of the GFCM, namely the implementation of the Regional Plan of Action for Small-Scale Fisheries in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, dedicated research programmes as well as other activities to enhance fisheries management in the region. Finally, the Committee agreed upon its work plan for 2021–2023.
This paper presents a conceptual framework for the strategic management of government agencies in developing and transition economies. It delineates a working model of an efficient government agency for which core strategy, internal organizational design, and external environment are aligned. It then demonstrates how the objectives of public sector management are ideally based on assessments of "areas of misalignment" in government agencies.
IFC Lessons of Experience Series No. 5. The project experience accumulated by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) provides a basis for analyzing the way in which the investment framework has changed over time in developing countries and the implications for the success and efficiency of foreign direct investment (FDI) ventures. This report discusses the growth of FDI in the world economy and its role in emerging markets, describes the role of IFC in providing policy advice related to FDI (and the IFC's experience as an investor alongside FDI in developing countries), and draws lessons for how to structure FDI projects and policies to attract such investments. Annexes present and describe global FDI flows, FDI projects involving IFC investment and FIAS advisory assignments, and FDI projects examined in preparing this study. Also available: French (0-8213-4212-6) Stock No. 14212; Spanish (0-8213-4213-4) Stock No. 14213.
