Extension services are a keystone of information diffusion in agriculture. This paper exploits a large randomized controlled trial to track diffusion of a new technique in the classic Training and Visit (T&V) extension model, relative to a more direct training model. In both control and treatment communities, contact farmers (CFs) serve as points-of-contacts between agents and other farmers. The intervention (Treatment) aims to address two pitfalls of the T&V model: i) infrequent extension agent visits, and ii) poor quality information.

The North Eastern Region (NER) in India is endowed with rich energy resources but faces significant bottlenecks in electricity access and availability levels. The per capita power consumption in NER is one-third of the national average. The region has a shortfall of about 500MW installed capacity against peak demand of about 1950 MW. No significant generation capacity has been added in the recent past. Therefore, inadequate power supply continues a critical constraint to sustainable growth and economic development in the NER.

This study aims to achieve a better understanding of the agricultural risk and risk management situation in Tanzania with a view to identifying key solutions to reduce current gross domestic product (GDP) growth volatility. For the purpose of this assessment, risk is defined as the probability that an uncertain event will occur that can potentially produce losses to participants along the supply chain.

In countries where a large proportion of the total land area is held customarily, reform questions around land and development often tend to focus on the customary estate. Evidence from Solomon Islands suggests that a focus on public land holdings, even when they are relatively small in land area, can yield outsized benefits. Publicly owned land regularly includes economically valuable land and urban land on which development pressure is high. In Solomon Islands, as much as 10 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) may be affected by how effectively urban public land is governed.

Senegal is implementing a Disaster Risk Management (DRM) framework and has established a public private agriculture insurance company. Rules, responsibilities and operational procedures need clarification, ideally guided by the findings of a fiscal disaster risk assessment. Insurance mechanisms are not considered in (sovereign) catastrophe risk transfer so far.

This report presents the water and climate adaptation plan (WATCAP) developed for the Sava river basin (SRB) as result of a study undertaken by the World Bank. The WATCAP is intended to help to bridge the gap between the climate change predictions for the SRB and the decision makers in current and planned water management investment projects that will be affected by changing climate trends.

The city of eThekwini or Durban has undergone a period of rapid urbanization that has contributed to the degradation of the city’s natural environment. Climate change is placing further strains on the city’s ability to manage the urban environment. The urban environmental profile of eThekwini has been prepared as the first component of the assignment promoting green urban development in Africa: enhancing the relationship between urbanization, environmental assets and ecosystem services, a project being conducted under the leadership of the World Bank.

A country’s legal and judicial environment can help or hinder access to credit. In addition to the banking law governing the organization of the sector, the operations of credit institutions are subject to several laws. Four components of Malian business law are particularly relevant in assessing the position of creditors, the law on secured transactions, the law on collective proceedings, the law on information-sharing related to debtors (sometimes called the credit reporting law), and the law on collection and enforcement proceedings.

This Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD) identifies the binding constraints to reducing extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity in Ethiopia. Achieving those goals requires a two pronged strategy of building on the strengths of past performance as well as introducing new elements. Progress in rural livelihoods drove poverty reduction in the past and will likely do so in the future. In addition, faster, and more inclusive, private sector-led structural change and ‘getting urbanization right’ are essential going forward.

Since 2010, the Government of Rwanda addressed land tenure through a series of actions including the establishment of institutional and administrative structures for land management and administration. At district, town, and municipality level, District Land Bureaus (DLBs), complemented by sector and cell level land committees, assumed responsibility for land administration and planning. After careful piloting in 2008/09, a process for systematic low cost demarcation and adjudication using aerial photography or high resolution satellite imagery was roll-out nationally.

Recognizing that the impressive gains from comprehensive land tenure regularization may be short-lived if subsequent transactions are not registered, Rwanda has deployed close to 400 Sector Land Managers (SLMs) throughout the country. Regressions using LAIS data highlight that posting of SLMs increased levels of registered sales but not inheritance transactions and that, for agricultural land, having an SLM taken refresher training almost doubled this effect. A survey of all SLMs in April 2016 suggests that they are fully functional and in close contact with DLOs.

Integrated Landscape Approaches for Africa’s Drylands presents emerging findings on the importance of moving beyond single-sector interventions to embrace integrated landscape management that takes into account the health of the ecosystems that support human livelihoods and contribute to the resilience of rural communities in Sub-Saharan African drylands. Integrated landscape management is particularly important for these drylands because people depend on production systems that are frequently disrupted by exogenous shocks such as drought.