March 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 Weitzenegger, Karsten Weitzenegger Consulting, http://www.weitzenegger.de
CONTENT
- European Commission proposes concrete measures to deliver EU aid better and faster
- Possible scenarios for the future ACP trade relations with the EU
- EU and the Caribbean Partnerhsip
- Success of Fair Trade in Europe
- IFC and FT launch private sector development research competition
- ECDPM launches Trade and Development activity
- Training and Events
- Publications
- Websites of the Month
1. European Commission proposes concrete measures to deliver EU aid better and faster
In three communications approved today, the EC proposes concrete measures to improve the effectiveness of EU development aid and external assistance. These proposals follow-up on the EU’s commitments in 2005 to scale-up aid substantially and to improve its impact and its speed of delivery, in order to meet the challenges of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. The Commission proposes an action plan including joint programming of assistance with Member States and sees the Union on track to deliver on its financial commitments.
Related links: http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/06/256&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
Questions and Answers: The ''Aid effectiveness Package”
http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/06/103&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
Development: EUtightens aid, control
http://www.ipsterraviva.net/Europe/article.aspx?id=3054
2. Possible scenarios for the future ACP trade relations with the EU
A new study launched by the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) presents the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACP) with alternatives to the standard Economic Partnership Agreement (EPAs) now being negotiated with the European Commission.
Read report:
http://www.ecdpm.org
3. EU and the Caribbean Partnerhsip
The European Commission has adopted today a proposal for a new EU Strategy for the Caribbean. The strategy promotes a strong partnership between the European Union and the Caribbean on development, the fight against poverty, democracy, human rights and global threats to peace, security and stability. The Commission wishes to shape a political partnership based on shared values to address the Caribbean region’s economic and environmental opportunities and promote social cohesion.
http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/06/258&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
4. Success of Fair Trade in Europe
A recent survey, carried out in 25 European countries, shows that Fair Trade sales in Europe have been growing at an average 20% per year since 2000. The annual net retail value of Fair Trade products sold in Europe now exceeds EUR 660 million. This is more than double the figure five years ago. Fair Trade has thus become one of the fastest growing markets in the world. Fair Trade products can now be found in 55,000 supermarkets all over Europe and the market share has become significant in some countries. Fair Trade is an efficient tool to overcome poverty and to reach the Millennium Development Goals. It gives producers a fair deal, not only by paying a fair and stable price for their products. Fair Traders also help their partners in the South to get better market access, to protect the environment and to comply with European standards. The research ''Fair Trade in Europe 2005 - Facts and Figures on Fair Trade in 25 European countries'', carried out by Jean Marie Krier, is published by the Fair Trade Advocacy Office in Brussels.
More information: http://www.ifat.org/downloads/marketing/FairTradeinEurope2005.pdf
See CTA publications on fair trade
http://www.anancy.net/index.php?destination=advanced_plus&sign=yes&tema=selected&file_id=2657&files=yes&language=english&pubyear=2005
DFID support to fair trade
http://www.dfid.gov.uk/news/files/fair-trade-2006/fortnight-summary.asp
5. IFC and FT launch private sector development research competition
The International Finance Corporation and the Financial Times have launched an annual international private sector development research competition to encourage innovative thinking about the role of the private sector in development. The competition, called ''Business and Development: The private path to prosperity,'' invites outstanding research paper submissions aimed at economic and financial policymakers, the international financial community, and investors. Winners will receive up to 30,000 USD. Visit the competition website for details at: http://www.ifc.org/competition
6. ECDPM launches Trade and Development activity
The new Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the EU and the ACP regions should be first and foremost about development. By facilitating the integration of the ACP countries into the world economy, and building on regional integration initiatives, EPAs should stimulate economic development and export growth, therefore contributing to sustainable development and poverty alleviation. But different stakeholders hold diverging views on whether current EPA negotiations include those elements that are required for this to actually occur. As a result, after three years into the official negotiations, the debate on the development dimension of EPAs is more vivid than ever, and will heavily influence the formal Review of EPA negotiations due to take place in 2006. To complement the other activities on the trade content of EPAs undertaken by the Economic and Trade Cooperation Programme, ECDPM intends to contribute to an informed dialogue on the development component of EPAs by undertaking research, dialogue, communication and capacity building activities related to the accompanying measures and the effective delivery of support to EPAs.
