Knowledge Portal

Financial cooperatives and microfinance institutions (MFIs) are the two major sources of rural finance in Ethiopia. Whereas MFIs are relatively new, financial cooperatives have existed for centuries in various forms. The coexistence of two different institutions serving the same group of people, and delivering the same financial services, raises several policy questions. Those questions have become particularly relevant, as the government has embarked on developing a new strategy for improving rural financial services delivery. This study serves as an input to that policy discussion. »

This paper identifies several positive synergies between social protection programs and enhanced food security and entitlements to food. The author argues that entitlements to food can be strengthened, if social justice principles are introduced to the design and delivery of social protection programs. Examples reviewed include rights-based approaches such as employment guarantee schemes, community-based targeting and demand-driven accountability mechanisms. »

This report (PDF) by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), highlights dramatic increases in the numbers of overweight or obese people in the past 30 years. Previously considered a problem in richer countries, the biggest rises are in middle income countries and the developing world. »

This exploratory study by CDI on Rwanda’s seed sector has been commissioned by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Kigali. The objectives of the study have been to: analyse the institutional landscape of Rwanda’s seed sector in terms of its capacities, governance and coordination; and advice on policy issues, and potential activities »

This publication (PDF) by KIT, ICRA and the Centre for Development Innovation (CDI), argues that Dutch-funded capacity development projects in developing countries for tertiary agricultural education organisations as they are currently carried out are not able to successfully achieve the sustained changes required. The authors suggest that long-term institutional change is needed. The report specifically »

This article by a group of researchers, published in Proceedings B by Royal Society, compares organic and conventional yields by using a new meta-dataset and a new hierarchical analytical framework that can better account for the heterogeneity and structure in the data. Their main finding is that organic yields are only 19.2% (±3.7%) lower than »