. A growing recognition of the need to delimit the role of the government, to promote the market framework, and to rely on the private sector as the engine of growth, offers the prospect of a new beginning in rural development in Africa. . Rural people must take a more dominant role, both in...

OECD countries face at least five major challenges for promoting policies that are consistent with their development goals: . ensuring security and political stability; . anticipating the impacts of their macroeconomic policies on developing-country growth; . increasing both market access and...

The Millennium Development Goals, the aid effectiveness agenda, and global interdependence have contributed to more demand and a sense of urgency for greater public awareness and learning about these promises, and challenges, in OECD countries. Donors and practitioners could make greater use of...

Aid and trade policies – in OECD countries and in developing countries – might reinforce each other to promote development, or they might be substitutes: the sign of the correlation between trade and aid flows depends on the context. East Asia’s rapid growth demonstrates the important...

. The poor are the principal beneficiaries of universal access to social services. . Instead of thinking in terms of supply, we need to meet the demand for services from the poor. . Policies should be judged by their outcomes rather than by the amount of resources employed. . Coherent, long-term...

• Many micro-enterprises are known to the authorities, in particular because they pay taxes. • Intermediate-revenue countries impose certain standards to protect consumers. • Wages regulations are only rarely respected. • The creation and development of micro-enterprises could be...

• Sound national systems of corporate governance are essential for all countries, including the poorest, to reap the benefits of globalisation. • “Corporate governance” comprises the institutions that govern the relationship between people who manage corporations and all others who...

. Deeply rooted social institutions – societal norms, codes of conduct, laws and tradition – cause gender discrimination. . Religion per se does not systematically define such discrimination. All dominant religions show flexibility in interpreting the role of women in society. . The...

Poor countries are and will remain for some time vulnerable to external shocks, whether to export prices or from natural disasters. The lowest-income countries have a higher incidence of shocks than other developing countries and tend to suffer larger damages when shocks occur. For the poorest...