Development Blogs.com


Accra Agenda for Action: sound-bites or solutions? via Overseas Development Institute (ODI) Blog August 8th, 2008 at 14:28

image Does the Accra Agenda for Action provide the solutions and momentum needed to accelerate progress towards the Paris Declaration or are we getting something rather plain and uninspiring? The answer may soon become clear as Ministers and participants of the HLF3 will officially receive the Accra Agenda for Action today to endorse in Accra. ...(read more)...
In Aid, Politics, Public finance

Is the WTO no-deal a big deal? via Overseas Development Institute (ODI) Blog July 30th, 2008 at 17:44

image The trade talks have collapsed over the issue of Special Safeguard Measures (or SSMs) in agriculture. This was not even among the hottest negotiating issues. This suggests that the talks could (and probably would) have collapsed over any other (more controversial) issues. The bottom line is that the (real) interest for a far-reaching agreement to liberalise multilateral trade regimes has quickly been vanishing in the face of faltering global economy....(read more)...
In Trade, economic growth, International institutions, Aid, Public finance

Collapse of the WTO trade talks: A pity, and potentially a problem, but not a disaster via Overseas Development Institute (ODI) Blog July 30th, 2008 at 14:19

image Is the first WTO Director-General Peter Sutherland right to call the collapse of the trade talks a 'disaster'? It would certainly have been better for world trade, world income, and most people in developing countries if the Doha negotiations had succeeded in producing a significant liberalisation in trade rules. But it has been clear for at least five years that a 'big' agreement was not possible, so the claims that several hundred billion dollars worth of potential world trade gains have been lost this week are not realistic. ...(read more)...
In Trade, economic growth, International institutions, Aid, Public finance

Mutual accountability isn’t just about what happens ‘over there’ via Overseas Development Institute (ODI) Blog July 23rd, 2008 at 12:11

image As we wait for the final draft of the Accra Agenda for Action (AAA) to be published it seems a good time to take stock of what will be happening at the third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF3), which takes place in Accra, Ghana in the first week of September. A recent Commonwealth workshop to bring together senior finance officials from across the Commonwealth to prepare for HLF3 highlighted for me the potential that the HLF3 offers for moving the aid effectiveness agenda forward....(read more)...
In International institutions, Aid, Politics, Public finance

What do developing countries want from the Doha Round? via Overseas Development Institute (ODI) Blog July 17th, 2008 at 13:40

image The Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations is once again at a crucial juncture. But will it deliver for developing countries? As discussed in a new ODI paper, developing countries have varying interests in a final settlement at next week’s ministerial talks....(read more)...
In Agriculture, Trade, International institutions, Aid

Prelude to the Chronic Poverty Report 2008: Escaping poverty traps via Overseas Development Institute (ODI) Blog July 2nd, 2008 at 10:41

image It is clear that many of today's poor will simply stay poor, even if economic growth is sustained. They are caught in one or more of five poverty traps: insecurity of life or livelihood; weak citizenship status; living in a deprived area; experiencing social discrimination; or held back by poor quality work. The second international Chronic Poverty Report, launched next week, shows that the poorest can be included in progress. ...(read more)...
In Poverty, Health, Livelihoods, Migration, Environment and climate Change, Social protection, Aid

From Gleneagles to Hokkaido: Monitoring G8 commitments on aid to Africa via Overseas Development Institute (ODI) Blog June 20th, 2008 at 14:49

image In 2005, Africa was promised an additional $25 billion per year in aid. But has the G8 delivered? There is no simple answer, given the complex package of commitments. As we approach the Japanese G8 summit at Hokkaido in July, there is a dangerous dearth of concrete and accessible information in the public domain....(read more)...
In International institutions, Aid, Politics

Reading between the lines. Is EU aid in trouble? via Overseas Development Institute (ODI) Blog June 18th, 2008 at 13:01

image The EU Council meeting on 19 and 20 June represents an important marker in this year of the Call to Action on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). There are some serious issues to consider, including the failure of European donors to meet their commitments on aid, both in terms of the levels of funding and in delivering harmonisation and alignment. Most importantly, however, the future of the MDG project itself will be debated....(read more)...
In food, Poverty, Environment and climate Change, International institutions, Aid, Public finance

