The Comprehensive Development Framework (CDF), a World Bank aid policy approach, has become an important influence on the global development agenda since its launch in 1999. It is based on four principles: a long-term holistic development framework; results orientation; country ownership; and country led-partnership. This report contains findings from five case study evaluations of CDF pilot implementation in Bolivia, Ghana, Romania, Uganda and Vietnam, and from a non-CDF pilot study in Burkina Faso chosen as a control. A World Bank synthesis evaluation report on the CDF is also available (ISBN 0821356437).

This report evaluates the implementation of the Comprehensive Development Framework (CDF), a World Bank aid policy approach which has become an important influence on the global development agenda. The CDF consists of four principles: a long-term holistic development framework; results orientation; country ownership; and country led-partnership. The report identifies factors that have facilitated or hindered its implementation, as well its effect on intermediate and longer-term development outcomes.

Manufacturing-led development has provided the traditional model for creating jobs and prosperity. But in the past three decades the conventional pattern of structural transformation has changed, with the services sector growing faster than the manufacturing sector. This raises critical questions about the ability of developing economies to close productivity gaps with advanced economies and to create good jobs for more people. At Your Service? The Promise of Services-Led Development (www.worldbank.org/services-led-development) assesses the scope of a services-driven development model and policy directions that can maximize the model’s potential.

Annotation The Comprehensive Development Framework (CDF)A-launched by World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn in early 1999A-has become an important influence on the global development agenda. The CDF consists of four principles A- a Long-Term, Holistic Development Framework; Results Orientation; Country Ownership; and Country Led-Partnership. These core principles are not new individually, but bringing them together as a unified concept and championing the package within the global development community has been an important innovation. This evaluation, conducted by multi-disciplinary teams with members from developed and developing countries, shows that both donors and recipients have made progress in implementing the CDF principles, particularly in countries where one or more of the principles have been applied over a number of years. However, these positive changes are fragile and could be stalled or reversed. Implementing the principles requires changes in entrenched behaviors and institutional practices. Thus, dedicated and consistent attention is needed by top donor leadership and recipient countries to ensure that momentum is sustained.

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'.