Decentralization and democratization in the Latin America and the Caribbean region have produced a wave of innovations on the local government level upgrading professional staffs, raising taxes and user fees, delivering better services, and mobilizing participation in public choice-making. This...

The central objective of the research summarized in this report was to explore the ways and means of reforming State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) to achieve efficiency, profitability and accountability. Specifically, this project sought to: (i) survey international experience in SOE reform; (ii)...

Countries the world over have launched ambitious privatization programs to improve the efficiency of state enterprises, free up resources for social services, and mobilize capital for expansion and modernization. A universal concern in this process is the effect privatization has on labor. Many...

Six years into the transition from planned to market economies in Central and Eastern Europe, high unemployment rates, including a growing proportion of the long-term unemployed, represent a serious challenge to social welfare systems and policymakers. This paper analyzes labor market...

Early childhood development (ECD) has become a high priority for the government of Kosovo in the last decade. Kosovo has a relatively well-established legal framework supporting early childhood development (ECD). Systems Approach for Better Education Results - Early Childhood Development...

This report presents an analysis of the Early Childhood Development (ECD) subsector, including programs and policies that affect young children in the Solomon Islands. This was a collaborative effort between UNICEF and World Bank Group, as it combines World Bank Group's SABER-ECD framework,...

This report presents an analysis of the Early Childhood Development (ECD) subsector, including programs and policies that affect young children in the Republic of Kiribati. This was a collaborative effort between UNICEF and the World Bank Group; it combines the World Bank Group's Systems...

Tajikistan's human capital, eroded by the country's civil war (1992-97), remains low today. According to analyses by the World Bank's Human Capital Project, a child born in Tajikistan today is expected to be 53 percent as productive as he or she could be with full health and complete education....

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...