Over the past few years donors and governments have become increasingly interested in the potential of decentralization for improving the efficiency of public expenditures and the effectiveness of service...
Demand-Driven Rural Investment Funds (DRIFs) are the latest generation of social funds that are yielding impressive results in several countries in South America. This note reviews the Brazilian experience...
The program-based approach to providing development assistance, especially sector investment programs (SIPs), has recently attracted attention in the development community, especially in Africa. The key...
The demand-driven rural investment fund (DRIFs) is a new mechanism for decentralizing decision-making authority and financial resources to local governments and communities to use for investments of their...
Nearly all countries worldwide are now experimenting with decentralization. Their motivation are diverse. Many countries are decentralizing because they believe this can help stimulate economic growth...
The question of whether decentralization fosters rural development and whether it does so in ways that are environmentally and socially sustainable, was the topic of a World Bank research project, "Decentralization...
The conventional wisdom concerning appropriate agricultural policies was based on serious misconceptions that led to faulty prescriptions. Developing countries have faced some painful lessons in the last...
Large, mechanized farms are often viewed as more efficient than small ones. This myth has often included policymakers and technicians who favor large commercial farms depending on mechanization and hired...
The abolition of subsidies and privileges tend to reduce the profitability of farming sharply. The impact is most severe on farmers who have borrowed large sums from banks, especially since real interest...
During the 1980s, Colombia embarked on an ambitious program to decentralize responsibilities for planning, financing, and delivering public goods and services. Despite concerns that municipal governments...
Historically, land reform has been implemented by government agencies expropriating land, with or without compensation, and then distributing it to the landless. Such reform is typically undermined by...
Many developing countries are experimenting with decentralizing power and responsibilities to local governments. These processes of decentralization have achieved some notable improvements in delivering...