New Issues:
Development in Practice, vol. 18, nos. 4&5 (August 2008) [contents]
- Focus is on participatory research and gender analysis; includes a literature review.
Humanitarian Exchange Magazine, no. 39 [full-text]
- Features articles on the humanitarian response in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Migrations & Identities, vol. 1, no. 1 (2008) [contents]
- Mix of articles.
Calls...
From the X-prize Foundation website:
The X PRIZE Foundation is researching prizes structured around entrepreneurial solutions to global poverty. The focus is to find methods that catalyze profit-generating firms both in terms of financial as well as human development metrics that address major development challenges in agriculture, capital, education, health and water. The goal of these...
Steven J. Van Kauwenbergh of the IFDC and author of Fertilizer Raw Material Resources of Africa
Points out that six African countries control about 41.5% of the world’s currently exploitable phosphate rock reserves and 50.2% of the total global phosphate rock reserve base that may be exploitable in the future. “Ironically, Africa exports large quantities of phosphate rock, while importing...
From the The Africa Growth Institute website:
It is now very clear that the development of Africa depends on the growth of the SMME sector. This sector provides more than 95% of Africa’s workforce...The 2008 Africa SMME Awards aims to recognise the success and vitality of the Africa SMME sector. This unique annual awards program has been established specifically to acknowledge, encourage and...
"...IWB is a grass roots initiative designed to fill a key gap in the financial markets of developing countries known as the missing middle. The missing middle are the small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that are too large for microfinance, but too small to meet the requirements of many traditional financial institutions.Globally, the SME sector is a significant driver of employment growth....
Microcapital reports on the establishment of UBA Microfinance which:
Will target a client base that encompasses micro and small enterprises and family and rural business, with an emphasis on businesses owned by women. UBA Microfinance hopes to provide services which include micro lending, micro investment, micro deposits and small business advisory. Elumelu says that UBA will operate “the new...
Sean Park discusses opportunity at the Park Paradigm:
In a nutshell, it really comes down to the power of looking at the industry from a completely different perspective: understanding how markets and financial services can be made to work in the context of sub-saharan Africa, necessarily forces you to see the industry through a radically different prism: infrastructure, distribution, price...
"...Appropedia is a living library of appropriate technology and open design, also covering sustainability and broader international development issues including public health, water, sanitation, community development, agriculture, renewable energy and urban...
In
Innovation,
science,
design,
income generation,
fabrication,
invention,
industrialization,
food,
manufacturing,
Education,
Agriculture,
Sanitation,
entrepreneurship,
development
I recently had the privilege of being on a panel at the United States Institute of Peace on “Promoting Business and Peace in Conflict-Affected Countries.” Let me share with you the summary points of my presentation there. Although security and humanitarian needs naturally predominate in the early months of reconstruction, it is never too early to start listening to the voices of local businesspeople. The private sector matters because it creates jobs, crosses ethnic and political boundaries, and sustains civil society. Listening to the private sector’s views is essential to building a framework of governance, markets, and sound economic policies that will support development and sustainable peace. Economic solutions that do not incorporate these views will be...
From the AECF website:
The Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF) is a US$50-100m private sector fund, backed by some of the biggest names in development finance and hosted by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). Our aim is to encourage private sector companies to compete for like-for-like investment support for their new and innovative business ideas.
How does it work?The AECF...
How can Africa unlock its economic potential? This was the key question of the recent 18th World Economic Forum on Africa, which took place in Cape Town and was attended by nearly 900 business, government and civil society leaders from 50 countries. Two themes clearly emerged as crucial for realizing the continent’s potential: the need to improve the quality of political leadership and the need to harness the power of the private sector for development.
Participants agreed that many of the roadblocks to Africa’s development have to do with the tendency of governments to be protectionist, interventionist, and perpetuating over-regulation – often in the name of defending the poor but rarely with the result of improving their lot. Meanwhile, more than 80% of poverty reduction in...
I’m pleased to announce an event of which I’m part of the organizing committee, the course Network Society: Social changes, organizations and citizens, to take place in Barcelona, Spain, from 15 to 17 October de 2008.
Some info about the course:
Website of the course, with more information about the speakers, fees, registration, etc.
Facebook Event
There will be translation to and from Spanish and English
PROGRAMME: NETWORK SOCIETY: SOCIAL CHANGES, ORGANIZATIONS AND CITIZENS
Day 1 - Wednesday 15 October
Introduction
09h00 - 09h30 : Opening
09h30 - 10h30 : Juan Freire - Presentation of the course
10h30 - 11h00 : Café
Citizenship in the Network Society
Chairs: Marc López
11h00 - 12h30 : Carol Darr
12h30 - 14h00 : Tom Steinberg
14h00 - 16h00 : Lunch
Organizations in the...
