Design of rural development : lessons from Africa

The Design of Rural Development: Lessons from Africa is a centerpiece in the World Bank's search for more effective ways to counter both food shortages and maldistribution of income in developing countries.

Recent trends in population growth, food production, and income distribution have left little doubt that a primary objective must be higher productivity and living standards in rural areas. But how to achieve these results?

Planners and policy-makers have had little to guide them neither coherent theory, nor adequate data, nor sufficient empirical knowledge drawn from the successes and failures of others. This book takes a long step toward filling that gap and providing commonsense guidelines for the design, implementation, and evaluation of practical policies and actions.

The book should be seen as a companion to another recent World Bank publication-The Assault on World Poverty: Problems of Rural Development, Education, and Health, a compilation of five Sector Working Papers.