The effects of policy interventions on
women are of increasing concern to policy makers in all
fields, and trade is no exception. This note reviews recent
World Bank projects and studies that 'gender
inform' trade-related interventions, and it uses the
Bank's experience to promote gender-equal opportunities
by highlighting entry points at which trade projects,
studies, and policies can effectively address gender issues.

Over the recent year, humanity has faced
natural disasters of unprecedented magnitude and impact.
However, governments and international aid organizations do
not systematically plan for preventing and mitigating the
effects of natural disasters, and macroeconomic scenarios
seldom take into account the results of their increasing
incidence, damages, and costs. Using evaluative lessons from
the World Bank's and others' experience, this note

Poverty in Pakistan is overwhelmingly
rural. Some two-thirds of Pakistan's population, and
over 60 percent of the country's poor, live in rural
areas. In 2005, average per capita expenditures in rural
areas were 31 percent lower than in urban areas. This
inequality between urban and rural areas is re-enforced by
inequality within and between rural areas. Owing to uneven
access to land and useable water, most of the increased

This country note briefly summarizes
information relevant to both climate change and agriculture
in Venezuela, with focus on policy developments (including
action plans and programs) and institutional make-up. Like
most countries in Latin America, Venezuela has submitted one
national communication to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) with a second one
under preparation. Land use change and forestry are the

This note presents relevant
interventions that have aimed to stimulate rural economies a
natural disaster based on case studies from the Philippines,
Turkey, and Pakistan. Introducing new, untested
infrastructure methods or designs involves careful analysis
and may delay reconstruction. If this level of analysis is
not completed, the reconstructed infrastructure may not meet
expectations. For example, in Turkey, the Erzincan

Over 70 percent of the farm workers in
Tajikistan are women. Most face difficult working conditions
and are paid in agricultural outputs such as oil, rather
than in cash. When the South Tajikistan Cotton Lending
Project started in early 2007, IFC and its donor, the
Canadian International Development Agency, decided to
develop a Gender Equality Plan to address gender issues a
high priority for both organizations. The challenge was to

This approach resulted in the
fragmentation of agricultural holdings, with families owning
noncontiguous plots. Land use was inefficient, owing in part
to the low rate of use of agricultural machinery. Making
land use and farming more efficient will require the
establishment of a functioning land market. Granting farmers
the right to sell, exchange, and lease their land will
enable them to use it as collateral and to consolidate

Eighty percent of Kenya is arid and
semi-arid land; yet despite chronic water scarcity, the
country has developed only 15 percent of its available safe
water resources. Demand for water is expected to rise, owing
to population increases and growing requirements for
irrigated agriculture, urban and rural populations,
industries, livestock, and hydropower. Meanwhile, climate
variability and the steady degradation of water resources

Stimulating agricultural growth is
critical to reducing poverty in Africa. Commercial
agriculture, potentially a powerful driver of agricultural
growth, can develop along a number of pathways. Yet many
developing regions have failed to progress very far along
any of these pathways. Particularly in Africa, agriculture
continues to lag. During the past 30 years the
competitiveness of many African export crops has declined,

The demand for verifiable evidence of
results and impacts of development agricultural programs and
projects is growing. However, most of the indicators that
development practitioners have traditionally used in
tracking progress toward achieving projects' objectives
focus on the workings of the development operation itself.
These performance indicators relate mainly to lower-level
inputs and outputs and are used to populate management

Despite the large potential of the
agricultural sector in Eastern Europe and Central Asia,
production is still limited by a lack of technical knowledge
and, in many cases, an unwillingness to change agricultural
practices inherited from Soviet times. The problem has more
than one cause: poor technology, management skills, and
quality of produce prevent farms from joining agribusiness
supply chains. Limited access to financing further prevents

Most of the Middle East and North Africa
(MENA) cannot meet current water demand. Many countries face
full-blown crises, and the situation is likely to get even
worse. Estimates show that per capita water availability
will be cut in half by 2050, with serious consequences for
aquifers and natural hydrological systems. Demand for water
supplies and irrigation services will change as economies
grow and populations increase, with an attendant need to