This report from the second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2), which is administered by the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, describes a framework—including for long-range planning, corridor planning, project programming, environmental review, and environmental permitting— that supports collaborative business practices for reaching decisions on adding highway capacity when necessary.

This synopsis presents highlights from the international conference “Building Resilience for Food and Nutrition Security,” organized by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and its 2020 Vision Initiative. This global policy consultation was designed to inform, influence, and catalyze action by policymakers, nongovernmental organizations, the private sector, educators, researchers, and communities themselves to incorporate resilience into the post-2015 agenda and improve policies, investments, and institutions to strengthen resilience so that food and nutrition security can be achieved for all. Experts and practitioners from the resilience and vulnerability communities, as well as food and nutrition security, agriculture, humanitarian, and related development sectors came together to assess emerging shocks that threaten food and nutrition security, discuss approaches and tools for building resilience, identify knowledge and action gaps, and set priorities for action on this critical issue. For more information on the conference and its associated activities and products, including papers and briefs, lead-up and follow-up events, videos, posters, a collaborative bibliography, and much more, go to: www.2020resilience.ifpri.info | #2020resilience

This book provides contemporary knowledge on school effectiveness and proposes strategic interventions for enhancing it. It focuses on improving academic leadership for enhancing the effectiveness of schools and discusses how national education policies are helpful in providing a vision towards improving school effectiveness. It highlights the role of teachers as academic leaders in the implementation of policy recommendations at school and classroom levels. It offers methods and mechanisms for academic leaders to measure the learning of students for school assessment. The author also discusses how academic leadership involves creating a vision and mission based on science and research data for the organisation, inspiring innovation and creative ideas, developing teamwork, and a safe environment for staff to express their views. While providing an understanding of school as an organization, the volume outlines its management functions such as processes and quality of planning, management of curriculum, learner evaluation, institutional networks, and human resource management, among others. The volume is a guidebook for training and capacity building for school-level practitioners and leaders in education management. Embedded with real-life cases and episodes, this volume will be of interest to teachers, students, and practitioners of education, management, and education management. It will also be useful for academicians, educationalists, practitioners, management professionals, educational leaders, and policymakers.

What could be a more compelling read than a book that explains the greatest mysteries known to man in one fell swoop. Who is God? What happens after we die? What the heck is quantum entanglement? Why did Dolly’s braces disappear in the movie "Moonraker?" Our reality is not what it appears to be. The latest physics experiments demonstrate that an objective reality doesn’t exist. And no one truly knows what consciousness is or where the mind resides. Strange interconnectedness, anomalous events, and changing histories confound even the most open-minded of scientists. No single theory seems to be able to explain it all. Until now.

The Public Investment Management Assessment (PIMA) for Seychelles shows a relatively well-designed public investment management system, with well-unified budgeting arrangements and effective funding processes for capital projects. However, the assessment also notes under-execution of capital budgets and identifies important areas for improvement in medium-term budgeting, project planning, and asset management. The Climate Public Investment Management Assessment (C-PIMA) provides a climate perspective on public investment management in Seychelles. This module identifies proactive climate-related public investment coordination but gaps in the incorporation of climate resilience measures within the investment framework. Recommended reforms are geared towards enhancing project appraisal, defining roles in the public investment system, and integrating climate change adaptation into the planning process. These reforms, aligned with Seychelles' National Development Strategy, aim to optimize public investment management and ensure sustainable development in the face of climate-related challenges.

Jordan: Selected Issues

A sustainable and stable energy supply is essential for a country’s stability and wellbeing. Seychelles, like many small island developing states (SIDS), currently depends on imported energy, in the form of fossil fuels. The high dependence on fossil fuel imports means Seychelles is highly vulnerable to disruptions in global markets. The situation is exacerbated by a reliance on imported food, which accounts for about 70 percent of food consumption. To limit this dependence, it is aiming to increase its reliance on renewable energy to 15 percent by 2030, with a long-term ambition of using 100 percent renewable sources for electricity production. Sustainable bioenergy is one form of renewable energy that can be used to green a country’s energy mix. This Sustainable Bioenergy Assessment report for Seychelles looks at the potential for sustainable bioenergy within the country, considering the country context, conditions and delicate habitat. The report considers sustainable biomass sources from the agriculture, forestry and waste sectors. The assessment was conducted following the bioenergy and food security (BEFS) approach of FAO, and identifies a number of bioenergy pathways relevant for the country. Within the report, the different forms of biomass, their availability and viability are assessed. Livestock, crop and forestry residues, and the biodegradable portion of waste, otherwise destined for landfill, are among the sources of biomass considered. The use of these biomass types and amounts are then assessed from a technical and economic point of view, under different price scenarios, for the production of energy.