World Development Report 2008: Agriculture for Development

The WDR 2008 calls for placing the sector at the center of the development agenda if the goals of halving extreme poverty and hunger by 2015 are to be realized. The last time a WDR on agriculture was published was in 1982, making this a landmark report that comes when many are calling for an African agricultural revolution. While 75 percent of the world’s poor live in rural areas in developing countries, only 4 percent of official development assistance goes to agriculture. In Sub-Saharan Africa, a region heavily reliant on agriculture for overall growth, public spending for farming is also only 4 percent of total government spending and the sector is still taxed at relatively high levels. The report finds that for the, poorest people, GDP growth originating in agriculture is about four times more effective in raising incomes of extremely poor people than GDP growth originating outside the sector. The ,authors argue that a dynamic ‘agriculture-for-development’ agenda can benefit the estimated 900 million rural people in the developing world who live on less than $1 a day, most of whom rely on agriculture for a living. http://go.worldbank.org/ZJIAOSUFU0

Filed under: Uncategorized, Development, Development Policy, Poverty, Publications, Rural Economies

Migration can help fight global poverty, according to new OECD report

Better and more coherent migration policies can contribute to the fight against global poverty. This is the main conclusion of “Migration and Developing Countries”, a new report by the OECD Development Centre that was presented at the German Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development.

People, goods and capital move across international borders: this is what globalisation really means. The effects of trade and capital flows have been measured and quantified by the OECD and others and are widely known. Flows of people and their impact on development, however, are much less understood. By focussing on the costs and benefits of the movement of people Migration and Developing Countries shows how all parties can benefit from migration: migrants’ countries of destination, their home countries, and migrants themselves. Emigration, say the book’s authors, can reduce unemployment for low-skilled workers in migrant-sending countries, while remittances fuel consumption and investment, helping to reduce poverty.

While migration can contribute to development, development does not immediately halt international migration. International development assistance – aid – is not necessarily; therefore, a means of influencing migration flows. For this reason, Migration and Developing Countries calls for mutually reinforcing aid and migration policies. In this way, say the authors, developing countries can derive greater economic benefits from the mobility of their citizens. One example could be to link policies facilitating the recruitment of skilled workers to aid policies underpinning training and capacity building in the sending country. To unlock the development potential of international migration, policy makers in rich and poor countries must recognise that neither migration policies nor aid policies alone are enough in isolation to stimulate and maintain the momentum of development. OECD countries need to consider the development impact of their migration policies, while migrant-sending countries must rethink their development policies in the light of labour mobility. Moreover, migrants’ associations, enterprises and banks dealing with migrants and their families all play a role in increasing the development pay off of international migration.
http://www.oecd.org/document/46/0,3343,en_2649_33731_39207662_1_1_1_1,00.html

Filed under: Uncategorized, Development, Development Policy, Diaspora, Migration, Poverty, Publications, Remittances

Sending Money Home: Worldwide Remittance Flows to Developing Countries

Sending Money Home: Worldwide Remittance Flows to Developing Countries

Remittances, the portion of migrant workers’ earnings sent back ome to their families, have been a critical means of financial support for generations. But, for the most part, these flows have historically been “hidden in plain view”, often uncounted and even ignored. All that is now changing – as the scale of migration increases, the corresponding growth in remittances is gaining widespread attention. Today, the impact of remittances is recognized in all developing regions of the world, constituting an important flow of foreign currency to most countries and directly reaching millions of households, totalling approximately 10 per cent of the world’s population. The importance of remittances to poverty alleviation is obvious, but the potential multiplier effect on economic growth and investment is also significant. The driving force behind this phenomenon is an estimated 150 million migrants worldwide who sent more than US$300 billion to their families in developing countries during 2006, typically US$100, US$200 or US$300 at a time, through more than 1.5 billion separate financial transactions. These funds are used primarily to meet immediate family needs (consumption) but a significant portion is also available for savings, credit mobilization and other forms of investment. In other words, the world’s largest poverty alleviation programme could also become an effective grass roots economic development programme, particularly in the rural areas that present some of the greatest challenges to financial inclusion. http://www.ifad.org/events/remittances/maps

Filed under: Uncategorized, Development

EC proposes new options to reinforce development of micro-credit in Europe

Regional Policy Commissioner Danuta Hübner presented an initiative which seeks to improve access to finance for small businesses and for socially excluded people, also ethnic minorities, who want to become self-employed. This initiative, in line with the Lisbon Strategy for growth and jobs, aims to make small loans, or micro-credit, more widely available in Europe to satisfy unmet demand. Micro-credit has been used very successfully in less developed countries, and there has already been some action in this field in the EU, both at Community and at national level. In the EU, demand for this type of finance – typically, loans averaging around €7,700 – is overwhelmingly from people setting up small companies in the service sector. Be it services to businesses, individuals or households, they range from personal computer wizards to window cleaners, gardeners, or carers for people or pets – micro-credit can help make a business of an individual’s skills and abilities.
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/07/1713&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