http://www.ecdpm.org/trade&development
7. Training and Events
Training on SME CLuster and Network Development: Principles and Practice
http://www.unido.org/file-storage/download/?file_id=48197
24 April to 5 May 2006: ILO Centre, Turin, Italy
The overall objective of the course is to provide practitioners in the field of SME and local economic development with the necessary skills to promote the development of ''underachieving'' SME clusters, networks and business associations.
Working Group on Linkages and Value Chains
http://www.sedonors.org/groups/group.asp?groupid=4
Expert group meeting on the 10-12 April 2006
During 2005, the Working Group generated a range of information resources, relating particularly to the relevant work of some member agencies. The Group also published an Information Resources Update in March 2005, covering various news items relevant to the theme. At the Annual Meeting in Cairo, in December, a proposal was discussed, and the Working Group subsequently made a presentation about progress so far, and plans for the future. Terms of Reference were developed, for hiring a consultant to review the work of member agencies in more detail, and to provide some insight into where there might be synergies or overlaps.
NEW!! Strategic Planning 10-12 April, London, UK
http://www.intrac.org/training.php?id=43
This strategic planning course is designed to help organisations establish a set of key measurements, match these measurements with targets, and plan appropriate resource levels. Setting up a monitoring performance system is also covered in this course. Contact: training @ intrac.org
Studies on the impact of trade agreements on sustainable development: assessment and prospects
http://www.gret.org
14 April - Paris, France:
Organised by the French Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Development, and GRET, Research and Technological Exchange Group. The seminar, which will be given in French and English, aims specifically to bring together experts involved in impact assessments and sustainable development (the ministries of EU member states, international organisations, and research institutes, the private sector, and NGOs) so as to take stock of impact assessments and reflect on operational ways to improve this tool. For further information, contact Isabel Berest, tel: +33 1 40 05 61 51; berest @ gret.org
Training on SME Export Consortia Development
http://www.unido.org/file-storage/download/?file_id=48198
26-30 June 2006 , ILO Centre, Turin, Italy
The objective of this course is to provide practitioners in the field of SME and export promotion with the necessary knowledge and skills to promote export consortia.
Future events in BDS
Have a look at the extensive list of forthcoming events on the BDS knowledge website
http://www.bdsknowledge.org/dyn/bds/bdssearch.details?p_phase_id=241&p_lang=en&p_phase_type_id=6
8. Publications
Capacity development for policy advocacy: current thinking and approaches among agencies supporting civil society organisations
http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC20939
Produced by: Overseas Development Institute (ODI) (2006), Authors: Blagescu, M.; Young, J.
ODI's Civil Society Partnerships Programme (CSPP) is designed to enable civil society organisations to use evidence and engage with policy processes more effectively, establishing partnerships with Southern NGOs. This Working Paper focuses on capacity-building elements of the programme, providing background and commentary on current principles and practice in capacity building for Southern organisations involved in using research based evidence in policy processes.
BDS - Newsletter: Special Edition for Document Management
http://www.bds-ethiopia.net/news.htm
Even experienced experts often create big-size WinWord or PowerPoint files of 3-8 Megabytes or more due to non-compressed pictures included. These files create problems for e-mail and Internet users in developing countries with insufficient Internet connections. This Special Edition has many hints for better document management.
