'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...

Many people are depressed about the state of global development, and especially about the failures of development in Africa. The per capita GDP of rich countries has diverged more and more from that of poor nations and it has become clear that it is hard to raise economic growth rates. However, there is good news: the Malthusian trap of population exceeding carrying capacity seems to have been avoided globally, and health and education status are improving faster than income. This work holds tha more...

This Newsletter shares information on key ACP-EU programmes and events from Brussels relevant to agriculture and rural development in ACP countries.

Author Esther Schüring -
Published by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH, May 2009 (32 pp. 542 kB)

Evidence shows that social cash transfers (small, regular payments) are a cost-effective tool for helping needy households, promoting health and education and boosting local economies – at least, in middle- and high-income countries.

Would they work in a country with few resources? Beginning in 2004, Zambia’s Ministry of Community Development and Social Se 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...

The paper aims to inform the current debate on improving aid effectiveness in the context of the commitments made at the September 2008 High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Accra (Accra HLF) based on the issues of alignment and harmonization of aid that were high on the agenda in Accra, specifically the use of country systems and division of labor. While the views of aid agency representatives are very useful given the focus of the paper on donor behavior. It hones in on how the United State more...

The European Commission released its annual development finance Communication: “Supporting Developing Countries in Coping with the Crisis”. Eurodad has summarized and analysed the main elements on four issues central to our work: aid effectiveness, debt, reform of international financial institutions, and taxation. The EC's annual Communication, based on questionnaires sent to Member States, is a useful, if limited, accountability exercise. It shows that much more needs to be done to implem more...

'The study will assess the system of the monitoring and evaluation of Norwegian development aid to Mozambique, with a particular focus on the system of the verification of its impact on poverty. Specifically, the paper presents a discussion on key issues and concepts about poverty, and contains a discussion about the relevance and accuracy of the current system of accounting for poverty reduction in Norwegian aid to Mozambique. It also discusses alternative systems, in government and among othe more...

'Affected by the financial crisis, the world’s poorest countries are facing a development emergency. Cutbacks in foreign aid and devalued currencies are wiping out aid contributions that supply the world’s poor with basic necessities - food, education, and healthcare. Billions of aid dollars are sitting in Washington, ready for disbursement but hindered by bureaucracy. Homi Kharas outlines steps to accelerate the disbursement of this aid so that poor countries can receive the help they need. more...

This paper examines how the different forms of development finance for low-income countries are likely to be affected by the global financial crisis, principally through reductions in remittances, aid flows and FDI. It argues that the channels of transmission of the crisis for particular countries will not necessarily be obvious ones. Despite initiatives to lower the debt burden for low-income countries over recent years, the crisis will also have consequences for the external debt sustainabilit more...