March 2007 from weitzenegger.de

International cooperation professionals willing to make poverty history

This monthly Newsletter brings you news for international co-operation professionals on economic and social development.
Edited by Karsten Weitzenegger, http://www.weitzenegger.de. Free subscription by sending an eMail to subscribe @ weitzenegger.de. Web version: http://www.weitzenegger.de/new/today.html. Get mail whenever this page changes:


CONTENT

  1. Berlin Declaration on the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the EU
  2. EC proposes a European strategy to promote gender equality
  3. Women's economic empowerment as smart economics
  4. Conference on Coherence in EU Foreign Trade Policy
  5. UNIDO and Microsoft Launch Technology Solution fro FDI Africa
  6. World Bank approves Governance and Anticorruption Strategy
  7. dgMicrofinance Highlight: Capacity Building, Pillar of Micro Finance
  8. Online debate blog: IFIs: Crowding Out or Crowding In?
  9. The ISO Working Group on Social Responsibility
  10. Training and Events
  11. Publications
  12. Websites of the Month

1. Berlin Declaration on the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the EU: European success means commitments world-wide

On the occasion of the signing of the Berlin Declaration on the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome on the 25th March, the Association of German Development Non-Governmental Organisations (VENRO) calls for increased European engagement in achieving world-wide social justice. ''The EU must not rest on its laurels but has to campaign for world-wide solidarity and fair globalisation. This is the only way to ensure that it can cope with future challenges,” said VENRO Chair Claudia Warning. ''With the Berlin Declaration, the European Union is going to show what role it wishes to play in the world,” Warning added. The EU had to recognise that eliminating poverty world-wide was among its political priorities. ''It is committed to this by its own fundamental principles of democracy, equality, solidarity, tolerance, social justice and respect for the human rights,” Warning said. http://www.prospects-for-africa.de


2. European Commission proposes a European strategy to promote gender equality in development cooperation

Equal opportunities and equal access to resources for both men and women is key to sustainable development. With the European Strategy to promote gender equality in development cooperation adopted today, the Commission translates into practice the EU commitment to put gender equality at the heart of its development policyThe strategy suggests concrete actions in five key areas for the promotion of gender equality: governance, employment, education, health and domestic violence.It provides guidelines on how to improve gender mainstreaming in development policy and shows the potential of budget support for the promotion of gender equality. Commissioner Louis Michel said today: ''To eradicate poverty, we must give women and men in developing countries equal opportunities and support them to achieve equal access to resources. To make development policy deliver better results, gender issues must be considered more thoroughly at all stages when conceiving such policy, inside the EU and in the dialogue with partner countries.'' http://europa.eu/rapid/


3. Women's economic empowerment as smart economics

Women play a key role in economic growth and development. World Bank and IMF studies have shown that the economies of the developing countries are losing billions of US dollars because women are still discriminated against in economic life or even excluded from it. In order to find practical ways of improving women's economic participation in the developing countries, Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul hosted a conference in Berlin on 22 and 23 February. http://www.bmz.de/en/press/aktuelleMeldungen/20070222_gender/index.html


4. David against Goliath: Conference on Coherence in EU Foreign Trade Policy in Berlin

On the 27 February 2007, the international Conference ''David against Goliath? The development policy coherence of future Free Trade Agreements between the EU and Africa” took place in Berlin in the framework of the VENRO Project on Germany’s EU Council Presidency. In the context of its Council Presidency in the first half of 2007, the German Federal Government has agreed to urge that the EPAs be designed in a manner conducive to development. Civil society in the ACP states and the EU has repeatedly underlined its criticism of the current EPA concept. Now time is tight: ''The EU has to adopt an interim regime now that secures the ACP states the market access they have enjoyed so far,” Klaus Schilder demanded. ''This is the only way to prevent imports from the ACP states flagging at the beginning of next year. The costs of the interim regime are low compared to the economic and social damage caused by threats to the livelihoods of many ACP exporters.” http://www.prospects-for-africa.de


