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Abstract: This study reviews the post‐2005 national development strategies of 50 countries from diverse income groups, geographical locations, human development tiers and official development assistance (ODA) levels to assess Millennium Development Goal (MDG) absorption into development planning. Reviewing Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) and non‐PRSP national strategies, the majority of the development plans have either adopted the MDGs as planning tools or ‘localized’ them in a meaningful way, using diverse adaptation strategies. A high correlation is detected between the income group, PRSP status and ODA reliance of countries, and their propensity to incorporate MDGs in their planning instruments. However, MDG alignment is not coterminous with greater pro‐poor or MDG‐oriented policies. Countries that have not integrated MDGs into their national plans were as likely to allocate government funds to social sectors as MDG aligners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This article tries to clarify Government behaviours as to how to manage aid in Tanzania. Contrary to the Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC) donor intentions, the development aid structure, carefully constructed under the poverty reduction regime in Tanzania, has led to Tanzanian‐owned initiatives toward a national development plan (NDP). Furthermore, this article shows that, in the process of creating an international development aid system, the Tanzanian Government has learned to manage aid in a recipient‐driven manner not only from DAC donors, but also from China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large investments in road infrastructure continue to be high on the agenda of many African countries, only a few of which have actually amended their investment strategy. In many cases, there seems to be a preference for a status quo that can easily be explained by political-economy factors driving policies in the sector. After presenting data on the state of roads in sub-Saharan Africa (length, density, condition), this article demonstrates how most countries' transport strategies are based on certain misperceptions and recommends better prioritisation of investments, better procurement and contract management, better projects implementation and better monitoring to improve the developmental impact of recent road investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2003 Nigeria's economic growth has been consistently above 6% and has been driven by non-oil sectors. This article attempts to assess the contribution of the 2005 debt-relief agreement to this higher growth. The agreement eliminated Nigeria's US$30 billion debt to Paris Club creditors who cancelled US$18 bn, while Nigeria paid back US$12 bn. The article traces the three possible impact channels of debt relief, namely, the flow (reduced debt service), the stock (removal of debt overhang) and the conditionality channel, and comes to the conclusion that the debt-relief agreement played a key role in the country's improved economic performance, in particular through successful conditionality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dominant view in academic and policy arenas is increasingly one in which the major contribution of capture fisheries to development should be derived from the capacity of society to maximise the economic rent of fishery resources. Drawing upon empirical experience from the South, this article highlights the potentially disastrous consequences that a universal implementation of the rent-maximisation model would have in developing countries, and argues that a more gradual approach would be preferable. The welfare function of small-scale fisheries, namely, their capacities to provide labour and cash income to resource-poor households, should be preserved until the appropriate macroeconomic conditions for rent-maximisation and redistribution are fulfilled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After five decades of rapid expansion of microfinance worldwide, little is known about its aggregate effects and whether the "microfinance promise" of poverty reduction holds at the macro level. Challenging questions have arisen. Here we explore the dynamic response of microfinance on economic growth, financial deepening and income inequality. Countries are grouped into three broad clusters (stable, moderate and poor) based on macro‐institutional variables. Our results show that microfinance has a significant long‐term ability to affect the broader economy. However, the impact and dynamics of microfinance differ substantially across macro‐institutional environments. It grows in weaker environments, reaches its peak in developing economies, and then gradually "dies out" in more stable economies. While there is evidence of a positive impact of microfinance at the aggregate level, the response is different depending on whether countries are poor, moderately developed or economically stable. Once countries climb up the macro‐institutional "ladder," microfinance can take a different shape and its relationship with other macroeconomic fundamentals can change. Our results indicate that microfinance has the strongest effect when the external environment is supportive and proactive; in weak environments, microfinance cannot grow sufficiently. Therefore, more attention should be given to supporting the socioeconomic dimensions of economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research into migration in Bangladesh has highlighted that people migrate for better livelihoods, not necessarily in response to climatic stresses and shocks. If facilitated appropriately, internal and international migration can help build adaptive capacity to future environmental and climatic hazards. In this framing, migration happens in the context of a growing city-centred economy that promotes remittances to villages. However, a textual analysis of current and recent policies concerning climate change, development and poverty alleviation, and disaster management shows that the economic and adaptive roles of internal migration are often not included in policy framing. We argue that if migration works as a positive step towards adaptation, then the key challenge is to align the policies with this new understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Of the myriad approaches to reducing poverty, which have proved effective on a national scale? This article analyses 15 systematically selected national cases of demonstrated rapid poverty reduction, seeking insights into effective approaches to reducing poverty. From these 15 economies, in which the bottom quintile experienced an annual increase in income of at least 6% over at least a decade, emerge four poverty-reduction pathways: (1) industrialisation, (2) rural development, (3) social welfare and (4) petroleum-generated employment. In addition to helping us understand what policy approaches have actually helped reduce poverty, this article has implications for the understanding of economic growth, the impact of pro-growth policies, the relationship between state and market, and the roles of non-government organisations ( NGOs) and civil society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employment in Household Enterprises (HEs) has been an integral part of the recent economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Yet employment and development strategies tend to exclude the sector, despite the fact that households with HEs tend to be richer. A good example is Mozambique, where 34% of households rely on income