New Lessons from Old Projects
This is a summary of a larger study for the World Bank of loans for rural development to Brazil. Programme evaluations shed more light on the causes of failure than of success. This summary seeks to do the opposite. The projects are introduced and problems summarised. The remainder of the article discusses the causes of success in some regions and in some periods. Factors include 'inherent capabilities', flexibility, innovation, simplicity, co -ordination between agencies, control by higher authorities, involvement of non-specialised agencies.