Document Library
The digital divide creates and is also a reflection of inequality in society, preventing those with no access to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) resources and electricity supply from accessing the benefits of globalisation and participation in the knowledge-based society. This paper contends that, despite national efforts in providing an enabling policy environment and opportunities… Read more
Leadership has been identified as a key factor in supporting action on nutrition in countries experiencing a high burden of childhood undernutrition. This study of individuals identified as influential within nutrition in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Kenya and India examines why particular individuals champion nutrition policy, and how they operate in the wider policy and political… Read more
Despite economic growth, government latrine construction, and increasing recognition among policy-makers that it constitutes a health and human capital crisis, open defecation remains stubbornly widespread in rural India. Indeed, 67% of rural Indian households in the 2011 census reported defecating in the open. We present evidence from new survey data collected in villages in five… Read more
This study is intended to broaden the range of impact evaluation (IE) designs particularly for difficult to evaluate programmes. The study considered existing IE practice, reviewed methodological literatures and assessed how state-of-the art evaluation designs and methods might be applied. The study has concluded that most development interventions are ‘contributory causes’. They ‘work’ as part… Read more
Between 1998 and 2005 a suite of ICT-based interventions to help the Government of Guinea address its three main educational issues—increasing the number of teachers, increasing teacher quality, and improving instructional quality, particularly in rural areas of Guinea and for girls. The three interventions are discussed in this document: Classroom-based interactive radio instruction (Sous le… Read more
Although many countries are aggressively implementing the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) program, there is a lack of empirical evidence on its effects. This paper presents the impact of the first large-scale randomised evaluation of the OLPC program, using data collected after 15 months of implementation in 319 primary schools in rural Peru. The results indicate… Read more
This paper was produced by the Poverty and Human Resources Division of the World Bank’s Policy Research Department. It examines the relationship between population growth, factor accumulation, and productivity. It attempts to close the gap in empirical literature, which has mostly focused on the relationship between population growth and output per person. The author uses… Read more
This paper assembles a panel data set that measures cognitive achievement for 128 countries around the world from 1965 to 2010 in 5-year intervals. The data set is constructed from international achievement tests, such as the Programme for International Student Assessment and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, which have become increasingly available… Read more
This report presents the highlights of the results of the 2010 Revision of the official United Nations population estimates and projections prepared by the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat. The 2010 Revision constitutes the twenty second round of the global population estimates and projections produced… Read more
In this working paper, the authors analyse the evidence on schooling outcomes from 75 studies of a range of school interventions. The paper shows that education interventions are not only getting more children into school and keeping them there but are also helping children to learn more. There is compelling evidence of the effectiveness of conditional… Read more
Document summary: This mixed-methods paper investigates whether the ‘private school premium’, as manifested in student learning outcomes, is the result of better-quality teaching in private schools. Using school-, community- and household-level data from the Young Lives longitudinal study in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India, this paper makes a detailed comparison of 227 government… Read more