The importance of the tertiary road
sector in contributing to economic development and poverty
alleviation efforts cannot be understated. In Albania,
forty-nine percent of rural producers have stated that a
lack of adequate transportation, primarily good roads, was
their biggest marketing problem. In Bosnia and Herzegovina,
there is discontent about the quality of the regional and
tertiary roads, with complaints about the low quality of

Beyond the City evaluates the
contribution of rural development and policies to growth,
poverty alleviation, and environmental degradation in the
rest of the economy, as well as in the rural space. This
title brings together new theoretical and empirical
treatments of the links between rural and national
development. New findings and are combined with existing
literature to enhance our understanding of the how rural

Enterprises use credit to acquire
productivity-enhancing assets. Rural enterprises in
developing economies, however, often lack access to the
credit they need. Key reasons for this lack of access
include the low level and scattered nature of economic
activity in rural areas, the enterprises' lack of
collateral, inadequate capacity among the country's
lenders to lend in rural areas, and legal and policy

The report analyses the contribution to
date of agricultural water management to poverty reduction
and growth in the in sub-Saharan Africa region, the reasons
for its slow expansion and apparently poor track record, as
well as the ways in which increased investment in
agricultural water management could make a sustainable
contribution to further poverty reduction and growth. The
first chapter places agricultural water management in the

The success of development programs,
including water resource projects, depends on two key
factors: the role of underlying institutions and the impact
synergies from other closely related programs. Existing
methodologies have limitations in accounting for these
critical factors. This paper fills this gap by developing a
methodology, which quantifies both the roles that
institutions play in impact generation and the extent of

Measurement of the likely magnitude of
the economic impact of climate change on African agriculture
has been a challenge. Using data from a survey of more than
9,000 farmers across 11 African countries, a cross-sectional
approach estimates how farm net revenues are affected by
climate change compared with current mean temperature.
Revenues fall with warming for dryland crops (temperature
elasticity of -1.9) and livestock (-5.4), whereas revenues

In the last 10 years, World Bank
activity in the fisheries sector of the Pacific Islands
region has been limited to two regional economic reports, a
study of coastal resources management, and a few technical
assistance missions. The purpose of this study was to
conduct a brief internal review of the Pacific fisheries
sectors past performances, based on the existing literature
and experience of the individuals involved. The

The paper revisits the site of a large,
World Bank-financed, rural development program in China 10
years after it began and four years after disbursements
ended. The program emphasized community participation in
multi-sectoral interventions (including farming, animal
husbandry, infrastructure and social services). Data were
collected on 2,000 households in project and nonproject
areas, spanning 10 years. A double-difference estimator of

Fisheries contribute greatly to the
well-being of many millions of people. The sector generates
employment and economic values that are important to
individuals, communities and national economies. However,
the world's fishery resources are not infinite, and
appropriate conservation must be employed for ensuring
sustainable livelihood through fisheries in the future as
well. The Big Numbers Project, a collaborative effort by the

Indonesian agriculture is at a
crossroads. Supporting the livelihood of millions of
Indonesians, it needs to underpin renewed and robust growth
of the economy; and be a key component of the
Government's poverty alleviation strategy. The
challenge for the future is to reinvigorate productivity
gains among rural producers, and provide the foundation for
long run sustainability of these productivity gains.

Using individual level employment data
from Bangladesh, this paper presents empirical evidence on
the relative importance of farm and urban linkages for rural
nonfarm employment. The econometric results indicate that
high return wage work and self-employment in nonfarm
activities cluster around major urban centers. The negative
effects of isolation on high return wage work and on
self-employment are magnified in locations with higher

The current assessment builds on
previously published reviews of poverty reduction strategy
programs (PRSPs), and is the sixth report in a series. This
paper aims at presenting a clearer picture of how PRSPs
influence the developmental agenda in 11 African countries
by assessing the level of environmental mainstreaming in the
Poverty Reduction Strategy Process. The paper includes the
following headings: introduction; framework for assessment;