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This monthly Newsletter brings you news for international co-operation professionals on economic and social development. Edited by Karsten Weitzenegger, http://www.weitzenegger.de
CONTENT
- The 2006 Human Development Report on global water crisis
- Nobel Peace Prize for 2006 to Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank
- Lamy: Doha Round failure would hurt developing countries
- Africa: UNCTAD report recommends new aid approaches
- USA and Germany top Business Competitiveness Index 2006
- European Development Days in Brussels
- Network for Corporate Accountability (CorA) founded in Germany
- European Centre for International Political Economy launched
- Training and Events
- Publications
- Websites of the Month
1. The 2006 Human Development Report on global water crisis
Throughout history water has confronted humanity with some of its greatest challenges. Water is a source of life and a natural resource that sustains our environments and supports livelihoods – but it is also a source of risk and vulnerability. In the early 21st Century, prospects for human development are threatened by a deepening global water crisis. Debunking the myth that the crisis is the result of scarcity, this report argues poverty, power and inequality are at the heart of the problem.
In a world of unprecedented wealth, almost 2 million children die each year for want of a glass of clean water and adequate sanitation. Millions of women and young girls are forced to spend hours collecting and carrying water, restricting their opportunities and their choices. And water-borne infectious diseases are holding back poverty reduction and economic growth in some of the world’s poorest countries.
Beyond the household, competition for water as a productive resource is intensifying. Symptoms of that competition include the collapse of water-based ecological systems, declining river flows and large-scale groundwater depletion. Conflicts over water are intensifying within countries, with the rural poor losing out. The potential for tensions between countries is also growing, though there are large potential human development gains from increased cooperation.
The Human Development Report continues to frame debates on some of the most pressing challenges facing humanity. See http://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/
Press clippings: http://news.google.com
2. Nobel Peace Prize for 2006 to Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2006, divided into two equal parts, to Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank for their efforts to create economic and social development from below. Lasting peace can not be achieved unless large population groups find ways in which to break out of poverty. Micro-credit is one such means. Development from below also serves to advance democracy and human rights.
Muhammad Yunus has shown himself to be a leader who has managed to translate visions into practical action for the benefit of millions of people, not only in Bangladesh, but also in many other countries. Loans to poor people without any financial security had appeared to be an impossible idea. From modest beginnings three decades ago, Yunus has, first and foremost through Grameen Bank, developed micro-credit into an ever more important instrument in the struggle against poverty. Grameen Bank has been a source of ideas and models for the many institutions in the field of micro-credit that have sprung up around the world.
Every single individual on earth has both the potential and the right to live a decent life. Across cultures and civilizations, Yunus and Grameen Bank have shown that even the poorest of the poor can work to bring about their own development. Micro-credit has proved to be an important liberating force in societies where women in particular have to struggle against repressive social and economic conditions. Economic growth and political democracy can not achieve their full potential unless the female half of humanity participates on an equal footing with the male.
Yunus's long-term vision is to eliminate poverty in the world. That vision can not be realised by means of micro-credit alone. But Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank have shown that, in the continuing efforts to achieve it, micro-credit must play a major part. http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/
See also the comment MICROCREDIT, MACRO ISSUES by Walden Bello: http://www.focusweb.org
3. Lamy: Doha Round failure would hurt developing countries
WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy, in his report to the General Council on 10 October, said that, from his contacts with many trade ministers, 'it is now obvious that the cost of failure [of the Doha Round], and the missed opportunity to rebalance the trading system, would hurt developing countries more than others”. Lamy said he was aware of the political difficulties but added, 'the fact remains that there is no acceptable alternative to the successful conclusion of the Round, and we all need to act upon that basis”. Highlighting the widespread support for swift resumption of Doha negotiations from 'every quarter”, he said the next step was to determine how and when everyone could be brought back to the table, but that the established parameters were:
- Resumption only when substantive positions have changed on key issues, notably agriculture;
- Resumption across the board only, i.e. the whole negotiating in step;
- To finish in 2007, the latest time for a breakthrough is between November 2006 and Spring 2007.