OECD Development Co-operation Report, 2005
http://www.oecd.org/document/35/0,2340,en_2649_33721_36052835_1_1_1_1,00.html
Donor nations will succeed in honouring their 130 billion dollar aid pledge by 2010 only if they double the rate of recent increases in development assistance next year onwards. The authoritative source of information on the foreign aid policies and programmes of donor countries, the annual Development Co-operation Report by the Chair of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) presents detailed statistics and analysis, this year providing an insight into some of the urgent and intractable issues that members have been working together to address in 2005.
Investment Provisions in Free Trade Agreements and Investment Treaties:
Opportunities And Threats For Developing Countries.
http://www.undprcc.lk/web_trade/publications/BIT-completed.pdf
By Mark Halle and Luke Eric Peterson. Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Initiative, UN Development Programme (UNDP) Regional Centre in Colombo, December 2005. This paper discusses the trend towards broad trade and economic agreements currently being signed by Asian governments. These agreements provide significant international legal protection for foreign direct investment, often including separate commitments for liberalisation and opening toward foreign investment. These investment agreements apply to the full range of economic sectors and make it difficult for governments to regulate liberalised sectors or revert to public ownership should they deem private provision to have failed. These agreements are producing significant consequences for policy-makers, specifically in areas relating to the promotion of human development.
Making EPAs work for the Poor - Weed
http://www.weed-online.org/publikationen/broschueren/103441.html
''Free trade as a means of poverty eradication”? The leading question of the Bonn Conference of 21 October 2005 addressed the following crucial issue in the current EU ACP trade negotiations within the framework of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement (CPA): Does the CPA’s trade component in its envisaged form of ''Economic Partnership Agreements” (EPAs) effectively foster the CPA’s central objective, that of reducing and eventually eradicating poverty, ''…consistent with the objectives of sustainable development and the gradual integration of the ACP countries into the world economy”?
Aid for trade - why and how?
http://www.ileap-jeicp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=50&lang=enBy International Lawyers and Economists Against Poverty (ILEAP), December 2005. There is now widespread agreement that for low-income countries, particularly the least developed among them, the WTO's Doha Round will promote development only if two conditions are met. The first is an ambitious and balanced market access package in key areas such as agriculture or services. This, however, needs to be complemented by actions to address these countries' insufficient infrastructural, institutional and human capacity. This article discusses the need for an expanded aid for trade package to complement the balanced market access package in order for the Doha Round to successfully promote development in low-income countries. Such an agenda is needed to help ease the cost of implementing new standards and domestic policy changes, to alleviate the burden that may result from non-discriminatory trade liberalisation, and to provide assistance with trade policy development and trade facilitation. The paper proceeds to outline how to design and implement an effective aid for trade program.
Methodological and data challenges to identifying the impacts of globalisation and liberalisation on inequality
http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC20905
Globalisation and liberalisation (G&L) are two of the defining features of the last couple of decades. Both have given rise to contentious debate, with views ranging from the most optimistic to the most sceptical. This UNRISD paper reviews the evidence on how the two trends have affected inequality - and thus poverty - at both the global and domestic levels. The absence of consensus on these effects reflects both the dearth of adequate quantitative information and the lack of and difficulty in the analysis of the causal links among the issues. The author argues that there is a lack of consensus on the effects of G&L, together with a dearth of qualitative information and thus analysis of the causal links between the issues. These weaknesses, he argues, interact with the strongly held prejudices of many advocates and critics of G&L, resulting in weak analyses and the extreme range of views.
IMP Paper: Are donor countries giving more or less aid?
http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC20789
This IMF working paper looks at how the volume of foreign aid has increased during the last four decades, albeit with interruptions in certain years. Over time, the major recipients have changed: while the share of aid to Asia has diminished since the 1980s, that destined for sub-Saharan Africa has grown. The paper concludes that for aid to play a significant role in poverty reduction, the proposed scaling up should be accompanied by a close examination of practices that have hampered countries' ability to use aid effectively in the past.
