1. Public Expenditure Analysis Many governments in developing countries are faced with difficult choices about how to restructure the composition of spending to meet aggregate fiscal targets. This has engendered a renewed recognition among social sector specialists within the World Bank that macroeconomic conditions need to be taken into account while designing sector specific investment projects. A number of initiatives have been undertaken calling for increased public expenditure analysis along with dissemination efforts to share up-to-date techniques for performing such analysis. The most comprehensive of these efforts is the formulation of guidance notes from the Human Development Network which analyze public expenditure in the human development sectors. Reference web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTEDUCATION/0,,contentMDK:20754718~menuPK:2448306~pagePK:210058~piPK:210062~theSitePK:282386,00.html 2. Demand-side Financing in Education Demand-side financing refers to the channeling of public funds directly to individuals or to institutions on the basis of student enrollment. The various mechanisms of demand side financing include: Stipends: This is a cash payment that a public agency makes to a family to offset the schooling expenses for a child. Community financing: It can occur through community monetary contributions or through non-monetary support in the form of land, labor, materials and social marketing for the benefits of education. Targeted bursaries: These are cash payments that may go directly to schools, municipalities or provinces and are earmarked for specific purposes such as improving curriculum or increasing school access for minority, indigenous or poor children. Vouchers: Voucher is a cash payment given by (in most cases) a public entity directly to students. However, definitions may vary. With vouchers there is an element of school choices involved with the students opting for schools and paying with the vouchers. Public assistance to private schools: This also increases element of choice and increases equity by giving poor students access to private education where the funds are transferred to the private schools depending on the number of poor students they take in. Student loans: Student loans are used to help defray costs to the government and also help a greater number of students receive higher education. Loans can be in the form of commercial loans or government gauranteed student loans. Community grants: These are grants given to a community of students in lump sum and are tied to attending a community created institution. The amount of money is related to the number of students enrolled and the approach has an element of choice for the students. Reference web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTEDUCATION/0,,contentMDK:20754718~menuPK:2448306~pagePK:210058~piPK:210062~theSitePK:282386,00.html 3. Completeness and Internal Coherence of Cost-Benefit Analysis or Other Selection Criteria Whenever reasonable estimates can be made, cost benefits should be quantified so that the analyst can decide whether the project is worth undertaking. Have alternative ways of achieving the project objectives been evaluated? For example, should budget resources in the sector be reallocated? Are capacity increases really necessary? If so, should they focus on improving quality or expanding coverage? Is there evidence of the value of the services to be provided by the project? An effort should be made to quantify those benefits (for example, by using projected wage differentials or increased productivity in labor markets. Additional evidence would be indicators of excess demand for the type of schooling being expanded by the project. Other non-market benefits -- such as impact on fertility, ability to cope with diseases -- should be discussed. While estimation of NPV/ERR is not required for education projects, analysis of private and social returns is encouraged for best practice. Does the evaluation include adequate cost effectiveness analysis? This will normally involve using quantitative indicators of inputs and results (e.g., number of teachers trained, training days per staff worker, etc.). Are project activities the least cost way of achieving these results? If cost-benefit or cost-effectiveness analysis is not possible, and if no cost data are available, then it must be explained why this project is chosen and that cost data will be generated during implementation. In the absence of cost and benefit information, a qualitative account of the expected development impact must be included. Reference web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTEDUCATION/0,,contentMDK:20754619~menuPK:2448286~pagePK:210058~piPK:210062~theSitePK:282386~isCURL:Y,00.html#ranking 4. Environmental analysis and Linkage to Economic Analysis The effects of the project on the environment, both negative and positive, should be taken into account and if possible, quantified and assigned a monetary value. This is usually not an issue in education projects unless new infrastructure is built. If an environmental assessment is required, then it should be reflected in the economic analysis. Environmental externalities should be identified, and to the extent possible their economic implications assessed. Reference web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTEDUCATION/0,,contentMDK:20754619~menuPK:2448286~pagePK:210058~piPK:210062~theSitePK:282386~isCURL:Y,00.html#ranking 5. Sensitivity analysis The main elements which need to be assessed include the impact that changes in different underlying parameters will have on the anticipated outcome of the operation and its vulnerability to potential risk factors. What is the likely impact of varying some of the underlying parameters such as inputs, demand and costs on the outcome of the education sector operation? Switching values can also be used. A switching value is the value an element of a project would have to reach as a result of a change in an unfavorable direction before the project no longer meets the minimum level of acceptability as indicated by one of the measures of project worth. Reference web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTEDUCATION/0,,contentMDK:20754619~menuPK:2448286~pagePK:210058~piPK:210062~theSitePK:282386~isCURL:Y,00.html#ranking
Posted on: Tue, 24 Jun 2014 20:47:33 +0000
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