We are constantly saying there is more to democracy than elections. So I was pleased to see a book exactly on this by Susan Rose-Ackerman, From Elections to Democracy: Building Accountable Government in Hungary and Poland. Rose-Ackerman focuses on the importance of policy-making accountability to democratic consolidation in Hungary and Poland. She explores several mechanisms in the two countries for monitoring and citizen participation, and finds most of them insufficient to achieve accountability in policy-making.
For example, government entities tasked with oversight, such as ombudsmen and audit offices, have limited independence and limited mandates, and don’t allow for citizen input into policy-making. Neocorporatist dialogue, another mechanism, tends to be directed by bureaucrats...
It takes 1,303 gallons of water to make one hamburger, 1,427 gallons to make a typical lunch in the United States, and 4,533 gallons combined for a typical day’s meals according to the International Bottled Water Association. Those totals are separate from the 101 gallons of water used per day by the average American. Keeping that in mind, consider that if all the world’s water could fit into a bucket, only one typical spoonful would be drinkable at any given moment.
That amount has barely changed in the course of human history; only the ice ages managed to soak up significant amounts of freshwater, and even then the human population was not large enough (or economically developed enough) for per capita water usage to be a problem. In the past fifty years alone, the human...
Several glossaries have recently been issued:
Glossary of Humanitarian Terms (ReliefWeb, Aug. 2008) [text]
- Compilation of terms selected from other glossaries; see also their listing of other humanitarian glossaries.
People on the Move: Handbook of Selected Terms and Concepts (Hague Process on Refugees and Migration, July 2008) [text]
- Developed for the general public/civil society to raise...
The Global Forum on Agricultural Research just published a short document on Advocacy to improve information sharing and exchange in agricultural research for development. The advocacy agenda comprises:Increased and improved investment in ICM at the research Institute, research organization and research system level.Capacity development, especially skills in generating digital content, managing and disseminating it at the Institute and Research System level.Greater coherence and integration of agricultural information systems.Improved governance of information flows to ensure equitable access to agricultural related information...
Today is World Refugee Day. The following sites provide examples of some of the many activities organized around the world to mark the day and to honor the courage of refugees and other displaced populations in the face of adversity.
ACNUR [access]
African Union [access]
Amnesty International USA [access]
Asylkoordination [access]
CEAR [access]
ECRE [access]
Forum réfugiés [access]...
The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) has released the 2008 edition of its World Refugee Survey. This issue features articles on the worst places to be a refugee and rallying for refugee rights in Israel, Thailand and Tanzania, a refugee rights report card, statistics, country updates, and a partner directory. (Interested readers must first register before accessing the......
One of the main reasons I came to work at CIPE is its focus on grassroots mobilization. That’s the side of democracy support that excited me most as a Peace Corps volunteer and a graduate student. CIPE’s work with grassroots business communities around the world struck me as an exciting way to help improve economic livelihoods in a wide ranging way, while also working with civil society to enhance their comfort and facility with democratic processes. On the one hand you have enhanced democracy; on the other hand you have democracy delivering greater prosperity, something a lot of people in developing countries see as a priority.
I recently came across a document I haven’t looked at in years, which gets at the heart of how advocacy works, whether it is a neighborhood community group...
How do you get the attention of politicians? Egypt’s small business federation simply whisked them away during their lunch break…
Traditionally, small businesses across Egypt received little attention from the government. Although market reforms began in the 1990s, commercial laws affecting small business remained antiquated or were geared toward big business. The prime minister saw no need for legislation fostering small business growth, and parliament never consulted small business owners about their needs.
When the Federation of Economic Development Associations (FEDA) decided it was time it got heard, it rented two buses and parked them outside the Parliament. As members of parliament exited their first session of the day, they were greeted by FEDA representatives who invited them...