Geographical Distribution of Financial Flows to Aid Recipients 2000/2004: 2006 Edition
http://www.weitzenegger/oo/oecd.html
This OECD publication provides comprehensive data on the volume, origin and types of aid and other resource flows to over 180 recipient countries, including countries in transition in eastern Europe for the period 2000-2004. The data show each country's intake of Official Development Assistance or Official Aid, as well as other official and private funds from Members of the Development Assistance Committee of the OECD, multilateral agencies and other donors. Key development indicators are given for reference.
Political Participation and Good Governance - 21st Century Challenges: UNDP
http://www.countryanalyticwork.net
After years of effort by the international community gender equality has finally been inscribed on the political agenda of most of the world. For example, the Beijing Platform for Action set the goal of 30 percent for women in national decision-making positions, as a milestone toward the ultimate objective of 50 percent. Five years after Beijing, the level of women in parliaments in the world had increased from 10 percent to 12 percent overall. However, regional variations were significant. They ranged from 37.6 percent in the Nordic countries to 15.5 percent in the Americas to 13.4 percent in Asia and only 3.3 percent in the Arab States.
Simplification of Business Regulations at the Sub-National Level: A Reform Implementation Toolkit for Project Teams
http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/sme.nsf/AttachmentsByTitle/BMOGuideFullReport05.pdf/$FILE/BMOGuideFullReport05.pdf
The emphasis in this toolkit is on sub-national regulation generally and municipal regulations specifically, since most interaction between ''government” and ''business” occurs at the local or regional level. National regulatory policies may influence or affect investment decisions, but post-investment operations are influenced by other levels of government having legal authority over such operational activities -- principally those at the municipal level. This toolkit provides a thorough overview of the process of simplifying business regulations at the municipal level.
Privatization in Developing Countries: A Summary Assessment
http://www.eces.org.eg/Downloads/ECESDLS24e.pdf
This lecture by John Nellis assesses the outcome of privatization to date in terms of its impact on the economy in general and privatized firms in particular. Author John Nellis finds that the economic impact of privatization is positive in the majority of cases. He recommends that governments seek to enhance competition, establish effective regulation of monopolies, conduct the sale process in a transparent manner, and devise reasonable packages to compensate the losers. At the end, there's a summary of a moderated discussion that occurred following the lecture presentation.
Building the Capacity of BMOs: Guiding Principles for Project Managers
http://www.ifc.org
''Business Membership Organizations” (BMOs) generally refer to various organizations where companies or individual entrepreneurs are members – such as chambers of commerce or business associations. BMOs can be a platform for promoting a better investment climate in developing countries. This toolkit tries to increase the effectiveness of BMOs by providing guidance on how to increase their capacity, analysis of internal management challenges frequently faced in BMOs, key reference documents and case studies that support the toolkit's findings
Framework for Evaluating the Impact of Small Enterprise Initiatives
http://www.enterprise-impact.org.uk/BEEnvironments/OtherAgenciesdocs/FrameworkforEvaluatingtheImpactofSmallEnterpriseInitiatives.shtml
This paper by Eric Oldsman and Kris Hallberg, Enterprise Development Impact Assessment Information Service, presents a framework for evaluating the impact of donor- funded initiatives designed to promote small enterprise development. We show how to use program logic models to structure the chain of causality between program inputs, outputs and outcomes. Issues relevant to all evaluations -- attribution, the scope of evaluation, the choice of indicators and evaluation methodologies, and tradeoffs in evaluation design -- are discussed in the context of small enterprise programs. Focusing on interventions to develop markets for business development services, the paper shows how to apply these principles in practice, illustrating different approaches with examples drawn from the literature and previous examples of donor-funded programs.''
Value Chain for Rural Development: Syntheses from the Community of Practice
http://www.sdc-valuechains.ch/index.php?navID=153
Following 6 cycles of discussion on 6 different topics about value chains promotion for rural development, a compilation of the insights from the discussion is now available. Willing to know more about what conceptualists and practitioners think and do in this domain?
