Index insurance, such as weather
indexing, addresses other inherent problems in insurance by
using an indicator that is not affected by individual
behavior and may address monitoring costs and moral hazard.
A number of innovations using index insurance are being
tried currently in diverse settings ranging from India to
Mongolia to Malawi. Marketing costs may limit the provision
of such insurance to small farmers, but even in such cases

This report aims to assist the
Government of the Maldives in designing and implementing
social protection reforms, in particular for pensions and
safety nets. The report gives an overview of poverty, risk
and vulnerability in Maldives and analyzes the role and
effectiveness of pensions and social assistance policies in
helping poor households mitigate and cope with risks. Based
on the analysis, the study delineates a menu of options for

This study analyzes the
interrelationship between local benefits and global
environment benefits in the Global Environment Facility
(GEF) strategies and projects in order to: Enhance GEF
policies, strategies, and project design and implementation
so these can effectively promote the potential for local
gains in those global environmental programs where actors
need to be mobilized for long-term support of sound

This report presents an update on the
economic challenges facing Ethiopia with a focus on the
shared goal of accelerating equitable growth. The starting
point is the Government's own Plan for Accelerated and
Sustained Development to End Poverty (PASDEP), which is in
the process of finalization, and is designed to cover the
period 2005-2010. This report proposes that the growth
strategy should more explicitly adopt a

This is a draft edition of the Poverty Environment Nexus (PEN) report for Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam. The purpose of this conference edition is to present the findings from the studies that have been undertaken in each country over the last three years as well as to obtain relevant comments and feedback from the conference participants that could be included in the final edition of the report. The material presented in this report is based upon comprehensive case studies as well as national analytical work performed in each country.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
are a challenge the global community has set for itself.
They are a challenge to poor countries to demonstrate good
governance and a commitment to poverty reduction. And they
are a challenge to wealthy countries to make good on their
promise to support economic and social development. The MDGs
have captured the world's attention, in part because
they can be measured, as this little book demonstrates. More

The present report was prepared upon the
request of the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic to inform
policy decisions on reforming the existing safety net. The
report aims at providing analytical underpinning of the
country's ongoing safety net reform, along with venue
for policy discussions with the Government and stakeholders
on the immediate as well as on the longer-term challenges
related to designing and implementing of a modern national

The book clarifies many policy, and
technical issues that confront resettlement policymakers,
and practitioners. It provides guidance on resettlement
design, implementation, and monitoring, and, it discusses
resettlement issues particular to development projects in
different sectors, such as urban development, natural
resource management, and the building of dams. Construction
of infrastructure, a prerequisite for sustained

The authors examine the performance of the crop insurance scheme in Karnataka, a southern state of India and the second driest state in the country. Their analysis highlights weaknesses in product design, implementation challenges, and operational problems. The authors' finding is that the crop insurance scheme in its current form does not achieve its objectives, either explicit (risk management) or implicit (safety net and containment of both the central and state governments' contingent liability).

The study focuses on analyzing and
assessing some main features of the situation and the
implementation results of Comprehensive Poverty Reduction
and Growth Strategy (CPRGS) in order to identify major
challenges for economic growth and poverty reduction, which
will serve as the basis for the proposal of policy framework
to overcome the challenges as well as achieve the basic
targets for economic growth and poverty reduction in the

This report provides an assessment of
damages and needs resulting from the earthquake that struck
India on the 8m of October 2005. It provides a preliminary
estimate of the total cost of damage identifies the needs
for reconstruction and discusses strategies and guiding
principles for the implementation for a program of
reconstruction, the whole based on a need to mitigate future
impact of natural disasters through the strengthening of

The report highlights the GEF's
work with small island developing states (SIDS) on key
natural resource issues -climate change, biodiversity,
international waters, and land degradation. It also
describes the GEF's strategic priorities for SIDS over
the next five years, recognizing the interrelatedness of
SIDS' global environmental problems and their links to
economic and social development. The Global Environment