January 2006
This monthly Newsletter brings you news for international co-operation professionals on economic and social development. Free of charge if you recommend it to other colleagues. Edited by Karsten Karsten Weitzenegger Consulting, http://www.weitzenegger.de
Our Newsletter has raised distribution in 2005 and reaches now more than 2000 subscribers world-wide. We intend to stimulate exchange among development practitioners. We try to select the most relevant information for you. We give brief info and link to resources on the Web directly. We cover training, events, publications and new Websites. As always, we are happy to hear from you if there are any new topics and issues you would like to see covered on this Newsletter. And we would like to wish you a very happy New Year in 2006!
Best regards, Karsten
CONTENT
- Sixth WTO Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong
- World Bank Says Needs of Poor Unmet at Hong Kong Talks
- European Consensus reaffirming Europe’s leadership in Development cooperation
- Remittances to Africa overtake FDI
- Economic Report on Africa 2005: Job creation lies at the heart of the poverty battle
- Civil Society Statement on the WSIS: ''Much more could have been achieved''
- Private Sector Development Blog ath the World Bank
- Annan welcomes France's Airline Ticket Levy to help developing countries
- IMF reveals plans for G8 debt deal
- Training and Events
- Publications
- Websites of the Month
1. Sixth WTO Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong
http://www.wto.org/English/thewto_e/minist_e/min05_e/min05_e.htm
Two years after the Cancún Ministerial Conference, ministers from the 150 WTO’s Member governments got together at the Sixth WTO Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong in order to facilitate world trade through the reduction of tariffs and tradedistorting subsidies. Since in the forefront of the Conference WTO Members have conceded that their positions remained too far apart to agree on ‘full modalities’ (specific numerical values and formulas for reducing tariffs), the expectation was to focus on development related issues by proceeding in the negotiations under the Doha Development Agenda. The agreements reached in Hong Kong fell far short of the ambitious aims, but first positive results and a genuine advance for the Doha Round have been reached. The most important outcome was the abolition of all export-subsidies with a clear end-date in 2013, but most of these subsidies were being phased out anyway. Dissatisfying are the results reached in the area of cotton, as domestic subsidies persist. In order to conclude the Doha Round in 2006, WTO Members have to move forwardrapidly in agreeing on full modalities for cutting subsidies and tariffs. Members still hope to finalize the round in 2006 and set themselves an ambitious deadline: They are expected to finalize ‘full modalities’ by April and to submit draft schedules of commitments by end of July next year. Source: GTZ Trade News
2. World Bank Says Needs of Poor Unmet at Hong Kong Talks
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:20757286~pagePK:34370~piPK:34424~theSitePK:4607,00.html
Developing countries are being short-changed by the global trading system, and the talks in Hong Kong are falling far short of fixing the core problems, according to the Bank. Danny Leipziger, vice president for Poverty Reduction and Economic Management, said that urgent action is needed if the Doha Development Round of trade talks is to deliver on its promise for the world's poor.
3. Presidents Barroso, Borrell and Blair sign the European Consensus reaffirming Europe’s leadership in Development cooperation
http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/05/1651&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
The Presidents of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, of the European Parliament, Josep Borrell i Fontelles, and of the EU Council, Tony Blair signed the first joint Development Policy Statement (DPS) on 20 December, in Brussels. This ''European consensus” will provide the Union, for the first time in 50 years of development co-operation, with a common vision of values, objectives, principles and means for development. The Development Policy Statement builds on the strong consensus that now exists on the MDGs and puts poverty eradication at the centre. It highlights the importance of the partnership with developing countries and the promotion of good governance, human rights and democracy, as a means of harnessing globalisation. This ''European consensus'' sets development as a key element of the EU’s external action along with the common foreign and security policy and trade policy. It also establishes links between development policy and other related policy areas such as migration, environment and employment. It recognises that the EU’s relations with its developing partners require an ad-hoc ‘policy mix’ of aid, trade and other policies tailored to the needs of each partnership
4. Remittances to Africa overtake FDI
http://www.un.org/africa/osaa/press/Resource%20flows%20to%20Africa.pdf
A new United Nations report finds that remittances from Africans working abroad during 2000-2003 averaged about US$17 billion annually, while FDI flows averaged about US$15 billion during the same period. Official development assistance is still the main external resource flow for Africa. The report highlights the need for reducing the cost of transmitting remittances to facilitate their transfer, and points out that the largest recipients of FDI have been countries with large mineral and petroleum reserves and growing natural resources industries.
