Review Of Early Childhood Policy And Programs In Sub Saharan Africa

The collaborative efforts of ColombiaA's Department of National Planning (DNP) and the World Bank has produced the National Evaluation System of Public Sector Performance (SYNERGY). Put in place by the Special Division for Evaluation in DNP, this system has been designed and implemented to change the public sector from an inward-looking, process-oriented body (which sometimes restrains economic and social progress) into a more dynamic, results-oriented partner of the community and private sector in development. This report explores the critical factors in making SYNERGY a successful evaluation system. Such factors include ways of making it an effective management tool, promoting civil society participation by focusing on results for people and leveraging on their energy and resource, defining a constructive learning process for implementation, and providing an enabling environment for a results-oriented public sector.

Reviews the World Bank's experience in industrial restructuring in 46 countries during the past 14 years. The study finds that for most completed public enterprise restructuring operations, sustainability of benefits was a large problem, mainly because of fragile sector reforms and inadequate governance and management. Those completed for the private sector experienced poor outcomes from inadequate attention to country economic conditions and policy distortions. To overcome such problems, the study recommends that future restructuring operations be designed and implemented to have an impact at the firm level.

Early childhood, from birth through school entry, was largely invisible worldwide as a policy concern for much of the twentieth century. Children, in the eyes of most countries, were 'appendages' of their parents or simply embedded in the larger family structure. The child did not emerge as a separate social entity until school age (typically six or seven). 'Africa's Future, Africa's Challenge: Early Childhood Care and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa' focuses on the 130 million children south of the Sahel in this 0-6 age group. This book, the first of its kind, presents a balanced collection of articles written by African and non-African authors ranging from field practitioners to academicians and from members of government organizations to those of nongovernmental and local organizations. 'Africa's Future, Africa's Challenge' compiles the latest data and viewpoints on the state of Sub-Saharan Africa's children. Topics covered include the rationale for investing in young children, policy trends in early childhood development (ECD), historical perspectives of ECD in Sub-Saharan Africa including indigenous approaches, new threats from HIV/AIDS, and the importance of fathers in children's lives. The book also addresses policy development and ECD implementation issues; presents the ECD programming experience in several countries, highlighting best practices and challenges; and evaluates the impact of ECD programs in a number of countries.

Handbook of Early Childhood Development Research and Its Impact on Global Policy calls for placing early childhood development at the top of the global policy agenda, enabling children to achieve their full developmental potential and to contribute to equitable economic and social progress worldwide.

Little effort has been made to research the nonagricultural or economywide macroneconomic impact of droughts in Sub-Saharan Africa. In an effort to fill the gap, this paper reports the findings of an exploratory study of the subject. It provides insights into the impact of drought in Sub-Saharan Africa in the past and suggests policy options for dealing with future droughts.

The concept of universal education is, however, not well defined and is used to mean many different things to different people. This book contains a five-year research work conducted by a group of African and Japanese researchers who have developed an equal partnership and network to review the expansion of primary education, some policies prompting the free primary education intervention, and the challenges of implementation based on the case study of two districts in four countries, namely, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, and Uganda.