
The broad objective of this study is to highlight key constraints, opportunities and challenges relating to interventions aimed at strengthening the nutrition security of people living with HIV who are on antiretroviral (ARV) treatment. The research took place under the auspices of the Academic Model for Prevention and Treatment of HIV/AIDS (AMPATH). AMPATH cares for over 27,000 people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) in western Kenya, of which just over
PDF file:
kenyaampath.pdf(286.8KB)...
In
Africa,
Poverty,
HIV/AIDS,
kenya,
East Africa,
renewal,
impacts,
IFPRI-1,
English,
HIV/AIDS and Food Security,
GRP-33,
RENEWAL Working Paper,
AFRICA SOUTH OF AFRICA

This paper explores the long-term effects of a set of development interventions within the life trajectories of people in rural Bangladesh, using findings from 293 life-history interviews and an accompanying set of focus group discussions conducted in 2007. The paper uses various methods to address the challenge of assessing the long-term impact of development interventions. It then goes on to discuss what was learned about the impact of microfinance, educational transfer, and agricultural technology development programs from the life-history narratives.
PDF file:
ifpridp00991.pdf(679.5KB)...
In
Asia,
Bangladesh,
Microfinance,
South Asia,
IFPRI Discussion Paper,
Poverty, Health, and Nutrition,
PHND,
Pathways from Poverty,
GRP-26,
development interventions,
Poverty,
IFPRI-1,
English

This paper estimates required investment and its allocation among different regions to maximize agricultural output gains and poverty reduction. The analysis uses a social welfare function to simulate the optimal allocation of research and development (R&D) investment across developing regions (1) to maximize agricultural growth or (2) to maximize poverty reduction at the global level.
PDF file:
ifpridp00986.pdf(1.1MB)...
In
Agriculture,
growth,
Development Strategy and Governance,
DSGD,
GRP-3,
O13,
Q18,
C61,
O32,
O57,
Q16,
optimization,
R&D investment,
IFPRI Discussion Paper,
Poverty,
IFPRI-1,
English

Focusing on a remote area in rural China, we use a panel census of households in 26 villages to show that socially observable spending has risen sharply in recent years. We demonstrate that such spending by households is highly sensitive to social spending by other villagers. This suggests that social spending is either positional in nature (that is, motivated by status concerns) or subject to herding behavior. We also document systematic relations between social spending and changes in higher order terms of the income distribution.
PDF file:
ifpridp00983.pdf(581.4KB)...
In
China,
East Asia,
Rural-Urban Linkages,
GRP-36,
Positional spending,
status,
Development Strategy and Governance,
DSGD,
Asia,
IFPRI Discussion Paper,
Poverty,
IFPRI-1,
English

The lack of updated information about food security is of concern to many countries, especially during and after economic crises, natural disasters, and conflicts. In this paper we present an analytical framework for assessing the effects of such crises on food security. This methodology can compensate for the lack of recent data in the aftermath of various crisis situations and thus provide important information to policymakers. We apply this methodology to Yemen, a country where the recent food price crisis and global economic recession have been especially damaging.
PDF file:
ifpridp00982.pdf(2.5MB)...
In
food security,
Yemen,
Country Development Strategy,
GRP-32,
Western Asia,
Middle East and Northern African (MENA) region,
Development Strategy and Governance,
DSGD,
Asia,
IFPRI Discussion Paper,
Poverty,
IFPRI-1,
English
10,000 refugees from Iraq: A report on joint resettlement in the European Union (ICMC, May 2010) [text]Destitution amongst asylum-seeking and refugee children (Children's Society, May 2010) [text]"Exchange for change": Guide pour l'amélioration de la prise en compte des persécutions liées au genre dans la demande d'asile en Europe (France Terre d'Asile, Commission espagnole d’aide au réfugié & Conseil italien pour les réfugiés, April 2010) [text]"Preventive interventions among children exposed to trauma of armed conflict: a literature review," Aggressive Behavior, vol. 36 (2010) [text]UNHCR Statement on the right to an effective remedy in relation to accelerated asylum procedures (UNHCR, May 2010) [text]Welcome to Europe! A guide to resettlement: A comparative review of...

