Has Africa outgrown Aid? | Wolfgang Fengler’s blog

Africa’s emergence is the new consensus. For the second time in a just few months, a major international journal has run a cover illustrating newfound optimism about the continent. After The Economist’s mea culpa (correcting its previous assessment of a “hopeless continent”), TIME magazine just re-ran an earlier title: “Africa rising”.

This is no fluke: Africa’s economies are growing and the continent is much wealthier today than it ever was – even though, collectively, it remains the poorest on the planet. Many African nations (22 to be precise) have already reached Middle Income Country (so called “MIC”) status and more will do so by 2025. Today, Africa includes a diverse “mix” of countries, ranging from the poorest in the world to the fastest growing; from war-torn countries to vibrant democracies; from oil-rich economies to ICT champions, and the list goes on.

Simply put: If we continue to equate aid with money only, then it will become obsolete in most countries over the next decade or two – except perhaps in fragile states. However, if it is focused on transferring the knowledge countries need to catch up and compete with each other, it will remain indispensable.

Read on: http://blogs.worldbank.org/africacan/has-africa-outgrown-aid

Filed under: Africa, Crisis, Development, OECD, aid fatigue, new donors, post-2015

Chart: Among youth, unemployment is not always the issue

From the World Development Report 2013:
621 million young people are “idle”—not in school or training, not employed, and not looking for work. Rates of idleness vary across countries, ranging between 10 and 50 percent among 15- to 24-year-olds

via Chart: Among youth, unemployment is not always the issue.

Filed under: Crisis, Employment, girls, youth, youth unemployment

THE CLUB OF ROME – A New Path for World Development

THE CLUB OF ROME – A New Path for World Development.

It is clear that the present path of world development is not sustainable in the longer term, even if we recognise the enormous potentials of the market and of technological innovation. New ideas and strategies will be needed to ensure that improved living conditions and opportunities for a growing population across the world can be reconciled with the conservation of a viable climate and of the fragile ecosystems on which all life depends. A new vision and path for world development must be conceived and adopted if humanity is to surmount the challenges ahead.

In response to this intellectual and practical challenge, the Club of Rome will undertake a three year programme on “A New Path for World Development” so as to achieve a better understanding of the complex challenges which confront the modern world and to lay solid foundations for the action which must be taken to improve the prospects for peace and progress.

Filed under: Crisis, Development, Economy, Governance, Publications

Donors’ mixed aid performance for 2010 sparks concern

Aid to developing countries in 2010 will reach record levels in dollar terms after increasing by 35 per cent since 2004. But it will still be less than the world’s major aid donors promised five years ago at the Gleneagles and Millennium + 5 summits. Though a majority of countries will meet their commitments, the underperformance of several large donors means there will be a significant shortfall, according to a new OECD review.

Africa, in particular, is likely to get only about USD 12 billion of the USD 25 billion increase envisaged at Gleneagles, due in large part to the underperformance of some European donors who give large shares of official development assistance (ODA) to Africa. Eckhard Deutscher, Chair of the DAC, noted that: ”Aid has increased strongly as 16 donors have honoured their commitments. But underperformance by the others, notably Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, and Portugal, means overall aid will still fall considerably short of what was promised. These commitments were made and confirmed repeatedly by heads of governments and it is essential that they be met to the full extent.”

Commenting on the figures, OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría said: ”It is reassuring that most donors are recognising their international responsibilities. As we head into new rounds of discussions about funding climate change and food security concerns, I encourage all donors to carry through on their development promises.” Source: OECD, http://tinyurl.com/ye8zrej

The EU falls short $19bn on development pledges. Some of the overall shortfall will come from the EU15 – the old, wealthier member states that made the original pledges. EU countries are skipping out to the tune of $19 billion (€14bn) on the aid pledges they made to developing countries five years ago at a landmark G8 meeting, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Aid to poor countries in 2010 will be lower than donors promised five years ago at the 2005 Group of Eight meeting in Scotland – largely as a result of the economic crisis, says a report published on Tuesday by the OECD, the international club of wealthy countries. With national budgets squeezed in the wake of the crash, many governments believe that charity begins at home.