5. Economic Report on Africa 2005: Job creation lies at the heart of the poverty battle
http://www.uneca.org
The Economic Report on Africa 2005 (ERA 2005), ECA’s flagship publication, this year is entitled ''Meeting the Challenges of Unemployment and Poverty in Africa”. It analyses the vicious cycle of inadequate economic performance and high unemployment. Despite showing signs of rapid change, at a record 5.2 percent growth in 2005, Africa’s economy is dampened by record unemployment and higher rates of poverty than ever before. The implication is that poverty has been unresponsive to economic growth. ''As long as people are kept from participating in the economy as productive agents, people will continue to benefit only sparsely to whatever growth is actually achieved,” said Augustin Fosu, the director of ECA’s Economic and Social Policy Division which prepared the report. And the record growth rate is still not enough. For a significant reduction in poverty, it must climb still further to over 7 percent a year on average. Email: ecainfo @ uneca.org
6. Civil Society Statement on the WSIS: ''Much more could have been achieved''
http://www.ngocongo.org/ngomeet/WSIS/WSIS-CS-statement-final1205.htm
This statement is presented as the Civil Society's official contribution to the Summit outcomes. Civil society took a month after the closure of the Tunis Summit to discuss the outcomes and the process of WSIS, and evaluated the experiences and lessons learned in the four years of WSIS I and WSIS II: ''We trust governments realize that our participation is vital to achieve a more inclusive and just Information Society.'' Source: CONGO. More on the WSIS: http://www.choike.org/wsis
7. Private Sector Development Blog ath the World Bank
http://psdblog.worldbank.org/
Teresa Barger, director of corporate governance for the World Bank and International Finance Corporation, recently joined the PSD Blog. She will be writing several times a month about the hot topics in global corporate governance. Here is her first post: http://psdblog.worldbank.org/psdblog/2005/12/improving_board.html Shaela Rahman, business development analyst in the International Finance Corporation's Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) group, has also joined the PSD Blog. Shaela will be writing her Aceh Diary several times a month from Aceh, Indonesia, where she is helping set up the Private Enterprise Partnership for Aceh and Nias.
8. Annan welcomes France's Airline Ticket Levy to help developing countries
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2005/sgsm10284.doc.htm
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today welcomed the French Parliament’s adoption of a levy on airline tickets to help developing countries and urged others to follow this example. The initiative, set to begin next July on locally issued tickets, will help improve the health sector of poor nations. A spokesman for Mr. Annan called the scheme ''a significant step, raising additional sources of innovative financing in support of the efforts by developing countries to reach the Millennium Development Goals.” Known collectively as the MDGs, these time-bound targets were set at a 2000 UN Summit and aim to tackle major global ills such as poverty, illiteracy and hunger. ''The Secretary-General strongly urges other countries to follow France’s lead with similar measures,” his spokesman said in a statement released in New York.
