Viewing blog posts on: Aid
Anything to do with aid and debt
ODI Director Alison Evans reflects on negotiations at the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF4) and says: 'Not so long ago many of us were fearing a damp squib in Busan, but the indications now are that it will be far from that: with big ticket political representation; a clear focus on country-led results frameworks; and the basics of a new global partnership'... (more)
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Alison Evans on
Monday, November 28, 2011 10:37 AM
The Independent Commission on Aid Impact (ICAI) yesterday published its first set of reports on UK aid. In this blog, Ed Hedger asks what should we make of the detailed findings and recommendations, and how much longer can we avoid difficult questions around risk?.. (more)
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Edward Hedger on
Wednesday, November 23, 2011 3:08 PM
Alison Evans reflects on what was missing from Andrew Mitchell's 'Beyond Aid' speech at the Wellcome Trust in this ODI Blog... "There was no mention of the eurozone crisis or the recent G20 summit, but the most glaring omission was acknowledgement that the UK has a lot more to do on it's beyond-aid agenda to make UK policy as a whole development-friendly.".. (more)
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Alison Evans on
Thursday, November 10, 2011 3:16 PM
Liesbet Steer -Senior Research Associate at ODI and project leader for the Development Progress Studies - reflects on Bill Gates presentation on development finance at the G20 summit in Cannes and asks: what’s getting the biggest buzz around the G20 leaders’ summit this week?; what’s the single word that best captures Gates’ thinking on development?; and What sort of delivery mechanism is most likely to succeed? .. (more)
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Liesbet Steer on
Thursday, November 03, 2011 3:53 PM
Claire Melamed reflects on the key messages she took away from Tony Blair's speech on leadership for development, a speech delivered at an event jointly hosted by the Overseas Development Institute and Africa Governance Initiative. This blog discusses what changes can be made to the development agenda to enhance and support strong developing country leadership... (more)
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Claire Melamed on
Friday, October 21, 2011 9:25 AM
Marta Foresti reflects on key messages of an event jointly hosted by the Overseas Development Institute and the Africa Governance Intitative where former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair delivered a speech on the role of supporting African leadership to transform government and achieve development... (more)
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Marta Foresti on
Thursday, October 20, 2011 2:55 PM
With the publication of 'An Agenda for Change', the new EU development policy launched by EU Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, this ODI Blog explores important shifts in EU policy and what it means for the development agenda... (more)
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Mikaela Gavas on
Monday, October 17, 2011 5:20 PM
Whilst the tenth anniversary of the ‘war on terror’ has given rise to myriad reflections on the past decade of conflict, little attention has been paid to the impact that legislation to combat terrorism has had on humanitarian action across the globe. This blog explores how counter-terrorism laws have profound effects on the work of humanitarian organisations. .. (more)
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Sara Pantuliano on
Monday, October 17, 2011 9:14 AM
As the g7+ – a grouping formed in 2010 of 17 of the world’s most fragile and conflict-affected countries – has pointed out, the MDGs do not adequately take account of their very particular development needs. In response, the g7+ is calling for a ‘New Aid Deal’ based on a set of more realistic interim goals needed in fragile states. Lisa Denney explores what this means for the aid effectiveness agenda... (more)
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Lisa Denney on
Friday, October 14, 2011 3:33 PM
Following Denmark’s General Election on 15 September 2011 which led to a centre-left minority coalition and brought 10 years of right-wing coalition government to an end, this blog reviews Denmark’s foreign policy. .. (more)
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Christian Kingombe on
Thursday, October 13, 2011 5:49 PM
To mark the 2011 international day for disaster reduction, Tom Mitchell discusses the role of children and young people (CYP) in humanitarian policy. Borrowing from the disaster risk management continuum, this blog maps strategies for strengthening the resilience of CYP and argues that strengthening the resilience of development pathways involves making investments that deliver action across multiple scales... (more)
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Tom Mitchell on
Thursday, October 13, 2011 8:43 AM
At the European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI) and the Development Studies Association (DSA) conference in York, the voices of the world’s emerging economies were in the spotlight. Focusing on so-called ‘non-DAC donors’ as an emerging research topic and public affairs agenda, Lidia Cabral shares three observations. .. (more)
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Lidia Cabral on
Friday, September 30, 2011 3:07 PM
in the midst of a debt, equity and policy crisis, confidence is sliding amidst lags in global policy responses. A path out of the crisis is still possible – including through a G20-led rebalancing from the public to the private sector and from current account surplus to deficit countries. So far the markets have reacted favourably to yesterday’s G20 commitment, but it still needs to be followed by action... (more)
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Dirk Willem te Velde on
Friday, September 23, 2011 3:34 PM
