Household vulnerability to weather shocks and changing climatic conditions has become a major concern in developing countries. Yet the empirical evidence remains limited on the impact that changing environmental conditions have on households. This book explores climate change adaptation using a social resilience approach. The book is based on primary data from the Sundarbans, a densely populated area located across parts of Bangladesh and India (West Bengal) which is highly vulnerable to extreme weather events and climate change. The focus is on assessing how households are affected by cyclones: whether they are able to cope with, adapt to and recover from events and changes; whether they are warned ahead of time; whether they benefit from government safety nets and other social programs; and finally whether they are driven to either temporary or permanent migration. This assessment leads to a better understanding of how exposure to an area of climate change vulnerability and risk affects and shapes human responses.

Household vulnerability to weather shocks and changing climatic conditions has become a major concern in developing countries. Yet the empirical evidence remains limited on the impact that changing environmental conditions have on households. This book explores climate change adaptation using a social resilience approach. The book is based on primary data from the Sundarbans, a densely populated area located across parts of Bangladesh and India (West Bengal) which is highly vulnerable to extreme weather events and climate change. The focus is on assessing how households are affected by cyclones: whether they are able to cope with, adapt to and recover from events and changes; whether they are warned ahead of time; whether they benefit from government safety nets and other social programs; and finally whether they are driven to either temporary or permanent migration. This assessment leads to a better understanding of how exposure to an area of climate change vulnerability and risk affects and shapes human responses.

The Economics of Faith-Based Service Delivery provides the first ever comprehensive empirical assessment of the role that faith-inspired institutions (FIIs) play in the supply of health care and education services in sub-Saharan Africa. Wodon focuses on estimating the market share, reach to the poor, and cost for households that rely on FIIs as opposed to public and private secular providers of education and health care services. He also analyzes the causes of user reliance on FIIs, the comparative performance of FIIs, and the level of satisfaction among those that use their services. The Economics of Faith-Based Service Delivery is an innovate combination of previously untapped nationally representative household surveys, qualitative fieldwork, and insights from the fields of religious studies and social economics.

The authors provide a rigorous assessment of the activities of Rotary, a global service organisation founded in 1905 that implements projects and helps build goodwill and peace throughout the world. Using data for a district, this book documents the reasons why club members, or Rotarians, join the organisation, how the organisation could further grow, the amount of service provided in terms of volunteer hours, the funds raised by members for social projects, and the various types of projects members are involved in.

This study provides a diagnostic of access to and affordability of water and sanitation in Uganda, focusing on services for the poor, and using the most recent qualitative and household survey data.

This study provides a diagnostic of residential network water in Uganda, focusing on access and affordability for the poor, and using data from the latest national household survey.

Countries regularly track gross domestic product (GDP) as an indicator of their economic progress, but not wealth - the assets such as infrastructure, forests, minerals, and human capital that produce GDP. In contrast, corporations routinely report on both their income and assets to assess their economic health and prospects for the future. Wealth accounts allow countries to take stock of their assets to monitor the sustainability of development, an urgent concern today for all countries. The Changing Wealth of Nations 2018: Building a Sustainable Future covers national wealth for 141 countries over 20 years (1995-2014) as the sum of produced capital, 19 types of natural capital, net foreign assets, and human capital overall as well as by gender and type of employment. Great progress has been made in estimating wealth since the fi rst volume, Where Is the Wealth of Nations? Measuring Capital for the 21st Century, was published in 2006. New data substantially improve estimates of natural capital, and, for the first time, human capital is measured by using household surveys to estimate lifetime earnings. The Changing Wealth of Nations 2018 begins with a review of global and regional trends in wealth over the past two decades and provides examples of how wealth accounts can be used for the analysis of development patterns. Several chapters discuss the new work on human capital and its application in development policy. The book then tackles elements of natural capital that are not yet fully incorporated in the wealth accounts: air pollution, marine fisheries, and ecosystems. This book targets policy makers but will engage anyone committed to building a sustainable future for the planet.

This publication presents findings on early childhood development policies in Indonesia at the national, provincial, and district levels. In addition, the authors compare Indonesia's early childhood development policies to other countries that have comparable policy data on early childhood development.

Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: Comparing Faith-Inspired, Private Secular, and Public Schools is part of the World Bank Studies series. These papers are published to communicate the results of the Bank s ongoing research and to stimulate public discussion. The purpose of this study is to build a stronger evidence base on the role of faith-inspired, private secular, and public schools in sub-Saharan Africa using nationally representative household surveys as well as qualitative data. Six main fi ndings emerge from the study: 1. Across a sample of 16 countries, the average market share for faith-inspired schools is at 10 15 percent, and the market share for private secular schools is of a similar order of magnitude. 2. On average, faith-inspired schools do not reach the poor more than other groups; they also do not reach the poor more than public schools, but they do reach the poor signifi cantly more than private secular schools. 3. The cost of faith-inspired schools for households is higher than that of public schools, possibly because of a lack of access to public funding, but lower than that of private secular schools. 4. Faith-inspired and private secular schools have higher satisfaction rates among parents than public schools. 5. Parents using faith-inspired schools place a stronger emphasis on religious education and moral values. 6. Students in faith-inspired and private secular schools perform better than those in public schools, but this may be due in part to self-selection."

In the past decade the global financial assistance for AIDS responses increased tremendously and the donor community provided greater resources to community responses. Yet little is known about the global magnitude of these resources and their allocation among HIV and AIDS activities and services. To address this knowledge gap, this report pulls together evidence from several different sources (donor data bases, surveys of civil society organisations, country funding profiles) to determine, among other things, how funds are reaching civil society and community-based organisations, how these funds are being used, and the degree to which these organisations rely on other sources of funding. The analysis suggests that funding flows have increased dramatically for civil society organisations (CSOs), reaching at least $690 million per year on average during the period 2003 - 2009. However, much smaller funding is reaching organisations at local level. The report documents the impact achieved by this funding. Traditionally, civil society organisations have been perceived at times to be providers of humanitarian aid, innovators in implementing responses adapted to local needs, or inefficient actors diverting public funds from more effective uses. The report argues that current evidence shows that community responses play a useful complementary role to national AIDS programs that has been achieved with relatively little funding. Contrary to a widespread view, the report highlights that community responses add resources to national programs. In Kenya, Nigeria and Zimbabwe, substantial mobilisation of resources in the form of volunteers are mobilised by communities. There is a strong risk that in the current environment of increased resource scarcity, prevention programs implemented by civil society organisations would be cut unless there is strong evidence of value for money being generated. Community-based organisations are ill equipped to answer that question, but there is scope for improving the results that they generate. The report argues that improving coordination with national programs, strengthening consistency between local activities and HIV epidemics, building stronger network of civil society organisations, and mobilising sustainable funding are the most important ways for community responses to move forward and address the challenges faced by community responses.

Despite substantial progress towards peace, economic growth, and better governance since 2003, Liberia remains one of the poorest countries in the world. The objective of this study is twofold. First it is to provide a basic diagnostic of both consumption-based poverty and human development (especially education and health) in the country using the 2007 CWIQ (Core Welfare Indicators Questionnaire) survey. Second, it is to assess the likely impact on the poor of the recent economic crisis, and especially the increase in rice prices, and to document the targeting performance of various measures taken by the government in 2008/09 to help the poor cope with the crisis. These measures included a reduction in import taxes for rice, a reform of the personal income tax, and the implementation of a cash for work temporary employment program.

This study provides a diagnostic of the benefit incidence and targeting performance of a large number of social programs in Ghana. Both broad-based programs (such as spending for education and health, and subsidies for food, oil-related products and electricity) as well as targetd programs (such as LEAP, the indigent exemption under the NHIS, school lunches and uniforms, or fertilizer subsidies) are considered. In addition, the study provides tools and recommendations for better targeting of those programs in the future. The tools include new maps and data sets for geographic targeting according to poverty and food security, as well as ways to implement proxy means-testing. The purpose of this introductory chapter is to provide a brief synthesis of the key findings and messages from the study. This volume discusses the level of Dutch individual involvement in culture (various forms of arts and cultural heritage). Trends in participation are treated against the background of what the cultural field offers the Dutch population. In addition to "cultural consumption" (visiting a theater or going to the movies) this work also views active creative activity (painting, playing music, acting) and the use of the mass media for cultural purposes. Women appear to be more interested in most cultural forms than are men; highly educated people participate more than those with lower levels of education, although participation levels of the higher educated are declining somewhat; and, among the middle aged, popular rather than high arts are on the rise. The book concludes by discussing scenarios for a future in which the cultural field faces increased competition over the leisure time of Dutch citizens. Frank Huysmans, Andries van den Broek and Jos de Haan are part of the research group on Time, Media and Culture of the Social and Cultural Planning Office in The Hague, Netherlands.

