Agriculture remains fundamental for
Nicaragua from both a macroeconomic and social view. It is
the largest sector of the Nicaraguan economy, and it remains
the single biggest employer with around 30 percent of the
labor force and including processed foods, like meat and
sugar, agriculture accounts for around 40 percent of total
exports value. Nicaragua appears to be gradually losing
competitive edge of some of its key agricultural exports

In 2002, the producer company model
emerged to benefit poor farmers in India. This smart lesson,
based on the World Bank's growing experience with
producer companies in India, builds on lessons learned from
the first and second Madhya Pradesh district poverty
initiatives projects, which initiated 18 agriculture and
livestock companies, involving 46,500 poor small farmers in
over 1,550 villages in 14 districts - with 100 percent women

Georgia: Seizing the Opportunity to
Prosper suggests a path towards sustainable and shared
growth. Georgia s story is associated with three stylized
facts: high growth with persistent unemployment currently at
nearly 15 percent after 10 years of annual growth that
averaged above 5.5 percent; a doing business rank of 8 out
of 189 countries achieved without recovery to 1990 levels of
per capita income suggesting a relatively difficult

This briefing paper is an outcome of the project "Strengthening the Documentation and Advocacy Capacity of Indigenous Women for the Advancement of their Rights and Welfare on Land" implemented in Cambodia, India and Indonesia in 2013-2014.

To accompany the training video (available here) produced by USAID-funded programs GREEN Mekong and USAID LEAF Asia, a discussion guide is now available for trainers and grassroots facilitators to delve deeper into the gender aspect of social equity in terms of forest-based climate change initiatives, including REDD+. The questions in the guide will help facilitate discussions concerning forest management practices and forest governance in the local and institutional contexts.

Iraq appears to have firmly entered the
ranks of upper middle-income countries in 2012, having
experienced strong economic growth following the
establishment of a civilian elected government in 2005-06.
In 2012 the years of growth culminated in a per capita GDP
of 2472 constant 2005 US$. This three-volume poverty and
inclusion assessment provides the first in-depth analysis of
Iraq's economic and social development during the

The cities that emerge from Indonesia s
rapid urbanization will be key determinants of the country s
overall economic development and competitiveness, as well as
their inclusiveness and environmental sustainability.
However, without strategically planned investments, policy
interventions, and institutional capacity, mismanaged
urbanization could become an obstacle to sustainable growth.
The city planning labs core module will be initially

This publication is a practical guide to the Youth and Land Responsiveness Criteria, which is a tool that can be used to increase the incorporation of youth perspectives into land matters at both institutional and programme levels, through a participatory process.

This report summarizes a case study of the Mexican ejidocommunity tenure system. Mexico was selected for this case study because of the rich history and extensive scale of the country’s community land tenure and registration systems. This community system covers 52% of the area of Mexico, roughly equivalent to the size of Egypt, and comprises over 30 000 communities. The ejido system emanated from the Mexican revolution (1910-1917) and represents a case where the customary system of land has been largely integrated into the statutory system.

Since 2009, the Government of Switzerland and RECOFTC have partnered with ASEAN through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)’s support to the ASEAN Social Forestry Network (ASFN) and the ASEAN-Swiss Partnership on Social Forestry and Climate Change (ASFCC). This is a brochure describing the RECOFTC activities under the ASFCC Phase II (2014-2016).

Despite the popularity and the unique nature of women's self-help groups in India, evidence on the economic impact of these groups is scant. On the basis of two rounds of surveys of 2,517 households, we use a strategy of double differences and propensity score matching to assess the economic effects of a program that promoted and strengthened self-help groups in Andhra Pradesh in India. Our analysis finds that longer exposure to the program has a positive impact on consumption, nutritional intake, and asset accumulation.

WLE’s Gender Strategy sets out a path for the program to engage in pioneering research that generates findings and catalyzes action to address the gender-based challenges facing women and men, who are dependent on water, land and ecosystems for their livelihoods, food, nutrition and water security, and incomes. The strategy starts out and tests the hypothesis that gender equity promotes sustainable agriculture in vibrant ecosystems.