5. UNIDO and Microsoft Launch Technology Solution to support Foreign Direct Investment in Africa

UNIDO and Microsoft launched the prototype of a new investment monitoring platform which will be a key component of the UNIDO Africa Investment Promotion Agency (AfrIPANet) initiative. By gathering direct evidence and data on factors such as behaviour of investors; sectoral growth; investor expectations and the impact of different types of investment on local economies, AfrIPANet addresses the existing investment knowledge gap in Africa. It will be an invaluable resource for foreign-owned and domestic companies, allowing them to plan local sourcing and supply chain opportunities. It will enable the compilation of indicators such as future oriented indexes and rankings of countries in terms of performance and investor friendliness. Such indicators will contribute to reducing the perceived high risk of doing business in the region. http://www.unido.org/en/doc/63466


6. World Bank approves Governance and Anticorruption Strategy

The Bank's Board of Directors unanimously approved a new Governance and Anticorruption Strategy for the Bank Group. The strategy paper -- originally presented to the Development Committee at the Bank's 2006 Annual Meetings in Singapore -- was recently revised to take into account main messages resulting from multi-stakeholder consultations that the Bank held between November 2006 and January 2007 with over 3,200 representatives from government, civil society, donor agencies, and other interested parties through country consultations and web-based feedback. http://www.worldbank.org/html/extdr/comments/governancefeedback/


7. dgMicrofinance Highlight: Capacity Building, Pillar of Micro Finance

Micro entrepreneurs face many hurdles in getting startup financing, and they sometimes lack the skills necessary to manage the financial aspect of their business. As a result, many micro entrepreneurs cannot grow and develop their business beyond a micro enterprise, while even few fail to earn their livelihood. Various micro-enterprise development programs have helped micro-entrepreneurs who lack collateral security or incapable to find such collateral needed to secure a loan or those who have low or no credit by providing them with training, support, help in developing a sound business plan, and assistance in building their businesses. Successful micro entrepreneurs have contributed much to society by creating wealth, economic assets, and jobs. To be able to work themselves out of poverty, to survive and to grow, entrepreneurs need access to a range of services. Broadly, these are categorized as financial services and; non-financial, or business development services, such as market information, management and vocational skills training and business advice. Capacity building should be taken as part of micro finance activity for overall economic growth of MFIs, entrepreneur and a nation. http://topics.developmentgateway.org/microfinance/highlights/


8. Online debate blog: IFIs: Crowding Out or Crowding In?

March 28 - 30, 2007 The Microfinance Gateway
Recent claims that IFIs (international financial institutions) are crowding out private investment in microfinance have prompted heated discussion on the role of IFIs in microfinance investment. For their part, many IFIs argue that they continue to have an important and complementary role to private finance. Watch the debate unfold as experts from varying perspectives take on this hot topic which is sure to be a lively discussion. Over the following days, we will hear from a panel of experts with various viewpoints, from private equity funds to IFIs to donors and others. While the panelists debate, you can also participate by submitting questions for the panel and taking the poll. On Microfinance Gateway at http://www.microfinancegateway.org


9. The ISO Working Group on Social Responsibility: Developing the future ISO SR 26000 Standard

This briefing aims to inform NGOs and other civil society organizations about the ISO Working Group on Social Responsibility. This working group is currently developing an international standard that will give guidance to organizations on social responsibility: the ISO 26000 standard. The working group initiated its work in 2004 and is expected to deliver the guidance standard in the second half of 2009. The authors of this briefing argue that it is worthwhile for NGOs and other civil society organizations to start participating in the development of the standard. At this stage of the process, there are many possibilities to influence the drafting of the standard significantly. http://www.somo.nl/html/paginas/pdf/SOMO_paper_ISO_2007_EN.pdf


10. Training and Events

Training Value Chain Concepts
http://www.hposthumus.nl
Ede, The Netherlands, 2-6 April 2007, MDF training centre
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 Sub Sector Analysis and Value 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 the 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 discussing recent trends and developments in the fields. Contact Hans Posthumus, hans @ hposthumus.nl

INTRAC Training of Trainers
http://www.intrac.org/training.php?id=69
London, UK, 11 - 13 April 2007
This 3-day course equips you with enough skills, tools, and creative techniques to deliver a training event in a way that makes learning enjoyable and effective. You will be able to run an interactive training session receiving useful feedback.

