Primary

The report analyzes the relevance, and, to the extent possible, the efficacy of the Bank's assistance to India from a gender perspective. Relevance is judged by the degree of gender awareness displayed in the Bank's own actions, inputs, and processes, thus with this in view, the paper examines the extent to which the Bank has succeeded in the integration of measures that address gender disparities into country assistance programming. Efficacy on the other hand, is measured by information on outcomes, and impacts of the Bank's strategy.

This paper offers the World Bank's assessment of the present-day situation in the social sectors in Pakistan. Drawing upon past experience and recent reform efforts, the paper offers some advice on what can and should be done to accelerate progress in reaching global health and education development goals, and improving human development outcomes for Pakistan's people, especially the poor.

Guinea is one of the few countries world-wide to have sustained over an entire decade the primary school enrollment rate increases necessary to achieve the key Dakar education-for-all goals without degradation of quality. Gross enrollment rate increased almost 10% annually from 1991-2001, with girls' enrollment increasing at 12% annually each year. Gross primary enrollments increased from 28% to 61% over this ten-year period, in spite of a weak macroeconomic environment.

Investing in every child at an early age is an investment in human, and economic development for all. Children born in poverty are far more likely to grow undeveloped in both body, and mind. Science tells us that early child development (ECD) is critical, and marks a child for life, and, young children who are well nurtured, do better in school, and develop the skills to compete in a global economy.

Using a worldwide panel data set from the period 1990-98 and a stochastic frontier estimation method, this paper measures the efficiency of countries in improving net primary enrollment and life expectancy. Per capita GDP, per capita expenditures on the respective social sectors and the adult literacy rate are used as inputs in the estimation of the production frontiers, which are allowed to vary by region.

Africa must replace a reliance on natural resources, with a flexible educated, and healthy workforce; but in making this transition, its greatest challenges will be in improving, and expanding educational opportunity, with solutions being increasingly sought in distance education, and information and communication technologies (ICTs) to enhance quality, and access, and to stimulate educational reform.

The Development Committee reviewed the paper, Education for Dynamic Economies: Accelerating Progress Towards Education for All (EFA). The paper assessed progress and identified key issues and challenges in meeting the goals of universal primary education. It concluded that these goals were unlikely to be attained without accelerated action at the country level and a scaling up of international support.

The objectives of this paper are: (i) to describe and quantify the role that education plays in determining poverty and (ii) to provide concrete policy recommendations for the government about how best to improve education for the poor in Guatemala. Current statistics show Guatemala is Poor: the World Bank's World Development Report (2000/2001) reported that 39.8 percent of Guatemala's population of about 11 million live on less than US$1.00 per day while 64.3 percent live on less than US$2.00 per day.

The author uses regression and matching techniques to evaluate Indonesia's Social Safety Net Scholarships Program, which was developed to keep large numbers of children from dropping out of school as a result of the Asian crisis. It was expected that many families would find it difficult to keep their children in school and that dropout rates would be high, as they were during a recession in the 1980s. But dropouts did not increase markedly and enrollment rates remained relatively steady. The author examines the role the scholarship program played in producing this result.

The articles included in this special report reflect the imperative issue of youth involvement as it was highlighted in those venues. The challenges that emerged cannot be avoided by societies around the world as we move on to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, which will lay the foundation of a better future.