May 2008 from weitzenegger.de

International cooperation professionals willing to end poverty

This monthly Newsletter brings you news for international cooperation professionals on economic and social development.
Edited by Karsten Weitzenegger, http://www.weitzenegger.de. Free subscription by sending an eMail to subscribe @ weitzenegger.de.
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CONTENT

  1. Rising Food Prices hit the Poor, shake Development Agendas
  2. DAC aid in 2007 falls by 8.4%
  3. UNCTAD XII adopts wide-ranging conclusions
  4. Report shows EU imports from developing countries growing
  5. ADB Launches New Long-Term Strategy
  6. Asian Development Outlook 2008
  7. World Social and Economic Survey 2007
  8. World Bank/IMF: Global Monitoring Report 2008
  9. Growth. Building Jobs and Prosperity in Developing Countries
  10. Conditional cash transfer programmes
  11. IDB/MIF: 2008 Call for proposals: Financing facility for remittances
  12. Poverty (and social) impact analysis compared
  13. Discussion Forum: Trade and Sustainable Development
  14. Join the Eldis Community
  15. Training and Events
  16. Publications
  17. Websites of the Month

My Daily Lama | http://weitzenegger.de/lama/

It is the absence of broad-based business activity, not its presence, that condemns much of humanity to suffering. Business generates employment and wealth. Kofi Annan


1. Rising Food Prices hit the Poor, shake Development Agendas

With food and other commodity prices skyrocketing in recent months, energy and climate change have been all over the news.

Prices for rice, the staple food for about half of the world's 6 billion people, have soared to record highs, with key benchmarks touching $1000-per-tonne earlier this month, more than double the rate at the start of the year. Prices for a wide range of foods have risen sharply since the end of 2006, affecting commodities from corn, cereals, and soybeans to dairy products, meat, and edible oils.

The high prices have spurred food riots in countries such as Cote d'Ivoire, Haiti, Mauritania, Mexico, Senegal, and Yemen. In Egypt, where anger over food prices has caused political unrest in the past, the army has been ordered to bake cheap bread for the hungry. Anxious importing countries such as the Philippines and Bangladesh have been unable to buy the amount of rice they wanted to boost their dwindling inventories, as trading companies wait to see if prices will rise even higher.

The rise in basic commodity prices has been driven by a wide range of factors. Farm commodity prices are famously cyclical. Part of this is because it takes an entire growing season for supply to catch up with increased demand. The building up and drawing down of global stockpiles also affects prices. High oil prices have pushed up the cost of fertilizer and transportation, further boosting costs.

The UN special rapporteur on the right to food, Jean Ziegler, has been scathing about the effects of turning massive quantities of agricultural commodities into biofuel, calling it a ''crime against humanity'' that is causing people to go hungry by raising the price of staples.

Unlike biofuel-related demand for food crops, which is directly policy-driven, demand growth resulting from population and income growth cannot be avoided. But even the supply of agricultural commodities faces uncertainty over the medium- and long-term, as urbanisation and industrialisation affect land and water use. Also significant are the likely effects of climate change on rainfall and other weather patterns. Some see the decade-long drought in Australia as a sign of things to come.

Josette Sheeran, who heads the UN's World Food Programme, described how the food crisis was affecting people at different socioeconomic levels across the developing world. ''For the middle classes, it means cutting out medical care,'' she said, according to a report in The Economist. ''For those on $2 a day, it means cutting out meat and taking the children out of school. For those on $1 a day, it means cutting out meat and vegetables and eating only cereals. And for those on 50 cents a day, it means total disaster.''

The WFP has called the rising food prices a ''silent tsunami'' that has pushed millions of people into the ''urgent hunger category'' in the past six months. The World Bank estimates that the growth in food prices could push 100 million people further into poverty.

Poor people in developing countries are especially exposed to commodity price fluctuations: not only do they spend over half of their incomes on food, they eat basic commodities or semi-processed foods, such as milled rice, or corn meal. In contrast, basic commodities account for a relatively small proportion of the cost of more processed foods. For instance, at a bakery in Geneva, wheat flour might account for only a fifth of the cost of a loaf of bread, with labour costs making up a substantially higher share of the price customers pay.

For over six years, negotiators from governments around the world have been haggling over cuts to farm subsidies and barriers to agricultural trade in talks at the WTO. Competitive exporters seeking greater liberalisation have met stiff opposition from countries determined to protect their farm sectors from the full force of international competition. The wrangling continues, as WTO Members push for a deal in the troubled Doha Round of global trade talks.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick and others have suggested that a Doha Round deal on cutting farm subsidies and tariffs could play a role in addressing the food crisis. ''The poor need lower food prices now,'' Zoellick recently told a Washington audience. ''But the world's agricultural trading system is stuck in the past. If ever there is a time to cut distorting agricultural subsidies and open markets for food imports, it must be now. If not now, when?''

''Wait a second,'' responded Harvard University professor Dani Rodrik on his blog (http://rodrik.typepad.com/). ''Wouldn't the removal of these distorting policies raise world prices in agriculture even further? And in fact aren't these price effects the main channel through which agricultural trade liberalisation in the North is supposed to benefit the South?'' Rodrik pointed to World Bank data suggesting that the removal of trade restrictions would raise the price of wheat, rice, and other grains.

Indeed, part of the reason for launching the Doha Round negotiations was to address rich country farm policies that had been depressing the prices received by poor farmers in the developing world. But if low prices were so bad, how come high prices are bad too?

There is a reason for the apparent contradiction, explained Per Pinstrup-Andersen, a professor of food, nutrition, and public policy at Cornell University and the University of Copenhagen. Years of low farm prices caused by reasons external to poor farmers in developing countries - notably, rich country farm subsidies - meant there was no incentive for developing country governments or the private sector to invest in agricultural production, and to build roads and the other rural infrastructure necessary to support it. Low productivity and low farm prices meant that farmers often looked for other sources of income, and became net buyers of food. Now, with prices rising, ''they get caught in the middle.''