4th European Conference on Craft and Small Enterprises
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/entrepreneurship/craft/4th_conference.htm
Stuttgart, April 16 – 17, 2007,
For the first time in a decade, the European Commission is organising a major conference dedicated entirely to craft and small enterprises. Since the last conference in Milan in 1997, the dynamics of globalisation, EU enlargement, demographic change and technological developments have had a fundamental impact on the business environment in which these companies operate and, as a result, on the overall European economy. It is now time for an in-depth assessment of ways in which the EU can continue to help the sector. ‘Challenges and opportunities for craft and small enterprises in the European Single Market’ is the title of this fourth European conference focusing on these businesses. It provides an opportunity to take stock of the wide spectrum of the craft sector’s economic, social and cultural strengths, to present concrete examples of successful practices and to consider policy responses. Over 1000 participants are expected at the event, which will concentrate on three crucial topics: skills for the future, developing new markets and improving the business environment.

Economic growth and value addition to low income livelihoods –
opportunities for MFIs and other stakeholders
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/MicrofinancePractice/message/6618
Hyderabad, India, 17 - 20 April 2007
According to Prof Malcolm Harper, '' Microfinance on its own is not enough to bring most people out of poverty. They need better livelihoods, and microfinance institutions may (or may not) have some role to play in helping them to acquire them. This is true everywhere, perhaps nowhere more than in India, whose poor people outnumber the total population of all the nations of sub-Saharan Africa.'' A 4 day workshop has been arranged in Hyderabad to explore this issue. The facilitation for the workshop will be done by Prof Malcolm Harper (Professor Emeritus Cranfield University, UK and Senior Micro-Finance and Micro-Enterprises Expert), Shri. Brij Mohan, Former E.D, SIDBI and Senior Microfinance expert and Ramesh S Arunachalam. Contact: Ramesh Arunchalam, r_arunachalam @ hotmail.com, or Prof Malcolm Harper (malcolm.harper @ btinternet.com) or Shri Brij Mohan Ji (brijmohang @ hotmail.com).

Business Planning and Financial Projections with Microfin
http://www.microfin.com/training.htm
Washington DC, USA, 23 - 27 Apr 2007, The SEEP Network
This course guides participants through a step-by-step process for developing a business plan and financial projections for a microfinance institution using Microfin 4.0, the sophisticated financial projections software that was developed by the facilitators of this training course, Chuck Waterfield and Tony Sheldon, with financial support from CGAP, Women’s World Banking, and Sida. Microfin has long been the microfinance ''industry standard'' for planning and budgeting. Microfin allows you to develop detailed five-year financial projections and budgets for your institution, and to simulate the impact of key decisions on your institution. Info: Chuck Waterfield, tel: +1 717 295 9292, waterfield @ microfin.com

Conference: Regional Innovation Strategies for Cluster Internationalisation and Competitiveness
http://www.clusterforum.org
Tartu, Estonia, 24 April 2007
The aim of the conference is to provide insights how regions and countries could act in linking their regional clusters with clusters in other European regions and worldwide in order to strengthen their competitiveness and their regional innovation systems. Many regions across Europe have identified development of cluster policies as one of their most important priorities within their regional innovation strategies. While designing the appropriate cluster policies it has become evident that the competitiveness of clusters does not depend only on the regional conditions but is more and more dependent on their linkages to the markets and resources situated in other regions or countries in and increasingly also outside Europe. The conference is organised in cooperation between CLOE, Institute of Baltic Studies, Tartu Science Park and Tartu City. Contact: Rene Tõnnisson, rene @ ibs.ee

European Microfinance Network 4th Annual Conference
http://www.european-microfinance.org/conference_berlin_en.php
Berlin, Germany, 25 - 27 April 2007
The 4th Annual Conference of the European Microfinance Network - Microfinance in a Banking Environment Models, Experiences, the Way Forward - will bring together around 300 participants, practitioners, bankers, researchers, investors, local government representatives, the European Commission representatives, policy makers, central bankers, private sector and the media. The conference will aim to underline the main challenges face by the microfinance sector in relation to the banking sector and confront various practices. As well as plenary speakers and debates, the conference will include a host of workshops and training opportunities.

