Author: Development Matters

green finance, multilateral development finance report
Development finance, ODA, Reviving multilateralism

Reforming multilateral development co-operation in a changing world

How can we build a more effective multilateral development system to tackle global challenges? This question was central to the OECD Multilateral Development Finance Week (23-29 September 2024), which brought together experts from 14 different countries to discuss how multilateral organisations can adapt to new mandates and the changes in global development finance approaches. Continue reading Reforming multilateral development co-operation in a changing world

Development Matters
Africa, Climate change, Natural Resources

Africa’s Oil Shock: Are the Bretton Woods Institutions ready? 

By Cleo Rose-Innes, Independent Advisor and Analyst  

Reaching net-zero fossil fuel emissions by 2050 appears increasingly achievable. Investments in clean energy continue to grow, and the International Energy Agency and others predict that fossil fuel consumption will be in permanent decline within the next five years.  

While this is good news for the planet and all those coping with climate change, it will reshape many economies, especially large African countries dependent on fossil fuels for fiscal and export revenue. 

Continue reading “Africa’s Oil Shock: Are the Bretton Woods Institutions ready? “
Development Matters
Africa, Building resilience, Education, Gender, Women and Girls

Is Africa’s digital revolution leaving women behind? 

By Efe Ukala, Founder of ImpactHER 

As Africa stands on the cusp of a digital revolution, a stark reality emerges: women and girls are being left behind. As the sun rises over Mbiri, Nigeria, Nkem is already awake in her family’s modest home on the outskirts of town. Nkem, 22, is preparing for her weekly ritual – a 90-minute walk to the city centre where she can access the Internet at a local café because she lacks a laptop, and her phone is not Internet-enabled. This journey, costing her nearly a day’s wages for just two hours online, exemplifies the digital divide facing millions of African women. 

Continue reading “Is Africa’s digital revolution leaving women behind? “
Development Matters
Gender, Women and Girls

Exploring Masculinities: Are Outdated Norms Holding Us Back?

By Estelle Loiseau and Carolin Beck, Policy analysts, OECD Development Centre.

What does it mean to be a “real” man? This complex question opens up a conversation about masculinities: those shared beliefs about how men – and women – should behave, often deeply ingrained within societies. These notions vary over time, place, and cultures, and can either support gender equality or uphold patriarchal norms that limit women’s rights and opportunities and restrict the potential of men and women alike.

Continue reading “Exploring Masculinities: Are Outdated Norms Holding Us Back?”
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Africa, Building resilience

What’s Ailing Start-up Tech Firms in Africa?

By Anzetse Were, Senior Economist and Green Finance Advisor at FSD Kenya

Recently headlines in Africa have been filled with African tech companies announcing that they are closing, filing for bankruptcy, entering into administration, implementing massive lay-offs and/or substantially cutting back their operations. Most of these companies were once regarded as a new dawn of entrepreneurship from the continent and examples of African companies that would not only become leaders in Africa, but also global leaders providing innovation solutions to global challenges.

Continue reading “What’s Ailing Start-up Tech Firms in Africa?”
Development Matters
climate mitigation investment concept
Green transition

The First Trillion is the Hardest: How to Raise the Necessary Funds for Poor Countries’ Climate Mitigation Investments

By Dr Moritz Kraemer, Chief Economist and Head of Research at LBBW Bank and Senior Fellow at the Centre for Sustainable Finance at SOAS, University of London and Dr Ulrich Volz, Professor of Economics and Director of the Centre for Sustainable Finance at SOAS, University of London and Senior Research Fellow at the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).

Many developing countries are struggling under a high sovereign debt burden and rising interest rates that leave little fiscal space to meet their Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Climate Accord.

While the 80 economies designated by the World Bank as low-income countries (LICs) or lower-middle-income countries (LMICs) – home to over half the world population –contributed just over 17% of total world carbon emissions in 2021, and much less in terms of historical emissions, global population growth will be entirely driven by these countries in the coming decades. Their future contribution to global emissions is set to grow substantially if the foundations for low-carbon development pathways are not put in place today.

Continue reading “The First Trillion is the Hardest: How to Raise the Necessary Funds for Poor Countries’ Climate Mitigation Investments”
Development Matters
SDG 10 reduce inequalities
Building resilience, SDGs

Reducing inequalities: how should we measure and monitor SDG Goal 10?

By Francesco Savoia, Research Fellow, Università degli Studi di Milano, Ioannis Bournakis, Associate professor, SKEMA Business School, Mona Said, Professor, The American University in Cairo, and Antonio Savoia, Reader, University of Manchester; Nonresident Senior Fellow, UNU-WIDER

The inclusion of income redistribution in the UN Sustainable Development Goals, as part of SDG Goal 10 aiming to reduce inequality within and among countries, reflects an increasing realisation that addressing inequalities is intrinsically important, as well as instrumental to human development and to a number of other development outcomes through a variety of channels. But how should we measure and monitor progress in reducing inequalities? Here we argue that looking at the sub-national level may be important.

Continue reading “Reducing inequalities: how should we measure and monitor SDG Goal 10?”
Development Matters
Knowledge and innovation are the currency of progress - LDCs cannot afford to lag behind
Building resilience

Knowledge and innovation are the currency of progress – LDCs cannot afford to lag behind

By Paul Akiwumi, Director, Division for Africa, LDCs and Special Programmes, UNCTAD

In an increasingly complex global economy, knowledge can be a silver bullet. Technology-driven innovation creates new products, tasks, professions, and economic activities. However, for developing countries, capturing the gains of innovation may not be automatic.

Continue reading “Knowledge and innovation are the currency of progress – LDCs cannot afford to lag behind”
Development Matters
Remittances diaspora climate change development matters
Français, Green transition, New social contract

Diasporas, des acteurs invisibles de l’action climatique

Par Jason Gagnon, chef d’unité et économiste principal, Centre de développement de l’OCDE, et David Khoudour, conseiller mondial en mobilité humaine, PNUD

(This blog is also available in English)

Les diasporas jouent un rôle précieux dans la lutte contre les vulnérabilités climatiques dans les pays d’origine

Il est bien connu que les transferts de fonds contribuent de manière significative aux économies des pays à revenu faible ou intermédiaire : ils représentent en moyenne plus de 5 % de leur PIB. Ce que l’on sait moins, en revanche, c’est que l’aide apportée par les communautés à l’étranger est quatre fois plus importante dans les pays frappés par des catastrophes liées au changement climatique : en Haïti, au Honduras ou au Népal, les transferts de fonds représentent plus de 20 % du PIB.

Continue reading “Diasporas, des acteurs invisibles de l’action climatique”
Development Matters