Policies that enable rural communities
to participate in expanding economic opportunities can be
central to inclusive growth in Myanmar. Rural communities
are home to the majority of Myanmar’s population, the
majority of its many ethnic groups, and 70 percent of its
poor. Development in rural areas is constrained by low
returns to agriculture, and significantly lower levels of
public service delivery and human development outcomes

Even after several decades of green
revolution, malnutrition continues to be a major development
challenge in much of South Asia, and India has a major share
of the malnourished people in the region. For nutrition
goals to be integrated into extension the curricula provided
to current and future agricultural extension agents must be
revisited. As part of the South Asia Food and Nutrition
Security Initiative (SAFANSI), this paper focuses on

Three of sub-Saharan Africa’s central
economic realities motivate this study. First, agriculture
is the most important sector in most African economies, on
average accounting for nearly one-fourth of GDP. Second, the
private sector is increasingly active in transforming
African agriculture and economies. By 2030, agriculture and
agribusiness are anticipated to become a US$ 1 trillion
industry in Africa, delivering more jobs, income, and

Myanmar grew at an estimated 8.5 percent
in real terms in 2014-15. Economic reforms have supported
consumer and investor confidence despite business
environment and socio-political challenges. The economic
impact of the floods that hit Myanmar from July 2015 is
still being assessed, but will likely adversely affect the
main rice crop this year. According to preliminary analysis
of census data, the areas most affected by the floods are

Women comprise a large proportion of the agricultural labor force in Sub-Saharan

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

Honduras is Central America’s
second-largest country with a population of more than 8
million and a land area of about 112,000 square kilometers.
The 20th century witnessed a profound economic
transformation and modernization in Honduras. Honduras’
persistent poverty is the result of long-term low per capita
growth and high inequality, perpetuated by the country’s
high vulnerability to shocks. First, over the past 40 years

The authors investigate determinants of
individual migration decisions in Vietnam, a country with
increasingly high levels of geographical labor mobility.
Using data from the Vietnam Household Living Standards
Survey (VHLSS) of 2012, the authors find that probability of
migration is strongly associated with individual, household
and community-level characteristics. The probability of
migration is higher for young people and those with

New qualitative fieldwork in eight
countries of Europe and Central Asia (ECA) indicates that
the dramatic declines in poverty in much of the region over
the last decade do not appear to be registering very
favorably with men and women on the ground. This paper
provides a gender analysis of findings from equal numbers of
sex-specific focus groups with employed and jobless
individuals. The methodology featured a standardized package

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.

Recent surveys show considerable
progress in maternal and child health in Ethiopia. The
improvement has been in health outcomes and health services
coverage. The study examines how different groups have fared
in this progress. It tracked 11 health outcome indicators
and health interventions related to millennium development
goals one, four, and five. These are stunting, underweight,
wasting, neonatal mortality, infant mortality, under -five

Refugee return is one of the three
so-called durable solutions to refugee displacement
envisaged by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) and the international community. The objective of
this study is to identify the conditions that influence the
decisions by refugees in protracted displacement regarding
return to their home country - when, why, and by whom are
decisions on return or other coping strategies made, and how