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has set in train a number of corporate governance reforms. These endeavours have the potential to have a highly beneficial impact on the behaviour of British companies to issues of international development... (more)
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Peter Davis on
Wednesday, September 21, 2011 3:45 PM
Recent reforms at DFID, USAID and elsewhere attempt to improve the quality of aid by stressing a more robust focus on results. So far, this has largely translated into a more rigorous measurement of impact. This ODI blog argues agencies need to recognise the complexity of the many problems they face, and adjust implementation structures accordingly... (more)
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Harry Jones on
Friday, September 09, 2011 11:23 AM
The outcome document that will frame discussions at the fourth High Level Forum (HLF) on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, South Korea later this year is already drafted. Over the coming weeks researchers at ODI will be writing about the ‘road to Busan and beyond’, reflecting, amongst other things, on: some of the known knowns; some of the new dimensions to the effectiveness debate; and, finally, what next for the effectiveness agenda once the jamboree in Busan is over. .. (more)
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Alison Evans on
Wednesday, August 24, 2011 1:23 PM
We recently finished a series of ODI events considering what may happen once the Millennium Development Goals expire in 2015. In planning the series, we tried to cover a range of issues that aren’t included in the MDGs, but which have become increasingly important since the year 2000. This blog investigates what we have learned... (more)
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Claire Melamed on
Thursday, August 11, 2011 4:42 PM
The lesson that climate finance may need to learn from the long, troubled implementation of aid is that rather than being an indefinite, open-ended transfer of public resources, it should be time-bound... (more)
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Neil Bird on
Monday, June 20, 2011 12:34 PM
Secretary of State Andrew Mitchell’s impassioned ‘one year on’ speech yesterday was clear about the importance of a robust narrative on results. ODI Director, Alison Evans, listened to the speech with a mental checklist of what she wanted to hear. .. (more)
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Alison Evans on
Friday, June 10, 2011 9:00 AM
Following a recent EDC 2020 workshop in Brussels, Lidia Cabral considers the opportunities and challenges of a Brazil-EU partnership for development cooperation in this ODI blog. .. (more)
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Lidia Cabral on
Monday, March 28, 2011 2:02 PM
It can’t be denied that progress in development needs to be accompanied by greater spending on sectors that contribute to development, such as education, health, social protection, etc. But exactly how much needs to be spent, on which sectors, and what.. (more)
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Jessica Hagen-Zanker on
Thursday, March 24, 2011 6:27 PM
There has not been an effective and independent collaborative voice on what ‘aid transparency’ should mean from any recipient country or group of countries – until now.
Representatives from ODI’s Centre for Aid and Public Expenditure (CAPE) were.. (more)
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Samuel Moon on
Friday, March 04, 2011 11:01 AM
Much of the reaction to the reviews published yesterday is likely to focus on the results of the Bilateral Aid Review (BAR), and the decision to cut direct aid from the Department for International Development (DFID) to countries such as Burundi and Niger, while continuing with programmes in India and South Africa. Away from that debate, the findings of the Multilateral Aid Review (MAR) will have equally significant implications for how the UK aid budget is spent. .. (more)
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Edward Hedger on
Wednesday, March 02, 2011 5:20 PM
Given the pressing political need to mollify critics of aid, it is little wonder that this review is based on a now-familiar emphasis on results and value for money, but lacks reference to the kind of issues that more seasoned observers of aid will be looking out for. Having said that, the two fundamental pillars of this review are sound: a reduction in the geographical scope of DFID’s ambition, and a new way of allocating aid according to a projection of concrete and costed results... (more)
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Jonathan Glennie on
Tuesday, March 01, 2011 3:50 PM
The UK Department for International Development (DFID) will this week publish its Multilateral and Bilateral Aid Reviews, looking at how the aid budget is being spent. Claire Melamed guides us through some of the likely stories in this ODI blog post. .. (more)
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Claire Melamed on
Monday, February 28, 2011 10:36 AM
Breathe the atmosphere here at the UN Summit on the Millennium Development Goals this week and, for the first time in several years, there's a whiff of hope. Less of the language of ‘Development Emergency', and more encouraging numbers – on just how many.. (more)
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Liesbet Steer on
Thursday, September 23, 2010 10:29 AM
The Report of the Commission for Africa five years on: ‘Still Our Common Interest’ headlines with a strong message about Africa’s progress. The Commissioners note that 'There is much to celebrate. African governments have done more than ever before.. (more)
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Alison Evans on
Wednesday, September 15, 2010 9:08 AM
The economy in sub-Saharan Africa is scheduled to grow by 5 per cent this year, and 6 per cent next, after a meagre 2 per cent in 2009. Some argue that current growth prospects have been inflated by rising commodity prices and the growing trade and investment links between Africa and emerging markets, notably China.