Lamy undertook to keep up his engagement with WTO Members 'to facilitate the movement we need” and encouraged the Negotiating Group Chairs to do the same. 'This is no time for inaction but rather for discreet and quiet activity', he said. http://www.intracen.org
4. Africa: UNCTAD report recommends new aid approaches
The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has suggested a new aid architecture for Africa, saying the current system is chaotic, with too many agencies pushing too many development projects that often do not match the recipients` development goals. UNCTAD´s 2006 report on Economic Development in Africa examines how the commitment by the international community to double aid to Africa might place the continent on a sustainable development path. The central message of the report is that, if this commitment is to translate into big reductions in poverty and lasting gains in economic welfare, new thinking is required to tackle the unbalanced state of the international aid system. The report identifies the flaws in the existing system, such as high transaction costs, politicization, lack of transparency, incoherence, unpredictability, and excessive demands placed on the weak institutions of recipients. According to the report, a 'big push' provides a sensible alternative in seeing how renewed capital accumulation (in both the private and the public sector) can link up to structural and technological change, unleashing a cumulative process of rising productivity, incomes and savings. A 'big push' would require a new aid architecture with a much larger multilateral component, managed under different institutional arrangements, and the provision of much greater policy autonomy to recipients.
http://www.unctad.org
5. U.S. and Germany top Business Competitiveness Index 2006
The United States and Germany remain atop the latest Business Competitiveness Index, with China continuing to slip in the rankings while India ascends, according to a report released from Harvard Business School's Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness. In addition to ranking countries by overall competitiveness, the report identifies national competitive strengths and weaknesses, highlights global economic trends, and signals the ingredients of successful economic development. The Index is part of the research contributing to The Global Competitiveness Report 2006-2007, released by the World Economic Forum.
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5454.html
6. International Development community meets in Brussels for the first European Development Days
The most important players of the international Development community will meet in Brussels between the 13th and the 17th of November for the First edition of the European Development Days (EDD) organized by the Directorate General for Development of the European Commission, under the responsibility of Commissioner Louis Michel. This first edition will focus on the African continent and the challenges in terms of governance as main topics and will include an EU-Africa Business Forum.
http://www.eudevdays.eu
7. Network for Corporate Accountability (CorA) founded in Germany
'Corporate Accountability' as defined in an NGO-statement submitted to the United Nations in 1997 refers to 'the legal obligation of a company to do the right thing. The aim of corporate accountability is to be sure a company's products and operations are in the interests of society and not harmful.' Corporate accountability is especially relevant to the current situation of increasing economic globalization. Transnational Corporations (TNCs) are the main protagonists and beneficiaries of globalisation but their activities often have detrimental environmental and social impacts. This Website aims to facilitate the flow of information among NGOs and social movements who believe their governments, private sector and civil society need to make greater efforts to ensure the accountability of business and industry, especially Transnational Corporations, to society.
http://www.corporate-accountability.org
8. European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE) launched
The new Brussels-based think tank ECIPE is an independent and non-profit policy research think tank dedicated to trade policy and other international economic policy issues of importance to Europe. It was founded by Fredrik Erixon and Razeen Sally. ECIPE is rooted in the classical tradition of free trade and an open world economic order.
http://www.ecipe.org
9. Training and Events
Research Seminar 'International Monetary Issues and Financial Markets'
http://www.hwwa.de
Hamburg, Germany, Friday, 17. November 2006, Hamburgisches Welt-Wirtschafts-Archiv (HWWA)
European Microfinance Week
http://www.microfinance-platform.lu
Luxembourg, 29 Nov 29 - 1 Dec, Luxembourg Agency for Development Cooperation
MDF and HPC jointly offer the course Value Chain Concepts
http://www.mdf.nl/en/training_course.php?country_id=nl&®ion_id=01&&course_id=VCC
Ede, The Netherlands, 15-19 January 2007
MDF and HPC jointly offer the course Value Chain Concepts. Given the high interest and satisfied participants of last year's courses, we offer this course once more at the MDF training centre in Ede. The Value Chain Concept is presented, discussed and practised in a structured and participatory way whereby due attention is given to the various approaches that exist among value chain development practitioners. The participants will practice Value Chain Analysis and Development tools and instruments to develop skills and understanding of the actual Value Chain Development practices as well as the process and management thereof. The course fee includes a new toolkit: CAPSA: Capacitating Sector Analyses, a CD-ROM providing an overview of the steps, tools, instruments and practical examples and case studies of Value Chain Development. This same CD contains a large number of research and policy papers in the field. Given the innovative stage Value Chaining is in, much attention will be given to presenting and discussion the recent trends and developments in the fields. Info: Hans Posthumus Consultancy (HPC), hans @ hposthumus.nl
