In October 2008 the United States Congress enacted legislation that gave the Republic of Haiti expanded, flexible access to the U.S. market for its apparel exports. The Second Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement act of 2008 (HOPE II, updated from the original...

Commitment to structural reforms and to economic stabilization has enabled high rates of gross domestic product (GDP) growth in Albania since the start of transition, and consequent reductions in poverty. The crisis caused by the collapse of 'pyramid' investment schemes in late 1996 and early...

This report describes labor practices in the Lao garments export sector as seen by both management and labor. The main objective of this report is to present the differing perspectives on working conditions between managers and workers, and to explore ways in which the Lao garment sector could...

The World Bank began a three-year pilot initiative to develop a framework for enhancing development benefits to local communities in hydropower projects. There has been a wide array of approaches in the past two decades that all have in common the objective of designing and implementing means...

This study examines the gender profile of the Russian Federation through a comprehensive review of the current literature (1248 publications on gender issues throughout the transition decade) on the conditions of women and men and on the gender disparities in a number of indicators. The report...

National systems for environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) are designed to improve the environmental and social performance of projects and support countries' sustainable development strategies. The objectives of this Literature Review are to identify trends, findings and gaps in...

"Madagascar's textile and apparel industry has been among the fastest growing in Sub-Saharan Africa. Fueled by low labor costs, a fairly productive labor force, and preferential access to industrial countries, Madagascar's exports of textile and apparel products grew from about US