This article highlights some of the
findings from recent analytical work that has been carried
out in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region, notably
a number of promising practices that are being developed to
effectively address the infrastructure provision challenge,
and in particular to ensure that infrastructure increases
rural competitiveness and incomes.

This is a sector report on demographics
in Ethiopia. The first part of this study puts the
population issue in Ethiopia in perspective. Chapter 1
updates Ethiopia's demographic profile, looking in
particular at the size of its population, its age structure,
the speed at which it grows and its distribution across
space. Chapter 2 explores the relationships between
population growth, economic growth, and poverty within the

The Andean region of Puno, known as the
altiplano, is located at 3,830 meters above sea level. The
terrain is prone to flooding, and thus difficult to
cultivate. In order to deal with this situation, Andean
indigenous populations displaced huge amounts of soil in
order to create raised fields that were better adapted to
agricultural use. Raised fields resolved many of the
problems that affect agriculture at high altitude. The

This report has the following
objectives: (i) identify the underlying constraints to
strong and sustained growth, in particular, the dynamic
circles that lock Niger in a low-growth/high poverty
equilibrium; (ii) understand the key determinants of growth
and poverty traps and the role increased foreign aid could
play to promote growth and help achieve the
MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDGs); and (iii) help

Poverty and Social Impact Analysis
(PSIA) is an approach used increasingly by governments,
civil society organizations, the World Bank, and other
development partners to examine the distributional impacts
of policy reforms on the well-being of different
stakeholders groups, particularly the poor and vulnerable.
PSIA has an important role in the elaboration and
implementation of poverty reduction strategies in developing

Experience has shown that money
compensation payments to individual citizens are ineffective
when used alone as a means to achieve the Bank's aims
and World Bank for evidence on the Bank's experience].
Instead, the Bank's advice is that compensation
payments should be a part of a wider, coordinated package of
development assistance. It is not the purpose of this Note
to describe how such a package should be developed, or

This is a draft edition of the Poverty Environment Nexus (PEN) report for Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam. The purpose of this conference edition is to present the findings from the studies that have been undertaken in each country over the last three years as well as to obtain relevant comments and feedback from the conference participants that could be included in the final edition of the report. The material presented in this report is based upon comprehensive case studies as well as national analytical work performed in each country.

The World Bank's revised forest
policy came into being in 2002 and covers all types of
forests. It has the following key objectives: (i) harnessing
the potential of forests to reduce poverty in a sustainable
manner; (ii) integrating forests effectively into
sustainable development; and (iii) protecting vital local
and global environmental services and values. The policy
enables the bank to fully engage in forestry throughout the

This paper investigates the impacts of cotton marketing reforms on farm productivity, a key element for poverty alleviation, in rural Zambia. The reforms comprised the elimination of the Zambian cotton marketing board that was in place since 1977. Following liberalization, the sector adopted an outgrower scheme, whereby firms provided extension services to farmers and sold inputs on loans that were repaid at the time of harvest. There are two distinctive phases of the reforms: a failure of the outgrower scheme, and a subsequent period of success of the scheme.

The Bank has been involved in a number
of urban upgrading projects over the last three decades,
which have demonstrated that quality of life in slums can be
improved through realistic policies, investments and
implementation processes. This note reviews community-driven
development (CDD) in World Bank-assisted urban upgrading
projects. The note identifies how CDD approaches have been
applied in such projects. The review focuses on a small

By reviewing the Bank's experience
with shelter lending, this paper seeks to address the
question of whether the Bank has helped developing countries
deal with the inevitable problems that arise with
urbanization, particularly problems with the provision of
shelter. It reviews the Bank's performance, with a
focus on identifying lessons learned so that current demands
can be more effectively addressed. In contrast to earlier

This report examines the implications of
spatial heterogeneity - the uneven distribution of poverty,
growth, and environmental assets - for policy. Its goal is
to inform a wide set of policies that are either explicitly
spatially targeted or may have unanticipated spatial
implications. These include poverty alleviation policies
targeted on poor municipios; demand-driven poverty
alleviation policies; territorial development policies aimed