Filed under: Uncategorized, Development, Migration

Microfinance Profits: Muhammad Yunus challenges Compartamos bank

Is it ok to make a big profit from lending to the poor? Where does microcredit end and loan sharking begin? Carlos Danel and Carlos Labarthe, the CEOs of Compartamos, a nonprofit-cum-commercial bank which charges an annual interest rate of nearly 100 percent, believe that only the lure of profits will motivate people to lend to the poor. Today Compartamos reaches 700,000 borrowers and 88 percent of its clients come back for more loans. In 2006, it was rated as Mexico’s most profitable bank. Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel laureate who pioneered the movement three decades ago and has made loans to some 7 million borrowers in Bangladesh, disagrees. Poor people’s willingness to pay high interest is not a justification for charging it, he says. Compartamos is not microcredit, it’s “raking in money off poor people desperate for cash.” http://psdblog.worldbank.org/psdblog/2007/10/muhammad-yunus-.html

Filed under: Uncategorized, Development, Events, Microfinance

World Bank calls for broader access to finance

Between 50 and 80 percent of adults in many developing countries have inadequate access to financial services, finds a new World Bank policy research report entitled “Finance for All? Policies and Pitfalls in Expanding Access”. According to the report, failure to provide more households and small and medium enterprises with the financial services they need acts as a brake on development. While noting the microfinance industry’s progress in delivering credit to poor people, the report calls for a broader financial strategy that delivers services to all excluded people and firms. Inclusive financial systems ultimately benefit the poorest people and the smallest firms the most, by creating more jobs, raising incomes, and generating more opportunities for small businesses. The report says that governments should strengthen institutions and adopt new technologies to bring down transaction costs. Research suggests that governments should also encourage competition—including foreign bank entry—and provide the right regulatory incentives. In contrast, direct interventions by governments, such as through credit subsidies or government-owned financial institutions, can be counter-productive, reducing incentives for the private sector to deliver services to the poor.
http://econ.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTDEC/EXTRESEARCH/EXTPRRS/EXTFINFORALL/0,,menuPK:4099731~pagePK:64168092~piPK:64168088~theSitePK:4099598,00.html

Filed under: Uncategorized, Aid Efficiency, Business Environment, Development, Development Policy, Poverty, Rural Economies

The EC allocates Euro 97.4 million for its neighbours from the Mediterranean area

€ 97.4 million have been allocated to the Mediterranean region under the 2007 ENPI Regional Action Programme for the South adopted by the European Commission (EC) on 24 October. Eight regional projects and programmes will be financed in a wide range of domains such as peace, disaster prevention, investment promotion, support to the private sector, intercultural dialogue, gender equality and information and communication. This Regional Action Programme for the Southern partners is a key document which describes the regional programmes and projects financed by the EU under the 2007 budget. It covers the Southern countries of the European Neighbourhood Policy namely Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian Territories, Syria and Tunisia.
http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/where/neighbourhood/regional-cooperation/enpi-south/index_en.htm

Filed under: Uncategorized, Development, Development Policy

Accra Conference: Business environment reform: Syntheses, Conferences papers

Most of the Papers and Presentations from the Conference have now been posted to the Business Environment Working Group of the Donor Committee for Enterprise Development. Of particular importance is the draft BE Donor Guidance, under b); your comments are invited at the dedicated blog at http://donorguidance.blogspot.com. In due course, the remaining Papers and presentations from the Conference (including more documents in French) will also be posted. http://www.businessenvironment.org/dyn/be/besearch.details?p_phase_id=142&p_lang=en&p_phase_type_id=6

Filed under: Uncategorized, Business Environment, Development, Entrepreneurship, Events

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

The 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/documents/publicpolicyjournal/316Klapper_Delgado.pdf

Filed under: Uncategorized, Development, Entrepreneurship, Publications

Promoting Pro-Poor growth: A Practical Guide to ex-ante Poverty Impact Assessment

Enabling poor women and men to participate in, contribute to and benefit from growth is critical to creating a path out of poverty and meeting the Millennium Development Goals. Yet without ex ante assessment of likely impacts, policies and programmes often fail to achieve the desired pro-poor impacts. To help donors and partner countries identify the consequences of their interventions, the DAC Network on Poverty Reduction (POVNET) has developed a modular, ex ante Poverty Impact Assessment (PIA) approach. This practical guide will help staff in development agencies and their partners to plan and execute PIA, and to interpret the findings it produces. OECD DAC Guidelines and Reference Series. http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/46/39/38978856.pdf

Filed under: Uncategorized, Development, Events, Manuals, Poverty, Publications

Innovation clusters: A statistical analysis and overview of current policy support

Clusters can be powerful engines of regional economic development and drivers of innovation. They enable companies to integrate in clusters where they can collaborate with and learn from research institutions, suppliers, customers and competitors. The Cluster Report published by Directorate General Enterprise and Industry offers an overview of the main statistical findings obtained so far by the European Cluster Observatory. The Report also describes the main Community instruments in support of cluster development giving particular emphasis on the aspects of trans-national cooperation.
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/newsroom/cf/document.cfm?action=display&doc_id=559

