28364 NUMBER 54 *ED0 Precism Operations Evaluation Department December 1993 Developing Human Resources in Sub-Saharan Africa A new OED study* reviews factors had never been to school. Few had termediate levels of sophistication and behind Africa's slow progress in over- skills beyond those needed for subsis- size. coming shortages of skilled and trained tence farming and petty trading. 0 High-cost education systems and dete- manpower, and evaluates the Bank's ef- Though some countries have made riorating economics: The educational forts to address these problems. While considerable strides in the last 30 years, system developed along relatively recognizing that the Bank's undertak- progress in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) high-cost lines which could not be sus- ings were limited by the deteriorating has been less rapid than in other devel- taied in the face of the economic dete- economic and unstable political circum- oping regions. Africa still depends rioration of the 1980s. Cost-increasing stances, the study suggests that efforts heavily on expatriates for many vital factors included relatively large student had less impact than they might have functions. subsidies, high repetition and dropout had for three reasons. First, the Bank fo- rates, sometimes low student/teacher cused on education, training, and tech- Most of the progress was made ratios, large non-teaching staffs, the nical assistance, giving less attention to during the 1960s and 1970s; during the small size of many institutions, and many of the other factors that influence 1980s, there have actually been some general inefficiencies resulting from human resource development. Second, reversals. Primary enrollment rates in weak management. To finance and ex- the Bank's efforts to develop human re- some countries have declined while ex- pand this system in the light of rapid sources were not given as high priority pansion at secondary and tertiary levels population growth required relatively as they should have been, especially in has slowed. Education at all levels is high levels of effort, as measured by the early years of lending to Africa. This believed to have deteriorated. The re- shares of GDP and of the government reduced the Bank's leverage for sector placement of expatriates by Africans, budgets devoted to education. With policy reforms. Third, several features of rapid in the 1960s and early 1970s, generous help from donors, this was Bank operations, particularly prior to seems to have slowed down and may more or less accomplished during the 1988, reduced the effectiveness of Bank have been reversed in a few instances. 1960s and early 1970s. But when gov- inputs, and may have made some techni- ement revenues ceased to expand cal assistance inputs counterproductive. The deterioration has three main and in some cases declined, education These conclusions are not unique to the causes: budgets had to be cut. Bank; similar conclusions are likely to 0 Labor market distortions: Civil ser- apply to other development agencies' ef- Capital-intensive development process: vice salary structures, combined with forts during this period. The character of the development pro- weak demand in the private sector dur- cess in SSA during the 1960s and 1970s ___________ __ The problem encouraged the growth of large, capi- h Wod Bak'. Role in Sub- tal- and import-intensive operations 11 Saha ran Africa: Education, People acquire problem-solving and discouraged the development of abilities, command of relevant factual in- small-scale private operations using in- formation, and technical, managerial, termediate technologies. The former tance" Report No. 12144, June and entrepreneurial skills both through increased the demand for highly skilled 1993. OED reports tre available education and through experience. On and experienced managers and techn ta f teutezie Dora- both counts, African nations achieved cians, which could only be met from independence with severe deficits. abroad, while the latter inhibited the ac- ments Unit and from Regional Alarningly large numbers of persons quisition of experience and skills at n - Information Services Centers. where the next generation's senior Trends in Bank Lending for Education: Africa and World managers and professionals must be produced. ing t During the early 1980s, these proe ra wlemsa were compounded by deteriorat- ling government budgets and aid flows. nIn real per capita ters, Bank lending s for education also declined during this period, but since 1988 it has recovered bee _icrese ratherse thafocusoreasede dependenced onxepatrates Africa's huma resourc problems, allre rpoosdt nongovernmental organizations-hav focusednceas nearl allu thei attntononth education, with the specific purpose of ing the last decade, seriously eroded the poor, rural areas, expansion of teacher developing and retaining skilled real wages offered to skilled Africans. training capacity, and in recent years the nationals required to reduce depen- Meanwhile, technical assistance person- provision of teaching materials and text- dence on foreign experts in operating nel are made available to governments books. roles. at highly subsidized rates through for- * Increase efforts to find cost- eign assistance programs. As a result, But the Bank's impact has been less effective alternatives to formal educa- expatriates have sometimes been em- than it might have been. During the tion. ployed in place of Africans with corn- 1960s, the Bank's global policy was to 0 Make greater use of funding parable skills while the latter seek posi- lend for the capital requirements of vo- mechanisms that provide incentives for tions internationally. The net effec has cational, technical, and diversified sec- achievement, for both institutions and been increased rather than decreased ondary education. It implicitly as- students: for example, provision of dependence on expatriates. surned-wrongly, with hindsight-that funds on a competitive basis to educa- all other inputs needed for successful tional and research institutes based on In searching for solutions to development of the education system proposals and perforance; use of Africa's human