Civil service reconstruction is important in post-conflict countries because conflict erodes institutions and civil service capacity. And because successful reconstruction-in all sectors-requires domestic capacity to implement projects, a weak civil service undermines overall reconstruction...

The objective of the project (IDA credit of $100 million over the period 1997-2001) was to assist the Government of Ghana to increase economic growth by (a) maintaining, rehabilitating and reconstructing roads and (b) ensuring sustained improvements in the road sector by (i) developing and...

In January 2003, the Eritrean Ministry of Health prepared a National Strategic Plan on HIV/AIDS for 2003-2007. In an effort to boost progress in the Community Managed Response (CMR) component of the plan, the government and the World Bank explored the rapid results approach to accelerate the...

This project (1996-2001), whose total cost was $1.6 million, intended to (a) protect critically endangered biodiversity of international importance by restoring degraded small island habitats and propagating and reintroducing endemic species to these habitats; and (b) strengthen capacity for the...

This note shows the results of the "Clean Air Initiative in Sub-Saharan African Cities," a study to evaluate air pollution launched and coordinated by the World Bank. The following items are addressed: (i) estimation of the present global level of air pollution in Cotonou; (ii) determination of...

When the government of President Museveni assumed power in Uganda in 1986, it took over a shattered postwar economy. Market-oriented reforms led to a remarkable recovery. International Development Association (IDA) operations in Uganda initially tackled economic recovery, rehabilitation, and...

An accurate estimate of public expenditure flows must start from the distribution and recording systems which would permit accurate tracking. While the strategies to improve these systems in Ghana are beyond the scope of this study, it presents here the problems encountered while trying to track...

The note looks at the evidence from the Zimbabwe drought in 1994-95, and points at the effects of weather-related shocks (although often other shocks as well can drastically affect incomes), of which not all households can smooth consumption as desired. Rather, many households maintain...

The Government of Tanzania has, in recent years, focused on revitalizing its mining sector in order to attract foreign investment, with the goal of raising its contribution to Tanzania's Gross Domestic Product. With the support from the World Bank through the Mineral Sector Development Project...

Commercial Agricultural Production (CAP) was a United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded technical assistance project implemented by the US development consulting firm Chemonics International between 1994 and 1999. This brief presents major achievements of CAP, benefits...