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114 Developing Countries Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

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Title: 114 Developing Countries Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

Introduction:

When it comes to writing essays on developing countries, there is an abundance of topics to choose from. Exploring the social, economic, political, and environmental aspects of these nations provides an opportunity to understand the challenges they face as well as the potential for growth and progress. In this article, we present 114 essay topic ideas and examples that will help you delve into the complex issues surrounding developing countries.

Social Issues:

• Gender inequality and its impact on development in developing countries.
• The role of education in reducing poverty and promoting social mobility.
• Child labor: Causes, consequences, and possible solutions.
• The influence of cultural traditions on the status of women in developing countries.
• Healthcare challenges and solutions in developing nations.
• Exploring the correlation between population growth and poverty rates.
• The impact of migration on both the sending and receiving countries.
• Access to clean water and sanitation: Addressing the global water crisis.
• The role of NGOs in addressing social inequalities in developing countries.
• Analyzing the impact of urbanization on social structures in developing nations.

Economic Issues:

• The effects of foreign aid on economic development in developing countries.
• The role of microfinance in empowering individuals and communities.
• The impact of corruption on economic growth in developing nations.
• Strategies for promoting sustainable economic development in rural areas.
• Trade liberalization and its implications for developing countries.
• The role of multinational corporations in developing countries.
• The challenges and opportunities of entrepreneurship in developing nations.
• The impact of foreign direct investment on economic development.
• The role of agriculture in the economic development of developing countries.
• Economic inequality and its consequences for social stability.

Political Issues:

• Democracy and its challenges in developing countries.
• The impact of political instability on development efforts.
• The role of international organizations in promoting democracy in developing nations.
• The political economy of natural resource extraction in developing countries.
• The influence of colonialism on current political systems in developing nations.
• The challenges of implementing effective governance structures in developing countries.
• The role of civil society organizations in promoting political participation.
• The impact of climate change on political stability in developing nations.
• The role of international aid in shaping political systems in developing countries.
• The relationship between political ideology and development strategies.

Environmental Issues:

• Climate change and its effects on developing countries.
• Deforestation: Causes, consequences, and possible solutions.
• The impact of pollution on public health in developing nations.
• Sustainable energy solutions for developing countries.
• Water scarcity and its implications for agricultural productivity.
• Environmental conservation and economic development: A delicate balance.
• The role of indigenous communities in environmental protection.
• The challenges of waste management in urban areas of developing countries.
• The impact of overfishing on coastal communities in developing nations.
• The role of international agreements in addressing environmental challenges.

Examples of Developing Countries:

• The economic development of China and its impact on global trade.
• The challenges of poverty reduction in India.
• The role of South Africa in regional stability and economic development.
• The impact of tourism on the economy of Thailand.
• The agricultural revolution in Brazil and its effects on food security.
• Cuba's healthcare system: Achievements and challenges.
• The economic transformation of Rwanda after the genocide.
• The role of Bangladesh in the garment industry and its social implications.
• The challenges of sustainable development in Nigeria.
• The impact of remittances on the economy of the Philippines.

Conclusion:

Writing essays on developing countries provides an opportunity to understand the complexities and challenges faced by these nations, as well as their potential for growth and progress. The topics and examples provided in this article should inspire you to explore various aspects of social, economic, political, and environmental issues related to developing countries. By delving into these topics, you will gain a deeper understanding of the global dynamics and the importance of addressing the needs of these nations for a more sustainable and equitable world.

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80 Developing Countries Essay Topics

🏆 best essay topics on developing countries, ✍️ developing countries essay topics for college, 🎓 most interesting developing countries research titles, 💡 simple developing countries essay ideas.

• Impacts of Globalization on the Developing Countries
• Is Globalization a Threat or an Opportunity to Developing Countries?
• Homelessness and Poverty in Developed and Developing Countries
• Developing Countries Foreign Aid
• Globalization’s Role for Developing Countries: Zambia
• Can Developing Countries Catch Up to Developed Countries
• Urbanization and Developing Countries
• Environmental Issues in the Third World Countries Environmentalism is a type of social movement or a broad philosophy that is geared towards the conservation of the environment and also seeks to improve the quality of the environment.
• Companies Outsourcing in Developing Countries The purpose of this paper is to analyze the factors that motivate or stop companies from outsourcing their production in developing countries.
• Stealing Africa: How Rich Companies Benefit from the Developing Countries The Stealing Africa movie’s thesis is that multinational companies like Glencore are stealing from African countries and damaging countries’ economics and the environment.
• Personalism and Patrimonialism in Developing Countries Personalism implies the presence of a charismatic leader, who can enhance the authority of the ruling power or the whole state. Patrimonialism is another form of autocratic power.
• Issue for Farmers in Developing Countries Agriculture is a very important sector in the whole world economy since it makes available, food to every living person.
• Corruption in Developing Countries – a Cultural Phenomenon This paper analyzes the way corruption has penetrated societies in developing countries, the factors and how they have combined to influence corruption in developing countries.
• Problems of Democratic Consolidation in Developing Countries The paper argues developing countries pursuing economic and political heights should strive to consolidate democratic forces.
• Causes of Corruption in Africa’s Developing Countries The major goal of this research project is to contribute to the solution of the problem of bribes and kickbacks in corporations that create a significant corruption challenge.
• Governance and Corruption in Developing Countries This research paper examines the problem of corruption in developing countries and the role of governance in countering corruption.
• Globalization Challenges in Developing Countries and Japan The participation of nations in global trade has several benefits, even though various problems impede countries from accessing global markets.
• Developing Countries’ Transformation Factors It would hardly be an exaggeration to say that many citizens of developing countries await their transformation into universalistic welfare states.
• Impacts of Political Risks and Institutional Environment on FDI Levels in Developing Countries This study aims at establishing which of the factors has the most significant impact on FDI flows in developing countries.
• Medical Research in Developing Countries This critique will consider three articles on the subject of medical research in developing countries and examine the concerns raised by the authors on participant safety.
• Improving Hand Hygiene in Developing Countries The completed review and assessment of the research article indicate that the study presentation lacks details and explanations.
• Poverty and Covid-19 in Developing Countries In response to the pandemic, countries recommended and enforced policies on social distancing and shelter-in-place.
• Improving Disease Surveillance in Developing Countries The Kenya Medical Research Institute and the WHO argue that malaria kills about 50,000 annually. Children and expectant women are at the greatest risks of malaria infections
• Modern Energy Technologies Introduction to Developing Countries The ultimate goal of this marketing strategy would be to make new sources of energy affordable and attractive, not only to people but also to the government and local investors.
• Countering Workplace Abuse in Developing Countries Social reforms are part of the strategy of improvement for developing countries, which must make investments in safety nets for unemployed workers.
• Measures to Counter Workplace Abuse in Developing Countries This paper discusses the main measures to counter workplace abuse in developing countries such as laws and regulations, social reforms, and the role of western countries in this issue.
• Ethical Issues in Marketing Infant Formulas in Developing Countries Particular ethical issues that should be considered in this case include heath issues and the cost of the products.
• Should Aid to Developing Countries Be Stopped? The tragedy in aid business is when the very purpose of aid is construed in a way that does not only cause economic instability but environmental degradation as well.
• Globalization Effect on Developing Countries’ Business The objective of this study is to show how globalization can benefit a particular nation. This objective is implemented by considering a developing economy that is Nigeria.
• Healthcare Programs in the Developing Countries The paper studies healthcare programs solving the health crises in the developing countries: their cost-effectiveness, financially sustainability and challenges.
• Achieving Sustainable Development Within Developing Countries
• Implementing Policy Reforms in Developing Countries
• Adapting the WTO Trade Policy Reviews to the Needs of Developing Countries
• Can Denmark’s Flexicurity System Be Replicated in Developing Countries?
• Behavior, Environment, and Health in Developing Countries: Evaluation and Valuation
• Adjustment, Investment, and the Real Exchange Rate in Developing Countries
• Demand for Telecommunication Services in Developing Countries
• Beyond Poverty Escapes: Social Mobility in Developing Countries
• Manufacturing and Economic Growth in Developing Countries, 1950-2005
• Capital Controls and Monetary Policy in Developing Countries
• Openness, Economic Reforms, and Poverty: Globalization in Developing Countries
• Affordable, Quality Education for Developing Countries
• Bilateral Relationship Between Technological Changes and Income Inequality in Developing Countries
• Economic and Welfare Impacts of Climate Change on Developing Countries
• Aid, Agriculture, and Poverty in Developing Countries
• Factors Affecting Energy Demand in Developing Countries
• Child Labor and Human Capital in Developing Countries
• Biofuels: The Best Response of Developing Countries to High Energy Prices?
• Another Day, Another Dollar: Enterprise Resilience Under Terrorism in Developing Countries
• Health and Nutrition: Emerging and Reemerging Issues in Developing Countries
• Between the State and Market: Electricity Sector Reform in Developing Countries
• Import Competition From Developed and Developing Countries
• Automotive Industry Trends and Prospects for Investment in Developing Countries
• Climate Change, Agriculture, and Developing Countries: Does Adaptation Matter?
• Business Under Fire: Entrepreneurship and Violent Conflict in Developing Countries
• Adjustment Policies and Investment Performance in Developing Countries
• Catch Up: Developing Countries in the World Economy
• Bank Efficiency and Macro-economic Factors: The Case of Developing Countries
• Labor Mobility and Labor Utilization in Developing Countries
• Aggregate Agricultural Inputs and Outputs in Developing Countries
• Democracy, Elections, and Allocation of Public Expenditure in Developing Countries
• Catalyzing Investment for Renewable Energy in Developing Countries
• Aid and Public Sector Behavior in Developing Countries
• Economic Growth and Infant Mortality in Developing Countries
• Challenges and Policy Lessons for the Growth-Employment-Poverty Nexus in Developing Countries
• Beyond the ABCs: Higher Education and Developing Countries
• Alternative Pollution Control Policies in Developing Countries
• Family Ties, Institutions, and Financing Constraints in Developing Countries
• Bioenergy and Rural Development in Developing Countries
• Measuring and Explaining Government Efficiency in Developing Countries
• Child Mortality, Poverty and Environment in Developing Countries
• Biotechnology and Poverty Reduction in Developing Countries
• Oil and Energy Demand in Developing Countries in 1990
• Argentina: Lessons for the Developing Countries
• Educational Quality and Labor Market Performance in Developing Countries
• Beliefs, Economic Volatility, and Redistributive Preferences Across Developing Countries
• Global Brands and Labor in Developing Countries
• Assets and Child Well-Being in Developing Countries
• Microfinance: Improving the Standard of Living in Developing Countries
• Brain Drain and Human Capital Formation in Developing Countries: Winners and Losers

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StudyCorgi. (2022, August 27). 80 Developing Countries Essay Topics. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/developing-countries-essay-topics/

"80 Developing Countries Essay Topics." StudyCorgi , 27 Aug. 2022, studycorgi.com/ideas/developing-countries-essay-topics/.