Effective Management for Development
http://www.intrac.org/training.php?id=70
London, UK, 25-27 April 2007, INTRAC
The course will not only improve your management capabilities, but will also help you gain awareness of the impact of your management style, leadership role, manage cross-culture teams and staff, and strengthen personal management competencies.

Strategic Planning
http://www.intrac.org/training.php?id=71
London, UK, 2-4 May 2007, INTRAC
This course is designed to help organisations establish strategic direction, identity and strategic objectives, and a set of key measurements, match these with targets and pl a n for appropriate resource levels. Setting up a monitoring performance system is also covered in this course.

Measuring Impact of Business Facilitation on Enterprise Development
http://www.businessenvironment.org
Lima, Peru, 15-16 May 2007
International Workshop to review and discuss different approaches to measure the impact of business simplification and to discuss a common approach applicable to Latin America and other regions. Countries with better regulations grow faster. As part of the overall discussion on the role of government vis-à-vis private sector, donor support for small businesses has switched from an emphasis on financing to emphasis on improving the business environment. In fact, since the 1990s, many transitional and developing economies, together with international and local organizations, have started to find ways to foster an enhanced business-enabling environment.

Information and Communications Technology in Development
http://www.intrac.org/training.php?id=73
London, UK, 23-25 May 2007, INTRAC
The aim of this course is to familiarise participants with principles, approaches and recognised good practice in the application of Information and Communications Technologies (including mobiles, computing, online tools and platforms, broadcast technologies such as radio and TV, and high end applications such as satellite, GIS etc) in different development sectors.

International Conference ''Value Chains for broad-based Development”
http://www.value-links.de
Berlin, Germany, 30 May - 1 June 2007, GTZ-Haus Berlin, Hotel Mövenpick
Promoting value chains (VC) has become an important field of economic cooperation. After several years of implementing value chain promotion projects it is time to take stock: Are the efforts actually contributing to broad-based poverty reduction? The conference is supposed to further the conceptual progress of the VC promotion approach responding to this and other challenges. There are a number of critical points to be discussed. A general question concerns realistic options for producers and workers at the margins and at risk of being squeezed out. Special Topic: Can Economic Partnership Agreements promote Value Chains? Learning from Good Experience in Trade Policy”.

Tools of the Trade for Development Practitioners
http://www.mdi-nh.org/
Manchester, New Hampshire, USA, 11 - 29 Jun 2007
The Microenterprise and Development Institute - New Hampshire is holding an event titled, ''Tools of the Trade for Development Practitioners.'' Contact: Emma LeBlanc, tel. +1 603 644-3124, mdi @ snhu.edu

3rd African Microfinance Conference
http://www.amfiu.org.ug/conf.php
Kampala, Uganda 20 - 23 August 2007
The conference is targeted at practitioners, policy makers, donors, researchers, consultants and all people interested in microfinance and providing banking services to the poor. A high profile trade exhibition open to microfinance institutions and supporting services will be held simultaneously with the conference. Should any organisation be interested in exhibiting please contact Grace Bataringaya on email: gloevents @ infocom.co.ug .
The conference will be held at the Speke Resort Munyonyo.

Global Campus 21 courses
http://www.gc21.de/ibt/GC21/site/gc21/ibt/permanent/text/Online_Courses_On_GC21.pdf
This brochure lists 56 online and blended learning courses that have been used on Global Campus 21 during the past two years or have been created recently. Older courses were not included in the list, except a few which may be worth considering for repeated use. See the last page for an explanation of the notation used in this brochure and for a general information on types of online courses and their usability.


