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362. Delivering Education For All in Mali
- Author:
- Caroline Pearce, Sébastien Fourmy, and Hetty Kovach
- Publication Date:
- 06-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- Mali is one of the poorest countries in the world. It has been democratic since 1991, and the international community considers it to have, overall, a well-performing government and economy. But this should not mask the huge scale of the challenges facing Mali in realising even the most basic rights of its citizens. This challenge is increased by the country's vulnerability to shocks, such as the food and fuel crises.
- Topic:
- Education and Poverty
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Mali
363. La importancia de la Convención sobre la protección y la promoción de la diversidad de las expresiones culturales de la UNESCO y su impacto en las políticas culturales mexicanas
- Author:
- Fabiola Rodríguez Barba
- Publication Date:
- 01-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
- Abstract:
- En un contexto de globalización económica y de múltiples tratados comerciales de integración económica, asistimos a un creciente interés por el tema de la diversidad cultural. Desde esta perspectiva, la promoción y protección de la diversidad cultural se han convertido en una preocupación de la comunidad internacional, particularmente en la última década, como lo demuestra la publicación de diversos documentos: Reporte mundial sobre Cultura, creatividad y mercados ; Reporte mundial sobre la cultura 2000 . Diversidad cultural, conflicto y pluralismo; Informe sobre el Desarrollo Humano 2004 . La libertad cultural en el mundo diverso hoy ; así como la adopción de la Declaración universal de la UNESCO sobre la diversidad cultural proclamada en noviembre de 2001; y la Convención sobre la protección y promoción de la diversidad de las expresiones culturales (en adelante, Convención ) del mismo organismo, adoptada en 2005, y que entró en vigor en 2007.
- Topic:
- Economics, Education, and International Law
- Political Geography:
- Latin America
364. Labor Migration in the Baltic States
- Author:
- Jill Leandro and Janis Mikits
- Publication Date:
- 01-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Department of Social Sciences at West Point, United States Military Academy
- Abstract:
- The purpose of this analysis is to evaluate labor migration in the Baltic States, determine its extent and its causes, and suggest possible policy recommendations designed to confront unsustainable emigration and brain drain.
- Topic:
- Education, Ethnic Conflict, Globalization, Migration, and Political Economy
365. Pricing and Access: Lessons from Randomized Evaluations in Education and Health
- Author:
- Michael Kremer and Alaka Holla
- Publication Date:
- 01-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development
- Abstract:
- This paper surveys evidence from recent randomized evaluations in developing countries on the impact of price on access to health and education. The debate on user fees has been contentious, but until recently much of the evidence was anecdotal. Randomized evaluations across a variety of settings suggest prices have a large impact on take-up of education and health products and services. While the sign of this effect is consistent with standard theories of human capital investment, a more detailed examination of the data suggests that it may be important to go beyond these models. There is some evidence for peer effects, which implies that for some goods the aggregate response to price will exceed the individual response. Time-inconsistent preferences could potentially help explain the apparently disproportionate effect of small short-run costs and benefits on decisions with long-run consequences.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Education, Health, Human Welfare, and Markets
366. A Global Education Fund: Toward a True Global Compact on Universal Education
- Author:
- Gene B. Sperling
- Publication Date:
- 01-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Council on Foreign Relations
- Abstract:
- One of the most compelling—yet most unrealized—global development challenges is ensuring that all children can pursue their right to a quality basic education. Seventy-two million young children around the world will not attend primary school this year, and, if we include those adolescents who could be enrolled in secondary school, the number of out-of-school children rises to over 300 million. To some degree, global awareness of both the silent crisis of education in developing nations and the individual and societal benefits of moving toward a quality education for all children has grown over the last decade. In recent years, more policymakers and foundations have gained greater knowledge of the high economic, health, and social returns of educating girls, while foreign policy specialists increasingly recognize a connection between educational opportunities and encouraging young people to resist opting for more destructive or violent futures. A new global effort on education—the Education for All Fast Track Initiative (FTI)—has been started, and increased civil society advocacy for schooling opportunities for girls and boys, as well as those affected by HIV/AIDS, conflict, disability, and child labor, have all raised the profile of education among the broader public.
