The institutional landscape of local
dispute resolution in Bangladesh is rich: it includes the
traditional process of shalish, longstanding and impressive
civil society efforts to improve on shalish, and a somewhat
less-explored provision for gram adalat or village courts.
Based on a nationally representative survey, qualitative
evidence from focus groups, and a telephone survey of 40
Union Parishad chairpersons (a little less than 1 percent of

Under the Vanuatu constitution, the
'rules of custom shall form the basis of ownership and
use of land.' Implementing this principle after decades
of land alienation, however, has proved to be challenging.
While the leasing arrangement was originally intended to
restore investor confidence and maintain agricultural
development in newly independent Vanuatu, it soon evolved
into the method of acquiring new leases over previously

The note is designed to assist Bank task
teams, working together with their country counterparts, who
may have varying levels of experience with promoting the
Rule of Law (ROL); some would be familiar with the African
context but not ROL, and for others, vice-versa. This note
may also represent a first introduction to ROL reform; for
those who have worked on such projects in the past, it
should supplement existing knowledge about this emerging

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

The aim of this study is to assist the
government in this endeavor by focusing on selected
priorities. The overarching objective of this report is to
promote the mainstreaming and integration of climate related
risks in India's development policies and processes,
where this is appropriate. The objectives and scope of work
were developed in close consultation with the Ministry of
Environment and Forests as the primary counterpart, a

More forest area is being designated for
use by local communities and indigenous peoples. In a
growing number of countries legislation is being introduced
to ensure that local partners share in the benefits of
forest operations and participate as active stakeholders in
the sustainable use of forest resources. Private sector
investment in the forest sector is increasing as well. For
businesses in an expanding range of investment settings,

Women are a powerful force for
sustainable economic growth. A growing body of microeconomic
empirical evidence and emerging macroeconomic analysis shows
that gender inequality limits economic growth in developing
economies. Research also shows that considerable potential
for economic growth could be realized if countries support
women's full economic participation. Increases in
women's income tend to correlate with greater

Reducing poverty continues to be one of
the main priorities of the Government of Albania. Currently,
Albania has an ample platform to provide social protection
to its citizens through social insurance, social assistance
and employment programs. However, these programs are not
efficiently linked to each other, which can lead to unclear
and occasionally overlapping roles among the programs. Among
these social protection programs, Ndihma Ekonomike (NE) is

The conflicting relationship between
peace and justice is frequently debated in the field of
transitional justice. The obligation to prosecute serious
crimes can contradict the measures necessary to reestablish
peace among society. The predicament gives rise to a
similar, though less obvious, challenge in many developing
countries, where the formal justice system can be at odds
with conflict management initiatives. Often, due to their

This paper examines three systems of
courts of justice, each in a different country in the region
of South Pacific islands known as Melanesia, where state
legal systems have been adopted from former European
colonial governments. The systems discussed are, by
comparison, 'hybrid', each of them having been
established with the intention of addressing disputes among
small-scale social groups by less formal means or by taking

The objective of this study is to
develop an integrated basin planning framework for analyzing
and prioritizing water resources development options in
Afghanistan, and to demonstrate its application in the Kabul
River basin. Accordingly, the study focuses on the tasks of:
(a) analyzing the medium and long-term options for
developing the water resources of the Kabul River basin for
multiple purposes, including domestic and industrial water

This report presents indicators based
on laws and regulations affecting women's prospects as
entrepreneurs and employees. Several of these indicators
draw on the Gender Law Library, a collection of over 2,000
legal provisions impacting women's economic status.
Both resources can inform research and policy discussions on
how to improve women's economic opportunities and
outcomes. The six indicators of gender differences in formal