Private Sector Enabling Environment Facility (PSEEF) – BizClim

The Private Sector Enabling Environment Facility (PSEEF) is an EU funded initiative under the Cotonou Agreement. From now on, the Facility will be promoted under the ACP Business Climate facility (BizClim). The Facility is essentially about ‘improving legislation, institutional set up and financial measures (the rules of the game) relating to the enabling environment of the private sector in ACP countries or regions and to the reform of SOEs – and to do so by focusing on possible support to ACP governments or regional institutions. http://www.acpbusinessclimate.org

Filed under: Uncategorized, Development

Private Sector Development in Rural Areas – Assessing the Applicability of PSD Instruments in Agricultural Economic Development – Discussion Paper

The starting point of this MesoPartner paper is the observation that private sector development (PSD) and agricultural economic development (AED) have historically been two distinct approaches in development cooperation. Both looked at ways to promote productive development in developing countries. But they were based on different disciplines, they were founded on different concepts, they applied different instruments and tools, and they involved separate communities of practice. The current effort to redefine intervention strategies in African countries under the header of ”sustainable economic development” creates an opportunity to reflect on the two approaches. In this paper, the angle will be on contributions that PSD can make to AED. http://www2.gtz.de/wbf/doc/SV_PWF_PSD_AED_0607.pdf

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Entrepreneurship: New Data on Business Creation and How to Promote It

This World Bank Group Entrepreneurship Survey continues to extend our knowledge of the importance of entrepreneurship for a dynamic economy. In its second year, with more countries participating, the survey again shows a strong relationship between entrepreneurship, the business environment, and governance. New data shed light on how the distribution of businesses among sectors varies by level of development. And analysis of new data on business registration suggests that automation can greatly reduce the barriers to starting a business. This finding makes a strong case for pursuing e-government initiatives to spur entrepreneurship.
http://rru.worldbank.org/PublicPolicyJournal/Summary.aspx?id=316

Filed under: Uncategorized, Development

Donor Interventions in Value Chain Development, SDC VCRD CoP 2007

These guidelines highlight the most important issues that development agencies need to consider when they engage in value chain development in rural areas. The paper offers guiding principles for development practitioners and policy makers, and points to further useful material. This paper is based on the insights gained during the online debate on the forum ”Value Chains in Rural Development” operated by SDC starting in December 2004, with its various and sometimes contradicting examples, cases, perceptions and discussions. Over 120 persons, from around 35 countries joined and discussed practically relevant topics during 9 debate cycles. In this paper the main highlights of the work so far are pulled together and presented for discussion.
http://www.sdc-valuechains.ch/index.php?navID=153&userhash=1377117&lID=2

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Addressing the Meta-Level – New Approaches to Private Sector Development

GTZ Discussion Paper: Systemic competitiveness is the guiding framework for private sector development within the context of development cooperation. This framework distinguishes four interlinked levels of intervention: the micro-, the meso-, the macro- and the meta-levels of competitiveness. The latter denotes the socio-cultural, economic and political patterns and orientations in a given society or country and is often linked to long-term societal changes and dynamics. Even though the meta-level is highly relevant for private sector development, it is seldom explicitly addressed in practical development work. The study to hand has been initiated so as to explore innovative approaches for private sector development which address the metalevel of systemic competitiveness.
http://www2.gtz.de/wbf/doc/SV_PWF_Meta-Level_Tools_0407.pdf

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Value Chain Finance Conference, Nairobi, Kenya, 16-18 October 2007

The FAO and the African Rural and Agricultural Credit Association (AFRACA) network are pleased to announce an upcoming conference on the use of the value chain to reduce risk and increase access to financial services for agriculture and agribusiness. As with previous Value Chain Finance Conferences initiated by FAO for Latin America and South Asia, it will look at value chain finance models, innovations and effectiveness from the multiple viewpoints of banks, agribusinesses, farm organizations, government policy makers and development business service providers. With the increasing focus on value chain integration in agriculture and with today’s technologies there are new models and ways of structuring finance and collateralization, increased opportunities for price and production risk mitigation and new models for partnerships among diverse stakeholders which can benefit the agricultural sector and rural communities. http://www.afraca.org/agribanksforum/About%20Conference.html

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Online Discussion on Microinsurance

On 2-4October, Michael J. McCord, president of the Microinsurance Centre, will host an online discussion on key issues in the microinsurance field today. Topics to be covered include microinsurance products, delivery channels, and how to create microinsurance products and services that provide a true win-win solution for all parties involved. The Speaker’s Corner event, hosted on http://www.microlinks.org, actively invites participants to share their ideas and resources. http://www.microlinks.org/microinsurancediscussion

