This report examines the role of infrastructure in explaining why the region lags so far behind the rest of the country. More importantly, it looks at how improved infrastructure may help the region catch up. Infrastructure is examined here through its impact on social as well as economic...

The 2014-2015 Romania Regional Development 2 Program is the continuation of the World Bank's technical assistance to the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration (MRDPA). Building on the previous engagement, the current work addresses a fundamental question: given Romania's...

Mozambique's economy has experienced strong growth over the last two decades, with GDP expanding at an annual average rate of 7.2 percent. However, this growth has been unequally shared and rural areas still lag far behind urban centers in both monetary and non-monetary dimensions of wellbeing....

The rural economy in Bangladesh has been a powerful source of economic growth and has substantially reduced poverty, especially since 2000, but the remarkable transformation and unprecedented dynamism in rural Bangladesh are an underexplored, underappreciated, and largely untold story. The...

Transport connectivity is an essential part of the enabling environment for inclusive and sustained growth. In many developing countries, particularly in Africa, the vast majority of farmers are still disconnected from local, regional, and global markets. To reduce poverty and support inclusive...

'Integrating Nutrition Promotion and Rural Development' (INPARD) is a multisectoral approach to delivering nutrition-related interventions in rural development programmes in Sri Lanka. Although multisectoral approaches to health promotion are widely recommended, barriers to collaboration across...

The purpose of this diagnostic report is to establish an analytical basis for defining strategic priorities in agriculture and rural development in Croatia, as the country prepares its National Agriculture and Rural Development Strategy and formulates its Strategic Plan for the European Union's...

Transport connectivity is an essential part of the enabling environment for inclusive and sustained growth. In many developing countries, particularly in Africa, most people are still not connected to local, regional, or global markets. Such rural accessibility is crucial to reduce poverty and...

As 2019 drew to a close, a year when Mozambique faced devastation caused by two severe cyclones, the country looks ahead having made significant progress in terms of economic stability, having strengthened its external buffers and having improved its fiscal position. The metical has been broadly...