StudyCorgi . (2022) '80 Developing Countries Essay Topics'. 27 August.

1. StudyCorgi . "80 Developing Countries Essay Topics." August 27, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/developing-countries-essay-topics/.

Bibliography

StudyCorgi . "80 Developing Countries Essay Topics." August 27, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/developing-countries-essay-topics/.

StudyCorgi . 2022. "80 Developing Countries Essay Topics." August 27, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/developing-countries-essay-topics/.

These essay examples and topics on Developing Countries were carefully selected by the StudyCorgi editorial team. They meet our highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, and fact accuracy. Please ensure you properly reference the materials if you’re using them to write your assignment.

This essay topic collection was updated on December 27, 2023 .

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Developing Countries Essay Topics

• Water Quality Issues as a Critical Environmental Determinant of Health for Populations in Developing Countries
• How Urbanization Provides Potential for Towns and Cities in Developing Countries to Become the Centers of the Social and Economic Progress
• Analysis of Economic Aspects Influencing the Lifespan of People with Dementia in Developing and Developed Countries
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• Why Migration Patterns Vary in Developing Nations
• The Negative Effects of Globalization on Developed and Developing Countries
• Judicial Corruption as a Persistent Culture of Impunity in African Leadership in Developing Countries
• Project Management Methodologies and Guidelines in Developing Nations
• Globalization’s Effects on Developed and Developing Countries
• Obesity in Children in Developing Nations: A Global Health Concern
• Why the Global Economy Sees Developing Countries’ Interests as Constrained.
• Restriction of Social Media Sites in Third World Countries
• The Effects of Internationalization on Developing Nations
• How Does Urban Poverty Develop in Developing Nations Due to Migration and Urbanization?
• Wage Disparity and Transparency in Developing Nations
• Third World Nations and Modernization Principle
• Developing Economies and the European Union
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• India: Is it Still a Third World country?
• Sustainable Democracies in Underdeveloped Nations

Essay Topics on Developing Countries

• Economic Fundamentals for Developing Nations
• Government Identification Cards in Developing Nations
• The Ethical Challenges Facing Nestlé in Developing Nations
• Effects of Global Marketing on Developing Countries
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• Constraints to E-Commerce in Developing Nations
• Eradication of Energy Poverty in Developing Countries
• Neonatal Nutrition in Developing Nations
• Migration to a Green Economy for Underdeveloped Countries
• Land Reform and Economic Progress in Developing Nations
• Rights of the Poor in Developing Nations
• Standard Features of Developing Economies
• Transnational Risks in Underdeveloped Countries
• Microfinance for Sustainability in Developing Countries
• Adverse Effects of Economic Growth on Developing Nations
• Small and Medium Sized Businesses in Developing Nations
• Mexico’s Consumer Behavior as A Developing Nation
• The Windows of Opportunity in Tourism in Developing Nations
• The AIDS Epidemic and the Healthcare Sector in Developing Countries
• Globalization, Liberalism, and Gender Equality Among Women in Developing Countries
• An Analysis of Microlending Services in Several Developing Nations
• Trends in Developing Countries’ Foreign Trade Patterns
• Economically Developed and Developing Nations
• India: A Developing Country for Business
• Geographical Information Systems and Remote Sensing for Developing Nations.
• Is Poverty in Developing Countries Just an Imagination?
• Cost of AIDS Medications Offered to Developing Countries
• Markets for Pneumococcal Vaccines in Developing Nations
• An Analogy of Developing Countries: Africa, Asia, and South America
• Links between Poverty and War in Developing Countries
• Access to the WTO Dispute Settlement as a Concern for Developing Countries
• The Impact of Clean Water on People’s Lives in Developing Nations
• Besley and Persson’s “Why Do Developing Countries Tax So Little?”
• Entrepreneurial Aspiration in Developing Countries
• How Might Developing Nations’ Situations Be Made Better by Debt Relief?
• Progression and Communication in Third World Nations

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Impact of Globalisation (Revision Essay Plan)

Last updated 11 Jan 2022

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Here is a suggested answer to a question on the impact of globalisation on developed and developing countries.

Introductory Context

An estimated 9 percent of the global population still lives below the international poverty line of US$1.90 PPP a day.Success in reducing poverty in East Asia is clear with 7 percent of the population in the region living below the US$3.20 PPP line and 25 percent living below the US$5.50 PPP poverty line in 2018. However, almost 70 percent of Sub-Saharan Africa’s population lives on less than US$3.20 per day. Progress in cutting extreme poverty has been halted by the pandemic. The World Bank estimated that the pandemic pushed between 119 and 124 million people into extreme poverty around the globe in 2020. Many developing countries have limited resilience to the impact of economic shocks and threats from climate change.”.

Source: Adapted from the World Bank Poverty Report, 2021

To what extent have the economic benefits of globalisation favoured developed over developing countries? (25 marks)

KAA Point 1

Globalisation involves deeper integration between countries through networks of trade, capital flows, ideas, technologies and movement of people. One argument that globalisation has favoured high-income countries lies in the growing dominance of TNCs from advanced nations. TNCs base their manufacturing, assembly, research and retail operations across several countries, and many have become synonymous with globalisation namely Nike, Apple, Amazon, Google (Alphabet) and Samsung. Some have annual revenues many times higher than the GDP of smaller low-income countries and there has been fierce criticism of numerous TNCs for following tax avoidance strategies such as transfer pricing. This has reduced tax revenues for governments in developing nations which then hampers their ability to use fiscal policy to fund public services such as education and basic health care. The effect is to limit progress in reducing extreme poverty and improving human development outcomes.

Evaluation Point 1

A counter argument is that globalisation is associated with a steady reduction in import tariffs around the world which has then improved access to high-income markets for businesses from emerging countries. Many nations in east Asia have achieved reductions in extreme poverty driven by export-led growth. The extract says that only 7 percent of this region’s population now live below the US$3.20 PPP poverty line and continued high growth – as economies recover from the effects of the pandemic - will lead to improvements in per capita incomes and living standards. Indeed, sixty percent of the value of world GDP now comes from emerging market and developing economies and several countries have their own TNCs operating on a global scale. The recent success of countries such as South Korea, India and Vietnam is testimony to the opportunities that globalisation has offered developing nations who have developed competitive advantage across a range of industries.

KAA Point 2

A second argument supporting the question is that nations succeeding in a globalizing world have diversified economies, a workforce with flexible skills and governments with fiscal resources to overcome external shocks such as the pandemic. In contrast, poorer low-income countries rely heavily on the production and export of primary commodities or incomes from tourism, both of which have been hit by the global recession in 2020-21. Many poorer nations also haveinadequate infrastructure which increases the costs of trade and their direct tax revenues as a share of GDP are low because of sizeable informal economies and persistently low per capita incomes. This means that national governments rely heavily on external debt, and many have low currency reserves. They are therefore more exposed to economic, financial and public health shocks. This is evidenced by the differences in vaccination rates between rich and low-income countries. As of January 2022, only 9% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose and per capita incomes may take years to reach pre-2020 levels.

Evaluation Point 2

In evaluation, the globalisation process has been a catalyst for economic reforms in low and middle-income countries. Consider the example of Vietnam which has transitioned to a socialist oriented market economy and successfully attracted inward FDI from companies such as LG and Samsung. FDIhas flowed in helped by low unit labour costs costs, improving infrastructure and human capital and a deregulated business environment whilst the Vietnamesegovernment has moved to a managed floating exchange rateto help reduce some of the risks from regional and global economic shocks. Vietnam is a good example of a country that has successfully progressed from a low income to a low-middle income nation over the last two decades. The valueof their external trade accounts for roughly 180% of national output, more than any other country at its level of per-person GDP. And their educational scores on standardized tests are on a par with Germany and Austria.

Final Reasoned Comment

Overall, it is hard to reach a firm view on this question because globalisation as a process is uneven and not inevitable. Before and during the pandemic, there was evidence of a switch towards “regionalisation” rather than full-throttled globalisation. For example, most sub-Saharan African countries have joined the African Continental Free Trade Area which seeks to boost intra-regional trade and investment and encourage economies of scale among African businesses so that they can better compete against the dominance of Western TNCs. Developing nations often struggle to compete with developed countries, therefore it is argued free trade benefits high-income economies more. Gains from globalisation will never be equitably distributed.And this sense of deepening inequality and opportunity risks a further shift to tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade and moves towards economic nationalism.

• Globalisation
• Deglobalisation
• Hyper-globalisation
• Transnational Businesses
• Developing countries

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1 The Problem of Education Quality in Developing Countries

• Published: March 2019
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The universalization of basic education was set to be one of the great policy successes of the twentieth century, yet millions are still unenrolled, and many of those who attended school learned little. The ‘learning crisis’ now dominates the global education policy agenda, yet little is understood of why education quality reforms have had so little success compared to earlier expansionary reforms. This chapter sets out the rationale for this book, which is to explore how the nature of the political settlement or distribution of power between contending social groups in a given country shapes efforts to get learning reforms on the policy agenda, how they are implemented, and what difference they make to what children learn. It discusses debates about the sources and determinants of the learning crisis, examining its extent and nature and providing a rationale for the key themes the book takes up in subsequent theoretical, empirical, and comparative chapters.

Introduction

Universal basic education was set to be one of the great development successes of the twentieth century, as countries all around the world enthusiastically expanded provision, enrolling ever more of their young in primary and secondary schools. Yet by the early 2000s, it was already evident that not only were millions still out of school, but that a majority dropped out early, attended sporadically, or learned little while there (UNESCO 2014 ). As one observer summarized it, ‘schooling ain’t learning’ (Pritchett 2013 ): there is more to learning than placing children in schools. The ‘learning crisis’ is acknowledged in the Sustainable Development Goal 4 to ‘ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning’, 1 an emphasis on quality and equality in contrast to the focus on access in Millennium Development Goal 2. This learning crisis is widely yet unevenly spread, varying between countries, classes, genders, and social groups (World Bank 2017 ). But whereas expanding primary schooling was a comparatively popular and measurably successful policy goal, addressing poor quality teaching and low levels of learning has so far proven less so (Bruns and Schneider 2016 ). A few countries have managed to expand their education systems while enhancing learning. But it is easier to build schools, abolish fees, recruit more teachers, and instruct parents to send their children, than it is to ensure that schools, teachers, and students are equipped and motivated for teaching and learning once there.

