September 2008 from weitzenegger.de

International cooperation professionals willing to end poverty

This monthly Newsletter brings you news for international cooperation 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 a new version appears: Detect Changes. Use a bot to translate it. Bookmark and Share


CONTENT

  1. Accra Agenda for Action (AAA) shall reform aid
  2. Annual report on EC aid reviews progress towards ''better delivery”
  3. Priorities of the French EU presidency, security and migration on top
  4. World Bank Updates Poverty Estimates for the Developing World
  5. Special Feature: Web 2.0 for Development
  6. Training and Events
  7. Publications
  8. Websites of the Month


Take a Deep Thought | http://weitzenegger.de/thought/

Almost half the world's population lives on less than two dollars a day, yet even this statistic fails to capture the humiliation, powerlessness and brutal hardship that is the daily lot of the world’s poor. Kofi Annan


1. Accra Agenda for Action (AAA) shall reform aid

Developed and developing countries agreed to take bold steps to reform the way aid is given and spent. After three days of intense negotiations, they endorsed the Accra Agenda for Action (see http://www.accrahlf.net). Developing countries are committing to take control of their own futures, donors to co-ordinating better amongst themselves, and both parties to the Agenda are pledging to account to each other and their citizens.

The Accra Agenda for Action is the product of an unprecedented alliance of development partners – developing and donor countries, emerging economies, UN and multilateral institutions, global funds and civil society organisations. They all participated in the discussions leading up to the Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, hosted by the Government of Ghana and organised by OECD and the World Bank, in Accra.

Key points agreed in the Accra Agenda for Action include:

  • Predictability: Donors will provide 3-5 year forward information on their planned aid to partner countries.
  • Country systems: Partner country systems will be used to deliver aid as the first option, rather than donor systems.
  • Conditionality: Donors will switch from reliance on prescriptive conditions about how and when aid money is spent to conditions based on the developing country’s own development objectives.
  • Untying: Donors will relax restrictions that prevent developing countries from buying the goods and services they need from whomever and wherever they can get the best quality at the lowest price.

In a short blog, the Eldis Editor reviews reaction to the proceedings and considers whether the AAA has made a real contribution to improving the aid effectiveness agenda: http://tinyurl.com/5duf9p


2. Annual report on EC aid reviews progress towards ''better delivery''

The European Commission disbursed € 8.5 billion in aid during 2007, representing 9% of total Community expenditures, according to the recently released annual report on EC aid. Top regions for EC assistance were Sub-Saharan Africa (33%), Asia (17%), and Europe (16%); and 23% of aid was given through budget support. In its review of the results of the year’s evaluations of EC aid, the report notes several major positive impacts e.g. on the social sectors in India, economic stability in Jordan and Mozambique, the water sector in Jordan, food security in Mozambique, and economic integration in Central America. However, there is a lack of sustainability in implementation strategies, as ensuring ownership by partner country stakeholders receives insufficient attention. Recurrent weaknesses in efficiency are reported to be due to delays in implementation, lack of flexibility and cumbersome procedures which also limit the effectiveness of Commission actions.

While the high quality of projects within some sectors (such as rural development) is recognized, there is often a poor impact on sectoral policy of partner countries. An impressive increase in aid expenditures has been realised, but at the risk of compromising the quality of the interventions. Good results regarding devolution, especially when delegations are flexible enough to adapt to the specific context, are counterbalanced by overly fragmented visions and insufficient coordination among sectors in delegations. The Commission has a particular value added in its regional programming; however, the linkage between national and regional programmes is often weak.

Drawing upon on the EC’s Results Oriented Monitoring system, the report concludes that relevance has increased as devolution has led to projects that respond better to local needs. However, problems with predictability of funds hinder both efficiency and the achievement of results (effectiveness). Ex-post monitoring has demonstrated that, in general, lessons are not being applied. Although most projects have detailed reporting systems, there are very few cases of projects that systematically record their positive and negative experiences with a view to identifying the most appropriate guidance. This lack of capacity to identify and acknowledge how success has been achieved means that the same errors are continuously repeated. In 2008, the EC will work on developing a system for better collecting and disseminating transferable lessons and best practices.
Summary: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/08/st11/st11137.en08.pdf
Full report: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/08/st11/st11137-ad01.en08.pdf


3. Priorities of the French EU presidency, security and migration on top

The French Presidency wishes to address four key priorities: energy and the climate, migration issues, agriculture and security and defence.

On Development policy:

  • responses to be made to the rise in prices of basic products.
  • definition of a common positions for international meetings that makes good use of the role and experience of the EU.
  • effectiveness of aid: progress needs to be speeded up with a view to better complementarity of aid between countries and responses to situations of conflict and of fragility.
  • local governance, particularly in relation to the European Development Days. Based on the Commission communication on local governance and territorial development, a charter for cooperation on support for local governance will be put forward.
  • work on access to care and the sustainable funding of health systems.
  • links between migration and development (impact of migrants’ savings, job needs in productive sectors, regional dimension and the impact of climate change).

Finally, the Presidency will also attempt to include aspects of adaptation of developing countries connected with climate change in its external actions, particularly with a view to the Conference of the Parties to be held in Pozna? in December 2008.

Migration: a comprehensive European migration policy remains a fundamental priority of the Union. The French Presidency will respond by proposing to its partners that a European Pact on Immigration and Asylum should be adopted at the European Council in October 2008 (see the separate articles on migration in EU sectoral Policies).

