Local and Community Driven Development (LCDD) is an approach that gives control of development decisions and resources to community groups and representative local governments. Poor communities receive funds, decide on their use, plan and execute the chosen local projects, and monitor the provision of services that result from it. It improves not just incomes but people's empowerment and governance capacity, the lack of which is a form of poverty as well. LCDD operations have demonstrated effectiveness at delivering results and have received substantial support from the World Bank.

2020 Vision Focus; Brief

CONTENTS:; Sick and Tired: Climbing Out of the Health-Poverty Trap; Commentary: The Costs of a Pandemic by Clare Narrod; Interview: Dr. Mirta Roses Periago, Director of the Pan American Health Organization; Documenting the Impact of Biofortified Sweetpotato in Uganda; Effective Research and Investment: The Global Futures for Agriculture Project; Change in Leadership at IFPRI

Rural non-farm development plays a key role in generating employment in many developing countries. Clustering is an important industrial organization in the rural non-farm sector. Based on primary surveys of both urban and rural handloom weaver clusters in Ethiopia which took place in May/June 2008, one of the most important rural nonfarm sectors, this paper examines the mechanism and performance of clustering. The clustering way of handloom production is observed even in remote rural areas, illustrating its vitality and flexibility in adapting to restricted environments.

Risk is a pervasive feature of life in poor rural areas of developing countries. This brief outlines a conceptual framework for understanding the nature of risks faced by poor rural households and their consequences before turning to a more detailed discussion of these risks.

The Knowledge, Capacity, and Innovation Division (formerly ISNAR) works to improve the functioning of food and agriculture systems by facilitating knowledge management—the creation, accumulation, sharing, and utilization of knowledge—and developing the capacity for innovation by all actors along the food and agriculture value chain. Fostering innovation means investing in agricultural science and technology, research and extension, education and training, and farmer organizations and other local institutions.

Droughts and floods are a capricious part of life for many Malawians. The country depends heavily on rain-fed agriculture and so it is crucial that we understand the implications of these climate events. Not only are rural livelihoods affected, but urban households are also vulnerable to food shortages and rising prices. Finding ways to overcome the losses from droughts and floods is a policy imperative.

ASOCAM conducted the XII ASOCAM Latin American Seminar 2009 in the district of Yucay in Cusco, Peru on ‘How to promote adaptation to climate change on water management in rural areas?’ The seminar brought together 40 participants from 8 countries submitted their institutional experiences generated so far in development projects and initiatives related to the use and management of water in the rural Andes in Ecuador, Peru and Colombia.

Rural places acquire value in different ways and geographers have adopted a range of approaches to understand the way value is created in land and place. This paper analyses the case of the Gimblett Gravels wine district in Hawke's Bay, New Zealand. This district has been transformed over the space of 20 years from a peri-urban wasteland to, now, one of the most sought-after and expensive winegrowing areas in the country. In this process of revaluation, several forces were evident.

Land use/cover change (LUCC) is often the cumulative result of individual farmer's decisions. To understand and simulate LUCC as the result of local decisions, multi-agent systems models (MAS) have become a popular technique. However, the definition of agents is not often based on real data, ignoring the inherent diversity of farmers and farm characteristics in rural landscapes. The aim of this paper is to describe an empirical method that defines an agent typology and allocates agents into the different agent types for an entire region.

To assess sustainability of rural management in the Changjiang River basin, human behavioral (food consumption, lifestyle pattern, and human waste disposal) impact on nitrogen flow was quantitatively evaluated. A survey of day-to-day activities was conducted in two representative counties: Taoyuan and Taihe. Daily nitrogen intake from food per capita and potential nitrogen load from human waste on the environment were calculated. The former in Taoyuan and Taihe was 17.0 and 16.0gN, respectively.

Aquaculture continues to diversify and develop rapidly in Bangladesh. A major change has taken place in parts of Bangladesh due to the growth of floodplain aquaculture (FPA) projects. FPA involves the enclosure by the landholders of parts of the floodplain through the creation of embankments and sluice gates. The enclosed water body is stocked with fish seed and the benefits are distributed amongst those who own land in the impounded area.