''We need to get rid of the trade-distorting subsidies in OECD [industrialised] countries,'' the World Food Prize laureate said, adding that the time was ripe for doing so since farmers did not need them now, and production levels were currently being determined by the high market prices. Reducing import restrictions in the EU and other developed nations would also help create clear incentives for developing country agriculture.

Since the 1980s, government spending on agricultural research in developing countries has declined. Instead of research, the bulk of public farm spending has often been used to purchase social peace or electoral support by ensuring low prices for food or agricultural inputs like seeds and fertiliser. The Economist last week cited World Bank data suggesting that over the two decades since 1980, developing country crop yields grew by steadily declining rates.

Continued high prices could help many developing country farmers who are net buyers of food to become net sellers, Pinstrup-Andersen said. They could ultimately even drive up wages for landless labour, and boost demand for rural goods and services that would generate employment. To help this happen, however, there would need to be greater investment in farmers' associations and rural infrastructure, and better price transmission mechanisms to ensure farmers actually feel the higher prices in their own pockets.

''One of my concerns is that governments are going to introduce the wrong policies'' in response to high prices, he said. Price controls and export taxes, he warned, could discourage the necessary additional investment in agricultural production.

For global farm policy to result in reasonable food prices and reasonable farm incomes, ''the only solution is to produce more with less.'' This includes less use of natural resources, he emphasised. Therefore, not only do governments need to create an appropriate facilitating environment for farmers, consumers need to pay for the land, air, and water costs of agricultural production in the price that they pay for food. Unless these costs are ''endogenised'' in food prices, ''we're just going to borrow from our grandchildren to get our food prices down. Not a good thing.''

As for the low-income food importing countries that are most vulnerable to further increases, Pinstrup-Andersen said that they should be given grants of the foreign exchange that they require to import the food they need at the going international rate. Unlike in-kind food aid, ''this would send a signal to governments and farmers to make the investments they need.''

He described the argument that low food prices are good for poor food importing countries as a ''short-term, static argument.'' Most African countries are net importers of food. A ''longer-term, dynamic view'' would suggest that a lot of these countries could produce more food ''if the conditions were right.'' After the last wave of high oil and food prices in 1973-74 - when food prices were almost double what they are today, adjusted for inflation - public investment in rural infrastructure and private investment in farming went up, as did agricultural productivity, he noted.

Even with high prices, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy cautions that few of the benefits may accrue to farmers in poor countries, because of the ''the incredible market power'' held by the handful of transnational corporations that dominate international agricultural production value chains. It has called for multilateral monitoring of how these ''highly untransparent'' value chains operate, to better assess where profits are distributed along them.

The Minneapolis-based think tank, which is sceptical about the potential positive effects of a Doha accord on food markets, supports intergovernmental efforts to stabilise commodity prices. Although government attempts to control commodity prices have had a spotty record of success in the past, Carin Smaller, with the institute's Geneva office, said that the predictability arising from more stable prices was necessary ''both for poor consumers, who spend 50 percent and more of their resources on food, and for small producers, who have to take risks to get the credit to plant and who, in many cases, are poor consumers themselves.''

Food prices are now firmly on the international policymaking agenda, featuring prominently at the ongoing UN Conference on Trade and Development meeting in Ghana. The World Bank has called for a 'new deal' on food, and has appealed for $500 million in emergency support for the World Food Programme. The Group of Eight leading industrialised nations are also set to address the issue at their annual summit in July.

Despite growing alarm about the cost and availability of food, high prices were hardly the only cause of hunger in the world, or even the most important, noted Pinstrup-Andersen. ''860 million people could not get access to food when prices were low'' five years ago, he said. However, unlike the urban protestors making news headlines today, most of them live in rural areas. ''We should have been demonstrating five years ago.''

Source: BRIDGES - ICTSD Weekly Trade News Digest: http://www.ictsd.org/weekly/08-04-23/story1.htm
FAO Report: Crop Prospects and Food Situation: http://www.fao.org/worldfoodsituation/
FAO's Initiative on Soaring Food Prices: http://www.fao.org/newsroom/common/ecg/1000826/en/ISFP.pdf
Spring Meetings: Development Committee Communiqué: http://tinyurl.com/5ura9v
dgCommunities Highlight: http://topics.developmentgateway.org/trade/highlights/default/showMore.do


2. DAC aid in 2007 falls by 8.4%

The OECD has just released key data on official development assistance (ODA) in 2007. According to these figures, the 22 member countries of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC)–the world’s major donors–provided USD 103.7 billion in aid last year. This represents a decrease of 8.4% in real terms over the previous year. The fall was expected: ODA had been exceptionally high in 2005 (USD 107.1 billion) and 2006 (USD 104.4 billion) because of debt relief in Iraq and Nigeria.

How does this bode for donors keeping their promises with relation to key development goals? Overall, donors are not on track to meet their aid volume commitments, which the Gleneagles G8 summit in 2005 estimated would raise ODA from USD 80 billion in 2004 to USD 130 billion in 2010.

On average, donors need to more than double the present rate of increase in their aid over the next three years to reach this target. While there was an encouraging upsurge in bilateral aid to sub-Saharan Africa (an increase of 10% in 2007, excluding debt relief), donors still face a real challenge in doubling total aid to Africa by 2010, as foreseen at Gleneagles. The first comprehensive survey of donors’ future spending plans to 2010 has been completed by the OECD and the results will be published early in May. Source: http://tinyurl.com/5elbk9.

Germany is the world’s second biggest development cooperation donor in absolute figures, after the US. Federal Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul welcomed the news, but commented that there was still a great deal to be done. http://www.bmz.de/en/press/pm/2008/april/pm_20080404_32.html

Full OECD Report: http://puck.sourceoecd.org/vl=1591633/cl=14/nw=1/rpsv/dac/index.htm


3. UNCTAD XII adopts wide-ranging conclusions

UNCTAD Secretary-General Supachai Panitchpakdi hailed the Accra Accord and its accompanying political declaration for embodying the shared commitment of the developing and developed world ''to work toward making globalization a powerful means to achieve poverty eradication.” Quoting Ghanaian President John Kofi Agyekum Kufuor, whose country hosted the conference, Dr. Supachai referred to a new mood of ''development solidarity” around the objective of narrowing gaps between countries and achieving the Millennium Development Goals, which include halving extreme poverty by 2015.