EU-Africa strategic partnership: in particular, Presidency will develop initiatives in the fields of peace and security, migration, access to energy and adaptation to climate change. It will also endeavour to progress towards the signing of full economic partnership agreements, including accompanying measures, especially to promote agricultural development, making it possible to renew a commitment to regional integration in Africa. (Source: APRODEV)

French presidency website: http://www.ue2008.fr/PFUE/lang/en/accueil
French platform of NGOs, CoordinationSud:
http://www.coordinationsud.org/spip.php?article5923
18 months rolling programme of the three presidencies (French, Czech and Swedish): http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/08/st10/st10684.en08.pdf


4. World Bank Updates Poverty Estimates for the Developing World

New poverty estimates published by the World Bank reveal that 1.4 billion people in the developing world (one in four) were living on less than US$1.25 a day in 2005, down from 1.9 billion (one in two) in 1981.

The new numbers show that poverty has been more widespread across the developing world over the past 25 years than previously estimated, but also that there has been strong—if regionally uneven—progress toward reducing overall poverty.

Looking at the new estimates from the perspective of the Millennium Development Goals, a set of internationally agreed development targets, the developing world is still on track to halve extreme poverty from its 1990 levels by 2015. This is the first of eight critical goals.

''However, the sobering news—that poverty is more pervasive than we thought—means that we must redouble our efforts, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa,'' said Justin Lin, Chief Economist of the World Bank and Senior Vice President, Development Economics.

Updated poverty estimates are published by the Bank every few years, based on the most recent global cost-of-living data as well as on country surveys of what households consume. Summary report: http://tinyurl.com/66ye7c


5. Special Feature: Web 2.0 for Development

Web 2.0 has become a buzz word in recent years when talking, writing, and exchanging about Internet innovation. Free or low-cost interactive Web services designed to enhance online collaboration and sharing information are increasingly available to the public. This new dimension of innovative online services, where people collaborate and share information, where the consumer becomes the producer, has been termed Web 2.0.

Web 2.0 is primarily a social, rather than a technological evolution. Websites look as always, but now users can change the content after registering. Let us use technology to enhance creativity, information sharing, and cooperation among people. By the way, you can get this newsletter by RSS at http://weitzenegger.wordpress.com/feed/ for adding it to your reading list or website. I started to save my bookmarks at del.ici.ous (http://delicious.com/weitzenegger), from where they get included in the Focuss.Info search engine (http://www.focuss.info). Have a look at http://use.weitzenegger.de where I list my memberships in the main platforms (Facebook, XING, LinkedIn, Sonico, Orkut) in order to link international development practitioners. In the following we list some virtual communities, where economic development professionals meet and share knowledge. If you recommend more, we list them in the upcoming Websites of the Months section.

EADI offers a related Web 2.0 Workshop:
Information, Knowledge and Communication: Web 2.0 in Development Cooperation
Bonn, Germany, 27-28 November 2008, Gustav Heinemann Haus
http://www.eadi.org/index.php?id=994

African Diaspora Skills Database
http://www.diaspora-centre.org/NEWSLETTER/Database
This database was compiled to provide an overview of qualified African Diaspora professionals with varied areas of expertise and experience. The African diaspora contribute substantially to the social, economic and political development of Africa, and this database is set up to further mobilize this considerable potential.

Aid Workers Network (AWN)
http://www.aidworkers.net
Aid Workers Network (AWN) is an online platform for aid, relief and development workers to ask and answer questions of each other, and to exchange resources and information. AWN is registered in the United Kingdom as a charity. You will find discussions about a range of questions and issues on the AWN forum from aid, relief and development workers all over the world and representing a variety of fields, with new threads or responses posted daily. The forum is a great way to get in contact with other aid and development workers in your geographic area or working in a similar area of work

Bizzlounge
http://bizzlounge.com
Bizzlounge is where people committed to ethical behaviour meet, who want to establish and maintain business contacts in an exclusive and relaxed environment.

Business Action for Africa
http://businessactionforafrica.blogspot.com
Business Action for Africa is a network of businesses and business organisations working collectively to accelerate growth and poverty reduction in Africa.

Business Fights Poverty
http://businessfightspoverty.ning.com
Business Fights Poverty is a professional network for all those passionate about fighting world poverty through the power of good business.

Business in Development Network (BiD)
http://www.bidnetwork.org
The BiD Network Foundation runs the BiD Challenge to contribute to sustainable economic development by stimulating entrepreneurship in developing countries.

Catalogue of Poverty Networks
http://www.undp-povertycentre.org/povnet.do
UNDP is organizing an online catalogue of Poverty Networks as a means to facilitate access to knowledge and sharing this to a wider audience in 189 countries. Poverty Networks are web-based platforms that provide space for sharing and disseminating development-related information and initiatives. Below you will find information on IPC’s collaborating networks, which help foster dialogue between researchers, policymakers, civil society and multilateral organisations.

Connections for Development (CfD)
http://www.cfdnetwork.co.uk
CfD is a UK, Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) led, membership based organisation committed to ensuring that UK BME communities, and the organisations they are involved in here, are supported in the process of shaping and delivering policy and projects that affect their countries of origin or interest – collectively ''our world”.

Development Crossing
http://www.developmentcrossing.com
Development Crossing was set up in 2006 by a small group of friends with diverse backgrounds ranging from business consulting to international development. In a world where the environment, corporate responsibility, and sustainable development are becoming increasingly intertwined, our goal was to create a site where individuals that shared our passion could keep up-to-date with relevant happenings in the world and connect with like-minded individuals. The idea behind Development Crossing is to provide a social network that brings together people from a variety of sectors, countries and professions to discuss corporate social responsibility and sustainable development.