resource problems, all would be provided by governments or stipends, vouchers, or capitation fees parties-governments, donors, and other aid sources. that give parents some latitude in nongovernmental organizations-have deciding which schools to send their focused nearly all their attention on the Over time, the Bank has tailored its children to; and merit scholarships. second of these three factors. That put practices more closely to African condi- too much of a burden on Africa's fragile tions, and become willing to lend for Some recently initiated operations education systems. Even without the fi- more of the elements of a complete are implementing approaches similar to nancial problems of the 1980s, it is un- package of inputs and policy conditions. those recommended, and the results, so likely that these systems could have ex- But while this represents a substantial far, are promsing. panded fast enough (while maintaining improvement, it has also led the Bank or improving quality) to have kept up into increasing involvement in detailed Technical assistance with the growth in demand for higher- operational and political issues. This in level skills and the drain of these skills turn has reduced borrowers' sense of During the last two decades, Africa to other markets that were caused by ownership and local accountability, has received a disproportionately large the other two factors. share of the Bank's technical assistance The McNamara years (1968-81) in- (TA) funds. Yet most studies of these Education troduced two features that also had activities (defined to include project-re- mixed results: substantial pressure to lated training) suggest that results are From 1963 through 1992, the Bank lend, and the focus on basic needs. The disappointing. While "gap-filling" TA lent $2.8 billion for education in Africa. first raised investment levels, but it also has worked reasonably well, TA for On a per capita basis, this is twice the reduced the productivity of investment training and institution building has level of assistance provided to other as it pressed against limited absorptive not. Indeed, it may be that in subtle parts of the world and about a fifth of capacity. The basic needs approach in- ways TA is doing more to increase de- what aid sources together have pro- volved the Bank in primary and (for a pendence than it is to increase local ca- vided to Africa. Projects funded with time) nonformal education-areas it pacity. these loans have contributed, most sig- had shied away from before. But it also nificantly, to improvements in equity of resulted in reduced priority for second- Proposals to remedy this situation access by locating additional schools in ary and especially tertiary education fall into five categories. The Bains Decedmber 1993 analyses, recommendations, and ef- Bank's longer-run response, particularly - Reduce the need for TA, for forts at improvement have focused in recent years, has been to promote example by reducing, simplifying, or mainly on the first two. Some of the civil service and administrative reform consolidating government opera- recommendations are being imple- programs. The former generally aim to tions, simplifying projects, and using mented, with promising develop- decrease employment and use the less skill-intensive technologies. ments, but the gap between practice savings to improve wage structures and and recommendations remains wide. non-salary operating budgets, while the Monitoring and Evaluation latter include a variety of efforts to * Improve the processes and improve personnel management, After 30 years of lending, the procedures for delivering and budgeting and information systems, Bank still knows little about the im- managing TA. Most of these recom- and legal frameworks. Evaluations of pact of its education projects on out- mendations involve devoting more these efforts have not reported great put measures such as quality, access, effort to the design of training pro- success to date. and internal efficiency, let alone de- grams, specifying objectives in terms * Remove "price distortions" that velopment. The main problem is at of improvements in sustainable local encourage expatriates to be hired in the project level. Staff appraisal re- capacity, involving the borrower in place of Africans who in turn seek ports seldom make adequate provi- project design, intensifying supervi- employment outside their own sion for gathering and using such in- sion, and carefully monitoring and countries. The Bank has largely formation, and, frequently, project evaluating results. neglected this problem in its analysis goals are not stated in clear, * Use different approaches to and practice, yet it could usefully monitorable terms. To address this, transfer knowledge and build consider several types of action: the Bank should work with govern- capacity, for example making greater revising its guidelines for contracting ments to develop a long-term plan use of short-term advisors, local TA, which currently tend to neglect for human resource development, consultants and researchers, and cost considerations; insisting on better consistent with countries' needs and twinning arrangements. record-keeping that makes the full resources, and use it as a basis for * Improve the working environ- cost of using foreign and local project design and impact assess- ment within which TA operates, for consultants transparent; providing TA ment. Base-line and end-of-project example by reforming personnel and personnel with incentives to rapidly evaluation surveys should be in- administrative procedures that build up capacity; and requiring cluded in all projects. weaken civil servants' incentive to do recipient agencies to pay (to the their job better. The Bank's short-run central government or into a fund) for Recommendations response to these problems has been consulting services even if those to shore up agencies responsible for services are provided free to the Make capacity building (both project implementation, or to establish government. This last suggestion human and institutional develop- new semi-independent agencies for would probably be the most effective ment) the central goal