'This report reviews the status of the progress in small island developing states towards implementation of the Mauritius Strategy, with specific focus on agriculture and rural development. Furthermore, it also illuminates the continuing challenges which such states face while putting the strategy into practice.'

'The rise of social entrepreneurship has resulted in an increasing number of businesses seeking to maximise both social and financial returns. Like traditional businesses, social enterprises need equity capital to grow and achieve their strategic objectives.  nef's research indicates that traditional equity markets pose a challenge to many social purpose businesses because of their single-minded focus on profit maximisation, short term perspective, and speculative nature, which does not value s more...

This Safety Report provides more detailed information on the methods available for the evaluation of uncertainties in deterministic safety analysis of Nuclear Power Plants and practical guidance in the use of these methods.

'This technical note is the product of a long process of consultation with a wide range of resource persons who have over the years been involved in the Danish support to Community Based Natural Resource Management. It gives a brief introduction to community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) and how this concept may be used as a development strategy. CBNRM has the triple objective of poverty reduction, natural resource conservation and good governance. This note is a contribution to an o more...

The Practice Note on Capacity Assessment explains the basics of capacity assessments-concepts, entry points, and methodological issues. The Practice Note includes a review of selected organizational assessment tools and develops a default UNDP framework and tool to assess the enabling environment/national level capacity.(Full note in pdf format: pages 1 to 34)

'This paper describes a number of financial techniques that can be used by developing country banks to open up new financing possibilities in the commodities sector. The first chapter discusses these various techniques, which can most easily be used in the commodity sector but which can also be adopted by industries servicing the commodity sector, and for financing on the basis of 'commoditized' income streams. The second chapter highlights some of the practical models that developing country ba more...

'This Practice Note provides UNDP staff and other development practitioners with a concise overview of the capacity challenges involved in local development as well as an easily adaptable five-step approach to address them. The note is not meant to be a comprehensive toolkit or guide but rather a review of different approaches to local development from a capacity development perspective based on best practices and lessons learned. The process of Millennium Development Goal (MDG) localisation, wh more...

'Education is at the crossroads for the future of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). It plays a crucial role in promoting poverty alleviation and economic growth, both at national and at household levels.
Education is also a strategic priority for the World Bank in the MENA region and worldwide. The preparation of this report has benefited from the experience accumulated from Bank collaboration with the region in education—a relationship that has lasted for more than 40 years. This rep more...

'The report points out that education reform alone will not drive economic growth. The region is home to large informal markets and generally lacks significant dynamic sectors that can compete internationally – characteristics that contrast sharply with East Asia and some economies in Latin America.

The report emphasizes that policy-makers should use incentives, public accountability, curriculum, and labor market reforms to make the region’s economies more dynamic.'

The author of this article describes three initiatives that the federal government could take to improve the education of these children and increase their chances of escaping poverty. All would strengthen the standards-based reforms at the heart of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) by bracing the three legs on which the reforms rest: accountability, incentives, and capacity.