However, African growth prospects had already turned around in the mid 1990s, long before the more recent upturn in commodity prices and growth spurt in emerging markets. This blog argues that we need to look again at what Africa has been doing right all along. Joint research by ODI and IPPG, published in a new set of essays, Effective state-business relations [SBRs], industrial policy and economic growth, shows that structural factors have also contributed to African growth, highlighting in particular the nature and scope of state-business relations as a key institutional feature behind the growth process... (more)
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Dirk Willem te Velde on
Friday, September 10, 2010 6:38 AM
Current debates on South-South cooperation (SSC) and its effectiveness are marked by the absence of some of the most prominent providers of financial and technical assistance to the South. Brazil is a case in point. But is the country ready to engage.. (more)
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Lidia Cabral on
Thursday, July 22, 2010 3:13 PM
The debate over whether the UK should continue providing development assistance to India is not new, but it has become a lightning rod for those who argue that the UK aid programme has lost its way. In reflecting on the specifics of the case it is worth.. (more)
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Alison Evans on
Tuesday, July 20, 2010 9:46 AM
When the great and the good gather at the Millennium Development Goals Review Summit in New York in September, it will be interesting to see how prominent general budget support (GBS) is on the agenda. Back in May, a paper on ‘Budget Support and MDG performance',.. (more)
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Heidi Tavakoli on
Tuesday, July 06, 2010 9:58 AM
At his recent speech at the Royal Society, UK Secretary of State for International Development, Andrew Mitchell, representing the new coalition government, made a significant step forward in the push for greater aid transparency by announcing a commitment.. (more)
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Samuel Moon on
Monday, June 07, 2010 11:20 AM
The EU Commission’s ‘Spring Package’ on development, launched this week, will be scrutinised with special care, as the first major policy statement by the new Development Commissioner, Andris Piebalgs. Does it mark new strategic leadership? Does it suggest the Commissioner will take political risks? Will it excite and challenge the Member States? .. (more)
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Simon Maxwell on
Thursday, April 22, 2010 4:15 PM
ODI Director Alison Evans voices concerns about the lack of focus on development issues in the latest UK budget, and asks whether this represents a subtle shift away from the international development agenda.
.. (more)
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Alison Evans on
Friday, March 26, 2010 6:41 AM
A National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) paper issued this week by Xavier Sala-i-Martin and Maxim Pinkovskiy shows that: poverty in Africa is falling; that it is falling at a faster rate than expected; and that this holds true for a wide range.. (more)
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Alison Evans on
Thursday, March 04, 2010 3:18 PM
There is much debate on whether climate finance will be additional to official development assistance (ODA, or ‘aid’). Some climate finance can be classified as aid (within the OECD-DAC creditor reporting system) so the question remains: is newly announced climate finance really additional, or is it just recycled aid? ODI research shows that certain sectors and regions will lose out if aid is diverted to finance future climate change adaptation needs. This blog argues that such finance should be in addition to, rather than instead of, existing aid spending. .. (more)
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Jessica Brown on
Monday, February 01, 2010 11:02 AM
As discussions begin in Rome on donor support to the Comprehensive Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), it is time to move beyond debate on sound principles and address the root causes of failed policy coordination in agriculture The Annual General Assembly of the Global Donor Platform for Rural Development (GPDRD) seems a good opportunity to start this shift in thinking. .. (more)
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Lidia Cabral on
Monday, January 25, 2010 1:49 PM
A few days into any emergency, operational responses hit a turning point, when aid starts to flow and be scaled up. The decisions made at this stage are crucial. This blog draws on a report by ALNAP on earthquake response, based on an assessment of almost 30 years of responses to such natural disasters. The research suggests a number of important considerations for agencies in the operational setting in Haiti, including the importance of recovery starting as soon as possible, without prolonging the relief effort... (more)
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Ben Ramalingam - ALNAP on
Tuesday, January 19, 2010 11:36 AM
Dr. Alison Evans, Director ODI, sets out the need for long-term thinking on Haiti, even as aid agencies struggle to deliver aid. Haiti has been a humanitarian crisis for ten years, and enforced dependence on the outside world is partly to blame. The country itself has no internal resources to help its own people in this disaster. Whatever happens next, this vulnerability has to be tackled – long-term... (more)
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Alison Evans on
Monday, January 18, 2010 4:58 PM
The difficulties of thrashing out a deal at the Copenhagen conference on climate change suggest a lack of trust between developing and developed countries. This blog argues that this stems from the broken promises on aid volume and effectiveness in recent years, and proposes a new coalition of the willing, with strong leadership to address climate change. .. (more)
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Neil Bird on
Tuesday, December 15, 2009 4:02 PM
New products, services and mindsets will be needed in the transition to a low carbon global economy. This blog argues that tapping effectively into new market opportunities that arise from global efforts to mitigate climate change could release additional resources for investments to increase resilience to climate change and adaptation to its impact. It reviews some of the new products and services that are going to be needed, and how existing trade instruments and new sources of climate change finance could work together to harness new market opportunities for poor countries, with a strong focus on the agricultural sector. .. (more)
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Jodie Keane on
Monday, November 30, 2009 5:46 AM
This blog sets out the risks of a shift to results-based aid, with fears that countries in greatest need -- such as fragile states -- may miss out. There is general agreement on the need to ensure that aid is effective. But where there is conflict and instability, or weak state institutions linked to poor accountability and governance, or underdeveloped markets and inadequate regulation, aid ineffectiveness is more likely.. (more)
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Leni Wild on
Wednesday, November 25, 2009 4:59 PM