This book contributes to making sense of this global learning crisis, by exploring the conditions under which reforms likely to shift education provisioning onto a higher-quality pathway are undertaken and enacted. It takes as its starting point the view that politics is likely to matter in explaining why this is the case. As a recent review put it, education reform is:

a highly charged and politicized process; what gets implemented—and its impact—depends as much or more on the politics of the reform process as the technical design of the reform. (Bruns and Schneider 2016 , 5)

There are good reasons to believe that variations in how countries adopt and implement reforms necessary to promote learning relate to differences in their political economies. These differences may play out in the design of reforms that are attempted and adopted, and in what gets implemented—including that it is more politically popular and less taxing of often weak state capacities to expand school provision than to improve learning outcomes. Yet, barring some notable exceptions (e.g. Grindle 2004 ), there has been little political analysis of education in general (Busemeyer and Trampusch 2011 ; Gift and Wibbels 2014 ), and still less on the political economy of education quality in developing countries—a gap that has been noted and bemoaned in several recent reviews (Kingdon et al. 2014 ; Nicolai et al. 2014 ; Wales, Magee, and Nicolai 2016 ; Bruns and Schneider 2016 ). As a contribution to filling this critical gap, this book sets out and tests hypotheses about how different types of political context interact with the education policy domain in ways that shape the uptake and implementation of reforms designed to improve learning outcomes.

The book features comparative analysis of the politics of education quality reforms across six low- to middle-income countries—Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ghana, Rwanda, South Africa, and Uganda—all of which were relatively successful at rapidly expanding access to primary schooling, but which have all found it much harder to improve learning outcomes, in part (we suggest) because of the variable levels of political commitment that exist in each context for reforms aimed at improving the quality of education. In this volume, we understand political commitment to reflect the incentives and ideas that predominate amongst political elites, and which are shaped by the underlying character of politics and power in specific contexts. The concept we use to describe ‘the balance or distribution of power between contending social groups and social classes, on which any state is based’ (di John and Putzel 2009, 4) is a ‘political settlement’, and we have chosen our cases to represent different types of these settlements.

The comparison explores how different distributions of power shaped incentives and ideas around education quality reforms and the institutions and processes of implementation, tracing the politics of reform from the political centre down through different levels of governance to the school, taking into account the impact of the external environment (for example, aid) and the policy legacies and challenges in each context. What we want to examine here is less the broad question of ‘how politics shapes educational outcomes’ per se, than the ways in which politics shapes the commitment and capacity of elites and governments in developing countries to promote reforms that are aimed at improving learning outcomes. In particular, and following several systematic reviews of what works to improve learning outcomes in developing countries (e.g. Glewwe et al. 2011 ; Tikly and Barrett 2013 ), we focus on efforts to improve the level and management of resourcing accorded to schools, and the quality and presence of teachers through training, incentives, and oversight mechanisms.

What we know about quality reforms is that they are inherently more difficult to design and to ‘sell’ to the public: there is less certainty about ‘what works’ and results are harder to measure (Nelson 2007 ). It is easier to design and implement top-down command-and-control responses to build more schools and recruit more teachers and children than to devise workable solutions to the ‘craft’ challenge of the interpersonal, transactional nature of effective teaching and learning (Pritchett 2013 ). Strengthening local accountability is difficult. Teachers, the group whose interests are most likely to suffer from reforms to enhance their performance accountability, tend to be well-organized, influential, and equipped to resist them (Corrales 1999 , 2006 ; Moe and Wiborg 2017 ; Kingdon et al. 2014 ; Béteille, Kingdon, and Muzammil 2016 ). Parents and communities, particularly in developing countries, are often less well-equipped and informed to articulate demand for quality improvements from their political leaders or frontline providers (Dunne et al. 2007 ; Mani and Mukand 2007 ). This means that for parents and communities, both the ‘long route’ (via the process of political representation) and the ‘short route’ (via relationships with frontline providers, teachers, and schools) to accountability for the delivery of high quality education, may be obstructed or subverted (World Bank 2003 ). A recent review concluded that three features of the politics of education are particularly relevant in analysing the prospects for reform: (i) the strength of teacher unions compared with other education stakeholders or labour unions; (ii) the ‘opacity of the classroom’—the need for reforms to shape teacher behaviour in the classroom, over which direct control is impossible; and (iii) the slow or lagged nature of the results of quality reforms (compared, for example, with the abolition of fees, learning reforms will yield no instant or obvious political return) (Bruns and Schneider 2016 ).

The World Bank identifies children’s unreadiness to learn, along with teacher and school management skills, and inadequate school inputs, as the proximate determinants of the learning crisis (World Bank 2017 ). It argues that the intractability of education quality reforms is not inherently a matter of inadequate resources, although many failing systems are also under-resourced (UNESCO 2014 ; World Bank 2017 ). Instead, it is a problem of ‘misalignment’ between learning goals, policies, and practices, in which the dominant role of teacher unions and other forms of ‘unhealthy politics’ plays an important and persistent role (World Bank 2017 ). It concludes that ‘healthier’ forms of politics—in particular the use of information to increase ‘the political incentives for learning’ and broad-based pro-reform coalitions—are critical to align goals, policies, and practices around improved learning. While highlighting the significance of the politics of teacher and school management on the frontline of the learning crisis, the emphasis on ‘alignment’ sidelines the significance of contention in education reform, and fails to address the questions to which it gives rise: under what conditions do broad-based, pro-reform coalitions come about? In which political contexts does information about education performance become embedded in functioning mechanisms of accountability? Why do some states visibly devote more capacity to learning and more political resources to quality reforms than others?

This book seeks to pick up the analysis at the point where the World Development Report (WDR) 2018 leaves off, pursuing a political explanation of the misalignments and contentions that shape the uptake of learning reforms. The analysis seeks to test assumptions that political settlements where elites have shorter time-horizons (competitive and clientelistic settlements, such as those in Ghana and Bangladesh) are less likely to take up the politically intractable task of redistributing power in the education system than those (the dominant settlements of Cambodia and Rwanda) where elites are better insulated, can adopt longer-term horizons and might be more likely to take up developmentally important projects. It also seeks to explore how different political settlements interact with systems of governance within the domain of education, ranged from traditional hierarchically organized bureaucracies to multi-stakeholder models, to create a range of different outcomes in ‘the many layers within a specific sector in between the top levels of policymaking and the service provision frontline’ (Levy and Walton 2013 , 4).

Following this introductory chapter, Chapter 2 sets out the intellectual rationale for a political settlement-based approach to the analysis of education quality reforms, and establishes the theoretical framework and methodological approach used to research the politics in the cases presented here. Chapters 3 through 8 comprise the set of six country cases, each of which gives an account of the quality of basic education and its development in that country; of the political settlement and its influences on education policy and the reform agenda; and of the implementation of policies aimed at improving learning from the national level downwards through sub-national levels of governance and, in most cases, through to schools themselves. Chapter 9 draws together the theoretical, methodological, and empirical findings from the comparative analysis, and points towards areas for further conceptual development and empirical research. The book concludes with two commentaries from leading authorities in the field on the arguments and cases presented in the book.

The Global Learning Crisis

From an access point of view, progress towards universal primary education in low-income countries accelerated markedly in the past two decades (see Figure 1.1 ). Globally, 93 per cent of children now attend primary school at the appropriate age, up from 84 per cent in 1999. By 2015, 20 million more developing country children had completed primary school than would have done so had the rate of school expansion before 2000 continued. In seventeen countries, age-correct enrolment rates increased by more than 20 per cent between 1999 and 2012, implying a remarkably rapid expansion. And gains were concentrated in the poorest world regions of Sub-Saharan Africa (where the net enrolment ratio [NER] rose from 59 per cent in 1999 to 79 per cent in 2012) and South and West Asia (where it went from 78 to 94 per cent over the same period). Between 2000 and 2010, NER increased from 27 to almost 64 per cent in Niger, from 42 to 76 per cent in Guinea, and in Burundi, from less than 41 to 94 per cent in 2010. The proportion of children who had never attended school dropped in Ethiopia from 67 per cent in 2000 to 28 per cent in 2011, and in Tanzania from 47 per cent in 1999 to 12 per cent in 2010. Globally, gender parity in enrolment was achieved at primary level and almost achieved at secondary level over the period, in part due to the push on girls’ education from MDG3 on gender equality; of countries with data, 69 per cent were set to achieve gender parity at primary level, but only less than half at secondary level by 2015. 2

Primary enrolment rates worldwide, 1970–2015

However, the idea that mass education was ‘one of the successes of the MDGs’ has been tempered by ‘more sobering trends’ (Unterhalter 2014 , 181). Large numbers of children remain excluded from school, with 58 million children aged six to eleven unenrolled in 2012, many in conflict-affected regions. At least one-fifth of all children were likely to drop out before completing primary in 32 countries, most of them in Sub-Saharan Africa (UNESCO 2015 ). And rural–urban location, socio-economic class, and marginalization and social exclusion continued to determine which children enrolled and stayed on in school. Despite gains in gender parity on literacy in many places, progress towards adult literacy has been slow; in fact, almost all gains have been due to the transition of schooled youth into adulthood, rather than programmes of learning for adults. About half a billion women still lacked basic literacy in 2015 (UNESCO 2015 ). And while most children in most countries can now attend school, in a great many, a minority learn as much as their governments expect them to. By their own standards, a large number of developing country school systems are failing to endow their students with even minimum competencies of reading, writing, and arithmetic. Globally, some 125 million children do not attain functional literacy or numeracy even after four years of school, while the majority—in some cases the vast majority—of primary school students in many education systems do not attain even the basic competencies in reading or arithmetic needed to continue their learning (World Bank 2017 ).

The poor quality of the education received by the majority in developing countries is of particular concern because of the potential role of good quality education in reversing—or reinforcing—economic and related inequalities. The quality of education is increasingly understood to be a more powerful driver of economic growth than the size of an education system, and higher-quality basic education is associated with more inclusive and equitable forms of growth (Hanushek 2009 ; Hanushek and Woessmann 2007 ). However, the learning crisis aggravates, and is aggravated by, social and economic inequalities of all kinds. Differences in learning attainments between lower- and higher-income regions and countries are substantial, as a comparison of PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) test scores shows: the average student in a low-income country performs worse than 95 per cent of students in OECD countries—that is, would require remedial lessons in any developed country school system. Differences within a region can also be significant: Colombian students attain basic literacy six years earlier than their Bolivian counterparts, while only 19 per cent of young Nigerian primary school completers can read, compared with 80 per cent in Tanzania (World Bank 2017 ). Girls, rural students, and children from minority or other socially marginalized groups generally learn less, compared with boys, city children, and other advantaged groups (World Bank 2017 ). This reflects how gender and class disadvantage, remote geography, and membership of marginalized social groups amplify unequal learning outcomes; these then accumulate as children transition through the education system and on into the labour market (UNESCO 2012 , 2014 ). Nonetheless, some countries outperform others on learning indicators: Vietnam, for instance, performs much better than predicted by its per capita income; students in Latvia and Albania similarly learn more than expected from their other social and economic indicators (World Bank 2017 ). This again reinforces the sense that the drivers of educational quality are not simply related to economic or cultural factors, and that political factors are likely to play a significant role here.

