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Sat, 25 May 2013 06:07:16 -0500

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Sat, 25 May 2013 05:44:40 -0500

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Sat, 25 May 2013 00:52:44 -0500

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Different Ways To Cut Down Your Fat

Sat, 25 May 2013 00:30:57 -0500

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Fri, 24 May 2013 23:33:26 -0500

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Fits perfectly in your daily life

Fri, 24 May 2013 23:30:47 -0500

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ELLA BRIEF: Fighting Corruption by Improving Transparency and Access to Information

Fri, 24 May 2013 17:45:57 -0500

Using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), in the last decades countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama and Paraguay have designed and created electronic platforms that make information about procurement and government officials personal assets public. These electronic platforms have guaranteed an effective and transparent flow of public information, thereby empowering citizens to identify and demand action against corruption and allowing oversight agencies to detect and sanction public officials engaging in corruption.

Hooray for GDP! GDP as a measure of wellbeing

Fri, 24 May 2013 16:16:10 -0500

The idea of having GDP growth as the main target of economic policy has been under attack in recent years. This column addresses some of the criticisms and argues that continued GDP growth would be good for the UK and other European countries and not just in the short term to reduce high levels of unemployment.

Nicholas Oulton,Vox,22 December 2012

The Open Knowledge Index

Fri, 24 May 2013 16:10:18 -0500

The Open Knowledge Index has been designed to measure and track progress in opening up information, data and knowledge in a broader sense to the public. The Open Knowledge Index captures three dimensions of knowledge the ability to access knowledge (capability), the availability of knowledge and data provision (legislation) and the capacity to use the data and feed it back into the open data eco-system (open society).

Currently, the sample consists of a cross-section of 38 countries in 2009-2010, comprising OECD and the BRIC countries. We plan to gradually increase the sample in the future.

LAUNCH OF THE MONTPELLIER REPORT - Sustainable Intensification: A New Paradigm for African Agriculture

Fri, 24 May 2013 04:52:11 -0500

The European Commission and the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) will organize on 28th May 2013 an event for the launch of the report 'Sustainable Intensification: A New Paradigm for African Agriculture', which aims to provide a new framework for understanding sustainable intensification and offers practical approaches to achieving it.
The report was published in the framework of the Montpellier Panel a group of international experts from the fields of agriculture, sustainable development, trade, policy, and global development chaired by Sir Gordon Conway of Imperial College London. The Panel is working to make recommendations to enable better European government support of national and regional agricultural development and food security priorities in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Panel first met in Montpellier in March 2010.
The report provides innovative thinking and examples into the way in which the techniques of Sustainable Intensification are being used by smallholder farmers in Africa to address the continents food and nutrition crisis. It begins by examining the process and elements of Intensification itself, before considering how we then ensure that the Intensification is Sustainable, and concludes with practical solutions in action today across the African continent, that underline the positive impacts the framework can produce if scaled up more effectively.
The event will take place at the European Commission, Brussels, on 28th May 2013, between 14h30 and 16h30.
It will feature several prominent experts including Michael Hailu, Director of CTA; Jean-Pierre Halkin, Head of Unit, Rural Development, Food Security and Nutrition, Directorate General for Development and Cooperation - EuropeAid, European Commission and Yemi Akinbamijo, Executive Director of FARA; Dr Peter Hazell, Montpellier Panel member and Visiting Professor, Imperial College London; H.E. Ms Brave Ndisale, Ambassador of Malawi to the EU; David Radcliffe, Montpellier Panel member and Senior advisor: Agricultural Research for Development, EuropeAid, European Commission; and Tom Arnold, Montpellier Panel member, former CEO of Concern Worldwide and Chair of the Convention of the Irish Constitution.

Kindly register to: brusselsbriefing@gmail.com, or boto@cta.int

Literature Review: Evaluating the Costs and Benefits of Centralised PPP Units

Fri, 24 May 2013 04:30:16 -0500

This paper undertakes a literature review on the value of having a central unit to coordinate Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) and to assess whether there is any literature that is able to adequately provide such evidence. The papers aim is to identify whether there are any sources of information that can show the value of the PPP Units. The review specifically targets research based on the value of Centralised PPP Units, the review does not look at the value of PPPs in general or any other type of PPP arrangement as the review is aimed at providing evidence in terms of decision making to whether to set up, or not, a Centralised PPP Unit.

The review begins by defining PPP Units and describing the role of PPP Units and the varied functions that they carry out (Section 2). The paper then moves on to describe how PPPs and PPP Units manage risk allocation between the government and the private sector, how PPP Units can address failures in PPP programmes, the rationale (i.e. advantages) of setting up a centralised PPP Unit instead of government agencies individually procuring PPP projects and finally describes how the success of PPP Units is measured (Section 3). The review concludes with a short summary of the lessons learned (Section 4).

