Outcomes on World Bank education projects are better when the quality of project appraisal is good.

Faster economic growth and expansion of exports in Central America in the 21st century will depend on many factors. These include efficient and modern standards systems and an end to technical barriers to trade. Regional efforts can be an efficient way to modernize standards systems.

Almost 90 percent of Moroccan agriculture is not irrigated, and since most of Morocco's crops depend on adequate rainfall, yields and production vary widely. A drought insurance program based on rainfall index contracts is feasible in parts of Morocco and could significantly benefit its farmers.

Men and women may be affected differently by the transition from central planning to a market economy and especially by the privatization and restructuring of state-owned enterprises. In Vietnam during the massive downsizing in the early 1990s, many more women than men were laid off. But in the downsizing in the early part of this decade women are less likely than men to be retrenched in large numbers.

There may be a price to pay (in terms of inefficient coverage) if competition among health insurers is encouraged as a way to give patients greater choice and to achieve better control over insurance providers.

In the face of scarce public resources and the burgeoning demand from the growing population for agricultural land and woodland products, Tanzania has increasingly recognized the need to bring individuals, local groups, and communities into the policy, planning, and management process if woodlands are to remain productive in the coming decades.

Despite the billions of dollars spent on development assistance each year, there is still very little known about the actual impact of projects on the poor. There is broad evidence on the benefits of economic growth, investments in human capital, and the provision of safety nets for the poor. But for a specific program or project in a given country, is the intervention producing the intended benefits and what was the overall impact on the population? Could the program or project be better designed to achieve the intended outcomes? Are resources being spent efficiently? These are the types of questions that can only be answered through an impact evaluation, an approach which measures the outcomes of a program intervention in isolation of other possible factors.This handbook seeks to provide project managers and policy analysts with the tools needed for evaluating project impact. It is aimed at readers with a general knowledge of statistics. For some of the more in-depth statistical methods discussed, the reader is referred to the technical literature on the topic. Chapter 1 presents an overview of concepts and methods. Chapter 2 discusses key steps and related issues to consider in implementation. Chapter 3 illustrates various analytical techniques through a case study. Chapter 4 includes a discussion of lessons learned from a rich set of 'good practice' evaluations of poverty projects which have been reviewed for this handbook.

'The World Bank Research Program 2008-2009: Abstracts of Current Studies' is a compendium of research projects initiated, ongoing, or completed in fiscal years 2008 to 2009 by World Bank staff and consultants.