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Peer Reviewed

Title: A global fund for the health MDGs?
Author: Cometto G; Ooms G; Starrs A; Zeitz P
Source: Lancet. 2009 May 2;373(9674):1500-2.
Abstract: The world is off track to achieve the health-related targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. Maternal mortality has stagnated for two decades, child mortality is not declining fast enough, HIV/AIDS still infects people faster than the pace of antiretroviral treatment roll-out, and inequalities are widening within and across countries. Addressing these crises will require increased funding and more efficient spending. The next Board meetings of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the GAVI Alliance, scheduled for May and June, respectively, present an opportunity to tackle these issues. We propose that the exceptional approach created for the fight against AIDS should be expanded: the entire global health agenda must adopt a rights-based approach, which in some countries requires challenging the model of national financial autonomy. We therefore recommend that the Global Fund and the GAVI Alliance gradually move towards becoming a global fund for all the health MDGs, which will require substantially greater resources to address the broader mandate. As a first step the next Global Fund and GAVI Alliance board meetings should expand the review of their architecture to provide greater support to national health plans, including co-financing non-disease-specific human resources for health. A global fund for the health MDGs would eventually allow the delivery of prevention and treatment services for specific diseases through revamped general health services, reducing transaction costs and streamlining the global health architecture. Such radical, yet rational, action is our best chance of meeting-or at least making significant progress toward-the health-related MDG targets by 2015.
Language: English
Keywords:
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES | RECOMMENDATIONS | EVALUATION | POLICYMAKERS | GOALS | DEVELOPMENT POLICY | HEALTH POLICY | FUNDS | FOREIGN AID | INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION | COORDINATION | WHO | Administrative Personnel | Organization and Administration | Planning | Policy | Political Factors | Sociocultural Factors | Financial Activities | Economic Factors | UN | International Agencies | Organizations
Document Number: 341099

Title: Maternal health: fifth report of Session 2007-08. Volume I. Report, together with formal minutes.
Author: United Kingdom. House of Commons. International Development Committee
Source: London, United Kingdom, Stationery Office, 2008 Mar 2. 71 p. (HC 66-I)
Abstract: Millennium Development Goal 5 (MDG 5), which seeks to reduce by three-quarters the level of maternal mortality by 2015, has seen the least progress of all the MDGs. A key factor in this collective failure has been insufficient political will to drive actions to improve the health of women, both at the international and national levels. The Department for International Development (DFID) has been a leading donor to maternal health programmes. It deserves credit for its creation of international partnerships, its willingness to address sensitive issues such as abortion, its support to research and its consistent focus on strengthening health systems. Major challenges remain. Only two in five women in sub-Saharan Africa deliver their babies with the assistance of a skilled attendant and this is largely unchanged since the early 1990s. Addressing the huge shortage of midwives worldwide and increasing the availability of emergency obstetric care to all women has been and must remain at the centre of DFID's approach. Increasing access to basic drugs and equipment-including family planning supplies-is also vital. (excerpt)
Language: English
Keywords:
UNITED KINGDOM | DEVELOPING COUNTRIES | CONFERENCES AND CONGRESSES | RECOMMENDATIONS | EVALUATION | WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT | MATERNAL HEALTH | GENDER ISSUES | POLITICAL FACTORS | MATERNAL MORTALITY | PREVENTION AND CONTROL | INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION | DEVELOPMENT POLICY | MATERNAL-CHILD HEALTH SERVICES | Developed Countries | Europe, Western | Europe | Economic Development | Economic Factors | Health | Sociocultural Factors | Mortality | Population Dynamics | Demographic Factors | Population | Diseases | Policy | Primary Health Care | Health Services | Delivery of Health Care
Document Number: 325495