DevelopmentAid.org
http://www.developmentaid.org
The one-stop-information-shop for the developmental sector, DevelopmentAid.org is a membership organization that brings together information for developmental professionals, NGOs, consultancy firms and donors.

dgCommunities on the Development Gateway
http://topics.developmentgateway.org
dgCommunities, a free online service by the Development Gateway Foundation is devoted to knowledge-sharing and collaboration for people working to reduce poverty in the developing world.

Diaspora African Forum
http://www.diasporaafricanforum.org
This Forum exists ''to invite and encourage the full participation of Africans in the Diaspora in the building of the African Union, in its capacity as an important part of the Continent''. We will provide the vital linkage for Diaspora Africans to become involved in Africa's development as well as reap the fruits of African unity.

Eldis Communities
http://community.eldis.org
Eldis aims to share the best in development, policy, practice and research. The Eldis Community is a free on-line community where you can meet others involved in international development and discuss the issues that are important to you.

Enterprise Development Exchange
http://edexchange.seepnetwork.org
The Enterprise Development Exchange links related communities of practice to advance sustainable poverty eradication. It is facilitated by The SEEP Network through the Value Initiative.

Food Security and Nutrition (FSN) Forum
http://km.fao.org/fsn/
The FSN Forum is a global community of FSN practitioners. It bridges the knowledge divide among the different communities involved in FSN policies and strategies - such as academics, researchers and development practitioners - to improve cooperation and impacts; members in many countries across the world’s five continents.

Global Development Matters
http://www.globaldevelopmentmatters.org
Global Development Matters is designed to engage U.S. citizens and leaders in examining how rich world policies affect global poverty reduction. There is an Election '08 blog.

GTZ-Communities Sustainable Economic Development
Africa: http://www2.gtz.de/network/wiram-afrika/gtz-community/
Middle East and North Africa: http://www2.gtz.de/network/mena/open-community/
Asia: http://www2.gtz.de/assets-asia/gtz-community/
The GTZ-Communities Sustainable Economic Development are open to all practitioners, counterparts, research institutions, donors and interested consultants worldwide facilitating an inter agency exchange of experiences and best practices. This weekly updated website provides you with recent news and lessons learned from GTZ as well as from other development agencies and research institutions in the field of economic development. Its core is a comprehensive database. Participation in this open community is free of charge. However, registration is necessary.

LED knowledge
http://www.ledknowledge.org
This website is an online space for sharing the experiences and resources of people and organizations supporting local economic development processes at the local level. LED Knowledge is the result of a joint effort of the ILO-LED programme team based in Geneva, and the ILO training arm, the International Training Centre, based in Turin, Italy. Source: GTZ NEDAnews.

Network of Networks Impact Evaluation Initiative (Nonie)
http://www.worldbank.org/ieg/nonie/index.html
Nonie is a network of networks for impact evaluation comprised of the DAC Evaluation Network, The United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG), the Evaluation Cooperation Group (ECG), and a fourth network drawn from the regional evaluation associations. Its purpose is to foster a program of impact evaluation activities based on a common understanding of the meaning of impact evaluation and approaches to conducting impact evaluation.

TakingITGlobal.org
http://profiles.takingitglobal.org
TakingITGlobal.org is an online community that connects youth to find inspiration, access information, get involved, and take action in their local and global communities.

The Global Development Network (GDN)
http://www.gdnet.org
GDN is a worldwide network of research and policy institutes working to provide a fresh and relevant perspective to the development challenges of our time.

The Global Resource Site for Local Economic Development
http://www.ledknowledge.org/
This website by ILO-ITC is an online space for sharing the experiences and resources of people and organizations supporting local economic development processes at the local level. We would like to think of this space as your virtual work place, where you can find and share several resources relevant for LED practitioners and promoters; share your experiences with colleagues in government, NGOs, donor agencies, international organizations, research centres, think tanks and academia all over the world; and keep yourself updated on the latest development in the field of local economic development.

XING Group Microfinance Industry
http://www.xing.com/group-21391.0fc826/4466179
In this new XING Group, microfinance professionals from all over the globe link and discuss topics of interest. Use this forum to discuss financial technology, find employment, identify training opportunities and events, and share knowledge resources with fellow members of the microfinance industry. XING is an online networking tool to manage all personal contacts and to find interesting new business contacts. It's amazing how quickly it facilitates contact with key people.


6. Training and Events

Understanding International Contracts and Loan Agreements
http://www.unitar.org/pft/elearning
15 September to 31 October 2008
UNITAR e-Learning Course

Boulder-Bergamo Forum on Access to Financial Services: Expanding the Rural Frontier
http://www.bouldermft.org/bergamo/index.htm
Bergamo, Italy, 18-20 September 2008, University

Fundamentals of Corporate Governance
22 September to 17 October 2008
http://www.unitar.org/pft/elearning
UNITAR e-Learning Course

Regional Workshop on SME Development and Regional Economic Integration
http://tinyurl.com /6z39wt
Tokyo, Japan, 22-26 September 2008

World Summit on the Knowledge Society
http://knowledge-summit.org
Athens, Greece, 26-28 September 2008.
The World Summit on the Knowledge Society will bring together academics, people from industry, policy makers, politicians, government officers and active citizens to look at the impact of information technology, and the knowledge-based era it is creating, on key facets of today’s world: the state, business, society and culture.

