AIDS epidemics continue to threaten the livelihoods of millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa. Three decades after the disease was first recognized, the annual death toll from AIDS exceeds that from wars, famine and floods combined. Yet despite millions of dollars of aid and research, there has previously been little detailed on-the-ground analysis of the multifaceted impacts on rural people. Filling that gap, this book brings together recent evidence of AIDS impacts on rural households, livelihoods, and agricultural practice in sub-Saharan Africa. There is particular emphasis on the role of women in affected households, and on the situation of children. The book is unique in presenting micro-level information collected by original empirical research in a range of African countries, and showing how well-grounded conclusions on trends, impacts and local responses can be applied to the design of HIV-responsive policies and programmes. AIDS impacts are more diverse than we previously thought, and local responses more varied - sometimes innovative, sometimes desperate. The book represents a major contribution to our understanding of the impacts of AIDS in the epidemic's heartland, and how these can be managed at different levels.

HIV/AIDS has been named the Sub Saharan disease. In countries that have achieved significant declines in HIV prevalence, young people have registered the biggest behavioural changes. It means they hold the keys not only to our understanding of the epidemic, but more importantly, to the efforts required to stem the tide of infections. However, the majority of young people are ignorant of how to prevent transmission, have low compliance to condom use, which is in some cases accentuated by misconceptions about HIV/AIDS transmission and have insufficient knowledge regarding transmission and avoidance behaviours. As such, consensus on feasible preventive interventions target young people, particularly those in schools. It is on this premise that the book unlocks the key pillars in effective HIV/AIDS education policies and practices.The study has drawn upon the experiences of selected Urban Schools in Malawi to explore the needs of young people in classroom, the extent to which the classroom practices respond to the needs, and the factors influencing these using questionnaires, interviews, lesson observations, and document analysis. Malawi typically represents most Sub Saharan African countries in terms of challenges faced by education systems. Given the similar cultural settings of the people of Sub Saharan Africa, the findings and recommendations of the study generalises to the education systems of Sub Saharan Africa to a greater extent. The book shows the need for open discussion climates on HIV/AIDS issues despite a conservative cultural and religious adult world that is not open. It has also identified a need for explicit and accurate knowledge on HIV/AIDS issues, opportunities to acquire behavioural skills for HIV prevention, and involvement of external speakers in classroom HIV/AIDS education.Current classroom practice does not address the pupils‘ needs adequately. Factors influencing this can be linked to lack of policies responsive to culture and religion, ineffective and inadequate teaching policy guidelines, and lack of a policy prioritising HIV/AIDS education. The findings suggest that in future, effective HIV/AIDS Education needs to be informed by the pupils’ needs. To address these needs, support from the wider society and related policies, coupled with appropriate management and classroom practice will be required. The book is therefore an indispensable tool for education systems in Sub Saharan Africa. It provides an effective model for [...]

The world's demand for food is expected to double within the next 50 years, while the natural resources that sustain agriculture will become increasingly scarce, degraded, and vulnerable to the effects of climate change. In many poor countries, agriculture accounts for at least 40 percent of GDP and 80 percent of employment. At the same time, about 70 percent of the world's poor live in rural areas and most depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. 'World Development Report 2008' seeks to assess where, when, and how agriculture can be an effective instrument for economic development, especially development that favors the poor. It examines several broad questions: How has agriculture changed in developing countries in the past 20 years? What are the important new challenges and opportunities for agriculture? Which new sources of agricultural growth can be captured cost effectively in particular in poor countries with large agricultural sectors as in Africa? How can agricultural growth be made more effective for poverty reduction? How can governments facilitate the transition of large populations out of agriculture, without simply transferring the burden of rural poverty to urban areas? How can the natural resource endowment for agriculture be protected? How can agriculture's negative environmental effects be contained? This year's report marks the 30th year the World Bank has been publishing the 'World Development Report'.

