6 June 2011 • 20:12 0
The EU’s renewable energy target of 20% of its energy supply from renewable energies by 2020 will cause widespread ‘land-grabbing’ in developing countries, according to a new Action Aid report. The EU adopted the target in the ‘Renewable Energy Roadmap’ in January 2007, and has come under increasing scrutiny from civil society. http://tinyurl.com/5ucwlbv
Filed under: Development, Development, energy, EU
1 April 2011 • 11:39 0
Africa Platform for Development Effectiveness (APDev) | Inspiring Change.
APDEv is an African-led and owned physical and virtual multi-stakeholder platform and organizing mechanism for mobilizing African policy makers and practitioners towards achieving sustainable development results. The Platform focuses on 3 inter-related themes of Aid Effectiveness and South-South Cooperation with Capacity Development as a core driver for development effectiveness (DE) fostering “knowledge and evidence-based innovation processes” which is one of the six cornerstones of the AU-NEPAD CDSF.
Filed under: Development, Africa, Development, Effectiveness, innovation, knowledge
22 February 2010 • 20:45 0
ADB has begun implementing sweeping new changes to the way it does business to improve the quality and responsiveness of its work. Starting this January, business processes are being streamlined to make them more efficient, to lower transaction costs, and to enable ADB to respond swiftly to client needs. The improvements will help ADB realize the development goals laid out under its long term strategic framework, Strategy 2020, in order to achieve its overarching vision of a region free of poverty. http://www.adb.org/article.asp?id=13133
Filed under: Development, adb, Asia, business, consulting, Development, finance
23 January 2008 • 18:24 0
Aid for Trade: New OECD Report
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/trade/highlights/viewHighlight.do~activeHighlightId=114720?intcmp=925
The WTO Aid for Trade Task Force argued that a global picture of aid-for-trade flows is important to assess whether additional resources are being delivered, to identify where gaps exists, to highlight where improvements should be made, and to increase transparency on pledges and disbursements. For that purpose the Task Force defined aid for trade as comprising support for trade policy and regulations, trade development, trade-related infrastructure, building productive capacity and trade-related adjustment if identified as trade-related development priorities in partner countries’ national development strategies.
WTO launches first Global Review of Aid for Trade
http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/devel_e/a4t_e/global_review_prog_e.htm
WTO provided an overview of what has been learned from the first year of Aid for Trade monitoring, with a focus on global flows and the result of the donor and partner self-assessments. Subsequently, roadmaps for mainstreaming trade in national development strategies were brought on the way.
Africa Development Indicators 2007
http://www.dev-zone.org/cgi-bin/links/jump.cgi?ID=13581
Africa Development Indicators 2007 provides the most detailed collection of data on Africa. It contains over 1,000 indicators covering 53 African countries. Findings suggest that the economic outlook for Africa is improving (World Bank, 2007)
Understanding Your Local Economy: A Resource Guide for Cities
http://www.citiesalliance.org/activities-output/topics/cds/led-guidelines.html
Cities Alliance has released a new publication, “Understanding Your Local Economy: A Resource Guide for Cities” that addresses the challenges of analysing local economic conditions and a city’s comparative and competitive advantages. Funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Guide presents practical approaches to conducting citywide and regionwide economic and competitive assessments. It includes advice on how to choose local economic development (LED) indicators and tools that can assess a local economy’s competitiveness.
Growth, Poverty and Employment in Brazil, Chile and Mexico
http://www.undp-povertycentre.org/pub/IPCWorkingPaper42.pdf
International Poverty Centre – Working Paper # 42
We are pleased to announce the publication of IPC Working Paper #42, “Growth, Poverty and Employment in Brazil, Chile and Mexico”. The authors find that earnings trends were more powerful than employment trends in explaining changes in labour income. They also find that out of the total of eight country periods that they reviewed, only three exhibited a pro-poor pattern of change in labour income but two of these occurred during economic contractions. The authors also note that 1) poor workers would have suffered more if they had not significantly boosted their participation in labour markets in response to downturns but 2) such workers benefited less than proportionately from economic expansions compared to non-poor workers.
Pro-Poor Growth: Though a Contested Marriage, Still a Premature Divorce
http://www.undp-povertycentre.org/pub/IPCOnePager45.pdf
The author of IPC One Pager #45, Terry McKinley, analyses why enthusiasm for the concept of ‘pro-poor growth’ has waned and been replaced recently by such alternatives as ‘inclusive growth’. He argues that the twin objectives inherent in the concept, namely, faster growth and greater equity, should have remained distinct. Pragmatically merging the two led to the conclusion that growth could no longer be considered ‘pro-poor’ or ‘anti-poor’, just ‘more’ or ‘less’ poverty-reducing. He concludes by raising concerns about whether a strong focus on greater equity has been lost in the process.
Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism
http://www.grameenfoundation.org/yunus_book/
A new book by Dr. Muhammad Yunus which advances his pioneering vision of social businesses—for-profit companies with a strictly social mission that reinvest their profits to further their mission rather than distribute dividends to shareholders.
