Group items tagged

The world's poor are disproportionately affected by environmental degradation and lack of access to clean, affordable energy services. Climate change, loss of biodiversity and depletion of natural resources are both national and global issues requiring cooperation among all countries. UNDP works to strengthen national capacity to manage the environment in a sustainable manner while ensuring adequate protection for the poor, by identifying and sharing best practices, providing policy advice and forging partnerships.

'This study examines the impact of small-scale old age allowance, initiated by the government of Bangladesh in 1998, on the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of elderly persons. Beneficiaries have been increased from 0.5 million in 1998 to 1.6 million in 2006, and this is a cross-sectional study conducted in 10 of the 64 districts of Bangladesh. Specifically, the aim of the study is to examine the impact of old age allowance on health-related quality of life based on specific six dimensions: physical, psychological, social, spiritual, economic, environment.'

'Allocating aid through NGOs is traditionally seen as an attractive proposition for donors. This is predicated on the belief that NGOs are 'closer' to poor communities and so are able to make better use of funds. Furthermore commentators highlight that compared to official state aid the allocation of NGO funds are, in principle, less subject to political and commercial interests. However, in reality little is known about where NGO aid is spent, or how well-targeted it actually is. The authors of this paper assert that their study is the 'first comprehensive cross-country analysis of the driving forces of NGO aid'. They surveyed some 60 (of the largest) NGOs from various OECD countries and tested their research against the following hypotheses: * NGO aid is focused on the needy i.e. recipient countries with low per-capita income * NGOs are relatively strongly engaged in countries with weak institutions in order to exploit their comparative advantage of working in "difficult" environments * the preferences of donors affect the allocation of NGO aid * NGOs locate where other NGOs are active, leading to geographical clustering of NGO aid * NGOs are more strongly engaged in countries characterized by similarities with their own organization.'

'This paper argues that mobility and migration have always been an intrinsic part of human development. Migration can be considered as a fundamental capabilities-enhancing freedom itself. However, any meaningful understanding of migration needs to simultaneously analyse agency and structure. Rather than applying dichotomous classifications such as between forced and voluntary migration, it is more appropriate to conceive of a continuum running from low to high constraints under which migration occurs, in which all migrants deal with structural constraints, although to highly varying degrees. Besides being an integral part of human development, mobility also tends to affect the same structural processes of which it is part. Simplistic positive-versus-negative debates on migration and development can be overcome by integrating agency-structure dialectics in the analysis of migration impacts. This paper argues that (i) the degree to which migrants are able to affect structural change is real but limited; (ii) the nature of change in sending and receiving is not pre-determined; and (iii) that in order to enable a more focused and rigorous debate, there is a need to better distinguish and specify different levels and dimensions at which the reciprocal relationship between human mobility and development can be analysed. A critical reading of the empirical literature leads to the conclusion that it would be naïve to think that despite their often considerable benefits for individuals and communities, migration and remittances alone can remove more structural development constraints. Despite their development potential, migrants and remittances can neither be blamed for a lack of development nor be expected to trigger take-off development in generally unattractive investment environments. By increasing selectivity and suffering among migrants, current immigration restrictions have a negative impact on migrants' wellbeing as well as the poverty and inequality reducing pot

Learning for Change in ADB The rapidly changing-and, at times, excessively complex-nature of development work demands diverse competences from aid agencies such as the Asian Development Bank. The learning challenges these present require the ability to work more reflectively in a turbulent practice environment. Learning for Change in ADB broadly defines a learning organization as a collective undertaking, rooted in action, that builds and improves its own practice by consciously and continually devising and developing the means to draw learning from its own (and others') experience. It identifies the 10 challenges that ADB must overcome to develop as a learning organization and specifies practicable next steps to conquer each. It can help deliver the increased development effectiveness that Strategy 2020, ADB's long-term strategic framework for 2008-2020, seeks.

What is 'capacity-building'? Specifically, capacity building encompasses the country's human, scientific, technological, organizational, institutional and resource capabilities. A fundamental goal of capacity building is to enhance the ability to evaluate and address the crucial questions related to policy choices and modes of implementation among development options, based on an understanding of environment potentials and limits and of needs perceived by the people of the country concerned.

'The objective of the Sindh Education Sector Reform Project for Pakistan is to increase school participation, reduce gender and rural/urban disparities in schooling outcomes, increase retention and transition, and improve quality. The key potential environmental and safety issues related to the program include: (i) liquid and solid wastes generated during school construction and operation; (ii) lack of adequate measures, both at the design and construction stages, to address the schools´ vulnerabilities to natural disasters (both in new and rehabilitated schools); (iii) drinking water contamination and lack of adequate sanitation facilities; (iv) lack of education programs for children in personal hygiene and safety procedures during emergencies; (v) lack of low-cost renewable power systems in schools located in off-grid areas, resulting in an inadequate learning environment for children (excessive heat and poor lightning), and preventing the use of low-cost water decontamination techniques; and (vi) land acquisition issues.

'The economic turmoil brought about by the financial crisis of 2008, compounded by the impacts of a food crisis and pending climate change, has exacerbated many of the existing development challenges in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). This paper explores the idea that inclusive, sustainable business partnerships hold the potential to address multiple development needs within MENA.'