The main objective of this report is to evaluate World Bank lending for small enterprises between FY89 and FY93, including both small and medium enterprises and microenterprises. There has been a marked shift in the Bank's work in this area, and this review details the nature and content of this...

This is a comparative study of the legal framework for water users' associations (WUAs) in six countries, namely, Colombia, India, Mexico, Nepal, the Philippines and Turkey. The study postulates that, since water is becoming an increasingly scarce resource and irrigation is the single largest...

This paper summarizes the World Bank assistance strategy for rural development in the ECA region. The rural sector includes the people; economic; development activities; institutional, economic, and social infrastructure; and natural resources in rural areas and is thus not confined to agriculture....

Conserving biodiversity faces complex problems when the natural resources from the land also provide income and substance to its local inhabitants. Finding a balance between biodiversity conservation and the socio-economic development of a community near protected areas is the goal of integrated...

This volume is based on a review of the evolving groundwater situation during the 1990s in a substantial number of developing nations. It aims to raise awareness of the key linkages between groundwater and rural development and to identify appropriate technical and institutional approaches for...

Russia's educational system, with broad access, and high levels of scholarly achievement, has long been a source of strength. The Soviet system, however, was grossly overcentralized, inefficient, and lacking in accountability. In the last decade, attempted rapid decentralization has not been...

Government and the private sector have complementary roles in promoting development and in fighting poverty.