9. IMF reveals plans for G8 debt deal
http://www.eurodad.org/articles/default.aspx?id=667
Eurodad says that documents obtained from the IMF reveal how the Fund intends to implement its side of the G8 multilateral debt deal (now renamed the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative by both the Bank and Fund (MDRI – a new acronym!). There are no real surprises contained within the set of documents. Basically, 100% IMF debt cancellation will be granted to all those countries that have completed the HIPC process. In principle, this means that a total of 20 countries are currently eligible for IMF debt cancellation from January 2006 (the proposed implementation date). Quite predictably however it is not quite as simple as this. This is for 2 main reasons: conditionality check and financing the plan. Source: Eurodad
10. Training and Events
Professional Management of International Development Co-operation (promic) 2006
http://www.promic-training.com
AGEG Coop., the German Association of Development Consultants and PARTICIP Ltd., Consultants for Development and Environment, are pleased to announce the first training programme for Professional Management of International Development Co-operation: promic. promic is a comprehensive, international training course taking into account the most recent trends in this field. It is designed to provide you with a coherent set of tools for an effective management of development interventions. The training course consists of 4 modules with an optional fifth module and will take place, three times between March and July 2006, at different venues: Brussels, Bratislava and Berlin. To join the promic mailing list in order to be continuously updated on programme information and further offerings or to receive a hard copy of the 2006 brochure, please send us an e-mail to info @ promic-training.com
Academia de Verano sobre Desarrollo Económico Local
http://www.mesopartner.com/academia-verano/index.html
6.-10. March 2006, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Evento diseñado para estimular el intercambio entre diferentes especialistas en DET provenientes de distintas partes del mundo.
Compartir nuevas ideas surgidas de las prácticas de consultoría de Mesopartner y de otros profesionales reconocidos académicamente. Se estima que participen de este intercambio veinticinco participantes que trabajan en DET, provenientes de países de Latinoamérica. Costo: 1.600 EUR. Consultas: Ute D. Mayer, AdV @ mesopartner.com
Devcareers - Vacancies in international co-operation
http://eadi.org/devcareers
EADI has launched DevCareers - This new service of EADI gives job seekers direct connection to potential employers in international co-operation. See
It covers: academic & teaching positions in development related fields, consultancy jobs, jobs related to humanitarian aid and development cooperation, jobs at international aid agencies and development NGOs, research fellowships in development related fields.
New seminar programme of cinfo
http://www.cinfo.ch/index_e.html
The Center for Information, Advice and Training - Professions relating to International Cooperation has published its new seminar programme for 2006. See
devtrain online: EADI training database
http://www.devtrain.org
Search devtrain online, the EADI Training Database giving access to post- and undergraduate programmes and training courses with a focus on development issues from 28 European countries.
Training events on Development Gateway
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/mdg/calendar/default/viewListEvents.do?intcmp=903
You can search and even add an event yourself.
AGF Lecture: Professor Dennis J. Snower on ''New Directions for Labour Market Policy”
http://www.agf.org.uk/events/Invitation%20Snower%20PDF.pdf
We have the pleasure of inviting you to our Anglo-German Foundation lecture in Berlin on 17 January 2006 with Professor Dennis J. Snower, President of the Kiel Institute for World Economics , who will speak about labour market policies and present his views on the necessary reforms.
2nd edition of the Training Academy Forum (2-5 March, Germany): registrations open
http://www.eurochambres.be/academy/application_Training06/EUROChambres-MUNICH.pdf
Chamber managers/experts directly involved in training and education activities are invited to join the 2nd Academy Forum on Vocational Training & Education on 2-5 March 2006 in Westerham (Germany). Contact: Julie Hertsens, hertsens @ eurochambres.be Online Registration: http://www.eurochambres.be/academy/academy.php?id=046
AFD/EUDN CONFERENCE: Financing Development: What Are the Challenges in Expanding Aid Flows?
http://www.afd.fr/jahia/Jahia/home/Home_conference/lang/en
The Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and the European Development Research Network (EUDN) organized their third conference: ''Financing Development: What are the Challenges in Expanding Aid Flows?” on December 14th, 2005 in Paris. The programme and papers are all available for download on the conference Website.
