Browse by: "2006"

This fact-filled reference book brings the reader the latest available economic information for most of the economies of Africa.  Drawing on the expertise of both the African Development Bank and the OECD, it opens with an overview that examines the international environment, macroeconomic performance, progress towards attaining the Millennium Development Goals, and governance and political issues.  This edition includes a special section on transport infrastructure issues.  The second part provides individual country reports for 30 countries.  Each country report provides an assessment of recent economic performance, projections for 2006 and 2007, an examination of structural issues, and a discussion of the political and social context.  The statistical annex presents 23 tables comparing economic and social variables across all the countries of Africa.

This book sets out how much aid OECD countries are already providing towards trade-related activities in developing countries and reviews the effectiveness of existing programmes. It argues that reinforcing mutual accountability at the local level, together with a global review mechanism, would enhance the impact of Aid for Trade.

Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is one of the main tools available to achieve integration of the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes.  This Guidance volume explains the benefits of using SEA in development co-operation and sets out key steps for its application based on recent experiences. Twelve different entry points are identified for the practical application of SEA in development co-operation. For each entry point, the text provides a guidance note: a checklist of questions and hands-on case studies. Evaluation and capacity development for SEA processes are also addressed.

In West Africa, approximately 16 million people depend directly or indirectly on cotton cultivation. But subsidies in the developed world have suppressed cotton prices and have made it difficult for West African producers to compete.  Compounding the problem, WTO negotiations on the problem have been suspended.  This publication contends that the dialogue between developed and developing countries on this topic must continue. It sets out the regional stakes linked to the economic and social importance of cotton in West Africa. It retraces the consultation process on the West African cotton crisis with the aim of finding a negotiated solution acceptable to all parties. Also discussed are the challenges and the measures that need to be taken over the medium and long term in order to prevent this sub-sector’s sudden collapse.

This report provides data on development aid for Basic Social Services (BSS) over the past decade (1995-2004).  It opens with an analysis of trends in aid for basic social services that shows that it has more than doubled during the time period covered and now accounts for about 20% of total aid.  The book then provides listings, on a receiving country-by-country basis, of specific commitments made during that period.  The listings include information on the donor country, the donor agency, the type of aid, the amount of aid in US dollars, the project description, and information on whether the project has a gender equality or participatory development/good governance aspect.

The Development Assistance Committee peer review of Japan's development co-operaton policies and programmes for 1996.

Some 500 million USD are spent annually on fisheries development projects. But fisheries access agreements and trade policies are sometimes applied in ways that dampen developing countries' ability to benefit fully from their rich marine resources. Also, many development projects do not pay sufficient regard to the sustainability issues that are a key for the future of the fishing sector.  This publication, a compilation of papers from the Workshop on Policy Coherence for Development in Fisheries, addresses these issues.

For OECD and non-OECD countries alike, the global fisheries situation poses topical questions of coherence between development and fisheries in a number of policy areas. This publication examines these questions and proposes a framework for in-depth analysis of coherence issues in five main policy areas where fisheries and development policies interact, namely environmental, technology, economic, social, and governance policies. The framework is illustrated with ten concrete country and regional case studies, analysing issues that range from international fishing agreements and the relationship between industrial and artisanal fishing fleets to fisheries trade and development policies, as well as fisheries development and poverty reduction.

This publication provides comprehensive data on the volume, origin and types of aid and other resource flows to over 180 recipient countries, including countries in transition in eastern Europe for the period 2000-2004.  The data show each country's intake of Official Development Assistance or Official Aid, as well as other official and private funds from members of the Development Assistance Committee of the OECD, multilateral agencies and other donors. Key development indicators are given for reference.

The international community is committed to helping partner countries meet the Millennium Development Goal of halving global poverty by 2015. Effective use of scarce official development assistance is one important contribution to this end. The good practices presented here represent a set of practical steps that – if applied by development agencies – should significantly improve the effectiveness of development assistance.  Following the first volume of good practices published in 2003, this second volume focuses more specifically on good practice in providing budget support and support to sector-wide approaches. The book also includes a chapter setting out good practice in providing support to capacity development for public financial management.

This book enhances understanding and consensus on why and how we need to work more strategically and coherently on the integration of human rights and development. It reviews the approaches of different donor agencies and their rationales for working on human rights, and identifies the current practice in this field. It illustrates how aid agencies are working on human rights issues at the programming level, and it draws together lessons that form the core of the current evidence around the added value of human rights for development. Lastly, it addresses both new opportunities and conceptual and practical challenges to human rights within the evolving development partnerships between donors and partner countries, as well as in relation to the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness as a new reference point of the international aid system. By giving numerous examples of practical approaches, this publication shows that there are various ways for donor agencies to take human rights more systematically into account – in accordance with their respective mandates, modes of engagement and comparative advantage.

This book explores how governments can help firms in developing countries better seize the opportunities created by globalisation and contribute to improving employment opportunities and poverty reduction. More specifically, it analyses how local firms can get involved in global value chains, access distant and more profitable markets and upgrade their capabilities. Based on case studies, the book focuses on selected industries and reviews experiences of governments and enterprises in the Mekong sub-region. It seeks to draw ‘bottom up’ policy conclusions from firm- and industry-level analyses in specific country settings about how best to support private sector development in developing countries.

Too many developing countries are not on track to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 and need to pursue better and more sustained ways of reducing poverty. If progress continued on present trends, some countries in sub-Saharan Africa would not reach the MDGs for over a century. The private sector has a central role to play in the war on poverty and mobilising private investment is imperative for promoting the broad-based and sustained growth that will help drive poverty reduction. In today’s global economy, private investment is both domestic and foreign and takes many forms, from physical assets to intellectual capital...

The Development Effectiveness of Food Aid: Does Tying Matter? provides a detailed look into two food aid issues. First, the study assesses the effectiveness of the various ways in which food aid can promote food security and poverty alleviation. Second, the study demonstrates that food aid in-kind carries substantial efficiency costs, conservatively estimated as at least 30% on average. In contrast, most local purchases or regionally sourced imports are relatively efficient ways of providing food aid. Thus, there is scope for considerable efficiency gains by switching to less restricted sourcing of food.  The study therefore argues that, in most circumstances, financial aid (cash) is the preferable way to fund direct distribution of food or to provide budgetary support for general development or project assistance.

Tables of national competitiveness give an easily comparable ranking of the winners and losers of global economic competition. But they don't explain why the “poor” countries are four times less productive than the “rich” ones or why some rich countries are twice as productive as others.  Using empirical data from over 50 countries, this book shows how even small differences in a number of factors combine to boost or block productivity. Governments need such information to set priorities. Investors need it too, and two new rankings are proposed as alternatives to a simple comparison of industrial productivity. The first, called the “investor ranking”, is based on infrastructure, human capital and total factor productivity. The second, “exporter ranking”, is for investors whose prime concern is for a production platform well-integrated into world trade. Combining the new rankings with a more traditional one produces three groups of countries, termed balanced, high potential, and vulnerable. Group membership reserves some surprises: you may be rich, but that doesn’t mean you’re not vulnerable.