Suchergebnisse

This report marks the third edition in this series, following assessments in 2012 and 2016. It provides a comprehensive overview of the state of play in the implementation of the ten SBA principles, and monitors progress made since 2016. It also identifies remaining challenges affecting SMEs in the Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries and provides recommendations to address them based on EU and international good practice examples.

This country review report offers an independent analysis of major issues facing the use of school resources in Colombia from an international perspective. It provides a description of national policies, an analysis of strengths and challenges, and a proposal of possible future approaches. The analysis focuses on the funding of school education, the provision of school education and the development of the teaching profession. Rural education represents a transversal theme of the report within the context of Colombia's peace agreement and objectives to close rural-urban gaps in social and economic development. Issues covered include the level of spending, sources of funding and funding mechanisms; the organisation of the school network, including the funding of private provision; school governance, leadership and community participation; the organisation of teaching and learning, including learning standards, educational materials, student assessment, and instruction time; teacher learning in pre-service and in-service education; and teacher recruitment and career progression. The report covers all levels of compulsory education as well as transitions from early childhood education and care to school education and from school education to the labour market and tertiary education.

The Round Table evaluated the relevance of research on the wider economic impacts of investments in transport infrastructure for the practice of project appraisal. This paper comprises the Round Table's presentations and discussions. The standard cost-benefit analysis of transport infrastructure investment projects weighs a project's costs against users' benefits. This approach has been challenged on the grounds that it ignores wider economic impacts of such projects. Leading academics and practitioners addressed these concerns and examined a range of potential approaches for evaluating wider impacts. They concluded that for smaller projects, it is better to focus on timely availability of results, even if this means forgoing sophisticated analysis of wider impacts. For larger projects or investment programs, customized analysis of these effects is more easily justifiable. Creating consistent appraisal procedures is a research priority.

One in five of the world's population live in extreme poverty, with a per capita income of less than a dollar a day. At least two-thirds of these people live in rural areas, where farming is the dominant source of income. At the same time, the poorest non-farm households spend a relatively large share of their budgets on food. What happens to agricultural policies is thus vitally important for the world's poor, whether or not they work in agriculture. How can agricultural trade reform serve their needs? What are the benefits of agricultural trade liberalisation, and what are the potential dangers?