Past Highlights

Enabling Civil Society for Sustainable Development

05 Jul 2019

2019/06 – OECD Development Centre (OECD/DC); Text; Author(s): Jacqueline Wood; Karin Fällman

Civil society and civil society organisations (CSOs) are important to development co-operation, both as implementing partners for members of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC), and as development actors in their own right. Agenda 2030 is clear on the necessity of mobilising CSOs to implement, and uphold accountability for, the Sustainable Development Goals. This paper by the OECD Development Centre introduces a selection of key findings and recommendations from two 2018-2019 surveys complemented with DAC statistical data. It points to evidence of member effort to work with CSOs in ways that enable CSOs to maximise their contribution to development.

continue: Enabling Civil Society for Sustainable Development (external link)

Risk-Informed Development: From Crisis to Resilience

07 Jun 2019

2019/05 – Overseas Development Institute (ODI); research paper; Author(s): Sarah Opitz-Stapleton et al.

This report explores how development can become more sustainable and resilient: Over the past decade, important progress has been made on poverty reduction, disease control and access to healthcare, education and services. However, these gains are fragile, and are undermined by new and emerging threats, including climate change, economic and financial instability, antibiotic resistance, transnational criminal networks and terrorism, cyber fragility, geopolitical volatility and conflict. These threats are interconnected, they cross national borders and they are occurring simultaneously.

continue: Risk-Informed Development: From Crisis to Resilience (external link)

No Time to Waste: Tackling the Plastic Pollution Crisis Before it’s Too Late

07 Jun 2019

2019/05 – Institute of Development Studies (IDS), Brighton; research paper; Author(s): Mari Williams at al.

This report by Tearfund, Fauna & Flora International (FFI), WasteAid and The Institute of Development Studies (IDS) describes the environmental destruction, sickness, mortality, and damage to livelihoods that the plastic pollution crisis is causing. On the solution side, it outlines the roles and responsibilities of four groups who could be key to tackling the plastic pollution crisis.

continue: No Time to Waste: Tackling the Plastic Pollution Crisis Before it’s Too Late (external link)

Biodiversity Loss is a Development Issue

24 May 2019

2019/04 – International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED); research paper; Author(s): Dilys Roe, Nathalie Seddon, Joanna Elliott

On the occasion of the recent release of the IPBES Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, we'd like to highlight this issue paper by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IEED): "This global biodiversity crisis is hitting the poorest communities first and hardest, because they can ill-afford to ‘buy in’ biodiversity’s previously-free goods and services (and are already bearing the brunt of climate change).So why does the development community often ignore biodiversity loss? This paper unpicks misunderstandings and sets out the evidence that biodiversity loss is much more than an environmental problem – it is an urgent development challenge.

continue: Biodiversity Loss is a Development Issue (external link)

The Economics of the Syrian Refugee Crisis in Neighboring Countries. The Case of Lebanon

25 Apr 2019

2019/04 – Agence Française de Développement (AFD); research paper; Author(s): Mohamed ali Marouani et al

This paper investigates the effects of a massive displacement of workers from a war-torn economy on the economy of a neighboring country. Applying a general equilibrium approach to the Lebanese economy, it explores effects from various components of the crisis on the labor market, the production apparatus, and macroeconomic indicators. Along with previous literature, its findings suggest limited or no adverse effects on high-skilled native workers, but a negative impact on the most vulnerable Lebanese workers is found. When aid takes the form of investment subsidies, significantly better growth and labor market prospects arise, recalling the necessity of complementing humanitarian aid with development aid to succeed in achieving long-term objectives. This may however not be politically viable in a context where refugees are considered as temporary.

continue: The Economics of the Syrian Refugee Crisis in Neighboring Countries. The Case of Lebanon (external link)

When the Drugs Don’t Work – Antibiotic Resistance as a Global Development Problem

