'The paper argues that successful service delivery to poor people requires that clients have voice and influence in the process of service design and delivery. It presents methods - such as participatory planning and gender budgeting - to strengthen the voice of poor women, and help ensure that both women's and men's concerns and priorities are taken into account. But it also recognises that tools and training are not enough; if women's perspectives on poverty reduction priorities disappear once more...

'Developing-country governments desperately need more long-term and predictable aid, given through their budgets, to finance the expansion of health care, education, and other vital social services. The European Commission (EC) is one of the biggest donors providing this kind of essential budget support, and has innovative plans to further improve and increase this aid. European Union (EU) member states must support these ambitious plans. The EC in turn must do more to improve on this good start more...

'High food prices have brought into sharp focus an existing global food crisis that affects almost one billion people. Lasting solutions to the problem include adequate investment in agriculture, fairer trade, the redistribution of resources, and action on climate change.

But hungry people cannot be fed on the hope of long-term solutions. Governments, supported by aid agencies and donors, must act now to provide systematic emergency assistance and longer-term support to those in need, and to more...

'This paper reflects on the commission’s findings in relation to statistics from a variety of sources including the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and the Economist. It highlights the countries in the region most at risk from the economic crisis, documenting changes in their economic growth, trade and financial sectors, and unemployment levels. It explores what the policy implications are for the region’s governments responding to the crisis and the wider implications for donors.'

'International humanitarian aid provides relief to tens of millions of people each year: in 2007 to more than 43 million people through UN humanitarian appeals alone. However, it is also often too little, too late, and unpredictable, or inappropriate to the needs of communities, including specific groups such as women and girls. The UN-led reforms since 2005 to improve humanitarian aid have begun – but only begun – to make a difference to this variable performance.

Oxfam International pub more...

'In this sense, the purpose of this mid-term evaluation report is to take stock of Joint Donor Team (JDT’S) progress against the above objectives. The paper firstly notes that JDT has strengthened donor harmonisation between UN, World Bank and bilateral agencies, through its involvement in the Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) and other pooled funds. In addition, JDT has become a key intermediator for the government, multilateral agencies, and International NGOs in the region over the years. Howev more...

There are growing signs that the global economic crisis has reached both poor countries and poor people in those countries. In February, for example, the World Bank’s forecast for Africa’s growth in 2009 was revised downward from 6.8 percent to 3.5 percent. Another World Bank document suggests that the crisis has pushed more than 50 million people below the $1.25 per day poverty line. This type of evidence has convinced many world leaders that a problem exists: U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki- more...

The global financial crisis started in developed countries, but the global recession which has followed is having a wide-spread impact on developing countries. By the end of this year, developing countries are expected to lose incomes of at least US $750 billion. In sub-Saharan Africa, the figure is over US $50bn. The consequence is likely to be rising unemployment, poverty and hunger: an extra 50 million people trapped in absolute poverty, with the number expected to rise to 90 million and the more...

'This journal article presents a framework for assessing the effectiveness of education aid in fragile states which is derived from three key aspects of aid effectiveness identified in the Principles for Good International Engagement in Fragile States - coordination, state building, and ‘do no harm’.'

'The development finance system is becoming increasingly complex. New actors and instruments are being created with enormous speed and ingenuity. Yet the multilateral development banks still account for a large share of the public resources used for development finance. Of these, the World Bank and the three regional development banks (RDBs) – the Asian Development Bank (AsDB), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) – play the most important roles.'