Max Lawson, senior policy adviser at Oxfam, said: ”These broken promises are nothing short of a scandal. A woman dies every minute in childbirth somewhere in the world because of inadequate medical care and 72 million children remain out of school. The missing $21bn could pay for every child to go to school, and could save the lives of 2 million of the poorest mothers and children.” Source: EU Observer, http://euobserver.com/19/29496

Filed under: Crisis, Development, Economy, OECD

UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen

Over a decade ago, most countries joined an international treaty — the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) — to begin to consider what can be done to reduce global warming and to cope with whatever temperature increases are inevitable. More recently, a number of nations approved an addition to the treaty: the Kyoto Protocol, which has more powerful (and legally binding) measures. The Kyoto Protocol is an international and legally binding agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions worldwide entered into force on 16 February 2005.

The UNFCCC secretariat supports all institutions involved in the climate change process, particularly the COP (Conference of the Parties), the subsidiary bodies and their Bureau. To help countries meet their emission targets, and to encourage the private sector and developing countries to contribute to emission reduction efforts, negotiators of the Protocol included three market-based mechanisms – Emissions Trading, the Clean Development Mechanism and Joint Implementation.

Related Weblinks:
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change UNFCCC: http://www.unfccc.int
Denmark’s COP15 website: http://en.cop15.dk
General press info: http://www.pressinfo.cop15.dk
COP15 calendar: http://www.calendar.cop15.dk
Official Tweets: http://twitter.com/cop15

Climate change in Google Earth: http://www.google.com/landing/cop15/
YouTube – Cop15′s Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/Cop15
SID Forum Update: http://www.sidint.net/intl-agenda/climate-change/

TckTckTck | The World is Ready: http://tcktcktck.org
TckTckTck is the hub for stories on how hundreds of millions of people around the world are coming together to show world leaders we are ready for a new climate deal.

Interactive map and reporting system for the CDM

http://cdm.unfccc.int/Projects/MapApp
The CDM project map shows the location of CDM activities worldwide. Visitors can travel around the globe and learn about the location and many details of each project. In addition to this, a series of new graphs provide detailed breakdowns about the range, distribution of such projects that highlight national participation, project impacts and the status of project registration.

Filed under: Crisis, Development, Economy, Environment, Networks, News, Research

WDR 2010: Development and climate protection can go together

Developing countries can shift to lower-carbon paths while promoting development and reducing poverty – if they receive financial and technical assistance from high-income countries. This is among the findings of the World Development Report (WDR) 2010, published by the World Bank. It is key, thus the report, that industrialised countries curb their carbon dioxide emissions and foster the development of alternative energy sources. ”If developed countries act now, a ‘climate-smart’ world is feasible, and the costs for getting there will be high but still manageable”, says the report, which was produced with an eye to the upcoming United Nations climate summit due mid-December in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Developing countries face 75–80 percent of the potential damage from climate change. They therefore urgently need help to prepare for the impacts – drought, fl oods and rising sea levels. They also need assistance to intensify agricultural production, combat malnutrition and disease, and build climate resilient infrastructure. The current financial crisis cannot be an excuse to put climate protection on the back burner, the report warns. Source: World Bank, http://www.worldbank.org/wdr2010

Filed under: Crisis, Development

Oxfam: Rich countries must not raid aid to pay climate debt

A new Oxfam report has warned that at least 4.5 million children could die unless world leaders deliver additional funds to help poor countries fight the growing impact of climate change, rather than diverting it from existing aid promises. The report, ‘Beyond Aid,’ also warns that at least 75 million fewer children are likely to attend school and 8.6 million fewer people could have access to HIV/AIDS treatment if aid is diverted to help poor countries tackle climate change. Without at least $50 billion a year in addition to the 0.7 per cent of national income rich countries have already pledged as aid, recent progress toward the Millennium Development Goals could stall and then go into reverse. Source: Oxfam, http://tinyurl.com/yc5atwj