In an effort to ‘drive momentum towards Copenhagen’ the European Union has just agreed that measures to tackle climate change will need €100 billion a year by 2020. In the short-term, the leaders agreed that up to €7 billion a year would be needed from January 2010 for three years for ‘fast-track’ funding in the developing world. This news raises some significant questions and potential concerns regarding how finance will be raised... (more)
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Jessica Brown on
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 3:35 PM
This blog looks at how the Lisbon treaty could put the EU in a stronger position: ready and able to play a more prominent role in the world; looking after its own interests whilst recognising that those interests are reinforced by an international outlook that actively promotes stability and sustainable development. .. (more)
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Mikaela Gavas on
Monday, October 05, 2009 3:49 PM
This blog provides a summary of a meeting with developing country experts held at ODI on 7 September 2009. A key element emerging from the meeting was the need to understand which poor countries are best positioned to take advantage of a recovery if and when it comes... (more)
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Dirk Willem te Velde on
Wednesday, September 23, 2009 8:08 AM
Many believe that the global financial crisis is the fault of risk-taking by bankers in America, the UK and other rich nations, and poor regulation by their governments. The impact of the crisis has rippled across the developing world. Given that the rich nations made the mess, shouldn’t they also clear it up? Some people think so. Others claim that charity begins at home – and with government revenues down in many rich countries, aid budgets have been under pressure. Furthermore, there is no consensus on what southern governments should do, or what rich countries should do to help southern governments. This blog highlights some of the debates raging over the issue... (more)
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Kate Bird on
Wednesday, September 09, 2009 5:04 PM
Amid a flurry of initiatives to support agriculture, including a pledge of $20 billion from the G8 meeting in Italy, this blog stresses the need for careful targeting of extra funds. It sets out five key questions that policy-makers need to address to ensure that the new support for agriculture has an impact for the world's poorest... (more)
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Steve Wiggins on
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 2:18 PM
"This blog reviews progress on Aid for Trade (AfT), following the Second Global Review on Aid for Trade in Geneva last week (6-7 July. It argues that AfT can and does enhance trade performance, but this is only part of the picture. When thinking about these indicators it is important to recognise that AfT-related programmes and projects can help aid recipient countries to:
• Increase the volume and value of trade;
• Enable a wider range of producers, workers, traders and entrepreneurs to engage in trading sectors – and in such a way that they benefit;
• Reduce the negative impact of trade-related adjustment – particularly where poor people are affected.".. (more)
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Kate Bird on
Monday, July 13, 2009 6:01 PM
The new UK Government White Paper on international development stresses the need for resilient economic growth strategies. This blog welcomes this emphasis, but finds the White Paper is missing a few ingredients essential to the creation of lasting growth... (more)
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Dirk Willem te Velde on
Wednesday, July 08, 2009 7:50 AM
This blog welcomes the new UK Government White Paper as a valiant attempt to walk the blurred line between promoting international development on moral and pragmatic grounds. .. (more)
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Alison Evans on
Monday, July 06, 2009 5:18 PM
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. .. (more)
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Dirk Willem te Velde on
Thursday, June 04, 2009 3:48 PM
It is clear that Europe is important for development, but the EU is battling against charges of irrelevance and strategic confusion. This blog outlines what the authors would like to see emerge from a development ministers meeting in Brussels in May. .. (more)
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Alison Evans on
Monday, May 18, 2009 10:53 AM
Latest aid volume statistics look good, but are not adequate to reach the agreed targets for 2010 and beyond. This blog rings alarm bells for European aid, but welcomes the UK Government's commitment to agreed aid levels.
.. (more)
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Simon Maxwell on
Wednesday, April 22, 2009 5:00 PM
As ODI prepares to host, jointly with the UK Department for International Development (DFID), a series of meetings in London on the change agenda in EU Development Cooperation, we should celebrate the publication of new proposals by the European.. (more)
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Simon Maxwell on
Tuesday, April 21, 2009 3:40 PM
The G-20 Communiqué was published yesterday. Probably fewer than a dozen people in the world fully understand the numbers, but the words and numbers together secure gains for development and for the poor. The text provides a plan of attack, but also.. (more)
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Simon Maxwell on
Friday, April 03, 2009 11:20 AM
Given that a major share of the cost of the financial and economic crisis will be borne by hundreds of millions of people who have not shared in the benefits of recent growth (like poor women, children and young people) , focussing on these vulnerable groups is vital, particularly as evidence from past crises shows us that children are severely affected by economic shocks... (more)
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Jessica Espey on
Friday, March 20, 2009 3:45 PM
In October 2008, the New Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) was restructured into the world's single largest bilateral donor. As part of the reconfiguration, the New JICA also established the JICA Research Institute (JICA-RI), a think tank focusing on issues of international development. Yesterday, Professor Keiichi Tsunekawa, JICA-RI’s director, met ODI researchers... (more)
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Fletcher Tembo on
Friday, January 30, 2009 11:30 AM
This blog investigates responses by donors and governments to the cholera epedemic in Zimbabwe, arguing that more analysis of the roots of current cholera outbreak is needed to draw lessons and options for future policy in the sector... (more)
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Sobona Mtisi on
Wednesday, January 28, 2009 1:34 PM
The Doha Financing for Development Conference closed this afternoon. Six thousand delegates, politicians, NGOs, private sector representatives, journalists and hangers-on breathed a sigh of relief and headed for the airport. The Conference wasn’t the political train wreck some had predicted, and even achieved some useful outcomes. But the atmosphere is very different from the heady optimism at the end of the original Monterrey Conference in 2002... (more)