Making Service Markets work for Enterprise Competitiveness
http://www.springfieldcentre.com/currentprogrammes.php
Phuket, Thailand, 4-9 March 2007, The Springfield Centre
GTZ: International Conference on Value Chains
Berlin, Germany, 5 May- 2 June 2007
The meeting will foster exchange and cooperation between practitioners of different agencies and of different regions. Furthermore, the aim is to discuss how to further develop the value chain approach. A pre-meeting will give GTZ VC working groups the opportunity to exchange and to discuss regional experience. Key topics include: VC and poverty reduction, VC and the private sector, VC and domestic, regional and export markets, VC and tools & methods. Contact: Stefanie.Zinsmeyer @ gtz.de
Ninth Annual MDI-NH, Microenterprise & Development Institute-New Hampshire
http://www.snhu.edu/746.asp
New Hampshire, USA, 11-29 June 2007
MDI-NH was founded in 1999 to focus on practitioner skill building in both financial systems and business development services more recently known as Pro-Poor Market Development. Emphasis is placed on the 'double bottom line.' We offer approaches to address the financial needs of poor families and their communities as well as building effective financial institutions that assure broad-based and long-term social and economic participation in the benefits that these institutions provide. Participants in the New Hampshire program will get an opportunity to learn from some of the top microfinance and BDS/PPMD practitioners in the field and network with peers from all over the globe. In the past seven years we have trained more than 700 practitioners from 85 countries and 425 INGOs, NGO's MFIs, Universities, Banks and other organizations.
Second National Conference of the BDS Donor Coordination Group, Kenya 2006
http://www.bdsknowledge.org
The BDS Donor Coordination Group of Kenya organised the Second National Conference 3-4 October 2006 in Naivasha, Kenya; the presentations covered the development of service markets and value chains, producer group dynamics, sector coordination and policy formulation. Key documents are available for download at the above link.
10. Publications
THE READER 2006 - Implementing Sustainable Private Sector Development: Striving for Tangible Results for the Poor
http://www.bdsknowledge.org/dyn/bds/docs/497/PSDReader2006.pdf
This year the Reader focuses on sustainable private sector development strategies. The 2006 Reader by Alexandra O. Miehlbradt and Mary McVay, edited by Jim Tanburn.
The 2006 Reader Content:
Private Sector Development: What’s Next?
Systemic Market Development in Action
Current Trends in Reforming the Business Environment
Developing Value Chain Systems that Benefit the Poor
Foundation Markets
Relief to Market Development in Crisis-Affected Economies
Accountability for Results in Reducing Poverty
Progress and Challenges in Implementing Sustainable Private Sector Development: Striving for Tangible Results for the Poor
Annexes: Training and Events, Websites, Bibliography
Trainer’s Manual: Local Economic Development Strategies
http://www.worldbank.org/urban/local/toolkit/pages/home.htm
Making Local Economic Development Strategies: A Trainer’s Manual has been developed as a resource to train municipal officials and community representatives in the core elements of local economic development strategic planning. The Manual consists of six separate but complimentary sections that together form a comprehensive teaching tool for devising an LED strategy. The Trainer’s Guide to Manual outlines the core trainer competences, approach and requirements necessary to successfully deliver the LED training program. The five teaching modules that follow comprise the training program and provide a structured approach to learning, reflecting the five stage approach to LED strategic planning. Each module is accompanied by a supporting series of PowerPoint slides, exercises, templates and supplementary learning materials.
Knowledge for Sustainable Business Development
http://www.inwent.org/themen_reg/themen/nachhaltig/index.en.shtml
The 'Knowledge for Sustainable Business Development' CD-ROM provides an introduction for companies and institutions about the search for economic information in the Internet. In addition there is a 'Business Information Guide,' several work aids and useful tools for the export business, language tools, translation aids and dictionaries, Google marketing tools, as well as other helfpul tips and tools. InWEnt activities and it @ inwent projects are also presented in a .PDF brochure with a 15 minute video. Order by fax: +49 228-4460-1382, Order by e-mail: christiane.weber @ inwent.org
Clusters in the EU-10 new member countries
http://www.europe-innova.org
A report on the qualities a business environment needs to translate scientific knowledge into new products, services and competitive firms has been made available on-line by Europe INNOVA. The report presents a systematic mapping and analysis of regional clusters across the EU-10. It uses a classification system that allocates employment to four broad sectors of the economy, and within one of them, the cluster sector, to 38 cluster categories. Europe INNOVA is an initiative for innovation professionals supported by the European Commission under the 6th Framework Program.
