School Enrollment Decline in Sub-Saharan Africa

School Enrollment Decline in Sub-Saharan Africa PDF

Author: Joseph W. B. Bredie

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 1998-01-01

Total Pages: 48

ISBN-13: 9780821343128

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The overarching objective of the World Bank's assistance to Sub-Saharan African countries is poverty reduction through sustained economic growth at a high level and improved social services. Past experience shows that a minimum level of educational attainment has been a prerequisite for the success of such a strategy. The current level of education development has been low, and the development of primary education has stagnated and even declined in some countries since the early 1980s. This paper examines the likely causes for deteriorating enrollment rates in Africa. It looks at the constraints in the demand for schooling and gives possible reasons for stagnation.

Labor and the Growth Crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa

Labor and the Growth Crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa PDF

Author:

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 1995-01-01

Total Pages: 44

ISBN-13: 9780821333433

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Annotation Reviews labor market outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa and analyzes what is required to spur economic growth through increased efficiency of physical and human capital. "World Development Report 1995: Workers in an Integrating World" examines ways of improving labor outcomes in low- and middle-income economies. This regional perspective focuses on Sub-Saharan Africa in relation to the four areas in need of labor policy reform that were identified in the Report: development strategy, international integration, labor market interventions, and transformation to greater market orientation. The paper reviews labor market outcomes in the region and analyzes what is required to achieve economic growth through increased efficiency of physical and human capital. It examines Africa's role in the world economy and why greater integration is essential to the region. It also discusses labor policies and how workers in the region are affected by the transition to open development strategies. The prospects for the region's growing labor force are briefly reviewed.

Sharing Higher Education's Promise beyond the Few in Sub-Saharan Africa

Sharing Higher Education's Promise beyond the Few in Sub-Saharan Africa PDF

Author: Peter Darvas

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2017-11-15

Total Pages: 118

ISBN-13: 1464810516

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Despite a spectacular expansion of the higher education sector in Sub-Saharan Africa, the supply of tertiary education has generally failed to keep pace with demand and the region continues to lag all other regions in terms of access to tertiary education. This is in part a consequence of deeply entrenched patterns of inequitable access to higher education, and the perpetuation of what researchers refer to as “elite systems†?. To date, access to tertiary education in Sub-Saharan Africa has unduly benefitted students drawn from the region’s wealthiest households, and overall enrollment remains disproportionately male, and metropolitan. These factors stifle the catalytic potential of higher education, corroding its potential for driving economic growth and sustaining poverty reduction. Instead, patterns of access to tertiary education have generally reinforced and reproduced social inequality, instead of eroding its pernicious social and economic effects. This report aims to inform an improved understanding of equity in tertiary enrollment in Sub-Saharan African countries, and to examine the extent to which inequity functions as a bottleneck inhibiting the ability of African universities to effectively drive improvements in overall quality of life and economic competitiveness. In our survey of the evidence, we also aim to identify which policies most effectively address the challenge of promoting equity of access in SSA tertiary education systems. In order to achieve these objectives, the report collects, generates and analyzes empirical evidence on patterns of equity, examines the underlying causes of inequity, and evaluates government policies for addressing inequity.

Taking Action to Reduce Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa

Taking Action to Reduce Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa PDF

Author:

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 1997-01-01

Total Pages: 172

ISBN-13: 9780821336984

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World Bank Technical Paper No. 356. The fragmentation in African financial markets and its persistence despite reforms to liberalize those markets have been difficult to explain. This paper reports findings from surveys of formal and informal institutions and their clients in Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, and Tanzania to test hypotheses explaining different aspects of fragmentation, which occurs when different market segments are poorly linked and interest rate differentials cannot be fully explained by differences in costs and risks. The study concludes that financial development strategies, and World Bank operations supporting them, should explicitly include informal and semi-formal financial institutions to improve the extent and efficiency of financial intermediation in the medium term.

