The Nigerian labor force, like that of
many countries in Africa, is heavily concentrated in
agriculture. According to World Bank reports, the
agricultural sector in Nigeria grew by about 6.8 percent
annually from 2005-2009. This report focuses on the
characteristics of the agricultural sector and rural
households in Nigeria, and their implications for poverty.
This report examines the relationships using nationally

This report argues that Middle East and
North Africa (MENA) countries face a critical choice in
their quest for higher private sector growth and more jobs:
promote competition, equal opportunities for all
entrepreneurs and dismantle existing privileges to specific
firms or risk perpetuating the current equilibrium of low
job creation. The report shows that policies which lower
competition in MENA also constrain private sector

In 2000, the Government of India
launched the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (hereinafter
PMGSY) with the primary objective of providing all-weather
road connectivity (with necessary culverts and
cross-drainage structures operable throughout the year), to
eligible unconnected habitations in rural areas. Currently,
about 60 percent of the 170,000 eligible habitations have a
road. By the end of 2010, expenditures for the program had

Countries everywhere are divided into
two distinct spatial realms: one urban, one rural. Classic
models of development predict faster growth in the urban
sector, causing rapid migration from rural areas to cities,
lifting average incomes in both places. The process
continues until the marginal productivity of labor is
equalized across the two realms. The pattern of rising
urbanization accompanying economic growth has become one of

The objective of this paper is to
present a succinct and up-to-date review of the urban sector
in Egypt, with a focus on issues for which there is new
insight or emerging government interest. The two main themes
of the report are the challenges facing the urban sector and
the policy implications at various levels of government.
Some of the reports mains findings are: urbanization in
Egypt takes on forms and processes which are not well

The agri-food sector is an important
part of the Ukrainian economy. Agriculture could make an
even larger contribution to economic growth and the vitality
of rural areas in Ukraine than is currently the case.
Ukraine has the agro-climatic potential to be a major player
on world agricultural markets. Agricultural competitiveness
in Ukraine also suffers from inadequate systems to test and
document food product quality and food safety.

The objective of this paper is to
present a succinct and up-to-date review of the urban sector
in Egypt, with a focus on issues for which there is new
insight or emerging government interest. The two main themes
of the report are the challenges facing the urban sector and
the policy implications at various levels of government.
Some of the reports mains findings are: urbanization in
Egypt takes on forms and processes which are not well

Miombo woodlands stretch across Southern
Africa in a belt from Angola and the Democratic Republic of
Congo (DRC) in the west to Mozambique in the east. The
miombo region covers an area of around 2.4 million km. In
some areas, miombo has been highly degraded as a result of
human use (southern Malawi and parts of Zimbabwe), while in
others, it remains relatively intact (such as in parts of
northern Mozambique, and in isolated areas of Angola and the

Large increases in international food
prices in 2007 and early 2008 have become a key concern for
policy makers in East Asia. The increases are likely to have
a significant impact on the living standards of many,
particularly the poor. By March 2008, dollar nominated world
food prices were more than two and a half times higher than
in early 2002. Almost three quarters of this increase
occurred since the start of 2007, and about half since the

This document presents the recently
elected Colombian administration with a set of policy notes
meant to enrich the debate around critical issues affecting
the country's development. These notes build mostly
upon existing research and represent the Bank's
independent view on topics which are either at the crux of
ongoing policy discussions or merit a more prominent place
in this dialogue. This window of opportunity provides a very

States can do much to tap
community-level energies, and resources for development, if
they seek to interact more synergistically with local
communities. The broader spin-off is creating a
developmental society, and polity. Using case studies from
Asia and Latin America, the authors show how: 1) State
efforts to bring about land reform, tenancy reform, and
expanding non-crop sources of income, can broaden the

This report summarizes the proceedings
from a workshop, the first in the region designed to foster
a multi-sectoral approach to development energy services for
poverty reduction, held at the Hilton Hotel in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia, October 23-25, 2002. It was co-organized by the
World Bank-UNDP sponsored Energy Sector Management
Assistance Program (ESMAP) and the World Bank Africa Energy
Unit, and others. The report focuses on the key issues