The need to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has raised the profile of social sector investments in Africa and other developing countries. As a result, many African countries are pressured to emphasize short-term concerns related to the symptoms of poverty at the expense of the longer-term needs to raise productivity and incomes, and thereby tackle the real roots of poverty.

"Using survey data from the Upper East region of Ghana collected in 2005, the paper evaluates the household- and community-level factors influencing women’s and men’s decisions to participate in off-farm activities, either in the off-farm labor market or in local community groups, and the relationship with on-farm crop returns. Results indicate that crop returns are not affected by increased labor availability over a certain labor-land ratio.

"In 1993, India introduced quota-based political reservations for women in rural areas with the objective to promote gender equality in human development by making rural service provision and local governance inclusive and responsive to the needs of women. Recent evidence shows that reservation policies for women (1) stimulate the political participation of women in rural areas, (2) shift rural service provision to public goods that reflect gender preferences, and (3) improve the access to and the quality of public services.

Since 2003, economic growth in Nigeria has been strong. Annual GDP grew by 9.1 percent per annum between 2003 and 2005 and by 6 .1 percent per annum between 2006 and 2008. Much of this growth can be attributed to the non-oil economy which has grown rapidly. This is due primarily to agriculture, which contributes approximately 35 percent to total GDP and supports 70 percent of the population. Agricultural research has been shown to be crucial in increasing agricultural productivity and reducing poverty. A study by Alene et al.

Drawing on a household survey collected in eight woredas in seven Ethiopian regions in 2009, as well as on qualitative fieldwork in four of the eight woredas, this paper provides analysis of agricultural extension delivery in Ethiopia. While overall extension services are relatively accessible in Ethiopia, there are differences in access between men and women, and particularly stark differences by region.

The institutional change in rural Kyrgyzstan during the transition period included farm reorganization, land reform, building markets, and community institutions. The land reform established private property rights to land, including the rights to transfer, exchange, sell, lease, and use the land as collateral for credit. These key features of Kyrgyzstan’s agrarian transition are in sharp contrast with those of other transition countries in Central Asia.

This publication, from the Global Land Tool Network, presents a mechanism for effective inclusion of women and men in land tool development and outlines methodologies and strategies for systematically developing land tools that are responsive to both women and men’s needs. Equal property rights for women and men are fundamental to social and economic gender equality. However, women often face discrimination in formal, informal and customary systems of land tenure.

To promote gender equitable, socio-economic development and improve national capacities for enhanced gender mainstreaming in the national development processes, the Government of Liberia adopted in 2009 the National Gender Policy as an instrument to break with the past and moving on with sustainable development for both women and men and to eliminate all forms of gender based discrimination. The NGP also provides a mechanism for accountability within the Government itself and for other stakeholders, in eliminating all forms of gender based discrimination.

A igualdade de género e o empoderamento das mulheres têm desde há muito feito parte da agenda internacional do desenvolvimento, e mais ainda desde a Conferência de Beijing em 1995 e da apresentação da noção de “integração do género” (UN/DAW 2008). A questão penetrou também nas políticas nacionais de desenvolvimento, tornando-se parte integrante da maioria dos planos de

ABSTRACTED FROM INTRODUCTION: 

This report provides an in depth analysis of the inheritance rights of children in Sri Lanka. Chapter 2 looks at inheritance rights of children from a human rights perspective. It examines the international human rights instruments which guarantee the right to adequate housing of children and which aim to protect their inheritance rights. It analyses the essential components of the right to adequate housing and looks at Sri Lanka’s obligations to protect and promote these rights.

El VII Censo Nacional Agropecuario y Forestal realizado en 2007 permite conocer en profundidad tanto la estructura agraria chilena −considerando el uso y tenencia del suelo, tipos de cultivos, tecnología y mano de obra empleada− como los cambios que ha experimentado el sector agrícola, ganadero y forestal durante el último decenio en su estructura productiva, principalmente por el impacto de acuerdos comerciales, ya sea en las estructuras agrícolas como en la condición productiva y en las nuevas prácticas de producción. El análisis de género −considerando al género como la construcción soci

Fiji ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women in August, 1995. The initial report was submitted in 2000 and the Fiji delegation appeared before the UN CEDAW Committee of Experts for the constructive dialogue in 2002. Fiji has not submitted any report since. Therefore this document is the State combined 2nd, 3rd and 4th Periodic report and covers the period January 2003 to June 2008.