Due in part to 40 years of cyclical violence, economic growth in Burundi has remained well below the sub-Saharan Africa average, and Burundi is now the third poorest country in the world. The status quo is unacceptable, and it is essential that the Government drive the changes needed to achieve...

Burundi is still experiencing a major food crisis. One important element that will help to avoid new episodes of violence is revised agricultural policies that support sustainable food security. Food crops and livestock supply 91 percent of agricultural GDP and the major livelihood for most...

This paper provides comparable estimates of poverty in Senegal from 1994 to 20076 using household surveys (ESAM I, ESAM II, and ESPS). Nationally, the share of the population in poverty was reduced from 67.9% in 1994/95 to 57.1% in 2001/02, and finally 50.8% in 2005/06. Poverty was reduced more...

This paper provides a profile and an analysis of the correlates of poverty in the Republic of Congo using a 2005 household survey. Poverty affects more than half of the population, especially in peri-urban and rural areas. Perceptions of poverty as well as the correlates of poverty are also...

This paper analyzes the trend in, and determinants of poverty in Mali from 2001 and 2006. Thanks to strong economic growth, poverty has been reduced. Yet due to demographic growth, the number of the poor is still increasing. Households working in agriculture, especially in the cotton producing...

This paper provides a review of part of the literature on inequality and social welfare, with a special focus on the Gini index. The paper first presents the extended Gini index used for measuring inequality, as well as the source decomposition of the Gini used to analyze how changes in income...

This chapter offers a primer on poverty, inequality, and vulnerability analysis and a guide to resources on this topic. It is written for decision makers who want to define the type of information they need to monitor poverty reduction and make appropriate policy decisions and for the technical...

This paper presents some analytical techniques to help policymakers gauge the technical and fiscal feasibility of development targets. While each of the techniques discussed below has deficiencies, taken together they have proven very useful in providing a sense of realism to target setting. The...

This article assesses the importance of risk in the measurement of rural poverty in Burkina Faso. The analysis is based on longitudinal data collected as part of monitoring and evaluation activities for the PNGT-2 project on community development in the country. The first part of the study is...