The rapid pace of economic growth in
China has been unprecedented since the start of economic
reforms in late 1970s. It has delivered higher incomes and
made the largest single contribution to global poverty
reduction. Measured by international poverty lines, from
1978-2004, the absolute poor population in rural areas has
dropped from 250 million to 26.1 million. Such gains are
impressive and have been driven largely by a set of

This study by the World Bank indicates that forests offer vast potential for poverty reduction and rural economic growth in India while also supporting critical national conservation goals. An estimated 275 million people in rural areas depend on forests for at least part of their livelihoods. Forest dwellers, which include a high proportion of tribals, are among the poorest and most vulnerable groups in society. The government of India has adopted Joint Forest Management as a principal approach for community-based forestry.

The analysis of the distributional
impact of policy reforms on the well-being or welfare of
different stakeholder groups, particularly on the poor and
vulnerable, has an important role in the elaboration and
implementation of poverty reduction strategies in developing
countries. In recent years this type of work has been
labeled as Poverty and Social Impact Analysis (PSIA) and is
increasingly implemented to promote evidence-based policy

Rural transport services are often
inadequate. Passenger and goods transport needs improving to
stimulate rural economies and reduce poverty. Understanding
existing rural transport systems and constraining factors is
a precondition for appropriate policy action. The
Sub-Saharan Africa Transport Policy Program (SSATP)
commissioned a study to develop and test a methodology for
the rapid assessment of rural transport systems. The

This report presents an update on the
economic challenges facing Ethiopia with a focus on the
shared goal of accelerating equitable growth. The starting
point is the Government's own Plan for Accelerated and
Sustained Development to End Poverty (PASDEP), which is in
the process of finalization, and is designed to cover the
period 2005-2010. This report proposes that the growth
strategy should more explicitly adopt a

This article highlights some of the
findings from recent analytical work that has been carried
out in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region, notably
a number of promising practices that are being developed to
effectively address the infrastructure provision challenge,
and in particular to ensure that infrastructure increases
rural competitiveness and incomes.

In view of its increasing importance,
and the dearth of information on return migration and its
impacts on source households, this study uses data from the
2005 Albania Living Standards Measurement Study survey and
assesses the impact of past migration experience of Albanian
households on non-farm business ownership through
instrumental variables regression techniques. Moreover,
considering the differences in earning potentials and

The overall objective of the present study is to contribute to the knowledge-base that is urgently required for the implementation of sustainable rural development activities in Haiti.

Using recent advances in modeling
climate-related risks and adjusting state of the art
catastrophic risk modeling techniques to drought, the study
conducts an innovative long-term assessment of drought risks
in Andhra Pradesh, India, and suggests strategies to reduce
their impact, under several economic, drought management and
climate change scenarios. The analysis deepens an
understanding of climate risk adaptation strategies,

The present report was prepared on the
basis of the findings of an international workshop held from
September 12-14, 2005, in Salvador da Bahia, and was
attended by delegations of three to five practitioners from
12 cities in Latin America, Africa and Asia. It had two main
objectives: (a) to share experiences on innovative solutions
to provide electricity services in poor peri-urban and urban
areas; and (b) to develop a body of knowledge to be

This report has the following
objectives: (i) identify the underlying constraints to
strong and sustained growth, in particular, the dynamic
circles that lock Niger in a low-growth/high poverty
equilibrium; (ii) understand the key determinants of growth
and poverty traps and the role increased foreign aid could
play to promote growth and help achieve the
MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDGs); and (iii) help

The purpose of this Transport Sector
Note (TSN) is to assist the Palestinian Authority (PA) in
developing a strategy for the sector that can aid in
addressing the immediate constraints and transport issues in
support of the PA's effort to revive the national
economy, improve mobility and reduce poverty. The TSN also
aims to assist the responsible sector ministries prepare a
coherent strategic framework and program for the sector.