The Arab Spring in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has brought to the forefront key challenges: the need to create job opportunities, equal access, a level playing field, transparency and accountability, and a fair and competitive environment. Crony capitalism, the privileged access of certain elites to favorable legal and regulatory treatment, access to markets, and the coincidence of political and economic power, was a major concern contributing to the uprising.

In the wake of the revolution, Tunisian society is currently undergoing a significant transformation. In late 2011, the country's first representative government in more than three decades was formed, as the Constituent Assembly was seated. Hundreds of legitimate candidates ran in an election that was free, fair, and enjoyed nearly 90 percent participation by eligible voters.

Extreme fragile situations are now home to at least a quarter of the worlds people. In the worst cases, where fragility has given way to open violence - people are more than twice as likely to be malnourished, more than three times as likely to be unable to send their children to school, twice as likely to see their children die before age five, and more than twice as likely to lack clean water. It is unsurprising that not a single low-income country in these circumstances has been able to achieve even one Millennium Development Goal (World Bank 2011).

The security of women’s entitlement to land and land-based resources in the East Africa region has been compromised by a combination of unfavourable laws and government policies, socio-economic change toward greater commoditization of and competition for land and land-based resources, and exclusionary practices defended as ‘customary’. Law, policy, and practice have excluded women in land ownership and control and made their access tenuous.

This study examines the major
constraints of rural business entry and performance in
Yemen. The Yemen rural investment climate survey made it
possible to analyze rural investment climate constraints for
rural businesses. The survey was used to investigate both
farm and nonfarm rural enterprises. The rural investment
climate was assessed using a combination of subjective
impressions related by rural entrepreneurs, and a more

Chinese Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into Africa is on the rise and Ethiopia is at the forefront of this trend. On request of the Government, the World Bank surveyed 69 Chinese enterprises doing business in Ethiopia with a 95-question survey in May/June 2012. The survey covered various aspects of the foreign direct investment climate in Ethiopia, including infrastructure, sales and supplies, land, crime, competition, finance, human resources, and questions about general opportunities and constraints for doing business in Ethiopia.

This manual helps interested parties to understand and address corruption risks associated with forest carbon accounting – particularly REDD+ – programmes and strategies at the national level. Users will learn how to identify corruption risks and instruments to help address these risks within the development of national Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) action plans and strategies, and the implementation of REDD+ and other forest carbon projects. The manual’s scope does not extend to corruption risks at the international level.

Unprecedented pressures on land and its governance have been created. Covers land, governance and corruption: the linkages; evidence and consequences – administrative and political corruption; actors and forms of corruption; measures and responses; data analysis.

The project initially focused on
building upon the 1998 Registration Law to develop
registration procedures, and on getting the Legislative
Reform Office (LROs) up and running. Cost, affordability,
and quality of services were important considerations. The
Project benefited from the country's high education
levels and relatively low labor costs. Since independence in
1991, the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic has sought to