This report on the Poverty Assessment
Update of Egypt is a contribution to the strategy of poverty
alleviation pursued by the Government of Egypt. Using data
from the two household surveys in 2000 and 2005, this report
assesses the nature and dimensions of poverty in Egypt, and
discusses the role of macroeconomic policies and labor
markets in improving living standards. The report updates
the findings of "Poverty Reduction in Egypt: Diagnosis

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.

Most wars are now civil wars. Even
though international wars attract enormous global attention,
they have become infrequent and brief. Civil wars usually
attract less attention, but they have become increasingly
common and typically go on for years. This report argues
that civil war is now an important issue for development.
War retards development, but conversely, development retards
war. This double causation gives rise to virtuous and

The 1997 Indonesian financial crisis
resulted in severe economic dislocation and political
upheaval, and the detrimental consequences for economic
welfare, physical health, and child education have been
previously established in numerous studies. We also find the
crisis adversely impacted population psychological
well-being. We document substantial increases in several
different dimensions of psychological distress among male

The main objective of the Country
Environmental Analysis (CEA) in Nepal is to identify
opportunities for enhancing the overall performance of
select environmental management systems through improvements
in the effectiveness of institutions, policies, and
processes. CEA has been built upon the following three
primary study components: (a) an examination of the
environmental issues associated with infrastructure

The case studies in this book were
developed as part of a year-long learning process initiated
by the World Bank in 2003-4 to examine large scale poverty
reduction programs in a wide range of developing countries
around the world. This volume presents 12 of the case
studies from South Asia. . The last two decades saw
substantial change in the countries of South Asia. All
countries of the subcontinent experienced more rapid growth

This report focuses on the potential and
opportunities for smallholder commercialization in Zambia.
The paper discusses the framework for Zambia's
smallholder commercialization strategy, the current state of
smallholder agriculture in Zambia, key issues, support from
agribusiness to smallholders, and development of potential
and opportunities for smallholder commercialization. The
paper concludes with three strategy areas: how to strengthen

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;

This paper analyzes the effect of
facilities and infrastructure available at the market place
on a farmer's decision to sell at the market using a
comprehensive survey of farmers, markets and villages
conducted in Tamil Nadu, India in 2005. The econometric
estimation shows that the likelihood of sales at the market
increases significantly with an improvement in market
facilities and a decrease in travel time from the village to

This study on Jharkhand in India
addresses the challenges faced by that new state of India
(founded in November 2000) to surmount adverse initial
conditions of low average income, very high incidence of
poverty, and little social development. In addition, initial
health and education indicators in Jharkhand were also
markedly unfavorable in comparison to both the all-India
average and the major Indian states. The paper points out

This study assesses the development
effectiveness of World Bank assistance in addressing
constraints to agricultural development in Africa over the
period of fiscal years 1991-2006. This Independent
Evaluation Group (IEG) review of World Bank assistance to
agriculture in Africa has a twofold purpose. First, it is a
pilot for the proposed IEG study on Bank-wide assistance in
agriculture scheduled for fiscal year 2009. Second, the

This report, which has been prepared by
the World Bank in cooperation with the National Statistical
Committee, provides an assessment of poverty in the Kyrgyz
Republic using the most recent data available. The objective
of this report is to understand to what extent economic
growth has reduced poverty and led to improved living
conditions for the population during 2000-2005. The report
also attempts to answer three questions about the Kyrgyz