Overcoming Stagnation in Aid-Dependent Countries
Nicolas van de Walle
In this book, Nicolas Van de Walle identifies 26 countries that are extremely poor and grew little if at all in the 1990s. His sample excludes North Korea and countries where civil war explains some of their failure to grow (Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tajikistan and others). The 26 countries have limited infrastructure and human capital and the small size of their markets deter private savings and investment. Aid was meant to help overcome these problems, and these countries received a lot. Yet they have failed to grow. What is wrong? Is foreign aid a solution or part of the problem? What changes might make aid more effective? Given these countries require the financial and technical resources of the West, why haven't aid programs made a difference? Van de Walle blames their economic failure mostly on the venality and incompetence of their political leadership. He analyzes the contradictions and tensions faced by the aid community in poorly run countries, providing a sobering analysis of the perverse effects of aid where the politics is all wrong. Too often, resources provided by foreign aid keep the wrong government in office, and undermine adoption of economic as well as political reforms. Bad government combined with aid, in short, hurts poor countries – and particularly the poorest people in those countries. Despite good intentions, little progress has been made in implementing announced "reforms" of the aid business itself. A constituency for reform is lacking, in the donor countries and in the recipient countries, where those in power benefit from the status quo.
- Format: Paperback
- ISBN: 9781933286013
- Publication Date: Mar 2005
- Availability: In Stock - Despatched Within 5-7 Working Days
Short of the Goal
Nancy Birdsall
Failed states are at greatest risk for collapse and pose an urgent threat to international security. Yet, ironically, new U.S. foreign assistance programs such as the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) routinely bypass these poorly performing countries, while providing increased aid to so-called good performers. This volume provides a lucid account of failed states that are ineligible for this new assistance, thus residing "on the other side of the MCA." The first part analyzes U.S. policy toward the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Indonesia, Yemen, Myanmar, and Central America in order to examine the fundamental causes of poor performance. The second part examines the role of specific U.S. policy instruments in building state capacity to prevent deterioration and collapse. Uncovering one of the most recognizable, yet poorly understood, trends in the developing world, Short of the Goal sets an important agenda for increased American engagement with failed states to promote both development and security in the developing world.
- Format: Paperback
- ISBN: 9781933286051
- Publication Date: May 2006
- Availability: In Stock - Despatched Within 5-7 Working Days
Inexcusable Absence
Maureen A. Lewis
Girls' education, indisputably crucial to development, has received a lot of attention--but surprisingly little hardheaded analysis to inform practical policy solutions. In Inexcusable Absence, Maureen Lewis and Marlaine Lockheed propose new strategies for reaching the 70 percent of out-of-school girls who are "doubly disadvantaged" by their ethnicity, language, or other factors. The book will be an important tool for policymakers, informing interventions that can make a profound impact on the lives of the 60 million out-of-school girls.
- Format: Paperback
- ISBN: 9781933286143
- Publication Date: Dec 2006
- Availability: In Stock - Despatched Within 5-7 Working Days
Fair Growth
Nancy Birdsall
Until recently, students of development have put much more energy into understanding the causes and consequences of absolute poverty than of inequality. But globalization—with its new opportunities for winners and losers, and its new insecurities and competitive pressures—is changing that. Nowhere is the issue of inequality more worrying than in Latin America, the setting for many of the world's most unequal societies. This book presents a dozen ideas or "tools" meant to make life in Latin America more equitable and fair for the great majority of its people. It suggests policies and programs for making tax structures more progressive; giving small businesses a chance; protecting labor mobility and workers' rights; tackling corruption head on; and raising the levels of quality, efficiency, and equity of the education systems. Change and reform in the direction of greater fairness will require not only political leadership and technical know-how on the part of government officials and legislators, but support and input from the progressive business community, the increasingly effective and vocal civil society, and students and intellectuals.
- Format: Paperback
- ISBN: 9781933286167
- Publication Date: Jan 2008
- Availability: Temporarily out of stock: Usually despatched in 14-18 days
Exclusion, Gender and Education
Maureen A. Lewis
Girls have achieved remarkable increases in primary schooling over the past decade, yet millions are still not in school. In their previous book, Inexcusable Absence, Maureen A. Lewis and Marlaine E. Lockheed reported the startling new finding that nearly threequarters of the girls who are not in school belong to ethnic, religious, linguistic, racial, or other minorities. In this companion volume, they further analyze the determinants of school enrollment, completion, and learning in seven countries: the highly heterogeneous populations of Laos, China, Pakistan, India, and Guatemala and the homogeneous populations of Bangladesh and Tunisia. The authors find that in ethnically and linguistically diverse populations, minority groups—minority girls in particular— lag significantly behind the majority population in school attendance, while highly homogeneous populations like Bangladesh and Tunisia have successfully integrated girls into school on a par with boys. By increasing understanding about the major impediments to universal primary education, Exclusion, Gender and Education provides valuable new knowledge to those who are working to bring gender equity to the education systems of poor countries.