Last week I visited Egypt for the first time. As exciting as I found the ancient wonders to be, I discovered new sources of excitement in voluntary initiatives by business leaders to reshape the way economic policy gets made. Business leadership for change is flowing from different directions, particularly from two CIPE partner associations representing contrasting constituencies.
The Egyptian Junior Business Association (EJB) represents over 400 young managers and business owners. Many of them have international education and experience and are responsible for large companies. This elite, forward-thinking group has been on the cutting edge of promoting ethical business and public service. Since 2004, EJB has issued an annual National Business Agenda based on the CIPE model, which...
Global Eye on Trafficking, no. 1 (Dec. 2007) [text]
- From IOM.
Monthly Newsletter, no. 22 (Dec. 2007) [text]
- From the Programme on Conflict and Peacebuilding at the School for a Culture of Peace.
PeaceWatch, vol. 13, no. 4 (Dec. 2007) [text]
- From the U.S. Institute of Peace.
The Researcher, no. 8 (Dec. 2007) [text]
- Published by the Refugee Documentation Centre, Ireland.
VOICE Out...
It is with sadness that we note the making of another rainforest martyr [ark] -- this time in Malaysia's rainforests -- as missing Penan indigenous leader Kelesau Naan, headman of the Penan settlement of Long Kerong in the Upper Baram region of Sarawak, was found dead [more/ark | more2/ark2]. Kelesau fought to defend the Penan's rainforest home and heritage [search] for years and had been leading the recent rounds of protests and blockading of encroaching loggers. It is widely suspected he was murdered as he checked his traps.
Kelesau is a principal plaintiff in a landrights claim against the Sarawak State Government and the Malaysian timber giant Samling [search] by four Penan communities filed in 1998 and waiting for trial since. The Sarawak state government contends...
It is with sadness that we note the making of another rainforest martyr [ark] -- this time in Malaysia's rainforests -- as missing Penan indigenous leader Kelesau Naan, headman of the Penan settlement of Long Kerong in the Upper Baram region of Sarawak, was found dead [more/ark | more2/ark2]. Kelesau fought to defend the Penan's rainforest home and heritage [search] for years and had been leading the recent rounds of protests and blockading of encroaching loggers. It is widely suspected he was murdered as he checked his...
Human Rights Day is commemorated on December 10, in recognition of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The official UN site for the event is located at http://www.un.org/events/humanrights/2007/. As noted, the 2008 theme is "Dignity and justice for all of us." More information about the theme and year-long campaign to raise awareness about the relevance of the UDHR is...
EXCOM Conclusion on Children at Risk, no. 107 (Oct. 2007) [text]
Human Trafficking: Update (House of Lords & House of Commons, Oct. 2007) [text]
Humanitarian advocacy in Darfur: the challenge of neutrality (Humanitarian Policy Group, Oct. 2007) [text]
The myth of invasion: Irregular migration from West Africa to the Maghreb and the European Union (International Migration Institute, Oct. 2007)...
In
Publications,
Sudan,
Annual Reports,
manuals,
reproductive health,
journalists,
UNHCR EXCOM Conclusions,
illegal immigration,
children-at-risk,
censorship,
human trafficking,
Human Rights,
Advocacy
This is reposted in full from the Lancet blog post of Aug 23th, “US$14 million grant for HIV prevention campaign”.
The AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition is launching a new organization
to promote the development of a wide variety of HIV prevention
strategies, including microbicides and oral preventive drugs.
The launch of the new organization, called The HIV Prevention
Research Advocacy Network, was announced by AVAC Tuesdsy, Aug 21 in
Seattle at the AIDS Vaccine 2007 conference.
The initiative will be funded by five-year, US$14 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
According to the press release announcing the network’s launch, the organization will:
•Develop international advocacy partnerships that support both the
needs of communities involved in...
A few recent reports/articles relating to child soldiers:
Child Soldiers: New Evidence, New Advocacy Approaches, USIP Briefing (August 2007) [text]
Report of the International Forum on armed groups and the involvement of children in armed conflict: Summary of themes and discussions, Château de Bossey, Switzerland, 4-7 July 2006 (August 2007) [text]
- Background documents prepared for the forum...