Filed under: Crisis, Development, Economy, European Union, News

EU Development policy to focus on climate and democracy, says Mrs Carlsson

As president in office of the EU Council, the Minister for International Development Cooperation of Sweden, Gunilla Carlsson, presented to MEPs from the Committee on Development the presidency’s priorities for the second semester of 2009: development as part of the climate change agenda, democracy building as well as policy coherence and effectiveness. Helping to ensure that developing countries can effectively fight poverty in all its forms and meet the challenges that follow in the wake of the global economic crisis and climate change are the main priorities the Swedish presidency in the field of development. Replying to some questions of MEPs about the sometimes incoherent EU approach, the Swedish minister encouraged the European Parliament to make full use of its scrutinising powers (budgetary and co-decision procedures) in order to ensure that the EU makes the development cooperation more effective and ensures that different EU policy areas and actors work together more coherently. http://www.europarl.europa.eu

Filed under: Crisis, Development, Environment, European Union, OECD

EU Commission report on European competitiveness

The European Commission issued its Annual Report on Competition Policy for 2008. The report provides a summary of the most important developments with regards to EU competition policy and focuses on major enforcement actions. Furthermore, the ways in which tools of competition policy have been applied to combat the financial crisis are outlined and the benefits to consumers of competition policy are underlined. For the first time, the 2008 Annual Report includes a special chapter on a topic considered to be of particular importance in the field of competition policy. The topic chosen is ”Cartels and consumers”. In 2008, the Commission fined 34 undertakings in seven cartel decisions. In cases such as the Banana cartel, consumers directly suffered from higher prices until the Commission broke up the price fixing cartel. http://ec.europa.eu/competition/publications/annual_report/index.html

Filed under: Clusters, Crisis, Economy, Employment, European Union, Technology

World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development

The United Nations Conference on the world financial crisis adopted a wide-ranging Outcome Document (http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/CONF.214/3&Lang=E). The Outcome Document recognizes that the incoherence of the global economic system needs to be urgently addressed. It stresses the importance of the United Nations’ role in international economic issues,emphasizing that its universal membership and legitimacy makes it well positioned to participate in various reform processes aimed at improving and strengthening the effective functioning of the international financial system and architecture. It makes references to issues and recommendations of the Stiglitz Commission which presented an advanced report to the Conference, including on resources and policy space for developing countries to mitigate the crisis, debt restructuring and standstills, reform of the global reserve system and an independent panel of experts on the world economic and financial crisis that would inform international action, political decision-makin and foster constructive dialogues and exchanges among policy makers, academics, institutions and civil society. The precise role of the UN in global economic governance reform will likely be hotly debated in the coming months. Source: UN-NGLS

The European Commission stressed that the crisis shows how deeply the prosperity and the future of advanced economies, the emerging economies and the developing countries are linked. The cooperation and contribution of all developed, emerging and developing countries is needed. Source: European Commission, http://www.eu-un.europa.eu

As developing countries face the full impact of the economic crisis, European governments are falling short by nearly €40bn on their aid promises, a new report from CONCORD, the European confederation of Relief and Development NGOs, reveals. Source: Concord, http://tinyurl.com/numbm8

A groundbreaking study coordinated by ODI finds that developing countries are being hit harder than expected by the global financial and economic crisis, and that, sooner or later, they will need to respond. Research in ten developing countries, carried out by 40 researchers, provides a vivid picture of how these countries are faring in the crisis. The research examines the transmission belts — such as remittances, private capital flows and trade — that have been affected and are now carrying the crisis from the rich industrialised countries of the north to the poor developing countries of the south. Source: ODI, http://tinyurl.com/nc5yoy

The African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group called for urgent solutions to financial crisis. ACP states are amongst those hard hit by the crisis and want solutions to focus on countering the effects of the crisis. Since the crisis started, ACP states have experienced major falls in their export earnings; foreign direct investment has slowed down, official development aid declined and remittance flows have shrunken. The ACP Group believes that the crisis poses a severe threat to its members, compromising not only the efforts and economic gains achieved over the past years, but also the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The ACP Group underscores that the impact of the crisis would undoubtedly exert strong pressure on the macro-economic balance of the ACP countries. ACP cited sub-Saharan Africa as an example, where growth outlook has dropped to 1.5% for 2009, against 5.4% in 2008 and 6.8 percent in 2007. Source: ACP Secretariat, http://www.acp.int/en/press_releases/financialcriisis/pressrelease_financialcrisis09.html