Roots of the Learning Crisis: Lessons from Efforts at Reform

Why is the learning crisis so pervasive and apparently stubborn, when policies of educational expansion were so rapidly and enthusiastically adopted across the developing world? Improving quality is recognized to be more expensive and more difficult than increasing school places, and there is a perceived trade-off between keeping unit costs low and maximizing learning achievement (Nicolai et al. 2014 , 2). Enabling high quality learning is particularly challenging amongst low-income populations because of: institutional or personal biases against children from poor or marginalized groups (UNESCO 2010 ); challenges in the home environment (Smith and Barrett 2011 ); the adverse cognitive effects of early and chronic malnourishment (Crookston et al. 2010 , 2013 ; World Bank 2017 ); and dropout, poor attendance, child labour, and other characteristic features of childhoods lived in extreme poverty (Rose and Dyer 2008 ). School meals tend to raise participation and attendance rates, for instance, but evidence that school meals improve learning outcomes is more mixed (Adelman, Gilligan, and Lehrer 2008 ; Snilstveit et al. 2015 ). Poverty and inequality may be the biggest obstacles to education quality (Tikly and Barrett 2013 ), but while good quality education may be the surest pathway out of poverty and towards more equitable societies, there are few simple solutions to raising education standards in such settings. There is, in any case, limited consensus about what works to improve learning, as a recent ‘review of reviews’ found (Evans and Popova 2016 ).

Under-resourced and poorly managed systems lead to persistently poor quality basic education, but more finance is not necessarily the answer. Low- and middle-income countries typically spend too little on education: only 41 of 150 countries for which data is available spend the recommended 6 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on education, and 25 countries spend less than half that. Globally, the average proportion of public spending on education was only 15 per cent (against a recommended 20 per cent), a proportion that has barely changed since 1999; in some low- and middle-income countries, the share of education in public spending dropped below 5 per cent of GDP during the MDG period (UNESCO 2014 ). Under-resourcing does not explain all of the problems of education quality, but it helps to explain why fewer than 5 per cent of Tanzanian students have their own reading textbook, why 130 Malawian students cram into the average first-year classroom, and why only one in four Chad schools has a toilet (UNESCO 2014 ).

Yet the extent to which resources shape education quality is known to be highly variable, depending on how they are governed and managed at the different levels of education systems. The resources that do reach schools are often poorly deployed, usually because of over-centralized control, so that the meagre resources are inefficiently and ineffectively used, and the evidence on how more resources contribute to better learning via lower pupil–teacher ratios and more qualified teachers is mixed and context-specific (Glewwe et al. 2011 ). In their review of seventy-nine studies in developing countries, Glewwe et al. (2011, 41) concluded that a reasonably functional physical classroom tended to matter, but so did teachers with more subject knowledge, longer school days, and the provision of tuition; by contrast, teacher absence had a ‘clear negative effect’. Many teachers freelance as private tutors or find other ways to supplement their income (Bray 2006 ). Leakage is common, particularly through loss of public sector employee time (Chaudhury et al. 2004 ).

Where teachers do show up, they are often themselves too poorly educated to impart high quality learning: most new teachers in The Gambia, Botswana, Lesotho, Chad, Togo, Guinea-Bissau, and Cameroon did not even meet secondary school minimum qualifications for teachers in the 1990s (UNESCO 2004). And, despite massive investments in teacher training in the 2000s, in one-third of countries less than 75 per cent of teachers are trained even up to (often quite low) national standards (UNESCO 2014 ). Tikly and Barrett ( 2013 , 4) found that while low reading and mathematics attainments were closely linked to poverty and inequality, ‘schools can make a difference’, even more so in lower-income countries than in richer countries, particularly through effective school leadership and teacher management. As the World Bank ( 2017 ) summarized it, the four determinants of the learning crisis are: (i) children do not arrive ready to learn; (ii) teachers often lack the needed skills and motivation; (iii) school management skills are low; and (iv) school inputs have failed to keep pace with expansion. A critical lesson is that learning crises are systemic, not merely errors at the margin: entire education systems generally fail to deliver adequate levels of learning. This reflects the ‘misalignment’ of the goals and practices of the education system with the learning outcomes it needs to generate, notably on matters such as setting learning objectives and responsibilities, monitoring learning, financing, and the motivations and incentives of key actors within the system (World Bank 2017 ).

What causes these misalignments? The World Development Report 2004, Making Services Work for Poor People , undertook a political analysis of service delivery failures, linking them to weak or dysfunctional relationships of accountability between citizens and service-users (with respect to education, parents, and students) and service providers (teachers, officials, politicians) (World Bank 2003 ). Four dimensions of accountability most needed strengthening in relation to education performance: (i) voice, or how well citizens could hold the state—politicians and policymakers—accountable for performance in discharging its responsibility for education; (ii) compacts, or how well and how clearly the responsibilities and objectives of public engagement were communicated to the public, and to private organizations that provide services (Ministries of Education, school districts); (iii) management, or the actions that created effective frontline providers (teachers, administrators) within organizations; and (iv) client power, or how well citizen-clients could increase the accountability of schools and school systems (World Bank 2003 , 113). Central insights included that accountability for public service provision could be exercised via the ‘long route to accountability’, whereby citizens and civil society mandate political actors to provide education services, politicians then direct state actors to design such services, and the central state then tasks local governments and frontline service to deliver the services (and they are potentially punished electorally for failures at education service delivery); or via the ‘short route’, through which service-users hold frontline providers directly to account, through the use of their powers as consumers or rights-bearing citizens to demand services and sanction failures (World Bank 2003 ).

Recognizing the central importance of accountability, efforts to strengthen the ‘short route’ to accountable education provision took the form of interventions and experiments to promote community participation in school-based management; induce community monitoring of school quality indicators, such as enrolment, attendance, and performance; introduce vouchers and other ‘school choice’ initiatives; and efforts to monitor teacher performance, amongst others. It seems clear that teachers perform best when motivated and monitored to do so (Bruns, Filmer, and Patrinos 2011 ; Bruns and Luque 2014 ), yet efforts to enhance learning by strengthening ‘client power’ have yielded mixed results (Bruns et al. 2011 ; Carr-Hill et al. 2015 ; Snilstveit et al. 2015 ; World Bank 2017 ). Carr-Hill et al. (2015) found that community participation in school management yielded positive and large effects in middle-income countries, but smaller and more uneven results in poorer countries, where, amongst other things, community members lacked the capacities or incentives to engage with school performance (see also Dunne et al. 2007 ).

Some of these interventions, particularly the quasi-experimental efforts at information and monitoring, were introduced with limited reference to the political contexts within which they needed to operate, something which recent reviews of social accountability have found to be critical (Devarajan, Khemani, and Walton 2011 ; Hickey and King 2016 ). These ‘widgets’—pared-down tools for project intervention that failed to engage with the deeper and wider politics of school provision—had little prospect of strengthening accountability for public service delivery (Joshi and Houtzager 2012 ). Citizen power involves a transformation of political relationships, not merely the ‘teeth’ or consumer power to make choices at the frontline, but the ‘voice’ to mandate public action, and to demand accountability (Fox 2015 ). In the terms of the WDR 2004, the short route to accountability needs the ‘voice’ of political claims- and policymaking for it to be effective, while at the local level, education service delivery only has ‘teeth’—the ability to punish failures—when citizens and service-users have the capacities to demand, and receive, improved performance on the frontline (see also Westhorp et al. 2014 ).

These bottom-up pressures also need to be backed up by top-down pressure from within the political and bureaucratic system (Booth 2012 ), often through combined forms of diagonal accountability that join up oversight mechanisms in pursuit of more responsive and effective performance (Goetz and Jenkins 2005; Joshi and Houtzager 2012 ). The nature of the ‘craft’ in the interpersonal activity of teaching and learning means that effective school systems need to be organized like starfish—independently functional and responsive to differences in environment, yet connected to the whole—rather than, as most are, like spiders, directly controlled from the centre (Pritchett 2013 ). Yet central control remains an important political objective in many school systems, whether under democratic or authoritarian rule, and whether state capacity can be judged strong or weak.

These lessons have renewed attention to the politics of the ‘long route’ to accountability in education provision. In the first World Development Report on education (World Bank 2017 ) the roots of the learning crisis are framed as both technical and political. In one important example, national learning assessments are seen as vital to create ‘measures for learning [to] guide action’ as well as ‘measures of learning [to] spur action’, by increasing public participation and awareness of school performance; providing parents with evidence needed to make better choices; and raising voice via ‘the long route of accountability, where learning metrics may help citizens use the political process to hold politicians accountable for learning’ (World Bank 2017 , 94). Yet, while ‘political impetus’ has been critical to the adoption and implementation of learning reforms, powerful political incentives, including ‘unhealthy’ relationships between teacher unions and political and bureaucratic interests, can also ensure the goals and practices of the system remain misaligned with those of children’s learning (World Bank 2017 ).

Understanding the Political Economy of Education Quality Reforms

It may be true that ‘education systems are what they are, and indeed, the schools are what they are—everywhere in the world, regardless of the nation—because politics makes them that way’ (Moe and Wiborg 2017 ). Yet political science has paid little attention to education, for reasons that include lack of data and the specific disciplinary challenge (for political science) of accessing household dynamics and decision-making processes at multiple levels (Gift and Wibbels 2014 ; Busemeyer and Trampusch 2011 ; Ansell 2010 ). There has been some interest in the comparative politics of education, including in developing countries (for instance, Baum and Lake 2003 ; Brown and Hunter 2004 ), but it remains a new thematic area for the discipline, and one in which theorizing is in its infancy. The next section briefly discusses existing political science theories of education provision in light of the distinct challenges and concerns of developing countries, before moving on to the literature on the politics of education quality in developing country settings. This includes a discussion of the need to maintain a distinction between the politics of education in advanced, industrialized societies with long-established systems of mass education, and the politics of education in societies whose population includes many first-generation learners, where mass education is still a novelty and where transnational influences may be stronger.