Economics Topic Guide: Taxation and Revenue

Fri, 24 May 2013 04:26:32 -0500

The purpose of this topic guide is to provide an overview of taxation and other revenue and their role in the economy. In particular, it summarises relevant economic concepts, analytical tools and other issues in the area of taxation in developing countries. This topic guide explores what we know about tax systems and revenue performance in developing countries and investigates the challenges for developing countries in reforming their tax systems.

Interest rate caps and their impact on financial inclusion

Fri, 24 May 2013 04:19:26 -0500

The recent introduction of a lending rate ceiling for banks and other financial institutions in Zambia reopened an old debate over the appropriateness of regulatory intervention to limit the charging of rates that are deemed, by policymakers, to be excessively high. This short paper studies the theory behind interest rate caps and aims to answer the following questions:

1. Where are interest rate caps currently used, and where have they been used historically?

2. What have been the impacts of interest rate caps, particularly on expanding access to financial services?

3. What are the alternatives to interest rate caps in reducing spreads in financial markets?

Corruption and the Private Sector: A review of issues

Fri, 24 May 2013 04:12:22 -0500

Corruption has been identified as one of the most important constraints to private sector development. This report explores the effects of public sector corruption on private firms and seeks to answer the following questions:

How does corruption impede the growth of the private sector?

What forms of corruption are most harmful to business and how are different types/sizes of businesses affected differently by these forms?

In what ways can the private sector facilitate or engender corrupt practices and how do they gain from this, especially at high political levels?

What evidence is there that the private sector can help to reduce the existence of corruption and under what conditions is this likely to happen?

DFID ECONOMICS CADRE: table of potential training providers and e-learning opportunities.

Fri, 24 May 2013 03:57:20 -0500

This learning resources directory provides details of online and personal attendance courses, seminars, forums and materials in the professional field of Economics. Here you will find information on the training course or topic, the provider, location, cost, and how to access the resource. These are organised under headings relevant to the professional development objectives of DFID Economics advisers, but some may not be directly relevant to DFID staff. The list is intended for the wider audience of development economists and practitioners.

Womens knowledge and perceptions of malaria and use of malaria vector control interventions in Kersa, eastern Ethiopia

Fri, 24 May 2013 03:08:36 -0500

By Tesfaye Gobena, Yemane Berhane, Alemayehu Worku

Background: Ethiopia has a long history of controlling malaria using vector control tools. Community knowledge and perceptions of malaria and use of malaria vector control interventions vary.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine malaria-related knowledge and perceptions among women and to determine the use of malaria vector control interventions, mainly indoor residual spraying (IRS) and insecticide-treated nets (ITNs), among households in Kersa, Eastern Ethiopia.

Design: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Kersa Demographic Surveillance and Health Research Center (KDS-HRC) site from October to November 2010. A total of 2,867 households were involved in the study. The data was collected via face-to-face interviews with the women of the household using a pre-tested questionnaire. The questionnaire contained closed, semiclosed, and open-ended questions to explore the reasons for non-use of the interventions. Each knowledge, perception, and practice question was analyzed separately.

Results: Of the total women, 2,463 (85.9%) had heard of malaria. Of them, 1,413 (57.4%) mentioned malaria as a communicable disease. But, only 793 (56.1%) of them associated mosquito bites with malaria transmission. Seven hundred and ninety-eight of the respondents (27.8%) had IRS coverage, and of these, 59 (7.4%) had re-plastered their interior walls following the application of insecticides. Of net-owning households, 33.5% had used at least one long-lasting insecticide-treated net (LLIN) the night before the survey. Societal reasons such as holy days and dislike of the insecticide mainly due to fear of its effects on their livestock, were the main reasons for re-spondents replastering their walls.

Conclusions: A substantial number of women had heard about malaria, but there was a knowledge gap regarding the route of malaria transmission. Less than one-third of the surveyed household houses were sprayed with insecticides, and a low proportion of net-owning households actually used their nets. Efforts must be made to ensure the correct channeling of information about malaria, particularly regarding the importance of using malaria vector control interventions. Furthermore, to maximize the benefit of the intervention in the district, IRC coverage and LLIN use need to be stronger.

Exclusive: Stunning pictures of rare Javan leopard caught on film

Thu, 23 May 2013 23:23:20 -0500

Beautiful, isnt he? beams Age Kridalaksana, a young Indonesian ecologist in a research station nestled in the thickly forested hills of Gunung Halimun-Salak National Park, an expanse of mountainous tropical rainforest on the countrys main island of Java.

He gestures excitedly at his computer.

