EU aid programme to Africa fails to address Millennium Development Goals
The Least Developed Countries Report 2007
Rich Growing Richer Faster Than Poor in Developing Asia - ADB Study
EU and Central America start negotiations for new Association Agreement
Training and Events
Publications
Websites of the Month
1. 2015-Watch report: EU aid programme to Africa fails to address Millennium Development Goals
On the occasion of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) mid-point, Alliance2015 published its 4th ‘2015-Watch’ report addressing the crucial question whether Europe is still on track to fulfil its commitments and deliver on its promises.
The European Commission is currently finalising its aid programmes for countries in Africa for the period 2008 – 2013. Officially, the main objectives of these programmes are the eradication of poverty and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals but it appears that these are being pushed aside in favour of the EU’s own interests, as evidence suggests: the report cites the example of the new “Governance Facility” which, the Commission claims, will boost the EU’s support for health and education in its partner countries. However, according to the report, the evidence suggests otherwise. The Governance Facility uses a set of 23 indicators to determine which countries will be eligible for additional funding. Of these, only one is related to the Millennium Development Goals. http://www.alliance2015.org/...
2. The Least Developed Countries Report 2007
The UNCTAD has recently released the Least Developed Countries Report, 2007, subtitled "Knowledge, technical learning and innovation for development". The full report can be downloaded freely online. Introduction: "The least developed countries (LDCs) are a group of countries (presently 50 States) that have been officially identified by the United Nations as "least developed" in the light of their low income, weak human assets, and high economic vulnerability. UNCTAD, in past LDC Reports, has taken the view that the key to sustained economic growth and poverty reduction in LDCs is the development of productive capacities and related creation of productive employment. The Least Developed Countries Report 2007 corroborates this view by focusing on knowledge accumulation, technological learning and the ability to innovate as vital processes toward genuine productive capacity development in these countries." http://www.unctad.org/...
3. Rich Growing Richer Faster Than Poor in Developing Asia - ADB Study
The rich are growing richer faster than the poor in developing Asia, and widening disparities in standards of living can threaten the growth process in one of the most dynamic region's of the world, says a new ADB report. Absolute inequality has increased virtually everywhere between the 1990s and 2000s. One consequence of this is that the most well-off have experienced considerably larger increases in their standards of living than the least well-off. For example, the expenditures of the “rich” (top 20%) have increased much more than those of the “poor” (bottom 20%). This has happened even in countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia where relative inequality declined. http://www.adb.org/...
4. EU and Central America start negotiations for new Association Agreement
The negotiations between the EU and Central America for a comprehensive Association Agreement have started today in Brussels on the occasion of a high level meeting between the European Commission and Central America. The Association Agreement is envisaged as a comprehensive agreement, embracing the whole array of the multifaceted relations of the EU with Central America. Its objective is to enhance the political dialogue between both regions, intensify and improve their co-operation in a vast variety of areas, as well as to enhance and facilitate bi-regional economic links, including trade and investments. The Agreement will be negotiated with Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. As soon as Panama takes the decision to join the economic integration process SIECA in Central America, it will be fully involved in the negotiations. The European Commission recently adopted an aid package of some €840 million for the period 2007-2013 to assist the region and its countries to address the most important challenges. http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/ca/index.htm
5. Training and Events
Global Forum on migration and development http://www.eu2007.pt/UE/vEN/Noticias_Documentos/news1o.htm
More than 120 governments as well as regional and International Organisations met for the first meeting of the Global Forum on migration and development in Brussels on 10 July. This meeting aimed to discuss more consistent ways of strengthening the positive impacts between migration and development policies.
Online Course in Practical Microfinance http://www.snhu.edu/856.asp
Southern New Hampshire University's School of Community Economic Development will host an online course in Practical Microfinance this fall. The 11-week course, to be held from Sept 17 - Dec 18, is the first in a series of three courses for SNHU's Graduate Certificate in Microfinance Management. SNHU Professor Malcolm Harper will facilitate the program, which is open both to the students pursuing a master degree and to development practitioners working in the development field.
Geneva Private Capital Symposium, on the theme of “ Investing Private Capital in Emerging and Frontier Market SMEs ”, 24-25 September 2007.
http://www.geneva-private-capital-symposium.com/
The 2nd Geneva Private Capital Symposium focuses on Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) investment in emerging markets as a viable and often overlooked investment option. The Symposium makes the business case for investing private capital in emerging and frontier market SMEs. It will showcase today's leading investment vehicles and business models for SME financing and prove how such vehicles are making it easier to invest in this segment.
