Africa-China-Europe trilateral co-operation: Is Europe naïve?

2008/11 - EDC2020 FP7 Research Project; Opinion Paper No.1, Author: Sven Grimm

Abstract:

The European Commission is suggesting trilateral dialogue and co-operation among Africa, China and Europe. This sounds either bold or naïve. There is substance for – at times controversial – discussion among China, Africa and Europe, for sure. It would, indeed, be naïve to assume that trilateral discussion will easily result in finding a consensus. But not talking will not get us anywhere, either.

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Energy Challenges in the Middle East and North Africa

2008/10 - EDC2020 FP7 Research Project; Working Paper No.2, Authors: Edward Burke, Ana Echagüe and Richard Youngs

Abstract:

In 2020 the European Union will be more dependent on oil and gas from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and will also face tougher international competition for access to the region’s supplies.  Within the MENA region, a rapidly increasing population, authoritarian forms of governance and an enhanced risk of further conflict in the region provide a complex set of challenges for its emerging relationship with the EU.  This paper demonstrates the inextricable links between the energy trade and the future governance of the MENA region and outlines some of the related challenges to EU policies. 

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European Development Co-operation to 2020 - The EU as an answer to global challenges?

2008/08 - EDC2020 FP7 Research Project; Briefing Paper No.1, Author: Sven Grimm

Abstract:

The world is changing and so is Europe's weight in global politics. Europe started its integration process in the area of economic co-operation and chose trade as the functional entry point for the broader aim of peace in Europe. Nowadays, challenges for Europeans are beyond their continent and beyond the Eruopean nation states.

EU citizens are aware of global challenges and see a role for the Union in external relation, as polls show. But it remains contested how Europe can respond.

Challenges are particularly evident in the area of development co-operation and external relations more broadly. This paper outlines some broader challenges and opportunities for European development policy to 2020.

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Energy and Development: Lessons from Nigeria

2008/06 - EDC2020 FP7 Research Project; Policy Brief No.1, Author: Anna Khakee

Abstract:

Nigeria, and in particular the Niger Delta, have all the components of failed development: deep poverty, corruption and neglect, disenfranchised ethnic minorities, self-serving multinational oil companies, environmental degradation, destruction of livelihoods, gang violence, civil strife, and despair. During the 2007 elections, EU election monitors did not dare venture into the Delta. European (and American) oil companies still do conduct business in the region, for now willing to pay rising security premiums for extraction of the sweet, light oil of the Niger Delta.
This policy brief examines how Nigeria's conflict over energy has affected development and how the European Union has attempted to tackle the development-energy linkage. It highlights the main elements of Nigeria's "oil curse" and how European Union policies have been split between support for a stable, democratic and economically advancing Nigeria on the one hand, and for secure energy supplies on the other hand.
The analysis of the causes of underdevelopment in Nigeria - including the nexus between governance, corruption, violence and the workings of the oil industry - has become more refined. But without major changes to its policies, the EU is unlikely to be making a positive impact to energy-development-governance linkages in Nigeria in 2020.

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European Development Co-operation to 2020: The issues

2008/06 - EDC2020 FP7 Research Project; Working Paper No.1, Authors: Sven Grimm et al.

Summary:

This paper provides an initial contribution to the research programme of European Development Co-operation to 2020 (EDC 2020). The paper starts with the assumption that thinking about the future of development will have to start from the outside, i.e. identifying global challenges and finding answers to them, much rather than focussing on internal compromises. 

1. What happens if we meet most of the MDGs and what happens if we do not?
2. We should further differentiate among partner countries as the group of developing countries becomes increasingly diverse.
3. We need to address the issue of the international aid architecture and division of labour.
4. We will have to work continuously on policy coherence (for development) in the policy mix towards developing countries.