Lessons from Latin America: Donors, democracy and development via Overseas Development Institute (ODI) Blog June 13th, 2008 at 16:51

image Latin America is a laboratory of democratic governance and experimentation. As such, it is an important learning ground for other regions in the developing world. The challenge for donors is how to work with these weak democracies to harness their representative nature and their developmental potential. This means having to develop a deeper understanding of the political economy and context of the settings in which they are involved....(read more)...
In Governance, Poverty, Aid

Reform of the International System: the momentum is building via Overseas Development Institute (ODI) Blog June 13th, 2008 at 10:19

image The Commonwealth mini-Summit in London is the latest sign that reform of the international system is moving rapidly up the agenda. The Summit discussed reform of the UN, the Bretton Woods Institutions and global environmental governance. On all these, there is enthusiasm among Heads of Government for faster and better coordinated change....(read more)...
In Governance, Environment and climate Change, Trade, International institutions, Aid, Politics

Rome exceeded expectations; will the G8 do the same? via Overseas Development Institute (ODI) Blog June 6th, 2008 at 12:12

image The Food Summit in Rome turned out better than expected. It was not derailed by Robert Mugabe. It survived the unedifying wrangling over a final communiqué. It gave the topic a good hearing. It confirmed some practical actions. And it passed the torch successfully to the G8 in Japan in July....(read more)...
In Private Sector, Crisis response, food, Social protection, Agriculture, International institutions, Aid

The food price crisis: another ‘lost decade’ for development? via Overseas Development Institute (ODI) Blog June 2nd, 2008 at 11:38

image The Food and Agriculture Organisation summit is a vital step in a process that will develop through a series of events in 2008, including the G8 in Hokkaido in July, and the UN Call to Action on the Millennium Development Goals, in New York in September. At this stage, the Rome summit must deliver four things....(read more)...
In food, Poverty, Livelihoods, Social protection, Agriculture, International institutions, Aid

The importance – and absence – of good governance indicators via Overseas Development Institute (ODI) Blog May 16th, 2008 at 09:17

image As governance indicators have proliferated in recent years, so has their use and the controversy that surrounds them. As more and more voices are pointing out, existing indicators – many of them developed and launched in the 1990s – have a number of flaws. This is particularly disquieting at a time when governance is at the very top of the development agenda. ...(read more)...
In Governance, economic growth, Aid

Propaganda at Work via CIPE Development Blog May 12th, 2008 at 15:24

Not only the government in Burma is under criticism for failing to inform citizens about the coming storm, apparently its newspapers last week showed the Prime Minister handing out…electronics(!!!) But despite the obvious suffering, massive devastation and pressing need for urgent action, the Burmese authorities were continuing to insist yesterday that everything was under control. On the front page of the New Light of Myanmar – a state-run government publication – was a picture of the Prime Minister, Thein Sein, handing over 20 television sets and 10 DVD players as part of the “relief” operation. The sad part is that… …[t]his, in a region where there has been no electricity since the 130mph storm struck. The national TV has also been showing images of...
In Asia, Propaganda, Burma, South Asia, disaster, Aid

Tackling the food price crisis: five steps via Overseas Development Institute (ODI) Blog May 8th, 2008 at 11:06

image The word "crisis" is much abused. But the current food price crisis constitutes a genuine emergency. Urgency in tackling it is essential....(read more)...
In food security, Rural Development, Humanitarian, Crisis response, Poverty, Environment and climate Change, Agriculture, economic growth, International institutions, Aid, Politics

The aid story in 2008. What’s next? via Overseas Development Institute (ODI) Blog April 16th, 2008 at 14:39

image 2008 is turning into another of those milestone years for aid. A cluster of high level meetings are focusing international attention on the challenges around effective development assistance. This presents familiar challenges: how to scale-up, align and harmonize aid to support achievement of the MDGs by 2015. But what is crucially different is the global context in which this must now be achieved. ...(read more)...
In Governance, Aid, Public finance

World bank considers Africa ‘super-fund’ via Governance Focus April 16th, 2008 at 08:55

Sovereign wealth funds could provide capital for an African super-fund to channel investment to the continent’s emerging markets, under a plan being considered by the World Bank’s private-sector lending arm.Lars Thunell, chief executive of the International Finance Corporation, told the Financial Times that a “fund of funds” was one way his organisation could achieve the World Bank’s aim of encouraging state-owned wealth pools to invest in African businesses.See full...
In Africa, development, Multilateral, Aid