- Format: Paperback
- ISBN: 9781933286228
- Publication Date: Oct 2007
- Availability: In Stock - Despatched Within 5-7 Working Days
Performance Incentives for Global Health
Rena Eichler
This volume demonstrates how incentives can improve the delivery and use of health services in low- and middle-income countries. The authors describe the rationale for introducing incentives tied to achievement of specific health-related targets, and they provide clear guidance about designing, implementing, and evaluating programs that provide incentives to health care providers and patients. A set of case studies focuses on recent uses of incentives addressing a range of health conditions in diverse countries. In particular, these studies emphasize how explicit incentives can be used to strengthen weak health systems.The book will be of use to policymakers and program managers in both developing countries and the donor community interested in improving health outcomes through the strategic use of performance-based incentives.
- Format: Paperback
- ISBN: 9781933286297
- Publication Date: Apr 2009
- Availability: In Stock - Despatched Within 5-7 Working Days
Beyond Lending
Guillermo Perry
When he began this book in early 2008, Guillermo Perry argued that developing countries remained highly vulnerable to external risks such as commodity price declines, capital flow reversals, and natural disasters. The economic crisis that has since ensued confirmed Perry's analysis. It has also made his proposal more important than ever: multilateral development banks (MDBs) should move beyond lending to provide innovative risk-management tools for developing countries to manage volatility. The risk that MDBs will fall into complacency as the short-term demand for traditional loans increases during the crisis should not deter innovations to ensure long-term stability.Contents1. Causes and Consequences of High Volatility in Developing Countries2. The Role of Financial Insurance and Hedging3. Dealing with Liquidity Shocks and the Procyclicality of Private Capital Flows4. Dealing with Currency Risks5. Dealing with Commodity Price, Terms of Trade, and Output Risks6. Dealing with Natural Disaster Risks7. Why Multilateral Development Bank Practices Are So Far from Their Potential8. An Agenda Going Forward
- Format: Paperback
- ISBN: 9781933286327
- Publication Date: May 2009
- Availability: In Stock - Despatched Within 5-7 Working Days
Due Diligence
David Roodman
The idea that small loans can help poor families build businesses and exit poverty has blossomed into a global movement. The concept has captured the public imagination, drawn in billions of dollars, reached millions of customers, and garnered a Nobel Prize. Radical in its suggestion that the poor are creditworthy and conservative in its insistence on individual accountability, the idea has expanded beyond credit into savings, insurance, and money transfers, earning the name microfinance. But is it the boon so many think it is?Readers of David Roodman's openbook blog will immediately recognize his thorough, straightforward, and trenchant analysis. Due Diligence, written entirely in public with input from readers, probes the truth about microfinance to guide governments, foundations, investors, and private citizens who support financial services for poor people. In particular, it explains the need to deemphasize microcredit in favor of other financial services for the poor.
- Format: Paperback
- ISBN: 9781933286488
- Publication Date: Dec 2011
- Availability: Temporarily out of stock: Usually despatched in 14-18 days
Emerging Africa
Steven Radelet
Emerging Africa describes the too-often-overlooked positive changes that have taken place in much of Africa since the mid-1990s. In 17 countries, five fundamental and sustained breakthroughs are making old assumptions increasingly untenable:• The rise of democracy brought on by the end of the Cold War and apartheid• Stronger economic management• The end of the debt crisis and a more constructive relationship with the international community• The introduction of new technologies, especially mobile phones and the Internet• The emergence of a new generation of leaders.With these significant changes, the countries of emerging Africa seem poised to lead the continent out of the conflict, stagnation, and dictatorships of the past. The countries discussed in the book are Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Ethiopia, Ghana, Lesotho, Mali Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, São Tomé and Principe, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.
- Format: Paperback
- ISBN: 9781933286518
- Publication Date: Sep 2010
- Availability: In Stock - Despatched Within 5-7 Working Days
Cash on Delivery
Nancy Birdsall
Foreign aid has no shortage of critics. Some argue that it undermines development and inherently does more harm than good; others insist that aid must be seriously reformed to work properly. Cash on Delivery (COD) Aid proposes serious reform to make aid work well by forcing accountability, aligning the objectives of funders and recipients, and sharing information about what works.Public and private aid can improve lives in poor countries, but the willingness of taxpayers and private funders to finance aid programs depends more than ever on showing results. COD Aid is a funding mechanism that hinges on results. At its core is a contract between funders and recipients that stipulates a fixed payment for each unit of confirmed progress toward an agreed-upon goal. Once the contract is struck, the funder takes a hands-off approach, allowing the recipient the freedom and responsibility to achieve the goal on its own. Payment is made only after progress toward the goal is independently verified by a third party. At all steps, a COD Aid program is remarkably transparent: the contract, the amount of progress made, and the payment are disseminated publicly to highlight the credibility of the arrangement and improve accountability to the public. COD Aid is a new approach to foreign aid, but one that complements other aid programs and would ultimately encourage funders and recipients to use existing resources more efficiently.Cash On Delivery Aid: A New Approach to Foreign Aid explains the approach in detail and investigates its application in one sector: education. More specifically, the authors show how foreign aid agencies could use COD Aid to help developing countries achieve universal primary school education. The example illustrates how to deal with potential challenges of the approach—challenges that are no greater than those of traditional aid—and includes model term sheets for contracts that could be used for any COD Aid agreement.