Title: UNFPA strategy and framework for action to addressing gender-based violence, 2008-2011.
Author: United Nations Population Fund [UNFPA]. Technical Division. Gender, Human Rights and Culture Branch
Source: New York, New York, UNFPA, Technical Division, Gender, Human Rights and Culture Branch, 2008. 32 p.
Abstract: This publication identifies priority areas for intensified action on gender-based violence: policy frameworks, data collection and analysis, focus on sexual and reproductive health, humanitarian responses, adolescents and youth, men and boys, faith-based networks, and vulnerable and marginalized populations. It is intended to provide a common platform and technical guidance for UNFPA at country, regional and global levels and effectively guide capacity-development initiatives, resources and partnerships.The strategy also outlines UNFPA's comparative advantages, experience and leadership potential within the context of United Nations reform, and suggests opportunities for improving the efficacy of its programme implementation and technical support.
Language: English
Keywords:
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES | RECOMMENDATIONS | DATA COLLECTION | DATA ANALYSIS | WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT | FAITH-BASED ORGANIZATION | UNFPA | VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN | WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT | GENDER ISSUES | SOCIAL POLICY | DEVELOPMENT POLICY | MEN'S INVOLVEMENT | SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASE PREVENTION | REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH | Research Methodology | Economic Development | Economic Factors | Organizations | Political Factors | Sociocultural Factors | UN | International Agencies | Domestic Violence | Crime | Social Problems | Women's Status | Socioeconomic Factors | Policy | Programs | Organization and Administration | Sexually Transmitted Diseases | Reproductive Tract Infections | Infections | Diseases | Health
Document Number: 331355

Title: Gender equality and economic growth - for poverty reduction.
Author: Alsop R; Healey P
Source: Poverty in Focus. 2008 Jan;(13):14-15.
Abstract: Analysis indicates that investments in gender equality can accelerate economic growth and poverty reduction. However, despite increasing interest in the growth effects of inequality and a resurgence of concern over gender discrimination, there is little to suggest that gender differentiation is consistently or effectively addressed in growth policy formulation or implementation. The evidence suggests that gender inequality and women's limited capacity to respond to economic opportunity inhibits growth via three main channels: Education affects women's capacity to make effective choices about employment, family planning and investments in children; Labour market participation impacts productivity, income and savings; Institutions govern women's asset use, time burden, and intra and extra household bargaining positions. There are serious limitations in current analysis resulting partly from lack of data and partly from the difficulties in examination of complex information. Creating better data and improving analysis are obviously priorities for well informed growth policy. In addition though, and even prior to better informed policy development, there is sufficient proof currently available to begin the process of addressing the detrimental growth and poverty effects of gender inequality. (excerpt)
Language: English
Keywords:
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES | CRITIQUE | RECOMMENDATIONS | EVALUATION | WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT | LABOR FORCE | ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT | DEVELOPMENT POLICY | POVERTY | GENDER ISSUES | INEQUALITIES | EDUCATION | INSTITUTION BUILDING | Economic Factors | Human Resources | Policy | Political Factors | Sociocultural Factors | Socioeconomic Factors | Program Sustainability | Programs | Organization and Administration
Document Number: 323221

Peer Reviewed

Title: Wealth and child survival: India and Bangladesh [letter]
Author: Billal DS; Hotomi M; Yamanaka N
Source: Lancet. 2008 Oct 25;372(9648):1459.
Abstract: Your Aug 16 Editorial1 emphasises that India is far from its target of reaching Millennium Development Goal 4 on child survival, despite its impressive rate of economic growth compared with the other south Asian nations. You state that India is spending only 3% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on health, which is less than the other countries in the Asia-Pacific region; however, India has actually been spending only 09% of its GDP on heath for the past two decades.2 2-3% of GDP is the predicted level of spending by the Indian Government by 2010.2 Although the link between poverty and child mortality is very strong, some countries are better at translating their economic growth into pre venting child deaths. For example, India's gross national income (GNI) per head has in creased by a staggering 82% from US$450 in 2000 to $820 in 2006, yet its child mortality rate only declined by 19% from 94 per 1000 births to 76 per 1000. Over the same period, Bangladesh saw a much smaller 23% in crease in GNI per capita-from $390 in 2000 to $480 in 2006-but its child mortality dropped by 25% from 92 to 69 per 1000 births.3,4 The maternal mortality rate also declined from 440 per 10 000 births in 1997 to 315 in 2001 in Bangladesh.5 All countries, even the poorest, can reduce child mortality if they pursue the right policies and prioritise their poorest families. Good government choices save children's lives but bad ones are a death sentence. (full-text)
Language: English
Keywords:
INDIA | CRITIQUE | EVALUATION | CHILDREN | CHILD SURVIVAL | GOALS | UN | DEVELOPMENT POLICY | SOCIOECONOMIC FACTORS | INCOME | HEALTH POLICY | Developing Countries | Asia, Southern | Asia | Youth | Age Factors | Population Characteristics | Demographic Factors | Population | Survivorship | Length of Life | Mortality | Population Dynamics | Planning | Organization and Administration | International Agencies | Organizations | Political Factors | Sociocultural Factors | Policy | Economic Factors
Document Number: 329062