11. Publications

English-French glossary for small enterprise development
http://www.gret.org/ressource/resume.asp?cle=317
Ce glossaire bilingue français-anglais et anglais-français des termes de l'appui non financier aux entreprises et de la formation professionnelle a été créé pour les praticiens. Il est avant tout conçu comme un outil d'aide à la traduction, facilitant la compréhension du vocabulaire de référence, notamment pour les francophones qui souhaitent avoir accès aux ouvrages anglo-saxons. Il se compose de 42 fiches terminologiques dans les deux langues, d'un lexique d'une centaine de termes et d'une bibliographie commentée.

Enterprises in Information Society
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/library/lib-information_society/libr-info_society.html
This is a reference source for European Commission information society related publications with a special focus on the ICT environment within which European Enterprises act. The publications are grouped by type: Studies and conference proceedings, Periodicals, Guides, Statistics and Official documents. Titles are given in English, but other language versions often exist as well. When available, we have added a link to the electronic format edition.

Financing Innovation: How to Build an Efficient Exchange for Small Firms
http://rru.worldbank.org/
World Bank, Public Policy Journal, Issue 315, by JaeHoon Yoo
More than 24 countries operate separate boards and exchanges aimed at small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs). Equity markets play a critical role in fostering economic productivity by financing innovation. But only a few SME exchanges function properly, providing coveted fresh capital and liquidity. What steps are key to building an efficient exchange to provide risk capital for SMEs? Creating an SME-friendly market architecture supported by effective institutions and forging links to policies that foster a new class of investable equities.

Monitoring Implementation of the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Action Plan (2006 – 2010)
http://www.smedsep.ph
The Philippines' SME Policy is based on RA 8289, the ''Magna Carta” for Small Enterprises, which laid down the legal basis for a comprehensive approach to promote, develop and assist small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Philippines...
The SMED Council was mandated to carry out the provisions of the law and be primarily responsible for the promotion, growth and development of the SME sector in the Philippines. One of its main functions is to formulate a comprehensive SME development plan that would be integrated into the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) development plans.

Participatory approaches to agroentreprise development
http://www.ciat.cgiar.org/
Three guides are provided by the CIAT, which presents the approaches they developed for the promotion of rural agro-entreprises.

SMEs drive employment growth
http://bookshop.europa.eu/eubookshop/
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have confirmed their status as the backbone of the EU economy. They have been the main driver of net employment growth within the non-financial business economy. They represented 99.8% of all EU-25 enterprises in 2003, employing about two-thirds of the workforce and generating more than half (57.3%) of its value added. Economic theory would suggest that economies of scale should lead to larger firms generating more value added per person employed than smaller enterprises. However, this is not necessarily the case within many parts of the service sector, where economies of scale are not so obvious, barriers to entry are sometimes low, and where proximity to market is often of considerable importance.

SMEs, Growth and Poverty: Do Pro-SMEs Policy Work?
http://rru.worldbank.org/Documents/PublicPolicyJournal/268-private.pdf
This note explores the relationship between the size of the small and medium-size enterprise (SME) sector and economic growth and poverty reduction. A new study finds no support for the widely held belief that SMEs promote higher growth and lower poverty. But it does provide some support for the view that the quality of the business environment facing all firms, large and small, influences economic growth.

Cluster Management Guide for Practitioners
http://www.clusterforum.org/media/CLOE_Clusterguide.pdf
The CLOE network has developed a ''Cluster Management Guide: Guidelines for the Development and Management of Cluster Initiatives” that is among the first of such guides to help cluster managers in their dayto-day work. The ''Cluster Management Guide” goes beyond academic discussion and offers -based on the experience of successful cluster initiatives in several European regions - a practical handbook which gives an overview of essential tasks to be undertaken within the scope of cluster building processes and their management. It touches on topics such as financing, launching cluster initiatives, information and communication, marketing and PR for clusters and internationalisation. This guide is designed for regional actors, cluster and project managers and their supporting staff to help them develop and manage cluster activities in an effective and successful manner.Harcopies: Beatrice Negeli-Ganz beatrice.negeli-ganz @ tmg.at

Donor Approaches to Supporting Pro-Poor Value Chains
http://www.sedonors.org/resources/download.asp?id=386
The Linkages and Value Chains Working Group commissioned Tilman Altenburg to carry out a scoping study of the current work of members to develop pro-poor value chains, and to propose a framework for future analysis.
This study serves several purposes, namely: to discuss the analytical foundations of the concept, help to clarify terminology and discuss areas of overlap as well as conceptual distinctions between ''value chain” and ''linkage” approaches and related concepts in the field of private sector development; to examine the implications of the increasing coordination and globalization of value chains for pro-poor growth in developing countries; to identify strategies and interventions for value chain development in ways that contribute to economic growth and poverty reduction; and to identify questions for further discussion among the donor agencies involved.

