Awakening Africa’s Sleeping Giant : Prospects for Commercial Agriculture in the Guinea Savannah Zone and Beyond

Published in 2009

For the foreseeable future, reducing poverty in Africa will depend largely on stimulating agricultural growth. Within agriculture, a powerful driver of growth is commercial agriculture. Commercial agriculture can develop along a number of pathways, yet many developing regions have not progressed very far along any of these. African agriculture continues to lag, as reflected in the erosion during the past 30 years in the international competitiveness of many traditional African export crops, as well as in the competitiveness of some food crops for which import dependence has increased. In contrast, over the same period two relatively backward and landlocked agricultural…

Read »

Extending Reach and Increasing Impact

Published in 2009

Information and communication technology (ICT) is transforming interactions between people, governments, and firms worldwide. In developing countries, farmers receive updated crop prices and public health officials monitor medical inventories by text messages. Women are empowered to make decisions and access new opportunities through online information. Entrepreneurs obtain business licenses in a fraction of the standard time by applying for them through municipal government Web sites. And in an increasingly integrated global economy, ICT enables people to access and share knowledge and services around the world. Information and Communications for Development 2009: Extending Reach and Increasing Impact is the second report…

Read »

Engendering Information and Communication Technologies: Challenges and Opportunities for Gender-Equitable Development

Published in 2004

Information and communication technologies cover a wide range, from radio and television to telephones and the Internet. Although such technologies have delivered enormous benefits around the world, much of their potential remains untapped particularly for groups facing severe time constraints, suffering from social isolation, or lacking access to knowledge and productive resources. Women in developing countries are among the most important of these groups. Life is very different for women and men in developing countries, with women usually enjoying far fewer rights and resources. These inequalities limit women’s abilities, opportunities, and achievements. But in today’s knowledge-driven global economy, information and…

Read »

Telecommunications and information services for the poor: toward a strategy for universal access

Published in 2002

The significant social and economic impact of the information and communications revolution and the threat of a widening digital divide as a key dimension of poverty, have prompted policy- makers and development institutions worldwide to take measures to ensure that all have access to communications, information, and ultimately knowledge. Extending the underlying telecommunications and information infrastructure to reach the poor is now acknowledged as one major dimension of the fight against poverty, in which the World Bank Group undoubtedly has a key role to play. Under liberalized conditions, the telecommunications market has proved remarkably effective in extending the communications network…

Read »