In
ICT4D,
meetings,
Cyberlaw, governance, rights,
Participation, Engagement, Use, Activism,
e-Government, e-Administration,
antoni gutierrez-rubi,
genis roca,
ismael peña-lópez,
Andrew Rasiej,
Carlos Domingo,
Carol Darr,
David Weinberger,
Enrique Dans,
Ethan Zuckerman,
Gumersindo Lafuente,
Josu Jon Imaz,
Juan Freire,
Marc López Plana,
Miguel Cereceda,
Miquel Iceta,
sociedadred,
sociedadred2008,
Tom Steinberg,
development
Energy Company of Nigeria(Encon) ,"...a power supply company, is developing a portfolio of power plants to be operated as IPPs, BOO's or BOT's..." A current partially operational project of theirs is the 100 MW Gas Turbine Independent Power Plant for the Odogunyan Industrial Estate.The company is in the process of raising N60 billion through a private...
Amnesty International Report 2008: State of the World's Human Rights (May 2008) [access]
Annual Report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (May 2008) [text]
Child Soldiers Global Report 2008 (May 2008) [access]
Human Security Brief 2007 (May 2008) [access]
Posted in...
Asylon(s), no. 4 (mai 2008) [full-text]
- Focuses on xenophobia in France.
Development in Practice, vol. 18, no. 3 (2008) [contents]
- Mix of articles.
Human Security Journal, no. 6 (Spring 2008) [full-text]
- Special issue on "Human Trafficking."
Journal of Humanitarian Assistance (May 2008) [full-text]
- New article on the theory of obligation in the context of humanitarian assistance....
from the BBC By Steve SchifferesEconomics reporter, BBC NewsMarkets alone will not produce the growth in developing countries that will lift them out of poverty.Government intervention in the economy, and a degree of protectionism, will be needed in the early stages of development.These are the key findings of an independent Growth Commission made up of key policy makers and economists which was set up to find out the key elements that lead poor countries to get rich. The report reaffirms the need for engagement with the global economy - including the transfer of key technologies and export specialisation - which are key to long-term sustainable growth.But it points out that policies which support equality are also crucial to making sure the benefits are equally distributed, and to...
A few weeks ago at the World Movement for Democracy, Larry Diamond, author of the Spirit of Democracy, sat down with our executive director John Sullivan to talk about his new book and “the struggle to build free societies around the world.” You can watch the interview on CIPE’s YouTube channel.
In part 1, Diamond talks about the meaning of democracy and whether it is for everyone or if it has cultural and other limitations. Is it for everyone? A hint - Diamond thinks that democracy is possible in China within a generation.
You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video
In part 2, the discussion goes into the current state of democracy in Africa, including the recent crisis in Kenya and the ongoing conflict in Zimbabwe.
You need to a...
In
Asia,
Eurasia,
Middle East and North Africa,
Latin America and the Caribbean,
Eastern Europe,
South Asia,
Democracy,
diamond,
spirit,
Africa,
Global,
development
As some light relief from the news from Burma and China, it looks as if the One Laptop Per Child project is falling apart under the weight of - well, mainly under the weight of Nicholas Negroponte. Ivan Krstic explains in a fascinating essay on his reasons for leaving his position as security director of [...]...
Food for Life reports on Working Villages:
A model village is literally rising from the ashes, and include full employment, private ownership of small farms and businesses, zero carbon footprint and 100% recycling. The project is a practical demonstration that it’s possible to profoundly increase living standards in rural Africa without hampering local culture and ingenuity.
The once-abandoned...
Yesterday’s NY Times article provides an interesting perspective on the relationship between democracy, oil revenues, and development on the case of Kuwait. As the story goes, in Kuwait, a public opinion that democracy has hampered the country’s development is becoming more widespread. The reason? Well, it seems like the country is lagging behind its as well oil-rich neighbors who shun democracy in favor of monarchies.
For example,
Many Kuwaitis also complain about government neglect of public hospitals and schools. Problems with the power grid caused brownouts last summer…Although parts of Kuwait City were rebuilt after the Iraqi invasion of 1990, much of it looks faded and tatty, a striking contrast with the gleaming hyper-modernity of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and...
Of the two crises disturbing the world economy – financial disarray and soaring food prices – the latter is the more disturbing. In many developing countries, the poorest quartile of consumers spends close to three-quarters of its income on food. Inevitably, high prices threaten unrest at best and mass starvation at worst.See full Article (paid subscription...