Gift and Wibbels ( 2014 ) argue that the basis for a political science theory of education is as a function of the interaction between demand and supply: how much education a society receives is a function of: (a) the demand for skills emanating from the labour market and the economy; and (b) how, and the extent to which, those skills are supplied through the education system. Parents are assumed to ‘naturally prefer’ schools that are good for their children, and, to a greater or lesser extent, to mandate politicians to deliver them. How successfully they organize to assert their demands will determine what states provide. Ansell ( 2010 ) similarly notes that a political theory of education must rest on insights (a) that education is essentially redistributive and, depending on how resources are spent, can be progressive or otherwise; and (b) that ‘public education policy is heavily affected by the nature of the global market for educated labor’ (Ansell 2010 , 3).

Not all the assumptions made by Gift and Wibbels ( 2014 ) hold in contexts where mass formal schooling is still new. Gift and Wibbels view the outcome as a matter of magnitude, with the dependent variable being public spending on education. But if the heart of the problem is that schools and teachers are unaccountable to the parents and pupils they are supposed to serve, this implies a change in the relative political power of these groups, and not—or not only—more resources. In fact, more resources may exacerbate the problem, entrenching public sector interests in the existing system, making teacher unions stronger, expanding poorly managed services to an even wider population. Parents may know neither what to expect nor what to demand (for instance, Martínez 2012 ; Dunne et al. 2007 ; Mani and Mukand 2007 ). The capacity of citizens to demand and achieve improved levels of service provision is in general closely shaped by issues of poverty, exclusion, and inequality (Hickey and King 2016 ).

In developing countries with limited state capacity, the strongest demand for an educated population may come from the state itself. Many developing countries lack the human resources to staff the state; as we have already seen, many low-income countries cannot recruit enough educated teachers. Education provision may thus be insulated against state weaknesses and/or the problems of personalized as opposed to programmatic policy regimes, but with limited implications for quality: ‘in an environment of weak state capacity, democracy may prompt governments to increase education access, but not education inputs’ (Harding and Stasavage 2014 , 230). The likely absence of programmatic education agendas in developing countries may also be related to the general absence of programmatic class-based parties; the political history of education in developed countries indicates that parties and coalitions on the left and centre are more likely to promote wider access to education, and are associated with higher public spending on education (Busemeyer 2014 ).

Demand for educated labour from employers may be weak in low-income developing countries with large ‘reserve army’ populations, or because low-capital enterprises generally need little skilled labour. It seems clear that the ‘Varieties of Capitalism’ approach to understanding differences in education policy on the basis of ‘a functional complementarity between skill formation and welfare state policies’ (Busemeyer 2014 , 35) offers limited insights into situations where the relationship between labour, capital, and the state is informal, paternalistic, and unorganized. Corrales argues that it is possible that ‘more exposure to capitalism prompts governments and constituents to protect education expenditures’, but that how domestic politics interacts with opportunities and constraints in the global economy shapes the politics of investment in education (Corrales 2006 , 240). Doner and Schneider (2016, 635) note that informality, inequality, and a reliance on foreign direct investment can fragment business and labour, and ‘undercut the potential demand for upgrading institutions’.

Of the available scholarship that does focus on the political economy of education in developing countries, 3 it is possible to differentiate between those studies which focus on how national-level politics shapes educational policies in broad terms (e.g. Stasavage 2005 ; Kosack 2009 ; Kosack 2012 ) and those that look more specifically at how politics (e.g. Grindle 2004 ) and governance arrangements (Pritchett 2013 ) play out within education systems. Within each of these literatures, there is a further distinction between a focus on formal institutional arrangements (e.g. Ansell 2008 and Stasavage 2005 on democracy; Pritchett 2013 on education sector governance; World Bank 2003 on formal accountability structures) and those that focus on informal power and politics (e.g. Kosack 2012 on political coalitions; Grindle 2004 on policy coalitions; also, Wales et al. 2016 ).

Analysis of the relationship between democracy and education tends to find that democracy exerts a positive influence on governments’ financial commitments to education (Stasavage 2005 ; Ansell 2008 ). But this may not advance understanding of reforms aimed at learning, as opposed to access. Nelson ( 2007 ) argues that competitive elections may create pressures to increase but not to improve or reallocate provision, because the political incentives to do so are so weak and non-urgent. Kosack ( 2012 ) also goes beyond regime-type explanations in search of a less formal and institutional analysis, arguing that none of the three most common political–economic explanations (relating to regime type, education cultures, and governmental commitment to economic performance) predict the realities of education policies. In his analysis of Taiwan, Ghana, and Brazil, Kosack concludes that answers to two questions can explain patterns of education investment: whose support does a government need to stay in power? What sort of education do those citizens want? Kosack identifies situations in which political entrepreneurs help disorganized groups to organize around common interests on education, as through the formation of coalitions between populist leaders and rural constituencies (Kosack 2012 ; also Corrales 1999 ). By extension of the same logic regarding the role of coalitions in shaping policy preferences, it may well be that developing countries lack the kinds of organized groups that might constitute a coalition in favour of a better trained citizenry and labour force (e.g. middle-class parents, organized capitalists).

This focus on informal forms of politics seems to characterize the most insightful comparative work to date on education politics. Merilee Grindle’s (2004) seminal work on education sector reform in Latin America notes that whereas access reforms were ‘“easy” from a political economy perspective’ (Grindle 2004 , 6), reforms aimed at improving quality in the 1990s:

involved the potential for lost jobs, and lost control over budgets, people, and decisions. They exposed students, teachers, and supervisors to new pressures and expectations. Teachers’ unions charged that they destroyed long existing rights and career tracks. (Grindle 2004 , 6)

The wider literature supports the presumption that teachers are typically the best organized and most vocal group empowered to influence education policy and reforms, and that influence is not always benign (Moe and Wiborg 2017 ; Bruns and Schneider 2016 ; Kingdon et al. 2014 ; Rosser and Fahmi 2018 ; Béteille et al. 2016 ). Nevertheless, Grindle’s cases of education quality reforms in Latin America show that reforms could succeed, depending on how they were introduced, designed, approved, and implemented. Reform-oriented coalitions within the education sector were particularly important in her cases. Corrales ( 1999 ) similarly suggests that policy entrepreneurs tend to emerge in response to high-level government commitment to reforms. But a recent review of the politics of education quality in developing countries found that the visibility and ‘political returns’ of educational investments, information asymmetries, particularly around performance assessment, and patterns of demand and accountability, including capacities for collective action, tended to limit commitment to quality reforms (Nicolai et al. 2014 , 5).

In terms of studies on the significance of formal governance arrangements within the education sector, there has been a focus on both the national- and local-level systems, and within each of these on the appropriate balance between top-down and bottom-up forms of accountability mechanisms. Pritchett ( 2013 ) argues that school systems are often highly centralized, which can work well to deliver expanded provision quickly, but which may exclude local parents and teachers from influence, and so deliver schooling without learning. A similar point is made by Tikly and Barrett ( 2013 , 20), who conclude that ‘weighting accountability towards top-down control … can constrain the space for teacher autonomy, reducing responsive inclusion and curricula relevance at the classroom level’.

However, formal governance arrangements rarely play out according to design in developing countries (Andrews 2013 ). Kingdon et al. (2014, 2) note that the supposed benefits of decentralization ‘do not accrue in practice because in poor rural areas the local elite closes up the spaces for wider community representation and participation in school affairs’. They suggest the effects of decentralization are ‘especially problematic when accountability systems are weak, and there is little parental information or awareness of how to hold schools responsible’ (Kingdon et al. 2014 , 28). A good deal of work has been undertaken at the level of schools themselves, particularly in terms of the type of oversight and accountability measures associated with improved levels of performance. Westhorp et al.’s (2014) systematic review of the circumstances under which decentralization, school-based management, accountability initiatives, and community schools influence education outcomes, particularly for the poor, found that a wide range of approaches had achieved some degree of success. These include the introduction of rewards in conjunction with sanctions; performance monitoring by the community members, including traditional authorities and politicians; and the introduction of direct accountability relationships, including the power to hire and fire between school management committees and staff. However, school-level interventions are rarely enough on their own: to work, they depend on a supportive political context, an adequately-resourced education sector with a strong national system for assessment, and high-capacity local actors, including school management committees, head teachers, and local community actors.

Some research into the politics of education in developing countries has focused more on the ideas (rather than only the incentives) that shape elite behaviour. A good deal of work on elite perceptions and commitment has identified education as being an area that attracts a high level of consensus from ruling elites, as compared with other aspects of social policy (e.g. Hossain 2005 ; Hossain and Moore 2002 ). Contemporary developing countries are part of a world system in which mass education is, or is becoming, the norm, so that integration into that world system depends on the provision of mass education, and provision of mass education legitimates state authority (Boli, Ramirez, and Meyer 1985 ; Meyer, Ramirez, and Soysal 1992 ; see also Corrales 2006 ; Tikly 2001 ). Policy and political elites may ‘demand’ education as part of a developmentalist agenda of nation building or economic development, or as an instrument for achieving other social policy goals (e.g. fertility control: Colclough 2012 ; Ansell 2010 ).

Finally, international actors have played a significant role in driving up the levels of investment in education in developing countries, and in ensuring that a significant effort is made to target this provision at poorer groups. This is in part through the transnational advocacy coalition that comprised the Global Campaign for Education (Gaventa and Mayo 2009 ), as well as the strong pressures that international aid agencies have often exerted over education policy within countries that rely on overseas development finance. The Millennium Development Goals helped to provide further impetus here. However, the influence of aid agencies within the global South is declining, and there is little evidence to date that donors or international agencies have succeeded in promoting reforms targeted at improving the quality of education, despite efforts in this direction (Wales et al. 2016 ), including through the Sustainable Development Goals.

Overall, then, there have been some important studies of the politics of educational quality in developing countries, even if these are few in nature. Of these, the ones that most closely address our concern with the politics of promoting difficult reforms aimed at tackling the learning crisis have tended to emphasize the role of informal as well as formal institutional processes, ideas as well as incentives, and actors operating at multiple scales, from the global through to the local, and often in the form of coalitions. Given that none have presented a conceptual framework that can help capture these multiple factors, we try to address this failing in the next chapter, where we set out an approach that helped guide the studies reported on here and which we hope can be of some use in guiding further work in the field.

