This study is one of a series of IFAD/PN joint activities with the FAO/Investment Centre(FAO/IC) undertaken during 2006/2007. Its main objective is to provide IFAD and its partners with updated knowledge about the status of rural poverty in the NENA region to enhance their capacity to design and implement more effective country strategic opportunities programmes (COSOPs) and country projects aimed at rural poverty reduction. The study also aims at informing the work of the NENA division in 2007 and beyond, particularly in formulating its thematic priorities at regional and country levels and in sharpening its approaches in specific areas (e.g. rural financial services, marketing of nontraditional crops). The study covers 13 countries in the IFAD’s NENA region: Algeria, Djibouti, Egypt, Gaza and the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey and Yemen.