The study reviews Niger's water
resources, and planning process, through its short- and
medium-term water investment program, and priorities in the
water supply, and sanitation sector. Critical challenges are
examined for improving its complex water resources
management to support economic growth, given its landlocked
situation, with diffuse, and mostly rural population, and
immense, untapped fossil aquifer supplies. Despite multiple

The topics for this review were
determined by the Government in consultation with a core
group of donors at a workshop in Brussels organized by the
European Commission in November 2000. The Government
suggested reviewing public expenditures at the regional
level, starting with three regions. This public expenditure
review (PER) marks the first explicit attempt at Regional
PERs. This integrated report draws on draft reports from the

Since the establishment of
Lithuania's independence, the country achieved
substantial progress in transforming its local governments
into independent units of Government: structural reforms to
prod intergovernmental relations were made in 1994 and 1997,
and will continue in 2002. Nevertheless, several issues
remain, requiring particular attention from the Government.
First, revenue and expenditure assignment between levels of

The present study describes, and
quantifies the provision of basic urban services to the
poor, in three Central American cities in El Salvador,
Honduras, and, Panama. It also identifies priority areas for
government intervention, using specialized household surveys
to quantify current deficits, and to rank households from
poor to rich, using aggregate consumption as the measure of
welfare. The urban poverty profile is examined in each city,

The study aims to contribute towards a
national urban strategy, in an effort to maximize
Mexico's cities competitiveness, and livelihoods, in
the urban economists' terms - to maximize agglomeration
economies, while minimizing congestions costs. The country
is in a good position for this challenge: it has relatively
a mature urban system, implying an overall urban population
growth, and, a reasonably balanced system of cities.

Poverty is the central development issue
in Tajikistan. The country is now one of the poorest in the
world. It was made worse by the civil conflict in the early
1990s. This report suggests that there should be four key
pillars to a poverty reduction program strategy: a) the
stimulation of high labor productivity and economic growth;
b) the provision of basic social services; c) the targeting
of assistance to the poorest; and d) the development of a

Although the State of Ceara, in Brazil,
is a model of good economic, and fiscal performance given
its poverty status, recent analysis show poverty remains
severe, in spite of significant reductions over the last
decade. The combination of good governance, and sound fiscal
management, industrial promotion, and public investments
have been successful, but the report questions whether
different policies, could have led to higher growth, and

The study reviews the living standards
in Turkmenistan, shaped by the Soviet legacy - whose income
levels in 1989 were below the socially acceptable minimum -;
by the economic decline throughout the 1990s, until recent
economic resumption; and, by current approaches, and
government policies. In an attempt to ensure good living
standards, the country maintained one of the highest levels
of subsidization of basic goods: water, gas, fuel, and

This review aims to provide the
Government of Madagascar with a situation assessment and
insights and guidance on how to position the rural and
environment sector as an engine for inclusive and
sustainable economic growth. The review has cast the
analytical net quite widely with the aim to come up with a
comprehensive overview of the sector. In view of the
intimate linkages between rural development and the

Informal settlements are an integral
part of the urban landscape in developing countries. These
settlements are widely distributed within cities, including
central business centers and peripheral areas with
environment hazards. In most cases, residents of these
settlements do not have access to basic public services and
amenities. In this paper, the authors examine the impact of
interventions, such as upgrading basic services and

The authors present evidence that in
Burkina Faso, certain high-performing local institutions
contribute to equitable economic development. They link
reduced levels of poverty, and inequality to a high degree
of internal village organization. The structure of these
high-performing local organizations means they can exist in
a number of African countries, because they depend more on
internal participation, rather than on nay one

Albania provides a small amount of
social assistance to nearly 20 percent of its population
through a system that allows some community discretion in
determining distribution. This study investigates how well
this social assistance program is targeted to the poor.
Relative to other safety net programs in low-income
countries, social assistance in Albania is fairly well
targeted. Nevertheless, the system is hampered by the