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Liesbet Steer on
Tuesday, December 02, 2008 4:35 PM
According to the most recent UN World Urbanization Prospects around half of the world's population is living in urban areas in 2008, and the world will be increasingly urban from now on. The World Bank, in a recent piece on 'The Urbanisation of Global Poverty', noted a simultaneous trend towards the urbanisation of poverty, with the poor moving into towns and cities faster than the rest of the population. Are donor strategies, policies and programmes keeping up with the pace of change occurring in the least developed countries?.. (more)
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Ursula Grant and Kristin Smart on
Friday, November 14, 2008 1:55 PM
The global financial crisis is bound to have a major impact on developing countries, with the International Monetary Fund (IMF ) having downgraded its growth forecasts for 2009 for both developed and developing countries. With two key global events coming up (the G20 crisis summit and the Doha Finance for Development meeting), this blog asks how deep a fall developing countries can expect, and what should be done about it. .. (more)
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Dirk Willem te Velde on
Thursday, November 13, 2008 8:20 AM
The Millennium Villages Project (MVP) is headed by Professor Jeffrey Sachs of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. The MVP is similar to a number of other new village-based initiatives (1, 2) – born, in part, out of frustration with limited progress toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). But are these initiatives just a replay of the unsuccessful Integrated Rural Development (IRD) programmes of the 1970s and 1980s – or can they make poverty history?.. (more)
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Kent Buse on
Monday, November 03, 2008 7:09 AM
In a recent keynote address, World Bank President Robert Zoellick called for a ‘modernisation of multilateralism’ to meet the challenges of the present era, and for a new approach to dealing with fragile states. Fragile states are not just ‘harder cases’ of development but wholly different cases that require new thinking and a new integration of international tools and actors... (more)
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Timothy Othieno on
Wednesday, October 29, 2008 5:30 PM
A high profile European report on the MDGs is being launched in Brussels on Friday and in New York on 24 September. It says the Millennium Development Goals have been a force for good in the world, but that progress is uneven, too slow and threatened by the global economic slowdown. The authors also argue that the European Union brings particular strengths to the MDG project... (more)
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Simon Maxwell on
Friday, September 19, 2008 10:03 AM
I've just returned from the ministerial day at the third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, where I moderated the two main plenary discussions. The forum generated a great deal of drama over the outcome document, known as the Accra Agenda for Action. This had been carefully prepared over many months, as a consensus statement to be approved by Ministers. When I turned up for my breakfast briefing at 7 am on Thursday morning, the news was that the process had broken down over dinner the previous evening and that the whole negotiation was in jeopardy... (more)
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Simon Maxwell on
Monday, September 08, 2008 4:56 PM
The recent UK progress report on aid effectiveness is a positive step towards providing a transparent account for meeting the Paris Declaration. The report is not only aimed at aid agencies but a more broader audience to follow the UK’s 'model' on better aid effectiveness... (more)
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Nick Highton on
Thursday, September 04, 2008 5:41 PM
Why has the world been unable to solve the water supply and sanitation crisis and what solutions will the international community of water experts propose? The "World Water Week" in Stockholm had a special focus on sanitation under the heading 'Progress and Prospects on Water: For a Clean and Healthy World'. The conference was characterised by agreement and pragmatism and emphasised the key role of political decision makers. .. (more)
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David Steinhilper on
Friday, August 29, 2008 10:56 AM
Does the Accra Agenda for Action provide the solutions and momentum needed to accelerate progress towards the Paris Declaration or are we getting something rather plain and uninspiring? The answer may soon become clear as Ministers and participants of the HLF3 will officially receive the Accra Agenda for Action today to endorse in Accra. .. (more)
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Cecilie Wathne on
Friday, August 08, 2008 2:28 PM
The trade talks have collapsed over the issue of Special Safeguard Measures (or SSMs) in agriculture. This was not even among the hottest negotiating issues. This suggests that the talks could (and probably would) have collapsed over any other (more controversial) issues. The bottom line is that the (real) interest for a far-reaching agreement to liberalise multilateral trade regimes has quickly been vanishing in the face of faltering global economy... (more)
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Massimiliano Cali on
Wednesday, July 30, 2008 5:44 PM
Is the first WTO Director-General Peter Sutherland right to call the collapse of the trade talks a 'disaster'? It would certainly have been better for world trade, world income, and most people in developing countries if the Doha negotiations had succeeded in producing a significant liberalisation in trade rules. But it has been clear for at least five years that a 'big' agreement was not possible, so the claims that several hundred billion dollars worth of potential world trade gains have been lost this week are not realistic. .. (more)
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Sheila Page on
Wednesday, July 30, 2008 2:19 PM
As we wait for the final draft of the Accra Agenda for Action (AAA) to be published it seems a good time to take stock of what will be happening at the third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF3), which takes place in Accra, Ghana in the first week of September. A recent Commonwealth workshop to bring together senior finance officials from across the Commonwealth to prepare for HLF3 highlighted for me the potential that the HLF3 offers for moving the aid effectiveness agenda forward... (more)
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Simon Burall on
Wednesday, July 23, 2008 12:11 PM
The Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations is once again at a crucial juncture. But will it deliver for developing countries? As discussed in a new ODI paper, developing countries have varying interests in a final settlement at next week’s ministerial talks... (more)
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Massimiliano Cali on
Thursday, July 17, 2008 1:40 PM
It is clear that many of today's poor will simply stay poor, even if economic growth is sustained. They are caught in one or more of five poverty traps: insecurity of life or livelihood; weak citizenship status; living in a deprived area; experiencing social discrimination; or held back by poor quality work. The second international Chronic Poverty Report, launched next week, shows that the poorest can be included in progress. .. (more)
