The political and security transition
continues to take a heavy toll on Afghanistan’s economy.
Economic growth is estimated to have fallen further to 2
percent in 2014 from 3.7 percent in 2013 and an average of 9
percent during 2003-12. Political uncertainty combined with
weak reform progress dealt a further blow in 2014 to
investor and consumer confidence, already in a slump from
uncertainty building since 2013. As a result, growth in the

Cambodia continues to enjoy robust
growth, albeit at a slightly slower pace. Real growth in
2014 is estimated to have reached 7.0 percent. The garment
sector, together with construction and services, in
particular finance and real estate, continues to propel
growth. However, there are signs of weaknesses in garment
and agricultural production that are slightly slowing
growth. Overall macroeconomic management remains

Since the early 2000s, Tanzania has seen
remarkable economic growth and strong resilience to external
shocks. Yet these achievements were overshadowed by the slow
response of poverty to the growing economy. Until 2007, the
poverty rate in Tanzania remained stagnant at around 34
percent despite a robust growth at an annualized rate of
approximately 7 percent. This apparent disconnect between
growth and poverty reduction has raised concerns among

This study discusses the impact of economic geography and (low) population density on development outcomes in Mali and explores how policies to reduce poverty can be made more effective by taking these two factors into account. The crisis in north Mali which started in 2012 and continues to date has brought questions of economic geography to the center of attention.

USAID works to improve land and resource governance and strengthen property rights for all members of society, especially women. Currently, USAID is working in 24 countries on land tenure issues and has committed US $300 million to these programs.

Severe land degradation has strongly affected both people’s livelihood and the environment in Cape Verde (Cabo Verde in Portuguese), a natural resource poor country. Despite the enormous investment in soil and water conservation measures (SWC or SLM), which are visible throughout the landscape, and the recognition of their benefits, their biophysical and socioeconomic impacts have been poorly assessed and scientifically documented.

The 2015 World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty will take place at the World Bank Headquarters in Washington, D.C. on March 23 - 27, 2015. The theme of the 16th annual conference is "Linking Land Tenure and Use for Shared Prosperity.”

The demand to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger has been the centrepiece of the Millennium Development Goals; the first MDG stands for the inextricable link between poverty and people’s ability to access safe, nutritious and sufficient food. How will the objective of achieving global food and nutrition security be embedded in the SDGs? Will the SDGs be a further step towards this target?

Meant well doesn’t always mean done well. The Sustainable Development Goals are all set to undermine themselves, Stephan Klasen maintains. The worst aspect is that people, who really ought to be at the focus, threaten to fall by the wayside in this technocratic maze of hundreds of goals, targets, and indicators.

There is a direct relationship between women’s right to land, economic empowerment, food security and poverty reduction. A gender approach to land rights can enable shifts in gender power relations, and assure that all people, regardless of sex, benefit from, and are empowered by, development policies and practices to improve people’s rights to land. This brief gives an overview on how to consider gender aspects in projects and programmes addressing land rights.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to theunderstanding and discussion of how the costs andbenefits of natural resource development are sharedacross society. This paper presents how IFC, as both aninvestor and a development organization, determineswhether benefits and costs are shared reasonably, and how this assessment influences IFC’s decision to invest ina particular natural resource project. the goal of the paper is to promotea broad, constructive dialogue across stakeholders—governments, investors, civil society, and others—around benefit sharing.