Author: Development Matters

India Kolkata street. social exchange investment. Development matters
Building resilience

What is India’s Social Stock Exchange and how can it benefit the country?

By Dr R Balasubramaniam, Chairman, SEBI Social Stock Exchange Advisory Committee, India

UNDP estimates that India needs USD 1 trillion per year to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, and has a funding gap of USD 560 billion per year. As the Government alone may not be able to mobilise resources on this scale, it may look to enlist the support of the private sector and High Net Worth Individuals (HNI).  

Social enterprises, development sector organizations, not-for-profits, NGOs and civil society organisations (CSOs) aim to bring about a positive change in society. However, their efforts to convert intent into impact are often constrained by a lack of capital, as well as by lack of sustained access to this capital. Could a social stock exchange (SSE) be the answer?

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Development Matters
emerging markets sustainability ne zero
Green transition

Future-proofing success: Why Emerging Market Companies are Embracing Sustainability

By Nikolaus Lang, Global Leader, The Global Advantage Practice, BCG & Managing Director & Senior Partner; and Burak Tansan, Global Topic Leader ESG in Emerging Markets & Managing Director & Senior Partner at BCG

Embracing sustainability is the key to success for Emerging Market Companies that want to compete on a global stage – both today and into the future. Despite starting at a major disadvantage, selected companies are bridging the gap and finding ways to invest in sustainability from environment to social and governance – without sacrificing growth or profitability.

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Development Matters
Building resilience

Where global public goods meet development aid

By Kerri Elgar, Senior Policy Analyst, Development Co-operation Directorate, OECD

To what extent should development aid budgets contribute to the fight against climate change, to the development of life-saving vaccines, or to support for refugees living in advanced economies?

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Development Matters
Unsafe road
New social contract

Beyond Fatalities: The Hidden Health Burden of Unsafe Roads

By Nneka Henry, Head of the UN Road Safety Fund and Rob McInerney, Chief Executive Officer for the international Road Assessment Programme (iRAP)

Long after the world recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, another health crisis will require urgent attention: the global road safety crisis. While the number of deaths resulting from road crashes stands at an alarming 1.3 million every year, it only scratches the surface of the problem.

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Development Matters
Uzhhorod, Ukraine - February 26, 2022: Ukrainian refugees with things rush to the Slovak border fleeing Russian aggression against Ukraine
New social contract

The elephant in the room: In-donor refugee costs

By Carsten Staur, Development Assistance Committee (DAC) Chair

Why are DAC members reporting part of refugee costs in their own countries as Official Development Assistance (ODA)? A good question. Here’s the answer:

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Development Matters
Fiscal space for development concept
Building resilience

Are we trading away fiscal space for development?

By Devika Dutt, Lecturer in Development Economics at King’s College, London and Kevin P. Gallagher, Director of the Boston University Global Development Policy Center, and Professor of Global Development Policy at Boston University

Developing nations need to mobilise an additional USD 1 trillion per year to meet their shared 2023 development and climate goals, but the need to invest comes precisely at a time when developing countries lack the fiscal space to do so.

What has been driving debt distress and how can governments and international institutions adapt to help?

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Development Matters
Aerial view of Saint-Louis, Senegal. Photo: Getty Images
Africa, New social contract

Migration in African intermediary cities: why multi-stakeholder partnerships are key to inclusive action

By Janina Stürner-Siovitz, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, and Lasse Juhl Morthorst, Research Fellow, The Equal Partnerships Project1, Research on Migration, Displacement and Integration University of Erlangen-Nuremberg

Intermediary cities in Africa are becoming major hubs of mixed migration, but local governments often lack legal mandates and resources to include migration questions in urban planning. Multi-stakeholder partnerships open opportunities for inclusive and context-sensitive urban migration governance.

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Development Matters
media trust environment climate development matters
Building resilience, Green transition

The influence of media on trust in government and climate policies

By Dr. Stephen P. Groff, Governor, National Development Fund, Saudi Arabia, former Vice-President for East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific at the Asian Development Bank, and former Deputy Director of the OECD’s Development Co-operation Directorate

Last year saw historic floods devastate Pakistan, South Asia and West Africa; massive storms pummel the Philippines and southern United States; and droughts, heatwaves and wildfires rage across Europe, China and the western United States.  Despite the extreme weather events that continue to ravage many regions in the world, public support and trust in many OECD government climate-action plans remains disappointingly low.

What role does media coverage play in building or diminishing this trust, and how can we address this moving forward?

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Development Matters
Green bank concept
Green transition

Calling for an International Green Bank

By Hafez Ghanem, Senior Fellow at the Policy Center for the New South, Distinguished Fellow at the Paris School of Economics, Nonresident Fellow at the Brookings Institution, former Vice President of the World Bank [1]

Humanity is losing the climate battle, and existing international institutions are not delivering on essential environmental action points. We urgently need a new international institution whose sole mission is to develop, finance and support the implementation of green projects in the Global South.

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Development Matters
poverty, climate, oda, flood, development, matters
Green transition, Reviving multilateralism

Poverty reduction and climate finance: pieces of the same development puzzle

By Susanna Gable, Deputy Director, Development Policy and Finance, Gates Foundation

Economic growth, poverty reduction, and climate action are deeply interlinked: none can move ahead without the other. So why isn’t more happening?

Our recent report A transition approach to poverty reduction and climate finance – The missing link to implementation from the Global Council on SDG1 points to the lack of ‘transition thinking’ both in policy and financing. It argues that to achieve poverty reduction goals alongside necessary climate actions, we need a just green transition supported by policy and financing that takes the specific development context and level of economic transition of each country into account.

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Development Matters