Seasonal hunger induced by agricultural seasonality is often a characteristic feature of rural poverty. The evidence of seasonal distress in many agrarian societies can be found in the narratives of economic historians. With agricultural diversification made possible through technological...

Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in raising living standards and reducing poverty, particularly in previously lagging regions. Rapid solar home system (SHS) expansion in Bangladesh to some 3 million rural households by early 2014 has drawn the attention of donors and governments of other...

This book reviews quantitative methods and models of impact evaluation. The formal literature on impact evaluation methods and practices is large, with a few useful overviews. Yet there is a need to put the theory into practice in a hands-on fashion for practitioners. This book also details...

The handbook on poverty and inequality provides tools to measure, describe, monitor, evaluate, and analyze poverty. It provides background materials for designing poverty reduction strategies. This book is intended for researchers and policy analysts involved in poverty research and policy...

Bangladesh is one of the world's poorest countries. Nearly 80 percent of the nation's 140 million people reside in rural areas; of these, 20 percent live in extreme poverty. Geographically, many low-lying areas are vulnerable to severe flooding, while other regions are prone to drought, erosion,...

From its creation in the 1990s, the Chilean monitoring and evaluation (M and E) system has represented a substantial part of the effort to improve the use of Chile's public resources within a broader context of multiple initiatives designed to modernize and improve public management in many...

Events of the past decade have underscored the vital need for social safety net (SSN) programs in all countries, especially in times of crisis. Many countries have some form of targeted SSN program, especially in high- and middle-income countries, but SSNs are increasingly spreading to the...

A series of global initiatives have been launched over the last decade by the international community to accelerate progress toward meeting the Millennium Development Goals. These initiatives entailed commitments to provide more aid and efforts to strengthen aid effectiveness. They culminated in...

The way countries finance health care influences how well a health system performs and achieves its expected outcomes, including how equitable and efficient it is. Countries decide how to mobilize revenues from different sources for financing health care, how to pool revenues in public and...