Title: Gender, institutions and development: Better data, better policies.
Author: Drechsler D
Source: Poverty in Focus. 2008 Jan;(13):10-11.
Abstract: Gender equality represents an untapped source when it comes to stimulating economic growth and promoting social development. This is particularly true in the developing world, where women are often systematically deprived from having equal access to social services as well as to physical and social capital. In fact, increased gender equality promises significant returns. Apart from being an important goal in itself, empowering women by improving their living conditions and enabling them to actively participate in the social and economic life of a country may well be the key for long-term sustainable development. According to the World Bank's World Development Report 2000/01, closing the gender gap in schooling would have significantly increased and sometimes more than doubled economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East and North Africa. Despite international declarations on gender equality, as examplified by the Millenium Development Goals, only few countries have actually achieved gender equality in primary and secondary education. The differences are even more pronounced in higher education. In South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, for example, girls only make up half of the number of students in tertiary education. (excerpt)
Language: English
Keywords:
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES | CRITIQUE | RECOMMENDATIONS | EVALUATION | WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT | DEVELOPMENT POLICY | INSTITUTION BUILDING | GENDER ISSUES | INEQUALITIES | ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT | SEX DISCRIMINATION | DATA STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL | POVERTY | Economic Factors | Policy | Political Factors | Sociocultural Factors | Program Sustainability | Programs | Organization and Administration | Socioeconomic Factors | Social Discrimination | Social Problems | Information Processing | Information
Document Number: 323219

10.
Title: Expanding research capacity and accelerating AIDS vaccine development in Asia.
Author: Excler JL; Pitisuttithum P; Rerks-Ngarm S; Shao Y; Zhang L; Tamashiro H; Osmanov S
Source: Southeast Asian Journal of Tropical Medicine and Public Health. 2008 Jul;39(4):766-84.
Abstract: According to the Joint UN Program on AIDS (UNAIDS), an estimated 4.9 million adults and children are living with HIV in Asia and the Pacific. Refinement and development of existing and new prevention and treatment technologies--including safe, effective, and accessible AIDS vaccines--are urgent public health priorities. The Asian region faces several challenges for AIDS vaccine development. There are multiple genetic variants of HIV-1 driving the epidemic in the region and too few vaccine candidates in the pipeline targeting those subtypes. Low HIV incidence throughout the region means that trial sites must recruit larger numbers of volunteers and shift their focus to higher-risk populations where incidence is higher. Also, the cultural, economic, and political diversity of the region may render collaboration very complex, but also beneficial at a regional level. Recognizing that collaborating as a region could foster and accelerate AIDS vaccine development, participants at the Sapporo International Consultation recommended that an AIDS Vaccine Asian Network (AVAN) be created to facilitate interactions between donors and funding opportunities, increase regional clinical trial and production capacity, support region-specific advocacy and communication strategies, contribute to the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise Scientific Plan, prepare a regional approach for future vaccine deployment, and develop a regional platform for clinical trials including harmonized legal, regulatory, and ethical frameworks.
Language: English
Keywords:
INDIA | AUSTRALIA | RESEARCH REPORT | CLINICAL TRIALS | HIV PREVENTION | AIDS | VACCINES | LOGISTICS | TREATMENT | ETHICS | RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT | DEVELOPMENT POLICY | PROGRAM EVALUATION | Asia, Southern | Asia | Developing Countries | Oceania | Developed Countries | Clinical Research | Research Methodology | HIV Infections | Viral Diseases | Diseases | Medical Procedures | Medicine | Health Services | Delivery of Health Care | Health | Management | Organization and Administration | Sociocultural Factors | Technology | Economic Factors | Policy | Political Factors | Programs
Document Number: 330583

11.