EDC2020 includes three topics in its research agenda that cover different parts of the broader agenda outlined in the first section of the paper. The issues are:

1. New actors in international development
2. Development policy, energy security and democracy
3. Development and climate change

The paper outlines the relevance of these issues for development policy and identifies the questions that EDC2020 will examine in order to provide policy advice to decision-makers. Interlinkages between the different work strands are obvious and the research programme itself will ulitmately benefit from thematic cross-fertilisation.Many signs point to the EU as a potential part of the answer to global challenges, if it manages to use its advantages. Policy advice based on evidence should contribute to better preparing this important global actor for future development challenges.

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The Return of Non-DAC Donors to Africa: New Prospects for African Development

2008/08 - Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS); Article in Development Policy Review, Author: Peter Kragelund

Abstract:

This article examines the consequences of the return to Africa of donors that are not members of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC). It categorises these donors according to form, content, size and modality of their aid. It finds that their return increases external financial flows, in particular to countries not targeted by DAC donors. Moreover, for some donors like China and India the flows are closely related to other financial flows such as trade and investment. Furthermore, it finds that the return of non-DAC donors may conflict with plans to harmonise aid and may simultaneously raise transaction costs for recipients.

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Millennium Development Goals at Midpoint: Where do we stand and where do we need to go?

2008/09 - Directorate General for Development (DG DEV); Authors: François Bourguignon et al.

Abstract:

The paper suggests that reform of global economic institutions and regulation of the financial system, more effective aid, investments in infrastructure to sustain growth, and social protection in each country are key to meeting the UN Millennium Development Goals.

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The MDG Project in Crisis

2008/09 - Institut fuer Entwicklung und Frieden (INEF), Policy Brief No. 4, Authors: Jens Martens, Tobias Debiel

Abstract:

A sobering interim review is emerging at the MDG’s midpoint. In order to get the world back on track in achieving the Millennium Development Goals, at the invitation of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a high-level event of governments, business and civil society is to be held in New York on 25th September 2008. This policy brief gives a concise overview of the progress and deficits in implementing the MDGs and highlights some methodological problems in the MDG concept itself. Setting out from this basis, it recommends necessary course corrections in order to successfully continue the MDG project after all. Its proposals contain clear and binding commitments on the part of the industrialised countries, linking the MDGs with the human rights-based approach, promoting functioning governance, strengthening capacities to establish and process data and re-embedding the MDGs into more comprehensive strategies of sustainable human development.

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Achieving the MDGs: The Fundamentals

2008/09 - Overseas Development Institute (ODI), Briefing Paper  43, Author: Andrew Shepherd

Abstract:

This Briefing Paper outlines the fundamental issues that will determine whether or not the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) can be achieved.

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Achieving the Millennium Development Goals in Africa

2008/06 - MDG Africa Steering Group, Recommendations

Abstract:

The MDG Africa Steering Group recommendations lay out the practical steps, strategies and programmes needed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals in Africa. The recommendations were jointly produced and endorsed by the leaders of the United Nations, the African Union Commission, the African Development Bank Group, the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund, the Islamic Development Bank Group, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the World Bank Group.

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Building Public Awareness of Development: Communicators, Educators and Evaluation

2008/07 - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development - Development Centre (OECD/DC); Policy Brief No. 35, Author: A. Scheunpflug, I. McDonnell

Abstract:

The Millennium Development Goals, the aid effectiveness agenda, and global interdependence have contributed to more demand and a sense of urgency for greater public awareness and learning about these promises, and challenges, in OECD countries. Donors and practitioners could make greater use of evaluations, and their findings, to increase the effectiveness and results of public communication, advocacy and education about global development. The first step is to understand the evaluation process and respect its rigours. The second is to acknowledge and learn how to deal with the political nature of evaluation, the third is to understand its limitations. DAC members, along with their partners, should work together to strengthen evaluation of public awareness and learning by creating a space (e.g. website) to share perspectives, experiences and results from evaluation; pooling resources for scientific research on the long-term impact of public awareness raising activities; building a stronger knowledge base for what works and what doesn’t work in this sector; and finally, working together to develop minimum standards for the evaluation of communication, advocacy and education about global development.

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