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Andrew Shepherd on
Wednesday, July 02, 2008 10:41 AM
In 2005, Africa was promised an additional $25 billion per year in aid. But has the G8 delivered? There is no simple answer, given the complex package of commitments. As we approach the Japanese G8 summit at Hokkaido in July, there is a dangerous dearth of concrete and accessible information in the public domain... (more)
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Geoff Handley on
Friday, June 20, 2008 2:49 PM
The EU Council meeting on 19 and 20 June represents an important marker in this year of the Call to Action on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). There are some serious issues to consider, including the failure of European donors to meet their commitments on aid, both in terms of the levels of funding and in delivering harmonisation and alignment. Most importantly, however, the future of the MDG project itself will be debated... (more)
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Simon Maxwell on
Wednesday, June 18, 2008 1:01 PM
Latin America is a laboratory of democratic governance and experimentation. As such, it is an important learning ground for other regions in the developing world. The challenge for donors is how to work with these weak democracies to harness their representative nature and their developmental potential. This means having to develop a deeper understanding of the political economy and context of the settings in which they are involved... (more)
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Alina Rocha Menocal on
Friday, June 13, 2008 4:51 PM
The Commonwealth mini-Summit in London is the latest sign that reform of the international system is moving rapidly up the agenda. The Summit discussed reform of the UN, the Bretton Woods Institutions and global environmental governance. On all these, there is enthusiasm among Heads of Government for faster and better coordinated change... (more)
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Simon Maxwell on
Friday, June 13, 2008 10:19 AM
The Food Summit in Rome turned out better than expected. It was not derailed by Robert Mugabe. It survived the unedifying wrangling over a final communiqué. It gave the topic a good hearing. It confirmed some practical actions. And it passed the torch successfully to the G8 in Japan in July... (more)
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Simon Maxwell on
Friday, June 06, 2008 12:12 PM
The Food and Agriculture Organisation summit is a vital step in a process that will develop through a series of events in 2008, including the G8 in Hokkaido in July, and the UN Call to Action on the Millennium Development Goals, in New York in September. At this stage, the Rome summit must deliver four things... (more)
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Simon Maxwell on
Monday, June 02, 2008 11:38 AM
As governance indicators have proliferated in recent years, so has their use and the controversy that surrounds them. As more and more voices are pointing out, existing indicators – many of them developed and launched in the 1990s – have a number of flaws. This is particularly disquieting at a time when governance is at the very top of the development agenda. .. (more)
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Verena Fritz on
Friday, May 16, 2008 9:17 AM
2008 is turning into another of those milestone years for aid. A cluster of high level meetings are focusing international attention on the challenges around effective development assistance. This presents familiar challenges: how to scale-up, align and harmonise aid to support achievement of the MDGs by 2015. But what is crucially different is the global context in which this must now be achieved. .. (more)
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Alison Evans on
Wednesday, April 16, 2008 2:39 PM
This proliferation of global health initiatives is ringing alarm bells in terms of the challenges for partner country leadership and transaction costs. So it was welcome news that the concept of "Health as a tracer sector" would be on the table at the Accra High Level Forum (HLF) in September 2008. But when we look at the agenda, why has health been relegated to one of three topics to be addressed in one of the nine round tables? .. (more)
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Kent Buse on
Friday, March 28, 2008 1:22 PM
Rising food prices are very much in the news. Farmers may gain, but poor consumers are hard hit – and don’t hesitate to let the politicians know. Governments and aid agencies are under pressure to provide more robust safety nets, while simultaneously.. (more)
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Simon Maxwell on
Friday, February 29, 2008 1:45 PM
The UK’s Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, delivered an excellent speech
last Tuesday (12 February) on the importance of international efforts
to support democracy in the developing world, or what he called ‘the
democratic imperative’. The speech.. (more)
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Alina Rocha Menocal on
Monday, February 18, 2008 6:24 PM
The National Audit Office report on General Budget Support (GBS) published today is, in most respects, very much to be welcomed. However, by focusing narrowly on the risks of misappropriating GBS funds, the report risks a return to projectised aid to poor countries, in ways that avoid government systems... (more)
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Nick Highton on
Friday, February 08, 2008 4:01 PM
The 2008 G8 Summit in Toyako, Japan will be particularly significant because there are big issues on the international development agenda that require firm G8 commitments to be made in 2008; and yet the risk of not delivering on these agendas has never been higher... (more)
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Fletcher Tembo on
Thursday, December 20, 2007 10:29 AM
Agriculture has been in and out of fashion over the last half century. Since the turn of the Century, however, its stock has once again been rising. This is reflected most notably in the publishing of the World Development Report 2008, entitled ‘Agriculture for Development’, which confirms the importance of agriculture to development and the policy agenda ODI, and many others, have been developing for the past decade... (more)
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Steve Wiggins on
Wednesday, November 14, 2007 3:59 PM
The recent scaling-up of aid flows and the harmonisation agenda have focused on increasing the effectiveness of the international aid system. For example, the Paris Declaration and associated targets have focussed on public financial management and procurement.. (more)
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Martin Prowse on
Tuesday, August 21, 2007 10:59 AM
The Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) of the World Bank hosted a conference in Addis Ababa on ‘Engaging with Fragile States: Challenges and Opportunities’ on Tuesday and Wednesday last week (24-25 July). It was organised in close collaboration with the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).