A Joint Statement by the African Development Bank, European Commission, and World Bank calls to align support to mitigate the impact of the economic crisis. The crisis calls for more coordination of infrastructure development in Africa. This statement outlines the concerns shared by the three institutions and highlights the priority interventions required at this time. Responding to urgent needs, the three organisations have announced their willingness to increase their aid volumes to provide much needed counter-cyclical spending in support of rapid recovery, job creation and to promote long-term growth. In this context, the three institutions call on development partners to support harmonized spending and interventions around the following strategic areas of alignment with proven high impact: development of regional infrastructure: transport corridors, power networks and ICT; maintenance of existing assets; and enhancement of policy, regulatory and administrative frameworks. Source: European Commission, http://tinyurl.com/mjz86l

The recent second Global Review of Aid for Trade demonstrates that despite the crisis, there is good news for developing countries: in 2007, total aid for trade reached USD 25.4 billion, USD 4.3 billion (21%) more than the 2005 baseline. Even so, World Bank estimates show that 53 million more people are expected to be living on less than USD 1.25 a day. And while a few countries have slightly reduced the targets they set in 2005 for 2010, the bulk of the commitments remain in force. DACnews describes the action being taken on many fronts. A survey recently concluded by OECD and the WTO – the second of its kind – demonstrates that the Aid-for-Trade Initiative is a success. Since its inception in 2005, developing countries have given higher priority to trade in their development strategies. Donors have responded by offering more funds to help them overcome their supply-side constraints. Source: OECD, http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/43/52/43150493.htm

Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation released the publication Re-Defining the Global Economy (http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/iez/global/06293.pdf) after forum in April 2009. The current global economic crisis presents an opportunity to to engage the political governance of the global economy. Leading economist and Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz introduces this publication for which FES invited expert authors to discuss three approaches to Re-Defining the Global Economy namely, necessary institutional arrangements for a just well-governed and well-functioning financial system, the question of national or regional versus global regulation of such a system and the necessary political and economic arrangements for securing social protections.

Canadian IDRC suggested solutions for Global Economic Governance based on their project findings: http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-139286-201-1-DO_TOPIC

Filed under: Crisis, Development, Economy, Employment, European Union, Germany, OECD, Poverty, Crisis

Helping developing countries during the financial crisis

Developing countries are severely hit by the global economic crisis. The leaders of the world’s 20 biggest economies, recognising that the global financial crisis has ‘a disproportionate impact’ on vulnerable people in poor countries, have promised to make hundreds of billions of United States dollars available to these countries as part of a $1.1 trillion plan to rescue the world economy. In a communiqué released by the Group of 20’s London Summit, the leaders announced what they called ‘a global plan for recovery on an unprecedented scale’. They said the rescue package would include resources totalling $850 billion, to be channelled through global financial institutions, ‘to support growth in emerging market and developing countries by helping to finance counter-cyclical spending, bank recapitalisation, infrastructure, trade finance, balance of payments support, debt rollover, and social support.’ http://www.pambazuka.org/aumonitor/comments/2296/

The EU Commission helps with a support package. The EU has recognized that the current recession is affecting the global system at all levels – overturning the old notion that globalisation could only be good. The hardest hit are those who were already the world’s poorest – particularly those who had begun to climb out of poverty. To give EU action a coherent framework, the Commission has issued a policy paper – Supporting developing countries in coping with the crisis. The paper reaffirms the two guiding principles for EU relations with developing countries – partnership and solidarity. http://ec.europa.eu/development/icenter/repository/COM_2009_0160_4_EN.pdf

Related Publications:

UN Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development
http://www.un-ngls.org/IMG/pdf_ngls_bulletin_1.pdf
In an effort to help keep interested stakeholders informed on the latest developments and events leading to the UN Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development taking place in New York from 1-3 June 2009, NGLS has launched a dedicated weekly ’bulletin’ up to the Conference. This first issue reviews the mandate and background of the Conference. It also contains information on related meetings and reports from the UN system.