While public-private partnerships in education in the United States have received a lot of attention, research on such partnerships elsewhere has been limited-even though such partnerships have been steadily gaining prominence, particularly in developing countries. Aiming to fill this gap, this book presents fresh, technically sound empirical evidence on the effectiveness and cost of various public-private education partnerships from around the world, including voucher programs and faith-based schools. The evidence on the impact in terms of school performance, targeting, and cost of public-private partnerships is mixed. Some evidence suggests that voucher schools outperform public schools, but the difference between both types of schools is not as large as one might think, and is often smaller than simple statistics suggest. Evidence on faith-based schools tends to show slightly better performance than public schools, but this is not the case in all countries. While in some countries faith-based schools reach the poor better than public schools, in other countries the reverse is observed. As for the private costs of education, evidence shows that costs depend on the systems in place in each country, but that when school choice is limited, parents can still influence the performance of their children through private expenditure for tutoring. More rigorous studies on such partnerships, particularly in developing countries, are necessary.

While consumer utility subsidies are widespread in both the water and electricity sectors, their effectiveness in reaching and distributing resources to the poor is the subject of much debate. Water, Electricity, and the Poor brings together empirical evidence on subsidy performance across a wide range of countries. It documents the prevalence of consumer subsidies, provides a typology of the many variants found in the developing world, and presents a number of indicators useful in assessing the degree to which such subsidies benefit the poor, focusing on three key concepts: beneficiary incidence, benefit incidence, and materiality. The findings on subsidy performance will be useful to policy makers, utility regulators, and sector practitioners who are contemplating introducing, eliminating, or modifying utility subsidies, and to those who view consumer utility subsidies as a social protection instrument.

This volume is devoted to an assessment of the performance and selected aspects of the management and pedagogical practices of Fe y Alegria, a federation of Jesuit schools serving approximately one million children in 20 countries, mostly in Latin America. Many observers consider Fe y Alegria a successful organization, but very few rigorous evaluations have been conducted. The available quantitative evidence suggests that the federation's schools often do reach the poor, and that students in Fe y Alegria schools tend to perform as well on test scores, if not slightly better, than comparable students in other schools. Qualitative data and case studies suggest that the factors that lead to good performance are complex and related not only to the types of 'inputs' or resources used by the schools in the education process, but also to the management of these resources and the ability to implement and test innovative programs. Other factors that support this argument include the capacity and fl exibility to implement and test innovative programs that take into account the local realities. This volume will be of interest to researchers, policy makers, and practitioners working on education and public-private partnerships, and especially to those interested in what is now commonly being referred to as the 'science of delivery.'

Poverty reduction challenges in the twenty-first century are not the same as those from the previous century. The shift is due in no small part to climate change and climate-related weather disasters, such as extreme flood and drought. The magnitude and frequency of such events are only expected to increase in the coming decades, affecting more and more impoverished people across the globe. Poverty Reduction in a Changing Climate, edited by Hari Bansha Dulal, is a work which discusses the new innovations and funding mechanisms which have emerged in response to the rise of climate-related challenges in the twenty-first century. Dulal and the text's contributors explore the synergies and implications of those innovations with respect to poverty alleviation goals. This collection brings together a range of scholars from different backgrounds, ranging from political science, economics, public policy, and environmental science, all analyzing poverty reduction challenges and opportunities from different, forward-thinking perspectives.

Poverty reduction challenges in the twenty-first century are not the same as those from the previous century. The shift is due in no small part to climate change and climate-related weather disasters, such as extreme flood and drought. The magnitude and frequency of such events are only expected to increase in the coming decades, affecting more and more impoverished people across the globe. Poverty Reduction in a Changing Climate, edited by Hari Bansha Dulal, is a work which discusses the new innovations and funding mechanisms which have emerged in response to the rise of climate-related challenges in the twenty-first century. Dulal and the text's contributors explore the synergies and implications of those innovations with respect to poverty alleviation goals. This collection brings together a range of scholars from different backgrounds, ranging from political science, economics, public policy, and environmental science, all analyzing poverty reduction challenges and opportunities from different, forward-thinking perspectives.

