During the period of Nepal’s ninth Five-Year Plan (1997–2002), agricultural growth in the predominantly rural society was disappointing. The recent peace process, however, gives the country new opportunities to develop its economy with less interference due to internal conflict.

Providing sustainable financial services for rural areas and agriculture in developing countries has proven to be difficult in spite of recent reforms and billions of dollars spent in subsidizing programs to develop financial institutions. This paper presents a literature review of the lessons learned in the use of subsidies and investments as instruments of agricultural development finance.

To learn about the sustainability of rural sanitation in Bangladesh, the Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) in conjunction with the Government of Bangladesh and NGOs felt it was important to investigate several knowledge gaps: the degree to which sanitation behaviors and facilities are being sustained in Union Parishads declared ODF at least four and a half years ago;  the level to which s

This book addresses one of the most intractable problems in development – what can poor people in rural areas do to improve their lives? Most of the one billion people living in rich countries and about three-quarters of the 5.6 billion people living in developing countries have left poverty behind and are enjoying improving livelihoods.