DCED has launched a new web page providing links to a selection of the many materials now being produced on the global financial crisis and its impact in developing countries. http://www.enterprise-development.org/page/the-global-financial-crisis

The Centre for Development Policy and Research is pleased to announce the publication of Development Viewpoint #24, ‘‘How the Global Crisis Is Transmitted to Developing Countries”. The author, Jan Toporowski, Department of Economics, SOAS, expose how developing countries are extraordinarily vulnerable to the financial crisis that is unfolding in the U.S. because its debt deflation (its reduction of expenditures to repay its debt) will reduce developing-country exports and, in turn, the outflow of U.S. dollars, the international reserve currency, which is crucial to financing international trade. He also notes that the recent fall in commodity prices and the appreciation of the U.S. dollar will only exacerbate developing-country problems. http://www.soas.ac.uk/cdpr/publications/dv/49755.pdf

CDPR also announced the publication of Development Viewpoint #26, ‘‘Global Financial Crisis and Recession: What Could Happen to Major Emerging Economies?” http://www.soas.ac.uk/cdpr/publications/dv/49965.pdf. The authors, Terry McKinley, Director of CDPR, and Naret Khurasee, a researcher at Alphametrics, draw on the results of a 2010-2015 global scenario, generated by the State of the World Economy macroeconomic model, to assess the projected impact on the major emerging economies of Brazil, China, India and South Africa. They find that as the global economy is projected to recover after 2010, all four economies should resume credible rates of economic growth. But China is expected to perform the best during 2010-2015. The other three economies are projected to grow more slowly and confront problems of current-account deficits or government debt. For related material on the State of the World Economy model, see: http://www.soas.ac.uk/cdpr/researchareas/worldmodel.

The Centre for Development Policy and Research is pleased to announce the publication of Development Viewpoint #28, ‘‘The Roots of the Global Financial Crisis”, http://www.soas.ac.uk/cdpr/publications/dv/50940.pdf. The author, Costas Lapavitsas, Department of Economics, SOAS, and Research on Finance and Money, identifies several factors that he believes are at the root of the current crisis: loose US macroeconomics policies in the early 2000, the extraction of financial profits by commercial banks directly out of personal incomes (such as through subprime mortgages) and the adoption by banks of highly risky investment banking functions (such as securitisation of mortgages).

Labor Market in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and its Adjustment to Global Financial Crisis http://www.adbi.org/email.notification/url.php?id=2711&url=%2Fevent%2F2941.labor.market.prc.global.financial.crisis

Filed under: Africa, Asia, Banking, Caribbean, Crisis, Development, Economy, European Union, OECD, Poverty, Publications

Bleak outlook for developing Asia, but region can cope with crisis, says ADB

Developing Asia’s economic growth will slow in 2009 to its most sluggish pace since the 1997/1998 Asian financial crisis, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) says in a new major report. The Asian Development Outlook 2009 forecasts economic growth in developing Asia will slide to just 3.4% in 2009, down from 6.3% last year and 9.5% in 2007. If the global economy experiences a mild recovery next year, the outlook for the region will improve to 6% in 2010. Deteriorating economic prospects will hinder the efforts to reduce poverty. With the slow growth, more than 60 million people in 2009, and close to 100 million people in 2010, will remain trapped in poverty – living on less than US$1.25 a day – than would have been if growth had continued at its earlier pace. Despite the dismal outlook, the report says that the region is in a much better position to cope with this crisis than it was in 1997/98. http://www.adb.org/projects/project.asp?id=39264

Filed under: Asia, Crisis, Economy, Research

Diaspora to Promote Job Creation and Youth Development in Africa

More than 50 Washington D.C.-based members of the African Diaspora participated in the launch of the 2008/2009 Africa Development Indicators (ADI) report . As this year’s ADI focuses on ‘‘Youth and Employment in Africa – The Potential, The Problem, The Promise”, the launch targeted Diaspora with an interest in youth development and promoting job creation in Africa. ‘‘The ADI launch in D.C. targets people who can really make a difference to Africa – the Diaspora,” said Shantayanan Devarajan, Chief Economist of the World Bank’s Africa Region, in his opening remarks. He further explained that data can be a good tool for accountability to help citizens hold leadership responsible for measurable results. http://tinyurl.com/d4s24k

Filed under: ACP, Africa, Crisis, Development, Employment, Migration, Remittances

Websites you can use for poverty impact assessment

BRIDGE – Gender and Poverty
http://www.bridge.ids.ac.uk/reports_gend_pov.htm
BRIDGE Gender and Poverty publications include summaries of key materials, good practice cases, lists of tools and checklists and key online resources.