KfW: Poverty and transport
http://www.kfw-entwicklungsbank.de/EN_Home/Service/Onlinelibr23/Medienkoop.jsp
Consistent transport concepts benefit all population strata. Experience shows that they are a special priority of poor people. Only those models that include maintenance can function on a sustained basis. The experiences gained in this area have since been put to use in cooperation with the magazine Development + Cooperation.
Employment, Income and the MDG's: Critical Linkages and Guiding Actions
http://www.deza.admin.ch/index.php?navID=21145&langID=1
The employment and income section from SDC, in collaboration with its support mandate ''Fauno'' produced the paper cited above.
What can innovative banking technologies do for microfinance?''
http://www.microfinancegateway.org/resource_centers/technology
This is just one of the questions addressed in CGAP's Focus Note 32, ''Using Technology to Build Inclusive Financial Systems.'' The paper presents the state of the industry and a rationale for CGAP's technology program. The program seeks to understand how poor people use technology to access financial services, applying these lessons through large-scale experiments with selected banks and technology companies. Throughout, CGAP is helping to identify practical approaches to regulating technology delivery channels.
Foreign Exchange Rate Risk in Microfinance: What Is It and How Can It be Managed?,
http://www.cgap.org/docs/FocusNote_31.pdf
A growing supply of hard currency financing in the microfinance industry means that microfinance institutions are increasingly exposed to foreign exchange risk. CGAP's latest Focus Note is intended to help MFIs to assess hard currency debt, and to help investors to be more responsible in ensuring that MFIs fully understand the risks they assume.
Institutional Strengthening of the Tax System in Ghana: GTZ
http://www.countryanalyticwork.net
For each tax administration in the world, taxing informal businesses is a hard job. Cumbersome registration procedures and sluggish official institutions discourage even the most conscientious entrepreneur from registering their business. Other entrepreneurs take advantage of the lack of administrative capacity and remain purposely unregistered and unknown to the revenue agencies. In Ghana, official institutions have for a long time been trying to reduce the gap between the formal and informal sector. One of the strategies included simplification of the registration process, but only a few businesses could be convinced to enter the formal sector.
Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2005 Executive Report
http://www.gemconsortium.org/document.asp?id=448
This report constitutes the seventh annual assessment and review of the state of entrepreneurship in countries participating in the GEM project. Since its inception in 1999 by scholars at Babson College and London Business School, GEM has developed into one of the world?s leading research consortium concerned with improving the understanding of the relationship(s) between entrepreneurial activity and national economic growth. To this end, the project has, from the start, been designed as a multinational research program providing annual assessments of the entrepreneurial sector for a range of countries.
Building the capacity of business membership organisations: Guiding principles for project managers
http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/sme.nsf/Content/Publications
''Business Membership Organizations'' (BMOs) generally refer to various organizations where companies or individual entrepreneurs are members - such as chambers of commerce or business associations. BMOs can be a platform for promoting a better investment climate in developing countries. This toolkit tries to increase the effectiveness of BMOs by providing guidance on how to increase their capacity, analysis of internal management challenges frequently faced in BMOs, key reference documents and case studies that support the toolkit's findings.
Politics and poverty reduction strategies: lessons from Latin American HIPCs
http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC20922
This ODI paper addresses the perception that poverty reduction strategy (PRS) processes in Latin America and the Caribbean have not grappled effectively with politics, and have not engaged successfully with political actors and institutions. The authors draw upon evidence from documents and interviews on how this situation has arisen and how it might be confronted. It is based on experience in three Latin American highly indebted poor countries (HIPCs): Bolivia, Honduras and Nicaragua. The paper's overall argument is that the PRS approach has been compromised by the fact that a single instrument - preparation of a comprehensive plan document, with broad consultation - has been made to serve different purposes. In reality, these need to be met in different ways. As a consequence, it has served none particularly well, although some better than others. Its key failing, according to the authors, has been a lack of political will to buy-in to poverty reduction as an objective.