Over 900 people from 100 countries have participated in the first 7 Seminars-now the 8th in the Series offers you the opportunity to learn about current trends,and to network with your peers. As you would expect from an event in its 8th year,there is also the chance to hear from people who have used the approaches and tools from previous Seminars. And you will be able to hear how some of the most interesting work presented in previous years has progressed and scaled up. Contact: Peter Tomlinson & Cristiana Actis, tel. +39 011 6936580, PSDSeminar@itcilo.org
Ownership in Practice, Paris, 27-28 September 2007 http://www.oecd.org/...
This Informal Workshop will examine what the principle of ownership looks like in practice, both within developing countries (democratic ownership) and in the relationship between developing countries and donors.
Donor Committee Conference: African and global lessons for more effective donor practices http://www.businessenvironment.org/...
Accra, 5-7 November 2007 (English/French)
Donor Committee Conference: Asian and global lessons for more effective donor practices, http://www.businessenvironment.org/...
Bangkok, 29 November to 1 December 2006
Governing for Development: Opportunities and Challenges for Development Actors under the New Aid Paradigm http://eadi.org/...
Antwerp, Belgium. April - May 2008, Institute of Development Policy and Management
6. Publications
African Economic Outlook 2007 http://www.oecd.org/...
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), African Development Bank
Beyond Good Intentions: Measuring the Social Performance of Microfinance Institutions http://www.microfinancegateway.org/...
A publication in the CGAP Focus Note Series of the Consultative Group to assist the Poor (CGAP). This Focus Note highlights the emerging emphasis on social performance in microfinance and reviews some of the assessment tools recently developed."
Business engagement in humanitarian relief: key trends and policy implications http://www.eldis.org/...
This paper explores the new roles that companies are playing in humanitarian action. It examines the various forms corporate engagement, with a particular focus on partnerships, and explores the underlying motivations behind this involvement.
Business for Development: Fostering the Private Sector 2007 http://www.oecd.org/...
This OECD book details the activities of the private sector in developing and emerging economies. It demonstrates how these activities are inter-related with government policies. Understanding these activities and public-private interactions is indispensable for allowing the private sector to play its fullest role in a nation’s development process. To this end, several case studies are presented to provide concrete examples from Africa, Asia and elsewhere. Their analysis includes, among others, the opportunities for expanding markets and upgrading skills in global value chains, the regulatory conditions that could best promote private sector development and the respective roles that government, business and donors can play in that process.
Business Licensing Reform: A Toolkit for Development Practitioners http://rru.worldbank.org/Toolkits/BusinessLicenses/?cid=1295
guide gives project managers the tools for reforming business licensing regimes at the national level. Good licensing regimes rest on laws, have clear appeals procedures, and validity across sub-national jurisdictions. With guidance on identifying levers of reform, designing programs, involving stakeholders, and assessing impacts from start to finish, the reform process is broken down into four distinct phases: foundations, preparation, design, and implementation.
Corporate social responsibility: an implementation guide for business http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2007/csr_guide.pdf
This document presents a corporate social responsibility CSR implementation guide for international businesses. It provides an overview of the basic steps to, and instruments for, implementing a CSR strategy adapted specifically to your business or organisational context.
Enhancing the Role of SMEs in Global Value Chains http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/27/43/38900592.pdf
The OECD Global Conference on Enhancing the Role of SMEs in Global Value Chains, held in Tokyo on 31 May-1 June 2007 brought together experts from governments, international organisations, academia, business and civil society to examine the conclusions of the study, review best practice policies and programmes and draft the Tokyo Action Statement – including policy recommendations -- for further work in this area.
Entrepreneurship: New Data on Business Creation and How to Promote It http://rru.worldbank.org/PapersLinks/Open.aspx?id=7874
The World Bank Group Entrepreneurship Survey continues to extend our knowledge of the importance of entrepreneurship for a dynamic economy. In its second year, with more countries participating, the survey again shows a strong relationship between entrepreneurship, the business environment, and governance. New data shed light on how the distribution of businesses among sectors varies by level of development. And analysis of new data on business registration suggests that automation can greatly reduce the barriers to starting a business. This finding makes a strong case for pursuing e-government initiatives to spur entrepreneurship.
Growth with Responsibility in a Globalized World - Findings of the Shadow G-8 http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/iez/global/04472.pdf
Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES); Occasional Papers, Authors: J. E. Stieglitz, S. Griffith-Jones
Jump start to the outcome oriented M&E System http://topics.developmentgateway.org/...
The modular approach should be used for the M&E System (www.pacplan.com) where modules could be implemented as needed by organisation and situation and slowly progress to cover the entire organisation’s Results-Based Monitoring and Evaluation System. It is important to note that the M&E System is the on-going progress measurement in the organisation. The original design of M&E System should allow for this modular approach where better approach and new technologies can be modularised and added on at a later stage.
Local and Regional Economic Development in Leyte Province: http://www.smedsep.ph/...