Biofuels provide a new opportunity to enhance economic development in Tanzania. Drawing on detailed cost estimates, we develop a dynamic computable general equilibrium model to estimate the impact of different biofuel production scenarios on growth and poverty. Our results indicate that maximizing the poverty-reducing effects of a biofuels industry in Tanzania requires engaging and improving the productivity of smallholder farmers. Evidence shows that cassava-based ethanol production is more profitable than other feedstock options.
PDF file:
ifpridp00966.pdf(710.9KB)...
In
tanzania,
biofuels,
Cassava,
Computable general equilibrium (CGE) model,
Country Development Strategy,
GRP-32,
growth,
Development Strategy and Governance,
DSGD,
IFPRI Discussion Paper,
Africa,
Poverty,
East Africa,
IFPRI-1,
English

Malawi suffers frequent droughts and floods. In an economy that is heavily dependent on the agricultural sector, it is crucial to understand the implications of these extreme climate events. Not only are rural livelihoods affected due to the severe impacts on the agricultural sector, but nonfarm and urban households are also vulnerable given the strong production and price linkages between agriculture and the rest of the economy. This study uses a general equilibrium model to estimate the economywide impacts of drought- and flood-related crop production losses.
PDF file:
ifpridp00962.pdf(1MB)...
In
Livelihoods,
Southern Africa,
Malawi,
droughts,
floods,
AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA,
AGRICULTURAL SECTOR,
Gross Domestic Product (GDP),
households,
CGE Modeling,
Country Development Strategy,
GRP-32,
Development Strategy and Governance,
DSGD,
IFPRI Discussion Paper,
Africa,
Poverty,
IFPRI-1,
English

Although the Nigerian economy depends significantly on the oil sector, agriculture remains its mainstay. Agriculture contributed 42 percent of Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2008 (National Bureau of Statistics). Agriculture is the second largest export earner after crude oil and the largest employer of rural labor; thus, the sector ranks as a key contributor to wealth creation and poverty reduction.
PDF file:
nsspreport5.pdf(556.2KB)...
In
Nigeria,
Strategy,
West Africa,
Poverty reduction,
Nigeria Strategy Support Program,
NSSP,
NSSP Report,
fertilizer policy,
food security policy,
AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA,
Gross Domestic Product (GDP),
Country Development Strategy,
GRP-32,
Agriculture,
Development Strategy and Governance,
DSGD,
Africa,
Poverty,
IFPRI-1,
English

Agriculture is the major sector upon which the majority of Nigeria’s rural poor depend on for their livelihood. Over 70 percent of the active labor force is employed in agriculture (World Bank 2007). The federal government of Nigeria (FGN) has identified agriculture as the key development priority in its efforts to halve poverty by 2015 and diversify the economy away from the oil sector.
PDF file:
nsspreport4.pdf(631.1KB)...
In
Environment,
Agricultural production,
agricultural export,
Federal Governmanet of Nigeria (FGN),
National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy,
Nigeria,
Strategy,
West Africa,
Nigeria Strategy Support Program,
NSSP,
NSSP Report,
AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA,
food security,
Country Development Strategy,
GRP-32,
Agriculture,
Development Strategy and Governance,
DSGD,
Africa,
Poverty,
IFPRI-1,
English

Recovery in Haiti can be spurred by smarter U.S. aid that promotes trade and immigration.
Last week at a United Nations conference, donors pledged more than $10 billion to finance reconstruction and development investments in Haiti. The United States promised a hefty $1.15 billion.
But pledging money is the easy part. The United States, the lead donor...
In
Aid Effectiveness,
Trade,
Immigration,
Human Rights,
Haiti,
World Bank,
Inequality,
Governance/Democracy,
Globalization,
Foreign Aid Reform,
Weak and Fragile States,
Migration and Labor Mobility,
U.S. Foreign Aid Reform,
Migration,
Economic Development,
Modernizing U.S. Foreign Assistance,
Migration and Development,
Global Development,
International Financial Institutions,
Poverty
The Dublin II Trap: Transfers of Asylum-Seekers to Greece (Amnesty International, March 2010) [text]- See related press release.Improving Asylum Procedures: Comparative Analysis and Recommendations for Law and Practice: Key Findings and Recommendations (UNHCR, March 2010) [text]Living in Limbo: Forced Migrant Destitution in Europe (JRS Europe, March 2010) [text]Migrants at sea: guidelines for EU border patrols (European Parliament, March 2010) [text]Violencia sexual y migración: La realidad oculta de las mujeres subsaharianas atrapadas en Marruecos de camino a Europa (MSF, March 2010) [text]Tagged Publications....
In
Europe,
Morocco,
guidelines,
asylum policy,
Greece,
migrants,
sexual violence,
flight by sea,
forcible return,
refugee status determination procedures,
Poverty

Perhaps this street vendor can now get a loan. Could he also have need for a bank? (http://www.flickr.com/photos/stager57/2219225055/)
This month the World Bank loaned $300 million to the Egyptian government to pass on as loans to Egyptian micro- and small- enterprises (MSEs). Aside from the fact that bureaucrats may seek kickbacks or play favorites when disbursing loans, the move calls into question the role of donor organizations in private sector investment. Should they provide capital directly, which may encourage unsustainable donor dependency? Or should they help build capacity to enable financial intermediation, which has a long history of providing capital and financial services to clients of all demographics?
For almost as long as banks have existed to store and protect...