Overall, I thought the conference was very interesting, especially in terms of the people it was able to bring together.
.. (more)
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Alina Rocha Menocal on
Tuesday, July 31, 2007 5:17 PM
The Conservative Party’s Globalisation and Global Poverty Policy Group reported today. At nearly 500 pages long, the report is a substantial contribution: there are 76 recommendations. Without being party political, we are going to use the.. (more)
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Simon Maxwell on
Saturday, July 21, 2007 3:39 PM
With Gordon Brown about to take office, ODI asked representatives of the three main political parties in the UK to speak on the theme ‘What’s Next in International Development?’. These three speeches tell us something about the issues that will.. (more)
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Simon Maxwell on
Friday, June 22, 2007 1:05 PM
The EU Code of Conduct on Complementarity and Division of Labour in Development Policy, approved by the Council on 15 May 2007, is potentially revolutionary, with significant implications for the future of British and other bilateral aid.
The Code of.. (more)
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Simon Maxwell on
Friday, May 25, 2007 10:02 AM
DFID’s 2007 Annual Report was published on 15 May. As in previous years, the report outlines what DFID has done over the last year to tackle global poverty. In response to a demand from Parliament, a whole chapter is devoted to 'Working with others on policies beyond aid'. This chapter – along with sections of other chapters on fragile states, conflict, the environment and climate change – sets out how DFID has worked across Whitehall and with international partners including the EU in an effort to ensure that UK and wider international policies on beyond-aid issues are supportive of, are at least do not harm, international development... (more)
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Alan Hudson on
Thursday, May 17, 2007 3:48 PM
Just last week Kofi Annan, in his new role as chairman of the Africa Progress Panel, called on G8 leaders to deliver on the promises for increased aid to Africa that were made at Gleneagles in 2005. While large amounts of additional aid have so far failed to materialise, there is little doubt that in the near future aid will play an important part in efforts to assist African countries in reaching the MDGs. Yet, how and when scaling up happens is likely to be as important as how much additional aid is actually given. .. (more)
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Paolo de Renzio on
Tuesday, May 08, 2007 3:03 PM
With the trade talks failing and aid volume way below target, is Tony Blair's legacy on Africa at risk? The G8 meeting in Heiligendamm, Germany, in June, provides a last opportunity to persuade the most powerful leaders in the world to deliver on.. (more)
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Simon Maxwell on
Tuesday, May 08, 2007 2:20 PM
Participants at the launch of Roger Riddell’s new book, ‘Does Foreign Aid Really Work?’ at ODI last week were surprised to hear Sir Mike Aaronson, former director of the Save the Children Fund, suggest that DFID should be merged back with the FCO... (more)
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Simon Maxwell on
Thursday, May 03, 2007 5:59 PM
This has been a challenging couple of weeks for DFID. On 19 March, Bronwen Maddox published a sceptical piece in The Times newspaper, that was followed up in its tabloid stablemate, The Sun, and then in a series of interviews on 25 March on the World.. (more)
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Simon Maxwell on
Wednesday, April 04, 2007 9:47 AM
As floods continue to displace thousands of people in central Mozambique, Save the Children UK has urged that cash grants should be considered rather than food aid for long term recovery.* A new report from the Humanitarian Policy Group addresses the.. (more)
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Paul Harvey on
Monday, February 19, 2007 5:18 PM
Lots of ink has flowed last week on Hu Jintao’s visit to eight African countries, reigniting the debate about the role that China’s increasing engagement with the African continent can play in promoting development and democracy. Yet, the debate is still.. (more)
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Paolo de Renzio on
Tuesday, February 13, 2007 2:56 PM
(This piece was first published in www.openDemocracy.net)
2007 will be a difficult year in international development, for five reasons.