The Accra Accord highlighted the challenges facing many developing countries as they strive to integrate successfully into the international economic and financial system and set out a detailed agenda for progress in economic and social development spanning areas ranging from commodities, trade and debt to investment and new technologies. While welcoming the strong economic growth rates that global trade and investment flows have brought many in the developing world, UNCTAD XII cautioned that these advances have not been shared by all and have been accompanied by new difficulties, most notably the current crises in food prices and financial markets, as well as growing income inequalities.

Official Website: http://www.unctadxii.org
Webcast: http://www.un.org/webcast/unctad/
Google News: http://news.google.com/news?q=unctad&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wn
UN-NGLS Background: http://www.un-ngls.org/site/article.php3?id_article=395


4. Report shows EU imports from developing countries growing

The European Commission has presented to the European Parliament its regular report on the openness of the European market to imports from developing countries. The report sets out how the EU has continued in 2007 to use its trade policy to advance a pro-development agenda and analyses the relevant data for which the most recent available is for the period up to the end of 2006. The report shows that the EU continues to offer market access for developing country exports that is unmatched by any other major economy. EU imports from developing countries rose 16% in 2006 from 2005 and by 14% if imports from China are excluded. According to the WTO, overall global merchandise trade grew by around 8% over the same period.

The report also assesses EU measures to help developing countries integrate further into the global economy by developing their capacity to trade. The EU's Aid for Trade strategy of October 2007, jointly agreed by the Commission and EU Member States, provides a strong basis for implementation of Aid for Trade in their respective development assistance activities. It argues that both the Doha WTO trade talks and the ongoing negotiations for comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements and other bilateral and regional agreements have considerable potential for increasing imports and economic diversification in the developing world. http://ec.europa.eu/trade/issues/global/development/pr220408_en.htm


5. ADB Launches New Long-Term Strategy

The Asian Development Bank has launched Strategy 2020, a new long-term strategy for its vision of an Asia and Pacific region free of poverty. Strategy 2020 sets ADB’s new strategic course, emphasizing that poverty reduction can only be sustained if more people are economically productive, economic growth takes place in a well-managed natural environment, and neighboring economies work within larger and freer markets to achieve shared interests through cooperation.
http://www.adb.org/Media/Articles/2008/12440-adb-strategies/default.asp


6. Asian Development Outlook 2008

ADB’s flagship annual publication, Asian Development Outlook 2008 (ADO) shows that favorable policy conditions and impressive productivity growth associated with Asia’s economic modernization and structural transformation will continue to keep the region on a strong growth path. ADO warns that the risk of an inflation spiral in Asia is palpable and urges policymakers to keep a close watch on it. Inflation is expected to rise to 5.1% in 2008 and gradually slide to 4.6% in 2009.

A special theme chapter on ''Workers in Asia'' highlights the importance of providing relevant skills and job opportunities for Asia’s burgeoning labor force. Developing Asian countries may fail to reap the ''demographic dividend” if they do not invest in their education and training systems to make them more relevant to the demands of their rapidly modernizing economies, the Asian Development Bank says in the ADO.
http://www.adb.org/Documents/Books/ADO/


7. World Social and Economic Survey 2007

Greater longevity is an indicator of human progress in general. Increased life expectancy and lower fertility rates are changing the population structure worldwide in a major way: the proportion of older persons is rapidly increasing, a process known as population ageing. The process is inevitable and is already advanced in developed countries and progressing quite rapidly in developing ones.

The 2007 Survey analyzes the implications of population aging for social and economic development around the world, while recognizing that it offers both challenges and opportunities. Among the most pressing issues is that arising from the prospect of a smaller labor force having to support an increasingly larger older population. Paralleling increased longevity are the changes in intergenerational relationships that may affect the provision of care and income security for older persons, particularly in developing countries where family transfers play a major role.

At the same time, it is also necessary for societies to fully recognize and better harness the productive and social contributions that older persons can make but are in many instances prevented from making. The Survey argues that the challenges are not insurmountable, but that societies everywhere need to put in place the policies required to confront those challenges effectively and to ensure an adequate standard of living for each of their members, while respecting and promoting the contribution and participation of all.'' United Nations Development Policy and Analysis Division. The website allows one to download the book itself, and to download the background papers that were prepared for its authors.

Source: United Nations Development Policy and Analysis Division, http://www.un.org/esa/policy/wess/


8. World Bank/IMF: Global Monitoring Report 2008

This new report warns that most countries will fall short on the MDGs. Though much of the world is set to cut extreme poverty in half by then, prospects are gravest for the goals of reducing child and maternal mortality. The report also stresses the link between environment and development. The implication of this assessment is clear. If the world is to get back on track to meet the MDGs, the international communityneeds to move quickly to generate stronger and broader momentum toward these goals. In the context of expediting and broadening progress toward the MDGs, and ensuring the sustainability of that progress, the report proposes an agenda for inclusive and sustainable development. http://tinyurl.com/5zbweg


9. Growth. Building Jobs and Prosperity in Developing Countries. By UK DFID.

Growth can generate virtuous circles of prosperity and opportunity. Strong growth and employment opportunities improve incentives for parents to invest in their children’s education by sending them to school. This may lead to the emergence of a strong and growing group of entrepreneurs, which should generate pressure for improved governance. Strong economic growth therefore advances human development, which, in turn, promotes economic growth.
But under different conditions, similar rates of growth can have very different effects on poverty, the employment prospects of the poor and broader indicators of human development. The extent to which growth reduces poverty depends on the degree to which the poor participate in the growth process and share in its proceeds. Thus, both the pace and pattern of growth matter for reducing poverty.

A successful strategy of poverty reduction must have at its core measures to promote rapid and sustained economic growth. The challenge for policy is to combine growth-promoting policies with policies that allow the poor to participate fully in the opportunities unleashed and so contribute to that growth. This includes policies to make labour markets work better, remove gender inequalities and increase financial inclusion.