14 Mar 2019

2019/02 – Dag Hammarskjoeld Foundation (DHF); research paper; Author(s): Maarten van der Heijden et al

Why is there a need to address antibiotic resistance in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals? Because antibiotics play a crucial role in many more areas of life than most people imagine. However, antibiotics are starting to lose their effectiveness due to resistant infections, and the consequences will be far-reaching if decisive and rapid action is not taken globally and systematically. Antibiotic resistance seriously jeopardises the achievement of several of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Therefore, antibiotic resistance must be included in the work on sustainable development, and should be seen as a strong additional reason to urgently increase the work on the Sustainable Development Goals. The Dag Hammerskjoeld Foundation has published a report on how antibiotic resistance is linked to the Sustainable Development Goals.

continue: When the Drugs Don’t Work – Antibiotic Resistance as a Global Development Problem (external link)

Social Protection in East Africa - Harnessing the Future

05 Mar 2019

2019/02 – OECD Development Centre (OECD/DC); research paper; Author(s): Oecd

This study by the OECD Development Centre is now available in open access. It identifies possible futures and explores new paths for action in six countries in East Africa – Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. It highlights seven grand challenges that confront social protection policy makers in the region and discusses which policy directions are most appropriate for tackling today’s social protection needs and preparing for those of tomorrow. A number of these challenges, such as rapid population growth and urbanisation, persistent informality, low domestic resource mobilisation and climate change, are common to sub-Saharan Africa as a whole; the methodology and approach used here will be applicable to many other countries across the region.

continue: Social Protection in East Africa - Harnessing the Future (external link)

Europe's Approach to Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals: Good Practices and the Way Forward

14 Feb 2019

2019/02 – Institut du développement durable et des relations internationales (IDDRI); research paper; Author(s): Ingeborg Niestroy et al.

This study examines the governance frameworks put in place for SDG implementation in all EU Member States, and the resulting country fiches constitute the first comprehensive comparative overview of these. The analysis shows that EU Member States are integrating SDGs into national strategies. While Member States have taken steps to enhance horizontal policy coordination, there is a continuing need for better mainstreaming sustainability. Member States innovate with SDG budgeting, science-policy interface, and stakeholder participation mechanisms for making these strategies more operational. Parliaments show increasing activity on the SDGs and the EP could benefit from enhanced collaboration. The EU could learn from and support these initiatives.

continue: Europe's Approach to Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals: Good Practices and the Way Forward (external link)

State of Power 2019 - Finance

31 Jan 2019

2019/01 – Transnational Institute (TNI); research paper; Author(s): Ann Pettifor et al.

Despite causing the worst financial crisis in decades, the financial sector emerged even stronger. The Transnational Institute's eighth flagship State of Power report examines through essays and infographics the varied dimensions and dynamics of financial power, and how popular movements might regain control over money and finance. In addition, it includes six compelling infographics that tell you everything you need to know about financial power. Who controls banks? Investment Funds? Where are they based? How is power concentrated? What difference does this make to corporations in general? How do banks influence public policy? How do financial institutions remain impune? What alternatives are there.

continue: State of Power 2019 - Finance (external link)

Continental drifts in a multipolar world - Challenges for Africa-Europe relations in 2019

17 Jan 2019

2019/01 – European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM); research paper; Author(s): Alexei Jones; Lidet Tadesse Shiferaw; Philomena Apiko

This year's ECDPM challenge paper analyses the institutional and political processes and dynamics that will influence the ability of the African Union and EU to work together on issues of common concern in a spirit of partnership between equals. In addition, it identifies windows of opportunities to revamp the EU-Africa partnership in 2019. This paper examines some of those and looks ahead at what to expect in the coming year. We pay particular attention to converging and diverging interests, across member states, between the member states and their respective continental organisations – the EU and the African Union, and between the two continents themselves.

continue: Continental drifts in a multipolar world - Challenges for Africa-Europe relations in 2019 (external link)

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