Weitzenegger's International Finance Institutions Report

Rethinking finance - Alternative voices for a new financial architecture

The World Bank Establishes a New Database on Grants
http://info.worldbank.org/etools/fragilityandconflict/databaseexternal.asp
The Fragile and Conflict-Affected Countries Group has developed a Database of grants financed by the Post-Conflict Fund and the Low Income Countries Under Stress (LICUS) Trust Fund. The Database features basic information on each of the projects supported by these two trust funds, including grant amounts, project components, recipients, etc. It also includes brief summaries of project results and lessons learned, updates on active projects, feature articles on noteworthy grant activities, and key documents produced as part of project activities, including in-depth project evaluations. The Database is accessible from the website of the World Bank Fragile and Conflict-Affected Countries Group.

DAC aid in 2007 falls by 8.4%
http://puck.sourceoecd.org/vl=1591633/cl=14/nw=1/rpsv/dac/index.htm
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. 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/pm2008040432.html

Whither EC Aid? Towards a New Approach For Assessing Development Cooperation
http://weca-ecaid.eu
European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) and Actionaid launched this new project website.

Social and Ecological Market Economy Principles in German Development Policy
http://www.bmz.de/en/service/infothek/fach/konzepte/konzept158.pdf
The guiding principles for the design of German Development cooperation

Forum Finances et Développement
http://esf.asso.fr/portail/
Un portail francophone dédié au financement du développement.

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.

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.

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.

CNCD new book on development finance
http://www.cncd.be
« L’introuvable consensus » (the never found consensus) analyses international financial flows trends and its attached conditionalities. In a new context where emerging economies are modifying the trade and finance panorama and where the IMF and the World Bank are suffering the deepest crisis in their history, the book questions the concept of « consensus » in the development economy and analyses the opportunities recently offered by the international relations evolution. It raises a key question in the development economy: what finance for what development? The book compiles a series of articles related to debt, aid and conditionalities in which some Eurodad members and staff have contributed.

EU Donor Atlas 2008
http://development.donoratlas.eu
The EU Donor Atlas is based on the data on ODA provided by the DAC International Development Statistics online: DAC online (for annual aggregates) and Creditor Reporting System online (for aid activities) as of January 2008 -covering data for the years up to 2006.

OECD publishes Principles and guidelines to promote sustainable lending practices in the provision of Official Export Credits to Low Income Countries
http://www.oecd.org/topic/0,3373,en264934169111137431,00.html
The provision of official export credits to public and publicly guaranteed buyers in low income countries should reflect Sustainable Lending practices (lending that supports a borrowing country’s economic and social progress without endangering its financial future and long-term development prospects). Export Credits Guarantees (ECG) Members agree to apply principles to obtain reasonable assurances that their commercial lending decisions are not likely to contribute to debt distress in the future in relation to any official export credit with a repayment term of one year or more.

BMZ KonZepte 147: Zur Bekämpfung der Armut – Unsere Ziele in den Regionalen Entwicklungsbanken
http://www.bmz.de/de/service/infothek/fach/konzepte/Konzept147.pdf
Die Regionalen Entwicklungsbanken stehen vor großen Herausforderungen. Angesichts der globalen Liquidität und der Entwicklung der internationalen Finanzmärkte sind die Finanzierungsmöglichkeiten für die Entwicklungs- und Schwellenländer vielfältiger geworden. Der Wettbewerb ist für die Regionalen Entwicklungsbanken in den letzten Jahren unzweifelhaft härter geworden. Bei allen Änderungen ist allerdings der rote Faden geblieben, dass die Bekämpfung der Armut den obersten Grundsatz für unsere Zusammenarbeit mit den Regionalen Entwicklungsbanken bildet.

Manual 'Policy Coherence for Development, a practical guide'
http://evertvermeerstic.email-service5.nl/nct88121/qWYjIjAy
The EU Coherence Programme is happy to present you the new Manual ‘Policy Coherence for Development, a practical guide’. Our brand new Manual provides the reader with seven case studies on different EU policy areas where clear contradictions are seen with EU development objectives.

The EC allocates € 97.4 million for its neighbours from the Mediterranean area
http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/where/neighbourhood/regional-cooperation/enpi-south/indexen.htm
€ 97.4 million have been allocated to the Mediterranean region under the 2007 ENPI Regional Action Programme for the South adopted by the European Commission (EC) on 24 October. Eight regional projects and programmes will be financed in a wide range of domains such as peace, disaster prevention, investment promotion, support to the private sector, intercultural dialogue, gender equality and information and communication. This Regional Action Programme for the Southern partners is a key document which describes the regional programmes and projects financed by the EU under the 2007 budget. It covers the Southern countries of the European Neighbourhood Policy namely Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian Territories, Syria and Tunisia.

Financing small businesses: recommendations for action
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/entrepreneurship/financing/docs/profilesheet2007.pdf
What are the best ways of improving the flow of finance to small firms? The European Commission, the Member States and finance professionals have recently looked at ways that promise to improve the situation of many SMEs. This summary presents the key conclusions of five reports that have reviewed both loan and equity finance and complements the conclusions on seed investment.

Public-Private Dialogue in Developing Countries - Opportunities and Risks
http://www.oecdbookshop.org/oecd/display.asp?sf1=identifiers&lang=EN&st1=9789264028845
Putting aside the euphoria of supporters of public-private dialogue and the doom prophecies of its detractors, this analysis identifies the advantages that it can bring, while cautioning against the very real dangers it can present to fragile states and relatively recent democracies. The type of state involved, the level of organisation within the national private sector and the kind of support offered by donors all have an influence on the potential and real success of PPD.