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Working together on Gender Equality in Development and Peace

The European Commission, the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and the International Training Centre of the International Labour Organization (ITCILO) have joined together to support stronger action and advocacy on gender equality to influence the aid effectiveness agenda. The programme ”EC/UN Partnership on Gender Equality for Development and Peace” will support the integration of gender equality as a key driver of development in the international assistance agenda. The programme will also promote the involvement of women in conflict prevention and peace-building in line with the commitments of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. With a total budget of €4,7 million (€2,5 million EC contribution), the programme will have a duration of 3 years (2007-2009) and will cover 12 countries: Cameroon, DRC, Ghana, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Honduras, Nicaragua, Suriname, Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine. http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/07/1299&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

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Mobilizing Aid for Trade: Focus Latin America and the Caribbean

WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy, in opening the WTO/IADB conference ”Mobilizing Aid for Trade: Focus Latin America and the Caribbean” on 13 September in Lima, Peru, said the initiative is ”critical” for the region and the world trading system because ”today’s global economy – which could be widened and strengthened by the conclusion of the Doha Round – is fundamentally changing the development dynamic. The meeting is part of a global initiative – launched at the WTO’s 2005 Hong Kong Ministerial Conference – to scale up international financial assistance for trade capacity building in developing countries. More Aid for Trade is not part of the Doha Round of multilateral negotiations, which is about rebalancing WTO rules in a more development-friendly way and which must succeed if we are serious about making trade work for development. ”Aid for Trade is not a substitute for better trade rules. But it is an important complement to a fairer trading system.”
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/trade/highlights/viewHighlight.do~activeHighlightId=114097?intcmp=925

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Doing Business 2007: How to Reform

Doing Business presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 175 economies—from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe—and over time. Regulations affecting 10 areas of everyday business are measured: starting a business, dealing with licenses, employing workers, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and closing a business. The indicators are used to analyze economic outcomes and identify what reforms have worked, where and why.
http://www.doingbusiness.org/documents/DoingBusiness2007_FullReport.pdf

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UNCTAD-Least Developed Country Report

The UNCTAD has recently released the Least Developed Countries Report, 2007, subtitled ”Knowledge, technical learning and innovation for development”. UNCTAD, in past LDC Reports, has taken the view that the key to sustained economic growth and poverty reduction in LDCs is the development of productive capacities and related creation of productive employment. The Least Developed Countries Report 2007 corroborates this view by focusing on knowledge accumulation, technologica l learning and the ability to innovate as vital processes toward genuine productive capacity development in these countries. The Report shows that the current pattern of technology flows to LDCs through international trade, foreign direct investment and intellectual property licensing does not contribute to narrowing the knowledge divide. Sustained economic growth and poverty reduction are not likely to take place in countries where viable economic re-specialization would remain impossible in the absence of significant progress in technological learning and innovation capacity-building. The Report suggests that national governments and development partners could meet this challenge, notably through greater attention to the following four key policy issues. http://www.unctad.org/en/docs/ldc2007_en.pdf

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EC proposes a global alliance to help developing countries in climate change

The European Commission is proposing to build a new alliance on climate change between the European Union and the poor developing countries that are most affected and that have the least capacity to deal with climate change. Through this Global Climate Change Alliance (GCCA), the EU and these countries will work jointly to integrate climate change into poverty reduction strategies. The EU will provide substantial resources to address climate change in these countries. Measures will include better preparedness for natural disasters which are expected to become more frequent and intense through global warming. The GCCA renews the commitment of the EU Action Plan on Climate Change and Development to systematically integrate climate change into development cooperation.
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/07/1352&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

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UN: Massive investment needed to combat climate change

Investment of more than 200 billion dollars will be needed by 2030 just to keep greenhouse gas emissions at today’s levels, according to a UN climate change report. Global additional investment and financial flows of 200-210 billion dollars (146.3-153.7 billion euros) will be necessary in 2030 to return global greenhouse gas emission to current levels, according to the report by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Presenting the report, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer told reporters that finding ”an economic answer” was key to dealing with the peril of climate change. Between 0.3 and 0.5 percent of global gross domestic product and between 1.1 and 1.7 percent of global investment will have to be spent on addressing climate change, the report estimated. http://unfccc.int/cooperation_and_support/financial_mechanism/items/4053.php

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Website Launch Checklist

When deciding to launch a website, you should first check certain things listed here. If there are problems in any of these areas, your website’s functionality will be greatly reduced. Frankly, sending traffic to unfinished website only defeats the purpose of advertising in the first place. If you do check them, however, your website has a greater chance of attracting visitors and becoming successful.
http://www.weitzenegger.de/en/to/launchlist.pdf

Filed under: Uncategorized, Development