"Jua Kali" association staff at a 2004 CIPE training in Kenya. "Jua Kali" is the common Kenyan term for the country's informal sector. (Photo: CIPE)
Association executives from around the world are gathering today in Washington D.C. the 2010 Association International Conference. As part of pre-conference activities, association executives from the U.S. are visiting Capitol Hill today to remind legislators that associations are important drivers of economic and social change.
CIPE has been partner and witness to associations around the world driving change on behalf of their members, many of whom come from the world’s poorest and forgotten places. By aggregating their needs at a local level and bringing policymakers’ attention to their issues, associations...

Was there an open, competitive procurement process used in building this pump, and can this community adapt that process for building anything else? (Photo: Water.org)
Yesterday as I was browsing through BCLC’s global issues web portal on water, I couldn’t help but think about what else corporations might be leaving behind when they’re done a water access project. On the day after a water project is completed, there just might be more that has changed besides greater access to drinkable water. It’s possible that corporations are not just leaving behind tangible projects, but also intangible processes.
When multinational corporations are part of building or doing anything, there is bound to be a transparent, documented, competitive process for procuring what they need to build the...
Hidden and Exposed: Urban Refugees in Nairobi, Kenya (ODI, March 2010) [text]An Inventory of the Slums in Nairobi (Pamoja Trust, 2009?) [text]Kenya: Tackling the crisis of urban poverty (IRIN, Jan. 2010) [text]"Policing with prejudice: how policing exacerbates poverty among urban refugees," The International Journal of Human Rights, vol. 14, no. 1 February 2010 [abstract]Urban Margins, vol. 1, no. 1 (March 2010) [text]- "Highlights the humanitarian consequences of urbanization in Kenya."Urban Poverty and Vulnerability in Kenya: The urgent need for co-ordinated action to reduce urban poverty (Oxfam, Sept. 2009) [text]Tagged...

This is a joint post with Katherine Douglas and Sandy Stonesifer.
After three months, 893 applications, and a lot of effort by bright university students across the United States, New York Times columnist Nick Kristof selected Nebraska native Mitch Smith to join him on a reporting trip to Africa.
Those of you who entered or follow the...
American Journal of Bioethics, vol. 10, no. 2 (2010) [contents]- Includes the target article, "Returning to History: The Ethics of Researching Asylum Seeker Health in Australia," along with five peer commentaries that discuss the ethics of refugee and asylum seeker research.Disasters, vol. 34, no. 2 (April 2010) [contents]- Mix of articles including "Financing of internal displacement: excerpts from the Sri Lankan experience."International Migration, vol. 48, no. 2 (April 2010) [contents]- Mix of articles, with several focusing on integration and social networks.Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies, vol. 8, no. 1 (2010) [contents]- Mix of articles, including "From Persecution to Destitution: A Snapshot of Asylum Seekers' Housing and Settlement Experiences in Canada and the United...
In
Natural Disasters,
women,
Research,
periodicals,
asylum,
human trafficking,
North Koreans,
integration,
internal displacement,
development,
Migration,
Poverty

A National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) paper issued this week by Xavier Sala-i-Martin and Maxim Pinkovskiy shows that: poverty in Africa is falling; that it is falling at a faster rate than expected; and that this holds true for a wide range of African economies. What’s more, if this trend continues, Africa will achieve the first Millennium Development Goal – halving the proportion of people living on less than one dollar a day – if not by the 2015 deadline, then shortly after. This...(read more)...

Biofuel demand is increasing because of a combination of growing energy needs; rising oil costs; the pursuit of clean, renewable sources of energy; and the desire to boost farm incomes in developed countries. In turn, the need for crops—such as maize and sugarcane—to be used as feedstocks for biofuels has increased dramatically. That demand has had a significant and increasing impact on global food systems.
PDF file:
bioenergybro.pdf(82.5KB)...
In
natural resources,
hunger,
General Information,
analytical techniques,
demographic shifts,
diet preferences,
global food systems,
income-generating opportunities,
resource degradation,
staple crops,
water supplies,
biofuels,
Poverty,
IFPRI-1,
English

Yemen is an oil-exporting and food-importing country on the Arabian Peninsula with persistently high levels of poverty. The impacts of the food, fuel, and financial global crises are likely to further complicate preexisting conditions of internal conflicts, decreasing oil revenues, and governance failure. The latest official growth numbers date back to precrisis levels; new estimates are subject to much debate; and the current state of poverty in Yemen remains unclear.
PDF file:
ifpridp00955.pdf(1.7MB)...