Peer Reviewed

Title: Migrants as transnational development agents: An inquiry into the newest round of the migration - development nexus.
Author: Faist T
Source: Population, Space and Place. 2008;14(1):21-42.
Abstract: Migrant networks and organisations have emerged as development agents. They interact with state institutions in flows of financial remittances, knowledge, and political ideas. In the discursive dimension, the new enthusiasm on the part of OECD states and international organisations, such as the World Bank, for migrant remittances, migrant associations and their role in development, is a sign of two trends which have coincided. Firstly, community as a principle of development has come to supplement principles of social order such as the market and the state. Secondly, in the current round of the migration-development nexus, migrants in general and transnational collective actors in particular have been constituted by states and international organisations as a significant agent. In the institutional dimension, agents such as hometown associations, networks of businesspersons, epistemic networks and political diasporas have emerged as collective actors. These formations are not unitary actors, and they are frequently in conflict with states and communities of origin. The analysis concludes with reflections of how national states structure the transnational spaces in which non-state actors are engaged in cross-border flows, leading towards a tight linkage between migration control, immigrant incorporation and development cooperation. (author's)
Language: English
Keywords:
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES | CRITIQUE | EVALUATION | MIGRANTS | SOCIAL NETWORKS | COMMUNITY | INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES | IMMIGRANTS | ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT | INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION | REMITTANCES | DEVELOPMENT POLICY | POLITICAL FACTORS | SOCIAL MOBILIZATION | BORDER CROSSING | Migration | Population Dynamics | Demographic Factors | Population | Friends and Relatives | Family and Household | Sociocultural Factors | Residence Characteristics | Population Distribution | Geographic Factors | Organizations | Economic Factors | Microeconomic Factors | Policy | Social Change
Document Number: 323244

12.

Peer Reviewed

Title: Countdown to 2015: Assessment of donor assistance to maternal, newborn, and child health between 2003 and 2006.
Author: Greco G; Powell-Jackson T; Borghi J; Mills A
Source: Lancet. 2008 Apr 12-18;371(9620):1268-1275.
Abstract: To track donor assistance to maternal, newborn, and child health-related activities is necessary to assess progress towards Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 and to foster donor accountability. Our aim was to analyse aid flows to maternal, newborn, and child health for 2005 and 2006 and trends between 2003 and 2006. We analysed and coded the complete aid activities database for 2005 and 2006 with methods that we developed previously to track official development assistance. For the 68 Countdown priority countries, we report two indicators for use in monitoring donor disbursements: official development assistance to child health per child and official development assistance to maternal and neonatal health per livebirth. Donor disbursements increased from US$2119 million in 2003 to $3482 million in 2006; funding for child health increased by 63% and that for maternal and newborn health increased by 66%. In the 68 priority countries, child-related disbursements increased from a mean of $4 per child in 2003 to $7 per child in 2006; disbursements for maternal and neonatal health increased from $7 per livebirth in 2003 to $12 per livebirth in 2006. Nonetheless, disbursements fell in some countries. After adjustment for other determinants, countries with higher under-5 mortality received more official development assistance per child, but official development assistance to maternal and newborn health did not seem to be well targeted towards countries with the greatest maternal health needs. Donor resource tracking should be continued to help hold donors accountable and encourage targeting of resources to countries with greatest needs. (author's)
Language: English
Keywords:
GLOBAL | RESEARCH REPORT | FOREIGN AID | DEVELOPMENT POLICY | INFANT HEALTH | CHILD HEALTH | MATERNAL HEALTH | FUNDS | Financial Activities | Economic Factors | Policy | Political Factors | Sociocultural Factors | Health
Document Number: 325842

13.

