This article explores the interview narratives of six NGO directors working in Afghanistan regarding the holistic and multi-track nature of their NGO's project work. Data analysis revealed that NGO leaders believed that effective NGO project work relies extensively on purposeful coordination with other NGOs, and is dependent on non-NGO actors such as the military, the UN, local government structures, and local organisations. However, working in proximity with international military forces posed special challenges for NGOs in Afghanistan. While validating the military's security work, NGO leaders believed it necessary to assert their independence from security operations, and military reconstruction and development work.

This article reports on exploratory research based on interviews with expatriate and local aid workers employed by local and international NGOs in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Thematic analysis of the interviews found that personnel were placed in groups based on their job category – consultant, volunteer, or permanent staff – regardless of experience. These categories logically reflect each worker's pay level, purpose, and role, but they may also have an implicit power meaning which reinforces group differences and inhibits inter-group relationships. Relationship building was reported to be the most important factor contributing to the success of capacity-development initiatives. Four sub-themes were identified: communication, friendship, reciprocal learning/teaching, and confidence.

Within current neo-liberal approaches to development, models of community-driven development assume that community-based workers (CBWs) are key actors in improved and accessible service delivery. We argue that use of CBWs is under-theorised and seems to be based largely on untested assumptions about community participation and responsibility. Drawing on case studies on potable-water management and home-based care for HIV/AIDS patients in Tanzania and South Africa, the article explores issues of accountability, professionalism, and personal motivations in systems involving CBWs. It argues that many assumptions in relation to the effectiveness of CBW programmes require re-visiting.

Sustainable job creation in post-conflict environments often involves financing private-sector development. However, a poor business climate and the erosion of capacity in the domestic private sector reduce the effectiveness of traditional financing strategies in post-conflict environments. Using the experience of post-war Liberia, this article discusses strategies for improving small and medium enterprise (SME) development projects in post-conflict environments through innovative financing which takes into account the effects of conflict on managerial and entrepreneurial capacity and the business climate. Implementation strategies that support conflict-sensitive post-conflict development are also discussed.

Environmental and development policies used to be considered gender-neutral. Women's needs and interests were perceived to be identical to those of men. Empirical research has more recently asserted that policies that were thought to be gender-neutral were actually gender-blind and, therefore, either inadequate or inappropriate to capture the impacts upon women of environmental and development policies. This article presents a range of practical tools and mechanisms that may be used to monitor environmental and development issues from a gender perspective. It also outlines key strategies through which governments, NGOs, and donor agencies may assess the impact of such policies on women.

This article first reviews the development of food prices in China since 2000. The authors find that despite tremendous price fluctuations in the international market in 2007–08, major staple crops (rice, wheat, and maize) in the domestic market were shielded from the volatility of the international market. This price stability can be partly attributed to Chinese government's food-security policies in stimulating grain production and smoothing domestic prices. Household data reveal that farmers' supply response is affected by prices, market access, household assets, and farmer experience. In addition, poor families are less responsive to market signals, and the impact of poverty on grain production is indirect.

This study addresses the impact of global food prices on domestic food prices, the short-term policy responses taken by national governments, and major constraints on long-term food security in Central Asia. A surge in domestic food-price inflation in Central Asian countries was almost perfectly simultaneous with the spike in international food prices. Food-price inflation was spurred in part by adverse weather conditions in 2007, and exacerbated by the decision of the government of Kazakhstan to temporarily impose export tariffs and suspend wheat exports. The transformation of the region's agriculture since 1991 has changed the structure of agricultural production and led to reallocation of more land to food crops, improving food security in the region, and mitigating the negative consequences of rising international food prices. The article argues that the further improvement of food security in the region requires concerted efforts from governments to remove constraints on agricultural productivity.