This Policy Memorandum provides policy
advice to the government of Liberia (GOL) in an effort to
mainstream gender issues in policies, programs, and projects
supporting agricultural production and value-chain
development. It is organized as follows. Section I reviews
women's roles in Liberian agriculture and agricultural
value chains, drawing on a variety of data sources,
including the 2007 Core Welfare Indicator Questionnaire

Municipalities in Mozambique were
established by law in 1997 and elected in 1998 for the first
time, only a few years after the peace agreement. Most
inherited archaic and dysfunctional remnants of colonial and
central government systems and infrastructure, and as such
limited progress was achieved in transforming them into
functioning local governments during the first mandate
(1998-2002). During the second mandate (2003-2008), however,

This report describes a pilot study of
natural risk hazards in the peri-urban extension areas of
the Dakar Metropolitan Area, Senegal. The area subject of
this study stretches across 580 square kilometers, covering
less than 1 percent of the national territory, but housing
about 50 percent of Senegal's urban population. Much of
the rapid population growth of the Dakar Metropolitan Area
is taking place beyond the boundaries of the Department of

In many poor countries, the recent
increases in prices of staple foods raise the real incomes
of those selling food, many of whom are relatively poor,
while hurting net food consumers, many of whom are also
relatively poor. The impacts on poverty will certainly be
very diverse, but the average impact on poverty depends upon
the balance between these two effects, and can only be
determined by looking at real-world data. Results using

This report shows that some investors
still perceive Aceh as a risky place to do business, despite
being relatively peaceful for almost four years. Security
incidents, relatively common in post-conflict environments,
deter businesses and individuals from investing in Aceh,
robbing the economy of necessary capital and innovation.
Other consequences of the conflict, including forms of
illegal taxation, also hurt investment. The Government of

This mineral sector review examines the
mineral sector as a potential source of growth and
development in Malawi. In seeking the World Bank's
assistance the Government of Malawi was particularly
interested in confirming the potential for mineral sector
growth, identifying which constraints to the development of
the sector need to be addressed by the Government and
suggesting strategies to foster a positive contribution by

Sri Lanka has embarked on a gradual
transition from a system of directed credit in a highly
segmented market toward an integrated market-driven housing
finance system. This transition has included an increased
role of private universal banks in the immediate term and a
functioning secondary mortgage market in the long term. An
active system of housing finance provides real economic
benefits and positively affects savings, investment, and

This study analyzes the complicated and
dynamic nature of welfare differences across space. The
objectives are two-fold. First, the study seeks to provide a
methodological framework useful for investigating the
determinants of the observed differences in the standards of
living between two regions at a given point in time. Second,
it aims to provide empirical evidence on regional welfare
differences to inform the policy debate surrounding regional

This series "New Frontiers of
Social Policy" aims to promote social development
through systematic attention to the underlying social
context and the social outcomes of development interventions
and public policy. This book series has been conceived and
produced for the broader development community, rather than
for social policy specialists alone. This book is
particularly, although not exclusively, relevant to those

The goal of the Investment Climate
Assessment (ICA) of Uganda is to evaluate the investment
climate in Uganda in all its operational dimensions and to
promote policies to strengthen the private sector and
encourage broad-based economic growth. Sustained
improvements in living standards depend on broad-based
growth. Growth will only occur, however, if firms improve
their productivity by investing in human and physical

This paper provides an overview of the
fiscal problems faced by five urban agglomerations in India,
namely, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai, and Pune. It
analyzes the fiscal health of the five urban agglomerations,
quantifies their revenue capacities and expenditure needs,
and draws policy recommendations on the means to reduce the
gaps between revenue raising capacities and expenditure
needs. The main findings suggest that, except for five small

This study on Bangladesh Dhaka-improving
living conditions for the urban poor reflects a
comprehensive look at poverty in Dhaka with an aim to
provide the basis for an urban poverty reduction strategy
for the Government of Bangladesh, local authorities, donors,
and NGOs. While the needs in Dhaka are enormous, this study
focuses on analyzing those critical for the poor -
understanding the characteristics and dynamics of poverty,