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Small Egypt Farmers Catch the Eye of Agribusiness: IFAD Finds Key to Success
Twenty-odd years ago, groups of dispossessed farmers and unemployed youth were resettled on smallholdings in Upper Egypt. Authorities told the new arrivals to go till the desert soil. Plots – sandboxes really – of one to two hectares were duly
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Christopher Colford, World Bank: Competitive Cities Can Meet the Challenge of Job Creation
Focusing policies on competitive industries can provide jobs for the impoverished, hungry, restive urban millions As magnets for talent and crucibles of creativity, dynamic cities are the pacesetters for innovation in this era of relentless global competition. Vibrant metropolitan regions
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The Limitless Power of Latin America: Renewables to Light Up a Continent
In Latin America, renewable energy can supply up to 22 times the region’s power needs, even taking into consideration future growth. Wind, solar, geothermal, biomass and ocean energy sources can generate up to 80 pWh (petaWatt-hour*) of electricity while by
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Uttar Pradesh, India: Water Management Key to Reducing Poverty
For good governance to fully contribute to and enable sustainable development, it needs an institutional framework through which sensible policies may be applied. This may be one of the areas in which India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, faces some
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IFC – International Finance Corporation: Eliminating Poverty, One Loan at a Time
The famed Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto has said it all along: The world’s destitute are oftentimes somewhat less poor than they think. It’s just that untold millions are toiling away in the informal economy and as such remain under
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Bangladesh: Steadily Moving Up without Beating the Drum
Skipping the usual ado and almost silently, Bangladesh is moving up the ladder and surpassing its local peers in a number of key areas such as health and education. During the past decade, the country has managed to greatly improve
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The Equator Principles: Banking on Sustainability
Financial institutions worldwide are increasingly benchmarking their larger investment projects to the Equator Principles of social and environmental risk assessment. A third and more comprehensive edition of these guiding principles has now been drawn up and is being used by
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Revamping the Gezira Scheme: Sudan Seeks Food Security with Rice
A single grain of rice can tip the scale. It may also contribute to the realisation of food security in Sudan where, according to UN estimates, up to 12% of the population may need some form of nutritional assistance. Rice
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Shareholder Value: Outdated and an Obstacle to Corporate Success
The pursuit of increased shareholder value is much overrated, may hurt corporations and is certainly not the legal requirement some CEOs hold it to be. In her book The Shareholder Value Myth, legal scholar Lynn Stout of the Clarke Law
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Otaviano Canuto, World Bank Group: China, Brazil – Two Tales of a Growth Slowdown
China and Brazil are both facing a growth slowdown, as compared to the period prior to the global financial crisis. They were both able to respond with aggressive anti-cyclical policies to the post-Lehman quasi-collapse of the global economy. In both
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