Building for the future: Evaluation in governance, development and progress
http://www.eesconference.org
Lisbon, Portugal, 1-3 October 2008
European Evaluation Society Annual Conference. Source: GTZ NEDAnews.

XVI. International Conference on Cooperative Studies
http://www.igt2008-registration.de
Cologne, 7-9 October 2008, University
Contributions of cooperative self-help to economic and social development

Encouraging Regional Innovation SSTI II
http://www.ssticonference.org/Conf08/schedule.htm
Cleveland OH, USA, 14-16 October 2008
Many topics will be discussed such as: introduction to tech-based economic development, effective entrepreneurship assistance, universities' current and future role in regional innovation, fostering a culture of entrepreneurship, assessing the impact of tbed, innovative approaches to commercialization.

Deutsche Clusterkonferenz
http://www.clusterkonferenz.de
Leipzig, Germany, 20-21 October 2008,
Die Deutsche Clusterkonferenz etabliert erstmals ein nationales Forum für Unternehmer, Clusterexperten sowie Förderer und Entscheider aus Politik und Verwaltung. Das Ziel der Konferenz ist die Entwicklung neuer regionaler und nationaler Impulse für die Clusterentwicklung in Deutschland.

2nd Europe INNOVA Conference
http://tinyurl.com/5ubb44
Lyon, France, 22-24 October 2008
The Europe INNOVA Conference 2008 will focus on accelerating innovation in Europe and how to optimise knowledge transfer, strengthening industry's innovation capacity through strategic partnerships and supporting innovative entrepreneurs.

Inter-Agency Conference on Local Economic Development
http://www.ledknowledge.org
Turin, Italy, 22-24 October 2008
The purpose of the event is to stimulate knowledge sharing and inter-agency collaboration on LED approaches. About 150 participants will be expected, presenting and discussing topical issues and day-to-day practices. Source: GTZ NEDAnews.

Development's Invisible Hands
http://www.devstud.org.uk/conference.htm
London, UK, 8 November 2008, Church House, Westminster
Development Studies Association Annual Conference

Innovation and Entrepreneurship
http://www.hkbu.edu.hk/~iibd/IEW2008/
Hong Kong, 12-13 November 2008
Many topics will be discussed such as the entrepreneur as manager of a growing company, strategies & milestones for successful ventures, high tech entrepreneurship and technological innovation in ASEAN countries.

European Development Days 2008
http://eudevdays.eu/Public/Homepage.php
Strasbourg, France, 15-17 November 2008
European Development Days 2008 is the European Commission's major event. Each year the EDD hosts some 3000 participants from every continent, representing over 1200 organisations in the development community. Source: GTZ NEDAnews.

InterCluster2008
http://intercluster.eu
Paris, France, 17-18 November 2008
InterCluster2008 will take place as an official event of the French Presidency of the EU. The objectives are : to provide better understanding of strategic issues involved in the Europe of Clusters in a context of increasing globalisation; to identify the best ways of reinforcing European clusters and making them competitive; to identify obstacles to intercluster cooperation and propose solutions and suggestions. Registration will be open online starting 10 September.

Building Competitive Local Economies, First mesopartner Academy in Asia
http://www.mesopartner.com/asia-academy/
Hanoi, Vietnam, 1-5 December 2008
You are looking for new insights on local and regional development, and you want to share and discuss your experience with practitioners from other countries? The first mesopartner Academy in Asia can bring you more methods end experience.

5th International Conference on Innovation and Management (ICIM2008)
http://www.merit.unu.edu/ICIM2008/
Maastricht, The Netherlands, 10-11 December 2008
Organized by UNU-MERIT (The Netherlands) and supported by Wuhan University of Technology (China) and Yamaguchi University (Japan), this conference will bring together academics, practitioners and other professionals involved in the filed of innovation and management.

Current Trends in International Development Cooperation &
their Implications for Evaluation
http://www.feez.org/feez/zusatzmodul_2/
Marktbreit, Germany, 11-13 December 2008
Additional FEEZ training module. Content: Introduction to recent trends and new instruments of development cooperation; Implications on programme management and evaluation methods and instruments; Requirements and consequences for evaluation missions and mission reports; Job sharing and contribution to data gathering and report writing; Best practices and information sharing. Contact: Ms. Bettina Nasgowitz, Tel. +49 7021-9708717, headoffice @ feez.org


7. Publications

Accessing Financial Services in Rural Areas
http://www.inforesources.ch/pdf/focus08_2_e.pdf
InfoResources Focus 2/2008.

Building Democracies and Markets in the Post-Conflict Context
http://www.cipe.org/publications/papers/pdf/IP0806.pdf
In post-conflict societies, reconstruction efforts must focus on rebuilding and strengthening institutions in addition to providing humanitarian aid and basic infrastructure. The private sector plays a crucial role in advancing reconstruction and establishing credible institutions that give post-conflict societies a sense of ownership and faith in the political and economic system and discourage the return of armed conflict. Institutional and economic reforms must be carried out at the grassroots level in order to cultivate a sense of responsibility within local communities and to engage the local private sector and civil society in meeting specific development needs of post-conflict countries.

Building the capacity of producer organisations
http://www.capacity.org/...)
Addressing the food crisis will require an enabling environment and price incentives for small farmers to increase production. Cpacity.org looks at rural entrepreneurs and value chains.

Business Constraints and Growth Potential of Micro and Small Manufacturing Enterprise
http://www.giga-hamburg.de/workingpapers
GIGA Working Paper No 78 by Esther K. Ishengoma and Robert Kappel.