Asian countries are increasingly tackling this agenda of ‘inclusive growth’. India’s most recent development plan has two main objectives: raising ec! onomic growth and making growth more inclusive, policy mirrored elsewhere in South Asia and Africa. Future growth will need to be based on an increasingly globalised world that offers new opportunities but also new challenges. New technologies offer not only ‘catch-up’ potential but also ‘leapfrogging’ possibilities. New science offers better prospects across both productive and service sectors.

Future growth will also need to be environmentally sustainable. Improved management of water and other natural resources is required, together with movement towards low carbon technologies by both developed and developing countries. With the proper institutions, growth and environmental sustainability may be seen as complements, not substitutes.
http://www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/growth-policy-paper.pdf


10. Conditional cash transfer programmes: a useful step in the fight against poverty

Conditional cash transfer programmes constitute an important tool for reducing poverty and promoting social inclusion - two key objectives of the International Labour Organization. Mexico has one of the most successful programmes of this type, which was recently the focus of a seminar at the ILO headquarters in Geneva. But as it was clear from the discussion that followed, these programmes are not exempt from risks. http://tinyurl.com/5g7egm


11. IDB/MIF: 2008 Call for proposals: Financing facility for remittances

The Financing Facility for Remittances is opening its 2008 call for proposals on ''Promoting innovative remittance systems and investment channels for migrants''. http://www.iadb.org/mif/newsDetail.cfm?language=English&ID=48


12. Poverty (and social) impact analysis compared

PSIA is an approach developed in 2001 by the World Bank and other donors, while the PIA came about in 2006 as a result of discussions within the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC). The main difference between both tools is that the PIA is designed to focus on project, programmes or specific policy reforms, while the PSIA approach is better for macroeconomic and structural policy reforms.

The International Poverty Centre (IPC) has recently released the last number of its journal Poverty in Focus. This issue focuses on Poverty and Social Impact Analysis (PSIA) and Poverty Impact Assessment (PIA), a field in which the IPC is currently administering a joint UNDP-World Bank Project.

Since PSIA was introduced, approximately 150 assessments have been conducted and the IPC show that it has been applied with a different degree of success in different occasions. Most of the articles in the journal agree that further progress needs to be made in order to unleash PSIA’s full potential.
(Source: EURODAD) http://www.undp-povertycentre.org/pub/IPCPovertyInFocus14.pdf


13. Discussion Forum: Which factors are necessary to the achievement of a positive relationship between Trade and Sustainable Development?

''Trade liberalization and sustainable development are not unavoidably incompatible. Trade liberalization can advance sustainable development goals, just as it can retard their achievement. The same can be said for foreign direct investment. Appropriate investment can spur sustainable development, but much investment in developing countries has been environmentally, socially and often economically questionable.'' (IISD Statement on Trade and SD). Please share your comments about this statement at http://tinyurl.com/2pvlhv You will need to be logged-in at dgCommunities to contribute.


14. Join the Eldis Community

Take afresh look at the Eldis Community. The Eldis Community is a free on-line community where you can meet others involved in international development, discuss issues that are important to you and share useful resources. Anyone with an interest in development issues can join the site free of charge. On the front page of the Eldis Community Site you find the option to join us and 'create a personal space for yourself' for yourself. Be part of our free on-line community where you can meet others involved in international development and discuss the issues that are important to you. http://community.eldis.org


15. Training and Events

Europe Africa Business Summit (EABS)
http://www.europeafricabusinesssummit.org
Hamburg, 28-30 April 2008, CCH
Europe-Africa Business Summit 2008 is the first biennial Europe-Africa Business Summit to take place in Europe, organised by private non-governmental bodies and strives to increase European private sector awareness of the many commercial opportunities in Africa. The major theme of the summit is ''The State and the Future of the European-African Economic Relationships”.

Economics of Innovation and Patenting
http://www.zew.de/en/veranstaltungen/details.php?LFDNR=795
The Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) in Mannheim is pleased to announce its 3rd conference on the economics of innovation and patenting. The aim is to stimulate the discussion between international researchers conducting related empirical and theoretical analysis. In addition, the conference will focus on policy implications of recent research. The event will be held June 13-14, 2008. Registration deadline: May 9, 2008.

Producing policy change: Innovation in the agriculture sector
http://www.odi.org.uk/events/2008/05/agriculture/index.html
London, Friday 9 May, 12:30-2:30pm
Seminar of the EADI Working Groups on Multidimensional Poverty and Knowledge, Policy and Power, co-hosted by ODI; RIU and held in conjunction with DSA and IDS.

e-Learning Course on Fundamentals of Risk Management
http://www.unitar.org/pft/elearning
May 12 to June 20, 2008 United Nations Institute for Training and Research.
This UNITAR online course is designed for participants from both public and private sectors who need a practical introduction to risk management principles, methods and techniques.

International Conference on African Studies
Grenzen und Übergänge Frontières et Passages Frontiers and Passages
http://www.vad-ev.de/cms
Freiburg im Breisgau (Germany) and Basel (Switzerland) 14-17 May 2008
For the first time the African Studies Association in Germany (VAD) and the Swiss Society for African Studies (SGAS) co-organise a conference, which is to discuss the current developments in Africa and the state of research on the continent. Registration until May 7, 2008.

The International Economy in the 21th Century
http://www.idec.gr/iier/
Athens, Greece, 16 - 18 May 2008
Towards Globalization or Regionalization? Organizers: Institute of International Economic Relations (IIER)

Workshop with C K Prahalad (Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, etc.)
http://www.msm.nl/prahalad
Maastricht, 20 May and a one-day Africa Round Table 21 May, The Maastricht School of Management (MSM)

Conference: Latin America meets Europe
http://www.nimd.org/default.aspx?menuid=88&type=eventitem&contentid=23
The Hague, 26 May 2008, Organisation: Socires, NIMD, SID and others
At the conference political, social and economic developments in Latin America will be addressed with special attention to the issue of energy supply and food security.