Kenya is vulnerable to avian flu given its position along migratory bird routes and proximity to other high-risk countries. This raises concerns about the effect an outbreak could have on economic development. We use a dynamic computable general equilibrium model of Kenya to simulate potential outbreaks of different severities, durations, and geographic spreads. Results indicate that even a severe outbreak does not greatly reduce economic growth.
PDF file:
ifpridp00951.pdf(617.7KB)...
In
avian flu,
economic growth,
Development strategies,
Avian influenza -- Developing countries,
AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA,
Computable general equilibrium (CGE) model,
Country Development Strategy,
GRP-32,
Development Strategy and Governance,
DSGD,
IFPRI Discussion Paper,
Africa,
Poverty,
kenya,
East Africa,
IFPRI-1,
English

The Nigerian situation presents a paradox because the country is rich but the people are poor, with the poverty experienced by Nigerians being pervasive, multifaceted and chronic, affecting the lives of a large proportion of the populace. On the average, the incidence of poverty in Nigeria has been on the increase since 1980. NBS (2007) reveals that the incidence of poverty increased sharply both between 1980 and 1985 (from 28.1 percent to 46.3 percent) and between 1992 and 1996 (from 42.7 percent to 65.6 percent) though there were declines between 1985
PDF file:
nssprep03.pdf(794.4KB)...
In
Rural Development,
Vulnerability,
Development strategies,
Nigeria,
West Africa,
Nigeria Strategy Support Program,
NSSP Report,
AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA,
Country Development Strategy,
GRP-32,
Agriculture,
Development Strategy and Governance,
DSGD,
Africa,
Poverty,
IFPRI-1,
English

In spite of Nigeria’s abundant natural and human resource endowment, poverty remains pervasive, multifaceted, and chronic. Given the most recent data available, it is estimated that approximately 69 million (or 54.4 percent) Nigerians lived in poverty in 2004, an increase of more than 24 percent since 1980. This brief deals with poverty in Nigeria and focuses on the determinants of poverty in rural households by identifying the household/community characteristics (such as the status of women)
and region-specific risks that affect rural poverty and how they have changed over time.
Quantitative analysis of rural poverty in Nigeria
PDF file: ...
In
Gender,
NSSP Brief,
Child welfare,
Development strategies,
Nigeria,
West Africa,
Nigeria Strategy Support Program,
NSSP,
AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA,
households,
Country Development Strategy,
GRP-32,
Agriculture,
Development Strategy and Governance,
DSGD,
Africa,
Poverty,
IFPRI-1,
English

Poverty in Nigeria is pervasive although the country is rich in human and material resources that should translate into better living standards. According to the most recent survey (2004 National Living Standards Survey) presented by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS
2007, about 69 million people were living in poverty, which represents 54.4 percent of the Nigerian population. Since the 1980s, the Nigerian poverty situation has been deteriorating.
PDF file:
nsspbp09.pdf(580.1KB)...
In
NSSP Background Paper,
Development strategies,
Nigeria,
West Africa,
Nigeria Strategy Support Program,
NSSP,
AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA,
Country Development Strategy,
GRP-32,
Agriculture,
Development Strategy and Governance,
DSGD,
Africa,
Poverty,
IFPRI-1,
English

Ryan Streeter makes two interesting points in his post on successes of making poverty history. First, he notes that despite what everyone may perceive about poverty eradication, over the past several decades we have achieved tremendous successes in reducing absolute poverty around the word. Building on this, he concludes that many of the efforts to “rethink”, “rebuild”, and “redesign” development approaches are probably misguided. Instead, we should pay greater attention to things that have actually worked over the past 40 years and try to replicate them.
Speaking of development approaches that work. Check out remarks by Greg Lebedev on dilemmas of development assistance and why institutional reform, rather than humanitarian assistance, is...

This study tests the null hypothesis that it is sufficient to interview only the household head to obtain accurate information on household income. The results show that using a husband’s estimate of his wife’s income does not produce statistically reliable results for poverty analysis. Estimates of the wife’s income separately provided by the husband and wife agree in only 6 percent of the studied households.
PDF file:
ifpridp00949.pdf(408.5KB)...
In
household dynamics,
Household income,
Household surveys,
Gender,
Southern Africa,
Malawi,
Country Development Strategy,
GRP-32,
Development Strategy and Governance,
DSGD,
IFPRI Discussion Paper,
Africa,
Poverty,
IFPRI-1,
English