Cameroon, with her numerous resources, still epends on foreign aid while the rate of poverty remains high. Thus, even though historical evidence gives impetus to the impasse over role of developmental aid, from the top down approach through to development as a springboard raising states from the doldrums of poverty, it is still very difficult to draw a substantial relationship between developmental aid and poverty reduction. Against this backdrop of controversy, I find it apt to put Cameroon on a balance scale. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to critically assess the implications of developmental aid on poverty reduction and agro-rural development in Cameroon, using the RUMPI Area Development Project in the South West region of Cameroon as a case study. The study will situate and contextualize the top-down and bottom-up approaches to development within the basis of a Cameroonian perspective, using the Sachs-Easterly debate. The RUMPI Project was introduced with the objective of improving agriculture and empowering the rural woman; thereby fighting poverty within the South West region of Cameroon. Despite its criticism of the barriers to development created by corruption, political pressure and limited use of local and grass-root partnerships, the study, in assessing these failures also tries to outline vital ways in which the project can be improved upon.

This article aims to measure the impact of economic growth and urbanization on poverty reduction in Vietnam, and verify whether economic growth and urbanization will help reduce poverty rates. Data for this study are tabular data related to growth, urbanization and poverty at the provincial level for the period of nine years, from 2006 to 2014 provided by the Vietnam General Statistics Office and the Vietnam General Department of Customs. The level of economic growth and urbanization mentioned in the study is reflected in such indicators as GDP value, exports value, imports value, urbanization rate and employment rate. The authors used logistic regression models with fixedeffects and logistic regression models with random effects. With 5% confidence level tested by the Chi-Square test of Hausman trial with the fixed-effect model, research results show that: (1) factors with significant negative impact on the poverty rate include imports value, urbanization rate and, employment rate; (2) factors that do not affect the poverty rate include exports value and GDP value. Based on the research results, this study proposes a number of policy recommendations to help promote economic growth, to sustain the urbanization process, and to contribute directly and positively to poverty reduction in Vietnam.

The paper aims to investigate empirical causes of poverty of the Khmer ethnic people and suggest policy implication to help the Khmer ethnic people escape poverty in Tra Vinh province and the Mekong Delta. The study has been conducted with direct interviews with 300 Khmer households living in seven districts and cities in Tra Vinh province and with the use of multivariate regression. The research results show that a number of causes that affect poverty of poor households include lack of capital for production, lack of means of production, poor health and lack of labor, large families, lack of job opportunities or unemployment, and lack of willingness to escape poverty and education. Thus, there should be poverty reduction policy for the poor househlods in the coming time. Based on the current situation and regression results, the authors propose a number of recommendations: 1) Focus on preferential loan policies for poor people 2) Provide occupational training programs for improving incomes for the Khmer ethnic households 3) Build up special infrastructure in the Khmer ethnic areas 4) Focus on promoting cultural and belief institutions in areas of the Khmer ethnic people and 5) Improve and build up healthcare clinics services and facilities.