Conference on global competition and European companies’ location decisions, http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/events/2008/confpoznan/index.htm
Pozna?, Poland, 3–5 June 2008, IBB Andersia Hotel, Plac Andersa 3
Globalisation brings new opportunities and markets for business and companies. It also brings more choice and lower prices for customers. But for workers it can mean the loss of jobs and the erosion of incomes, living standards and the European social model. So what makes companies decide to locate their business in the EU? Is it inevitable that they abandon European countries for low-cost, poorly-regulated locations elsewhere? Can policymakers influence that decision? And what does it mean for European integration if production and jobs move from one Member State to another? The conference is aimed at the key players in the debate – companies, employers, workers, politicians, and public authorities at local and national levels.

Tools of the Trade for Development Practitioners
http://www.mdi-nh.org
Manchester, New Hampshire, USA, 08 - 21 June 2008

e-Learning course: Intellectual Property Policy and Development
http://www.unitar.org/pft/ipdev
9 June to 25 July 2008 (six weeks).
Designed for officials and professionals in full-time work, this instructor-led online course, which has been reviewed by leading academics and policy makers, will provide participants with the necessary background knowledge to conduct strong analysis and research on IP policy issues, to effectively participate in policy discussions and multilateral negotiations, and to address IP issues in legislation, regulations and guidelines. This course, which has been developed by United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) jointly with South Centre, an Intergovernmental Organization of developing countries, is intended to educate and enable government delegates, public and private sector officials in charge of IP related issues, and other stakeholders to further understand the linkages between IP and development.

Forum on Growing Inclusive Markets
http://www.gim2008.ca
Halifax, Canada, 20-21 June
The International Council for Small Business holds a World Conference in Canada, 22-25 June. IDRC, CIDA, UNDP and others are holding a pre-conference Forum on Growing Inclusive Markets.

Regulatory Impact Analysis Training Courses
http://www.coleurop.be/ria2008
Belgium, 23-27 June and 6-10 October 2008; The College of Europe and Jacobs and Associates

2nd ValueLinks Introductory Training Seminar
http://www.idc-aachen.de/english/2_4.html
Oestrich-Winkel, Germany, 8-12 September 2008

Seminar on child labour, education and youth employment: a challenge for economic growth and social progress
http://tinyurl.com/5oswcb
Madrid, Spaijn, 11 - 12 September 2008, UCW Seminar III
UCW Project and the Instituto Figuerola of Universidad Carlos III de Madrid are organizing a two-day seminar to present recent research on child labour and its linkages with educational and youth employment outcomes. The seminar will also aim at identifying key information gaps relating to these themes, thereby helping to guide furture research efforts. We are calling for papers to be presented at the seminar.

Regional Comparative Advantage and Knowledge?Based Entrepreneurship
http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/RICAFE/newsAndEvents.htm
The RICAFE2 third Conference will be held on 9 & 10 October 2008 at the University of Amsterdam Business School. The organizers invite submissions for empirical and theoretical papers on the financing of knowledge-based entrepreneurial firms, on the influence of venture capital on firms’ ability to translate technological advances into successful products, and on the contribution of knowledge-based entrepreneurship to regional dynamics.

Knowledge creation & Optimal Teaching and Learning Environments: What Works?
http://www.earli-pbpr.org
Bergen, Norway, 26-28 November 2008
3rd European Conference on Practice-based and Practitioner Research on Learning and Instruction

What Can Microfinance Contribute to Agriculture in Developing Countries?
http://www.fondation-farm.org/IMG/pdf/Farm_microfinance_conf_eng.pdf
Proceedings from the International Conference held in
Paris, 4-6 December 2007

Donor Committee for Enterprise Development
http://www.enterprise-development.org
Oslo, 10 - 11 December 2008
The 30th Annual Meeting for members of the Committee will be hosted by Norad

Global Directory of Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution Programs
http://www.peacejusticestudies.org/globaldirectory/
This is a comprehensive, annotated guide to peace studies and conflict resolution programs at colleges and universities worldwide. This edition profiles over 450 undergraduate, Master's and Doctoral programs and concentrations in 40 countries and 38 U.S. states. Entries describe the program's philosophy and goals, examples of course offerings and requirements, degrees and certificates offered, and complete contact information, including links to email and websites.


16. Publications

A Billion to Gain?
http://tinyurl.com/68lmym
The reports of ING Microfinance Support systematically chart large global financial institutions’ activities and future plans in microfinance. This third edition in the ‘A Billion to Gain?’ series provides an update of the latest report and serves three main objectives: To update global financial institutions’ activities and future plans regarding microfinance; to discover recent major developments and trends in global financial institutions’ involvement in the microfinance sector; and to reveal the impact of global banks’ involvement in the development of the microfinance sector.

An Investigation of the Competitiveness Hypothesis of the Resource Curse
http://biblio.iss.nl/opac/uploads/wp/wp455.pdf
Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Working Paper no. 455, Author: L. Serino

CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement : An Overview
http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2008/april/tradoc_138569.pdf
Information paper by DG Trade, European Commission, gives an overview of the content of the agreement, outlining the provisions with respect to various subject areas.

CGAP Good Practice Guidelines for Funders
http://tinyurl.com/5euxvx
Good Practice Guidelines for Funders of Microfinance provides operational guidance for staff of donors and investors in the field and at headquarters who conceptualize, design, implement, and monitor programs related to improving poor people’s access to financial services.

Clusters, Functional Regions and Cluster Policies
http://www.insme.info/documenti/Cluster&Cluster_Policies.pdf
This INSME paper by Charlie Karlssongives an overview of research on economic clusters and clustering and is motivated by the growing intellectual and political interest for the subject. Functional regions have the features that agglomeration of economic activities i.e. clusters, benefit from. Functional regions have low intra-regional transaction and transportation cost and has access to the local labour market. The features of spatial economic concentration were for a long time disregarded. The scientific interests of cluster and clustering phenomenon have after the ''new” introduction rapidly increased in the last decade. Hence, the subject is being thought at various education levels. The importance of cluster and clustering has also been recognized at a national, regional and local level and cluster policies are becoming a major part of political thinking. These policies are however often based on a scarce analysis where no strict criterions are statet.

Country-Level Savings Assessment Tool
http://www.microfinancegateway.org/files/45915_file_CLSA_Tool.pdf
CGAP produced this Draft Country-Level Savings Assessment (CLSA) Tool to help guide analysts and researchers who wish to undertake CLSAs and to guide governments and donors who wish to commission CLSAs. It explains the areas of analysis covered, the methodology, and how it can be tailored to the needs of the agency commissioning the CLSA. This draft tool is a work in progress.''