Capacity, Change and Performance Study Report
http://www.ecdpm.org/dp59b
This ECDPM Discussion Paper 59B gives insights on Capacity Building and comes to useful general recommendations. If you ever wondered, what CP is good for and how it works, read this.

Chain empowerment: Supporting African farmers to develop market
http://www.mamud.com/chain_empowerment.htm
This book describes two basic strategies that groups of farmers can use to improve their incomes: vertical and horizontal integration. Vertical integration means taking on additional activities in the value chain: processing or grading produce, for example. Horizontal integration means becoming more involved in managing the value chain itself – by farmers’ improving their access to and management of information, their knowledge of the market, their control over contracts, or their cooperation with other actors in the chain.

Cluster Development and Knowledge Exchange in Supply Chain
http://xxx.lanl.gov/ftp/arxiv/papers/0806/0806.0519.pdf
Industry cluster and supply chain are in focus of every countries which rely on knowledge-based economy. Both focus on improving the competitiveness of firm in the industry in the different aspect. This paper tries to illustrate how the industry cluster can increase the supply chain performance.

Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism
http://www.adb.org/Microfinance/Making-Capitalism-Work.pdf
Review Essay on Muhammad Yunus and Karl Weber's book by Nimal A. Fernando, Asian Development Bank

Creating an enabling environment for private sector development in sub-Saharan Africa
http://www2.gtz.de/wbf/doc/07-89144_Ebook1.pdf
The study has been prepared as a joint GTZ/UNIDO input to the ''DCED/BEWG Africa Regional Consultative Conference: Creating Better Business Environments for Enterprise Development—African and Global Lessons for More Effective Donor Practices”, held in Accra, Ghana, in November 2007.

Creating Value for All Report: Strategies for Doing Business with the Poor
http://tinyurl.com/6qrld4
The first global report of UNDP's Growing Inclusive Markets Initiative and the first one with such depth and local knowledge, Creating Value for All showcases 50 studies by researchers predominantly from developing countries. These case studies demonstrate the successful pursuit of both revenues and social impact by local and international small- and medium-sized companies, as well as multinational corporations.

Developing Cross Border Value Chains - Newsletter
http://www.valuechain-bimpeaga.com
This newsletter will serve as a vehicle to briefly inform everyone about the developments and activities of the four subsectors – tourism, seaweeds, halal products, and palm oil - where GTZ and the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) apply the value chain approach. Source: GTZ ASSETSforASIAnews

Development Assistance: Positive Economic Impact
http://tinyurl.com/5vxpv5
The recently published study on the economic effects of official development assistance (ODA) is extremely positive. It shows that ODA is capable of creating a win-win situation for both beneficiary and donor countries.

Education quality and economic growth - World Bank Research
http://tinyurl.com/25t49l
Access to education is one of the highest priorities on the development agenda. High-profile international commitment to progress has helped galvanise policy-makers into action. This book aims to contribute to the World Bank's education agenda by communicating research findings on the impact of education quality on economic growth. It shows how differences in learning achievements matter more in explaining cross-country differences in productivity growth than differences in the average number of years of schooling or in enrolment rates.

Evaluation of the implementation of the Paris Declaration
http://www.undg.org/docs/9219/Synthesis-Report.pdf
This UN Development Group report synthesises the results of the first evaluation of the early implementation of the Paris Declaration, from March 2005 to late 2007. The Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness is now recognised as a landmark international agreement aimed at improving the quality of aid and its impact on development. It lays out a road-map of practical commitments, organised around five key principles of effective aid. Each has a set of indicators of achievement. The Declaration also has built-in provisions for regular monitoring and independent evaluation of how the commitments are being carried out.

Evaluation of World Bank's Doing Business
http://tinyurl.com/43ua6v
The Doing Business Indicators are the Bank Group's well-known tool for comparing the business regulatory environments of 178 countries. This independent evaluation recommends significant changes to the indicators.

Fighting Corruption Business Guide
http://info.worldbank.org/etools/antic/Guide.asp
This practical Guide explains Collective Action, its benefits, and how to use it. The Guide is intended primarily for use by anyone with responsibility for a major project or market, and who operates in an environment where corruption is, or may be present.

Financing Development 2008: Whose Ownership?
http://tinyurl.com/5hnfen OECD Development Centre Studies
Aid alone cannot finance development; bringing in fresh sources of finance is essential. The emergence of a multiplicity of new financing options is good news for developing countries, but it also raises challenges. The authors in this stimulating book assess the changing landscape of international development finance from a global and a developing-country perspective. The result is a vast range of policy implications for donor and recipient alike. In an easily digestible format, the book provides recommendations on innovative policy mechanisms, on the use of both grants and loans in development finance, and on the challenges of managing diverse financial flows at country-level.

GDN Toolkit: Proposal Writing and Fundraising
http://www.gdnet.org/middle.php?oid=363
This toolkit provides tips and practical suggestions for applying for funding and proposal writing. It is based on interviews with experienced research fundraisers. Obtaining funding for your research is a difficult achievement, so we hope this guide will help give your proposal the best possible chance of success.

