World Bank, 2021
Mozambique - Can Results-Based Financing Ensure that Books Reach Students in Time for the Start of the School Year
Textbooks are one of the most important tools to foster learning. There is evidence from a wide range of countries that, in order to raise literacy rates and improve learning outcomes, students must have access to learning materials and use them. Results-based financing (RBF) can be an important tool to help governments to overcome the obstacles and to ensure that all students have access to quality books in an appropriate language. RBF can be used to provide incentives to stakeholders at all stages of the supply chain - from book development and production to procurement and distribution - to ensure the receipt of books by schools and to incentivize the use of books in schools and at home. The provision of RBF prizes proved highly effective at driving the construction and repair of book storage facilities in zone of pedagogical influence (ZIP) schools. More than three-quarters of the surveyed ZIP schools eligible for the competition constructed or repaired their storage facilities.