Download or read book Public Employment and Governance in Middle East and North Africa written by and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Public Employment and Governance in Middle East and North Africa written by Weltbank and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Government wage bills have been growing across the world, but are exceptionally high in the MENA region relative to countries' state of development, whether measured as a share of GDP, or of government revenue and spending (World Bank, 2004). Across the region government wage bills threaten fiscal sustainability. There are many drivers behind the large wage bills, whether of central government alone or of general government. Government employment numbers also seem to grow inexorably, in many areas faster than required to deliver services in line with population growth. Other factors have been weak staff control systems, the authorization of new recruitment outside budget frameworks, and laxly applied staff performance assessment systems, in addition to absenteeism, and the difficulty under public service rules of disciplining and ultimately terminating poorly performing staff. This paper takes a look at government wage bill growth, alongside current approaches to recruitment, staff performance assessments and promotions, with particular emphasis on Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia. These country examples are complemented by a broader regional analysis to illustrate overarching trends in public sector employment.The objective is to identify the various forces at work, how they interact, and thereby document and understand better the dynamic of public sector wage bill expansion in the Middle East as well as potential linkages to public sector performance. The paper also looks at reform efforts, extracts lessons and identify potential reform options to better control wage bill growth and the unbalancing effects it has had on the efficiency and effectiveness of government spending generally. Furthermore, while the paper does not present a comprehensive overview of the nature of public employment in MENA, it aims to identify potential areas for further research in this domain.

Download or read book Public Sector Reform in the Middle East and North Africa written by Robert P. Beschel and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2020-12-01 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Critical examinations of efforts to make governments more efficient and responsive Political upheavals and civil wars in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have obscured efforts by many countries in the region to reform their public sectors. Unwieldy, unresponsive—and often corrupt—governments across the region have faced new pressure, not least from their publics, to improve the quality of public services and open up their decisionmaking processes. Some of these reform efforts were under way and at least partly successful before the outbreak of the Arab Spring in 2010. Reform efforts have continued in some countries despite the many upheavals since then. This book offers a comprehensive assessment of a wide range of reform efforts in nine countries. In six cases the reforms targeted core systems of government: Jordan's restructuring of cabinet operations, the Palestinian Authority's revision of public financial management, Morocco's voluntary retirement program, human resource management reforms in Lebanon, an e-governance initiative in Dubai, and attempts to improve transparency in Tunisia. Five other reform efforts tackled line departments of government, among them Egypt's attempt to improve tax collection and Saudi Arabia's work to improve service delivery and bill collection. Some of these reform efforts were more successful than others. This book examines both the good and the bad, looking not only at what each reform accomplished but at how it was implemented. The result is a series of useful lessons on how public sector reforms can be adopted in MENA.

Download or read book Building Effective Employment Programs for Unemployed Youth in the Middle East and North Africa written by Diego F. Angel-Urdinola and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2013-07-17 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Given the labor market challenges that countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region are facing (notably high unemployment, prevalence of skills mismatches, low labor market mobility, and lack of formal employment networks), employment services could be a relevant policy instrument to assist unemployed individuals to find jobs. Despite high and increasing unemployment rates, employers in the region are facing difficulties to find workers whose competences and skills fit their employment needs. The study first surveys international best practices for the delivery of employment services and then reviews the provision of these services in a selected group of countries in the MENA region, with a focus on public provision through existing public employment agencies. Findings indicate public agencies in the region face many challenges for the effective delivery of employment programs, namely poor administrative capacity,system fragmentation, lack of governance and accountability, regulation bottlenecks, and flaws in program design. In order to help unemployed workers to obtain the competences required by available jobs, this study proposes a reform agenda based on the development of strong partnerships between public agencies, public providers, and employers for the design and implementation of flexible employment programs that respond to real employment needs. These partnershipss will need to be developed with strong governance mechanisms that make beneficiaries, private providers, and firms accountable for making sure that investments in employment programs lead to employment insertion. The book is directed to policy makers, practitioners, economists, and anyone interested in international best practices to promote a more effective delivery of employment services.

Download or read book State Owned Enterprises in Middle East North Africa and Central Asia Size Costs and Challenges written by Mr. Ernesto Ramirez Rigo and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2021-09-20 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Prior to the COVID-19 shock, the key challenge facing policymakers in the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia region was how to generate strong, sustainable, job-rich, inclusive growth. Post-COVID-19, this challenge has only grown given the additional reduction in fiscal space due to the crisis and the increased need to support the recovery. The sizable state-owned enterprise (SOE) footprint in the region, together with its cost to the government, call for revisiting the SOE sector to help open fiscal space and look for growth opportunities.

Download or read book Industrial Policy in the Middle East and North Africa written by Ahmed Galal and published by American Univ in Cairo Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most governments in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region use trade policy to protect certain industries, provide tax incentives to promote a particular type of investment, and make subsidized credit available to firms of a certain size. Such government intervention, known as industrial policy, is the topic of this book. The aim is to assess whether state intervention leads to net benefits to society, why policymakers intervene, and how to bring about a healthier balance between states and markets. Answers to these questions are given in six chapters based on research papers that were presented at a conference held in Cairo in November 2005, and include case studies on Egypt, Morocco, Turkey, and Jordan. Contributors: Hasan Ersel, Ahmed Galal, Najib Harabi, Nihal El Megharbel, Mustapha Nabli, and Marcus Noland. An Egyptian Center for Economic Studies / World Bank Publication