Report on the Action Planning 2006 / Training of Trainers II for LRED-Facilitators Mission, by Rolf Speit / GTZ, Small and Medium Enterprise Development for Sustainable Employment Programm (SMEDSEP)
Six-Pack for SME Development www.bds-forum.net/6-pack-for-sme.htm
Product descriptions for the development of small and medium enterprises (SME), by Dieter Gagel, Heidelberg 2007
Skills Development Policies and International Cooperation in East and South-East Asia http://www.norrag.org/wg/papers.php
Paper on the Hong Kong Meeting, hosted by the Comparative Education Research Centre (CERC) of the Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong. It focused on skills development policies and international cooperation in East and South-East Asia, with particular attention to Asian approaches to skills development. , TVET System Development, Skills Development for (Self-)employment
Technical and Vocational Skills Development http://www.norrag.org/issue.php?id=38
Technical and Vocational Skills Development (TVSD) seems to be on the rise again. This appears particularly to be the case in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Amongst factors that may have sparked the renewed interest is a sense that high quality technical and vocational skills have played a critical role in East and South East Asia’s dramatic rise. Precisely what the contribution of labour force skills has been is still debated, and we carry the debate forward in this special issue. Equally in Latin America and in Europe, technical and vocational skills remain a key element in the discussions about sustaining the moves towards a knowledge economy.
The State of Responsible Competitiveness 2007:
Making Sustainable Development Count in Global Markets http://www.accountability21.net/...
This AccountAbility paper argues that responsible competitiveness is partly delivered by market forces but requires global rules to ensure sustainable development. It goes onto state that low-carbon technologies, closing the gender gap, building governance and accountability and enhancing labour standards provides enormous opportunities for business. The section also includes recommendations on how to improve responsible competitiveness and efforts to advance the CRI.
Transparency in the Supply Chain http://www.globalreporting.org/...
This document presents the findings of research conducted to evaluate the benefits of increased transparency in the supply chain of Multinational Enterprises (MNE's)."
Who fears competition from informal firms ? evidence from Latin America http://www.ruralfinance.org/...
This World Bank paper investigates who is most affected by informal competition and how regulation and enforcement affect the extent and nature of this competition. Using newly-collected enterprise data for 6,466 manufacturing formal firms across 14 countries in Latin America, the authors show that formal firms affected by head-to-head competition with informal firms largely resemble them.
7. Websites of the Month
World Bank's MDG Atlas http://devdata.worldbank.org/atlas-mdg/large.html
This attractive website provides maps of accomplishments under most of the indicators defined for the eight Millennium Development Goals. The information and its display are provided by the World Bank. The site provides added data in some pull down graphs, and has other features, such as help buttons.
Doing Business Map http://www.doingbusiness.org/map/
In partnership with the World Bank, Google recently released a map showing the ease of Doing Business around the world. 175 countries are color coded: green for easy, yellow for moderate, and red for difficult. Countries that have an additional green star are among the top 10 reformers. Similar to Google Maps, the user can choose a satellite map of the world or a map with political boundaries superimposed over a satellite map. Both include the markers that reference the World Bank’s Doing Business report. Users can also zoom in and out as desired.
Evidence-Based Policy in Development Network (EBPDN) http://www.ebpdn.org
ODI has launched this new website for EBPDN. In addition to viewing relevant documents, and information about forthcoming events, visitors can participate in online forums (after registration). Specifically, this website is designed as a community website which provides: knowledge on bridging research and policy; details of members of the network; a directory of training and advisory expertise; discussion forums; project areas; and a partnership brokering area.
Focal Point for Rural Development http://www.sdc-ruraldevelopment.ch/...
The Swiss SDC Focal Point for Rural Development is an answer to the challenge of effectively managing knowledge, learning and joint work around rural development across sectors and thematic specialisations, and across globally dispersed programmes and partners.
Economic Policy Institutes Network’s (EPIN) http://www.epinetwork.org
A bi-lingual on-line resource to serve the needs of experts and researchers in information sharing and experience exchange in CIS countries and Central and Eastern Europe. The on-line resource aims at facilitating cooperation and networking among economic policy institutes (EPI) to strengthen their potential in policy advice.
IDEAS Centre http://www.ideascentre.ch
IDEAS Centre is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to helping low-income countries to integrate into the world trading system - in a way that supports their national poverty reduction and economic development efforts. The Centre offers practical, results-oriented advisory services and executes projects aimed at strengthening the capacities of developing/transition country governments to shape both their domestic economic policies as well as the international policies that affect them.
BalkanKult http://www.balkankult.org/bk/
BalkanKult is a foundation that aims to support the development of creative industries and cultural diversity in the Balkan region. The foundation provides an information network of databases of cultural institutions and associations, transnational foundations, networks, awards, programs, scholarship/bursary schemes, artists and competitions in over 15 artistic and cultural disciplines in South East Europe.