The Regional Network on AIDS, Livelihoods, and Food Security (RENEWAL) was officially launched in 2001 as a joint project of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the International Service for National Agricultural Research (ISNAR), and was operational in Malawi, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, and South Africa through most of 2011. RENEWAL is a “network of networks” comprised of national networks of food and nutrition-relevant organizations, along with partners in AIDS and public health practitioners. Its overarching goal is to provide evidence-based research on the linkages between HIV, food security, and nutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa that would inform responses to prevent or mitigate the impact and consequences of AIDS. RENEWAL’s three main objectives are: (1) to reduce critical gaps in understanding how livelihoods, particularly those deriving from agriculture, both contribute to the spread of HIV and are affected by HIV and AIDS; (2) to generate new policy-relevant knowledge on how households and communities may strengthen both their resistance to HIV transmission and their resilience to the impacts of AIDS; and (3) to enable relevant institutions (particularly governments) to generate and act upon realistic priorities for responding to the interaction of the AIDS epidemic with food and nutrition insecurity. RENEWAL’s strategic approach to achieving these goals involved the three core pillars of capacity strengthening, policy communications, and action research, and the synergies resulting from their interactions. This report assesses the impact of RENEWAL activities from 2000 to 2010 and is based on a review of products resulting from RENEWAL activities (such as books, policy briefs, workshop summaries, reports, and discussion papers), stakeholder perceptions of RENEWAL products and activities, and national policy or programming changes resulting from RENEWAL-supported action research, capacity strengthening efforts, and policy communications.

It is estimated that by the end of 2003 there were just under 38 million people living with HIV/AIDS, with all but two million of these people of working age. This report, prepared by the ILO Programme on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work, sets out global estimates of the impact of HIV/AIDS on the labour force and the working age population in 50 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean and in more developed regions. Issues discussed include: the implications for the private and public sectors, on agriculture and concerns for food insecurity and on the informal economy; on women and children; policy implications and examples of responses to the problem in a variety of workplace settings; provision of antiretroviral therapy in conjunction with HIV prevention in the workplace and the potential for expanded access to workplace-based treatment.

The 'Gender in Agriculture Sourcebook' provides an up-to-date understanding of gender issues and a rich compilation of compelling evidence of good practices and lessons learned to guide practitioners in integrating gender dimensions into agricultural projects and programs. It is serves as a tool for: guidance; showcasing key principles in integrating gender into projects; stimulating the imagination of practitioners to apply lessons learned, experiences, and innovations to the design of future support and investment in the agriculture sector. The Sourcebook draws on a wide range of experience from World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and other donor agencies, governments, institutions, and groups active in agricultural development. The Sourcebook looks at: access to and control of assets; access to markets, information and organization; and capacity to manage risk and vulnerability through a gender lens. There are 16 modules covering themes of cross-cutting importance for agriculture with strong gender dimensions (Policy, Public Administration and Governance; Agricultural Innovation and Education; Food Security; Markets; Rural Finance; Rural Infrastructure; Water; Land; Labor; Natural Resource Management; and Disaster and Post-Conflict Management) and specific subsectors in agriculture (Crops, Livestock, Forestry, and Fisheries). A separate module on Monitoring and Evaluation is included, responding to the need to track implementation and development impact. Each module contains three different sub-units: (1) A Module Overview gives a broad introduction to the topic and provides a summary of major development issues in the sector and rationale of looking at gender dimension; (2) Thematic Notes provide a brief and technically sound guide in gender integration in selected themes with lessons learned, guidelines, checklists, organizing principles, key questions, and key performance indicators; and (3) Innovative Activity Profiles describe the design and innovative features of recent and exciting projects and activities that have been implemented or are ongoing.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) and its Member States are making renewed efforts to revive agriculture in the region. Given that much of it is water-stressed, appropriate and sustainable land and water management practices are vital to achieving this objective. Recognising this, SADC's Land and Water Management Applied Research and Training Programme has convened two scientific symposiums. Held in Lilongwe, Malawi, in February 2006, the inaugural symposium brought together practitioners from 10 participating SADC countries to deliberate on land and water management for sustainable agriculture, and discuss how the most recent research and development advances in land and water management might be made more relevant to policymakers as well as the region's small-scale farmers. The edited contributions to this first symposium appear in this volume. The second symposium was held in Gaborone, Botswana, in February 2007, and brought together regional experts to discuss opportunities for improving water use and water use efficiency in agriculture in semi-arid and arid areas. The edited contributions to the second symposium appear in a companion volume entitled Land and Water Management in Southern Africa: Towards Better Water Use in Agriculture in Semi-Arid and Arid Areas (AISA 2008). It is hoped that these two volumes will help to disseminate regional expertise on land and water management to a wider audience, thus helping policy-makers and others to strengthen the agricultural sector in the region, and, in so doing, improve its food security and the wellbeing of its people.