Peer Reviewed

Title: Global costs of attaining the Millennium Development Goal for water supply and sanitation.
Author: Hutton G; Bartram J
Source: Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 2008 Jan;86(1):13-19.
Abstract: Target 10 of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is to "halve by 2015 the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation". Because of its impacts on a range of diseases, it is a health-related MDG target. This study presents cost estimates of attaining MDG target 10. We estimate the population to be covered to attain the MDG target using data on household use of improved water and sanitation for 1990 and 2004, and taking into account population growth. We assume this estimate is achieved in equal annual increments from the base year, 2005, until 2014. Costs per capita for investment and recurrent costs are applied. Country data is aggregated to 11 WHO developing country subregions and globally. Estimated spending required in developing countries on new coverage to meet the MDG target is US$ 42 billion for water and US$ 142 billion for sanitation, a combined annual equivalent of US$ 18 billion. The cost of maintaining existing services totals an additional US$ 322 billion for water supply and US $216 billion for sanitation, a combined annual equivalent of US$ 54 billion. Spending for new coverage is largely rural (64%), while for maintaining existing coverage it is largely urban (73%). Additional programme costs, incurred administratively outside the point of delivery of interventions, of between 10% and 30% are required for effective implementation. In assessing financing requirements, estimates of cost should include the operation, maintenance and replacement of existing coverage as well as new services and programme costs. Country-level costing studies are needed to guide sector financing. (author's)
Language: English
Keywords:
GLOBAL | RESEARCH REPORT | ESTIMATION TECHNIQUES | WHO | WATER SUPPLY | WATER QUALITY | SANITATION | ECONOMIC FACTORS | FUNDS | GOVERNMENT FINANCING | ECONOMIC POLICY | DEVELOPMENT PLANNING | DEVELOPMENT POLICY | Research Methodology | UN | International Agencies | Organizations | Political Factors | Sociocultural Factors | Natural Resources | Environment | Water | Public Health | Health | Financial Activities | Policy
Document Number: 323459

14.

Title: The vulnerability of 'self-help': Women and microfinance in south India.
Author: Kalpana K
Source: Brighton, United Kingdom, University of Sussex, Institute of Development Studies, 2008 Apr. 44 p. (IDS Working Paper No. 303)
Abstract: Self-help groups (SHGs) play a major role in providing microfinance in India. But they do not work alone. State institutions are also a big part of the microfinance landscape. They promote and finance SHGs, and also interact directly with them. This paper considers how this kind of 'institutionalised co-production' in service delivery works in practice. The research shows that the relationships are not symmetrical. When they seek access to bank credit, women's groups are in a dependent relationship, and are subject to, and tarnished by, the institutional imperatives, systemic corruption and political compulsions that shape the behaviour of rural development bureaucracies and banks. Part of the problem lies in a legacy of bank staff mistrusting borrowers due to arrears from previous credit granted under a different set of public schemes. Banks still try to recover old loans, and sometimes grant new loans to womens' SHGs conditional on repayments by their male relatives. Women consider the ways in which bank officials assess credit-worthiness of SHGs as sometimes being discriminatory and suggestive of caste-profiling. Since banks, as institutions, are not very sensitive to the realities of their SHG borrowers, the quality of the relationship often depends on the attitude of the bank's branch manager. Success in accessing loans is often contingent on how SHGs, bank staff, government officers and non-government organisations collude to subvert the official objective of the loan programme - enterprise-promotion. Manufacturing evidence about non-existent enterprises involves substantial costs and risks for SHGs. Providing financial services in rural India is now a profitable venture and is attracting private financing institutions, including transnational banks. It is suggested that we need to enquire further into the power dynamics that underlie relationships between the poor people using the financial services and their providers.
Language: English
Keywords:
INDIA | CRITIQUE | EVALUATION | WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT | WOMEN'S GROUPS | RURAL POPULATION | MICROECONOMIC FACTORS | GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS | GOVERNMENT FINANCING | POLITICAL FACTORS | DEVELOPMENT POLICY | CASTE | INCENTIVES | WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT | WOMEN'S STATUS | Developing Countries | Asia, Southern | Asia | Economic Development | Economic Factors | Interest Groups | Sociocultural Factors | Population Characteristics | Demographic Factors | Population | Programs | Organization and Administration | Financial Activities | Policy | Social Class | Socioeconomic Status | Socioeconomic Factors
Document Number: 327745

15.

