This review systematically assesses the
focus of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) on
environment-related issues. A total of 40 Interim and full
PRSPs from countries in Africa, Latin America and Eastern
Europe, the Middle East, Central and East Asia are reviewed.
Four major questions: are posed: (i) What issues of
environmental concerns and opportunities are identified in
the PRSPs?; (ii) To what extent are poverty-environment

This paper examines the effects of
men's and women's participation in group-based
micro-credit programs on a large set of qualitative
responses to questions that characterize women's
autonomy and gender relations within the household. The data
come from a special survey carried out in rural Bangladesh
in 1998-99. The results are consistent with the view that
women's participation in micro-credit programs helps to

This report analyzes the experience
of Mauritania with the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS)
process. The focus of the report is on evaluating the
performance of the World Bank in supporting the PRSP
initiative, not on appraising the authorities policies. The
report covers the formulation and implementation of the PRSP
and encompasses the two PRSP progress reports which have
been completed since the initiative was launched in

This paper uses a duration analysis
based on adoption data spanning more than 25 years from six
communities in the Central Highlands of Guatemala. The
analysis explores how household characteristics and external
trends play into both the adoption and diffusion processes
of non-traditional exports among smallholders. Adoption was
initially widespread and rapid, which led nontraditional
exports to be hailed as a pro-poor success, reaching all but

This report discusses the study of slums
in the city of Surat and it is divided into eight sections.
Section one introduces the study and discusses general
background, overall methodology, methods and techniques of
data collection, and methods of analysis; section two
profiles the city of Surat and slums therein; section three
discusses definition and recognition of slums and situation
of tenure of land along with the physical and social

Accelerating rural economic growth and
reducing rural poverty requires a comprehensive strategy
built on sound analysis covering all major aspects o f the
rural economy including agricultural output markets, input
markets (seeds, fertilizer, extension), factor markets
(land, water, labor and credit), the rural non- farm
economy, and targeted interventions. This report focuses on
one aspect o f this complex puzzle - rural factor markets.

Following the collapse of the Soviet
Union, Moldova faced the deepest and most prolonged
recession among transition countries, and the resulting
increase in poverty has made it the poorest country in
Europe today. The main objective of this report is to update
and assess poverty in Moldova in its multiple dimensions,
with a view to informing public policies. It focuses on the
period of recession that followed the Russian crisis and the

Community-based natural resource
management is an important strategy to conserve and
sustainably use biodiversity and wildlife in Namibia. The
authors examine the extent to which conservancies have been
successful in meeting their primary goal of improving the
lives of rural households. They evaluate the benefits of
community conservancies in Namibia by asking three
questions: Do conservancies increase household welfare? Are

The reduction of infant and child
death is one of the eight millennium development goals
(MDGs). In addition, one of the goal one indicators is child
malnutrition. A central question for the development
community is to understand the factors underlying child
health and nutritional status. What are the determinants of
these indicators, which of these determinants are amenable
to policy intervention, and which are the most effective

According to Myint's "vent-for-surplus"
theory, development of the economies of Indonesia, the
Philippines, and Thailand from the nineteenth century on
depended on the natural advantage of large tracts of unused
"empty land" with low population density and abundant natural
resources of the type typically found in Southeast Asia and
Africa at the outset of Western colonization. When these
economies were integrated into international trade, hitherto

There is still a long road ahead before all Indonesian's can benefit from the full potential of ICT. That road seems even longer to rural women. Despite some improvements in access and the rapid deployment of lower cost wireless technologies, not much has changed in rural areas of Indonesia. Infrastructure in rural areas is limited and existing services are expensive and practically outside of rural women's reach. Women still face enormous barriers and access to communications and information relevant to their realities is very limited.

The author surveys the empirical literature on the political economy of agricultural protection. He uses a detailed data set of agricultural Political Action Committee (PAC) contributions over five U.S. congressional election cycles over the 1991-2000 period to investigate the relationship between lobbying spending and agricultural protection. A detailed graphical analysis of campaign contributions by the agricultural PACs indicates that although there are very many PACs, in most sectors the majority of contributions are made by very few PACs.