The photos are crisp, the colors striking; the spotted coat and silver-grey eyes instantly recognizable as one of the parks most elusive mammals, the Javan Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), recently added to theInternational Union for the Conservation of Natures Red Listof worlds endangered species.

USAID Assessment of Market Information Systems in Africa

Thu, 23 May 2013 13:56:35 -0500

ThisAssessment of Market Information Systems in Africabriefing paper presents the results of an assessment carried out to explore the current use of sustainable (without on-going donor support) and scalable (potentially to millions of farmers) agricultural market price information systems (MIS) in Africa, with a particular focus on East Africa. Its goal is to add value to the discussion in the region regarding alternative approaches to improving affordable access to market prices to value chain actors, including poor smallholder farmers the target beneficiaries of USAID Feed the Future projects.

The research, which was conducted between May and October 2012, included interviews with managers from MIS providers in Africa, along with practitioners and academics. The full list of MIS covered by this assessment is as follows:

Agricultural Marketing Information Services(Cameroon)
Agricultural Input Market Information and Transparency System AMITSA (East Africa)
Esoko(many countries in Africa)
Infotrade Market Information Services(Uganda)
Lima Links(Zambia)
Livestock Market Information System LMIS (Ethiopia)
MFarm(Kenya)
Nokia Life Tools(Nigeria)
Regional Agriculture Trade Intelligence Network RA TIN (East Africa)
Zambia National Farmers Union ZNFU (Zambia) [partial information collected]

Financing Moroccan SMEs - Problematique du financement des PMEs: L'offshoring au Maroc

Thu, 23 May 2013 12:17:57 -0500

Existe-t-il vraiment une problmatique du financement de la PME au Maroc ? En tenant compte de lavis des chefs dentreprise, la rponse cette question est positive.
Sur un chantillon de 850 entreprises, 80% de leurs dirigeants estiment que le secteur bancaire ne participe que trs faiblement aufinancement de la PME. Ce rsultat place le Maroc en tte dun groupe de 30 pays concurrents.

Unlocking SME Lending with e-Invoicing

Thu, 23 May 2013 09:13:38 -0500

There is an increasing opportunity for banks and other lenders to effectively utilize the data and capital available within e-invoicing B2B networks. Emerging services focused on credit information derived from B2B network transactions are exploiting this data flow with the main purpose to increase lending by lowering risk and increasing cash flow visibility.

Bilbus

Thu, 23 May 2013 08:59:49 -0500

Bilbus uses e-invoicing and e-financing to remove the distance between a business and its cash. Cash flow visibility, predictability and wider access to financing. We connect businesses to lenders, customers, invoice partners, and even their accountants.
We use electronic invoice information to make it easier for businesses to borrow from matched commercial lenders. We help businesses predict when cash will be needed and if they need to borrow, find commercial lenders quickly online.
We believe that e-invoicing and e-financing are the future and combine both in a single cash hub to create a 21st century approach to cash. We know business is based on relationships. Bilbus strengthens relationships, making the funding experience simpler and saving time on all sides.

Good Data: The Foundation of Open Government

Thu, 23 May 2013 08:50:20 -0500

It is not often one gets excited over a dry, hard-to-understand government memorandum, but the newly released executive order, Making Open and Machine Readable the New Default for Government Information, and its accompanying memorandum are grounds for applause. The open data and transparency community, both in Washington and internationally, have been quick to give much deserved praise for this effort to make U.S. government data truly open and accessible.

This new policy applies to all executive agencies, with some exceptions for national security systems. For those of us focused on foreign assistance, however, the question is what it will mean for aid information and more importantly for improving our aid effectiveness?

The quick answer is quite a bit. If these approaches are adopted and implemented rigorously by U.S. agencies administering foreign assistance, it could pave the way for a revolution in the way aid information is shared and used throughout the delivery chain. Overall, this new policy strengthens the chances of the U.S. government delivering on its commitment to the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI), which U.S. agencies are beginning to implement, but whose progress has been very slow. The Office of Management and Budget Bulletin, published in October 2012, made some important steps forward for U.S. reporting on foreign assistance. By comparison, the executive order is a leap forward.

What Factors Influence the Success and Failure of World Bank Environmental Projects?

Thu, 23 May 2013 08:43:13 -0500

A very simple bargain has characterized the last twenty years of international environmental politics: industrialized countries have agreed to provide significant environmental assistance in exchange for developing country participation in global environmental agreements that address ozone depletion, biodiversity conservation, and climate change. However, while environmental assistance projects have grown in number, type, and financial size, there is little systematic evidence that these projects have substantially improved environmental outcomes in the developing world.

