Private and community-driven efforts can be an important resource to expand early childhood education and care (ECEC) services to poor children, under the right conditions and design. The regulations imposed on private ECEC provision, while having an impact on quality, may increase costs of...

Public financing of privately provided child care can allow for access to these services in places where public provision and capacity are low. However, the mechanisms of subsidy delivery will affect who benefits, and the overall cost-effectiveness of such subsidies. This paper sets out an...

This paper looks at how the macro-shock from the 2008 financial crisis has translated into income and welfare shocks in the form of reduced earnings and consumption at the household level in Turkey. Using a specialized household level Welfare Monitoring Survey implemented in May-June 2009 in...

This paper evaluates the equity and financial protection implications of the expansion of the Green Card (Yesil Kart) non-contributory health insurance program in Turkey during the growth years from 2003 to 2008. It also considers the program's protective impact during the economic crisis in...

This note examines the provision of childcare and eldercare in Kosovo with an emphasis on the availability, price, and quality of care, and suggests policy priorities that address the identified challenges. The analysis in this note is based on a study aimed at exploring childcare and eldercare...

This note examines the provision of childcare and eldercare in FYR Macedonia with an emphasis on the availability, price, and quality of care, and suggests policy priorities that address the identified challenges. The analysis in this note is based on a study aimed at exploring childcare and...

Despite significant progress in closing the gender gap in education, there is a significant disparity between male and female labor participation rates in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Among men aged 15 to 64 years, 65.7 percent participate in the labor force compared to only 41 percent of...

Despite a slight increase in female labor participation between 2012 and 2013, employment rates in Serbia stood at 40.1 percent for women in 2013, almost 15 percentage points below employment rates for men (at 54.9 percent). International evidence shows that support for childcare and eldercare...