The goal of Poverty Reduction Support Credits (PRSCs), introduced in early 2001 under World Bank Interim guidelines, was to help countries implement comprehensive, country-owned development strategies to promote growth, improve social conditions, and reduce poverty. PRSCs were intended to ease...

The current global financial and economic crises are likely to put enormous pressure on governments to respond with immediate measures and to undertake far-reaching reforms in the medium term, requiring a substantial increase in donor support. To protect the poor and enhance benefits to them,...

This evaluation aims to inform the implementation of the most recent the World Bank and International Finance Corporation (IFC) health, nutrition, and population (HNP) strategies to enhance the effectiveness of future support. It covers the period since fiscal year 1997 and is based on desk...

Irrigation has made a major contribution to poverty reduction in the past decades, enabling higher yields and better nutrition. Despite these achievements, large-scale irrigation schemes have usually yielded low returns and attracted negative publicity because of their adverse environmental and...

The World Bank Group in 2013 made the elimination of extreme poverty by 2030 a central institutional focus and purpose. This evaluation examines how, and how well, the Bank Group has focused its support on poverty reduction over the past decade, and what lessons to draw from this moving forward....

Insufficient intake or absorption of nutrients results in undernutrition in children and negatively affects their health, physical growth, and cognitive development. These and other nutrition outcomes are affected by immediate determinants that include caregiving practices, dietary intake or...

Growth is good for the poor, but the impact of growth on poverty reduction depends on both the pace and the pattern of growth. A pattern of growth that enhances the ability of poor women and men to participate in, contribute to, and benefit from growth should not come at the expense of a slower...

The World Bank's Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) assess the conduciveness of a country's policy and institutional framework to poverty reduction, sustainable growth, and the effective use of development assistance. The CPIA enters the calculation of country performance ratings...