Improving the Local Business Environment
http://www2.gtz.de/wbf/doc/SA_LBE_booklet_v1_2008.pdf
This booklet describes the importance of the local business environment in the creation of vibrant local economies by local and district municipalities. It highlights the role of the local business environment in attracting new investment and business development opportunities, and describes how to improve these conditions. Tools and resources for local business environment reform are identified to help elected representatives and local officials initiate the process of improving their business environment. Source: GTZ ASSETSforASIAnews

Integrating poverty, gender and environmental concerns into value chain analysis : a conceptual framework and lessons for action research
http://www.diis.dk/sw62931.asp
This paper develops a conceptual framework to overcome the shortcomings in stand-alone value chain, livelihoods and environmental analyses by integrating horizontal and vertical aspects that affect poverty and sustainability.

Making Money Transfers Work for Microfinance Institutions
http://www.cgap.org/ ...
Money transfers are often the first financial service used by low-income people. Institutions that provide secure and affordable money transfer services can expand their client base, and generate significant revenue. CGAP's Technical Guide helps financial service providers determine the strategy, products, and institutional structure needed to support a successful money transfer operation, should they decide to offer these services. The Guide offers a practical, hands-on approach to Money Transfers and a good basic overview of the topic, including the risks involved.

Migration can contribute to development in Nigeria
http://www.id21.org/society/s7chdh1g1.html
Nigeria is a destination of migration within West Africa and a source of migrants to Europe and the United States. But little data exists that could help policymakers design policies to boost the contribution of migration to national development. Migrants exist in a climate of insecurity that undermines their integration in host countries as well as their contribution to their home country.

OECD Framework for the Evaluation of SME and Entrepreneurship Policies and Programmes
http://tinyurl.com/5olyht
This Framework provides policy makers with a practical and accessible guide to best practice evaluation methods for SME and entrepreneurship policies and programmes. It uses case studies from a wide range of OECD countries to examine the benefits of evaluation and how best to address common issues that arise when commissioning and undertaking SME and entrepreneurship evaluations.

Open and closed industry clusters: The social structure of innovation
http://tinyurl.com/64gge9
In this paper the authors discuss knowledge and innovation in clusters and the benefits of clustering from a knowledge-based perspective. The authors seek to extend on previous research focusing specifically on two major dimensions: the knowledge dynamics involved in a cluster, and the social structure of relationships in the clusters.

The Growth Report: Strategies for Sustained Growth and Inclusive Development
http://tinyurl.com/5alajx - Commission on Growth and Development, May 2008.
This report analyses, among other issues, whether developing countries can grow as fast as the fastest growing economies without causing global greenhouse gases to spiral out of control. The answer is negative unless technology and new techniques are used to ''radically'' reduce the amount of energy needed to produce goods, as well as cut CO2 emissions, says the growth report. The report is the result of two years' work on the requirements for sustained and inclusive growth in developing countries led by 19 experienced policymakers and two Nobel prize-winning economists.

The Social and Ecological Market Economy – A Model for Asian Development?
http://tinyurl.com/6znzvy
In 2007, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development issued Social and Ecological Market Economy Principles in German Development Policy, which details how this successful German and European tradition of economic, social, and ecological policy design can be used to orientGerman development cooperation. The GTZ Sector Network Sustainable Economic Development Asia took up the issue in this brochure.

Towards an Employment-centred Development Strategy for Poverty Reduction in The Gambia: Macroeconomic and Labour Market Aspects
http://www.undp-povertycentre.org/pub/IPCCountryStudy16.pdf
According to the authors, growth in The Gambia has not been pro-poor. Weak productivity and the low quality of employment explain why. They recommend policies to increase the supply of credit to the economy, particularly to employment-intensive sectors.

Trading up: Building cooperation between farmers and traders in Africa
http://www.mamud.com/tradingup.htm
Trading Up stands up for traders. It shows how traders struggle to run their businesses in the face of adverse policies and attitudes. With more respect and support, they could develop markets, add value to products, invest in new businesses, and improve the efficiency of the food distribution system. They could generate demand for farm products and help improve the incomes and livelihoods of rural people.

more documents: GTZ Online-Library Sustainable Economic Development
http://www2.gtz.de/wbf/library/topics-en.asp
The Online - Library Sustainable Economic Development provides selected manuals, materials, workshop documentation, and technical literature as well as field reports and discussion papers from projects conducted by GTZ and other development institutions.


8. Websites of the Month

AfDevinfo - African Development Information Service
http://www.afdevinfo.com
AfDevinfo tracks the mechanics of political and economic development across Sub Saharan Africa. They draw together a diverse range of publicly available data and present it as an accessible and ever expanding online database.

Africa Commission, for effective development cooperation with Africa
http://www.africacommission.um.dk/en
The Africa Commission focuses on how to create more jobs and further economic growth in Africa in the years to come. The overall focus will be on youth, employment and economic growth. The Danish Government started this commission to put economic growth and employment in Africa higher on the international agenda. (Source: DCED)

African Foundation for Development
http://www.afford-uk.org
Over the next 3 years AFFORD will concentrate on supporting the African diaspora in the UK to contribute to wealth and job creation in Africa. It runs projects and programmes such as SEEDA (Supporting Entreprenuers and Enterprise Development in Africa) which seek to mobilize the diaspora and other partners to support and invest in sustainable enterprises, particularly SME’s, that will generate wealth and jobs and respond to the jobs crisis in Africa.

African University of Science and Technology in Abuja (AUST – Abuja)
http://www.aust-abuja.org
AUST was established by the Nelson Mandela Institution (NMI) in 2007 as the first of a Pan-African Network of Institutes of Science and Technology and Centers of Excellence located across the continent.

Association of African Business Schools (AABS)
www.aabschools.com
AABS's mission is to promote excellence in business and management education in Africa by supporting graduate business schools through capacity building, collaboration and quality improvement.

