The objective of this study is to
accompany Malagasy authorities in their transition towards
economic emergence. If the contribution of foreign capital
and the abundance of natural resources should help the
Malagasy economy escape from the poverty trap by increasing
its domestic savings and investment capacities, as well as
its technological capacities. International experience
reminds us that this transition is far from being automatic.

This policy note, Environmental
Management for a Sustainable Economic Development Strategy
for Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, investigates six environmental
management topics which will affect the capacity of the
province to develop the economy and need to be underpinned
by strong environmental and natural resource management. The
six topics cover: agriculture, forestry, fisheries, land and
water, environmental law and regulations, and spatial

Trade policy reforms in recent decades
have sharply reduced the distortions that were harming
agriculture in developing countries, yet global trade in
farm products continues to be far more distorted than trade
in nonfarm goods. Those distortions reduce some forms of
poverty and inequality but worsen others, so the net effects
are unclear without empirical modeling. This paper
summarizes a series of new economy-wide global and national

Business development has been one of the main forces behind rapid poverty reduction in Vietnam. Together with the redistribution of agricultural land, and the broad coverage of social services, it allowed a large fraction of the population to engage in more productive occupations and raise their living standards. But businesses are still struggling with important constraints.

The dramatic increases in world food and
fuel prices during 2007 and early 2008 may set back
Mozambique's considerable advances in poverty reduction
during the past decade. This study assesses the impact of
higher fuel and food prices at both household and
macroeconomic levels, and also considers policy options to
mitigate some of the negative impacts of higher prices.
Rising world prices certainly represents a negative

Liberia is a rich country, badly
managed. This is a favorite comment of President Ellen
Johnson-Sirleaf and an accurate one. The bad management is
well-known, though perhaps not its duration and depth.
Created in 1847, the country is far older than almost all
others in sub- Saharan Africa. But for most of this time, it
was ruled by an elite descended from African-American
settlers who ignored or exploited the indigenous people. The

The situation in The Gambia is a good
example of the many challenges small states have to deal
with. The country is faced with institutional capacity
constraints and due to a narrow resource base and a small
domestic market, its production base and exports show little
diversification. Like other small states, the country tends
to rely heavily on external trade and foreign investment to
overcome its scale and resource limitation, increasing its

The cases from the forum presented here
capture the lessons from the science, technology, and
innovation (STI) capacity building experiences of both
developing and industrial countries (governments working in
partnership with the private sector, nongovernmental
organizations, academia, and development partners). These
cases highlight ways that STI capacity building programs
have enabled countries to achieve the following: (i) provide

The recent surge in food and fuel prices
has prompted countries with high dependence on food imports
to try and lock in future food supplies through direct
investment in agricultural production in other countries.
The price surges also led to a wave of proposals to invest
in biofuels investments in agricultural land. While such
investment can provide large benefits, it also carries
considerable risks both to investors and citizens in the

The strategic / sectoral social and
environmental assessment of power development options (SSEA)
offers an overview analysis of major regional power
development options and regional transmission
interconnections in the Nile Equatorial Lakes region in
Eastern Africa. The assessment provides a solid foundation
for planning the development of the power sectors of the
region as it contains a proposed development strategy and a

The objective of this study is to
demonstrate how the interaction between sectors can be
improved to increase the effectiveness of sectoral
interventions, and how the interventions in the agricultural
sector and microfinance can be used to improve nutritional
outcomes. The study will examine what has been done to
improve nutrition through interventions in the agriculture
sector and microcredit programmes in Bangladesh and around

This report brings together lessons from previous studies, supplemented by new analysis. It frames the challenges facing the rural and agri-food sector in the Western Balkans to illustrate the directions for policies, now and in the future. Part one looks at the characteristics of the rural and agri-food sector today, its potential and its obstacles. Part two looks at the future of the agri-food sector and rural space.