La mayoria de los observadores consideran que Fe y Alegria es una organizacion exitosa, pero pocas evaluaciones de caracter riguroso se han realizado hasta el momento. Las contribuciones a este volumen estan dedicadas a la evaluacion del desempeno y de algunos aspectos de la gestion y las practicas pedagogicas de la federacion Fe y Alegria, un movimiento impulsado por la Compania de Jesus que presta servicios a aproximadamente un millon de personas en 20 paises, en su mayoria en America Latina. La evidencia cuantitativa disponible sugiere que las escuelas de la federacion frecuentemente favorecen a las personas mas pobres, y que los estudiantes de los colegios Fe y Alegria tienden a rendir igual, si no ligeramente mejor, que otros estudiantes comparables en otras escuelas, en los resultados de los examenes estandarizados. Los datos cualitativos y los estudios de caso sugieren que los factores que conducen a buenos resultados son complejos y estan relacionados no solo con los tipos de inputs o de recursos utilizados por las escuelas en el proceso educativo, sino tambien con la gestion de estos recursos y con la capacidad y la flexibilidad para implementar y probar programas innovadores que tengan en cuenta las realidades locales. Este volumen esta orientado a investigadores, hacedores de politica y practicantes interesados en la prestacion de servicios a traves de alianzas publico-privadas y en particular, por organizaciones basadas en la fe. CAPITULO 1 EL DESEMPENO DE LOS ESCUELAS FE Y ALEGRIA Y SUS PRACTICAS: SINOPSIS Este capitulo presenta una breve resena de las contribuciones a este volumen dedicadas a la evaluacion del desempeno y de algunos aspectos de la gestion y las practicas pedagogicas de la federacion Fe y Alegria, un movimiento impulsado por la Compania de Jesus que presta servicios a aproximadamente un millon de personas en 20 paises, en su mayoria en America Latina. La evidencia cuantitativa disponible sugiere que las escuelas de la federacion frecuentemente favorecen a las personas mas pobres, y que los estudiantes de los colegios Fe y Alegria tienden a rendir igual, si no ligeramente mejor, que otros estudiantes comparables en otras escuelas, en los resultados de los examenes estandarizados. Los datos cualitativos y los estudios de caso sugieren que los factores que conducen a buenos resultados son complejos y estan relacionados no solo con los tipos de inputs o de recursos utilizados por las escuelas en el proceso educativo, sino tambien con la gestion de estos recursos y con la capacidad y la flexibilidad para implementar y probar programas innovadores que tengan en cuenta las realidades locales. CAPITULO 2 EL DESEMPENO DE SISTEMAS ESCOLARES DESCENTRALIZADOS: EVIDENCIA SOBRE FE Y ALEGRIA EN LA REPUBLICA BOLIVARIANA DE VENEZUELA Esta evaluacion estima los efectos sobre los resultados de examenes estandarizados de graduarse del sistema privado de escuelas Fe y Alegria en Venezuela. Encontramos un efecto promedio del tratamiento del orden de 0.1 desviaciones estandar, usando como grupo control a estudiantes de un conjunto de escuelas publicas. Sostenemos que los mejores resultados de Fe y Alegria se deben a su mayor flexibilidad a la hora de contratar y a la estructura administrativa descentralizada. CAPITULO 3 EL DESEMPENO DE LOS ESTUDIANTES DE SECUNDARIA EN LOS COLEGIOS FE Y ALEGRIA EN COLOMBIA: UNA CUESTION DE FE Y/O ALEGRIA? Este capitulo analiza el desempeno de los colegios Fe y Alegria en Colombia usando puntajes de lenguaje y matematicas en el ultimo ano de secundaria. Estadisticas descriptivas sugieren que los estudiantes en colegios Fe y Alegria obtienen puntajes mas bajos para todos los anos incluidos en el analisis. Sin embargo, los colegios Fe y Alegria tienden a estar ubicados en zonas mas pobres y reciben estudiantes con caracteristicas socioeconomicas que desfavorecen su desempeno academico. Una vez se controla por dichas caracteristicas usando tecnicas de pareo, y despues de balancear los grupos de tratamiento y de control, los colegios Fe y Alegria tienen al menos tan buen desempeno, y en algunos casos mejor desempeno que otros colegios, revirtiendo los resultados iniciales. CAPITULO 4 ESCUELAS DE FE Y ALEGRIA EN EL PERU: ANALISIS DEL MODELO DE GESTION INSTITUCIONAL Y PEDAGOGICA Y LECCIONES PARA LA EDUCACION PUBLICA Fe y Alegria constituye un ejemplo de un sistema educacional gestionado privadamente y financiado de modo compartido. En Peru, las escuelas gozan de un alto nivel de autonomia para establecer sus lineas directrices y en la toma de decisiones. Dos estudios muestran que las escuelas Fe y Alegria tienen mejores indicadores de eficiencia interna y de rendimiento que en escuelas publicas comparables. Usando entrevistas a personajes clave y grupos focales, este capitulo analiza los factores que explican el exito de las escuelas Fe y Alegria. Dichos factores incluyen el alto grado de independencia para la generacion y gestion de recursos; un clima institucional favorable; la seleccion, acompanamiento, supervision y capacitacion de docentes; mayor autonomia y autoridad para los directores de escuelas; y la adaptabilidad a la realidad local. CAPITULO 5 LECTO ESCRITURA EN PRIMARIA El aprendizaje de la lectura y escritura es determinante en todo el aprendizaje posterior, ya que la mayoria de los aprendizajes en la escuela hacen uso de la lectura y escritura, y a medida que se avanza de curso se aumenta el uso de textos escritos que es el medio de trasmision de conocimiento mas extendido, barato y eficaz. Existen varias razones por las que se lanzo un nuevo programa de lecto-escritura en los colegios Fe y Alegria en Chile: i) se encontro que muchos estudiantes leian en forma deficiente y esto dificultaba el aprendizaje; ii) el aprendizaje de bajo nivel en lectura y escritura no se alcanzaba a cubrir en primer ano basico; y iii) habia un grupo de estudiantes a los que no se les podia ensenar a leer. El nuevo programa, basado en un diagnostico exhaustivo qu

