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What makes a good project? Success factors of the World Bank education development projects

Despite criticisms on foreign aid, empirical studies show mixed results on aid effectiveness. Since past studies have limitations, as they used an aggregate country-level approach, recent studies began to focus on aid effectiveness in the individual sector. However, there are very few studies examining aid effectiveness in the education sector. Education plays a fundamental role in poverty alleviation and economic growth. Considering that country level approach has limitations in explaining the large variation in success and failures of development projects, this study examined the factors that are associated with education project outcomes implemented by the World Bank.
This study used a mixed method design. Utilizing the World Bank project performance ratings data, I employed linear probability, logit, and ordinal logit models with country and year fixed effects. Interviews with the World Bank staff were also conducted to complement the limitations of the quantitative data. The findings suggested that the role of borrower governments (government effectiveness and commitment) is significant for the success of education projects, which supported Burnside and Dollarâs (1997) theory that aid works in a sound policy environment. Administrative factors such as project cost and duration were not significant, while project design and staff quality were found to be significant for project outcomes. In addition, this study suggested evidence that challenged the validity of the World Bank evaluation ratings data. The findings of this study call for a closer examination of the role of the borrower countryâs government in project implementation, and suggests that donors should consider ways to deliver aid effectively and efficiently rather than providing more amount of aid.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:VANDERBILT/oai:VANDERBILTETD:etd-03272016-223416
Date09 April 2016
CreatorsLee, Bommi
ContributorsStephen Heyneman, Will Doyle, Ron Zimmer, Birger Fredriksen, Karen Mundy
PublisherVANDERBILT
Source SetsVanderbilt University Theses
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
Sourcehttp://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-03272016-223416/
Rightsunrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to Vanderbilt University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report.

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