In spite of considerable oil revenues, Chad remains one of the world’s poorest countries, with 80% of its labor force in the agricultural sector. The country’s agricultural potential is underexploited.

Yemen has been facing severe development challenges in recent years, but rapidly depleting oil and water resources combined with large population increases and a lack of job-creating growth are making a difficult situation even more complicated.

Traditional authorities are powerful leaders alongside the state in Ghana. The chieftaincy has been resilient to “modernization”—maintaining land rights, allegiance from citizens, and influence in rural communities.

Providing safe drinking water in rural areas is a major challenge because it is not easy to establish institutional arrangements that will ensure that drinking water facilities are provided, maintained, and managed in an efficient, equitable, and sustainable way.

With the beginning of the new millennium and the increasing concerns with regard to wild privatization reforms, African governments, international donors and development scholars have been showing renewed interest in collective action.