Institutional Capacities for Small Business Policy Development in Latin America and the Caribbean
http://www.iadb.org/
This IDB study offers a description of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise sector in LAC by gathering and analyzing the available data. It high-lights the quality of information that exists in the region, and thus identifies gaps in the information. The study also presents a comparative analysis of the capacity of national MSME institutions to support small business development in the LAC region. Based on this assessment the authors draw attention to a lack of quality information about the MSME sector and disparate levels of institutional capacity in Latin America and recommend the development of an MSME Institutional Learning System to organize and promote the sharing of information among MSME support institutions of all types in LAC, as well as with their inter-national counterparts and international development organizations.

Strengthening entrepreneurship and local economic development in East Germany
http://www.oecd.org
This project provides an opportunity for participants in East Germany to stand back and reflect on their overall options, needs and priorities and by facilitating an international exchange of information on innovations and best practices from a range of OECD Member countries.

ACP-EU relations: Will the EU deliver on its promises?
http://www.afrikas-perspektive.de
CONCORD Cotonou Working group Briefing Paper on challenges of the 10th EDF Programming process

EC publications on Enterprise and Industry
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/library/index.htm
This section is a bibliographic reference source for the documents published by the Enterprise Directorate General. The titles are given only in English, but some documents have been published in various official languages.

EC publications on Innovation and Technology Transfer
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/library/lib-innovation/libr-innovation.html
This is a reference source for European Commission publications on innovation and technology transfer, grouped by type: Periodicals, Studies, conference proceedings, and Official documents. Titles are given in English, but other language versions often exist as well. When available, we have added a link to the electronic format edition.

An Economic Development Model for IT in Developing Countries
http://www.acts.or.ke
Information Technology (IT) has revolutionized the world economy in the past few decades by practically changing the economic activities globally. Given its applicability in various manufacturing and services sectors, IT has significantly affected the economy by providing information and development content on products and processes. Accordingly, faster rates of output and productivity growth have become the trends of information processing and communications. For instance, India and Ghana have yet to achieve significant economical advancement through the use of IT. To address this issue, we propose: An Economic Development Model Based on IT for Developing Countries (EDM-BITDC).

Capabilities for catching up - Economic development and competitiveness in Uganda
http://www2.gtz.de/dokumente/bib/07-0020.pdf
Jörg Wiegratz discusses in the paper implications and develops recommendations to enhance the contribution that the technical and vocational education and training (TVET) sector can make to addressing major human resource development deficits in Uganda. It summarises the main arguments, findings, conclusions, and recommendations of an extensive research and in-depth analysis process carried out in 2006.

Career Guidance. A resource handbook for low- and middle-income countries
http://www.ilo.org/
The dual purpose of this ILO Handbook is to focus the attention of policy-makers and programme administrators in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) upon the core issues in the reform of career guidance services in those countries; and to provide programme planners and practitioners at the national and local levels with a wide variety of country examples and practical career guidance tools to use as models for possible adaptation and use.