- Topic:
- Debt, Education, Globalization, Health, and Poverty
- Political Geography:
- United States
367. WSC 5: Protecting People, Economies, and Infrastructure
- Author:
- Christine Lynch, Devon Tucker, Michael Harvey, and Jacqueline McLaren Miller
- Publication Date:
- 02-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- EastWest Institute
- Abstract:
- Drawing on a diverse array of opinions from Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America, the EastWest Institute's Fifth Worldwide Security Conference brought together specialists from the spheres of policy, academia, and civil society. Participants addressed a variety of issues on the contemporary global security landscape. These ranged from specific security threats (whether illicit trade, the targeting of critical infrastructure or cyber crime) to the role of interested actors (such as business, NGOs, and media), as well as a focus on potential strategies to counter terrorism and extremism (either in terms of constructing global cooperative architectures or, more controversially, the possibility of opening dialogue with the terrorists). A variety of policy recommendations emerged from each session—detailed in the main body of the report—but there were several recurring themes binding the debate together and animating the core arguments of proceedings as a whole. These policy recommendations were not necessarily consensus recommendations but reflected a wide range of debated policy prescriptions.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Security, Economics, Education, Globalization, Human Rights, International Security, and Political Theory
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Europe, Asia, and North America
368. The Illusion of Equality: The Educational Consequences of Blinding Weak States, For Example
- Author:
- Lant Pritchett and Martina Viarengo
- Publication Date:
- 08-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development
- Abstract:
- Does the government control of school systems facilitate equality in school quality? There is a trade-off. On the one hand, government direct control of schools, typically through a large scale hierarchical organization, could produce equalization across schools by providing uniformity in inputs, standards, and teacher qualifications that localized individually managed schools could not achieve. But there is a tendency for large scale formal bureaucracies to “see” less and less of localized reality and hence to manage on the basis of a few simple, objective, and easily administratively verified characteristics (e.g. resources per student, formal teacher qualifications). Whether centralized or localized control produces more equality depends therefore not only on what “could” happen in principle but what does happen in practice. When government implementation capacity is weak, centralized control could lead to only the illusion of equality: in which central control of education with weak internal or external accountability actually allows for much greater inequalities across schools than entirely “uncontrolled” local schools. Data from Pakistan, using results from the LEAPS study, and from two states of India show much larger variance in school quality (adjusted for student characteristics) among the government schools—because of very poor public schools which continue in operation. We use the PISA data to estimate school specific learning achievement (in mathematics, science, and reading) net of individual student and school average background characteristics and compare public and private schools for 34 countries. For these countries there is, on average, exactly the same inequality in adjusted learning achievement across the private schools as across the public schools. But while inequality is the same on average, in some countries, such as Denmark, there was much more equality within the public sector while in others, such as Mexico, there was much more inequality among the public schools. Among the 18 non-OECD participating PISA countries the standard deviation across schools in adjusted quality was, on average, 36 percent higher in government than in private schools. In cases with weak states the proximate cause of high inequality again was that the public sector distribution of performance had a long left tail—schools with extremely poor performance. Relying on blinded weak states for top-down control of educational systems can be lose-lose relative to localized systems relying on bottom-up control—producing worse average performance and higher inequality.
- Topic:
- Economics, Education, Government, Political Economy, and Social Stratification
- Political Geography:
- Pakistan and India
369. Lost Voters: Participation in EU elections and the case for compulsory voting
- Author:
- Anthoula Malkopoulou
- Publication Date:
- 07-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for European Policy Studies
- Abstract:
- The malaise among Europe's voting citizens with regard to the European Parliament elections casts a shadow over the EU's commitment to political participation and democratic values. Not only do EU elections hold little political relevance next to national electoral cycles, but voters are also lost in the EU's labyrinth of accountability. Yet, what appears as an insurmountable obstacle to the legitimacy of Europe's decision-making mechanisms can be translated into an opportunity for voting system reforms. One way to address the problem of widespread abstention might be to legislate on the obligation to vote. This paper explores compulsory voting systems in a number of developed democracies worldwide and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of introducing such a measure in the EU.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Democratization, and Education
- Political Geography:
- Europe
370. The New Poverty Agenda in Uganda
- Author:
- Anne Mette Kjaer and Fred Muhumuza
- Publication Date:
- 09-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- This paper explores the poverty agenda in Uganda, its drivers and its effects. We show that transforming the economy by increasing productivity was initially considered more important than to reduce poverty through redistributive policies. However, as a consequence of the 1996 elections a consensus on poverty eradication through health and education emerged. The Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP) had a shopping list nature and it is therefore difficult to establish whether it was implemented. Growth and poverty reduction during the PEAP period was mainly due to a continuation of macro-economic policies that were introduced prior to the PEAP. Around the multi-party elections in 2006, policy priorities changed towards more focus on agricultural production, agro-business and infrastructure. The government now has a two-edged focus: poverty reduction through economic transformation and poverty reduction through social services. However, there is also a political agenda about remaining in power which threatens to undermine the results achieved so far.
- Topic:
- Education, Health, and Poverty
- Political Geography:
- Uganda and Africa