This chapter provides an international perspective on the promotion of positive development and the prevention of risky behavior among youth. We discuss some of the specific challenges that youth face in low- and middle-income countries and identify six key evidence-based policies and programs that aim to promote positive youth development and…

Corruption is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon. Forms of corruption are multiple. Measuring corruption is necessary not only for getting ideas about the scale and scope of the problem, but for making simple comparisons between the countries and conducting comparative analysis of corruption. While the total impact of corruption is indeed…

Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) have for long been celebrated as the solution to access in education. New innovations like the internet and mobile technologies provide a great opportunity for mass delivery of education information especially in Africa where governments and institutions are struggling to equip the people with much…

The World Bank was one of the five convening agencies for the 1990 Education for All (EFA) Conference held in Jomtien (Thailand) and the Dakar (Netherlands) World Education Conference of 2000. World Bank lending for basic education in the five years following Jomtien increased 500% compared to the previous five years. Yet for all the increased…

It is 40 years since Coombs (1967) first drew attention to the World Education Crisis, and specifically problems in the educational systems of countries in the developing world. Today, many of these problems remain, and are most visible in the educational systems of countries in sub-Saharan Africa. A large number of children remain out of school…

In the Republic of Zambia, an estimated 256,000 persons have some form of disability, and of these, 5.4% have intellectual disabilities. Even now, traditional beliefs about the etiology of intellectual disabilities persist and considerable stigma is attached to the presence of persons with intellectual disabilities who are often excluded from…

This report presents World Bank statistical data on International Development Association (IDA) support of girls' education. The report cites the reasons for focusing on girls' education and traces IDA funding for various education projects. It discusses the situation for girls' education in many developing countries and lists objectives for the…

Across a range of contexts, reductions in education costs and provision of subsidies can boost school participation, often dramatically. Decisions to attend school seem subject to peer effects and time-inconsistent preferences. Merit scholarships, school health programs, and information about returns to education can all cost-effectively spur…

This paper reports on a study at Molepolole College of Education (MCE) involving teachers and tutors in the Diploma in Primary Education (DPE) program by distance mode, an in-service program aimed at upgrading academic and professional qualifications of primary school teachers in Botswana. The study sought to understand the level of access and the…

A prior study of costs of education in Cambodia was undertaken by Mark Bray in 1999. In his study he suggests that: "... the scale of dropout from Cambodian primary schools has been demonstrated to be high. Costs appear to be an important factor for many households when making decisions to withdraw their children from school." In that…

The Universal Basic education (UBE) Programme could not have been introduced at a better time than now that the nation is in dire need of all round national Development. The major objective of the UBE programme is to provide free, universal and compulsory basic education for every Nigerian child aged 6-15 years. However, for the Universal Basic…

The millennium development goals have created new challenges for development evaluation. The main unit of account has shifted to the country level. Evaluation ownership must move from donor agencies to developing countries. The recognition that rich countries have development obligations is opening up evaluation frontiers beyond aid. A…

This paper provides a brief profile of the state of secondary education in Brazil. An overview of the organizational structure, objectives, curricular offerings, system size, and governance structure of secondary education is provided. Issues relating to the quality, equity, management, and financing of the system are discussed, and promising…

Access to education is recognized as a basic human right and yet projections based on current trends show that more than 50 countries will not achieve universal primary education by 2015. This briefing paper looks at the role of malnutrition and diseases in the failure of countries to meet EFA targets. It is based on the CREATE Pathways to Access…

Lack of access to basic education leads to diminished individual and national capabilities, therewith furthering cycles of poverty. An equitable education system meeting basic learning needs represents not only a human right, but also a means for reducing poverty, promoting productivity, and sustaining development. The Government of China--the…