When do environmentally focused assistance projects achieve their objectives? In an article recently published in Global Environmental Politics, we used outcome ratings from 157 independent evaluations of environmentally focused World Bank projects implemented since 1994. We found that recipient countries with strong public sector institutions receive higher project evaluation ratings. Projects with global environmental objectives receive lower ratings. Proactive supervision by World Bank staff during project implementation also results in higher ratings.

To show the substantive impact of government effectiveness, a focus on global outcomes (preventing climate change or protecting biodiversity), and the quality of project supervision on the probability of a project achieving different outcome ratings, we plotted our models predicted probabilities over the range of data for each variable. Government effectiveness and global outcomes approximately double or halve the probability of achieving a successful outcome rating. Good supervision makes successful project outcomes 30 times more likely than poor supervision.

Although our study does not offer the final word on the predictors of success in environmental assistance projects, it does underline the need for the researchers and policymakers to better understand the last two decades of experience with environmental projects, particularly as calls for expanded environmental assistance intensify with the creation of the Green Climate Fund.

International financing for disaster risk management the 20-year story

Thu, 23 May 2013 08:30:12 -0500

This infographic presents the very latest figures on finance for disaster risk reduction. It provides a preview of a report, due to be released in the summer of 2013, which will present a thorough review of natural disaster related financing using the Disaster Aid Tracking (DAT) database.

It is eight years into the implementation of the Hyogo Framework for Action for disaster risk reduction and two years to its likely renewal. At this crucial juncture, with all these decisions likely to shape how disaster risk is managed well into the future, now is the time to ask the question: how much has the international community contributed? Has it matched rhetoric with action?

With growing consensus among the international community on investing more and better in disaster risk reduction, this is an opportune time to take an in-depth look into past and current commitments.

The Impact of IMF Loan to Kenya

Thu, 23 May 2013 08:12:52 -0500

The Government of Kenya and the international Monetary Fund (IMF) signed a loan of $$508.7 million in January 2011. The funds are expected to be released in three different tranches spread out till 2013. ActionAid International (AAI) has consistently challenged the policy conditionalities propagated by the International Financial Institutions (IFIs), particularly the IMF, to the recipient countries of their loan programmes. Following the signing of the above mentioned loan programme, AAIK sought to analyze the level of Kenyas foreign exchange reserves, against the background of the loan agreement, while at the same time, establishing the policy conditionalities surrounding the new loan agreement, and the resultant impact of the same to Kenyas development agenda. Here it presents the summary of the research findings.

While both government and the IMF officials cited investment in infrastructure, especially for energy generation, as one of the key sectors that would be supported by the IMF program , the study observes that the ECF program has not set any targets for its realisation both as a structural benchmark thus making us conclude that the funding is not connected to infrastructure financing but is rather a buffer for fiscal adjustment to meet the cost for investment in the infrastructure.

The loan has the potential of becoming an odious debt, adding additional debt burden to the country without commensurate benefits even as Kenya has already passed the debt threshold of 45% as set in the medium term debt sustainability management. The loan has the potential of becoming an odious debt, adding additional debt burden to the country without commensurate benefits even as Kenya has already passed the debt threshold of 45% as set in the medium term debt sustainability management.

Opportunit d'apprentissage du web2.0, Madagascar Centre de Formation pour le Dveloppement (MCFD), Antananarivo, Madagascar, 08-12 juillet 2013

Thu, 23 May 2013 06:57:24 -0500

Le CTA, en collaboration avec leMadagascar Centre de Formation pour le Dveloppement(MCFD) et l' organisationFormation aux Technologies et l'Agriculture(FTA), organise du 08 au 12 juillet 2013, une formation baptise Opportunit dapprentissage du Web 2.0 et aux Mdias Sociaux. Les participants seront initis une slection dapplications du Web 2.0 et apprendront les utiliser de manire pratique. Ils auront lopportunit de suivre et de prendre part la pratique de ces applications innovantes et pourront exprimenter les possibilits de leur utilisation dans un cadre professionnel.

Digital Cash and the Journey to Financial Inclusion

Thu, 23 May 2013 06:18:33 -0500

In recent years there is broad agreement across government and industry actors on the need for global Financial Inclusion the provision of financial services to the 2.5 billion persons worldwide regarded as unbanked. The reasons are clear and compelling. From a public policy perspective, it would lead to higher living standards and greater social equity. For the unbanked, it is an opportunity to for the first time safely store savings, pool risk via insurance, borrow money to pursue business opportunities and efficiently transfer funds. From a business perspective, financial inclusion is an opportunity to expand the financial services market and tap into opportunities for long term growth.

However, as much as there is alignment on the need and priority for financial inclusion, stakeholders hold multiple often conflicting views about what the opportunities are, which are the winning approaches, and the role different actors play in realizing such opportunities. Digital cash (often associated to branchless banking, mobile money) brings promising opportunities for financial inclusion, but successes have been difficult to extrapolate and sharing lessons across markets remains a challenge.