District based Poverty Profiling, Mapping and Pro-Poor Planning - As a Tool for Monitoring and Evaluation
http://www2.gtz.de/wbf/doc/LGPRSP_Report_2007-03_Poverty_Profiling.pdf
This report describes a participatory planning methodology termed Poverty Profiling, Mapping and Pro-Poor Programming. It was designed to enable development practicioners identify the incidence and prevalence of poverty in the districts, locate the groups regarded as poor, and describe and categorise them in socio-economic clusters and geographical space

India’s Role in the Emerging World Order
http://www.fes-globalization.org
The author Ummu Salma Bava examines how India’s emerging economic status is
redefining its self-image and its perception by others, leading
to a new political role. Briefing Paper 4-07, FES New Delhi, March 2007

New reading list: building a successful regulatory system
http://rru.worldbank.org/PapersLinks/ReadingList.aspx?topicid=94& ?cid=1295
Regulatory risks and costs are among the most significant obstacles for doing business and attracting foreign direct investment to developing countries. Flawed regulation translates into major constraints on growth, productivity, and the formal economy. The potential impact of reforms is significant. Least developed countries have the most business unfriendly regulatory frameworks and therefore the most to gain from regulatory reform. Regulatory reform programs must strike an appropriate balance between quick-wins and long term institution-building that can sustain reform. In the reading list, you’ll find information and resources on designing and evaluating regulatory institutions, tools for improving regulatory systems, and ways of fostering dialogues between regulators and the business sector.

Participation in formal technical and vocational education and training programmes worldwide: an initial statistical study
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001496/149652e.pdf
There is a common perception that technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is diversifying and expanding in terms of its supply and demand. Practitioners and policymakers often believe that educational systems are offering a wider array of programmes at different levels and in various fields of study. They also assume that these programmes are attracting larger and more diverse populations. Yet, there has been a shortage of comparable quantitative data and indicators on global TVET participation. There are several reasons for this void: lack of data for a vast number of countries; comparability issues; methodological difficulties in defining relevant indicators; and even the misrepresentation of TVET as being less relevant than other forms of education. Fortunately, comparable data are becoming increasingly available as these programmes become more visible and justly valued. In addition, the reported data, which are provided to the UIS by education ministries or their equivalents, refer solely to formal education programmes. As a result, this study provides only a cross-sectional view: additional monitoring will be required to track trends over time.

Reducing urban poverty. Lessons learnt from technical cooperation projects
http://www2.gtz.de/dokumente/bib/07-0034.pdf
The present GTZ-study by Manfred Niermann describes problems of urbanisation in our partner countries in development cooperation, and presents examples of three completed projects which
illustrate the results and impacts achieved by the measures taken. It also identifies relationships between the city district, the municipal administration and the central government as levels of intervention, and specifically the importance of municipal self administration and decentralisation in reducing urban poverty.

Regional Community Development News
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/fdi/
A weekly compilation of news links about and for regional communities pursuing local and regional development. The purpose of this weekly e-Newsletter is to make ''regional community'' development approaches visible. I send an email to organizations featured. It is a free subscription – use this email link: regions_work-subscribe @ yahoogroups.com to subscribe. No other information is required. Un-subscription is just as easy, an option at the end of every issue.

Supporting cleaner energy
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/environment/
This second report from the High Level Group (HLG) on Competitiveness, Energy and the Environment examines Europe’s long-term energy future and investment in power generation and energy efficiency. It includes a number of specific recommendations on how policies can be developed to build a sustainable, low-carbon, and competitive energy system. Composed of high-level stakeholders, the HLG envisions ways to support legislative initiatives and help create a more stable and competitive regulatory framework that will contribute to attaining Europe’s climate change objectives.

The Role of education and training in sustainable development: social, economic and environmental dimensions
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001459/145929m.pdf
This paper aims at: Analyzing the status quo of TVET in some Arab states is relation to their role in sustainable development. Pinpointing some important factors, that contributes to the failure of some systems of TVET in implementing their role in sustainable development. Highlighting recommended approaches to develop a better and affective role of Arab TVET in sustainable development. English and Arabic version

Women in business
http://www.gemconsortium.org/download.asp?fid=478
Women account for more than a third of all the people involved in entrepreneurial activities in the world, contributing greatly to the international entrepreneurship spirit. This report is the second in a series of publications aiming to provide a comprehensive study of the role played by such women. It provides a cross-national assessment of women’s business activity in 35 countries. The study also provides an analysis of the key characteristics of female entrepreneurial activity and how their approach to business may differ to that of their male counterparts.


