This note describes the trends in, and
composition of, absolute poverty based on household
expenditures, and is thus concerned, as a matter of policy
objectives, with access of the population to a particular
minimum standard of living. This should be viewed as
complementary to the companion note on social exclusion
based on Europe 2020 indicators including the relative
at-risk-of-poverty (AROP) rate, focuses on low income in

The Committee was briefed by the Financial and Fiscal Commission (FFC) on the expenditure trends and performance of the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR) and its entities for 2014/15 and the first quarter of the 2015/16 financial year.

This paper reviews the performance of
the parastatal sector, with a specific focus on four main
parastatals: the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority
(ZESA); the Zimbabwe Water Authority (ZINWA); the National
Oil Company of Zimbabwe (NOCZIM); and the Grain Marketing
Board (GMB). These parastatals are selected on the basis of
their quasi-fiscal dependency and strategic importance to

Donors could assist in clarifying the
role, building the capacity, and potentially helping to
secure funding of key disaster risk management organizations
in Ghana. Engagement in Ghana to develop private sector
property catastrophe risk and agriculture insurance should
be seen as a medium term engagement. Banking penetration is
low, as is insurance and micro-insurance penetration, even
when compared to regional countries. That said, Ghana has

Bhutan and Botswana share a number of
similarities. The two countries, land locked small states,
have grown rapidly over the past few decades, boosted by
sustained, large-scale inflows of foreign exchange.
Botswana’s annual real growth rate averaged 9 percent over
the past 40 years, driven by diamond exploration, whereas
Bhutan has taken full advantage of generous foreign aid
inflows to achieve an average growth rate of 8 percent per

The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DLDLR) provided a progress report on its interventions to address the challenges arising from the actions of the Rama Communal Property Association (CPA). The CPA had initiated some income generating activities on its land, which included a quarry business, and had started a museum and an entertainment centre that featured a cinema. In partnership with the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality and private investors the CPA was in the process of developing houses on its land.

Fishery plays a crucial role in poverty and hunger alleviation. It is therefore all the more important to secure the long-term conservation of fish stocks as a natural resource and to ensure fair access to them.

Aquaculture holds a big potential to satisfy the growing demand for aquatic food. Setting out from lessons learnt in past development projects, our author describes what fish farming systems must look like to fit the needs of smallholders and the environment.

Smallholder farmers in Georgia face multiple challenges, including low productivity and poor access to the inputs and capacities that they need. Oxfam and its partners are implementing a programme that aims to increase agricultural productivity and support the competitiveness of smallholder farmers. The project works with smallholder farmers to establish and strengthen business-oriented farmer groups. The project also promotes changes to national policy and legislation, in order to create a more conducive environment for their development.

Measuring poverty and tracking it over
time is an important prerequisite to national economic
planning. Absence of official data on household expenditure
or poverty line hampered the ability of Iraqi policymakers
to understand the extent of the problem, analyze their
causes, and devise appropriate policies. Iraq household
socioeconomic survey (IHSES) 2006-07 was the first survey of
its kind since 1988 to cover all 18 governorates. The survey

The objective of this review is to
synthesize existing evaluative evidence and generate new
evidence on the quality of the Results Frameworks (RFs) of
development policy operations (DPOs). The study is organized
around a number of evaluative questions on various aspects
of DPO design, implementation, reporting, and evaluation.
Its focus is on the quality of RF, taking objectives and
coverage for granted. The study does not cover the scope and

In the 20th Century, Brazil rapidly
urbanized and is now not only an urban nation but a
metropolitan one. Brazils sprawling regioes metropolitanas
(metropolitan regions, or RMs, which are municipal clusters)
are now home to almost 50 million people and much of the
countrys economic vitality. The RM spatial level and its
supporting governmental institutions have thus become
critical to Brazils future development. While challenges