The Southern Refugee Legal Advocates Network (SRLAN) was established in January 2007 with the aim of being able to "advocate more effectively on behalf of refugees as a collective." The FMO blog announced that the network's Charter, Code of Ethics and report of the January meeting are now available in the forced migration digital library. The report includes a listing of legal aid clinics and...
At the first joint public appearance of the U.S. foreign assistance triumvirate this week, Henrietta Fore, acting director of foreign assistance and acting administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, John Danilovich, CEO of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, and Mark Dybul, U.S. global AIDS coordinator, argued U.S. foreign assistance reform is just beginning and this administration and the next must do more to fix our foreign assistance architecture. Fore's confirmation hearing, however, suggests this process may be slower than anticipated.
Speaking together at the U.S. Global Leadership Campaign and Center for U.S. Global Engagement's annual conference, the top three leaders of U.S. foreign assistance responded to questions from Brookings' Lael...
Today is World Refugee Day. These sites highlight some of the activities being undertaken around the world to mark the day and to honor the courage of refugees and other displaced populations in the face of adversity.
ACNUR's Día Mundial del refugiado 2007 [access]
Amnesty International [access]
BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights [access]
European Council on...
Three new blogs have recently been launched by UK-based groups:
1. Forced Migration Online's Blog aims to "better inform users about our plans for FMO and flag current issues we think interesting, important and perhaps worthy of wider discussion."
2. The rationale for the Refugee Council's Poliblog is to keep readers "up to date with the reflections, insights and musings of those who spend...
The UN Security Council has lifted its ban on diamond exports in Liberia, on the grounds that the post-conflict country has made significant progress in establishing necessary internal controls to comply with the Kimberley Process--a mechanism intended to keep blood diamonds off world markets and to ensure that all diamonds exported are certified. This is the second vote of confidence for President Johnson Sirleaf, following an ease on a timber ban last year. It shows that the international community has faith that the country can turn its back on the brutal past, where diamonds were used to finance weapons and fund fighting in a horrific 14 year civil war.
This is potentially great news for Liberia. In particular, diamond revenues could be used to fund much-needed...
World Refugee Day is June 20th. The aim is to honour the courage and determination of refugees and to "recognise the richness and diversity they bring to our societies." Various events are taking place across the globe to commemorate the day. Find out more on UNHCR's special events page.
Two week-long programmes to raise awareness of refugee issues will be held 18-23/24 June, to intersect...
Just after the 2006 midterm elections, I blogged about CGD research that suggested the new split between a Republican president and Democratic Congress would increase pressure on the foreign aid budget. CGD Senior Fellow Todd Moss, author of "The Surprise Party: An Analysis of ODA Flows to Africa" to which I referred, has now updated his data. His new note,"U.S. Aid to Africa After the Midterm Elections? A 'Surprise Party' Update" says U.S. aid to Africa has soared under the Bush administration and that a divided government, if history holds true, will lower aid.
Todd concludes:
The January 4, 2007 shift in power on Capitol Hill altered the configuration from an all-Republican government to a split one with a Republican president and a Democratic Congress. Based on...
From D.C. to Dhaka, scores of people gathered around live broadcasts of President Bush to play CGD State of the Union bingo and watch the president’s first address to a new Democratic majority in Congress. The rules are simple: listen for key policy terms in Bush’s address and be the first to mark your bingo card. The point: U.S. foreign policy, global warming and migration policies matter for global development and have an impact on poverty and inequality throughout the world. Some highlights from State of the Union bingo 2007:
The Diner in Adams Morgan, Washington, D.C: Policy wonks and development aficionados packed The Diner in Adams Morgan, which donated prizes for our bingo participants from the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Agency for International...
