Today, one of the central tenets of development is the necessity for learning about and building upon stakeholders' and beneficiaries' insights, needs, culture, social organization, resources and active participation. This publication clarifies the myriad approaches to social research being used...

This volume presents a framework designed to help international development partners consider the relevance of political economy issues for their programmatic support to decentralization and local government reform. The intention is neither to advocate decentralization in general or in any...

This report describes how tertiary education contributes to building up a country's capacity for participation in an increasingly knowledge-based world economy and investigates policy options for tertiary education that have the potential to enhance economic growth and reduce poverty. It...

This review of the active portfolio of World Bank projects aimed at improving urban environmental quality was carried out during 2002-03 in order to assess the level of commitment of the institution to urban sustainability. The review focuses on the contributions of key sectors to urban...

Research in recent years on aid effectiveness shows that significant obstacles in fragile states - insecurity, poor governance and weak implementation capacity - usually prevent aid from achieving the desired results in these environments. This study investigates the attributes and effectiveness...

Too Global to Fail: The World Bank at the Intersection of National and Global Public Policy in 2025 analyzes the issue of global public goods, particularly those related to the environment, in the context of the global development process. Long-term sustainability of development is at stake, as...

The term "development finance institutions" (DFI) encompasses no only government development banks, but also nongovernmental micro-finance organizations, that match grants to attempt to promote community development, decentralization of power, and local empowerment. Measures of the social cost...

Front Cover -- Contents -- Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- About the Editors and Contributors -- Executive Summary -- Abbreviations -- Chapter 1 Overview -- Key Findings -- Policy Directions -- Organization of the Study -- Summary of Results, by Country -- Annex 1A: Relevant Literature on...