Competitiveness Partnership - Public-Private Dialogue
http://www.competitiveness.org/article/view/700
The World Bank and the DFID are organizing a workshop on Public-Private Dialogue in Paris, February 1-2, 2006 in The World Bank Paris Conference Center. The aim is to bring together key stakeholders from widely diverse sectors, including both local and central governmental agencies and private sector advocates, ranging from non governmental organziations, scholars, donors and leading experts in the field in a workshop to examine Public-Private experiences and initiatives currently under way around the workd adn determine which strategies are working and which aren't and why.
11. Publications
Global Corruption Barometer 2005
http://www.transparency.org/policy_and_research/surveys_indices/gcb
The 2005 Global Corruption Barometer, based on a Gallup International survey conducted on behalf of Transparency International for International Anti-Corruption Day 2005, reveals widespread concern about corruption around the globe.
Diasporas of Highly Skilled and Migration of Talent
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/WBI/WBIPROGRAMS/KFDLP/0,,contentMDK:20692386~pagePK:64156158~piPK:64152884~theSitePK:461198,00.html
International migration of skills and talent is a growing field of academic inquiry as well as emerging field of practical expertise. As countries move to second-generation reforms and focus on long-term growth agenda, they increasingly reach to their Diasporas as an entry point to articulate and implement such agendas. This World Bank Institute (WBI) web site is part of the Knowledge for Development section and is devoted to the Diaspora-related research and growing number of WBI activities in this area. It features publications, events and pilot projects. Source: Daniela Petrova
UNICEF State of The World's Children Report 2006: '' Excluded and Invisible.''
http://www.unicef.org/publications/
Millions of the world's neediest children are not even a blip on the radar of their own governments because there is no record of their birth, the United Nation's Children's Fund UNICEF said on Wednesday. In its annual State of the World's Children report ''Excluded and Invisible,'' UNICEF said one-third of the estimated 150 million children born worldwide each year were not registered - and the number was growing.
Effective Development Assistance: A Guide to Aid Instruments
http://www.hlspinstitute.org/projects/?mode=type&id=15313
A CD ROM produced by The HLSP Institute, ''Effective Development Assistance – A Guide to Aid Instruments”, provides a structured overview of key aid instruments and development assistance issues. The CD explores the development context (poverty, the architecture of international aid, the Millennium Development Goals and Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers). It examines the advantages and disadvantages of different aid instruments and when and where each is applicable, as well as practical issues such as partnership working, fiduciary risk procurement and monitoring. This resource is available free of charge (subject to availability). For more information go to the HLSP Institute website at http://www.hlspinstitute.org or email: institute @ hlsp.org
GRAMEEN - Replicability of a Microfinance Approach to Extending Telecommunications Access
http://www.regulateonline.org/content/view/591/31/
An Investigation of the Replicability of a Microfinance Approach to Extending Telecommunications Access to Marginal Customers'' looks at the fundamental problem of access to telecommunications, and focuses on one of the ‘solutions’ that have emerged in response to this problem -- that adopted by Grameen of Bangladesh. The study examines the replicability of the Grameen model and concludes that the usefulness of the different elements of the model depends on the context in which an access solution is being designed for, and should be adapted accordingly. Source: Bruce Girard
E-commerce for Development: The Case of Nepalese Artisan Exporters
http://sdnhq.undp.org/e-gov/e-comm/
This UNDP study analyzes the impact of e-commerce on SMMEs in developing countries, specifically the impact on income and employment of the use of CatGen by grassroots artisan enterprises. The largest impact of implementing this pro-poor e-commerce approach was on income and employment. Source: Charles Kleymeyer
Sucessful Communication: A Toolkit for Researchers and Civil Society Organisations
http://www.odi.org.uk/publications/toolkit2.html
This handbook presents work in progress on communication tools, specifically geared towards the needs of researchers in civil society organisations. The tools are grouped under the headings of Planning, Packaging, Targeting and Monitoring tools.