“Microfinance Fever” by Matthew Swibel
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2008/0107/050.html?partner=email
A lot of people are chasing returns in barefoot banking. Here’s what you should know before you follow.
Good Practice Guidelines for Funders of Microfinance E-book
http://www.cgap.org/portal/site/CGAP/menuitem.929eeda637b63d5167808010591010a0/
To help funding agency staff translate guidance into daily operations, CGAP has developed an e-book version of the Good Practice Guidelines for Funders of Microfinance. The e-book version goes one step further than the Good Practice Guidelines that help to raise awareness of good practice and improve the effectiveness of donors and investors’ microfinance operations–it provides links to practical operational tools.
New ILO Study on Microfinance and Efficiency
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/microfinance/highlights/viewHighlight.do~activeHighlightId=115288?intcmp=920
An estimated US$4 billion is invested annually in microfinance around the world. But while microfinance institutions must have strong business models in order to survive, they face the challenge of making profits while creating lasting social change. A newly published study entitled Microfinance and public policy: Outreach, performance and efficiency edited by Bernd Balkenhol, the head of the Social Finance Programme at the International Labour Office (ILO) provides practitioners and policy makers with guidance on how to deal with the issue of balancing business and poverty reduction by defining criteria for supporting microfinance institutions. This research study seeks to clarify an issue that practitioners of microfinance and donors often face: how to preserve the dual commitment of microfinance institutions (MFIs) to both poverty reduction and profitability, whilst ensuring their progressive integration into the financial market and the phasing out of subsidies.
Girls Count: A Global Investment & Action Agenda
http://www.cgdev.org/content/publications/detail/15154
The wellbeing of adolescent girls in developing countries shapes global economic and social prosperity — yet girls’ needs often are consigned to the margins of development policies and programs. This new CGD report describes why and how to provide adolescent girls in developing countries a full and equal chance in life. Offering targeted recommendations for national and local governments, donor agencies, civil society, and the private sector, Girls Count provides a compelling starting point for country-specific agendas to recognize and foster girls’ potential.
Online access to the complete Palgrave Macmillan Journals Portfolio
http://www.p algrave- journals.com/accessallareas/index.html
Until February 15th the Palgrave Macmillan Access All Areas campaign gives visitors unrestricted online access not only to all Palgrave Macmillan journals, an impressive list of more than 60 journals, but also to a selection of our reference and books content.
You might want to explore the Development site, and experience the rich content archive – see http://www.sidint.org/development
Manual ‘Policy Coherence for Development, a practical guide’
http://evertvermeerstic.email-service5.nl/nct88121/qWYjIjAy
The EU Coherence Programme is happy to present you the new Manual ‘Policy Coherence for Development, a practical guide’. Our brand new Manual provides the reader with seven case studies on different EU policy areas where clear contradictions are seen with EU development objectives.
Information and Knowledge Management: IKM Emergent Newsletter
http://www.ikmemergent.net
The quarterly newsletter will be a vehicle to inform both Programme members and non-members on the developments taking place within the EADI Programme “Emergent Issues in Information and Knowledge Management (IKM) and International Development”. It presents both work that is being undertaken and approaches that are being developed.
From e&lr to Rural 21
http://www.rural-development.de/3070.0.html#01
The journal Rural 21 replaced entwicklung & ländlicher raum (e&lr) as of January 2008. The journal will have a new name, a new design and a completely revamped editorial concept. This step towards further internationalising the journal will make it accessible for an even greater readership, because Rural 21 will also incorporate the former English journal agriculture & rural development.
Filed under: Uncategorized, Development, Development Policy, Poverty, Publications
23 January 2008 • 18:22 0
North-South Training, Research and Policy Network on Trade and Development
http://www.acp-eu-trade.org/index.php?loc=nsn/
The NSN comprises universities and policy-oriented institutions from European and ACP countries. Its overall aim is to contribute to creating in ACP countries a cadre of professionals able to provide sound policy advice on trade and development matters, through the strengthening of linkages and interaction between the ACP and European training, research and policy communities in the area of development and trade.
The International Poverty Centre (IPC)
http://www.undp-povertycentre.org
IPC is a joint project between the United Nations Development Programme and the Brazilian Government to promote South-South Cooperation on applied poverty research and training. It specializes in analyzing poverty and inequality and offering research-based policy recommendations on how to reduce them. IPC is directly linked to the Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea), which does research for the Brazilian Ministry of Strategic Planning, and the Bureau for Development Policy, UNDP.
The Internet Site for Economists
http://www.inomics.com
Inomics is an Internet service especially tailored to the needs of economists. At this site you can find job openings for economists, conference announcements, a human-edited directory as well as a database of research papers in economics.
