Series - Operations research

Education and informal sector - set Informal Sector - Proposal Preparation - January to March 1983 - RPO 672-98

Identity area

Reference code

WB IBRD/IDA WB_IBRD/IDA_88-10

Title

Operations research

Date(s)

  • 1965, 1968 - 1991, 2005 (Creation)

Level of description

Series

Extent and medium

75.17 linear feet of textual records; 8 computer disks (5 5.25", 2 8", 1 3.5")

Context area

Name of creator

Archival history

Most records were transferred to the Archives by the Education and Employment Division (PHREE) and other responsible units in multiple transfers between 1992 and 2011, in accordance with approved records retention schedules. Other records were originally sent by the sector to the Bank's semi-centralized Non-Regional Information Center (NRIC); these were transferred from the NRIC to the Archives in 1994.

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Series contains records maintained by the Education Department (EDP, 1968 - 1972, later EDC, 1977 - 1984) and successor units responsible for producing and disseminating research. Research is conducted by the sectors to support operations projects as well as regional, country, or specific sector programs and initiatives, and to improve the level of sector knowledge in particular areas. Records were primarily created between 1968 and 1991 apart from a set of questionnaires dated 2005 and copy of an externalreport dated 1965 used for reference.

Many of the records were created by George Psacharopoulos during his tenure as education research adviser, Education Department (EDC, 1981 - 1983), manager, Education Research Program (EDCRS, 1983 - 1985) followed by Research Division chief (EDTRS, 1985 - 1987). Other records were created by Senior Adviser Wadi D. Haddad, Senior Sociologist Stephen P. Heyneman, Economist Elizabeth (Beth) M. King, Michael Wilson, and others.

Record formats include, but are not limited to: correspondence regarding collaboration, sharing of information, comments on draft papers, or research conducted for the unit by university professors and other third parties; research proposals; initiating briefs; preliminary outlines; Terms of Reference; back-to-office reports for missions relating to research projects; statistical and other data; operational project audit and completion reports; published and unpublished external reports from governments, external organizations and scholars; working and discussion paper drafts and final versions; surveys; handwritten research notes; copies of journal articles and press clippings; and computer floppy disks containing final papers and research results.

A portion of the material specifically relates to country studies regarding living standards in Peru, higher education in Africa, diversified secondary curriculum (DiSCus) in Colombia and Tanzania, and university education in Pakistan. Other topics include, but are not limited to: economic impact of education; women in education; structural adjustment and education; education and public expenditures; vocational training; education strategy and employment policies; assessments of testing capacities; effects of school conditions and atmosphere on students' performances; informal sector education and employment; education and earnings; and education and environment.

Several of these subject files relate to the preparation of Research Project Outputs (RPOs). The RPO numeric code was assigned to projects throughout the Bank by the Development Economics Department. One such set of files relates to RPO 672-45 Diversified Secondary Curriculum Study (1968 - 1985, not inclusive) prepared by George Psacharopoulos and previously by Wadi Haddad. Records consist of back-to-office reports following missions, internal and external correspondence including with the Research Committee, working papers, questionnaires, research notes and data, and various other record types.

There are also records (1984 - 1986) pertaining to the EDTRS publication "Financing education in developing countries: an exploration of policy options" issued in 1986. Records include working drafts and review draft versions, memoranda from EDT Director Aklilu Habte to Operations Policy Staff Vice President S. Shahid Husain including the initiating brief, correspondence concerning press reaction, and other items.

A small portion of records in the series reflect collaboration between the Research Division and the Education Policy Division (EDTEP) led by Division Chief Dean T. Jamison regarding policy on education in Africa (1983 - 1987). Records include memoranda from Jamison and Psacharopoulos to OPSVP sharing a summary of the Bank-organized Research Priorities in Education in Sub-Saharan Africa Conference proceedings held in Bellagio in 1985, final conference report, agenda and list of participants, papers presented at the conference, and a pre-conference report on workshop research priorities (1984).

The sector policy study "Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: policies for adjustment, revitalization, and expansion" soon followed, issued in 1988. There are three volumes of files (1984 - 1987) pertaining to the preparation of the study. Included are memoranda between Haddad, Jamison, task leader and Senior Economist Peter R. Moock (EDTEP), Operations Adviser Ralph W. Harbison, and other staff discussing the development of the paper, comments on preliminary versions, and budget. Included with the memoranda are the initiating brief with follow-up comments, meeting address of Habte, and background data and papers.

Records originally maintained in the NRIC (1981 - 1982) contain internal memoranda between Haddad and Habte, letters exchanged with external agencies, primarily the International Development Research Center regarding the sector's participation in the Research Review and Advisory Group and other collaborative activities. Back-to-office reports, draft outlines and reports, and other items are also filed with the correspondence. Finally, a small portion of questionnaires maintained by Director Ruth Kagia related to the Ngecha Education Study (2005) also belong to the series.

Most of the records are in English, with correspondence and reports occasionally in French and Spanish, and research data and questionnaires in Swahili.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

Accruals are expected.

System of arrangement

Records are mostly arranged by subject. RPOs are arranged numerically.

Certain "series" of records originally maintained in the semi-centralized Non-Regional Information Center (NRIC) that relate to a specific function or unit, in this case the Education Sector research files were arranged in this functional department series.

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Records are subject to the World Bank Access to Information Policy.

Conditions governing reproduction

Records are subject to the Copyright Policy of the World Bank Group.

Language of material

  • English
  • Spanish
  • French
  • Swahili

Script of material

Language and script notes

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Finding aids

An inventory list is available here.

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

  • See Records of the Education Sector - Director and Front Office records (WB IBRD/IDA WB_IBRD/IDA 88-01) for research papers and other records related to direction and oversight of the sector's research program and activities.

  • See Records of the Education Sector - Policy and best practice development (WB IBRD/IDA WB_IBRD/IDA 11-07) for records related to the development of sector policy and strategy papers.

  • See Records of the Education Sector - Staff and consultant reports and documents (WB IBRD/IDA WB_IBRD/IDA 88-11) for an amalgamated set of papers authored by various sector staff and consultants including the Research Division (EDTRS).

  • See Central Files - Operational sectors (WB IBRD/IDA ADMCF-07) for records related to policy and research that were maintained in the centralized filing system from the time of the establishment of the Education Division, Projects Department (PRJED) in 1965 until recordkeeping was decentralized in 1987.

  • See Records of the Chief Economist - Records of the Office of the Vice President, Development Economics and Chief Economist and later Senior Vice President, Development Economics and Chief Economist (DECVP) - Policy Research Department Poverty and Human Resources Division (PDRPH) Research (WB IBRD/IDA DEC-03-81) for records related to research papers on Peru compiled by Elizabeth M. King.

  • See Records of the Chief Economist - Records of the Office of the Vice President, Development Economics and Chief Economist and later Senior Vice President, Development Economics and Chief Economist (DECVP) - Research Project Files Maintained in the Office of the Vice President, Development Policy (VPD) and the Office of the Vice President, Economics and Research (VPERS) (WB IBRD/IDA DEC-03-75) for records of the hub unit for Bank research.

  • See the World Bank Group's Documents and Reports repository for digitized research reports and papers produced by Education Sector units and staff, including Financing education in developing countries: an exploration of policy options.

Related descriptions

Notes area

Alternative identifier(s)

Access points

Subject access points

Place access points

Name access points

Genre access points

Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

Rules and/or conventions used

Internal World Bank Group Archives rules

Disclosure status

Level of detail

Dates of creation revision deletion

01 June 2021

Language(s)

Script(s)

Sources

Accession area