'In agreement with Zed Books earlier publications in the series are granted open access status. CROP is happy to present Best Practices in Poverty Reduction - An Analytical Framework, edited by Else Øyen et al. The book is the first attempt to take the concept of best practice out of its highly politicized and applied context, and to treat it as a scientific tool that can seriously add to the toolbox needed for improved comprehension of the many failures in poverty reduction'.

'The PEP Network promotes the monitoring and meas-
urement of poverty in its multiple dimensions. The causes
and consequences of poverty are also analyzed in order to
provide an empirical basis for policy makers to design and
implement appropriate policies to combat poverty. For a
more thorough analysis, the PEP Network supports research
on the impact of past policies and those considered for the
future. PEP researchers expand the frontiers of knowled more...

'The World Bank's Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) is releasing the report 'Environment Sustainability: An evaluation of World Bank Support,' which looks at the WBG's support for public and private sector clients with regard to environmental sustainability during the past decade and a half. '

'The IEG report finds that the development results of IFC-supported private sector operations in developing countries improved in the last three years, driven by better performance in two regions with a large share of IFC operations: Latin America and Europe and Central Asia. However, project performance stagnated in Africa, Asia and the Middle East – where IFC is growing fastest, and where sound IFC work quality and portfolio risk management will be crucial for better results going forward.'
more...

'The interest of the international development community in ‘Pro-Poor Growth’ appears to have waned.1 This Development
Viewpoint examines the pros and cons of adopting its most popular replacement, ‘inclusive growth’.
A ‘pro-poor’ approach did have the advantage of focus: concentrating on the most deprived. Judging progress involved attaching greater weight to the advance of the poor (e.g., “the
incomes of the poor grew faster than those of the non-poor”).
But what about the more...

'A mid-term assessment of where the world stands on its commitment to provide basic education for all children, youth and adults by 2015.
What education policies and programmes have been successful? What are the main challenges? How much aid is needed? Is aid being properly targeted?'

"There is growing political and financial commitment to strengthening health systems, both to achieve the goals of targeted disease programmes and to contribute towards wider achievement of the health Millennium Development Goals. But financial support needs to go hand in hand with strengthening country capacity at national and local levels. This paper discusses some of the approaches to technical support taken so far, and looks at problems and possible solutions. By doing so, it hopes to stimul more...

"Along the second half of 2007, the Ministry
of Social Development and Fight against
Hunger took part in three technical missions
to Ghana to give assistance to the newest
and most significant Social Protection
Programme in this African country: the
Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP).
Ghana designed its National Social
Protection Strategy focusing on LEAP, which
is based on the Growth and Poverty
Reduction Strategy II (GPRS II) of the country."
International Poverty Center more...

"Call for Cases
WBI is looking for examples of discrete capacity-building interventions that helped leaders or leadership teams to initiate or manage major change initiatives that delivered concrete development results (e.g. Rapid Results Initiatives and Transformational Leadership Projects). This research is a key part of its effort to document and understand the role of leadership in development and thus provide better support to leaders.2

"In 1961, the United States Department of Agriculture published an Economy Food Plan carefully designed “as a nutritionally
adequate diet for short-term or emergency use” for poor people.
This diet was updated and later re-branded as the Thrifty Food Plan. The lowest cost stated for this minimal diet was $80.40 per person per month in 1999.
The relevant equivalent of the World Bank’s $1 a day poverty line is $37.75 per person per month in 1999, and $49 today.
This is clearly not enoug more...