British Library for Development Studies Subject Guide on Poverty
http://blds.ids.ac.uk/guides/pov.html
This Guide provides quick access to BLDS resources through pre-designed searches of the catalogue’s 150 000 plus records.

CROP Comparative Research Programme on Poverty
http://www.crop.org
CROP is an international research programme initiated in 1992 by the International Social Science Council. It is now one of the major programmes of the Council. Hosting CROPnet as open network.

Development Gateway – Poverty
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/poverty
Development Gateway topic pages are e-communities led by experts in the development field. They connect partners, members, organizations and other stakeholders by providing opportunities to exchange knowledge, know-how and opinions.

Eldis Resource Guide on Poverty
http://www.eldis.org/go/topics/resource-guides/poverty
Eldis Resource Guides provide easy structured access to our extensive collection of research and policy documents. All are editorially selected, summarised and available free to download in full text. Resource guides are intended to help you keep up to date with the latest in development research, policy and practice.

Evaluation Portal by Lars Balzer
http://www.evaluation.lars-balzer.name
At this Evaluation Portal you find hand-picked, human-edited, categorized information about the topic ”evaluation” (and a bit about social science methods).

Focuss.Info Initiative
http://www.focuss.info
Focuss.info provides a high quality search engine for practitioners, researchers and students in the area of global development studies. When these websites are available on the Internet, the Focuss.Info search engine indexes the hand-picked websites, with a focus on global development cooperation, and make these websites full text retrievable. In other words: start saving and sharing your favorite websites via social bookmarks spaces, such as Delicious or CiteULike, and report your social bookmark account to the Focuss.Info Initiative.

Free evaluation resources for developing countries.
http://earth.prohosting.com/elecon/evaldevel/evaldevelopment.html
Gene Shackman created this site to work with a coalition of evaluators and evaluation organizations to provide evaluation, consulting or training resources to organizations and evaluators in developing countries.

Global Donor Platform for Rural Development
http://www.donorplatform.org
Since the creation of the Global Donor Platform for Rural Development in 2004, major bilateral and multilateral development agencies are united in a coordinated endeavour to get the rural development agenda right. Donors are committed to achieving increased development assistance impact and more effective investment in rural development and agriculture.

Global Poverty Research Group – GPRG
http://www.gprg.org
ESRC-funded multidisciplinary research group providing a framework for collaboration between the Centre for the Study of African Economies (CSAE) at Oxford University, and IDPM and CPRC at Manchester University.

Governance and Social Development Resource Centre
http://www.gsdrc.org
Funded by the UK Department for International Development, the Governance and Social Development Resource Centre (GSDRC) aims to help reduce poverty by informing policymaking and enhancing professional knowledge in relation to governance, conflict and social development.

GTZ’s Poverty-related activities´
http://www.gtz.de/en/themen/uebergreifende-themen/902.htm
GTZ supports partners in developing countries as well as BMZ, other ministries and international organisations. This support is focussing on strategies for broad-based growth, the implementation of national poverty reduction strategies, poverty-oriented results monitoring and policy monitoring.

International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG), UNDP
http://www.undp.org/povertycentre/index.htm

Based in Brazil, IPC serves as the nexus for promoting, learning and knowledge sharing on key poverty concerns among developing countries to improve the living conditions of the world’s poorest citizens. The Centre’s mission is to facilitate South-South learning in development solutions by fostering policy dialogue; carrying out policy-oriented research; as well as conducting training and evaluation. Its vision is the attainment of high inclusive growth. See in particular research and publications on social protection and cash transfers.

Methods for Social Research in Developing Countries
http://srmdc.net
Website to make the contents of Methods for Social Researchers in Developing Countries available free to researchers in developing countries, where books are too expensive for faculty, students, or even for libraries to buy.