Delivering Microfinance and Social Services in Conditions of Fragility in Nepal
http://www.microlinks.org/ev_en.php?ID=19700_201&ID2=DO_TOPIC
USAid, Field Report no 3. Natural disasters, civil conflicts and the HIV/AIDS pandemic are forcing an increasing number of people to live in conditions of fragility, complicating the delivery of basic public services. Despite the obstacles posed by these fragile conditions, relief and development organizations as well as national governments have been able to increase their outreach to affected populations by developing new approaches and strategies. This case study documents the strategies used by microfinance institutions (MFI), non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and private businesses to deliver financial and non-financial goods and services (e.g., business development services; health and education services; basic consumer goods; sanitation services) to populations affected by the Maoist insurgency in Nepal.

Developing women's entrepreneurship
http://www.unescap.org/icstd/pubs/st_escap_2468.pdf
This UN document explores the potential for women in entrepreneurship and e-business in the niche area of green or ''organic'' cooperatives. It seeks to promote women's entrepreneurship and e-business development by providing policymakers and entrepreneurs with background on this niche area, potential entrepreneurship and e-business development opportunities, and a discussion of its implications for rural development.

Développement Economique Local et Régional
http://www2.gtz.de/wbf/doc/LRED_framework_fr.pdf
Ce manuel de la GTZ des praticiens du LRED est basé sur l'expérience récente de la GTZ dans l’appui au Développement Économique Local et Régional (LRED) en Afrique du Sud.

Explaining Success and Failure in Development
http://www.merit.unu.edu/publications/wppdf/2008/wp2008-013.pdf
United Nations University (UNU-MERIT), Working Paper No. 13, Author: A. Szirmai

Financial literacy - a comparative study in selected countries
http://www.sparkassenstiftung.de/uploads/media/Financial_Literacy_Study.pdf
Financial literacy is not only an issue for industrialised nations; it is even more important for developing and transformation countries. When combined with other measures of development cooperation, financial literacy can essentially contribute to combating poverty. By Sparkassenstiftung für internationale Kooperation, Bonn, Germany.

Geographical Distribution of Financial Flows to Developing Countries
http://www.oecdbookshop.org/oecd/display.asp?sf1=identifiers&st1=432008073P1
Disbursements, Commitments, Country Indicators, 2002-2006: 2008 Edition

German BMZ: Development Partnerships with the private sector
http://tinyurl.com/5mowgd
The creation of global development partner-ships is one of the eight UN Millennium Development Goals. Our PPP programme is one way we contribute to the achievement of this goal. In this programme we join together with partners from the private sector to seek – and often to find! – sustainable solutions for the development policy challenges facing our part-ner countries. In 2006, nearly 400 new partnerships were formed.

Global employment trends for women
http://tinyurl.com/5mowgd
The ILO report shows clearly that most regions are making progress in increasing the number of women in decent employment, but that full gender equality in terms of labour market access and conditions of employment has not yet been attained.

Individual Entrepreneurship Capacity and Performance of SMEs
http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/8179/1/MPRA_paper_8179.pdf
This paper analyses the importance of human capital and organizational capital on the determination of SME’s performance, by proposing and testing a conceptual model about Individual Entrepreneurship Capacity, and its impact both on non-economic and economic performance.

Innovation and Export of Vietnam’s SME Sector
http://tinyurl.com/6x59sx
In this paper, the authors investigate how the firms’ export behavior depends on their innovation activities, or whether the more innovative firms are more likely to export. The authors find that innovation as measured directly by ‘new products’, ‘new production process’ and ‘improvement of existing products’ are important determinants of exports by Vietnamese SMEs.

Local Economic Development Strategic Planning and Practice Casebook
http://tinyurl.com/6n25wc
In 1999 World Bank and Bertelsmann Foundation started a Cities of Change program in Central and Eastern Europe, the Baltics and Balkans to reduce unemployment and poverty. As a result the local economic development cluster emerged. The Cities of Change program aimed to help the LED cluster cities to design and implement their own LED strategies. A core task of the program was to develop practical knowledge products that could be used by municipal governments and communities to understand, design and implement integrated LED strategic planning. As a practical product of the program, this LED Strategic Planning and Practice Casebook seeks to help the reader understand municipal approaches to LED strategic planning by identifying good practice in strategic planning methodology. The Casebook serves as a collection of six local economic development strategies that provide examples of good practice from across Europe and from the Cities of Change network. The Casebook also contains good practice notes and comments.

Mobile Banking: DFID Knowledge map & possible donor support strategies
http://tinyurl.com/5p24xc
Mobile banking (m-banking) involves the use of a mobile phone or another mobile device to undertake financial transactions linked to a client’s account. M-banking is one of the newest approaches to the provision of financial services through ICT, made possible by the widespread adoption of mobile phones even in low income countries. The roll out of mobile telephony has been rapid, and has extended access well beyond already connected customers in developing countries. There is mounting evidence of positive social impact on poorer people and communities as a result. There are sound reasons for the hope that m-banking could have similar impact.

Moving Toward Competitiveness: A Value-Chain Approach
http://tinyurl.com/6keu8z
A strong business environment based on sound institutions and policies is a necessary basis for enhanced competitiveness of private firms that produce and deliver goods and services. When business environment constraints—inefficiencies and cost disadvantages—can be identified, policy makers have the opportunity to jumpstart economic reform processes that target priority areas along the product/service life cycle known as the value chain. This technical report outlines a pragmatic approach for analyzing value chain performance as the basis for identifying binding constraints to growth and competitiveness. This approach is intended to facilitate formulating a targeted reform agenda. The World Bank Group (WBG) uses a myriad of policy tools to support its ongoing private sector development work.