Small Developing Economies and the Multilateral Trading System: A Caribbean perspective
http://www.crnm.org/documents/studies/staff%20papers/CFM_Bernal.pdf
Small developing economies are a subset of the developing countries economic category. Their concerns and objectives are distinct, and in some cases unique, differing from other developing economies. They must participate in trade negotiations in order to ensure that their particular specialised interests are recognised and accorded appropriate treatment. A paper by Richard Bernal.
Privatization Trends: What's been done?
http://rru.worldbank.org/documents/publicpolicyjournal/303Kikeri_Kolo.pdf
Privatization has reached nearly all developing countries, generating more than US$400 billion in proceeds for these countries since 1990. Activity peaked in 1997 and declined thereafter—but began to pick up again in 2001. Proceeds are concentrated in a small group of countries. And they are increasingly concentrated in a few transactions: the 10 biggest accounted for nearly 40 percent of proceeds in 2000–03, up from 16 percent in the 1990s. These transactions have often involved sales of minority shares aimed at generating revenues. Source: Carla Kleinhappel
9. Websites of the Month
CGAP Technology Resource Center
http://www.microfinancegateway.org/resource_centers/technology
CGAP’s technology program helps microfinance institutions (MFIs) improve their information systems so that they can effectively track operations and understand their performance. The program also conducts research and experiments to understand how MFIs and financial institutions can use technology to reduce the cost of delivering financial services to poor people.
Private Sector development blog
http://psdblog.worldbank.org/
The world bankgroup developed a blog addressing various issues of private sector development. Certainly worth a visit and a bookmark in your browser.
Dev-Zone
http://www.dev-zone.org
Dev-Zone is an Aotearoa New Zealand non-governmental resource centre on international development and global issues. Dev-Zone, along with the The Global Education Centre, is a programme of The Development Resource Centre [DRC]. Their vision is change for a just world. Dev-Zone is an independent Aotearoa New Zealand based resource centre on international development and global issues.
Dev-Zone runs a library and a website, provides email updates, publishes a magazine named ''Just Change'', engages in information related projects and works with like-minded organisations to raise awareness about issues.
Database: Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises
http://rru.worldbank.org/PapersLinks/resources.aspx?id=6358
This database gathers publicly available country-level data on micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and presents them in an easily accessible format. This initiative is a work in progress, with updates and improvements made as new data become available. The most recent update adds historical data and business environment indicators.
Industrialized countries top new globalization index
http://www.globalization-index.org
The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich and the Swiss Institute for Business Cycle Research have developed an index of globalization that measures the economic, social and political dimensions of globalization. The index is calculated on the basis of 23 variables (which include FDI) for 123 countries over the period 1970-2003. The United States, Sweden and Canada top the globalization rankings, while Hong Kong (China) is in tenth place and the United Arab Emirates in the top twenty-five. Several least developed countries ranked low in terms of each of the dimensions of the globalization index. Source: FITA
Country Risk Ratings Archive
http://www.countryrisk.com/guide/archives/cat_country_risk_ratings.html
This is a collection of links to country rankings, done by various organizations and governments. You'll find rankings for things like trade credit loss, sovereign default, confiscation/expropriation, war, etc. And this page is not the only valuable one at this site. In the left column you'll see links to other country rankings, data & statistics, and research & analysis sites. Source: FITA
Jet Lag Calculator
http://www.bodyclock.com
Flying across time zones disrupts the body's natural rhythms, and it can take days before your internal clock adjusts. The Jet Lag Calculator
has some good advice on how to handle jet lag, and you can find tips based on the length of your flight. Source: FITA
World Wide Internet TV
http://wwitv.com
World Wide Internet TV website (wwiTV). wwiTV.com is an independent guide to streaming media available on the web. We do not provide streaming content ourselves. This site is designed to enable users of personal computers and other consumer electronic devices to easily find and access media content over the Internet. Source: FITA
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