Ethical trade is expanding rapidly in the UK. Following the foundation of the Ethical Trading Initiative many companies are adopting codes of conduct to cover employment conditions in their supply chains, based on a process of multi-stakeholder participation. Addressing gender issues in their implementation remains an important challenge for policy makers. This paper considers how gender sensitivity in the monitoring and verification of codes can be enhanced within a multi-stakeholder framework based on evidence from a case study of export horticulture in South Africa. It makes policy recommendations to address the needs of more marginalised workers, many of whom are women.

Southern Africa is experiencing severe degradation of the natural resource base caused by population growth and poverty. Agroforestry technologies that are now available have great potential to improve the livelihoods of many households. The paper describes some of the outcomes of technology development and how this has evolved into a more client-driven process. Regional development trends are assessed and six agroforestry options are presented that offer better livelihood options to smallholder farming families. The article goes on to discuss problems and successes experienced in facilitating the wider use of agroforestry, and highlights lessons concerning partnerships, the timeframe of impact, using farmers as change agents, and addressing the special needs of women. The emphasis is on using agroforestry as a learning tool in building local capacity for developing innovations.

Empowering urban local bodies in India to take up development responsibilities by using financial intermediaries to tap capital markets has serious implications for the pattern of urban development and organisation of space within cities. The policy of liberating the local bodies from government regulatory and legislative controls may oblige the former to come under the direct or indirect control of corporate and financial institutions, resulting in dilution of their social commitments. It is important to keep watch on the process by which cities are segmented and basic amenities are denied to the poor because of this growing dependence on private resources for infrastructural investment.

Using Lima as an example, the author analyses the meaning of sustainable development and how grassroots community-based organisations can contribute to its achievement in megacities. Demands are today made of cities and countries of the South to develop in a sustainable way, although Northern nations did not themselves do so. 'Sustainability' on a global scale is thus attainable only at the cost of the urban poor in the South. The paper argues that the recent shift towards placing the problems and concerns of Third World megacities back on national and international agendas is founded on environmental preoccupations, rather than being an attempt to address poverty and the lack of basic services. The fragmentation of issues and people in urban environments is seen as a threat to genuine development, while community-based organisations may suggest some ways towards achieving a form of development that integrates social and political concerns and is, therefore, sustainable. The paper asserts that 'public spaces' are a way of achieving a decentralised approach to development and democracy in the megacity, provided these are informed by an understanding of the individual and the community, and by a vision of development and politics.

Sustainable land use is critical for the development of the Philippines uplands, where about 18 million people live. This paper relates our experiences using a participatory approach to develop agroforestry practices and institutions for conservation farming that ensure food security, alleviate poverty, and protect the environment in Claveria, Northern Mindanao, Philippines. We found that natural vegetative strips provide a simple solution to the technical constraints of soil conservation on slopes. These are buffer strips, laid out on the contour, in which natural vegetation is allowed to re-grow into a thick, protective cover. The strips also provide a foundation for developing more complex agroforestry systems including fodder, fruit, and timber trees. The tremendous surge in adoption of these systems has been enhanced by the Landcare approach. Landcare is a movement of farmer-led organisations that share knowledge about sustainable and profitable agriculture on the sloping lands while conserving the natural resources. The Landcare movement is spreading rapidly to many municipalities in Mindanao and Visayan islands.

Community-based organisations are increasingly considered a sustainable way to scale up the benefits of agricultural research and development from a few farmers in isolated pilot project areas to spread more widely across geographical and socio-economic gradients, and to do so quickly. This paper describes and highlights lessons learned from several research and development organisations in western Kenya using different community-based approaches to scale up agroforestry and other biological options to improve soil fertility among resourcepoor smallholders. The main benefits of such approaches are that the link between farmers, government extension, and other service providers is strengthened; information flow and awareness of the options available is rapid among farmers; and farmers' participation and innovation is enhanced. For effective service delivery, however, some higher level of association is necessary that goes beyond individual farmers or groups such as youth-, women-, or church-based organisations. Nevertheless, experience from a pilot project involving the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry and some key national research and development institutions shows that village, sublocation or location committees are often inactive without strong follow-up, which is best provided by such local institutions as government extension staff close to farmers or NGOs. Most of these institutions, however, have limited resources and information. To mitigate these problems and to better share experiences among individual organisations and projects in the region, a strategic consortium of the key institutions was formed. There are high hopes concerning the consortium, although it is too early to determine its effectiveness.

The mainstream debate on urban development looks either at urban development or sustainable cities, and tends to miss out on people-centred approaches to development. The former addresses the issues of economic growth, whereas the latter that of environmental problems, to the exclusion of development concerns of the poor. The new perspective of Sustainable Cities in the South is an 'inclusive approach', which puts the vision of the poor and marginalised sectors at the centre and includes all the dimensions of development in a holistic and synergetic manner. The paper presents such a vision of sustainable cities in India and describes activities aimed at reaching this vision.

The RAAKS (Rapid Appraisal of Agricultural Knowledge Systems) methodology, in combination with PRA tools, was used successfully in the CARE-Macina integrated rural development programme in Mali. The methodology enabled the agency team to produce relevant information concerning community-based organisations at village level, and thus highlighted some of the strengths and weaknesses of its efforts to reinforce their organisational capacity. This led to several major changes in the agency's strategies. The details of the methodology used by the Macina team, some results of the exercise, and changes in programme strategies concerning the strengthening of community-based organisations, are discussed.