African countries need to develop new approaches to socio-economic development and education which are appropriate to the individual needs of each country. The thrust of development programs should be towards small-scale agriculture and industry, self-help villages, and community-based public health programs in rural areas. (AM)

It is generally agreed that spending on education and health is key to poverty reduction, but simply allocating more resources to these sectors does not ensure that poverty actually declines. On the basis of four in-depth case studies (on Indonesia, Madagascar, Peru and Tanzania) and three Technical Papers on malnutrition and primary education in…