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Blog post
Building a capable civil service in Liberia: The role of the Performance Management System
Over the past thirty years, Liberia has encountered a mix of challenges, from negotiating civil war and an Ebola epidemic to welcoming the first democratic transition of power in three-quarters of a century. The recently elected Weah administration has made governance one of the four pillars of its ‘Pro-poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development’, including a push to...
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Lighting up Rwanda: Assessing the demand for pay-as-you-go lighting
The government of Rwanda has successfully increased the rate of electrification, from 10% in 2010 to 43% in 2018. However, for 57% of the population without electricity, the alternative energy sources include traditional biomass, kerosene, and rechargeable lamps which can harm respiratory health and the environment. In 2017, the Rwandan government launched a universal...
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Blog post
What do we (not) know about the benefits of households' electrification?
Household electrification has recently become a controversial topic. When The Economist declared that “electricity does not change poor lives as much as was thought,” a number of non-profits and industry representatives wrote indignant responses (CEO of SolarAid, CrossBoundary) arguing that electricity, including distributed solar power, can be a game-changer for rural...
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Informal workers and taxation in Zambia: Who pays and does it make a difference?
Taxation in Africa has been increasingly covered in the news, especially with controversial attempts in countries such as Benin, Tanzania, and Uganda to tax users of social media sites and phone texting services. While the true intentions of these efforts are debatable, raising sufficient domestic revenue has long been a challenge for many African governments. A long line...
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Blog post
The Chinese are here: An analysis of import penetration and firm performance in Sub-Saharan Africa
In the early 1990s, most of the imports into Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) originated mainly from Western economies such as the US, UK, France, and Germany. 25 years later, the share of imports from the UK had decreased to 2.3% in 2015 from 13.9% in 1990, while that of the US to 4.6% in 2015 from 13% in 1992. On the other hand, China’s share of total imports in SSA rose to...
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Understanding Third Tier Organisations (TTOs) in Pakistan and their role in filling public delivery gaps at the community level
Research into Third Tier Organisations in Pakistan highlights the important work they carry out in spite of a lack of significant government funding. Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF), a not-for-profit, along with its partner organizations has been working on social mobilization and development of voluntary organizations at community level across Pakistan. A...
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Blog post
Learning to teach by learning to learn: Measuring the effects of an innovative teacher training programme in Uganda
In 2007, Uganda became the first African country to introduce free universal secondary education. Yet, in 2017, 79% of students who began primary school, which is also free, did not make it to secondary school at all.[1] How can the delivery of education be improved to address this issue?A unique teacher training programme in Uganda has begun and is providing significant...
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Improving Tanzania’s power quality: Can data help?
For many Tanzanians, the sun sets and it’s pitch black – in fact, according to government data at least two-thirds of Tanzanians don’t have access to electricity. For those who do, many experience problems with reliability and quality of service – i.e. power cuts, and fluctuations in power supply that can damage equipment. This affects people’s daily lives and...
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Technology and the future of work in developing economies
2018 has been a year for critical debates on the impact of emerging technology on jobs and the imminent threats and challenges of automation. Although the prospects of development and fast-approaching opportunities are advocated by many tech optimists, they have often been eclipsed by gloomier forecasts, such as “The robots are coming”, “Underestimating AI could be...
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Blog post
Public finance to improve outcomes
Pakistan continues to face significant social and economic challenges. Provision of basic services such as health and education falls short of international standards, while women and the poor are often wholly excluded from accessing these services. At a time when the government is under pressure to demonstrate fiscal restraint, a strong public financial management system...
Blog post
Should electricity be a right?
The question ‘is electricity a commodity or a public utility?’ is thought provoking. A related question is if electricity should be a right and what does it mean. Does it mean people have the right to use as much electricity as they want and at what price? Or should a basic minimum quantity of electricity be available to all irrespective of their ability to pay? The...