Africa and Latin America should adopt their own versions of Europe’s Common Agricultural Policy as a response to rising demand for food, according to Michel Barnier, France’s farm minister.While critics of the CAP prepare to use surging food prices and threats of shortages to seek freer trade in agriculture, Mr Barnier told the Financial Times that, on the contrary, the developing world should draw inspiration from Europe and form self-sufficient regional agricultural blocs funded with a redirection of development aid.See full Article (paid subscription...
Find out how rising food prices have hit trade balances and in which countries the inflationary impact has been the highest. Our interactive feature maps food price related civil unrest and policy measures governments have taken in response to rapid food inflation.To learn more about the factors that contribute to global food rice inflation view our multimedia feature Why are food prices rising?See full Article (paid subscription...
e-STAS is a Symposium about the Technologies for the Social Action, with an international and multi-stakeholder nature, where all the agents implicated in the development and implementation of the ICT (NGO’s, Local authorities, Universities, Companies and Media) are appointed in an aim to promote, foster and adapt the use of the ICT for the social action.
Last reflections
It’s a pity that I couldn’t take notes on the last session of the event, where conclusions from the different round tables and workshops where read: I was on the stage and just had not the chance to type.
Summing up now is way too difficult. I can just say that this is one of the events you cannot miss, especially because “everyone” is there and the people you meet, their reflections, their...
Nine years ago, Avarzed could not have gotten a small business loan anywhere in her province, even if she had possessed 10 times the value in collateral (which she didn't). She lives in the province of Dornogobi, part of the Gobi Desert in Mongolia, a land-locked country between China and Russia known for harsh winters, arid steppes and nomadic herders. In this country, 2.9 million people are spread out over a land the size of Western Europe, although more than a million of them live in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar. Avarzed was a single mother with three children in school, barely making ends meet by operating a small kiosk selling food and sundries. Then she got her first loan; she used the US$80 to buy more goods to sell in her kiosk. "I am grateful that someone trusted me, and I...
One of the great embarrassments of the economics profession is its inability to explain why some countries get rich and some don’t. Foreign Policy editor Moisés Naím, a former Venezuelan minister of industry, once compared the gap in knowledge to physicists not being able to explain how gravity works.Next month, the Commission on Growth and Development, a group of policy makers and academics led by Nobel Laureate Mike Spence, will offer its contribution to the growth debate. At a Monday conference, Spence gave something of a preview, presenting research he had done with Mohamed El-Erian, the co-CEO of Pimco, a large fund manager.Looking primarily at China’s ability to grow an average of 9% annually over 29 years, Spence said a key for poor countries was to focus on exports of...
THE rising cost of food is being felt around the world, by the poor especially and, in turn, by politicians. Greater demand from China and India as more people switch to rich diets is lifting prices, which had been low for some 30 years. Last week the prime minister of Haiti resigned in the face of a mob angry at the cost of food, while the Philippines made hoarding rice a crime punishable by life imprisonment. The price of wheat rose 77% in 2007. Since January the price of rice has jumped by 141%. But growing more food takes time, and as the land available for production has decreased, governments and farmers must look to improve crop yields.See full...
The head of the World Trade Organization, Pascal Lamy, has called for aid policies to be refocused to improve agriculture.Speaking in the week that the world woke up to the food price crisis, Mr Lamy's demand is radical.He said food aid needed to be increased but, more than that, improvements in agriculture needed to be put back at the heart of development spending.He said it was complex and could not be done overnight.But, he added in an interview with the BBC, the shift in emphasis was essential. See full...
Global food shortages have taken everyone by surprise. What is to be done?SAMAKE BAKARY sells rice from wooden basins at Abobote market in the northern suburbs of Abidjan in Côte d'Ivoire. He points to a bowl of broken Thai rice which, at 400 CFA francs (roughly $1) per kilogram, is the most popular variety. On a good day he used to sell 150 kilos. Now he is lucky to sell half that. “People ask the price and go away without buying anything,” he complains. In early April they went away and rioted: two days of violence persuaded the government to postpone planned elections.“World agriculture has entered a new, unsustainable and politically risky period,” says Joachim von Braun, the head of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington, DC. To prove it, food...
World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick joined ministers from Germany, Egypt, Sweden, Denmark and Liberia to take stock of the status of women in developing countries on the eve of the IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings.Zoellick announced several measures the World Bank Group plans to take to boost women’s empowerment at a seminar on ways to bridge gender gaps. A new book, Doing Business: Women in Africa, was also released.Denmark brought its campaign to raise the profile of the third Millennium Development Goal—gender equality and empowerment of women by 2015—as part of an effort to build support for gender equality before a September 25 United Nations High Level MDG summit.Zoellick, along with the German Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul,...