This Focus Note provides a framework that regulators, policy makers, financial service providers, donors, and investors can use to identify the most productive next steps in the markets they focus on. It suggests that countries can be broadly grouped into three market archetypes - distinguished by broad economic, demographic, and policy environment characteristics - that represent three different starting points in the journey to financially inclusive ecosystems. Branchless financial ecosystems, therefore, develop differently in these markets.

GPE launches open data project to better measure education progress and make it transparent

Thu, 23 May 2013 05:58:46 -0500

Only few insiders know that the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) is gathering vast amounts of data and education indicators from dozens of GPE developing-country partners. There are thousands of precious data points representing all aspects of a countrys education sector unfortunately often buried in lengthy documents.

GPE is a unique partnership dedicated to getting all children into school for a quality education. To achieve education results, we rely on the expertise and support of a vast network of partners comprising developing countries and all development actors.

All these partners produce large amounts of all kinds of data traditionally presented in the usual panoply of education sector plans, joint sector reviews, aide memoires and financial reports. All too often, the data is stacked away in these reports and not easily accessible.

By putting data out in the open, GPE partners signal how serious they are about meeting their commitments to ensure that education aid brings measurable results. Free use and distribution of data brings change and helps improve performance and inform decision-making. It is also a powerful incentive to strengthen national statistical systems as inconsistencies and data-deprived charts indicate information gaps and the need for country governments and their development partners to redouble their efforts to provide accurate data.

The GPE Open Data project is about encouraging and facilitating this ongoing dialogue among all education partners. Developing-country governments have played a central role in collecting and validating data with support from donor and CSO partners based in the country. This process ensures these countries use their national statistical capacity and provide data in line with their own education strategies.

There is no going back to old rules once the lid of the data box is cracked open. In the next year, GPE will continue to innovate and use open data to promote knowledge exchange among our partners. In the meantime, we invite you to visit our data goldmine and send us your feedback and suggestions.

SEA Change weekly newsletter 2013 05 23

Thu, 23 May 2013 04:49:35 -0500

Last week we had a new record in the number of webinars taking place; three webinars in two days! The first two webinars being showcased in Topic 1 took place on Friday and focused on the monitoring and evaluation for Community-Based Adaptation (CBA), one webinar focusing on the CARE PMERL approach and the second one focusing on the ARCAB approach. The webinar recording of a special Q&A session on M&E with the Sustainable Development Policy Institute can be found in Topic 2. The third topic showcases the upcoming AdaptationCommunity.net webinar climate change adaptation at the national level.

Topic 4 presents to you this years Pan Asia-Africa Results-Based Monitoring and Evaluation Forum: Measuring effectiveness and value for money. And we end this newsletter with two Pact M&E related vacancies in Topic 5.

Enjoy the read!

To recap, the topics of this weeks newsletter are as follows:

Topic 1: [Webinar] SEA Change webinar recordings online Monitoring and Evaluation for Community-Based Adaptation (CBA): Unpacking the CARE PMERL and ARCAB approaches and their inter-connection

Topic 2: [Webinar] SEA Change webinar recording online Monitoring and evaluation Q&A session with the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI)

Topic 3: [Webinar] Upcoming AdaptationCommunity.net webinar on mainstreaming climate change adaptation at the national level

Topic 4: [Event] 2nd Pan Asia-Africa Results-Based Monitoring and Evaluation Forum: Measuring effectiveness and value for money, 16-18 September 2013, Bangkok Thailand

Topic 5: [Vacancies] Pact M&E related job opportunities

A pdf version of each week's newsletter can be downloaded or read online: http://www.seachangecop.org/newsletters/

At the bottom left of the newsletter page you will find the RSS-button to subscribe to our weekly newsletters through RSS-feed (http://www.seachangecop.org/feeds).

Best wishes, Dennis Bours

Team leader SEA Change CoP

Toxic Threads: Polluting Paradise

Thu, 23 May 2013 02:14:45 -0500

Greenpeace International has commissioned a new investigation that delves even further into the hazardous chemicals used in the production of high street fashion, going beyond previous investigations in China and Mexico. This latest report builds on the Detox campaigns work, which reveals how textile manufacturing is a major contributor to water pollution in the Global South.

The research focuses on a large textiles facility in Indonesia, where it found that a wide range of hazardous substances is being discharged directly into the Citarum River. The responsible facility is PT Gistex, located near Bandung in West Java where the modern textile industry is concentrated with 60% of production located in the Citarum River watershed. This factory undertakes polyester weaving and wet processing such as dyeing, printing, and finishing of polyester.

