Author: Development Matters

forced displacement illustration
New social contract

The potential of social protection for forcibly displaced people

By Jason Gagnon, Head of Unit, Migration and Skills, OECD Development Centre & Jens Hesemann, Senior Policy Advisor, OECD Development Co-operation Directorate/GPP, Crisis and Fragility Team

There are over 100 million forcibly displaced people in the world today – more than ever before. Armed conflicts, like the one in Ukraine, continue to drive more people away from their homes, with most displaced people remaining in limbo for a long time. Low- and middle- income countries (LMICs) host over 80% of the world’s refugees and IDPs. With the right policies in host countries and supportive development co-operation, there is an opportunity to achieve pragmatic interim solutions for the displaced. This can be a win-win for the host communities and displaced populations alike, where socio-economic integration yields multiple benefits.

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Development Matters
Ethiopian Woman chopping wood nearby Wenchi Crater Lake, Ethiopia
Gender, Women and Girls, New social contract

How Graduation can complement social protection for women in extreme poverty

By Isabel Whisson, Senior Manager, BRAC Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative and Bill Abrams, Senior Advisor, Leadership Collaborative to End Ultra-Poverty

Successive crises including COVID-19, climate change, conflicts, and the emerging global food crisis will force 75 to 95 million more people into extreme poverty this year compared to pre-pandemic estimates, according to the World Bank. With 700 million people already living in extreme poverty today (back to 2018 levels), people and societies urgently need social protection to cope with economic shocks.  

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Development Matters
Green transition

Working together on global supply chains can help prevent climate disaster

By Gerd Müller, Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) [1]

Global production networks provide us with a range of opportunities to accelerate transitioning to a net-zero world.

The science is clear: to prevent a global climate disaster, we have to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45% relative to 2010 levels by 2030. We also need to reach net-zero by 2050.

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Development Matters
Africa, New social contract

How women African entrepreneurs can overcome the “beauty pageant problem”

By Miishe Addy, co-Founder and CEO of Jetstream Africa, an e-logistics startup building digital infrastructure for African supply chains.

Growing up, I thought that the women in my family were remarkable. They had strong entrepreneurial instincts, and built businesses from scratch using only their intellect and the resources around them. My eldest aunt founded a thriving restaurant, spun off a catering business, and turned her car into a taxi service while she was at work. Her younger sister founded a crèche and scaled it up to a 200-student primary and secondary school. My great-grandmother, born in the late 1800s, was a self-made businesswoman in Accra and the breadwinner for her family.

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Development Matters
Africa, New social contract

Why it is time to invest in African entrepreneurs

By Dr. Sangu J. Delle, Chief Executive Officer, CarePoint and Executive Chairman, Golden Palm Investments Corporation

Africa is the world’s youngest continent, with a median age of 19.7 years. The size of the African population will grow from 1.3 billion people today to 2.5 billion in 2050, when 1 in 4 people will be African. Many scholars have debated whether these projections foretell a demographic dividend or a demographic disaster. The answer will lie in how the continent handles myriad challenges, including climate change, energy poverty, the food crisis, education, healthcare, conflicts and the continent’s massive infrastructure gap.

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Development Matters
Man preparing bananas to shipment
Africa, Building resilience

Why stronger regional value chains can help Africa rebound from economic shocks

By Yeo Dossina, Head of Economic Policy and Research, African Union Commission, Arthur Minsat, Head of the OECD Development Centre’s Unit for Africa, Europe and Middle East and Rodrigo Deiana, Consultant, OECD Development Centre

Africa’s value chains hold the key to unlocking its productivity, deepening its economic integration, and strengthening its resilience to shocks. Yet regional value chains accounted for just 2.7% of Africa’s total value chain participation in 2019, compared to 26.4% in Latin America and the Caribbean and 42.9% in developing Asia according to the latest edition of Africa’s Development Dynamics, a joint report by the African Union Commission and the OECD Development Centre.

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Latin-America green low carbon transition
Green transition, Latin America and the Caribbean

Low-carbon transition in Latin America: what are the risks and the main constraints?

By AFD economists Guilherme Magacho, Antoine Godin, Marion Hémar and Emmanuelle Mansart Monat

A hundred and eighteen billion US dollars. This amount, which represents 2.7% of the GDP of Latin America and the Caribbean, is the annual investment in “renewable power generation, energy efficiencies, electrification of heat, transportation, and power grids” the region needs to align with the Paris Agreement’s objective on climate change. To meet this target, countries in the region are adopting policies and fostering technological changes that are generating rapid structural change across the world.

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Development Matters
Making innovation work for the climate-gender nexus
Green transition

Making innovation work for the climate-gender nexus

By Parnika Jhunjhunwala, Junior Innovation Specialist and Benjamin Kumpf, Head of OECD Innovation for Development Facility, Development Co-operation Directorate, OECD

Climate change and biodiversity loss have devastating effects on the planet and on people, especially women and girls. More women die prematurely than men due to environmental degradation. Women face greater economic insecurity due to their reliance on threatened natural resources. And more women than men are displaced because of climate change. Increasingly, governments, development co-operation providers and international organisations are recognising this climate-gender nexus. The OECD Development Assistance Committee’s (DAC) new declaration on climate recognises the “urgent need to support investments in adaptation and resilience that are nature positive, locally-led, inclusive, transparent and gender-responsive”.

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Transformative change for gender equality
New social contract

What is transformative change for gender equality and how do we achieve it?

By Jenny Hedman, Policy Analyst, Lisa Williams, Gender Team Lead and Laura McDonald, Policy Analyst, Development Co-operation Directorate, OECD

Prioritising gender equality in development is crucial to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. But to make sure the impacts of efforts are truly sustainable requires that imbalances in power relations between men and women are addressed, as well as the visible and invisible structures and norms that uphold these inequalities. This is what we call transformative change.

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Asia’s rising middle classes champions for more inclusive societies
Asia, New social contract

Are Asia’s rising middle classes champions for more inclusive societies?

By Antoine Bonnet, Junior Economist & Alexandre Kolev, Head of Unit, Social Cohesion, OECD Development Centre

Wealthier middle classes are emerging across Asia. While they are highly heterogeneous across the region, their improved economic status could translate into greater ability to engage in public life, exercise voice, and influence decision-making. However, would these middle classes, if truly empowered, push for a policy agenda that is well aligned with the interests of the more fragile communities? Our recent research suggests this cannot be taken for granted.

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