In
Africa,
Climate Change,
Global Warming,
Environment,
HIV/AIDS,
Security and Development,
Weak and Fragile States,
Aid Effectiveness,
Foreign Aid Reform,
U.S. Foreign Aid Reform,
Advocacy
Global poverty and development are notably absent from the new Democratic Congress’s agenda for the first “100 hours” of leadership, and possibly through the 2008 campaigning season. In conversations with new and departing Democratic and Republican congressional staff over the last three weeks, I have been met with a stark refrain: unless candidates are talking about cutting foreign aid, it’s not in their interest; they are more likely to lose votes than win votes if they talk about global development with the American people. But why are global poverty and development efforts good PR for celebrities and supposedly bad PR for politicians?
Earlier this week Oprah, host of the highest ranked talk show in America, opened a school for poor girls in South Africa,...
Policymakers and pundits are still scrambling to decipher what the results of the U.S. midterm elections mean for the U.S.’s role in the world. Caught in the middle of this is the question of global trade. Daniel Gross, in Slate and the Washington Post, argues that fears about the incoming Democratic Congress curtailing the nation’s free-trade policies “misunderstand the new politics of trade.”
Gross argues that there is not a “left-right split” in the new politics of trade, and “just as free trade was a bipartisan project in the 1990s, this decade’s anti-trade backlash has been bipartisan as well.”
The real concern facing the incoming Democratic Congress and the Republicans, Gross posits, is creating the social and political conditions to ensure...
Some claims to be the voice of the voiceless - from animal rights activists, over NGOs working in Africa - to Rage Against The Machine.
The NGO I work for doesn't claim to give voices to the voiceless, it claims it gives influence to the poor. I am sceptical about both, I don't belive in the 'giving' thing. I prefer people claiming it themselves.
But I haven't been able to put right words to it in the way one of my Ugandan colleagues did today during a discussion on how to deal with advocacy; He suggested that we changed focus to unblocking the ears of the people who seem not to listen. He argued we can empower (and poor out money) people with voices or speak on behalf of them, but we will keep shouting and shouting, if no one is listening.
Point......
President Bush called last week’s midterm election results “a thumpin’” as the Democrats took control of both the House and the Senate. Since then, Republicans and Democrats have been promising to work in a “bipartisan way for all Americans.” But what does it mean for global development that the Republicans hold the presidency while the Democrats control the House and Senate?
According to recent CGD research by Markus Goldstein and CGD senior fellow Todd Moss, the relative priority of aid to Africa is the same under Republican or Democratic presidents, but more importantly their results show:
The relationship between the president and Congress is what matters: when both are controlled by the same party, aid to Africa is higher; when it is split, aid is lower--both...
In response to my blog a few weeks back on translating conscious consumerism like PRODUCT (RED) and other advocacy efforts into the U.S. elections, Gawain Kripke from Oxfam commented that it would nice if development and poverty were voting issues. Last week, the ONE Campaign launched a “ONE Vote” video that attempts to bridge that gap.
The “ONE Vote” video pans through a line of individuals including Matt Damon, Julia Roberts, George Clooney, Don Cheadle, New England Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady, singer songwriter Toby Keith, Alfre Woodard, journalist Nick Clooney, faith leaders Pastor Rick Warren and Bishop Charles E. Blake, Democratic and Republican strategists Mike McCurry and Jack Oliver and Shayne Moore, a stay-at-home mom queuing up to vote. It urges...
Talking about religion, or faith to use a more general term, is about as popular a thing to do as overpaying your taxes, especially in the policy world. We shy away from the topic because of the personal, sometimes intense, reaction it elicits and, I suspect, because faith feels a little soft, emotional, even anti-intellectual when compared with hard political and economic realities. But since faith impacts U.S. policy, it is a conversation we ought to be having. This is especially true in development, where faith-based organizations (FBO) play a significant role in the delivery of humanitarian assistance abroad.
FBOs have a long history of helping the poor overseas. Some organizations began after World War II, helping refugees, and have since morphed into savvy...