BetterAid on Aid Effectiveness
http://betteraid.org
This is a campaign website that aims to provide information and updates on aid effectiveness issues, framing in the basic development issues; provide support for advocacy purposes; and provide opportunities to conduct web-based advocacy/campaigning. The network is keen to develop awareness of the aid effectiveness agenda at the local and national level and sees the Ghana HLF as an important opportunity for bringing about discussion and debate and the engagement of CSOs on the said agenda. Published by the CSO Parallel Process to the Ghana High Level Forum Network, involving many international partners.

The World Bank and Middle-Income Countries: Business as Usual?
http://www.worldbank.org/ieg/mic
The World Bank Independent Evaluation Group's new report-Development Results in Middle-Income Countries (MICs) finds that the World Bank's work with MICs over the past decade has contributed to the growth and significant poverty reduction achieved by those countries. Indeed four-fifths of respondents to an IEG survey of opinion-leaders in MICs said they value the Bank's programs and services. The report also notes that the Bank's work needs to yield stronger results in dealing with inequality, corruption and the environment. It makes a clear recommendation: that the Bank should continue to engage with middle-income countries, but depart from business as usual for a greater impact.

OECD 2006 Survey on Monitoring the Paris Declaration
http://www.oecd.org/document/20/0,3343,en2649201185385218761111,00.html
This OECD report assesses the effectiveness of aid at helping developing countries eradicate poverty. The report presents the results of a survey conducted in 34 developing countries and in 55 donor countries. It points to major areas that must be addressed if countries and donors are to accelerate progress on achieving the Paris Declaration.

Budget support and beyond: can the Paris Agenda on aid be delivered?
http://www.odi.org.uk/pppg/cape/events/2006workshop/capeworkshop2006.pdf
The last few years have seen increasing attention paid to issues of effectiveness and accountability in development aid, which are addressed most comprehensively in the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness of 2006. One way donors are responding to these challenges is by increasing their use of budget support as a means of delivering aid. This ODI paper reports on a workshop organised by the Centre for Aid and Public Expenditure (CAPE), which brought together donor agencies, recipient governments, academics and practitioners to explore how and to what extent budget support can help improve the quality of aid.

The Code of Conduct for a better division of labour in the development policy
– is it a real milestone?
http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/bruessel/04867.pdf
During the German EU-Presidency division of labour in the development policy was one of the political priorities in the field of development co-operation. As a result of the consultation process the Council of the European Union adopted conclusions on the division of labour and a Code of Conduct. The German Ministry for Development Co-operation called the Code of Conduct ''a milestone and bestpractice model for the international donor community”. But what does it mean? Paper by Dr. Ernst Stetter, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES)

EU Policy Coherence for Development
http://www.eucoherence.org
One of the main impediments to development are European policies that negatively affect developing countries. To increase the effectiveness of the European development cooperation policy, this site aims to place policy coherence for development higher on the agenda of European decision-makers. ''We invite all individuals and organisations that have identified incoherence issues to report these to us online.'' This European project is based on the four years of experience of the Evert Vermeer Foundation (EVF) has in addressing incoherent policies to policy makers in the Netherlands.

UN: Massive investment needed to combat climate change
http://unfccc.int/cooperationandsupport/financialmechanism/items/4053.php
Investment of more than 200 billion dollars will be needed by 2030 just to keep greenhouse gas emissions at today's levels, according to a UN climate change report. Global additional investment and financial flows of 200-210 billion dollars (146.3-153.7 billion euros) will be necessary in 2030 to return global greenhouse gas emission to current levels, according to the report by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Presenting the report, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer told reporters that finding ''an economic answer'' was key to dealing with the peril of climate change. Between 0.3 and 0.5 percent of global gross domestic product and between 1.1 and 1.7 percent of global investment will have to be spent on addressing climate change, the report estimated.

EC proposes a global alliance to help developing countries in climate change
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/07/1352&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
The European Commission is proposing to build a new alliance on climate change between the European Union and the poor developing countries that are most affected and that have the least capacity to deal with climate change. Through this Global Climate Change Alliance (GCCA), the EU and these countries will work jointly to integrate climate change into poverty reduction strategies. The EU will provide substantial resources to address climate change in these countries. Measures will include better preparedness for natural disasters which are expected to become more frequent and intense through global warming. The GCCA renews the commitment of the EU Action Plan on Climate Change and Development to systematically integrate climate change into development cooperation.

Global Development Finance 2007
http://econ.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTDEC/EXTDECPROSPECTS/EXTGDF/EXTGDF2007/0,,menuPK:3763156~pagePK:64167702~piPK:64167676~theSitePK:3763080,00.html
Net private capital flows to developing countries reached a record $647 billion in 2006, although the rate of growth of these flows slowed from 34 percent in 2005 to 17 percent in 2006. Emerging Europe attracted an increasing share of the overall flows and equity financing grew much faster than debt, says Global Development Finance 2007. Despite commitments made by donors, aid flows were disappointing, and the shift from official to private sources of finance continued.

The Least Developed Countries Report 2007
http://www.unctad.org/Templates/webflyer.asp?docid=8674&intItemID=4314&lang=1&mode=highlights
The UNCTAD has recently released the Least Developed Countries Report, 2007, subtitled ''Knowledge, technical learning and innovation for development''. The full report can be downloaded freely online. Introduction: ''The least developed countries (LDCs) are a group of countries (presently 50 States) that have been officially identified by the United Nations as ''least developed'' in the light of their low income, weak human assets, and high economic vulnerability. UNCTAD, in past LDC Reports, has taken the view that the key to sustained economic growth and poverty reduction in LDCs is the development of productive capacities and related creation of productive employment. The Least Developed Countries Report 2007 corroborates this view by focusing on knowledge accumulation, technological learning and the ability to innovate as vital processes toward genuine productive capacity development in these countries.''

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