Informal Economy Resource Database
http://www.ilo.org/dyn/dwresources/iebrowse.home
This database contains over 500 ILO entries directly or indirectly related to the informal economy and decent work. The database is searchable by country, keyword, ILO author unit and date. Each entry contains information about the resource, and usually includes a brief summary of the contents. In most cases the resources can be accessed electronically, in PDF format. Links are often provided to the relevant ILO website to enable the User to make further inquiries. As a database, this resource is a “living” and dynamic inventory which can be improved on at any time. Comments and/or suggestions are welcome at: iedintegration @ ilo.org
UN to Connect Rural Women Entrepreneurs through Online Knowledge Network
http://kn4womencoop.org
This web-based network will make it possible for women entrepreneurs to learn from each other about business opportunities, market trends, and to market their products. Membership in the knowledge network is open to women’s cooperatives, women’s business associations, non-governmental organizations and policymakers. Topics include: business basics, building life skills for women’s empowerment, forming cooperative enterprises, marketing, making business plans, costing and pricing, building e-businesses, and online payment and delivery systems.
World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU)
http://www.woccu.org
This improved Web site this eerything you need to know about WOCCU’s programs, international remittances, partnerships and credit union statistics in any given country is now available in one place in both English and Spanish. WOCCU’s Web site also offers an archive of valuable resources on best practices in credit union development.
55 Top Quality Products on one 640 Meg CD
http://www.cd3wd.com
CD3WD is a 3rd World Development private-sector initiative, mastered by Software Developer Alex Weir. Major online and offline sections on Livestock, Training, Metalwork, Auto Mechanics, Wind, Solar, other Alternative Energies. You can browse and/or download the complete and latest version of CD3WD. Single Files are at http://sleekfreak.ath.cx:81/3wdev/cd3wd/index.htm
Alternative Channel Inc., Montreal, Quebec, Canada,
http://www.alternativechannel.tv/achannel/articles/about.html
Alternative Channel is international, interactive, and deeply committed to the ideals of journalism in a brave new world of media. The place of citizen journalism in our lives is still being explored.
Global Hand
http://www.globalhand.org
Global Hand is a matching service helping corporate/ community groups partner with NGOs: a non-profit brokerage facilitating public/ private partnership. Finding appropriate partners, in this context, can be difficult. The library has been set up to connect all parties in this sector with carefully chosen information searchable by location, need type and services, at both national and international levels.
WAND directories
http://www.wand.com
The specificity of the WAND product and service categories allows more accurate search and classification than any other business directory platform on the Internet. The categories can be split off into industry segments to create vertical directories. Over 70,000 categories are available. The WAND business to business directory platform is built upon the WAND Product and Service Taxonomy providing a sophisticated underlying structure for categorizing and searching company data by the specific product or service which a company is able to provide. Custom branded Powered by WAND directories have been in use on the Internet by major yellow pages publishers, trade associations, and government agencies since 1996.
Filed under: Uncategorized, Development, Development Policy, Poverty, Webguide
23 January 2008 • 18:21 0
Check out our daily Newsbox zine and RSS feed
It has been kept as a secret, but most of the input we compile for our newsletters is now open for our readers. Visit our Newsbox at http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/newsbox/ It has a fast search facility, that leads you to latest partner newsletters. With the full version with 10+ e-mails per day you’ll get an overwhelming wealth of information, but might feel flooded by mails. We recommend you to set YahooGroups to the Daily Digest option, which sorts all in one handy file. Or simply read the RSS feed at http://rss.groups.yahoo.com/group/newsbox/rss
Filed under: Uncategorized, Development, Newsletter, Publications, Webguide
21 January 2008 • 23:04 1
Northern Belize Economic Diversification Study
We are currently in Belize to identify priority sectors offering economic diversification opportunities in the Districts of Corozal and Orange Walk as their economies adapt to change. We will recommend areas for required social and economic services/infrastructure and capacity building, and develop proposals for investments in the recommended areas. The overall objective is to provide alternative livelihoods opportunities and social and economic services and infrastructure in the districts of Corozal and Orange Walk as the sugar industry adapts to changes in the world market for sugar. Please see our Terms of Reference at http://www.weitzenegger.de/en/sugarbel.html.
If you would like to have a consultation meeting with us while in Belize or if you would like to be invited to a workshop in Corozal or Orange Walk scheduled for mid-February, than please let us know. Ms. Maria Soraia Roches (tel. 8222527) at the Ministry of National Development kindly helps us coordinates our schedule.
Filed under: Uncategorized, Business Environment, Caribbean, Development, Development Policy, Poverty
25 November 2007 • 00:46 0
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
25 November 2007 • 00:45 0
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
25 November 2007 • 00:45 0
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
25 November 2007 • 00:45 0
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
25 November 2007 • 00:44 0
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
25 November 2007 • 00:44 0
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
25 November 2007 • 00:44 0
€ 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
25 November 2007 • 00:43 0
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
25 November 2007 • 00:39 0
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
25 November 2007 • 00:39 0
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
25 November 2007 • 00:39 0
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
25 November 2007 • 00:38 0
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
25 November 2007 • 00:38 0
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
25 November 2007 • 00:37 0
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
25 November 2007 • 00:36 0
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
Filed under: Uncategorized, Development
25 November 2007 • 00:35 0
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
25 November 2007 • 00:35 0
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
25 November 2007 • 00:34 0
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
Karsten Weitzenegger Consulting
