Mali is a vast, land-locked country in
West Africa with a population of approximately 14.9 million,
and a GDP per capita of USD480. The economy is largely
rural, with over two-thirds of the population living off
agriculture, notably cotton. Gold is the country’s largest
export, though production has been declining and the
industry faces an uncertain future as proven reserves are
limited. The service sector, which represents 40 percent of

Agriculture is among the most risk-prone
sectors in the economies of Central Asia. Production shocks
from weather, pests and diseases and adverse movements in
agricultural product and input prices not only impact
farmers and agri-business firms, but can also strain
government finances. Some of these risks are small and
localized and can be managed by producers. Others are the
result of more severe, exogenous shocks outside agriculture

Agriculture is the dominant sector of
the economy, contributing a third of the country’s gross
domestic product (GDP) and about half of Rwanda’s export
earnings. The government of Rwanda has therefore made
agricultural development a priority and allocated
significant resources to improving productivity, expanding
the livestock sector, promoting sustainable land management,
and developing supply chains and value-added activities. At

This paper uses a rural household survey
dataset collected in 2006 and 2008 to investigate the impact
of a market-based land resettlement project in southern
Malawi. The program provided a conditional cash and land
transfer to poor families to relocate to larger plots of
farm land. The average treatment effect of the program is
estimated using a difference-in-difference matching
technique based on propensity score matching; qualitative

Agricultural water management projects
that take an inclusive, participatory gendersensitive
approach at all levels of the project
cycle help increase project effectiveness and
improve account of livelihood concerns of
women and the rural poor. Participatory
planning methods; creation of genderspecific
indicators; continuous monitoring;
and beneficiary-led impact assessment are
key features of this approach.

This systematic country diagnosis (SCD)
for Chad aims to identify how to achieve the twin goals of
ending poverty and improving shared prosperity. It
acknowledges both: (i) the need for selectivity in pro-poor
interventions, and (ii) the inherent difficulty to do so
given the many competing binding reasons for poverty.
Selectivity means the identification of principal
opportunities for sustainable poverty reduction in the next

This report analyzes global prospects
for fisheries and aquaculture. The World Bank Group (WBG)
Agriculture Action Plan 2013-15 summarizes critical
challenges facing the global food and agriculture sector. An
ever-increasing global population necessitates adequate food
and nutrition for the growing population through increased
production and reduced waste. Production increase must occur
in a context where resources necessary for food production,

With 2015 marking the transition from
the Millennium to the Sustainable Development Goals, the
international community can celebrate many development
successes since 2000. Three key challenges stand out: the
depth of remaining poverty, the unevenness in shared
prosperity, and the persistent disparities in non-income
dimensions of development. First, the policy discourse needs
to focus more directly on the poorest among the poor. While

Launched in 2011, the Second Sustainable
and Participatory Energy Management Project (PROGEDE II) for
Senegal has been hailed for effectively mainstreaming a
gender perspective into an energy project. Under the
project, women have participated more in decision making;
developed skills in technical production, entrepreneurship,
and organizational management; and benefitted from increased incomes.

Honduras’ recent economic performance
has been positive, especially taking into account the global
economic context. Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth
accelerated from 2.8 percent in 2013 to 3.1 percent in 2014
and 3.6 percent in the first half of 2015. Growth has been
supported by improved terms of trade, higher remittance
inflows and export demand driven by the on-going recovery of
the United States (US), and improved investor confidence.

The World Bank Group in 2013 made the elimination of extreme poverty by 2030 a central institutional focus and purpose. This evaluation examines how, and how well, the Bank Group has focused its support on poverty reduction over the past decade, and what lessons to draw from this moving forward. The lessons aim to strengthen the Bank’s country diagnostics, improve the design of country strategies, and build greater learning opportunities from program experience.

The main objective of this Economic and Sector Work (ESW) is to identify opportunities for stronger linkages between domestic agricultural supply chains and the tourism sector in the OECS, and to outline priority interventions with potential to strengthen these linkages. Since this topic has been analyzed in a number of studies, the approach for this ESW is not to conduct yet another comprehensive study.