Conclusion: Understanding Education Quality Reform Demands a Political Approach

The global learning crisis manifests itself in low learning attainments in each of the six countries studied here. Their experiences are reflected across the struggles faced by low- and middle-income countries to grow their education systems in an increasingly competitive global economy dependent on skills. This book helps to make sense of the global learning crisis by exploring the proposition that politics matters, centrally, in explaining why some countries are doing better at raising the quality of education than others. But how might politics matter? Political analysis of education is limited, both empirically and theoretically, and both in developed and in developing countries. While there are good reasons to believe that the difference in the uptake of quality reforms and their implementation relates to differences of a political nature, there is little conceptual work with which to build a theoretical framework for analysing how that works, or evidence to test it. This book contributes both evidence of how politics influences reforms in developing countries, and to the construction of theory about how this comes about. It does this by setting out and testing hypotheses about how the political settlement and its relationship to the domain of education have shaped the uptake, success, or failure of recent efforts to bring about education quality reform.

Education quality reforms tend to be less politically tractable than programmes of expansion. The nature and distribution of power over the vital resource involved in education quality—teaching—are necessarily at the centre of this analysis. Quality reforms are difficult to design and difficult to deliver: less is known about ‘what works’ and achievement is hard to measure. Weak state capacity has not prevented children from attending school, but it is very likely to shape what happens once they get there. Yet strong state capacity in relation to education may not necessarily or only mean centralized power; effective education systems must be responsive and adaptive to local needs, granting enough autonomy for schools to be accountable to the local communities they seek to educate. The governance and institutional reforms needed to build effective schools are intensely political and involve struggles over power, whether in terms of the authority to define the content and direction of nation building, the power to deploy the vast national teaching force, or the resources to spend on school buildings and teachers’ pay.

The following chapters look at how politics is shaping the level of capacity and commitment of elites to improving the quality of public education and its governance in developing countries. These chapters explore variations in the extent to which countries have adopted and implemented reforms aimed at improving learning outcomes, and in how those reforms have played out in terms of improved learning. Next, Chapter 2 develops a theoretical framework for understanding the politics of education in developing countries within which such analysis can be conducted.

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Moe, T. M. , and S. Wiborg . 2017 . ‘Introduction’. In The Comparative Politics of Education . Edited by T. M. Moe , and S. Wiborg , 1–23. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Nelson, J. M.   2007 . ‘ Elections, Democracy, and Social Services ’. Studies in Comparative International Development , 41(4): 79–97.

Nicolai, S. , L. Wild , J. Wales , S. Hine , and J. Engel . 2014 . ‘ Unbalanced Progress ’. ODI Development Progress Working Paper 5. London: Overseas Development Institute.

Pritchett, L.   2013 . The Rebirth of Education: Schooling Ain’t Learning . Washington, DC: Center for Global Development Books.

Rose, P. M. , and C. Dyer . 2008 . ‘ Chronic Poverty and Education: A Review of Literature ’. CPRC Working Paper 131. Manchester: Chronic Poverty Research Centre, University of Manchester.

Rosser, A. , and M. Fahmi . 2018. ‘ The Political Economy of Teacher Management Reform in Indonesia ’. International Journal of Educational Development , 61(July): 72–81.

Smith, M. , and A. M. Barrett . 2011 . ‘ Capabilities for Learning to Read: An Investigation of Social and Economic Effects for Grade 6 Learners in Southern and East Africa ’. International Journal of Educational Development , 31(1): 23–36.

Snilstveit, B. , J. Stevenson , D. Phillips , M. Vojtkova , E. Gallagher , T. Schmidt , H. Jobse , M. Geelen , M. G. Pastorello , and J. Eyers . 2015 . ‘ Interventions for Improving Learning Outcomes and Access to Education in Low-and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review ’. 3ie Final Grantee Final Review. London: International Initiative for Impact Evaluation.

Stasavage, D.   2005 . ‘ Democracy and Education Spending in Africa ’. American Journal of Political Science , 49(2): 343–58.

Tikly, L.   2001 . ‘ Globalisation and Education in the Postcolonial World: Towards a Conceptual Framework ’. Comparative Education , 37(2): 151–71.

Tikly, L. , and A. M. Barrett . 2013 . ‘Education Quality and Social Justice in the Global South: Towards a Conceptual Framework’. In Education Quality and Social Justice in the Global South: Challenges for Policy, Practice and Research . Edited by L. Tikly , and A.M. Barrett , 11–25. London: Routledge.

UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation). 2004 . The Quality Imperative: Education for All 2005 Global Monitoring Report. Paris: UNESCO.

UNESCO. 2010 . Reaching the Marginalised: Education for All 2010 Global Monitoring Report . Paris: UNESCO, and Oxford: Oxford University Press.

UNESCO. 2012 . Youth and Skills: Putting Education to Work: Education for All 2012 Global Monitoring Report. Paris: UNESCO.

UNESCO. 2014 . Teaching and Learning: Achieving Quality for All. Education for All 2013/14 Global Monitoring Report . Paris: UNESCO.

UNESCO. 2015 . Education for All 2000–2015: Achievements and Challenges. Education for All 2015 Global Monitoring Report. Paris: UNESCO.

Unterhalter, E.   2014 . ‘ Measuring Education for the Millennium Development Goals: Reflections on Targets, Indicators, and a Post-2015 Framework ’. Journal of Human Development and Capabilities , 15(2–3): 176–87.

Wales, J. , A. Magee , and S. Nicolai . 2016 . ‘ How Does Political Context Shape Education Reforms and Their Success ?’ ODI Dimension Paper 6. London: Overseas Development Institute.

Westhorp, G. , B. Walker , P. Rogers , N. Overbeeke , D. Ball , and G. Brice . 2014 . Enhancing Community Accountability, Empowerment and Education Outcomes in Low and Middle-Income Countries: A Realist Review . London: Department for International Development.

World Bank. 2003 . ‘ Making Services Work for Poor People: World Development Report 2004 ’. Washington, DC: World Bank.

World Bank. 2017 . ‘ World Development Report 2018: Learning to Realize Education’s Promis e’. Washington, DC: World Bank.

http://un.org/sustainabledevelopment/education/ (accessed 12 June 2017).

All figures here are from UNESCO’s 2015 Global Monitoring Report , which took stock of all progress towards the EFA goals over the period (UNESCO 2015 ).

We are grateful to Sophie King for producing an excellent annotated bibliography on the politics of education in developing countries, on which this section is based.

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Economic Growth & Developing Countries Essay

Strengthening and modernizing intellectual property administration system related to patents, trademarks, copyright, etc., which includes patent information services, trademarks registration, and patent offices, and the enforcement of copyright law in developing countries and awareness/training programs in this respect will benefit the scientific and industrial communities in developing countries which in turn will increase the growth rate of the economy.

Sponsorship of trademarks will help the general public identifying the owner of goods in the market as also the availability of goods and services in the market and can protect people against false practices.

Government subsidies in basic science will help reduce the cost of research and the development of new products. This would encourage the budding entrepreneurs in the country to come up with innovative products and designs that can succeed in the marketplace. If the government actively monitors the business cycle of these home-grown industries by keeping barriers of entry and regulation of import these industries can survive better in the global marketplace and improve the GDP of the country. The development of infrastructures, science, and R&D is important for the economic growth of a country.

Government has to allow the flow of scientific datasets.

As noted by Reichman and Samuelson “basic science needs abundant, unrestricted flows of raw data at prices it can afford. The evidence suggests, indeed, that “efficient” use of data is a concept antithetical to basic science”. (Reichman and Samuelson 1997).

The business cycle or economic cycle refers to the fluctuations of economic activity about its long-term growth trend, and in other terms is the rise and fall of the economy, maintaining neutrality between supply and demand. The Government plays an important role and can influence expansions and contraction of the business cycle by alteration in the monetary and fiscal policy, by increasing the interest rates it can reduce the economic activity, and when the government wishes to stimulate economic activity, it can do so by reducing interest rates. A rise in the government budget deficit stimulates economic activity, whereas a decreasing deficit controls it.

The government could curb a recession by either increasing or decreasing taxes or by government spending. When the economy is stagnant or in recession the government can intervene by injecting funds into the market through any of the sectors. Thus government intervention in the business cycle can help economic growth in a developing country.

The savings ratio of a developing country has a direct impact on that country’s growth rate. An increase in savings will lead to an increase in investment and capital accumulation. Apart from taxations and insurance contributions and the like, savings are necessarily a voluntary action by individuals and companies. For savings to happen they should have the capacity to save. And if they have the capacity, they should also have the willingness to save. The capacity to save depends on how much a person earns (per capita income), what is the growth rate of that income, and how this income is consumed (distribution of income).

The willingness to save depends on the returns that a person can expect (rate of interest etc.), the access and availability of financial institutions, and range of investment opportunities, and the rate of inflation. Among the developing countries themselves, different patterns are emerging as far as per capita saving is concerned. In theory, however, countries with higher growth rates are expected to have higher personal savings ratios than countries with lower growth rates. The saving tendency in people gets into positive ratio only during their active, working life. In their youth and the retirement period, they are negative savings.

This means that the savings ratio will then tend to rise with the rate of growth of income. This is mainly because the higher the growth rate, the greater the gap between the target levels of consumption of the current generation of working households and the dis-saving of retired people from a less prosperous generation. To improve the savings level of individuals in developing countries a combination of all these factors has to happen.

The habit of saving has to be cultivated with a broad level of awareness. The income/expense ratio should increase so that they have some left for saving. The government could influence the consumption expenses by subsidizing the necessities. The poor also need to be informed and awareness has to be spread regarding the interest rates and the availability of various savings schemes.

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• Key Differences

Know the Differences & Comparisons

Difference Between Developed Countries and Developing Countries

The countries with low industrialization and low human development index are termed as developing countries .

After a thorough research on the two, we have compiled the difference between developed countries and developing countries considering various parameters, in tabular form.

Content: Developed Countries Vs Developing Countries

Comparison chart, definition of developed countries.

Developed Countries are the countries which are developed in terms of economy and industrialization. The Developed countries are also known as Advanced countries or the first world countries, as they are self-sufficient nations.

Human Development Index (HDI) statistics rank the countries on the basis of their development. The country which is having a high standard of living, high GDP, high child welfare, health care, excellent medical, transportation, communication and educational facilities, better housing and living conditions, industrial, infrastructural and technological advancement, higher per capita income, increase in life expectancy etc. are known as Developed Country. These countries generate more revenue from the industrial sector as compared to service sector as they are having a post-industrial economy.

The following are the names of some developed countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, United States.

Definition of Developing Countries

The countries which are going through the initial levels of industrial development along with low per capita income are known as Developing Countries. These countries come under the category of third world countries. They are also known as lower developed countries.