12. Websites of the Month

AfDevInfo African Development Information Services
http://www.afdevinfo.com
AfDevInfo is a new service tracking the mechanics of political and economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa. A new research resource for libraries, media, business and government. A new approach to information delivery.

African Voices in Europe
http://practicalaction.org/?id=africanvoices
Practical Action has launched a new website - African Voices in Europe - to expose the failures of European aid and set out a new agenda for Improving aid for Africa's poorest communities. Millions of African farmers and livestock keepers who make up the majority of the continent's poor are being bypassed by international aid, according to Practical Action. The new website highlights the plight of small-scale farmers and livestock keepers in remote and deprived areas of Africa who are struggling to cope with worsening drought, HIV/AIDS pandemic and conflicts.

Index on Africa is a gateway to information on Africa on the Internet, with over 3.800 links sorted by country, subject and news.
http://www.afrika.no/index/
The Index has been created by The Norwegian Council for Africa (NCA), as a part of NCA's efforts to raise awareness about Africa and African affairs.

SANGONET started a page with links to International Newsletters
Non-Profit Sustainability and Development Newsletters
http://sangonet.org.za/portal/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2082&Itemid=259

Stop unfair trade deals: EPA 2007
http://epa2007.org
This Website supports the civil action against unfair EPAs (Economic Partnership Agreements). EPAs are new free-trade agreements being negotiated between the European Union and 75 former European colonies known as the African, Caribbean and Pacific group (ACP). So far over 10,000 people from the EU and the ACP have taken action The action is now live in Spanish, French and Italian

European TrendChart on Innovation
http://trendchart.cordis.lu
The European TrendChart on Innovation is an initiative of the European Commission, Enterprise & Industry Directorate General, Innovation Policy Development unit. The January 2007 edition of the TrendChart Newsletter is now available on the TrendChart News Service. As always, it provides information about the latest developments in innovation policy in Europe.

PRO INNO Europe
http://www.proinno-europe.eu
A new initiative of Directorate General Enterprise and Industry which aims to become the focal point for innovation policy analysis, learning and development in Europe, with the view to learning from the best and contributing to the development of new and better innovation policies in Europe.

The European Observatory for SMEs
http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/enterprise_policy/analysis/observatory.htm
The Observatory of European SMEs was established in 1992 to improve monitoring of the economic performance of SMEs in Europe. Its reports provide an overview of the current situation in the SME sector in Europe through statistics on the number of enterprises, total employment and production by size of enterprise. In addition, the reports cover a range of thematic issues related to SMEs and entrepreneurship.

IPAnet has merged with FDI.net
http://www.fdi.net
IPAnet has merged with MIGA's new online investment information portal - the Foreign Direct Investment Network- FDI.net. FDI.net offers IPAnet users unparalleled access to investment opportunities in developing countries and emerging markets. IPAnet users can also continue to use their IPAnet email address and password to log into FDI.net.

Micro, small, and medium enterprise database: updated
http://rru.worldbank.org/Themes/SmallMediumEnterprises/?cid=1295
The MSME Database gathers publicly available country-level data on micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and presents them in an easily accessible format. Now containing information from 118 countries - new data added for 66 of these - the MSME Database is the most comprehensive MSME dataset of its kind. You can see items such as the percent of employed people working for MSMEs. This dataset is a part of overall research efforts investigating the link between growth, poverty reduction, and the small and medium enterprise sector. See the companion note for more information.

References: Evaluation Methods and Guidelines
http://www.adb.org/Evaluation/methods.asp
This website of the ADB Operations Evaluation Department of the Asian Development Bank provides several evaluation methods and guidelines. The Evaluation Cooperation Group (ECG) developed good practice standards for evaluation of private sector investment, public sector, and policy-based lending operations, in line with its objective of harmonizing evaluation criteria and processes among its members

World Bank's electronic selection of consultants (EConsult
www.worldbank.org/econsult
The electronic selection of consultants (EConsult) is a secure web-based tool that supports current and prospective consulting firms doing business with the World Bank. EConsult contributes to the transparency of the selection process by allowing consulting firms to view opportunities, express interest, obtain documents, send proposals, and communicate with the Bank in a secure online environment.



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