Policy space for the development of the South
http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC20476
This South Centre policy briefing discusses the concept of ''policy space'' and its role in promoting the development of the South. The concept is founded on the principles of the equal sovereignty of States, the right to development, and the provision of special and differential treatment to developing countries. The brief argues that as the one-size fits all economic approaches of the Bretton Woods institutions and the WTO have not worked, policy space is needed so as to provide developing counties with the freedom to choose the best mix of policies possible for achieving sustainable and equitable economic development given their unique and individual social, political, economic, and environmental conditions.
Migrant workers: a guide for NGOs
http://www.december18.net/web/docpapers/doc3056.pdf
This Guide aims at enabling national or regional non-governmental organisations, coalitions and individual organisations to effectively use the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrants Workers and Members of Their Families as a tool for the promotion and protection. Source: December 18
New book: The current negotiations in the WTO
http://www.weitzenegger.de/oo/wto.html
A new publication by the Third World Network named ''The current negotiations in the WTO: Options, opportunities and risks for developing countries'' examines the current state of play in the talks and discusses how the developing countries can best make use of this opportunity and guard against the risk of new commitments which will only add to the prevailing inequities. Source: Third World Network
Micro-Credit Rating Toolkit
http://www.undprcc.lk/web_mdg/CREDITRATINGTOOL.pdf
This toolkit written by Ms. Anuradha Rajivan and produced by the UNDP’s Regional Center in Colombo (www.undprcc.lk) is based on seven years of experience in the sector of microfinance in Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Sudan. It attempts to answer why credit rating of recipients of micro-credit is an essential step in building confidence within credit supplier community.
Poverty Assessment Tool (Technical Tool Series No. 05)
http://www.cgap.org/docs/TechnicalTool_05.pdf
The Poverty Assessment Tool (PAT) was developed for CGAP by the International Food Policy Research Institute. The multi-dimensional Poverty Index constructed by the tool is targeted at donors and investors who require a standardized, globally applicable set of poverty indicators to make poverty-focused funding decisions and to compare MFIs across regions and countries. Source: Rashmi Agarwal
Key Principles of Microfinance
http://www.cgap.org/docs/KeyPrincMicrofinance_CG_eng.pdf
Because sustainable microfinance is a key element in creating solid financial markets in developing countries, CGAP's donor members developed and endorsed these Key Principles of Microfinance. The G8 also endorsed these principles at their June 2004 Summit in Sea Island, Georgia, USA, as part of their commitment to expanding the access of microfinance. Source: Rashmi Agarwal
World Bank Institute Annual Report 2005
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/WBI/0,,contentMDK:20274705~pagePK:209023~piPK:207535~theSitePK:213799,00.html
WBI helps countries understand their learning needs and works with local officials and Bank operational staff to design integrated national capacity development strategies to address those needs. WBI also fosters knowledge exchange among developing countries and across sectors to help identify solutions to the toughest development challenges.
EUROCHAMBRES Women Network (EWN) launches on-line tool to widen female professional horizons
http://www.talentcheck.org/index.php
European Chambers have implemented ''Talent Check'', an on-line questionnaire for students to help them overcome gender stereotypes that still persist in employment. The questionnaire, in five different languages (English, German, French, Italian and Greek), forms part of the EWN CHASE Project (CHambers Against Stereotypes in Employment). Contact: Birgit Arens, arens @ eurochambres.be
Tool: Competitiveness Partnerships
http://www.fdipromotion.com/toolkit/Documents/1/PPP.pdf
The experiences of 40 countries illustrate how public-private dialogue can lead to improvements in a location's attractiveness for investors. The World Bank and IFC have consolidated these best practices into a collection of tools and techniques for IPI practitioners to better set-up or maintain structured dialogue between the public and private sector in order to make the investment climate more competitive. Also, reforms arising from increased public-private dialogue usually work better
12. Websites of the Month
PARC Performance Assessment Resource Centre
www.parcinfo.org
The PARC has invested in a stream of work to develop a framework for assessing donor performance against strategies and country level programmes. The flexible framework has been trialled in a number of PARC evaluations and as an approach to country level performance monitoring. We hope to refine this framework as we have more experience of applying it. The principles behind the approach have helped to inform DFID corporate guidance on performance monitoring for their country offices. It all is accessible at this relaunched website. The PARC is managed by International Organisation Development (IOD) Ltd.
