Publication

Investing in human capital is essential if Tanzania is to develop economically. Reduce poverty and achieve the aspirations articulated in Development Vision 2025. This economic update discusses where Tanzania stands in terms of its investments in human capital. The analysis is part of the World Bank Human Capital Project (HCP). It relies on both the Human Capital Index (HCI) and data on human capital wealth (HCW). One HCP aim is to measure how much social sectors, among them health and nutrition, education, social protection, and labor, contribute to worker productivity.

This policy note is developed with the aim to inform the planning and implementation of the policy goals toward parenting support in Bulgaria. First, it summarizes the trends and concepts in parenting policies that influence the evolution of programs across Europe and other countries. Second, it offers a brief review of parenting components under the public policies in Bulgaria to foster discussions on the policy arrangements and implementation programs design needed to strengthen the outcomes of the existing systems and human development policies.

This report provides updated analysis on the current distribution of resources in preuniversityeducation and identifies directions for further policy analysis, but it does not provide comprehensive policy recommendations. This report provides updated available analysis on sector priorities, demographic trends, coverage, system performance and education outcomes, with a focus on the current distribution of resources in pre-university education in selected entities and cantons.

The economy is recovering slowly from drought, but Somalia continues to face significant challenges.The Somali economy rebounded in 2018 from the 2016/17 drought.Public finances continued to strengthen in 2018.Credit to the private sector grew rapidly in 2018, and Somalia’s financial sector supervisory capacity continued to strengthen.The current account deficit declined slightly.The medium-term outlook is for a moderate increase in GDP growth.This outlook is subject to significant risks and depends on continued policy reforms.

Moldova has made significant progress in economic growth and poverty reduction since 2000, but the growth model has mainly relied on remittances, with limited job creation (World Bank, 2016a; Merroto et al., 2016). To sustain this progress and to catch up with the living standards of other countries in the region, Moldova requires a new growth model which is driven by higher private sector growth and creation of more and better jobs.

The objective of this report is to fill the observed knowledge gaps on skills supply in Moldova by providing the first findings from the Moldova Skills Measurement Survey (MSMS). The rest of the report is structured as follows: Next section briefly describes the Moldova Skills Measurement Survey and provides definitions of the skills used in this survey, with more technical details provided in Annex A.

The report has three main chapters. Chapter two examines the financing situation of the Kenyan higher education system, presents the results of a scenario-building exercise to explore the financial impact of various expansion paths, and proposes a strategy to achieve financial sustainability. Chapter three focuses on the quality and relevance of existing institutions and programs. It starts with an assessment of the present state of Kenyan higher education institutions. It continues with a review of options to strengthen the QA system at the national and institutional levels.

This report assesses the key constraints on the supply of (quantity and quality) and demand for early childhood development (ECD) services for pregnant women and children under the age of five in Armenia and puts forth recommendations on how to improve access to ECD services for poor and socially vulnerable families. The government of the Republic of Armenia, with support from the World Bank and other development partners, is currently expanding the existing social work system in Armenia to more actively link vulnerable families to ECD services.

Good education changes lives. It is therefore unsurprising that improved schooling plays a central part in most development strategies. At the same time, the expansion of school attainment alone is not sufficient to guarantee improved welfare. This open access book focuses on one country in West Africa, Togo, to explore what a country that has successfully increased enrollment rates can do to enhance learning outcomes.

The authors explore the effects of decentralization on education and health in Ethiopia using an original database covering all of the country’s regions and woredas (local governments). Ethiopia is a remarkable case in which war, famine and chaos in the 1970s-1980s were followed by federalization, decentralization, rapid growth and dramatic improvements in human development. Did decentralization contribute to these successes?