Catalytic technical assistance can improve the underlying market conditions for private investment in sustainable development. Continue reading How catalytic technical assistance can help unlock development finance
The Third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC-3) made a clear case for putting the ocean at the centre of the sustainable development agenda. While this should be celebrated, much work remains to translate UNOC-3’s achievements into real accomplishments. Continue reading The Third UN Ocean Conference: Reflections and the road ahead
By Harald Hirschhofer and Ugo Panizza
At COP29 in November, negotiators agreed to triple annual financing for developing countries from USD 100 billion to USD 300 billion by 2035. The challenge is that even if this ambitious target is met— a big “if” given the declining political commitment to official development assistance (ODA)—it will still fall short of the resources needed to scale up climate and SDG financing while ensuring debt sustainability.
Continue reading “To make ODA fit for the future, focus on currency risk “
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?”
By Shameran Abed, Executive Director, BRAC International and Joanne Carter, Executive Director, RESULTS/RESULTS Educational Fund
The World Bank is evolving, but can it widen its mandate without losing focus on ending extreme poverty?
Cascading crises that include COVID-19, the Ukraine war, rising inflation, and climate extremes are making the fight against poverty ever more complex. Presented with this shifting landscape, we must support the World Bank’s efforts to evolve to better support governments in driving sustainable development.
However, in a world where lack of prioritisation over recent years has already led to a slowing of poverty reduction, the Bank must ensure its evolutions do not result in losing further momentum towards this goal.
Continue reading “Opinion: The World Bank’s Evolution Is a Chance to Accelerate the End of Extreme Poverty”
Par María del Pilar Garrido Gonzalo, Directrice de la coopération pour le développement à l’OCDE
Le récent sommet de Paris pour un Nouveau Pacte Financier Mondial a tourné une page de la coopération pour le développement écrite en 1944 à Bretton Woods. Créés alors, la Banque internationale pour la reconstruction et le développement (BIRD) et le Fonds monétaire international (FMI) avaient un champ d’action limité pour un monde qui comptait moins d’une centaine de pays indépendants. Les priorités étaient la reconstruction de l’Europe et l’équilibre des balances de paiements, comme en témoigne le prêt pionnier de la BIRD à la France. Depuis, le monde a considérablement évolué, avec plus de 150 pays aspirant au statut de pays à revenu élevé, plus de 650 millions de personnes en situation d’extrême pauvreté, et des défis urgents liés au changement climatique et à la perte de biodiversité.
Continue reading “Une ambition renouvelée pour la coopération pour le développement à l’OCDE”
By María del Pilar Garrido Gonzalo, Director, Development Co-operation directorate, OECD
The recent Paris Summit for a New Global Financing Pact turned a page of the development co-operation history that was written in Bretton Woods in 1944. Back then, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were founded with a limited scope, catering to a world of fewer than a hundred independent countries. The focus was on Europe’s reconstruction and balance of payments, illustrated by France’s pioneering IBRD loan. However, the landscape has drastically changed, with over 150 countries striving for high-income status, more than 650 million people in extreme poverty, and urgent challenges stemming from climate change and biodiversity loss.
Continue reading “A renewed ambition for development co-operation at the OECD”
By Gijs de Vries, Visiting Senior Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE); former member of the Dutch Government and former board member of the European Cultural Foundation
In 2015, world leaders pledged to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. They also promised to eradicate poverty and hunger, to secure peace and prosperity, to protect the planet, and to leave no-one behind. Today, both the Paris agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals are off-track and their time is running out. Our planet is at risk and public trust in governments is fraying. Governments must aim higher, with greater ambition, courage, and imagination. Fresh thinking is needed, along with new, innovative public-private partnerships. It is time for these partnerships to be extended to the cultural and creative sectors.
Continue reading “The SDGs require a stronger role for culture in development”
By Filippo Barbera, Professor of Economic Sociology at University of Turin and member of Forum on Inequality and Diversity
In 53 countries of the world, mountainous areas cover more than 50% of national surface, in another 46, they cover between 25% and 50%. And in many other countries they play key roles, like serving as water reserves. In agriculture, modernisation has whittled away at the scale of assets held by individual farmers or local communities, such as land, labour and local knowledge. The voices of marginal mountain farmers have not been able to find space in this process. However, by combining traditional methods with modern tools and techniques, technology that is place-based and socially embedded can help meet mountain farmers’ needs and make governance more inclusive of mountain areas.
Continue reading “In with the old and with the new: Meeting mountain farmers’ technological needs”
By Paola Simonetti, Deputy Director, Economic and Social Policy Department, ITUC
“People are no longer coming to the kiosk to buy tea since the pandemic outbreak started. I am the breadwinner of a family of nine. On many days I don’t earn a single shilling and return home empty handed”. This is the story of Jamila, a tea kiosk holder in Mogadishu, Somalia. Her story is also the story of around 2 billion informal workers worldwide who have been left to cope with the crisis on their own.
Continue reading “A new social contract for a job-rich recovery”