of the Bank's this purpose. This approach has but the most difficult to accept. So assistance to Sub-Saharan Africa and helped considerably to improve long as market incentives remain as identify and use monitorable indica- implementation of individual projects, they are, the inflow of expatriates and tors of progress toward this goal. but it typically does little to develop outflow of trained Africans is likely to * Periodically review all of a sustainable institutional capacity and continue; and Bank efforts to improve country's priority human resource has contributed to distortions in labor procedures and delivery modes are needs, all the ways those needs markets for higher-level skills. The likely to have only a slight impact. might be met, and, sector by sector, Gross Enrollment Rates c(Percentage of vgeigroup enrolled in education a OED Pricis Human Resource Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: Promising Approaches * Techical Assistance syIstems with workiorce was not nationalized by a Malawi, and Somalia have proved encouraging results include gov- certain date, therebN inspiring the use rewarding. ernment hiring and payment of of local statf. 9 Favorable training practices include gap-filling professionals for regu- - Promising educational approaches in- such efforts as linking skils with lar line positions when there is a cude helping university graduates in jobs in programs with Women in lack of qualified local staff, with Mali find employment in the private Development components, rather salaries being topped up by foreign sector or begin their own businesses, than simply providing women with assistance funds as occurred in through a small start-up fund, for in- vocational training. Changing atti- Burundi. This promotes closer stance. Bank support of school and tudes toward hiring and promoting consideration of needs and reduces public libraries in Nigeria and Tanza- women is emphasized in the Mada- recurrent cost problems when ex- nia has encouraged reading, an educa- gascar Manpower Training Project. ternal funding ceases. Monetary tional tool often neglected in opera- Households headed by women are incentives are another way of re- tions. After a ten-year hiatus in fund- the target of Zambia's Economic Re- ducing costs and excessive use of ing adult literacy programs in Africa, covery Program Il income-generat- expatriates In a Nigerian turnkey the Bank has helped rekindle adult lit- ing activities. A pilot program of fertilizer project, for example, this eracv efforts in Ghana. Radio education the Second Transport Rehabilitation was achieved through a provision programs in Malawi, and testing and Project in Ghana focuses on employ- that decreased the contractor's examinations in proects in Burkina ing women in a specially designed payment by fwive percent if the Faso C e davoire, The Gambia, labor-intensive road program. what might be done to improve the fying projects on the basis of an overall cators of progress, and by routinely situation on both the demand and strategy for human resource develop- conducting both baseline and end-of- the supply sides. ment, by identifying monitorable indi- project evaluation surveys. M Encourage the search for morepriva sustained means of financing theseso strategies than currently exist throughnd use of individual, stand-alone projects Though regional managem t agrees flow of expatriates and the outflow of of limited duration. with most of the report's recommenda- trained Africans. Political, social, and *onSearcheror tan-eatohcorrecinprucd diSrtions in y lab orret orhiger tions, it objects to parts of the analysis. ethnic considerations played and con- gtinue top a significant role in the use level skills, to encourage small-scale The Region finds that the discussion of educated Aficans in Sub-Saharan Af- enterprise development building on the capital-intensive development pro- rican countries. upon existing intermediate technolo- cess overlooks several facts. In the 1980s, gies and skill levels, and to devolve most African countries followed the ad- The Bank did not just assume that more responsibility on to the private justment path awayfrom capital-inten- governments and other aid sources would sector for providing educational, train- sive development. Thus, during the 1960s provide all other inputs needed for suc- ing, and research services, and 1970s,while thie.4frican COUntrie4 ce5sfu development of the education sys- a Change some Bank procedures wete Olloung a capdal-inten-4ver pro- oam. There were clear commitments from and styles of operation to help pro- Le,z. human resource d,velopment UVS D governments to provide such inputs mote local ownership and capacity r1 1pr07ing: during the 1980-;, while thach were not kept because of resource building. For example, ensure that Africauu; on the adptinent path.huv- constraints. new projects are in line with borrow- man re:;on rce de-veloptent taosstawnata ers' implementation capacity, and re- -ig ordeteriorating. From thii set o w In the discussion on the education frainfcfacta, it is drficidt to argue that e api- sector'e perAirmince. te Precis does not o tal-intenswe proceHs caused thedeteriora- e odicisl mention the 1988 education tasks that properly belong to local tion, in huinan resource development. -wctor strategy. it tatls to re ogizie the staff. enuing chage iof theAfrica ReEo on 0 Take the appraisal, supervision, 1,bL)F market distortionsare dis- a?pproCh1t to educator. ued th act that monitoring and evaluation of educa- cu,zed. but there is no mention of t7 this change does addrcs. se ian o e Fion and TA projects more seriously- pCht iec of girrnment, regarding the in- rport s rod pr71 or. at a minimum, by designing and justi sED Pucis is produced by the Operations Evaluation Department of the World Bank to help disseminate recent evaluation findings to development professionals within and outside the World Bank. The views here are those of the Operations Evaluation staff and should not be attributed to the World Bank or its affiliated organizations. Please address comments and enquiries to the managing editor, Rachel Weaving, F-9037 World Bank, telephone 473-1719. December 1993