The DAC Network on Development Evaluation
www.oecd.org/dac/evaluation
Development project evaluation activities have grown with more emphasis on results-oriented development. The OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) has created a Network on Development Evaluation with links to the leading multilateral, bilateral and NGO evaluation organizations. The Network brings together representatives from thirty bilateral and multilateral development agencies. They work together on improving evaluation for more effective development assistance. It has recently launched a new evaluation research center. To improve capacity to conduct evaluation, the National Science Foundation's Online Evaluation Resource Library is available, providing tools and instructions about effective evaluation.
OECD DAC Aid Evaluation Database
http://www.dac-evaluations-cad.org/dac/abstracts_e.htm
This website provides a summary of evaluations that are available throughout the international development donor community. Abstracts of each report are provided along with the full text of the report if it is available
Journeywoman
http://www.journeywoman.com
Women who want to get a female perspective on travel should visit Journeywoman. This magazine has lots of articles, advice, and tips on travel for women. You'll find: advice on traveling with children, personal travel anecdotes, insider information about the best shopping sites, what to wear in various countries, guides to traveling alone, medical advice, cultural tips, an e-mail directory of other female travelers, city guides, and more. Actually, with titles like ''Favorite Irish B&Bs'', and ''Super Spain -- Six Hotels Under (US) $50'', Journeywoman has plenty that male travelers will find interesting too.
World Bank's Doing Business database
http://www.doingbusiness.org/
The Doing Business database provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement. The Doing Business indicators are comparable across 155 economies. They indicate the regulatory costs of business and can be used to analyze specific regulations that enhance or constrain investment, productivity and growth. More details are now available for four topics covered in the database: Starting a Business, Dealing with Licenses, Protecting Investors, and Enforcing Contracts. The details include more in-depth information on the indicators for each topic.
B46 best-ever Freeware utilities
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best_46_free_utilities.htm
Computers these days don't come loaded with as much software as they used to, but before you spend money on software for that new computer, check out The 46 Best-Ever Freeware Utilities. This site has reviews of freeware (which means free software), in just about every category imaginable. There are programs for Web browsing, image viewing, anti-virus protection, spam filtering, HTML editing, spyware removal, photo editing, pop-up blocking, file management, Web searching, and much more. There's a whole suite of programs that perform the same functions as Microsoft Office -- and they're free.
CIPE Development Blog
www.cipe.org/blog.
The Center for International Private Enterprise announces the launch of a Blog. The CIPE Development Blog is an online forum designed to encourage discussion among reformers, civil society and youth leaders, and others interested in issues relating to economic reform and democratic development. For additional information contact blog @ cipe.org.
Bilateral and regional trade agreements LIST
http://globaledge.msu.edu/ibrd/GR_IB_RTA.asp
In recent years there has been a rush by many countries to sign bilateral and regional trade agreements with their neighbors or allies. There have been so many that it can be hard to keep up with them. If you want to read up on these agreements, go to the Bilateral and Regional Trade Agreements list, a page at Michigan State University's Globaledge site. Scroll down the page to find a comprehensive list of links to agreements. You'll find explanations, documents, forms, and histories you can read so you're well-informed on this issue that could affect your business. Source: FITA
World Bank' s Investment Climate database
http://rru.worldbank.org/InvestmentClimate/
This site contains data on the investment climate in 62 countries, based on surveys of almost 32,000 firms. The surveys provide indicators of firm productivity and performance. Download country profiles containing overviews of key investment climate data. The data for each country is compared with data for all countries in the region and with a standard group of countries with similar incomes. Investment climate data for seven new countries are now available: Egypt, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mali, Oman, South Africa, and Syria.
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