Greenpeace collected samples of wastewater discharged from the PT Gistex facility via three outfalls in May 2012. A diverse range of chemicals was identified in the samples, many with known hazardous properties. Some examples are toxic to aquatic life, while others are persistent pollutants, which means they will remain in the environment long after their release.

Greenpeace International investigations uncovered that several global fashion brands have had a business relationship with at least one part of PT Gistex Group, the company associated with the polluting facility (PT Gistex Textile Division) in Indonesia. To help solve the problem of hazardous chemicals contamination, transparency of information between suppliers and brands as well as full supplier engagement through hazardous substance use inventories is essential. Corporate and governmental policies to eliminate the releases of hazardous substances, and their substitution with safer alternatives, need to be enforced.

An assessment of the EU-US travel surveillance agreement

Thu, 23 May 2013 01:09:25 -0500

This is a memo prepared by Barry Steinhardt of Friends of Privacy USA for Members of the European Parliament regarding the proposed EU-US Agreement PNR.

The proposed agreement regarding Passenger Name Records (PNR) between the United States and the European Union is riddled with faulty assertions and assumptions about US law and the actual operations of the US government.

These faulty assertions and assumptions go to the heart of the agreement and undercut the claims of protections for European travelers.

As an American lawyer with substantial experience on the PNR and related issues, I want to set the record straight for the European officials who must act on the proposed agreement.

This memo highlights the most serious of those faulty claims and assumptions.

Unlocking the chains of debt A call for debt relief for Pakistan

Thu, 23 May 2013 01:02:23 -0500

In a hard-hitting new report from Eurodad member Jubilee Debt Campaign and Islamic Relief, the IMF is criticised over crippling conditions attached to $58 billion of debt.

Acoording to the report, Pakistans economy has been paralysed by an unpayable and largely unjust debt burden that is preventing the country reaching its poverty goals and hindering the development of democracy. Unlocking the Chains of Debt criticises the IMF for the crippling conditions attached to its loans, and calls for repayments to be frozen while the legitimacy of all debts is investigated.

Unlocking the Chains of Debt shows that Pakistans government foreign debt burden has doubled since 2006 to $58 billion. It warns that annual repayments are set to increase dramatically to $6 billion a year over 20% of export revenues, and more than half what Pakistan currently spends on health and education combined.

The legitimacy of these debts is highly questionable, say Jubilee Debt Campaign and Islamic Relief, who are calling for an immediate freeze on repayments and an audit of all debts to establish which should be paid and which should be cancelled. The repayment burden is undermining the fight against poverty and is also a serious threat to the countrys stability.

The UNCTAD principles on promoting responsible sovereign lending and borrowing

Thu, 23 May 2013 00:56:23 -0500

This briefing paper analyses the UNCTAD Principles and compares them with the Eurodad Responsible Finance Charter. It finds that the UNCTAD Principles have started to fill the gaping hole in the international financial architecture caused by the lack of institutions to promote responsible financing. Among their many benefits is that the UNCTAD Principles make clear that state officers dealing with debt borrowing or lending are agents of citizens and obliged to act as such, in an accountable and transparent manner. They also promote the principle of co-responsibility of both parties borrowers and lenders for prevention and solution of debt crises that can result from irresponsible lending. As such, the UNCTAD principles stand out positively when compared to the debt management work done by creditor institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF, who tend to put the blame for wrongdoings on the borrower side, and make their populations pay the price for adjustments.

We also find, however, that limited political risk appetite has constrained the Principles and reduced their value. Compared to Eurodads Charter, the scope of the UNCTAD Principles is narrow as they cover just sovereign loans, neglecting private finance. Significant gaps remain, for instance in the area of effective debt work-out mechanisms. Implementation will be a challenge as so far neither hard nor soft accountability mechanism exist that would drive their implementation. Just 13 of the 193 UN Member States have so far formally endorsed the Principles, and even their actual compliance reamins unclear because it is not yet monitored. While the UNCTAD Principles signify an important step forward on the path to responsible financing, much work remains to be done to reach the goal.

The 2013 Resource Governance Index

Thu, 23 May 2013 00:00:37 -0500

The Resource Governance Index (RGI) measures the quality of governance in the oil, gas and mining sectors of 58 countries. These nations produce 85 percent of the world's petroleum, 90 percent of diamonds and 80 percent of copper, generating trillions of dollars in annual profits. The future of these countries depends on how well they manage their oil, gas and minerals.

The RGI scores and ranks the countries, relying on a detailed questionnaire completed by researchers with expertise in the extractive industries. The Index assesses the quality of four key governance components: Institutional and Legal Setting; Reporting Practices; Safeguards and Quality Controls; and Enabling Environment. It also includes information on three special mechanisms used commonly to govern oil, gas and minerals - state-owned companies, natural resource funds and subnational revenue transfers.