OECD Competition Assessment Toolkit
http://tinyurl.com/5glxzk
Governments can reduce unnecessary restrictions by considering the use of methods in the OECD’s new ''Competition Assessment Toolkit”. The Toolkit provides a general methodology for identifying unnecessary restraints and developing alternative, less restrictive policies that still achieve government objectives. One of the main elements of the Toolkit is a Competition Checklist that asks a series of simple questions to screen for laws and regulations that have the potential to unnecessarily restrain competition. The Toolkit is available in: Chinese, English, French, Hungarian, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Turkish.

Organisational learning for aid, and learning aid organisations
http://www.capacity.org/en/content/view/full/219/(issue)/15869
Although many aid agencies claim to be learning organisations, a recent review found that they still need to address some major challenges, especially at field level. Ben Ramalingam asks why this is the case, and what aid agencies can do to learn more effectively.

Publication: The strategic partnership between the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean: a joint commitment
http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/library/publications/lima_en.pdf
This brochure sets out the framework of the strategic partnership, presenting the background and the most recent developments. The chapters are divided by theme and geographical entity, focusing on the most important elements of the partnership and its evolution. They illustrate the political, trade and cooperation re lations between the EU and each subregion.

Raw Deal: Europe’s damaging corporate trade agenda – impacts and new threats
http://www.wdm.org.uk/rawdeal - English
http://www.wdm.org.uk/desaccordsinjuste - Francais
http://www.wdm.org.uk/tratoinjusto - Espanol
This new Third World Network report presents evidence from existing European trade deals with South Africa and Mexico showing how they have hindered rather than helped development. Looking at examples in agriculture, industrial products and services, the report shows how the reality of these bilateral deals is far removed from the ‘win-win’ rhetoric.

Removing Barriers to SME Access to International Markets:
http://www.oecdbookshop.org/oecd/display.asp?sf1=identifiers&st1=852008021P1
This book sheds light on facilitating SME internationalisation and also presents a synthesis of the Conference discussions and the main outcome of the Conference: the ''Athens Action Plan for Removing Barriers to SME Access to International Markets''.

Social innovation: Good for you, good for me
http://www.wbcsd.org/includes/getTarget.asp?type=DocDet&id=Mjk1MTI
Big firms are joining the queue to follow in Muhammad Yunus's footsteps by developing businesses designed to fix social ills.

Supporting pro-poor growth processes: Implications for donors
http://tinyurl.com/5jjj6c
Eva Ludi and Kate Bird of Overseas Development Institute discuss policies and programmes to strengthen the productive capacities of poor people.

The new EPAs: comparative ananlysis of their content and the challenges for 2008
http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/?doc=36293
This report, prepared by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) addresses questions around national level impacts of interim EPAs, individual level agreements in relation to future regional integration initiatives and details of agreed opt out options and time schedules. It also examines how far the agreed texts are similar to each other and how development friendly are they?

Turning the Tables: Aid and accountability under the Paris framework
http://www.eurodad.org/whatsnew/reports.aspx?id=2166
A major new civil society report has been launched which reveals that the world's rich countries have only made patchy progress in making aid more effective for helping the poor, despite high-profile commitments to reform aid.

UNRISD: Poverty and Inequality in China
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/toc/rode/12/2
A special of the Journal ''Review of Development Economics'' includes papers emerging from UNU-WIDER’s 2004/2005 research project on poverty and inequality in China and is free online.

Vocational education and training in Germany
http://tinyurl.com/5mowgd
This Cedfop overview of vocational education and training in Germany has been produced to mark Germany’s Presidency of the Council of the EU. It forms part of the series of short descriptions regularly published by Cedefop on national VET systems.

What Makes an Entrepreneur?
http://www.doingbusiness.org/documents/What_Makes_an_Entrepreneur.pdf
The World Bank authors tests two competing hypotheses on what makes an entrepreneur: nature - attitude towards risk, I.Q., and self-confidence; or nurture - family background and social networks. The results are based on data from a new survey on entrepreneurship in Brazil, of 400 entrepreneurs and 540 non-entrepreneurs of the same age, gender, education and location in 7 Brazilian cities. We find that family characteristics have the strongest influence on becoming an entrepreneur. In contrast, success as an entrepreneur is primarily determined by the individual’s smartness and higher education in the family. Entrepreneurs are not more self-confident than non-entrepreneurs; and overconfidence is bad for business success.

World Bank Research Highlights 2007
http://econ.worldbank.org/research/highlights2007. This is the annual report of the World Bank's principal research unit, the Development Research Group (DECRG). The report describes the major research themes and highlights of 2007 for DECRG's six research teams: Finance and Private Sector Development; Human Development and Public Services; Macroeconomics and Growth; Poverty and Inequality; Sustainable Rural and Urban Development; and Trade and International Integration. The on-line version also provides a complete list of the unit's published output in 2007, comprising 25 books, 175 journal articles, 90 book chapters, 180 working papers, and 12 new public-access datasets.


17. Websites of the Month

>(loband)-
http://www.loband.org
loband is a service that simplifies web pages, in order to make them download faster over slow Internet connections. The simplified page viewed through loband will contain the same text information as the original. The formatting of the simplified page will be as similar to the original as possible, with colours and images removed. On certain pages you may find that things have moved around to some degree.

Association for International Agriculture and Rural Development (AIARD)
http://aiard.org
The Association for International Agriculture and Rural Development (AIARD) is an association of professionals and practitioners in international development with experience and intellectual and institutional capabilities to articulate and address broad-based as well as more focused development issues in agriculture and rural development.

Banking With The Poor Network
http://www.bwtp.org
The Banking With The Poor Network is a network of some 30 national policy institutions, commercial banks and NGO's from nine countries in Asia - namely Australia, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand. The BWTP objective is to link microfinance with the financial system and to support the provision of inclusive financial services in Asia. It pursues this objective through capacity building, information sharing, policy dialogue, advocacy and research.

Business Fights Poverty
http://businessfightspoverty.ning.com
From the team behind Business Action for Africa and Mentori, Business Fights Poverty is a professional network for all those passionate about fighting world poverty through the power of good business. I joined this recently and will invite you personally.

DB Classifieds: Vacancies, Training, Materials, and Events
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/263664#TME
DB Classifieds includes information relevant and helpful to people and organisations involved in international development. As part of the Classifieds service, organisations can now post training and events related to international development in the Classifieds section of the CI website as well as within the DB Classifieds - TME.
DB Classifieds will often include material for which organisations have paid for placement.