Poverty Assessment Tools
http://www.povertytools.org
This IRIS Center Website hosts updates and reports and discussions around developing and recommending poverty assessment tools. It also hosts a Poverty Assessment Tools listserv, where discussions are moderated and conducted with bounded timelines. Summaries of previous listserv discussions are also available.

PovertyFrontiers
http://www.povertyfrontiers.org

PovertyFrontiers is a USAID-supported Website dedicated to sharing knowledge and resources on poverty reduction, pro-poor growth, asset-based approaches to development, and poverty-related issues. PovertyFrontiers is also a forum for those involved in poverty reduction to exchange ideas and best practices.

Q-Squared: Combining Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches in Poverty Analysis
http://www.q-squared.ca
This Website is a great resource for those seeking information on poverty research, measurement and analysis. Q-Squared aims to promote better integration of qualitative and quantitative poverty research methods. The site links to a variety of commissioned publications presenting good practice in accurate poverty research, as well as information about training, news and events.

Research Methods Knowledge Base
http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/contents.htm
This site is the home page for a number of additional Webpages, each of which provides brief, easily understood descriptions and illustrations of virtually any social research method you might want to use; covers the foundations of research, sampling, measurement, design, analysis, and the process of writing up a research report.

Social Science Information Gateway (SOSIG)

http://sosig.ac.uk
Provides selected, high quality information for students and researchers in the social sciences, business, and law; also provides links to over 50,000 social science Webpages.

Statistical Databases
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/databases.htm
Provides brief descriptions of and links to a wide variety of databases produced by Statistics Division, UN, and that are available with unrestricted access.

Statistical Sites on the World Wide Web, U.S. Department of Labor
http://www.bls.gov/bls/other.htm
Provides links for online access to statistical and other information from more than 70 agencies of the U.S. government and statistical offices of most countries throughout the world.

The Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC)

http://www.chronicpoverty.org
This international partnership of universities, research institutes and NGOs was established in 2000 with initial funding from the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID).

UN Secretariat’s Division for Social Policy and Development (DSPD)
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/social/poverty/
The Division seeks to strengthen international cooperation for social development, particularly in the areas of poverty eradication, productive employment and decent work and the social inclusion of older persons, youth, family, persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples, persons in situations of conflict and other groups or persons marginalized from society and development.

UNEG United Nations Evaluation Group
http://www.unevaluation.org
This site hosts the Country Level Evaluation Database and the UNDP Evaluation Resource Center (ERC). UNEG has many links to external evaluation resources including evaluation associations and societies, international organisations, training resources and governments.

Virtual Resource Centre on ex-ante Impact Assessment

http://europeandcis.undp.org/pia
This UNDP website has been launched and is being maintained as one of the components of the regional project on ex-ante Impact Assessment funded by UNDP Bratislava Regional Centre for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Local Government and Public Service Support Initiative of Open Society Institute, Budapest. Under the ”best practices” heading, the Virtual Resource Centre aims to show a selection of key steps and ideas in the ex-ante impact assessment process, drawn from the work of key institutions or recorded in countries implementing the ex-ante impact assessment process in their policy formulation.

Web Pages that Perform Statistical Calculations
http://statpages.org
Provides over 600 links, including nearly 400 pages that perform calculations, and growing; a source of information on almost anything you might need in conducting analyses and calculations, including links to interactive statistics, free software, books and manuals, and demonstrations and tutorials.

… more Web Links: http://delicious.com/weitzenegger

Filed under: Crisis, Development, Economy, Employment, Links, Methods, Poverty, Research

Unions to Davos: Jobs the Missing Link

Employment and incomes key to pulling world economy out of tailspin, as ILO predicts up to 50 million jobs to go and 200 million more into absolute poverty, as new IMF figures herald global recession. The global financial crisis now threatens to become a social time bomb if the world’s governments don’t act together to save and create jobs, according to global trade union leaders attending the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos.

The ITUC, with its national affiliates and Global Unions partners, is pushing a comprehensive recovery and reform package, with top priority on sustainable employment, in discussions with the global institutions and national governments. Ensuring workers’ rights to union representation and collective bargaining, coupled with investment in labour market programmes, have to be the core of recovery efforts to enable consumer spending to steer economies onto the path to growth. In their statement to the Davos meeting, the unions call for a series of measures to arrest collapsing global demand.