BizCLIR
http://bizclir.com
This site is a dynamic knowledge development and knowledge sharing tool to improve the impact of USAID's efforts on Business Climate Legal and Institutional Reform. The site will host information for development practitioners including: country assessments, best practices, publications, and expert opinions.

Business Climate Legal and Institutional Reform: USAID BizCLIR website
http://bizclir.com
This USAID site provides a dynamic knowledge development and knowledge sharing tool to improve the impact of USAID's efforts on Business Climate Legal and Institutional Reform. The site will host information for development practitioners including: country assessments, best practices, publications, and expert opinions. The goal is to share and capture information in this field from around the world and to become an active forum for sharing cutting-edge ideas.

Business Fighting Corruption
http://info.worldbank.org/etools/antic/index.asp
This website and the ''Fighting Corruption through Collective Action”guide are the result of an on-going collaboration of businesses and non-governmental organizations, led by the World Bank Institute.

Centre for Agricultural Resources & International Development
http://cefard.org
CEFARD is a not-for-profit, non-governmental, and humanitarian organisation in Toronto, Canada. CEFARD's mandate is to champion the course of global poverty alleviation through agricultural resources and developmental tools mostly in the developing nations of the world.

Centre for International Competitiveness
http://www.cforic.org
Founded in 2007, the Centre for International Competitiveness focuses on researching and exploring the competitiveness of economies and businesses. The Centre is also the home of the influential World Knowledge Competitiveness Index, European Competitiveness Index, and the UK Competitiveness Index series of reports.

Centre for international competitiveness
http://www.cforic.org
Founded in 2007, the Centre for International Competitiveness focuses on researching and exploring the competitiveness of economies and businesses. The Centre is also the home of the influential World Knowledge Competitiveness Index, European Competitiveness Index, and the UK Competitiveness Index series of reports.

CUIL
http://www.cuil.com
Cuil claims to be the largest search engine in the world, and that it searches three times as many pages as Google. Cuil is an old Irish word for knowledge. For knowledge, ask Cuil.

Enterprise for Pro-poor Growth (Enter-Growth)
http://www.entergrowth.com
Enter-Growth is a project of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), and the Sri Lanka Ministry of Enterprise Development and Investment Promotion. Its goal is to contribute to pro-poor economic growth and quality employment for women and men, through an integrated programme for development of micro and small enterprises. The Website has a good project library.

eponews.net News on Development & International Co-operation
http://www.eponews.net
eponews.net - the news & views channel of epo.de - delivers you with news (in particular from NGOs) and views on international development.

Euforic RSS feeds
http://www.euforic.org
As an existing subscriber to the Euforic News Flash, we invite you to subscribe to our Euforic Highlights. Follow this link to get a regular email alert. You can also sign up for our alerts in Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish! You can also subscribe to news alerts from Euforic member organisations – follow this link .

European Development Co-operation to 2020 [EDC2020]
http://www.edc2020.eu
The EDC2020 project combines both research and communication aspects. Its aim is to encourage close collaboration between researchers and policy makers and therefore it enhances the co-operation with reputable European development research institutes. EADI, SID and others launched the project in June. To subscribe to the regular EDC2020 e-newsletter please visit http://www.edc2020.eu/21.0.html. Two working papers entitled ''European Development Co-operation to 2020: The Issues” and ''Energy and Development: Lessons from Nigeria” were published and available as a download.

Global Value Chains
http://www.globalvaluechains.org
The Global Value Chains Initiative seeks to develop an industry-centric view of economic globalization that highlights the linkages between economic actors and across geographic space. It is a multi-year effort to test and develop the GVC framework with the aims of creating greater analytical precision, intellectual impact and policy relevance. Our efforts include a research agenda, a publishing thrust, the development and dissemination of industrial upgrading handbooks for practitioners, and a series of intensive workshops convened to test and broaden the framework through interactions among network participants and with the broader academic, policy-making and activist communities.

globADVANTAGE - Center of Research on International Business & Strategy
http://www.globadvantage.ipleiria.pt/
The globADVANTAGE – Center of Research on International Business and Strategy in the Instituto Poltécnico de Leiria (globADAVANTAGE – I.P.Leiria) was created in 2007 as a research center for the study of international business and corporate strategy. Researchers focus on issues of importance to international trade, international investment, international strategy and global competitiveness.

Growing Inclusive Markets (GIM)
http://www.growinginclusivemarkets.org
The Growing Inclusive Markets Initiative has created a set of data, information and analytical products that will increase understanding of the markets of the poor, including existing opportunities and challenges.

GTZ: Promotion of Economic Development and Employment in Conflict and Post-Conflict Environments (PEECE)
http://www.gtz.de/en/themen/...
Development interventions can help prevent, transform or overcome conflicts, but at the same time they can cause, trigger or aggravate conflicts. Since development interventions always have an impact on conflict – either positive or negative - Private Sector Development (PSD) in conflict or post-conflict situations cannot be planned and implemented in the same manner as in peaceful countries. This platform has been established as a dynamic space offering practical advice, tools and project examples to economic development experts working in conflict or post-conflict situations.

Guide to Sources of information for Sustainable Development
http://www.comminit.com/es/node/265632
This is a project of Avina Foundation and The Communication Initiative Latin America (CI LA), that aims to facilitate links between journalists/researchers and experts and social organizations in 22 areas of sustainable development. The guide is a directory that includes the name, contact data, and field of work of 634 social leaders and specialists in 23 Latin American countries.

