Safe emptying and disposal of fecal sludge from pit latrines in rural areas has become a priority for the Government of Bangladesh. In this paper, we calculate the volume and characterize the hazards of managing sludge to identify technologies for safely emptying rural single pits. In Bhaluka subdistrict, an estimated 15,000 m3 of sludge is produced annually. Physical, chemical, and microbial analysis of samples of sludge taken from pit latrines indicate that the sludge has a high moisture content of around 90%, a C:N ration of 10:1, and a helminth presence of 41 eggs/g.

Financial cooperatives and microfinance institutions (MFIs) are the two major sources of rural finance in Ethiopia. Whereas MFIs are relatively new, financial cooperatives have existed for centuries in various forms. The coexistence of two different institutions serving the same group of people, and delivering the same financial services, raises several policy questions. Those questions have become particularly relevant, as the government has embarked on developing a new strategy for improving rural financial services delivery.

This paper focuses on the application of the concept of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in Tanzania. It asks: how did IWRM affect the rural and fast-growing majority of smallholder farmers' access to water which contributes directly to poverty alleviation and employment creation in a country where poverty and joblessness are high?

The field for application of biomass is rising. The demand for food and feeding stuff rises while at the same time energy, chemicals and other materials also need to be produced from biomass because of decreasing fossil resources. However, the biorefinery ideas and concepts can help to use the limited renewable raw materials more efficiently than today. With biorefineries, valuable products, such as platform chemicals, can be produced from agricultural feedstock, which can subsequently be further processed into a variety of substances by the chemical industry.

A chapter from the Guide that explains the Valuation activity, designed to build awareness of the value of common lands and natural resources and increase community motivation to complete the community land protection process.

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The Committee received a presentation of the evaluation report on the implementation of the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme (CRDP) by the Department of Perfomance, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME). The National Evaluation Plan (NEP) containing 52 evaluations that cut across government had been approved by Cabinet in 2012/13. There were eight evaluations in the rural development sector and the CRDP was one of the key programmes implemented since 2009.

The preservation, development and sustainable use of agricultural land are of vital importance to ensure longterm food security in South Africa. These principles of food security as well as an integrated, inclusive rural economy underpin the core focus areas of the National Development Plan, Vision 2030 (NDP).

The Committee was briefed by the Financial and Fiscal Commission (FFC) on the expenditure trends and performance of the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR) and its entities for 2014/15 and the first quarter of the 2015/16 financial year.

O caminho percorrido para que as questões do género e do desenvolvimento e em especial a sua interligação sejam assuntos importantes e alvo de atenção tanto académica como política, foi longo. Várias áreas do conhecimento, como a sociologia, a antropologia e a economia, contribuem para a construção do conhecimento neste domínio, a par de outras mais recentes como os estudos feministas e os estudos póscoloniais. Como resultado, as teorias e os conceitos sobre a relação das mulheres com o desenvolvimento e os efeitos deste sobre as mulheres têm sido vários.

Includes recent political and policy developments, research findings and conclusions, a wider national picture, changing the discourse, a challenge to the private sector, South Africa faces a choice. Argues that South Africa’s current land reform model is largely informed by an outmoded vision of the role of agriculture and the rural areas in South African society, so is overloaded with expectations it cannot fulfil. Land reform is now predominantly an urban challenge.