Over the last decade, information and communication technologies (ICT) have been increasingly used to achieve development goals. Developing countries, including poorer ones, have enjoyed rapid technological progress to help pull millions of people out of poverty. ICTs help transform economic and...

"The report is essential reading for policy makers, government workers, and academics pursuing the goal of equitable, sustainable development across the world."- N. R. Narayana Murthy, Chairman and Chief MentorInfosys Technologies Ltd. Information and communication technology (ICT) is rapidly...

With some six billion mobile subscriptions now in use worldwide, around three-quarters of the world's inhabitants now have access to a mobile phone. Mobiles are arguably the most ubiquitous modern technology - in some developing countries, more people have access to a mobile phone than to clean...

Development economics and policy are due for a redesign. In the past few decades, research from across the natural and social sciences has provided stunning insight into the way people think and make decisions. Whereas the first generation of development policy was based on the assumption that...

Intro -- Contents -- Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations and Data Notes -- Main Messages -- Overview: Changing the Climate for Development -- The case for action -- A climate-smart world is within reach if we act now, act together, and act differently -- Making it happen: New pressures,...

The majority of the world's poor depend directly or indirectly on agriculture. Despite the strong linkages between broad-based agricultural growth and poverty reduction, international support to agriculture sharply declined from the late 1980s. The need to raise agriculture's prominence in the...

Increase growth, however, brings increased risk, and aquaculture now lies at a crossroads. One direction points toward the giant strides in productivity, industry concentration, and product diversification. Another direction points toward the dangers of environmental degradation and the...

This evaluation assesses the effectiveness of the World Bank?s 2001 gender strategy and the results thereof. Covering the period fiscal 2002-08, the evaluation finds that the Bank made progress in gender integration compared with an earlier IEG evaluation on gender covering the period fiscal...

This study from the Independent Evaluation Group draws lessons for development and climate change mitigation from the World Bank Group's far-reaching portfolio of projects in energy, forestry, transport, coal power, and technology transfer. Reviewing what has worked, what hasn?t, and why, the...

Toward Gender Equality in East Asia and the Pacific examines the relationship between gender equality and development and outlines an agenda for public action to promote more effective and inclusive development in East Asian and Pacific countries. Written as a companion to the World Development...