IDRC: Competition and Development
http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-119682-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html
This website demonstrates the importance of true and fair competition to sustainable development. The site provides an overview of competition law and policy in developing countries, results of IDRC-funded research, and the important lessons that have been learned. The slide presentations, short case studies, research reports, and online books also touch on issues of globalization, consumer welfare, cartels and monopolies, and trade liberalization.

International Initiative for Impact Evaluation
http://www.3ieimpact.org
3ie seeks to answer the enduring questions of development. Submit your own enduring question to enduring_questions @ 3ieimpact.org. Or make a submission to the 3ie blog. 3ie is supported by governments, NGOs, official development agencies and private foundations (List of 3ie members). More information on Joining 3ie.

International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie)
http://www.3ieimpact.org/
3ie seeks to improve the lives of poor people in low- and middle-income countries by providing, and summarizing, evidence of what works, when, why and for how much.

International journal of microfinance and business development
http://practicalaction.org/?id=sed_journal
Enterprise Development & Microfinance (EDM) provides a forum for those involved in designing and running enterprise development and microfinance programmes in developing countries. EDM is essential reading for managers of projects, providers of technical assistance, consultants to projects, policymakers and staff of donor agencies.

International Poverty Centre Online Resource Centre
http://www.undp-povertycentre.org/theme.do
IPC is pleased to announce a new section on its website where you will find its publications organized by 16 thematic areas.

Joint Donors' Competence Development Network
http://www.train4dev.net
Train4dev is an open forum for donor agencies, currently comprising 17 donors: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, European Union, France, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, United Nations, World Bank and ILO. The training course (http://www.train4dev.net/training-courses/allcourses.html) are for members exclusively.

J-STOR give free access to scientific journals
http://www.gdnet.org/JSTOR
GDN announces access to JSTOR to eligible registered researchers on the Knowledge Base. Through J-Stor, registered researchers can retrieve scanned images of journal issues and pages as they were originally designed, printed, and illustrated. Access is granted to Business, Business II and Arts and Science II Collections. If you are registered with GDNET, update your profile to activate access to JSTOR. Register at http://www.gdnet.org/register

London International Development Centre (LIDC)
http://lidc.bloomsbury.ac.uk
The LIDC is a unique collaborative project bringing together social and natural scientists and educators across the six Bloomsbury Colleges of the University of London. This project is designed to establish a collaborative, inter-disciplinary Centre to address complex problems in international development.

MDG Monitor
http://www.mdgmonitor.org
The MDG Monitor shows how countries are progressing in their efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). With the 2015 target date fast approaching, it is more important than ever to understand where the goals are on track, and where additional efforts and support are needed, both globally and at the country level.

MFTransparency for transparency in microfinance
http://www.mftransparency.org
A non-government organization was launched in Jluy 2008 which will make public the interest rates charged by microfinance lenders.'' MFTransparency will be the venue for the microfinance industry to publicly demonstrate its commitment to transparency, integrity and poverty alleviation. MFTransparency will enable transparent communication between suppliers and consumers of microcredit products, as well as all microfinance stakeholders, by presenting information on credit products and their prices in a clear and consistent fashion.

Online Atlas of the Millennium Development Goals
http://devdata.worldbank.org/atlas-mdg/
Fancy new website by the World Bank on MDG progress.

ProFI Porgramme, Indonesia
http://www.profi.or.id/
ProFI is a comprehensive micro-finance program. The idea is to promote more accessible, affordable, and effective micro-financial institutions (MFIs) for low-income people.

Quick Impact Capacity Development and Knowledge Transfer Center
for Microfinance in Post-disaster Environments
http://quick-centre.or.id
The QUICK Centre is a knowledge sharing platform for the practitioners of microfinance in disaster surroundings. Here you will find the best practices and experiences on post-disaster microfinance support measures, microfinance as a disaster preparedness tool, disaster management for microfinance institutions.

Samea - South African Monitoring and Evaluation Association
http://www.samea.org.za
Samea strives to cultivate a community that will support, guide and strengthen the development of monitoring and evaluation as an important discipline, profession and instrument for empowerment and accountability in South Africa. Source: GTZ NEDAnews.

The African Diaspora Policy Centre (ADPC)
http://www.diaspora-centre.org
ADPC enables African Diaspora in Europe to connect more closely with the continent as a collective force. The thematic areas are Peacebuilding, Research, Expert Meetings, Training, Better Governance, Research, Expert Meetings, Migration & Development, Research, Expert Meetings and Brain Gain.

The Commonwealth Business Council (CBC)
http://cbcglobal.biz
CBC provides leadership in increasing international trade and investment flows, creating new business opportunities, promoting good governance and corporate social responsibility, reducing the digital divide and integrating developing countries into the global market.

The Wharton Africa Business Forum
http://www.whartonglobal.com/africa/index.html
Wharton takes a vigorous approach at identifying viable and attractive areas for investment and trade with Africa. Within the context of discussion about business opportunities, the changing economic and geo-political landscapes, and examples of success stories, we hope that our panelists and speakers will enlighten the audience on Africa's future, and how we personally can affect it both positively and profitably.

VeoSearch
http://veosearch.com
This is a search engine financing projects towards Sustainable Development through your online searches. Every search generates advertisement revenues. 50 % of these revenues are distributed to the charities presented on the site. They are engaged in at least one of the three main pillars of Sustainable Development: social work, environment protection or sustainable economics.


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