In 2000, the first social agenda in the history of the European Union was launched, and the endeavor to combat poverty came increasingly to the forefront as a specific area for EU policy cooperation and coordination. Regrettably, however, little progress has been achieved so far, either at the national or European level. On the contrary, the EU's social fabric is under major stress: convergence in national living standards has halted or reversed while progress in terms of poverty reduction in the last decades has been disappointing in most EU Member States. In Europe, despite high social spending and work-related welfare reforms, poverty often remains a largely intractable problem for policymakers and a persistent reality for many European citizens. In Decent Incomes for All, the authors shed new light on recent poverty trends in the European Union and the corresponding responses by European welfare states. They analyze the effect of social and fiscal policies before, during, and after the recent economic crisis and study the impact of alternative policy packages on poverty and inequality. The volume also explores how social investment and local initiatives of social innovation can contribute to tackling poverty, while recognizing that there are indeed structural constraints on the increase of the social floor and difficult trade-offs involved in reconciling work and poverty reduction. Academics and graduate students in comparative social policy, inclusion and anti-poverty policy, sociology, and public economics will find the book to be a particularly helpful resource in their work.

History and Future of Peace Corps Programming in Zambia Rural Aquaculture Promotion (RAP) Project Volunteers are helping the Department of Fisheries to develop fish-farming projects that will improve livelihoods in rural communities. After determining rural farmers' needs and resources, Volunteers provide technical assistance in establishing dams, furrows, fishponds, and integrated agriculture. In addition to providing an excellent source of nutrition for rural families, surplus fish and agricultural products are sold to provide substantial supplementary income. Volunteers provide training in small agribusiness skills to assist farmers in applying a business orientation toward their farming activities. Volunteers also help build the organizational development capacity of fish-farming associations.

Disaster has become big business. Best-selling journalist Antony Loewenstein trav els across Afghanistan, Pakistan, Haiti, Papua New Guinea, the United States, Britain, Greece, and Australia to witness the reality of disaster capitalism. He discovers how companies cash in on or ganized misery in a hidden world of privatized detention centers, militarized private security, aid profiteering, and destructive mining. What emerges through Loewenstein's re porting is a dark history of multinational corpo rations that, with the aid of media and political elites, have grown more powerful than national governments. In the twenty-first century, the vulnerable have become the world's most valu able commodity.

The Peace Corps was invited to El Salvador and sent its first Volunteers in 1962. During the next 15 years, more than 1,500 Volunteers worked in 15- 20 sectors, serving primarily as project partners to government agencies and offices. In 1980, increasing violence prior to the civil war led the Peace Corps to close its offices. The destruction of economic and social infrastructure during the war sent El Salvador back to 1950s levels in most economic and social indicators. A 1986 earthquake destroyed much of what the war did not, especially in San Salvador. Moreover, widespread migration led to the breakdown of many social and family institutions and particularly affected youth and the environment. The government of El Salvador invited the Peace Corps to return to El Salvador in 1993. The first Volunteers arrived later that year. They were asked to increase the capacity of local people in several priority areas identified by the government and later affirmed by civil society in the Plan de Nacion, or National Plan, presented in 2000. The National Plan is a blueprint for national development, and Peace Corps programming is consistent with its priorities. The role of Peace Corps Volunteers remains to build capacity for local people and institutions.

Since 1963, more than 3,000 Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) have served in Costa Rica in a variety of projects in the areas of health, education, the environment, community development, agriculture, small business development, and youth development. Throughout the program's existence, Volunteers have been consistently well received by the Costa Rican people and local partner agencies. The children, youth, and families (CYF) project was the primary sector of the Peace Corps/Costa Rica program from 1998-2002. In 2003, a second project in rural community development (RCD) began, which focuses on the poorest rural communities in the country. In 2005, a third project in Community Economic Development (CED) began. In 2010, a fourth project began in teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL). History and Future of Peace Corps Programming in Costa Rica: Peace Corps/Costa Rica (PCCR) celebrates Peace Corps 50th anniversary in Costa Rica in 2013. PCCR has been operating continuously since January 23, 1963, with the arrival of the first group of 26 PCVs who were assigned as English and science teachers to public schools

The Peace Corps entered Cameroon in 1962 with 20 Volunteers who served as math and science teachers. Peace Corps/Cameroon's program grew and diversified to include inland fisheries, credit union and cooperatives education, English, community forestry, health and sanitation, and community development. Since then, more than 3,200 Volunteers have served in Cameroon. Currently, there are five robust projects in Cameroon: education, community health, environment, community economic development and youth development. The common themes that run through all Peace Corps/Cameroon projects are impact, focus, counterpart involvement, Volunteer competence, and organizational professionalism. Through collaboration and good teamwork, the Peace Corps has made a difference in many aspects of life in Cameroon, one community at a time. History and Future of Peace Corps Programming in Cameroon: Peace Corps programs directly respond to development priorities of the Cameroonian government. For example, the Community Health Project was recently redesigned to focus on maternal and child health and HIV/AIDS prevention and mitigation areas in order to assist Cameroon in its achievement of Millennium Development Goals. Although Volunteers are placed throughout all 10 regions of Cameroon, not every project is represented in every region. Each project concentrates on a few of the regions to maximize Volunteer impact and effectiveness.