Burkina Faso's Poverty Reduction
Strategies (PRS) of the 2000s, which were implemented as
annually rolled-over Priority Action Programs, focused on
four pillars: a) accelerating broad based growth; b)
expanding access to social services for the poor; c)
increasing employment and income-generating activities for
the poor; and d) promoting good governance. Increased public
expenditure and targeted social service provision also led

This volume is organized as follows.
Chapter one address two questions: how has spatial
concentration evolved with growth and development, and what
are the efficiency implications of too much or too little
spatial concentration? This chapter summarizes the various
models that analyze growth by geographic concentration and
sets the foundation for concepts discussed in later
chapters. Chapter two focuses on urbanization in

This report evaluates the outcomes of
World Bank Group support to Liberia from its post-war
reengagement in 2003 through 2011. The country has moved
from total disarray to a solid foundation for inclusive
development. Although development has not moved forward as
quickly as hoped, substantial progress has been made. Public
finance and key institutions have been rebuilt; crucial
transport facilities have been restored; and hospitals,

Niger, owing to its climatic,
institutional, livelihood, economic, and environmental
context, is one of the most vulnerable countries of the
world. Poverty is pervasive in Niger and it ranks low on
almost all the human development indicators. Agriculture is
the most important sector of Niger's economy and
accounts for over 40 percent of national gross domestic
product (GDP) and is the principle source of livelihood for

Cities' development matters to
Pakistan. It is central to economic growth, job creation and
quality of life. This is also one of the core themes in the
2011 Government of Pakistan Framework for Economic Growth
(FEG). This paper explores the conditions for
growth-enhancing spatial change in Pakistan s cities.
Cities' development matters to Pakistan. Two strands of
analysis are developed. First, it reviews the performance

Agricultural growth rates in the Latin
America and the Caribbean (LAC) region have been much slower
than the rest of the developing world. In the regions of
East Asia, South Asia and Middle East and North Africa, the
annual growth of agricultural Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
in 1980-2004 exceeded 3 percent, while growth in Sub-
Saharan Africa averaged almost 3 percent. This paper
attempts to present an overview of the agricultural sector

This report investigates Egypt's
regional economic growth, explores the causes for
geographically unbalanced development, and proposes policy
options to make unbalanced growth compatible with inclusive
development. In Egypt, despite rapid progress in most
welfare indicators in lagging regions, there are still
substantial gaps in consumption and opportunities between
growth poles and the rest of the country. This report's

In 2009 the Gabonese authorities defined
a new vision whose strategic guidelines are detailed in an
operational plan, the strategic plan for an emerging Gabon
(PSGE) whose goal is to turn Gabon into an emerging country
within one generation. PSGE includes an ambitious public
investment program to develop basic infrastructure and to
create the necessary economic environment for the emergence
of a diversified economy. The major challenge for PSGE, and

Much of the rural poor -- who are
growing in number -- are concentrated in ecologically
fragile and remote areas. The key ecological scarcity
problem facing such poor households is a vicious cycle of
declining livelihoods, increased ecological degradation and
loss of resource commons, and declining ecosystem services
on which the poor depend. In addition, developing economies
with high concentrations of their populations on fragile

The rural sector, defined here as the
economic sector that falls under the scope of the Ministry
of Agriculture and Water (MAH), the Ministry of Animal
Resources (MRA), and the Ministry of the Environment and
Sustainable Development (MEDD), is one of the pillars of the
Burkina Faso economy. Although its contribution to GDP has
decreased in recent times from 35 percent in 1999 to 30
percent in 2011 due to the development of the other sectors

The main purpose of this paper is to
explain the patterns of access to water supply and
sanitation facilities in urban areas in Sub-Saharan Africa
since the late 90's, and its relation with the
performance of service providers in the case of improved
water supply. It also seeks to explore the institutional
context of the water supply and sanitation sectors. The
paper concludes that services providers in Sub-Saharan

Poor governance and nearly fifteen years
of brutal conflict have made Liberia one of the poorest
countries in the world. An important objective for the
democratically elected government of post-conflict Liberia
is to reduce poverty. As part of its long-term vision plan,
the Government is preparing a second Poverty Reduction
Strategy (PRS) to set out its medium-term approach to
poverty reduction. The current climate of peace and