The Index finds that only 11 of the countries - less than 20 percent - have satisfactory standards of transparency and accountability. In the rest, the public lacks fundamental information about the oil, gas and mining sector. Even countries with generally satisfactory standards exhibit weaknesses in some dimensions. There is a major governance deficit in natural resources around the world, and the deficit is largest in the most resource-dependent countries, where nearly half a billion people live in poverty despite that resource wealth. Fortunately, some countries, including several emerging economies, show that satisfactory performance in resource governance is possible.

ELLA SPOTLIGHT ON ORGANISATIONS: Extractive Industries and Land Use

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:00:22 -0500

This selection highlights some of the key organisations who are doing work around extractive industries and land issues, covering a variety of themes ranging from land use planning and environmental impacts, to community and indigenous peoples participation in decision making and promotion of land rights.

How Effective Is the World Bank at Targeting Sub-National Poverty in Africa? A Foray into the Murky World of Geo-Coded Data

Wed, 22 May 2013 10:30:37 -0500

How efficiently is aid allocated to reduce poverty? This question was explored over a decade ago in a paper by the economists Paul Collier and David Dollar. Their definition of a poverty-efficient allocation included, among other elements, the simple maxim that to maximize poverty reduction, aid should be given to countries with large amounts of poverty. When actual allocations were analyzed, it was shown that donor agencies paid heed to this rule. (Donors did less well at giving aid to countries with good policies, which, the authors argued, resulted in poverty-inefficient allocations overall.)

As part of its Mapping for Results initiative, the World Bank has geo-coded its entire project portfolio of 2,900 active projects across 30,400 sub-national locations in 144 countries. Meanwhile, IFPRIs Harvest Choice initiative has gathered together sub-national poverty data (using the international poverty line of $1.25 a day) from recent household surveys in 24 sub-Saharan African countries to draw detailed poverty maps covering half the continent. Both datasets contain, at a minimum, information at the first-order administrative level, meaning the province, state and governorate.

Right to Internet: Bringing Information to the Citizens

Wed, 22 May 2013 09:58:16 -0500

The best way to characterise human rights is to identify the outcomes that we are trying to ensure. These include critical freedoms like freedom of speech and freedom of access to information - and those are not necessarily bound to any particular technology at any particular time. Citizens must always check that they arent getting incomplete or biased data. Open Data are almost always data that should surely be open, and that almost never contain any personal information.

Right now, India is considered one of the most active Asian countries in the Open Data arena, which also signed an Open Government partnership with the USA in November 2010. In 2011 the Indian Government announced plans for a new law to fight corruption among public servants and politicians. Anti-corruption websites (including ones in local dialects) like Indiaagainstcorruption.org, already existed, including one, Ipaidabribe.com.

Following the same pattern of openness, the Mumbai civic body plans to upload most of its 80 million documents on its website to counter charges of lack of transparency leveled against it by campaigners that citizens and civic activists complain about. Soon, Mumbai citizens and activists wont need to file a right to information (RTI) request to access civic data.

Ghana receives $13.9b Chinese aid in 10 years

Wed, 22 May 2013 09:54:07 -0500

Chinese investment and development aid to Ghana totaled $13.96 billion between 2000 and 2011, a new compilation of data has shown.

According to global research firm Open Data for International Development (AidData), Ghana received the money between 2001 and 2011 and these were official aid.

Ghana, therefore, becomes the second biggest receiver of Chinese aid in West Africa after Nigeria which had $16.43 billion, according to the data released in April 2013.

Chinese aid to Ghana was also over $3 billion more than the whole of East Africa which had about $11 billion. The countrys aid from the Asian country was also bigger than what South Africa received from China which was $3.03 billion during the ten-year period.

A digital route to revive our neglected libraries

Wed, 22 May 2013 09:48:16 -0500

There are 28 state-level libraries in India with 80% coverage. In the districts, the coverage is 76% with 461 libraries. But in the talukas and villages, the coverage drops drastically to 12.5% (501 libraries) and 4.9% (28,820 libraries), respectively. Most of these government libraries are ailing and are either dysfunctional or on the verge of closure. To top it all, most librarians are meagrely paid, if they get their salaries at all.

Chaturbhuj Mishra, the 60-year-old librarian, has not been paid his shamefully meagre salary of Rs.700 a month for the past seven years. But, even such a state of affairs has not prevented the Bettiah library to become a hub of activity. More than 1,500 youngsters visit the library everyday, inspired by their librarian Guruji.

There is a unique trend in this library campus, which was started in 1984 by Mishra. In response to some college students seeking guidance, he formed a small group comprising 30-40 students and guided them in their studies, resulting in great success. It became such a trend that without even involving him, graduates started making groups of 25-40 students. Each group has a name, a group leader, attendance sheet, monitoring system, performance test mechanism and, most importantly, a democratic value system. The monthly membership fee for each group is Rs.50. There are 50 such groups totalling 1,500 members preparing for various job-oriented competitive exams.