EASYPol is an FAO on-line
http://www.fao.org/easypol/output/
Interactive multilingual repository of downloadable resource materials for capacity development in policy making for food, agriculture and rural development. EASYPol is maintained by the FAO Agricultural Policy Support Service.

Eldis Community
http://community.eldis.org
The Eldis Community is a free on-line community where you can meet others involved in international development, discuss issues that are important to you and share useful resources. Anyone with an interest in development issues can join the site free of charge.

eldis Ressource Guide: EU trade policy
http://www.eldis.org/go/topics/resource-guides/trade-policy/eu-trade-policy/
This Resource Guide provides easy structured access to our extensive collection of research and policy documents. All are editorially selected, summarised and available free to download in full text. Resource guides are intended to help you keep up to date with the latest in development research, policy and practice.

European Microfinance Platform (e-MFP)
http://www.microfinance-platform.eu
Sharing the vision that everyone on this globe has access to inclusive financial services, microfinance is a solution. e-MFP, as a multi-stakeholder and well connected European microfinance community, has the mission to promote innovative and inclusive financial sectors in developing countries.

Geneva Trade and Development Forum (GTDForum)
http://www.gtdforum.org
The GTDForum seeks to provide an enduring platform – and a novel experience – for reflection, innovation, debate and dialogue. It will address the specific challenges and opportunities of developing countries trying to reap the benefits and heal the wounds from globalization and trade liberalization. The Forum offers a much needed neutral environment away from the negotiating table for all stakeholders, where the needs and interests of the poorer countries and the use of trade as a development tool will be at the centre of discussions.

Humanitarian Practice Network (HPN)
http://www.odihpn.org
HPN is an independent forum for humanitarians to share and disseminate information, analysis and experience. It has specialist resources for practitioners and policy makers alike and facilitate debate through regular events and the Online Exchange discussion forum.

Improving the Business Enabling Environment, by IFC
http://www.ifc.org/bee
Here IFC collects, summarizes, and analyzes various data on the successes and failures of business environment reform efforts, and develop practical guides for designing and implementing these reforms. They are currently focusing on business registration, business licensing, business inspections, municipal simplification, corporate tax administration, export/import procedures, building the capacity of business membership organizations, and alternative dispute resolution.

Mentori - Share your business skills for a better world.
http://www.mentori.org
Mentori connects you online with people from developing countries who value your expertise. Its simple. You can volunteer anytime, anywhere, from any computer. Mentori offers the Diaspora the opportunity to do a ''virtual return” home.

MicroFinance Network (MFN)
http://www.mfnetwork.org
MFN is an international association of leading microfinance institutions. Through the MFN, 39 members from 31 countries share ideas, experiences, and innovative solutions to the challenges they face in search of continuous growth and progress. MFN members seek to be models of what is possible in the industry.

Poverty Action Lab, MIT
http://www.povertyactionlab.org
The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) serves as a focal point for development and poverty research based on randomized trials. The objective is to improve the effectiveness of poverty programs by providing policy makers with clear scientific results that help shape successful policies to combat poverty.

Senegal: Inter-agency multifunctional platform programme (MFP)
http://www.ptfm.net
MFP has been recently launched in Senegal with the financial support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The MFP is a national / subregional programme based in Senegal. It aims to bring energy to the poorest rural areas and thus contributes to poverty alleviation and increasing the quality of life. A village enterprise - the Multifunctional-Platform: more time and more income for rural women and higher levels of schooling for girls. Using a simple diesel engine, rural people, particularly women, can now have access to affordable, simple and modern energy services. This improved access saves time and effort that can be devoted to income-generating activities, education, health and childcare.

The Gurteen Knowledge Website
http://www.gurteen.com
David Gurteen hosts on his personal website the Gurteen Knowledge Community, a global learning community of over 15,000 people in 154 countries. The main themes of the site are knowledge management, learning, creativity, innovation and personal development. Everything on this site is open and you do not need to be a member to access any part of it or to subscribe to any of the services provided. However, you will want to come back often and be part of it.

The Right to Food Virtual Library
http://www.fao.org/righttofood/kc/library_en.htm
This Library is a unique repository of information on the Human Right to Adequate Food and Freedom from Hunger. It provides catalogued documentation to assist the implementation of the Right to Food at national level. The aim of the Right to Food Virtual Library is to collect, maintain and provide a relevant, up-to-date, and outstanding collection of documents to fulfill the information needs of policy makers, practitioners, general public, civil society, NGOs, UN country teams, media and the academia, working toward the realization of the Right to Food. The Virtual Library is also available on CD and free of charge.

Theoretical Economics
http://www.econtheory.org
Theoretical Economics aims to become the leading journal in economic theory. It differs from existing journals in one major respect: all content is freely available

VISION Era-Net Portal for Innovation Policy Publications
This portal is a unique collection of publications related to innovation policy. The Innovation Policy Portal provides a valuable source and unique of information for both practitioners and researchers alike. The database consists of over 50 research reports, white papers, and policy documents from the world-leading researchers on the most advanced countries in the innovation policy.
http://www.visioneranet.org/?84_m=222&s=10

Wikigender
http://www.wikigender.org
On the occasion of International Women's Day, the OECD Development Centre launched this new interactive website to share and exchange information on gender equality issues.

Wikinomics
http://www.wikinomics.com
Today, encyclopedias, jetliners, operating systems, mutual funds, and many other items are being created by teams numbering in the thousands or even millions. While some leaders fear the heaving growth of these massive online communities, Wikinomics explains how to prosper in a world where new communications technologies are democratizing the creation of value. Anyone who wants to understand the major forces revolutionizing business today should consider Wikinomics their survival kit.

World Bank Knowledge Resources: Financial & Private Sector Development
http://rru.worldbank.org
Rapid Response is the World Bank Group’s knowledge hub on financial and private sector development in developing countries. This site offers best practice public policy advice for private sector led growth and financial market development in developing countries. Find expert analysis, powerful databases, quick solutions, and comprehensive ''how-to'' guides.


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