Filed under: Uncategorized, Development

Guide: business consultancy fund

This manual outlines a process for the establishment of a Business Consultancy Fund (BCF) in order to improve access to the resources and services offered by business development centres (BDCs). The manual also provides a number of templates that could be used in the establishment of a BCF. http://www.eldis.org/go/display&type=Document&id=34049

Filed under: Uncategorized, Development

Policy Coherence for Development – Migration and Developing Countries

What are the costs and benefits of migration for developing countries? How can migration flows be better organised to yield greater benefits for all parties concerned—migrant-sending countries, migrant-receiving countries, and the migrants themselves? This OECD book seeks to answer these questions, taking stock of what we know about the effects of migration on development, and distilling from that knowledge a set of policy recommendations for sending and receiving countries. It draws on a large number of country and regional case studies co-ordinated by the OECD Development Centre to illustrate the mechanisms that link migration and development: labour-market effects, the brain drain, remittances, diaspora networks and return migration. Migrant-receiving countries are encouraged to look at their migration policies through a development lens; migrant-sending countries, conversely, should look at their national development policies through a migration lens. Interlinking migration and development policies promises a more effective pursuit of the objectives of both sets of policies. This volume provides the basis for a productive debate surrounding policy innovations maximising the overall benefits of international migration.
http://www.oecd.org/document/46/0,3343,en_2649_33935_39207662_1_1_1_1,00.html

Filed under: Uncategorized, Development

Rural employment and migration: In search of decent work

This ODI Briefing Paper by Steve Wiggins and Priya Deshingkar looks at new thinking on rural employment which is needed to create more and better rural jobs. Growth in agriculture is essential, and growth in the rural non-farm economy is especially important. Job prospects improve as education, skills, health and early nutrition levels rise. Rural-urban migration (whether temporary or permanent) opens new opportunities and also helps tighten rural labour markets. With rising productivity and wages, it becomes easier to push for better labour standards, to reduce child labour and correct gender inequalities. http://www.odi.org.uk/publications/briefing/bp_rural_employment_oct07.pdf

Filed under: Uncategorized, Development

Impact Analysis on the Application of the Nucleus Approach in Sri Lanka

This GTZ document by Rainer Mueller-Glodde and Simone Lehmann presents the results of the application of the Nucleus Approach 5 years after its introduction. The Nucleus Approach interlinks capacity building in business associations and chambers with the promotion of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and lobbying aiming at improving the business environment. It was first developed in Brazil and is currently applied in Sri Lanka, Uruguay and Algeria. The Nucleus impact analysis is based on interviews of 852 entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka. The impact caused by the introduction of the Nucleus Approach in business chambers clearly led to significant changes in the Nucleus enterprises and the chambers. Broad effects have been reached: At the end of 2006, the participating chambers had organized about 180 Nuclei with 2,700 entrepreneurs. The introduction of the approach in Sri Lanka started 2002. http://www2.gtz.de/wbf/doc/ESSP_SL_Nucleus_Impact_Analysis_2007.pdf

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The Trade Knowledge Network

The Trade Knowledge Network (TKN) is the collaboration of research institutions in developed and developing countries located in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. The Trade Knowledge Network is aimed at building long-term capacity to address issues of trade and sustainable development in developing country research institutions, non-governmental organizations and governments through increased awareness, knowledge and understanding of the issues. The TKN links network members and consolidates new and existing research on trade and sustainable development. http://www.tradeknowledgenetwork.net

Filed under: Uncategorized, Development

Information portal on Value Chains for Development, by KIT

This VC4D portal and provides access to free, full-text electronic documents on the VC4D approach, both as an analytical concept and a development tool. The target audience is formed by professionals, researchers, policy-makers and students, who are active in the field of pro-poor value chain development. Furthermore, the portal provides access to newsletters, discussion groups, websites, bibliographic databases, and directories of organizations and projects. Subtopics include business development services, finance, governance, learning & innovation, public-private partnerships, standards & regulations, and sustainable procurement. http://portals.kit.nl/Value_Chains_for_Development

Filed under: Uncategorized, Development

IFC SME Entrepreneurship Database

The 2007 World Bank Group Entrepreneurship Survey measures entrepreneurial activity in 84 developing and industrial countries over the period 2003-2005. The database includes cross-country, time-series data on the number of total and newly registered businesses, collected directly from Registrar of Companies around the world. In its second year, this survey incorporates improvements in methodology, and expanded participation from countries covered, allowing for greater cross-border compatibility of data compared with the 2006 survey. This joint effort by the IFC SME Department and the World Bank Developing Research Group is the most comprehensive dataset on cross-country firm entry data available today. http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/sme.nsf/Content/Entrepreneurship+Database

Filed under: Uncategorized, Development