Developing Countries depend upon the Developed Countries, to support them in establishing industries across the country. The country has a low Human Development Index (HDI) i.e. the country have low Gross Domestic Product, high illiteracy rate, educational, transportation, communication and medical facilities are not very good, unsustainable government debt, unequal distribution of income, high death rate and birth rate, malnutrition both to mother and infant which case high infant mortality rate, high level of unemployment and poverty.

The following are the names of some developing countries: Colombia, India, Kenya, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkey.

Key Differences Between Developed and Developing Countries

The following are the major differences between developed countries and developing countries

• The countries which are independent and prosperous are known as Developed Countries. The countries which are facing the beginning of industrialization are called Developing Countries.
• Developed Countries have a high per capita income and GDP as compared to Developing Countries.
• In Developed Countries the literacy rate is high, but in Developing Countries illiteracy rate is high.
• Developed Countries have good infrastructure and a better environment in terms of health and safety, which are absent in Developing Countries.
• Developed Countries generate revenue from the industrial sector. Conversely, Developing Countries generate revenue from the service sector.
• In developed countries, the standard of living of people is high, which is moderate in developing countries.
• Resources are effectively and efficiently utilized in developed countries. On the other hand, proper utilization of resources is not done in developing countries.
• In developed countries, the birth rate and death rate are low, whereas in developing countries both the rates are high.

There is a big difference between Developed Countries and Developing Countries as the developed countries are self-contained flourished while the developing countries are emerging as a developed country. Developing Countries are the one which experience the phase of development for the first time. If we talk about developed countries, they are post-industrial economies and due to this reason, the maximum part of their revenue comes from the service sector.

Developed Countries have a high Human Development Index as compared to Developing Countries. The former has established itself in all fronts and made itself sovereign by its efforts while the latter is still struggling to achieve the same.

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Even though China seems very developed, it is still considered a developing country. This is because there are still high rates of poverty and unemployment and people die at a young age.

kandeepan says

April 24, 2016 at 3:55 pm

you should change the third points that says both developed and developing countries literacy rate is high. it can not be same the literacy rate of both countries. developing literacy relate in most countries are very poor. we can get many good examples from African countries.

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You should read the third point carefully, because it has been written there that the illiteracy rate is high in developing countries.

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Essay on Development Of A Country

Students are often asked to write an essay on Development Of A Country in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Development Of A Country

Understanding development.

Development means progress. It’s about a country growing stronger in different areas. These areas can be economy, education, health, and more. It’s like a student studying hard to get better grades.

Economic Growth

A country’s development is often measured by its economy. This means how much money it makes from goods and services. It’s like a shopkeeper selling more items and earning more. Countries with strong economies can provide better lives for their people.

Education and Development

Education is a key part of development. It helps people learn new skills and ideas. A country with good education can have more skilled workers. It’s like a student learning more to do better in exams.

Health and Development

Health is also important for development. Healthy people can work better and contribute more to their country. It’s like a sportsperson eating healthy to perform better in games.

Development and Environment

Development should not harm the environment. A country should take care of its nature and wildlife. It’s like a gardener taking care of his plants. This is called sustainable development.

In conclusion, development is about improving a country in many ways. It’s like a team working together to win a match. Every country should aim for development.

250 Words Essay on Development Of A Country

What is development.

Development is a process that allows a country to improve the lives of its people. It includes growth in areas like economy, technology, health, and education. A country is considered developed when it can provide a good quality of life to its people.

Economic growth is a key part of development. It means the country is making more money. This can happen by selling more goods to other countries, or by people starting businesses. When the economy grows, people can have better jobs and earn more money. This can help them live better lives.

Technological Advancements

Technology also plays an important role in the development of a country. With better technology, people can do their work more easily and quickly. For example, farmers can use machines to help them grow more crops. Also, people can use the internet to learn new things and connect with others around the world.

Health and Education

Health and education are also very important for a country’s development. When people are healthy, they can work and contribute to the economy. Good education helps people gain skills and knowledge. This can help them find better jobs and improve their lives.

In conclusion, the development of a country involves many things. It is not just about making more money, but also about improving the lives of the people. Every country needs to focus on all these areas to truly develop.

500 Words Essay on Development Of A Country

Introduction.

When we talk about the development of a country, we are referring to the progress and growth in various areas. These areas can include the economy, education, health, and social well-being of its citizens. The development of a country is a complex process and involves many factors.

One of the most common ways to measure a country’s development is through its economic growth. This is often calculated by looking at the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is the total value of all goods and services produced in a country in a year. A higher GDP means that the country is producing more, which can lead to more jobs and higher incomes for its citizens.

Education and Health

Another important aspect of a country’s development is the level of education and health of its citizens. A country with a well-educated population is more likely to have a strong economy because educated people can contribute more to society. They can create new ideas, start businesses, and fill important jobs.

In terms of health, a country with a healthy population is also more likely to be developed. This is because healthy people can work and contribute to the economy. They are also less likely to need social assistance, which can save the country money.

Social Well-being

The social well-being of a country’s citizens is another important factor in development. This can include things like the level of happiness, the amount of crime, and the quality of the environment. A country with high levels of happiness, low crime, and a clean environment is often seen as more developed.

In conclusion, the development of a country is a complex process that involves many factors. It includes economic growth, education and health levels, and the social well-being of its citizens. By focusing on these areas, a country can work towards becoming more developed and improving the lives of its citizens.

Word Count: 300.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

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India Is A Developing Country (Essay Sample)

India is a developing country.

India is regarded as the world’s biggest democracy and second most populous country. It has posted a remarkable record of development socially, economically and politically since when she gained independence nearly seven decades ago. Though some aspects of India are world class, most of the issues affecting majority of the citizens are still indicators of a developing nation. Therefore, this article attempts to prove that India is a developing country and she needs to do much to be book a spot on the table of developed countries.

Education standards in India are still low especially in the northern states. India is still struggling with the problem of illiteracy in some areas. Education is a key driver for development and low literacy levels in some parts of the country are dragging the country’s economic progress. Illiteracy also leads to low income levels and hardly profitable economic activities that have no place in the 21st century. Whenever education quality and standards are low, retrogressive culture takes root and stalls economic, social, cultural and political progress. It is also a key factor in increasing unemployment levels in the country.  Basic needs and high dependence ration also stem from such cultures and threaten her economic goals. Therefore, until this problem is addressed comprehensively, India’s quest for being a developed country will remain elusive.

Diseases and poor health facilities is also a challenge in India. It is undeniable that India has an elaborate health system but it is not accessible to every citizen at relatively affordable rates. Medication is still expensive to many households and shows a faulty health system. Creating a comprehensive and all-inclusive health system is nearly impossible and therefore it has affected the mortality rate of the country especially in the rural areas and in the northern states. Some diseases are a product of poor sanitation and open defecation which is rampant in the country. Sanitation is still a challenge in the country especially in the cities. Sanitation, diseases and good health system are necessary to map India as a developed country.

India also has high income inequality. The inequality is fueled by classicism and poor government policies. There a few billionaires relative to the country’s population who cannot afford basic needs. The system continually exploits the poor adding to the gap between the rich and the poor. The poor have very low income per capita which poses a huge challenge to the government in her bid to eradicate poverty. The country however maintains that less than 30% of her population is poor while according to international standards over 800 million live below $2 a day. This income inequality coupled with classicism and low per capita income clearly shows that India is a developing country.

India’s high population is also an impediment to her development agenda. As the second most populous country in the world, she ought to institute a plan in place to contain and reduce her population since bigger population will pose challenges and slow her development. One child policy among other measures can be taken to control the ever-increasing population with experts predict will overtake China’s in five years at the time of this publication.  However, this measure ought to be applied with caution since it might lead to human resource crisis and hence economic crisis in the future.

Concisely, India has made major strides in development since she became independent. She has also become a recognizable power regionally and internationally for her economic growth. However, she still has a way to go to book her spot on the table of developed countries. This article highlights some of the reason why she is still developing and suggests possible ways that she can adapt to fast-track her progress.

• Essay Editor

Childhood Obesity as a Serious Public Health Problem

1. introduction.

The increasing prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity is experienced in both developed and developing countries. The scientific concern about childhood obesity is reflected in the great number of publications (mainly reviews and greater or smaller samples of clinical and community studies) published in medical journals and books in the past 10 years. Children with overweight and obesity are a critical concern in health care. These children are at increased risk for a number of health problems, and it is anticipated that their chronic care will become a major challenge to our health care system. The cause of the rapid increase in childhood overweight and obesity is contentious and is likely due to multiple factors, that may differ by age, sex, and race. Several studies have emphasized the importance of preventing obesity in early childhood. Such interventions may be the most successful because childhood obesity often persists into adulthood and causes numerous health problems including premature death. Other interventions may need to target population subsets and may need to focus on health and fitness rather than on achieving an ideal weight. Community-wide campaigns may be needed to change many factors, such as the increasing availability of fast food, that have contributed to the changing environment.

1.1. Definition of Childhood Obesity

Childhood obesity can be defined as the presence of excess body fat, typically resulting in a body mass index (BMI) higher than the crude cut-off value, deviating from internationally applied BMI or age- and sex-specific BMI criteria or thresholds for obesity. A child who is overweight has a weight above average for their age and sex. However, the term should not be confused with that of overweight. In many cases, quite simple assessments of overweightness can be conducted using percentages, such as using the 85th percentile to indicate a normal weight and the 95th percentile to indicate overweightness. Crespo et al. note, however, that it would not be accurate to use body mass index (BMI) to differentiate between those children who have high percent body fat or high weight for height and those who are overweight but not at risk of obesity-related diseases. And the accuracy may not be perfect because BMI fails to reflect differences in body fat between children. Those with different BMIs also have different amounts of subcutaneous fat. According to Wright et al., the distribution of fat, i.e., the percentage of fat distribution around the body, including central fat development, varies with different childhood growth patterns. Diseases that result from being overweight, such as heart disease, hypertension, and type 2 diabetes mellitus, are associated with the abnormal distribution of body fat. However, there has been a point at which the above definitions are doubtful in the sense of co-morbidity. A child must also be regarded as obese if thresholds of other diagnostic markers, such as waist circumference or a value above the cutoff specified by other conventional diagnostic measures, are exceeded, regardless of the BMI value.

