Examines MCC projects in Benin, Lesotho, Mali and Namibia to understand how each project applied gender to its design and implementation and how that approach impacted on results. Aims to help practitioners understand what concrete steps might be taken towards closing the gender gap in land projects.

The rhetoric of development served as a language for Sotho politicians from 1960–70 to debate the meanings of political participation. The relative paucity of aid in this period gave outsized importance to small projects run in rural villages, and stood in stark contrast to the period from the mid-1970s onwards when aid became an ‘antipolitics machine’ that worked to undermine national sovereignty.

The issue of administering the
distribution of oil rents is the subject of increased debate
among oil companies, civil society, development agencies,
and governments, which tacit agreement suggests that regions
where oil and gas production takes place, in particular the
communities, ought to receive "indemnifications"
due to damages, and losses derived from the use of land for
oil production operations. Such debate sparked the need for

Restrictions on economic activity in
area C of the West Bank have been particularly detrimental
to the Palestinian economy. Area C constitutes about 61
percent of the West Bank territory. Area C is richly endowed
with natural resources and it is contiguous, whereas areas A
and B are smaller territorial islands. Mobilizing the area C
potential will help a faltering Palestinian economy. Since
area C is where the majority of the West Bank's natural

José Graziano da Silva, Director-General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), on the role of family farms for global food security, the need for sound rural development stategies and the responsibility of governments, the private sector and civil society.

Family farming has many different meanings to many different people. While such farms come in all shape and sizes, one thing all practitioners agree on is that family farming is more than a business – it’s a way of life. The following article shows what constitutes this way of life, the challenges that family farms in Europe and throughout the world face and why and how the European Union supports this type of enterprise.

How can the private sector contribute to the fight against hunger, poverty and malnutrition in the remote areas of sub-Saharan Africa? This article looks at a model that has been applied in Kenya and Tanzania, addressing the right tools, skills and knowledge to make smallholder production a success.

A agricultura familiar em Moçambique constitui a actividade económica que ocupa grande parte da população, podendo alcançar mais de 75% dos cidadãos.

The aim of this study is to improve
understanding of how biological resource conservation
concerns can be better incorporated into projects and
programs that primarily address the objective of rural
development rather than environmental conservation. A
multi-disciplinary study team was assembled and six
background papers produced, along with the main overview
paper. The six papers were on: 1) measuring biodiversity,

Over the last few decades, the range of agricultural extension and advisory services as well as the notions of which tools and methods are most suitable have seen fundamental changes. Our authors give an overview of old and new approaches, showing what we already know and where there is a need for more information.

Rural extension services are an extremely complex affair. This is due to the wide range of constellations in which farmers operate nowadays, and also to the large number of players who are active in advisory services, with their different tasks, values and mandates. With reference to Germany’s rural extension services, our author shows who is taking on which role and where conflicts might potentially arise.