Download or read book Privilege Resistant Policies in the Middle East and North Africa written by Syed Akhtar Mahmood and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2018-02-06 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Renewing the social contract, one of the pillars of the new World Bank Group strategy for the Middle East and North Africa, requires a new development model built on greater trust; openness, transparency, inclusive and accountable service delivery; and a stronger private sector that can create jobs and opportunities for the youth of the region. Recent analytic work trying to explain weak job creation and insufficient private sector dynamism in the region point to formal and informal barriers to entry and competition. These barriers privilege a few (often unproductive) incumbents who enjoy a competition-edge due to their connections or ability to influence policy making and delivery. Policy recommendations to date in the field of governance for private sector policymaking have been too general and too removed from concrete, actionable policy outcomes. This report proposes -for the first time- to fill this policy and operational gap by answering the following question: What good governance features should be instilled in the design of economic policies and institutions to help shield them from capture, discretion and arbitrary implementation? The report proposes an innovative conceptual and measurement framework that encapsulates the governance features that could shield policies from capture, discretion and arbitrary enforcement that limits competition. The report offers a menu of operational and technical entry-points to enhance privilege-resistant policy making in a concrete way, that is politically tractable in different country contexts.

Download or read book Breaking the Barriers to Higher Economic Growth written by Mustapha Kamel Nabli and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2007-01-01 with total page 500 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The world's attention to the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has often been dominated by headline issues: conflict, sanctions, political turmoil, and rising oil prices. Little of this international attention has considered the broad range of development challenges facing this diverse group of countries. Breaking the Barriers reflects the collected thinking of the World Bank's Office of the Chief Economist for the MENA Region on the long-term development challenges facing the region and the reform priorities and strategies for effectively meeting these challenges. It.

Download or read book OECD Public Governance Reviews Youth at the Centre of Government Action A Review of the Middle East and North Africa written by OECD and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2022-06-23 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Young people have demonstrated resilience to shocks and led positive change in their communities across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Young people (aged under 30) constitute more than half (55%) of the population across MENA, compared with 36% of the population across OECD countries.

Download or read book Middle East and North Africa Investment Policy Perspectives written by OECD and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2021-03-30 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Middle East and North Africa Investment Policy Perspectives highlights the considerable progress in investment policies made by the region’s governments over the past decade. Yet, the reform momentum needs to be sustained and deepened for the benefits of investment to be shared with society at large and for growth to be sustainable, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting global economic upheaval.

Download or read book Social Policy in the Middle East and North Africa written by Rana Jawad and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2019 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents a state of the art in the developing field of social policy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It offers an up-to-date conceptual analysis of social policy programmes and discourses in the MENA region by critically reviewing the range of social insurance and social assistance schemes that are currently in existence there. It also analyses and offers suggestions on which of these policies can positively impact the region’s advancement in terms of human development and in addressing social and economic inequalities and exclusion.

Download or read book Governance in the Middle East North Africa and Western Balkans written by United Nations. Department of Economic and Social Affairs and published by Economic & Social Affairs. This book was released on 2008 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The prosperity and well-being of people across the Mediterranean region depend very much on good governance. Understanding the challenges each country faces and the priorities in reforming public administration is the first step towards more coordinated action to strengthen government institutions, processes, and human resource capacities. The publication provides an overview of governance and public administration in selected countries. It identifies, assesses and analyses relevant needs and challenges as well as priorities for change and innovation in government at the local, national and regional levels. This book is the result of the combined efforts of more than 60 national and international experts and government officials, whose informed perspectives and feedback have shaped the respective chapters.

Download or read book Public Employment in the Middle East and North Africa written by Rāǧī Asʻad and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Public sector hiring has been an essential component of the social bargains that have maintained political stability in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). As these bargains eroded, public sector workforces contracted in relative terms owing to a partial freeze on hiring and the promise of lifetime job security for incumbent workers. This had profound effects on the age composition of the workforce. The upcoming retirement of many workers provides an opportunity to restructure public sector hiring to emphasize meritocratic recruitment processes and performance-based compensation systems.

Download or read book Challenges of Growth and Globalization in the Middle East and North Africa written by Mr.Hamid R Davoodi and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2003-09-05 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is an economically diverse region. Despite undertaking economic reforms in many countries, and having considerable success in avoiding crises and achieving macroeconomic stability, the region’s economic performance in the past 30 years has been below potential. This paper takes stock of the region’s relatively weak performance, explores the reasons for this out come, and proposes an agenda for urgent reforms.

Download or read book Public Wage Bills in the Middle East and Central Asia written by Ms.Natalia T. Tamirisa and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2018-01-16 with total page 95 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Analysis of policies for managing public sector wage bills in the Middle East and Central Asia region. While some work has been done recently at the Fund on issues related to government employment and compensation, to our knowledge, this is the first study to systematically examine, with a focus on the Middle East and Central Asia region, the recent trends and drivers of public wage bills in the region and to identify key policy implications.

Download or read book Employment Creation and Social Protection in the Middle East and North Africa written by Economic Research Forum for the Arab Countries, Iran, and Turkey and published by American Univ in Cairo Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Describes and analyzes critical aspects of the labor market and social protection in the Arab world

Download or read book Private Sector and Enterprise Development written by Lois Stevenson and published by IDRC. This book was released on 2010 with total page 383 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the challenges to private sector growth in 12 Middle East and North African (MENA) countries, assessing comparative performance against a number of indicators and focusing on the special role of SMEs and entrepreneurial activity. Highlights the variation among countries in private sector dynamism and performance, the major government policy initiatives supporting private sector and SME activity in each country, and the perspectives of government officials, researchers, and other stakeholders on research, policy, and institutional capacity needs. Concludes with a framework for guiding a comprehensive set of policies and strategies to unleash the potential of entrepreneurship as a platform for future private sector growth.