1.2. Prevalence and Trends

Because of the contributors to childhood obesity and the consequences, it is increasingly considered a serious public health problem. The prevalence of childhood obesity is increasing in developing and developed parts of the world. Consequently, the history of obesity in a society is shaping what we do as a society: what we do for infants (6 to 23 month olds), for toddlers (2- to 5-year-olds), for primary school children (6- to-11-year-olds), for middle school students (12-to-17-year-olds), and for young adults (18-to-25-year-olds) who are preparing for the worlds of work and education, adult health, and family formation. Today, the focus of policy, program interventions, and investigations involves new initiatives to enhance breastfeeding, increasing fruit and vegetable consumption, especially for 2 to 10-year-olds. There are also new physical activity curricula and efforts to address vending machines and increase portions of high-calorie, low-nutrient foods and beverages in schools. Because of our public concern, we are constantly engaged in the process of developing projects, programs, and interventions in homes, preschools, and schools. For older youngsters, policy decisions often emphasize energy balance, screens, sleep, and food factors, and much less data are generated on how the lives of these older children and adolescents can be adjusted to enhance energy balance. With such developments, there is a real interest in sharing projects, programs, interventions, and being part of the force to measure them.

2. Health Consequences of Childhood Obesity

Overweight adolescents have a 70% chance of becoming overweight or obese adults, which increases to 80% if one or both parents are overweight or obese. In addition to complications for diabetes and other endocrine problems, socioeconomic problems, and impairments in daily life and growth, obesity in childhood produces emotional and psychological problems. Problems occurring in childhood include hypertension, endocrine problems, sleep apnea, and orthopedic complications such as Blount's disease and gastric reflux. Endocrine problems include hyperinsulinemia, which occurs in 50% of obese children and is a possible risk factor for developing diabetes in the future. Among the psychological problems are those associated with emotional and social issues, discrimination and prejudice, which can lead to increased incidents of teasing and bullying and impairment of the child's quality of life, exacerbated by low self-esteem and poor self-perception. Furthermore, overweight children have a tendency to become socially withdrawn and to have more social problems than children of normal weight. They suffer from worse outcomes with peers through a lack of companions, a greater difficulty integrating in society, fewer friends, more bullying, discrimination, less support, and a greater feeling of loneliness, which can affect the psychological growth of the child.

2.1. Physical Health Effects

Because children are still in the growing and developing stages, having an obese body size as a result of excess energy intake will lead to an imbalance between energy intake and expenditure. To put it simply, excess energy intake can end the potential for short, disease-filled lives. Childhood obesity increases the risk of developing several health conditions. It is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, type 2 non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, elevated cholesterol, elevated lipids, arterial hypertension, and polycystic ovarian disease. Excess body weight during childhood will lead to early puberty, which decreases the maximum developmental time of the growing process of height and growth, and will reduce the adult height and weight that children who are overweight or obese can possibly reach. For example, the increase in body weight before puberty shortens the potential developmental time of puberty spurt, thus reducing the peak height velocity and final height.

2.2. Psychological and Social Impact

Childhood obesity can have a social and psychological impact and lead to stigmatization and low self-esteem. In addition, overweight children are more frequently targeted by bullying, a condition that further negatively affects their self-esteem, resulting in feelings of sadness and loneliness. In terms of the social implications, it should be emphasized that a higher body mass index can have toxic effects on childhood and adolescent social dynamics. One of the factors that influences childhood attitudes and prejudices about weight and socialization is the body mass index of their playmates. The overweight and obese are generally negatively evaluated. Over time, discrimination of overweight children increases, influencing the key psychosocial dimensions of their life in a significant way. Children generally have ready access to examples of prejudice against overweight that occur in people's daily lives. Families, peers, and friends make it clear that it is acceptable to provide negative evaluations, thus establishing social standards through the media and in conversations with others. Therefore, it must be understood that early childhood socialization can influence the value children place on peers' attitudes and beliefs.

3. Causes of Childhood Obesity

Causes of childhood obesity: What is the evidence? Obesity is a complex problem; it is largely multifactorial. Our rapidly changing environment and lifestyle contribute heavily to obesity. Although genetic or other biomedical research is important, social science can identify what causes obesity through research with a knowledge-systems approach. Such research is an essential foundation of multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary public-health research and intervention. Good work has been done on what causes the increased prevalence of obesity. Regarding some of the influential factors that can be discussed with precision today, what follows will take you through some of the developments. This can help in a new, soundly based global strategy. From a biological perspective, obesity in children all over the world is associated with overweight or obese parents. Societal changes in parental work arrangements and the necessity for both parents to work mean that many children do not eat proper meals at home. Moreover, many more children are now likelier to eat outside the home, at fast food restaurants, and in front of the television or computer. Families eat fewer meals together, resulting in poor nutrition overall. In addition, with heavy marketing of unhealthy food and drink to children, whether alone or as part of whole families, children are eating increasingly less wholesome meals. These patterns result in an excess caloric intake. Decreases in physical activity are associated with substantial increases in TV viewing and computer use. There have been declines in physical education programs in school systems, and similar declines in available outdoor recreational space for children. Social environment and physique dissatisfaction influence physical inactivity and poor diet. These influences interact with individual genetic and biological factors. It is most important to note, however, that these changes are usually unintentional and they do not therefore represent the activity of any special interest group. The proactive influence of food and drink producers in addressing some of these problems, however, is necessary.

3.1. Genetic Factors

Genetic Factors. Parental obesity is one of the susceptibility factors for childhood obesity, with children of obese parents being 10 times more susceptible than the general population. Genetic factors contribute to about 25% of childhood obesity. In particular, links have been established between single gene defects and monogenic syndromes which cause severe early-onset obesity, such as the LEP (leptin), LEP-R (leptin receptor), or PC-1 (prohormone convertase 1) gene defects. Other candidate genes contribute to the polygenic form of childhood obesity. These are genes regulating appetite or satiety, which includes the hypothalamic peptide genes or neuromodulators controlling food intake like proopiomelanocortin and AgRP/NPY, respectively. Other than neuromodulators, genes linked with energy balance and fat storage also have polymorphisms associated with childhood obesity. Genes regulating adipocyte number or size are also crucial contributors to energy balance, including perilipin or leptin receptor genes. Of these genes in gene regulation, FTO (fat mass and obesity-associated protein), an intron gene implicated in the control of food intake, seems to be the gene to have the most predominant association with polygenic obesity rather than monogenic obesity. These neuromodulator peptides and non-homoeostatic pathways share the commonality that they are neural, and the study findings give a broad understanding to the biological control of body weight, obesity, and related comorbidities.

3.2. Environmental Factors

Only a few studies have evaluated the relation between physical characteristics of the environment and behavior or obesity among children, and nearly all of these studies have used cross-sectional data. One study documented a decrease in the frequency of outdoor play between and increasing distance from a child's home and park, the presence of graffiti and trash, and the safety of the playground equipment. A recent study reported that girls who perceived few safe places to play had greater increases in body mass index, which is weight divided by the square of the height, than did girls who perceived many such places. This association was found only for girls' fruit intake. However, this study was cross-sectional and could not establish the direction of the relation. One hypothesis is that a decrease in physical education classes and an increase in the number of hours spent watching television are proximate determinants of increased weight. These correlations probably do not, however, suggest a lack of association. Children with a genetic predisposition to obesity may be less likely to take part in activities that are seen as 'stigmatizing', even if these activities do not have a harmful effect. Alternatively, although sedentary behavior and inactivity during leisure time are thought to be the primary contributors of excessive weight gain in childhood, reverse causation could also be operating. In this scenario, obese children who are not physically successful would be expected to spend more time inactive.

4. Prevention and Intervention Strategies

Although evidence is accumulating about effective intervention strategies to prevent or treat childhood obesity, there is no definitive approach. Efforts to overcome obesity require understanding of the complex interplay among genetic, hormonal, environmental, and developmental processes, followed by coordinated implementation of a range of communitywide strategies that promote physical activity and a healthy diet in youth. There are no magic bullets, such as single food additives, micronutrients, or drugs, that will reverse the growing trend of pediatric obesity. There are, however, lifestyle changes that parents of obese children and adolescents can take to enhance the long-term health of their children. There is consensus that successful approaches intended to limit further progression of pediatric overweight require interventions that reduce the rate of age-specific weight gain, rather than encourage caloric restriction and weight loss. The primary goal for those with elevated BMI-for-age is to prevent any weight gain until there is appropriate growth into their current weight. If BMI continues to climb unsustainably, providers and families need to intervene, recognizing the lack of evidence documenting successful treatment intervention programs intended at long-term weight loss in pediatric populations. If BMIs stabilize, the hope is that weight ratio allowance due to normal growth would help move child closer to normal weight by maintaining BMI-for-age.

4.1. School-Based Programs

School-based prevention programs can be targeted at normal-weight children but may have an increased focus on obese children or children at risk of becoming overweight or obese. School-based programs have several advantages. Schools are central in children's lives and contribute significantly to their physical activity and eating patterns. Schools have a socializing function and can address vulnerable groups, including overweight children. Moreover, schools offer a wide range of opportunities, such as physical activity programs and healthy nutrition. Of course, besides these advantages, there are also impediments to successfully preventing and treating childhood obesity at schools. However, in many countries, different kinds of school-based programs are implemented. Research has shown that school-based prevention programs have been effective in improving knowledge and altering attitudes regarding the prevention of obesity. Since 2009, a number of school-based programs have been designed especially for overweight and obese children and their families, with promising outcomes.

4.2. Community Initiatives

Schools and communities across the nation are developing, with assistance from a variety of organizations, a great variety of local policies, programs, and physical environment initiatives to address obesity, promote health, and encourage physical activity among children and youth. Promising strategies are components of a comprehensive package that includes healthy physical, social, and political environments for children and families. These strategies are designed to help all families and children, those who are physically active and those who are not, and those who are obese and those who are not, to reach achievable health goals that will promote a healthy weight and protect them against future disease. All of these strategies support and promote good health practices that are social values of the families and communities who need them to be made accessible and affordable, safe, and physically and culturally appealing. Local comprehensive planning that includes community partners can bring numerous relevant strategies together into a single identification and goal-setting process. School-based Strategies Transforming schools into places where children accept and engage in physically active lives is a powerful environment and policy approach to reversing the childhood obesity epidemic. School-based strategies implemented by school system staff or by local, regional, or national organizations include programs and policies to promote healthy foods, healthy eating, and physical activity to the greatest benefit for all students, regardless of individual physical activity level or weight. Schools that have developed and adopted implementation plans to maximize the impact of strategies and policies to promote good nutrition and physical activity in their overall academic, social, and physical development mission are genuinely striving to create the best physical and social fitness and learning atmosphere possible. These schools are embracing the work of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports on the Physical Action Report: Physical Activity and the Prevention of Childhood Obesity and encouraging local businesses, organizations, and individuals to partner with the private and public school sectors to turn the goal of active children and a healthy future into a shared goal.

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