UNCTAD Investment Policy Reviews
http://www.unctad.org/Templates/StartPage.asp?intItemID=2554
UNCTAD´s program on Investment Policy Reviews seeks to help countries to improve policies and institutions that deal with FDI and to increase their capacity to attract and benefit from FDI. The Investment Policy Review (IPR) for a country provides an evaluation of the policy, regulatory, institutional and operational framework for FDI, IPR is done in developing countries and economies in transition.
The audio version of The Change Management Toolbook
http://www.change-management-toolbook.com/res/audio.html
The audio book is produced as MP3 files which you can play with most available audio players (Windows Media Player, Real Player, etc.). With the purchase of the audio book, you are also granted the rights to burn one set of 4 CDs for your own perusal.
Doing Business 2007
http://www.doingbusiness.org
How to Reform is the fourth in a series of annual reports investigating the regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it. Doing Business presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 175 economies—from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe—and over time.
How does Business Environment Affect MSME Density? - An Introduction to MSME Database
http://www.enterprise-impact.org.uk/word-files/BEE-MSMEAugust06.doc
The main finding of this study by Mallika Shakya is that there is indeed a bias against the MSMEs regarding business enabling environment and this is consistent across regions and wealth. The country income bias is pronounced in the combination of positive differential in time and costs of doing business and the negative differential in the number of MSMEs. A regional bias is pronounced in the fact that the region with the highest Doing Business costs is also the region with lowest number of MSMEs and vice versa. The analysis also finds that the prevalence of informality is asymmetric to the MSME density inferring that countries with good business enabling environment tended to have larger number of registered MSMEs and a smaller degree of informality, and vice versa. Although there is little data available, number of MSMEs seem to increase with the frequency and intensity of business environment reforms undertaken.
Responsible trade and market access - Opportunities or obstacles for SMEs in developing countries?
http://www.unido.org/file-storage/download/?file%5fid=56036
This UNIDO report is intended to contribute to this topical debate by examining both the opportunities and the obstacles faced by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries as they seek to gain access to international markets. The report provides a thorough analysis of various initiatives and approaches to responsible trade and studies its role in poverty reduction and entrepreneurship development in developing countries.
Alliances and joint ventures - Patterns of internationalization for developing country enterprises
http://www.unido.org/file-storage/download/?file%5fid=53677
The objective of the complete package is to inform both public and private sector decision makers on the purpose and potential of different forms of joint venture and to assist them in framing and negotiating appropriate agreements that can benefit both the individual enterprise concerned and the economy as a whole. It constitutes one component of a library of UNIDO training material covering aspects of investment promotion and technology transfer.
Private sector development in Africa: Evidence based on African Economic Outlook
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/15/32/37424434.ppt
Presentation made by Céline Kauffmann at the European Commission, Brussels on 12 September 2006.
Export Promotion Agencies: what works and what does not
http://siteresources.worldbank.org
The number of national export promotion agencies (EPAs) has tripled over the last two decades. While more countries made them part of their national export strategy, studies criticized their efficiency. EPAs have been retooled partly in response to these critiques,. This note studies the impact of existing EPAs and their strategies, based on a new data set covering 119 developing and developed countries. World Bank Trade Note 30
German BMZ: Cornerstones of Youth Employment - Promotion in Development Cooperation
http://www.bmz.de/en/service/infothek/fach/diskurs/diskurs007en.pdf
Youth unemployment, which according to the standard UN definition refers to persons aged between 15 and 24, accounts for almost half of total unemployment worldwide. By contrast, this age group represents only about 25 per cent of the working age population. Moreover, in many developing countries youth underemployment is a more pressing problem, i.e. young people often have to work under precarious working conditions with little chance to lift themselves out of poverty. That is why the BMZ has considered it useful to elaborate, on the basis of past and present project experience, this discussion paper focussing on an integrated, three-dimensional approach to mitigate youth unemployment and underemployment.