Factors Affecting Contraceptive Use in Sub-Saharan Africa

Factors Affecting Contraceptive Use in Sub-Saharan Africa PDF

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 1993-02-01

Total Pages: 269

ISBN-13: 030904944X

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This book discusses current trends in contraceptive use, socioeconomic and program variables that affect the demand for and supply of children, and the relationship of increased contraceptive use to recent fertility declines.

At the Crossroads

At the Crossroads PDF

Author: Adriaan Verspoor

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2008-01-01

Total Pages: 412

ISBN-13: 0821371142

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Expanded access to and improved quality of secondary education in Sub-Saharan Africa are key ingredients for economic growth in the region This Secondary Education in Africa (SEIA) synthesis report makes this point by bringing together a significant volume of analytical work sponsored by the World Bank and by many African and international partners. 'At the Crossroads: Choices for Secondary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa' argues the case for broad and equitable access for a basic education cycle of 8 to 10 years, as well as for expanded education and training opportunities. This book provides a timely resource on good practices and potential solutions for developing and sustaining high quality secondary education systems in Africa. It includes the main elements of a roadmap to improve Africa's secondary education systems' response to the demands of growing economies and rapidly changing societies.

Strategies for Sustainable Financing of Secondary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa

Strategies for Sustainable Financing of Secondary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa PDF

Author: Keith M. Lewin

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2008-02-27

Total Pages: 190

ISBN-13: 0821371169

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Investment in secondary schooling in Sub-Saharan Africa has been neglected since the World Conference on Education for All at Jomtien. The World Education Forum at Dakar began to recognize the growing importance of post-primary schooling for development. Only 25 percent of school-age children attend secondary school in the region--and fewer complete successfully, having consequences for gender equity, poverty reduction, and economic growth. As universal primary schooling becomes a reality, demand for secondary schools is increasing rapidly. Gaps between the educational levels of the labor force in Sub-Saharan Africa and other regions remain large. Girls are more often excluded from secondary schools than boys. Secondary schooling costs are high to both governments and households. This study explores how access to secondary education can be increased. Radical reforms are needed in low-enrollment countries to make secondary schooling more affordable and to provide more access to the majority currently excluded. The report identifies the rationale for increasing access, reviews the status of secondary education in Sub-Saharan Africa, charts the growth needed in different countries to reach different levels of participation, identifies the financial constraints on growth, and discusses the reforms needed to make access affordable. It concludes with a road map of ways to increase the probability that more of Africa's children will experience secondary schooling.

Women's Education, Infant and Child Mortality, and Fertility Decline in Sub-Saharan Africa

Women's Education, Infant and Child Mortality, and Fertility Decline in Sub-Saharan Africa PDF

Author: David Shapiro

Publisher:

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 36

ISBN-13:

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Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) was the last major world region to experience the fertility decline that all industrialized countries have gone through and that much of the developing world has experienced in large part. It has uniquely high fertility: at present, the United Nations estimates the total fertility rate at 5.1 for SSA, compared to 2.2 for both Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean. The ongoing fertility transition in the region has been comparatively slow and subject to stalling. At the same time, women's educational attainment and infant and child mortality have been shown in the demography literature to be important determinants of fertility and fertility decline. Since the 1980s, fertility in sub-Saharan Africa has been falling in many countries while women's school enrollment and educational attainment have been increasing and infant and child mortality for the most part has been declining. Previous research using aggregated data has shown the importance of growth in women's schooling and reduction in infant and child mortality as major factors contributing to fertility decline in the region. This research uses individual-level micro data and a well-known decomposition technique for analyzing differences or changes to quantify the importance of increased women's education and declining infant and child mortality in contributing to the observed declines in fertility in numerous countries. More specifically, this paper examines the quantitative impact of these two factors in sub-Saharan Africa in contributing to the ongoing decline in fertility that has been taking place in the region. Data come from 31 countries, and are from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS). The methodology is to decompose observed changes in fertility to changes attributable to different factors, including the two key variables of interest - women's education and infant and child mortality - and two control variables, urbanization and age.