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This book demonstrates that in the case of very poor countries, policies aimed at universal provision of education and health services benefit the poor significantly more than more expensive targeted schemes. The book draws attention to the absolute need for coherence and co-ordination so that schools are not built without teachers and dispensaries without drugs. Moreover, national macroeconomic policies have to be realistic if the health and education sectors are not to be deprived of resources. Finally, the quality of governance is shown to have a direct effect on the efficiency of social spending.

When setting spending priorities in education and health, countries all too often target expensive schemes which can be shown only to benefit specific sections of the population, often the non-poor. The building of certain urban hospitals and universities may fall into this category. Wherever expenditure is directed to universal schemes, such as establishing rural and urban clinics, kindergartens and primary schools, however, the poor can be shown to benefit more. This book pleads for a series of policy orientations leading towards pro-poor health and education spending.

This book challenges the assumption that the major benefits of investment in rural education accrue to traditional agricultural activities, such as staples production. Indeed, rural economies are much more complex than such an assumption would allow and the benefits from education are, therefore, rather dispersed, and vary significantly according to the level of educational attainment achieved. The authors have carried out a survey of rural households in Mexico, taking into account educational levels, not only of the head of household, but also of the other members of the family. Their overriding purpose is to present an approach for analysing education-migration-productivity interactions, to test this approach using real-world data, and to draw relevant conclusions for educational and development policy. The result is an analytical tool of great practical interest for policy makers, as well as for specialists who might wish to extend the technique to other societies and situations.

This report draws a range of new analyses and case studies carried out in preparation for the Accra High-Level Forum held in September 2008. It it is organized into four parts. Part 1 examines trends in aid for health from a global perspective, focusing both on how increases in aid finance have been used, and on financing modalities and patterns that impact on the implementation of the Paris declaration. Part 2 then draws on a series of country cases studies-including Rwanda, Uganda, Cambodia, Vietnam, Ethiopia, the Kyrgyz Republic, Mali and Tanzania-looking at practical experience from the perspective of the main pillars of the Paris Declaration. Part 3 examines current issues and future directions, highlighting new work on predictable financing, showcasing developments in mutual accountability through country compacts, and innovations in cross-cutting issues such as gender and human rights. Part 4 summarizes the key messages and recommendations following the structure and format of the Accra Agenda for Action.

In this collection of essays, renowned authors from various disciplines have drawn on supply chain analysis and industry studies to elucidate how NICT — new information and communications technologies — like mobile telephony and the Internet have been affecting low-income communities and small entrepreneurs from Bangladesh to South Africa. The general conclusion is sobering. NICT is no panacea for low productivity and profitability in emerging countries hampered by weak infrastructure, limited managerial expertise, poor quality control, and severe market distortions. Companies anywhere must nonetheless be “wired” to have any chance of competing in the global marketplace and perhaps reach hitherto inaccessible customers.

Emerging Africa is based on the fundamental conviction that, unless growth resumes, poverty cannot be reduced in the least developed countries. This study analyses the factors underlying the renewed dynamism of certain African economies in the 1990s. Several countries are, indeed, trying to meet the challenge of building the three pillars of sustainable growth -- capital accumulation, productivity gains and institutional reforms -- in order to combat long-term poverty.

The authors identify the countries that are on the way to sustained growth and, on the basis of case studies, the policies they have put in place to further the reform process. These policies are presented with a view to advising both emerging African economies and those seeking to join them.

With a share of 36%, youth (aged 12-30) represent more than one-third of the total population in Jordan. Public governance is critical for supporting youth’s transition to full autonomy and providing opportunities for their participation in economic, social and public life. The COVID-19 has hit young people in Jordan hard and has underlined the importance of access to high-quality public services and to opportunities to participate in decision making. This report provides an analysis of the governance arrangements put in place by the Government of Jordan to deliver youth-responsive policy outcomes with a focus on five areas: 1) Jordan’s National Youth Strategy 2019-25, 2) Institutional capacities of the Ministry of Youth, 3) Governance tools to mainstream youth’s considerations in policy making and service delivery, 4) Youth participation and representation in public life and 5) Youth-responsive legal frameworks.

Women’s unequal share of unpaid care work can prevent their full participation in the economies of developing countries; however, care needs are growing globally. How can governments and development partners meet the needs of families and communities, while ensuring that all citizens benefit from economic opportunities and fair remuneration? As part of the OECD Policy Dialogue on Women’s Economic Empowerment, this report focuses on identifying what works to address unpaid care work and sheds light on how governments, donors in the private sector and civil society actors – among others – can design policies to support both those who need care and those who provide care. The report brings together existing knowledge of policy options for unpaid care work across regions, in four policy areas: infrastructure, social protection, public services and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household.

This booklet highlights key lessons learned on engaging with the public based on DAC members’ practices as documented in peer reviews, DevCom’s reports and publications and wider work from across the OECD. It includes examples from DAC members’ experiences and sketches out challenges they continue to face as they move toward more strategic, effective and innovative engagement with citizens and taxpayers on development co-operation.

Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have recorded impressive economic growth rates since 2000, driven mainly by the export of commodities and labour. However, the end of the commodity super-cycle and the recent economic slowdown highlighted the risks inherent in this reliance on minerals exports and remittances, as well as the challenges to be overcome to achieve more stable and inclusive growth. The Central Asian countries have long recognised the importance of enhancing the competitiveness of their economies, diversifying the production structures and improving the resilience to external shocks. This will require ambitious reforms in three areas: governance, connectivity, and business environment. This publication focuses mostly on aspects of the business environment and reflects several years of OECD work with Central Asian countries on access to finance, business internationalisation and skills development. Each of the country case studies presented here is the result of a country-specific project carried out by the OECD, hand-in-hand with the governments of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan.

This report aims to support the development of a sound economic regulatory system for the water supply and sanitation (WSS) sector in the Republic of Moldova (hereafter “Moldova”). The prevailing policy framework calls for drastic developments in WSS to modernise and optimise WSS systems and improve operational efficiency (non-revenue water, staff-output ratios etc.) – in line with domestic and international commitments (including the Association Agreement with the European Union, the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement and the national WSS strategy). This report outlines ways and means for strengthening the capacity of the Moldovan government to provide sound regulation and that of WSS operators to deliver higher standards of service while ensuring the affordability of WSS services. Such a transition cannot happen overnight. It requires a sound economic regulatory system conducive to affordability, cost recovery and debt servicing, and a realistic performance improvement path for water utilities.

This report looks at how governments can ensure that everyone has access to justice, and that justice processes and services are responsive to people’s needs. Based on lessons derived from people-centred service delivery, the report identifies access to justice principles and promising practices, as well as measurement tools and indicators to help countries monitor their progress. It sets out a framework for people-centred service design and delivery that can be applied to the entire legal and justice chain. Drawing on over five years of research and collaboration with OECD member countries and partner economies, the report contributes to our collective understanding of effective access to justice and the crucial role it plays in inclusive and sustainable growth and development.

How can fossil fuel producers and mineral-rich developing countries design realistic, just and cost-effective low-carbon transition pathways? Taking into account the heterogeneity of low-carbon trajectories, the Equitable Framework and Finance for Extractive-based Countries in Transition (EFFECT) provides options for policy makers, industry and finance institutions in search of the answers. The report aims to help them seize the transformational opportunities linked to sustainable, low-carbon growth. It identifies ways of mitigating the transition’s impacts on fossil fuel industries, workers and poor households, and of preventing the risks of high-carbon lock-in and stranded assets. Recognising the shared responsibility of consuming and producing countries in reducing fossil fuel production and use, EFFECT advocates for transformative partnerships for technology transfer, green finance and capacity building. Ultimately, it supports an equitable sharing of the transition’s benefits and costs, both across and within countries.

Evaluating development co-operation activities is one of the areas where the DAC’s influence on policy and practice can most readily be observed. Having an evaluation system that is well-established is one of the conditions of becoming a member of the DAC. Each peer review examines the set-up and management of the evaluation function, using the norms and standards developed by the DAC’s Network on Development Evaluation.

Recognising a need for better, tailored approaches to learning and accountability in conflict settings, the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) launched an initiative to develop guidance on evaluating conflict prevention and peacebuilding activities.  The objective of this process has been to help improve evaluation practice and thereby support the broader community of experts and implementing organisations to enhance the quality of conflict prevention and peacebuilding interventions. It also seeks to guide policy makers, field and desk officers, and country partners towards a better understanding of the role and utility of evaluations. The guidance  presented in this book provides background on key policy issues affecting donor engagement in settings of conflict and fragility and introduces some of the challenges to evaluation particular to these settings. It then provides step-by-step guidance on the core steps in planning, carrying out and learning from evaluation, as well as some basic principles on programme design and management.

Drawing on the experiences of the members and observer organisations of the Development Assistance Committee Network on Development Evaluation (EVALNET), this study provides a snapshot of the core elements and ways of working within development evaluation systems. It offers insight to development co-operation organisations as they seek to establish or strengthen credible evaluation systems of their own, to support learning and accountability. The report also explores the role of evaluation in development co-operation and humanitarian assistance, including the various policy and institutional arrangements used with evaluation systems. It then reviews the evaluation process, from deciding on evaluations to disseminating findings and finally, focuses on how evaluation findings are used to improve development co-operation efforts.

Evaluation is a key tool in improving the quality and effectiveness of development co-operation. The Development Assistance Committee (DAC) Working Party in Aid Evaluation is the only international forum where bilateral and multilateral evaluation experts meet regularly. Its Members meet to improve evaluation practice and to learn lessons from development co-operation activities and experiences. A series "Evaluation and Aid Effectiveness" was launched to share selected pieces of work with a broader public. This publication provides a unique overview of approaches and methods for country programme evaluation. It contains i) an analytical review of the workshop's main findings; ii) an overview of the state-of-the-art approaches and methodologies used for country programme evaluations; and iii) the case studies, which were presented and discussed at the workshop.