First, there will be many reminders that poverty remains ubiquitous, that conflict destroys lives and livelihoods,.. (more)
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Simon Maxwell on
Friday, December 22, 2006 12:55 PM
In the heart of Whitehall, negotiations are currently underway on two matters that will shape the Government’s actions on international development until 2011. Surprisingly, there is little public debate about either. Yet there should be. .. (more)
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Simon Maxwell on
Tuesday, December 05, 2006 12:17 PM
Bill Easterly's new book has attracted a lot of publicity, mainly because it provides a strong criticism of aid. We helped him launch the book in London on 21 September, at a meeting chaired by David Goodhart, Editor of Prospect Magazine. .. (more)
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Simon Maxwell on
Monday, November 06, 2006 12:18 PM
We need to start having a discussion about ‘human security’ as a vehicle for thinking about aid, especially with respect to the EU, and with the following question in mind: is human security a neat way of framing a poverty-focused aid programme in the modern era, or is it a clever device to appropriate development aid for the purposes of foreign policy?.. (more)
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Simon Maxwell on
Friday, October 27, 2006 4:26 PM
The World Water Week in Stockholm is a yearly event that brings together around 1,500 international scientists, policy makers, practitioners and donor organisations to discuss issues concerning the water sector. Katharina Welle and Halla Qaddumi.. (more)
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Katharina Welle on
Friday, August 25, 2006 5:26 PM
On 18 July, ODI and the World Bank organised a joint seminar to discuss the current state of knowledge on General Budget Support (GBS) as an aid modality, bringing together a small audience of researchers, practitioners, policy makers and civil society.. (more)
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Paolo de Renzio on
Wednesday, July 26, 2006 10:31 AM
The UK government is re-enforcing its commitment to improving governance and anti-corruption efforts. To do so, it will work at the national level in recipient countries, at the international level - promoting anti-bribery efforts and greater transparency.. (more)
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Verena Fritz on
Friday, July 14, 2006 12:12 PM
In the run up to the 16th International AIDS Conference, which takes place from 13th-18th August in Toronto, ODI is hosting a series of four meetings with the central theme of HIV/AIDS. Partnering with the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, UNAIDS, UNHCR.. (more)
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Fiona Samuels on
Wednesday, June 28, 2006 3:20 PM
1. This year's Davos gathering, the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, was designed to focus more on business and less on 'development', thus fewer sessions on Africa and few African representatives - but ironically the business agenda threw.. (more)
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Simon Maxwell on
Tuesday, January 31, 2006 11:01 AM
After months of diplomacy and political pressure, yesterday Secretary of State for International Development Hilary Benn confirmed that the UK Government would no longer provide budget support to the Ethiopian Government, over concerns about its commitment.. (more)
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Paolo de Renzio on
Friday, January 20, 2006 4:24 PM
The Africa strategy is a nice re-wrapping of EU policy towards Africa. Don’t get me wrong, this is not to belittle the paper. It is laudable to have the multitude of different policies in one reference document. The strategy refers to the new Development.. (more)
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Sven Grimm on
Saturday, October 22, 2005 12:06 AM
BBC News has recently drawn our attention to the use of British aid money in Malawi and what is being described as "phantom aid", where "large amounts of money are wasted" on paying administration costs and fees to international consultants. A few days.. (more)
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Elizabeth Cromwell on
Friday, September 09, 2005 9:27 AM
There are two big agendas at the UN MDG Summit in mid-September. One matters and one does not. Keeping this thought in mind helps greatly in sorting through the Bolton amendments and in helping to focus debate during the last days before the meeting... (more)
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Simon Maxwell on
Wednesday, September 07, 2005 2:57 PM
Eurostat and the UK Office of National Statistics have announced an important decision which will pave the way for governments to contribute to the pilot version of Gordon Brown's proposed International Finance Facility, and perhaps eventually to the.. (more)
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Simon Maxwell on
Monday, August 08, 2005 3:27 PM
In the run-up to the G8 summit, everybody's attention is focused on
how much the G8 leaders will commit in additional aid to help tackle
African poverty. Will George Bush be convinced that additional
resources are needed? Can Germany and Italy deliver.. (more)
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Paolo de Renzio on
Monday, July 04, 2005 1:46 PM
Speaking at ODI on Friday, Professor Wiseman Nkuhlu
called for most of the new aid for Africa to be placed in a special new
$20bn fund – equivalent to 5% of Africa’s GDP – channelled through the African Development Bank, but administered directly by.. (more)
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Simon Maxwell on
Monday, July 04, 2005 1:54 PM
The G8 and Japan’s aid to Africa: A Turning Point?
Despite being the world’s "number 2" aid donor, Japan often seems misunderstood and marginalized. But it is approaching a turning point in its aid policy towards Africa. After years of drift, Japan.. (more)
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Julius Court on
Thursday, June 30, 2005 5:21 PM
On Tuesday, we held a media briefing at ODI on the 2005 agenda. As usual, we paid tribute to the political leadership and energy driving the 2005 agenda, and then got stuck in to the technical issues we mostly work on: absorptive capacity, investment.. (more)
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Simon Maxwell on
Friday, June 24, 2005 1:24 PM
The European Union (EU) is going through difficult times. The recent 'No' votes on the Constitutional Treaty in France and The Netherlands and the failure to agree on the Union’s medium-term finances are forcing us to ask ourselves some tough question about what ‘Europe’ means and where it is going... (more)
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Sven Grimm on
Monday, June 20, 2005 9:22 AM
G8 finance ministers agreed last week to cancel the debts of 18 HIPC which have passed their ‘completion points’ to IDA, the IMF (PRGF) and the African Development Fund, virtually eliminating their external debt...
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John Roberts on
Wednesday, June 15, 2005 6:23 PM
The debt deal announced by the G7 finance ministers is definitely a success, and reflects well on the political leadership provided by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, as well as a skilful and powerful campaign by NGOs. That being said, I found myself at the weekend pondering six points...
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Simon Maxwell on
Wednesday, June 15, 2005 1:10 PM
The longstanding ties between France and its former colonies in Africa may finally be giving way to something else. Although little acknowledged, the 1990s saw a massive decrease in French aid to Africa and essentially saw the end of most of the so-called ‘relations spéciales’ between France and Africa. As Tony Blair travels to Paris today ahead of the G8 what can he expect...
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Julius Court on
Tuesday, June 14, 2005 3:21 PM
