Gender, Land and Water in the Poverty Reduction Strategy and Country Assistance Strategy for Sri Lanka\ud

Ten years after the adoption of the Beijing Declaration, gender mainstreaming is still high on the donor agenda. Nonetheless, a number of evaluation reports clearly indicate that operationalisation of gender mainstreaming strategies remains a challenging task. The integration of gender concerns at the country level requires adequate financial and human resources, and strong institutions, which have been lacking in the recent past. Has the World Bank, as one of the largest financial institutions, learned from previous critique? This paper looks at Sri Lanka's poverty reduction strategy and the World Bank's country assistance strategy for Sri Lanka, with a focus on the agricultural sector.\ud \ud Dix ans après l'adoption de la déclaration de Beijing, l'approche genre est toujours une priorité sur l'agenda des donateurs. Néanmoins, de nombreuses évaluations indiquent clairement que la mise en oeuvre de stratégies incorporant l'approche genre reste difficile. L'intégration des questions de genre au niveau national nécessite des ressources humaines et financières adéquates et des institutions fortes, facteurs qui ont fait défaut ces dernières années. Etant l'une des principales institutions financières, la Banque mondiale a t-elle appris des critiques qui lui ont été faites ? Cet article s'intéresse à la stratégie de réduction de la pauvreté au Sri Lanka et à la politique d'aide de la Banque mondiale à ce pays, l'accent étant mis sur le secteur agricole.\u

Sajarah Cina a Nineteenth-century Apology in Javanese

The sometimes precarious position of the Chinese in Indonesia has a long history. The (most probably) nineteenth-century author, Apdul Mutalip, advocated a more balanced view by pointing out some fundamental contributions the Chinese had made to the welfare of the Javanese; he also demonstrates that their presence in Java has a basis in law. Although seems like a poem in Javanese metre, his Sajarah Cina, written in Javanese, is remarkable not only for its subject matter but also for the way the material is presented, in a rhetoric unknown to exist in Javanese literature by most scholars

The Art of Storytelling in Old Javanese Prose as Illustrated by the Story of Ekalawya

Scholarly attention for Old Javanese literature so far has mainly focused on poetry. The apparently simple nature of narrative prose texts, while making them excellent sources for linguistic and lexicographic research, at the same time denies them any literary value. In this article an impression is given of the art of storytelling in one Old Javanese prose story, taken from the Adiparwa of around A.D. 1000. Quite unexpectedly, a sophisticated tradition unfolds in which a rich variety of devices enables the storyteller to create a meaningful world of words

"A TIME TO ACT"- HIGHLIGHTS OF A REPORT OF THE USDA NATIONAL COMMISSION ON SMALL FARMS

Farm Management, Industrial Organization,

Divine Leadership and The Ruler Cult in Roman and Contemporary Times

Seeing how the idea of the ‘ruler cult’ and the necessary ‘myth-making’ to establish it exists to this day, as seen with the regime of a 21st century dictator like Kim Jong-il, it would be most interesting to see what parallels exist between cases of divine leadership and what we might learn about our contemporary cult rulers when looking at the dynamics of the two-millennia-old cult of the deified Emperor Augustus. As such, I have formulated a central question that focuses on the reign of Divus Augustus, and in doing so provides opportunity to extrapolate from it new insights in similar but contemporary figures of leadership. A clear case of 'to understand motives in the present, one must look at actions in the past.

A ‘Grooming Chamber’ For Antisemitism

If Jewish Bolsheviks could put an end to the imperial rule of the Romanovs, could they pose a threat to the vision of a Third Reigh? A question the German National Socialists are likely to have asked themselves before and on the eve of plotting the rise of the Nazi regime. After all, Europe had had a long-standing relationship with blaming the Jews for the world’s miseries. A relationship Germany was ready to refuel, as indicated by German Field Marshal Walter von Reichenau, when he stated that ‘the most essential aim of war against the Jewish-bolshevistic system is a complete destruction of their means of power and the elimination of Asiatic influence from the European culture.’ But the German fears of Jewish interference with their great scheme for Europe’s future, must surely have been inspired by more than just the age-old conspiratorial allegation that Jews were the main forces behind world politics. As such, this essay will seek to inspect the apparent rise of antisemitic fears at the time, and put a case forward to show how religion played into all this

Rains, droughts and dreams of prosperity

This thesis is based on research into minor irrigation systems in the Dry Zone of Sri Lanka that was carried out between 1997 and 2000 in Anuradhapura District. In Anuradhapura District, there is large variation in rainfall and severe water shortages occur frequently, sometimes for several years in succession. The food and income security of the farming population is seriously affected by these droughts. This study focuses on the strategies of farmers in this area to cope with these regular droughts and which aim to increase\ud their food and income security

Beyond Marble, Medicants & Myth: Epidaurus' History, Material Culture, Purpose and Place in the Greater Mediterranean Area

'The most famous of sanctuaries of Asclepius had their origin from Epidaurus’, Pausanias writes in his Hellados Periegesis (‘Description of Greece’). All across the Aegean and beyond, word of the salutary reputation of Epidaurian divinity had spread. And as tales of Epidaurus’ sanctuary of Asclepius travelled the lands and crossed the seas, so did the urge to ensure that the Epidaurian success formula was, as we say, coming soon to a place near you. So we know Epidaurus had managed to make a name for itself: all the way from the Argolid Peninsula to Asia Minor and the shores of Northern Africa. But what exactly had led to its rise in prominence? What about Epidaurus allowed for it to transcend its local cult-status? And how did its celebrated reputation and meaning change across places and time? What, in other words, is the story of what is often simply referred to as the sanctuary of Asclepius at Epidaurus

Aspects of the Rapid Development of Christian Religious Travel in the 4th Century A.D.

'People travelled for numerous reasons,' so J.W. Drijvers submits at the beginning of his piece on travel and pilgrimage literature. Be it ‘commerce, government affairs, religion, education, military business or migration,’ people ‘made use of the elaborate system of roads and modes of transport such as wagons, horses and boats’ to traverse the far-reaching stretches of the Roman Empire. And for 4th century Christians in particular, participating in religious festivals as well as interaction with holy sites, sacred artifacts and clergymen had become greater a reason to travel still. Motivation to travel, in other words, was aplenty. But what exactly allowed for Christian religious travel in the 4th century AD to develop as quickly as it did