Financial Inclusion 2015: Four Scenarios for the Future of Microfinance
http://www.cgap.org/portal/site/CGAP/menuitem.da0167f15fefd30167808010591010a0/
CGAP recently undertook a scenario-building exercise to help anticipate and prepare for the global demographic, political and technological forces that will shape the future of microfinance. This Focus Note examines these forces and applies them to four scenarios. It ends with broad recommendations for how the international community can prepare for and respond to these scenarios. CGAP Focus Note, No. 39, 2006
KfW Evaluation;: Impact of Financial Cooperation
http://www.kfw-entwicklungsbank.de
9th Evaluation Report 'Paving ways - Developing potentials' just published. 71% of projects financed are successful. High developmental impact needs innovative approaches.
Least Developed Countries Report 2006
http://www.unctad.org/Templates/Page.asp?intItemID=3073
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development's (UNCTAD) entitled 'Developing Productive Capacities' was published.
ECDPM InBrief Series on 'Comparing EU free trade agreements'
http://www.ecdpm.org/ftainbriefs
The European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) publishes its next two publications in the InBrief series 'Comparing EU free trade agreements'
World Development Report 2007: Development and the Next Generation’
The WDR 2007 dealing with youth aged 12 to 24 has been published at: http://tinyurl.com/bs8zl
The report says that young people make up nearly half of the ranks of the world's unemployed, and, for example, that the Middle East and North Africa region alone must create 100 million jobs by 2020 in order to stabilize its employment situation. Moreover, surveys of young people in East Asia and Eastern Europe and Central Asia-carried out as research for the report-indicate that access to jobs, along with physical security, is their biggest concern.
The Social Watch Annual Report ‘Impossible Architecture’
http://www.socialwatch.org
Monitoring governments’ public policy to determine their degree of compliance with commitments and treaties to eradicate poverty and achieve gender equity.
11. Websites of the Month
World Bank: Private Sector Papers and Links
http://rru.worldbank.org/PapersLinks/
This database offers more than 800 of the best and most current online resources on business environment and privatization issues available for download. Each topic offers up to 40 policy papers, case studies and websites. With the help of experts on each topic, we update these lists regularly.
tralac - Trade Law Center for Southern Africa
http://www.tralac.org
tralac is a not-for-profit organisation, building trade law capacity in the southern Africa region; in governments, the private sector and civil society. tralac’s mission is to build the capacity to trade better, for countries in southern Africa. tralac was established in February 2002, with the financial support of seco, the Swiss Department of Economic Development, and consists of a core of trade lawyers and economists with high-level expertise in a range of trade and trade-related areas.
ECDPM launches a new website http://www.acp-eu-trade.org
The European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) launches a new non-partisan website offering policy-makers, negotiators and other ACP-EU trade and development stakeholders reliable, comprehensive and up-to-date information resources pertaining to ACP-EU trade matters.
Asia Regional Integration Center (ARIC)
http://www.aric.adb.org
ADB launched the ARIC website, a knowledge and information portal to monitor the progress of regional cooperation and integration in Asia and the Pacific. ARIC is structured on four basic strategic pillars of ADB’s recently approved regional cooperation and integration (RCI) strategy: (i) cross-border infrastructure and associated software; (ii) trade and investment; (iii) money and finance; and (iv) regional public goods (such as prevention of communicable diseases and environmental degradation).
ACP-EU Trade Website
http://www.acp-eu-trade.org
Access information and analysis relevant to ACP-EU trade relations: A Library database of more than 2,000 documents, more than 150 links to key ACP-EU websites, on average 25 news items weekly, Newsletter : a monthly news digest on the EPA and other ACP-EU trade agenda. Register online to the trade and development database of experts to advertise your skills.
EU-LDC Network
http://www.eu-ldc.org
The EU-LDC Network, previously known as the EU-LDC Trade and Capital Relations Network, was initially set-up in 1993. Its creation was motivated by the recognition of the increasing importance of economic relations and co-operation between the European Union, its member states (EU) and less developed countries (LDC). Reflecting the pressing concerns raised by 'Fortress Europe', the Network sought to provide a medium for the exchange of information and analysis of trade and capital policies and their implications for relations between Europe and developing countries.
MIGA's Foreign Direct Investment Net
http://www.fdi.net
FDI.net is a unique web portal that offers free, on-demand country analysis and information on all things related to foreign direct investment in 175 countries. The site combines business and public resources with World Bank Group analysis to provide users with a single entry point for the full-spectrum of information needed to make a decision about investing in a foreign country.
European Capacity Building Initiative for Climate Change Negotiations
http://www.eurocapacity.org
IIED (International Institute of Environment and Development) holds workshops as a part of the European Capacity Building Initiative. This initiative is an effort to overcome the limitations in the North-South interaction through a number of capacity and trust building activities.