The union statement also calls on business to negotiate with unions to save jobs, upgrade skills, cut carbon emissions and re-tool industry to set the basis for recovery. This needs to be done through national social dialogue and collective bargaining and internationally through agreements between multinationals and Global Union Federations in the different sectors. The ITUC represents 168 million workers in 316 affiliated national organisations from 157 countries. http://www.ituc-csi.org

Filed under: Crisis, Economy, Employment, European Union, ILO

OECD countries reaffirmed commitments to open trade and aid

OECD countries have pledged to abstain from trade protectionism as part of a concerted drive to shore up the world economy and combat recession. They also have reaffirmed their commitments on aid to developing countries. Already in November 2008, at a meeting of the OECD’s Executive Committee in Special Session, OECD countries agreed to sustain recent commitments regarding open trade in support of developing nations, promising, ”Within the next twelve months… [to] refrain from raising new barriers to investment or to trade in goods and services, imposing new export restrictions, or implementing World Trade Organization (WTO) inconsistent measures to stimulate exports.” They also committed to making efforts to close the Doha trade negotiations, reaching agreements that would lead to ”an ambitious and balanced outcome.”
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/32/41/41836868.htm#H51

Filed under: Banking, Crisis, Development, European Union, OECD, WTO

The Global Financial Crisis: What does it mean for microfinance?

In most past financial crises – like those of the 1990s in Asia, Mexico, and Russia – financial services for poor people have been remarkably resilient. In fact, the quality of the loan portfolios of microfinance institutions (MFIs) during the Asian crisis and in Latin America during various banking crises barely quivered, while corporate portfolios collapsed. ”Our present crisis is like no other,” says CGAP CEO Elizabeth Littlefield. ”Microfinance is far more connected now. While it still has deeply shock-resistant roots, and many places seem unaffected today, there is little doubt that there will be impact.” Integrating microfinance into the mainstream has many benefits but it also has some costs. MFIs that depend on foreign capital investments are suffering, and the medium and longer term effects of a global recession are likely to be hard on microfinance clients in some countries. http://www.cgap.org/p/site/c/template.rc/1.26.4511

Filed under: Africa, Asia, Banking, Crisis, Economy, Microfinance

World Social Forum: Globalization is destroying itself

The world economic crisis spells the death of globalization and action is needed to protect the poor, said organizers of the World Social Forum as it wrapped up in Belem, Brazil on Sunday. ”We have come out against neoliberal globalization, and now that this globalization is destroying itself we have to define the world we want,” the founder of the event, Candido Grzybowski, told AFP. Another member of the forum’s organizing committee, Fatima Mello, said: ”The crisis has forced us to improve our proposals. We have built up a big network against the crisis and we will launch various days of world action and campaigns this year to make sure the poor don’t pay its high price.” The forum’s leaders hailed the strong participation at this year’s gathering, which brought together 133,000 people from unions, religious associations, family organizations, ecologists and other leftwing groups. http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br

Filed under: Crisis, Development, Economy, Trade

Financial Crisis Presents Opportunity for Asia, Jeffrey Sachs tells ADB audience

The global economic crisis should be viewed by Asia’s policymakers as an opportunity to expand investment in ”desperately” needed public goods, economist Jeffrey Sachs told an ADB audience.

In a lecture titled ”Achieving Global Cooperation on Economic Recovery and Long-Term Sustainable Development”, Prof. Sachs said that with the drop in external demand for Asian exports, the region will ”have to rely on public spending,” such as infrastructure, health, education and energy reforms.

”Asia needs all of that desperately,” Prof. Sachs said. ”This is still the region of the world with the fastest urbanization, with the most dramatic need for pollution control, for cleaning up the energy sector, for cleaning up the rivers, for sustainable urban development, for accommodating the migration of hundreds of millions of people from rural areas to urban areas. I like to view this crisis as an opportunity for Asia given the chronic underinvestment in public goods. Public spending has a very high social return and also has a very high macroeconomic purpose right now.” http://www.adb.org/article.asp?id=12767

Filed under: Asia, Crisis, Asia, Crisis, Research