"Come and Hope with Me!" This was the rallying call by South African Mongane Serote to draw the world's attention to the battle fought by his people against Apartheid. It is in this spirit that we invite readers to explore this special edition of Policy in Focus. This issue is dedicated to the...

This assessment aims to understand how Afghanistan's demographic context, household characteristics and poverty are linked to vulnerability. Aware that more research must be done to establish causal relationships between these factors, the study suggests a direction in which to look further to...

Few things are as important for development as the availability of data and unfettered access. Without data there can be no needs assessment. It will scarcely be possible to design effective policies or to implement, monitor and evaluate them. Data are not important only for governments....

.

Despite the recovery of economic growth in Latin America during the 1990s, rising unemployment, high informality rates and sluggish wages lie at the root of high inequality and poverty. This paper looks at changes in hourly earnings from the early 1990s to the early 2000s in three relatively...

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are global, in the sense that they are to be reached by the whole world, not by countries individually. True commitment to MDGs has led many to ask the questions: will my country reach all or some of the MDG targets by 2015? Are we on track? (...)

Among the many social groups that have been historically excluded, indigenous people comprise one that offers great challenges to development. Although their assimilation has been a goal of the national societies that engulfed them, it is disputable whether indigenous people desire the type of...

There is growing consensus that the tools and knowledge exist to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by 2030. To reach this goal, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has established the 90-90-90 strategy, which aims to ensure that by 2020, 90 per cent of...

Over the last two decades, the number of social assistance programmes has increased across South Asia, as changes in government policies and unprecedented economic growth have led to greater domestic attention to poverty alleviation and social exclusion. This report provides a critical review of...