The World Bank discovers power in the power sector - Policy Brief 14
The World Bank’s 2019 report on Rethinking Power Sector Reform recognises that many of the key challenges in power sector reform result from the political economy of the sector.
Barnett and McCulloch state that the report is weak in four areas:
- On corruption – which it treats as a local problem rather than as a systemic issue linked to countries’ political settlement;
- On the political economy of donors – and how this can sometimes make reform more difficult;
- On the impact of new technology – and how disruptive technologies can change local political incentives;
- On how to Think and Work Politically in the power sector – the report gives little guidance on how to move beyond the focus on supply-side reforms.
This Policy Brief makes recommendation to the World Bank and other development partners on how these could be tackled.
Latest Political Economy Analysis in Action online training course launched
We are pleased to announce the launch of our next Political Economy Analysis in Action online training course, starting 5 February and running until 13 June 2024
The course is designed to equip participants to identify the challenges arising from political economy features of the contexts in which they work, and to draw well-grounded conclusions for policy, strategy, or programme design and implementation.
If you or your colleagues are interested in participating in this course or a tailored one in the future, please see our course flyer or email training@thepolicypractice.com for further details.
Saleem Ul Huq
We are very sad to hear of the passing of Prof. Saleem Ul Huq, one of the world’s most prominent climate change experts and Director of the International Centre for Climate and Development in Bangladesh. Saleem was a tireless champion of action on climate change. As a leading author in two of the major assessments undertaken by the International Panel on Climate Change, his work highlighted the impact of climate change on developing countries, and the importance of greatly increased funding for adaptation to climate change. He also advocated for the establishment of a mechanism to pay for the loss and damage already sustained by countries such as his own, which was finally agreed, in principle, at COP27 in 2022. In the same year, he was named one of the top 10 scientists in the world by Nature, the international science journal.
Having attended every single one of the Conference of Parties of the UNFCCC, Saleem was a strong believer in the importance of understanding the political economy of climate action. In 2021, he kindly agreed to be interviewed by TPP Principal, Sam Bickersteth as a contribution towards our course on the Political Economy Analysis for Climate Action. The interview can be found here.
Political economy analysis for climate action training course running from 31 October 2023
The Policy Practice is delighted to announce a new short online course focussing on the Political Economy of Climate Action. This course explains how political economy analysis can be used to understand the challenge of action on climate change and to design more effective interventions. The course will consist of seven, 2-hour online sessions from 31 October to 27 November 2023. For more information and to register please click below