Needs-based targeting or favoritism? The regional allocation of multilateral aid within recipient countries

Wed, 22 May 2013 09:38:29 -0500

The regional allocation of aid within recipient countries has been largely ignored in the aid allocation literature. We use geocoded data on the location of aid projects financed by the World Bank and the African Development Bank within a sample of 27 recipient countries to assess the claim of donors that their aid targets needy population segments. We also assess whether political leaders in these countries direct aid funds to their home region, irrespective of regional needs. We do not find that the multilateral aid institutions take regional needs into account. Instead, favoritism appears to play an important role for location choices, in particular for physical infrastructure projects.

The "Fix-Rate" Citizens Can Make a Difference

Wed, 22 May 2013 09:32:57 -0500

Over the past decade there has been great interest in the power of citizens to transform society. Engaged citizens are seen as essential in fighting corruption, promoting transparency and accountability, strengthening governance and improving development outcomes. Yet, the evidence base linking citizen action to improved results is often questioned. Yesterday saw an interesting panel discussion on citizens role in tackling corruption held at the ODI, London.

Integrity Actions Fredrik Galtung launched his working paper on the Fix-Rate a key metric for measuring the impact of our Community Integrity Building approach (CIB). Our work involves supporting citizens and local government to work together to build their skills, monitor, formulate and implement practical solutions to improve development projects so that citizens in developing countries get better public services and infrastructure.

Ultimately, in order to understand how and why citizens make a difference, we need to understand progress factors and how to resolve collective action problems. We can do that through granular analysis, locally-driven solutions, and investment in tools such as DevelopmentCheck that capture the problem, 'fix' and process of change.

This week in Open Data and Citizen Engagement: The LBD of Open Data

Wed, 22 May 2013 09:21:21 -0500

As the ability to collect big data gets easier and easier, Marc Bellemares point that big data is good for forecasting, but not good for finding causal relationship, is an important one to keep in mind. What you want to be able to do with the data should define how it is collected.

A recent interview with the Jedi master of data visualization Hans Rosling highlighted how much attention data can get once someone dresses it up and gives it some oomph; which actually merges nicely into an idea brought up on the eGov AU blog. The thought was that a poorly designed open government website is not as open as a well-designed one.

You could say a well-designed opengov website is the little black dress that flatters, bringing attention and curiosity, while the poorly designed one is the frumpy sweater that allows the wearer to hide what they dont want noticed in the heavy folds. If the data is hard to look at and therefore hard to find, its not really as open is it?

Reviewing the evidence: How well does the European Development Fund perform?

Wed, 22 May 2013 09:10:44 -0500

This paper reviews the European Development Fund's (EDF) performance in recent evaluations and assessments. It considers the main criteria typically used to assess the performance of the EDF and reviews the existing evidence against three critiques.

The European Union (EU) is in the process of concluding a complex and contentious negotiation about its future seven-year budget, the Multi-Annual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2014-2020. In parallel, the EU is negotiating the budget for the European Development Fund (EDF), which covers the same period. The EDF is the EUs main instrument for delivering development aid to the 78 African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries under the ACPEU Cotonou Partnership Agreement.

The Agreement is the worlds largest and most advanced financial and political contractual framework for NorthSouth cooperation. Although the EDF is not part of the EU budget itself, the negotiations around the level of funding it receives are an important part of the broader debate and the outcome will be decided in conjunction with the MFF.

However, development aid has historically been considered a low political priority in the negotiations. And the development budget has suffered disproportionately from lower EU resource ceilings. Competing agendas include the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and structural funds. The EDF, in particular, with the main focus of its spending in sub-Saharan Africa, is at risk, with a proposed cut of around 11%.

Reviewing the evidence: How well does the European Development Fund perform?

Wed, 22 May 2013 08:54:42 -0500

MY World Survey first results half a million citizens tell the United Nations their priorities

Wed, 22 May 2013 08:47:01 -0500

Over 560,000 citizens from 194 countries have already voted for the issues that would make the most difference to their lives, providing, for the first time ever, real-time and real-world intelligence on what people think about the biggest challenges facing them and their families.

MY World, the United Nations global survey for a better world (www.myworld2015.org) is a groundbreaking initiative inviting citizens to virtually take their seat at the UN and participate in the global conversation on the next development agenda by voting in an option-based survey.

From Rwanda to Philippines and Mexico City to Amman and Madrid; across schools, mosques, offices and refugee camps, citizens have been turning out in their hundreds of thousands to vote and help define a better world for all.