The Poverty Reduction Support Credit (PRSC) is the World Bank's quick disbursing lending instrument for supporting the poverty reduction efforts of an eligible borrower country. Two annual PRSCs were approved...
Nike started its commercial venture in Vietnam in 1995 and made a significant contribution to the country's economy during the late 1990s. However, violations of the labor code at Nike's Vietnamese contract...
In 1995 the World Bank and the Government of Brazil (GoB) jointly initiated the Rural Poverty Alleviation Program (RPAP) in an attempt to reduce the poverty levels in the northeast region of Brazil. The...
SEWA is the acronym for the Self-Employed Women's Association, based in Ahmedabad, India. In Hindi (an Indian language), sewa means 'service.' The association, working as a cooperative union, holds the...
The Russian coal sector was in need of reforms after beginning its transition from a planned economy in 1991. In 1996 and 2000, the World Bank provided two sector adjustment loans, or SECALs, for socially...
In the last five decades of its existence, the Blind People's Association (BPA) at Ahmedabad, India, has emerged as an internationally renowned voluntary organization for the blind and people with other...
The World Bank aided Kecamatan Development Project (KDP) is a community-based project, initiated by the Government of Indonesia, to alleviate rural poverty levels. The distinctive feature of the project...
Shri Mahila Griha Udyog Lijjat Papad, or Lijjat, is an organization that has acted as a catalyst in empowering poor urban women across India during the last four decades. Starting as a small group of seven...
The Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest (CGAP) was set up at the World Bank as a three-year initiative (1995-1998) to increase the quality and quantity of sustainable microfinance institutions (MFIs)...
Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), which means 'the organization for the power of laborers and farmers' in Hindi, was founded in 1990 by three social activists in one of the most backward areas in...
Participatory budgeting (PB) began more than a decade ago in Porto Alegre, one of the most populated cities in South Brazil. PB is a process through which citizens present their demands and priorities...
Yamada village in southwest Japan faces problems related to depopulation due to migration and an aging community, with a third of village population being elderly and suffering from isolation. The Yamada...
Drishtee is a franchise-based telecenter initiative for delivering information and services to rural and semi-urban populations in India. Drishtee's objective is to develop and manage a series of partnerships...
After the end of President Fujimori's rule in 2000, Peru was left with an economy in recession and 54 percent of its population below the poverty line. Inequalities were increasing and corruption in the...
Latvia is one of the transition economies that came in existence after the end of Soviet reign. During late 1990s, the corruption and the lack of efficiency and proper mechanisms in the government system...
The citizens' report card in Bangalore (Southern India) was a civil society initiative undertaken in 1993 to monitor government services in terms of efficiency and accountability. The exercise gathered...
The Kosovars faced continuous economic and social discrimination during the 1990s, a decade that ended in war in 1999. The post-war economy was marked by high unemployment and the country lacked social...
South Africa's Women's Budget Initiative (WBI) is a pilot project spearheaded by the commonwealth secretariat in its endeavor to promote gender issues in the macroeconomic policies of its member countries...
'Kashi,' or Karma Sangh, began its operations in 1998 and undertook the Rural Legal Literacy Project (RLLP) in 2000-2001. The RLLP functions to increase legal awareness among rural women in targeted villages...
The Information Village Research Project (IVRP), implemented by the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), is based on the philosophy of Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, founder of MSSRF, to extend the benefits...