Accra High Level Forum – Accountability before aspiration? via Overseas Development Institute (ODI) Blog March 28th, 2008 at 13:22

image This proliferation of global health initiatives is ringing alarm bells in terms of the challenges for partner country leadership and transaction costs. So it was welcome news that the concept of "Health as a tracer sector" would be on the table at the Accra High Level Forum (HLF) in September 2008. But when we look at the agenda, why has health been relegated to one of three topics to be addressed in one of the nine round tables? ...(read more)...
In Health, Aid

Can the international community deliver on the ‘Democratic Imperative’? via Overseas Development Institute - Blog February 18th, 2008 at 18:24

image The UK’s Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, delivered an excellent speech last Tuesday (12 February) on the importance of international efforts to support democracy in the developing world, or what he called ‘the democratic imperative’. The speech was particularly refreshing in its recognition that the road to democracy can be considerably bumpy and that democratic consolidation remains deeply problematic for many of the emerging democracies of the ‘Third Wave’. Initial expectations that these...(read...
In Governance, Aid, Politics

Will rising food prices derail development efforts? via Overseas Development Institute - Blog February 29th, 2008 at 13:45

image Rising food prices are very much in the news.  Farmers may gain, but poor consumers are hard hit – and don’t hesitate to let the politicians know. Governments and aid agencies are under pressure to provide more robust safety nets, while simultaneously facing higher costs. This has played out in various ways.  On 25 February, The Financial Times led on an interview with Josette Sheeran, the Executive Director of the World Food Programme, under the headline ‘High food prices may force aid...(read...
In food security, Agriculture, Aid

NAO report could risk fuelling calls for a return to old ways of working via Overseas Development Institute - Blog February 8th, 2008 at 16:01

image The National Audit Office report on General Budget Support (GBS) published today is, in most respects, very much to be welcomed. However, by focusing narrowly on the risks of misappropriating GBS funds, the report risks a return to projectised aid to poor countries, in ways that avoid government systems....(read...
In Aid

The Japan G8 in 2008: a New Year’s Resolution for delivery on the big questions? via Overseas Development Institute - Blog December 20th, 2007 at 10:29

image The 2008 G8 Summit in Toyako, Japan will be particularly significant because there are big issues on the international development agenda that require firm G8 commitments to be made in 2008; and yet the risk of not delivering on these agendas has never been higher....(read...
In Evidence-based policy, Environment and climate Change, economic growth, International institutions, Aid

African Aid Projects That Work: Partnerships on the Ground, Not Donations from a Distance via Governance Focus December 1st, 2007 at 08:46

Not long ago, an unnamed global corporation decided that it wanted to help children in the southern African nation of Namibia -- and so it spent millions to donate scores of new computers and television sets for the classrooms in a particular region of this poverty-plagued, mostly rural nation.They should have talked to someone like Jonathan Johnnidis first. Currently pursuing his doctoral studies at the University of Pennsylvania with a focus on virology, Johnnidis recently spent time in rural Namibia working to improve healthcare with a non-governmental agency (NGO) called WorldTeach. The rural aid worker had information the large corporate benefactor apparently did not -- that there is no electricity grid in that region.Johnnidis drew a sharp contrast between that misguided project and...
In Africa, development, Aid

How do development and foreign policy connect? via Overseas Development Institute - Blog November 27th, 2007 at 11:58

image For a long time, the development aid community has worked to ring-fence aid and ensure that it is used specifically for ‘poverty reduction’. Historically, this has its roots in the often well-founded fear that ‘they’ would use ‘our’ money to further geo-strategic political or commercial interests that could only loosely be described as developmental. But what if ‘we’ and ‘they’ were actually on the same side? Would it make sense to reconsider the acute ring-fencing that currently prevails? Starting with a discussion about Ethiopia on 6 December, ODI will be organising a series of meetings exploring where development and foreign policy meet. The programme is being prepared. In the meantime, why not help us think through the issues by contributing to this blog?...(read...
In International Development, Aid