This volume provides a set of six case studies from West Africa. These assess the benefits of growth (or the costs of a lack of growth) in terms of poverty reduction in those countries. The first part of this book describes the experience of two countries (Ghana and Senegal) that achieved high levels of growth in the 1990s, and that also experienced important reductions in poverty, even though growth was not strictly pro-poor. The second part describes the experience of two other countries (Burkina Faso and Cape Verde) that also achieved high levels of growth in the 1990s, but where there was an initial perception that growth did not lead to much poverty reduction. The more detailed analysis of poverty presented here suggests however that these two countries did witness a sharp reduction in their population share in poverty, as would have been expected given their growth record. Finally, in the third part, the authors argue that a lack of growth in the 1990s in Guinea-Bissau and Nigeria has been a key reason for their persistently high levels of poverty. Overall, the case studies make a strong case for the positive impact of growth on poverty reduction in West Africa. However, they also point to the need to pay close attention to changes in inequality, because such changes have limited the gains from growth for the poor in several of the countries considered here.

Relying on contributions from the International Movement ATD Fourth World, this book deals with questions such as: What does it mean to live in poverty, and especially in extreme poverty? How can very poor people be reached through development projects? How can we assess whether projects succeed in changing the lives of the poorest individuals? In answering these questions, the emphasis is on exploring what type of knowledge is needed to fight extreme poverty. A key argument is that apart from academic knowledge, a concerted effort is needed to listen to the knowledge of poor people themselves, as well as to the knowledge of practitioners who are engaged with them on a daily basis to fight poverty. After the introductory chapter, the text of a speech by Joseph Wresinski (founder of the International Movement ATD Fourth World) at a congress of social scientists held at UNESCO, is reproduced. The next contribution is based on comments by the International Movement ATD Fourth World on the World Bank's 'World Development Report 2004 Making Services Work for Poor People'. Thereafter, case studies are provided on participatory approaches to attacking extreme poverty in both developing countries (Madagascar and Tanzania, as well as Bolivia, Guatemala, and Peru) and developed countries (the United States and Belgium).

"During the 1990's a number of countries in Latin America including Argentina, Bolivia and Chile, developed policies focused on utility sector liberalization through increased private sector participation. This focus resulted from the recognition that overall quality and availability of services were inadequate. Infrastructure reform is inexorably linked to poverty alleviation and therefore must be carefully constructed and enacted.

This book provides practical guidelines and options for infrastructure reform that result in access and affordability for the poor. Accounting for Poverty in Infrastructure Reform: Learning from Latin America's Experience includes analysis of the trade-offs that must be made between efficiency, equity, and fiscal costs of the options. It includes a new model for reform that consists of three main components - policies, regulation, and provision which when properly balanced minimize the risks associated with reform."