This publication discusses the challenges faced in accelerating access to improved water and sanitation services beyond the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets. It examines the private sector provision of piped water services and on-site sanitation services in rural areas and small towns,...

Water in the Middle East and North Africa region already causes major social and economic problems, resulting from insufficient supply, unreliable services and environmental damage. Per capita availability will fall by half by 2050, water quality is deteriorating, many aquifers are on the verge...

1. Water challenge : an institutional diagnosis -- 2. Understanding institutions : nature, performance, and change -- 3. Existing literature : approaches, attempts, and limitations -- 4. Evaluating institutional linkages : towards an alternative methodology -- 5. Analytical framework and...

This paper develops a number of approaches to power sector planning that respond to the uncertainties that Afghanistan faces. It aims to provide an alternative to the "predict then act" approach to planning, which will allow more robust decision making. The paper is divided into two parts: the...

Regulating infrastructure utilities can be extremely complex and fraught with risks of political interference and capture by interest groups, especially in countries with little tradition of politically independent government agencies. To deal with these challenges, policymakers and regulators...

The overview of the Global Economic Prospects (GEP) 2004 addresses the Doha Agenda and its effects or failures on global trade integration. The document contains commentary and analysis of international trade and its effects on developing countries and the poor populations of more developed...