Increasing Aid Effectiveness: A Role for Randomised Control Trials? via ODI WebLog August 21st, 2007 at 10:59

image The recent scaling-up of aid flows and the harmonisation agenda have focused on increasing the effectiveness of the international aid system. For example, the Paris Declaration and associated targets have focussed on public financial management and procurement systems, donor alignment with national priorities, and increased implementation and evaluation co-ordination between donors. In addition, increasing emphasis is being placed on institutional capacity to absorb increased flows, and on politics and governance . A different and potentially radical approach to increasing effectiveness has been taken by Abhijit Banerjee and colleagues at the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Lab at MIT , the main tenets of which are discussed in 'Making Aid Work'. Focusing less on process and more on outcomes,...
In Aid

IMF Moves to Clarify Aid Role via Governance Focus July 29th, 2007 at 08:45

The IMF, under scrutiny from critics and its own official watchdog over its approach to use of aid in low-income countries, is taking steps to clarify its role in advising members in the face of high and volatile aid inflows.At issue is the need to achieve higher levels of economic growth to reduce grinding poverty in many parts of the world while avoiding destabilizing lurches in the economy triggered by sudden inflows of aid that can cause inflation, economic bottlenecks, and exchange rate volatility which could make the poor even worse off.The IMF's Executive Board met on July 6 to consider how the 185-member institution can promote the effective and sustainable use of aid and endorsed a number of recommendations about how to make maximum and best use of such aid.See full Press...
In Multilateral, Aid

Helping Africa help itself via Governance Focus July 1st, 2007 at 08:49

"Help the hungry to fish rather than give them food to eat" is paraphrasing an old saying and international organizations are continuously looking for ways to help the poor help themselves. This is a good thing.Africa is generally seen as the continental poor relation in business school terms, lagging behind North America, Europe and Asia, even South America.However, as detailed before on Executive Education (click here), Africa does have a number of top schools, and the Association of African Business Schools is working hard to raise general standards.Also, schools elsewhere are also getting involved, as illustrated by a recent conference hosted by Insead, the highly-ranked school based jointly in France and Singapore.Deans and other staff from more than 30 business schools worldwide...
In Africa, Aid

Foreign aid | The non-aligned movement via Governance Focus June 28th, 2007 at 08:07

The quality of aid matters as much as the quantityMaimonides, a 12th-century rabbi and philosopher, argued that it is better to give anonymously, like the sages who secretly placed coins under the doors of the poor, than to flaunt your generosity. Better still, he said, to pool your charity—by contributing to a tzedakah box, for example—so that neither the poor nor their benefactor know the other's identity.The club of 22 governments who dominate foreign aid would not rate very highly by the Torah's reckoning. This week they met in Paris to measure progress on two big commitments made in 2005. In July of that year, those world leaders who gathered for the G8 summit in Gleneagles in Scotland promised to increase aid to $130 billion, and double aid to Africa, by 2010.But giving freely...
In ngo, Aid

Transparency International Discussion Paper n Poverty, Aid and Corruption via Governance Focus June 26th, 2007 at 08:50

Development assistance supports millions who struggle daily to survive. In 2006, donor countries gave almost US $104 billion in official development assistance to lower-income countries, a figure set to rise to US $130 billion by 2010. Ensuring that this aid is not diverted through corruption is the purpose of the Transparency International Discussion Paper on Poverty, Aid and Corruption.The paper offers recommendations on how to make the most efficient use of development resources in anti-poverty programmes, and detailed recommendations for supporting recipient governments’ anti-corruption efforts and for tackling the supply-side of corruption. See full Press...
In Corruption, Aid

Where are the political divides on international development? via ODI WebLog June 22nd, 2007 at 13:05

image With Gordon Brown about to take office, ODI asked representatives of the three main political parties in the UK to speak on the theme ‘What’s Next in International Development?’.  These three speeches tell us something about the issues that will shape political debate in the months to come. Gareth Thomas, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at DFID, and Hilary Benn’s Deputy, spoke first, on 5 June.  The meeting report is here. He discussed five topics: a) the ‘narrative’ on international development; (b) working with Governments; (c) the challenge of population growth; (d) the UN and Europe; and (e) some partisan thoughts.  It was notable that he stressed emerging issues beyond the current emphasis on the Millennium Development Goals; these included the...
In dfid, MDGs summit, International Development, Humanitarian, Governance, Aid
« Older Entries