from this source. Analysis of household livelihoods using panel data shows that starting HEs is associated with upward wealth mobility and poverty reduction, particularly for rural and poorly-educated households. Targeted programmes directed towards the constraints to HE creation, survival and income growth would be likely to enhance the effectiveness of employment and poverty reduction strategies in Mozambique as well as in other low income countries in SSA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although there is much empirical evidence of the importance of agricultureled economic growth, there is a renewed emphasis in development circles on the industrial sector as the main driver of growth, even for the low-income countries of sub-Saharan Africa. This article applies a simplified model of agricultural growth linkages to illustrate the importance of agricultural growth for increasing employment and accelerating poverty reduction in Ethiopia. Achieving rapid agricultural growth, however, will require the engagement of small commercial farmers, large enough to adopt new technologies and produce significant marketed surpluses, but small and numerous enough to have spending patterns that drive a large, vibrant rural non-farm sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Very little is known about the wider and longer-term contribution of civil-society organisations to development and poverty reduction. Evaluators have shied away from making judgements for lack of data: rigour has trumped relevance. This article reports on the work of a panel set up by NORAD in response to growing pressure from the public to assess the wider impact of CSOs at the country level. It comes to the conclusion that CSOs have made a significant wider impact, but that this would be greater if donors were to encourage them more to think beyond the narrow focus on discrete projects and if they were to adopt a more strategic approach to their work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to analyse in depth the interactions of growth and poverty in Syria, which undertook reforms to reduce the government's involvement in the economy. During the 1996-2004 period, growth was pro-poor in 'weak absolute' terms but not in either relative or 'strong absolute' terms, owing to the increase in inequality. This can be explained partly by tax policies, but also by an unequal distribution of investment at the regional level. There was also a widening of the gap between urban and rural areas, mainly owing to a pattern of growth in which oil played an increasing role and agriculture a decreasing one. Agricultural and land-policy reforms could have had a negative impact on poverty, despite their positive effect on productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are unlikely to be achieved by 2015, owing to conceptual flaws in their design as well as the structural and political constraints faced during implementation at the country level. While criticism of the MDGs is widespread, innovative ideas on addressing these operational challenges are still scanty. By reviewing a number of experiences, including those of the Foundation for the Promotion of Local Development (PRODEL) in Nicaragua and the Ministry of Cities in Brazil, this article highlights the importance of incorporating an asset-accumulation perspective into MDG-related policies and programmes as a way of generating an enabling environment that opens up new opportunities for poverty reduction in the cities of low- and middle-low-income countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Tracking Development project aims to explain the divergences in development outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia over the past fifty years through the pair-wise comparison of four countries in each region. The development trajectories in South-East Asia revealed that the transition to sustained growth has consistently been associated with policies aimed at (i) macroeconomic stabilisation; (ii) improving life in the rural sector, increasing agricultural productivity and ensuring an ample supply of food; and (iii) liberalising the economy and creating conditions of economic freedom, particularly for peasant farmers and other small actors. In Africa, initiatives in these directions have been taken in some instances, but the simultaneous pursuit of all three policy objectives has not occurred. Most noticeably, policies aimed at macroeconomic stabilisation were pursued in both regions, but whereas in South-East Asia these were associated with policies leading to poverty reduction, this was not the case in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an influential view that South-East Asia's economic success is based on export-oriented industrialisation, and that African states should above all imitate this aspect of Asian development strategy. This article, however, uses evidence from Indonesia, Nigeria, Malaysia and Kenya to argue: (i) that the historical roots of South-East Asian economic success actually lie in pro-poor agricultural and rural development; (ii) that even when it has been pro-rural, as in the case of Kenya, African development strategy has not been pro-poor; and (iii) that pro-poor agricultural development, not export-oriented industrialisation, should be the first priority of African states seeking to achieve sustained growth and poverty reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how developing countries can use, and enlarge, existing policy space, without opting out of international commitments. It argues that: (i) a meaningful context for policy space must extend beyond trade policy and include macroeconomic and exchange-rate policies that will achieve developmental goals more effectively; (ii) policy space depends not only on international rules but also on the impact of international market conditions and policy decisions taken in other countries on the effectiveness of national policy instruments; and (iii) international integration affects policy space through several factors that pull in opposite directions; whether it increases or reduces policy space differs by country and type of integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews the arguments for promoting private investment in infrastructure as a basis for poverty reduction in developing countries. It describes the experience leading to the development of international ‘facilities’ intended to address impediments to private investment. It then explores three ‘levels’ of literature: that of the facilities themselves, of donor organisations, and of academic authors. At each, it investigates the rationale and causal pathways leading from support for private investment to pro-poor outcomes. It finds there is a possible but not necessary association between private investment, economic growth and poverty reduction, but the causal chain is poorly understood. It proposes the development of such a causal framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that the most efficient way of developing Bangladesh is to encourage more emigration. This argument is made in three steps: (i) proposing that 10% of the population be encouraged to emigrate to member states in the Bangladeshi Aid Consortium; (ii) outlining the anticipated costs; and (iii) describing the anticipated gains, which in the light of any feasible alternative, and when contrasted with the relatively meagre costs, are phenomenal and encouraging. By providing individual Bangladeshis with such an opportunity the hopes of the millions remaining behind are strengthened. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]