Welcome to Research Insights, a knowledge space dedicated to collect, condense, and communicate policy-relevant findings from our team's research. Each edition offers concise and accessible summaries of the most impactful studies, ensuring that policymakers, practitioners, and stakeholders stay informed about the latest developments and evidence in the field. Our goal is to bridge the gap between complex research and practical application, fostering informed decision-making and effective policy design.
India¡¯s largest public works program, Mozambique's at-scale preschool construction, and local electoral turnover in Indonesia
Welcome to the first edition of Research Insights ¨C a space to bring you closer to our team¡¯s cutting-edge studies and insights.
In this issue, explore how India¡¯s public works program, MNREGA, successfully reduced groundwater depletion, how a large-scale preschool construction initiative in Mozambique is boosting enrollment and educational outcomes, and how electoral turnover is improving service delivery in Indonesian villages.
These three studies span very different topics in development, but together they highlight the importance of strengthening capacities and civil engagement at subnational levels to achieve meaningful impact at scale.
Event materials, news and call for papers below.
| A. Patrick Behrer, Hemant Pullabhotla | |
? John Isaac / World Bank | Established in 2005, India¡¯s MNREGA program is the largest public works program in the world. Its primary goal is the provision of rural employment, but it also has important secondary objectives such as the building of rural infrastructure. This research highlights how surface water infrastructure funded by MNREGA significantly improved groundwater recharge, particularly in states with robust implementation. By enhancing groundwater availability, MNREGA not only boosted irrigation during the dry season but also enabled farmers to shift to higher-value crops and increase their revenues. These findings highlight that public works programs can successfully achieve critical secondary objectives like reducing groundwater depletion while they ameliorate rural poverty and unemployment. |
, Bruno Besbas, Lelys Dinarte-Diaz, Saravana Ravindran, Ana Reynoso | |
? Farhat / World Bank | In rural Mozambique, a large-scale preschool construction program, which included hiring local instructors and offering parenting education, had positive impacts on beneficiary communities. Children living in these communities were significantly more likely to be enrolled in preschool, progress to primary school, and report higher cognitive and socio-emotional skills, compared to children in non-beneficiary areas. For rural and underserved communities where access to early childhood education remains a challenge, this study shows that strategically placed schools, coupled with community-based solutions, can improve enrollment rates and educational outcomes at scale. |
Samuel Bazzi, Masyhur Hilny, Benjamin Marx, Mahvish Shaukat, Andreas Stegmann | |
? Nugroho Nurdikiawan Sunjoyo / World Bank | Local authorities manage services that impact people¡¯s daily lives, such as water access, garbage collection, and street lighting. Evidence from over 500 villages across Indonesia shows that turnover in local elections reshapes the bureaucracy by inducing staff reshuffling (hiring, demotions, and reallocations) and by reducing the prevalence of nepotistic networks. Bureaucrats under new leadership exert more effort and interact with citizens more frequently, leading to better alignment of citizen-bureaucrat beliefs and higher levels of service delivery. By analyzing the role of electoral turnover in strengthening local governance, this research shows the pathway through which citizen engagement can improve accountability in service provision. or |
Did you miss it?
- Policy Research Talk (11/26): ¡°Designing Better Green Finance: Insights for the Next Generations of Sustainable Investment¡±
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News and Calls for Papers:
- The Market Research Society (MRS) awarded the Best Financial Services Research honor to the World Bank and Gallup for the Global Findex. ".
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