- Format: Paperback
- ISBN: 9781933286600
- Publication Date: Apr 2011
- Availability: In Stock - Despatched Within 5-7 Working Days
Combatting Corruption in the Commonwealth Caribbean
Roger Koranteng
Combatting Corruption in the Commonwealth Caribbean, has been published by the Commonwealth Secretariat to highlight the ways in which six Commonwealth Caribbean countries have made significant progress in combatting corruption. The Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines.
- Format: Paperback
- ISBN: 9781848599970
- Publication Date: Jun 2022
- Availability: In Stock - Despatched Within 5 Working Days
The CARIFORUM and Pacific ACP Economic Partnership Agreements
Christopher Stevens
A report on the CARIFORUM and Pacific ACP Economic Partnership Agreements that analyses the detailed implications for the economies of the countries involved of commitments signed or initialled, including an indication of the broad country and region-wide effects.
- Format: Paperback
- ISBN: 9781849290005
- Publication Date: Feb 2009
- Availability: Temporarily out of stock: Usually despatched in 14-18 days
Stop Vulture Fund Lawsuits
Devi Sookun
This handbook distils the key lessons on best practice in negotiating loan agreements, and responding to the activities of vulture funds - funds that buy up the debt of sovereign countries at a discount in the hope of making significant profit - for the benefit of all government officials who may have to deal with these issues.
- Format: Paperback
- ISBN: 9781849290081
- Publication Date: Jul 2010
- Availability: In Stock - Despatched Within 5 Working Days
Without Prejudice
Meena Shivdas
CEDAW - the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women - is a powerful international human rights instrument that reflects a global determination to achieve gender equality. This book looks at the cultural and legal challenges relating to the implementation of CEDAW, and the individual approaches adopted.
- Format: Paperback
- ISBN: 9781849290135
- Publication Date: Jun 2010
- Availability: In Stock - Despatched Within 5 Working Days
Fair Trade for Teachers
James Keevy
International teacher migration poses a wide range of challenges to the recognition and transferability of teacher qualifications across borders. This study aims to enhance recognition of teacher qualifications across borders and between the member countries of the Commonwealth.
- Format: Paperback
- ISBN: 9781849290142
- Publication Date: Feb 2010
- Availability: In Stock - Despatched Within 5 Working Days
Commonwealth Teacher Qualifications Comparability Table
James Keevy
Includes the comparability tables that offer country-country analysis of primary and secondary teacher qualifications offered in 35 Commonwealth countries.
- Format: Paperback
- ISBN: 9781849290159
- Publication Date: Feb 2010
- Availability: In Stock - Despatched Within 5 Working Days
Who Cares?
Marilyn Waring
At the centre of the HIV/AIDS response are the 12 million people who need care and treatment. Yet their carers are often invisible to the system that relies on them. Focusing on the carer directs assistance where it is most effective and most needed, will respect human rights, and will help achieve the millennium development goals in health.
- Format: Paperback
- ISBN: 9781849290197
- Publication Date: Oct 2011
- Availability: In Stock - Despatched Within 5 Working Days
Implementing a National Export Strategy
Isaac Njoroge
This handbook explains how the Commonwealth Secretariat helps countries develop national export strategies with a clear purpose, strategies that are action-oriented, and which recognise the interrelationship between technological, economic, social, political and cultural aspects of society.
- Format: Paperback
- ISBN: 9781849290210
- Publication Date: Jul 2010
- Availability: Temporarily out of stock: Usually despatched in 14-18 days
The Global Financial Crisis and Trade Prospects in Small States
Massimiliano Calì
This is the first study to look at the trade effects on small states of the current global slowdown. Export industries in these countries have been affected at least as much as those of other developing countries. The authors suggest a number of policy responses for governments of small states which may help to address the issues that arise.
- Format: Paperback
- ISBN: 9781849290265
- Publication Date: Jun 2010
- Availability: In Stock - Despatched Within 5 Working Days
Transforming Society through the Extractive Industries
Daniel Dumas
Illustrated by case studies of good practice from across the Commonwealth, this book will help government decision-makers ensure that the extractive industries (dealing with the extraction of non-renewable natural resources - notably oil, gas and minerals) transform society for the better, while minimising the risk of instability and conflict.
- Format: Paperback
- ISBN: 9781849290272
- Publication Date: Oct 2010
- Availability: Temporarily out of stock: Usually despatched in 14-18 days