MIGA's political risk insurance Center
http://www.pri-center.com
The Political Risk Insurance Center (PRI-Center) is an information portal Web site providing free access to online political risk management and insurance resources. The PRI-Center was established in 2006 as part of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency's (MIGA) mandate promote foreign direct investment to developing countries so as to enhance growth and development.
The Coopeco Network
http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/projects/al-invest/coopecos_en.cfm
The COOPECO network is a European network of 300+ institutions supporting industrial co-operation and investment promotion in Latin America. To ensure that investment promotion activities have the greatest possible effect, a climate conductive to the promotion of investment between countries with different industrial traditions, like EC and Latin America, has to be created at the operational or organisation level of economic activities.
New European Portal for SMEs
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/smes/index_en.htm
A new website to help Europe's SMEs has recently been published by the EC. Teh Website covers all of the areas that are likely to be of interest and relevance to SMEs. By the end of the 2007-2013 budgetary cycle, the Commission’s enterprise and industry directorate will be spending 60% more on SMEs than it did in 2006, thanks to some three billion euros from the new Competitiveness and Innovation Programme. Meanwhile, regional development funds, which have channelled 21 billion euros into supporting SMEs over the last six years, will continue to make a big difference, as indeed will our big research and development programmes. There is also a Newsroom at http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/newsroom/cf/menu.cfm
Business Environment Council, Hong Kong
http://www.bec.org.hk
BEC is a leading independent cross-sector business association in Hong Kong advocating environmental and sustainable development. Their aim is to balance economic, social and environmental interests whilst empowering competitiveness.
microLINKS - Microenterprise Learning Information and Knowledge Sharing
http://www.microlinks.org
In response to suggestions from our site users, USAID's microLINKS team has made a number of design and navigation changes to make it easier to find what you are looking for and to optimize the site for a wide array of monitors.
Online PPD partnerships: Selected dialogue websites
http://www.publicprivatedialogue.org/links/
A selection of links to the websites of public-private dialogue mechanisms and to private sector representative organizations which promote PPD.
UNRISD launches a new website
http://www.unrisd.org
The United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) based in Geneva, Switzerland, has launched a redeveloped version of their web site.
Economics Departments, Institutes and Research Centers in the World
http://edirc.repec.org
There is now an amazing number of economics institutions on the WWW. This is an attempt by Christian Zimmermann (Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut) to index them. Currently 9820 institutions in 226 countries and territories are listed. The index is organized by countries and fields, to avoid too long a download. Included are economics departments research centers and institutes in universities, as well as finance ministries, statistical offices, central banks, think tanks, and other non-profit institutions where mainly economists are working. Also, each institution is attributed a unique handle.
RePEc - Research Papers in Economics
http://repec.org
RePEc is a collaborative effort of hundreds of volunteers in 55 countries and 34 US states to enhance the dissemination of research in economics. The heart of the project is a decentralized database of working papers, journal articles and software components. All RePEc material is freely available.
Over 400000 items of research can be browsed or searched and over 300000 can be downloaded in full text! This site is part of a large volunteer effort to enhance the free dissemination of research in Economics. IDEAS - http://ideas.repec.org- is a service providing information about working papers and published research to the economics profession. IDEAS stands for 'Internet Documents in Economics Access Service', which is not very good English, but you get the idea... The data available here are contributed at no charge by volunteers and made available freely.
CGIAR's CGVLibrary - Gateway to Global Agricultural Knowledge
http://vlibrary.cgiar.org
A new Internet gateway allows development professionals to search an array of leading databases on agriculture, hunger, poverty and the environment. Fom just one search engine, tap into leading agricultural information databases, including the online libraries of the CGIAR Centers and the CGIAR's Core Collection Database.
African Economic and Financial Policymakers’ Network (EFNET)
http://www.acbf-pact.org/efnet/
e African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) will launch an African Economic and Financial Policymakers’ Network (EFNET) in 2004. The meeting to launch the Network will take place in Nairobi, Kenya and will be attended by all African ministers of finance and development planning, among other senior policymakers. EFNET is being set up by the Foundation to foster dialogue, information and knowledge sharing (including best and replicable practices) in policymaking and implementation, and to support mutual learning among ministers and other senior development managers. It is thus a Knowledge and Information Sharing Community for African Economic and Financial Policymakers.
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