Peer Reviewed

Title: MDGs, Countdown to 2015, and "concern" for Africa [letter]
Author: Konotey-Ahulu FI
Source: Lancet. 2008 Aug 2;372(9636):369-70.
Abstract: In his excellent Comment summarising the 2015 Countdown process (April 12, p 1237), Richard Horton expresses "concern for a stronger and more just society, one that values every life...". How will this be seen from an African point of view? Horton has previously demonstrated that his concern is genuine, but some Africans are still wary of other types of "concern" from developed countries -- e.g., the paradoxical interest in malaria control at the same time as cur tailing population growth. Get into Africans' innermost thoughts, and you will realise that they are slightly less concerned about the rate at which people are dying (for death has always been with them) than about infrastructure building. While developed countries interpret Millennium Development Goals in terms of how much less morbidity and mortality there should be in 2015, we natives seize on the word "development" and think about agriculture, covering of open drains, and pipe-borne water. The West will only give you tablets and vaccines, and will even prevent your goods from being sold on the European market. So (thinks the African) why not try the East this time? Everywhere you go in Ghana today you'll find Chinese workers building roads, clinics, hotels, farms, and dams. Since J F Kennedy helped to build our Volta River hydroelectricity dam, dam-building activity has not been as frenetic as current Chinese efforts with our Bui River Dam. China is also equipping the Ghana Air Force. Ghanaians in the diaspora have sent home US$6 billion in the past 12 months (Kufour J, President of Ghana, personal communication) -- more than the totality of aid from developed countries. We need to channel much of this into public health, and we must use our own experts at home and abroad, rather than foreign ones. We are grateful to developed countries for helping curtail morbidity and mortality, but for real development, Africa is now looking to China and India. (full-text)
Language: English
Keywords:
AFRICA | CRITIQUE | MALARIA | DEATH RATE | GOALS | DEVELOPMENT POLICY | Developing Countries | Parasitic Diseases | Diseases | Mortality | Population Dynamics | Demographic Factors | Population | Planning | Organization and Administration | Policy | Political Factors | Sociocultural Factors
Document Number: 328396

16.

Title: The role of emigration in foreign aid policies: The case of Spain and Morocco.
Author: Lacomba J; Boni A
Source: International Migration. 2008 Mar;46(1):123-150.
Abstract: This article analyses the relationships between emigration and Official Development Aid (ODA) policies, taking the cases of Spain and Morocco as the backdrop to the study. It discusses the principal characteristics of both the Spanish state and non-governmental cooperation in Morocco, the underlying motivations of the principal stakeholders, and the way international cooperation policies now encompass the phenomenon of emigration. The paper compares the field of co-development, which encompasses a rather limited understanding of immigration, with ODA policies, in which immigration is an increasingly important agenda item for both the central government and the Spanish autonomous communities. The article then examines the relationship between migration and development, and considers necessary changes of perspective required to enhance the development and emigration policies in both Spain and Morocco. Lastly, we conclude with a series of recommendations, based on our analysis, aimed at Spanish and Moroccan stakeholders, both state institutions and non-governmental organizations. (author's)
Language: English
Keywords:
SPAIN | MOROCCO | CRITIQUE | RECOMMENDATIONS | MIGRATION | MIGRATION POLICY | FOREIGN AID | INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION | ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT | DEVELOPMENT POLICY | NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS | Europe, Southwestern | Europe | Developed Countries | Africa, North | Africa | Developing Countries | Population Dynamics | Demographic Factors | Population | Population Policy | Social Policy | Policy | Political Factors | Sociocultural Factors | Financial Activities | Economic Factors | Organizations
Document Number: 324347

17.

Title: Microfinance for gender equality: A dilemma?
Author: Mutalima I
Source: Poverty in Focus. 2008 Jan;(13):22-23.
Abstract: The discussion on empowering women in microfinance often attracts opposing views. The debate tends to crystallise at the point of clearly attributing impacts to microfinance and in particular women's empowerment. Two seemingly separate issues emerge: impact on the client and impact on the microfinance institution (MFI). It is a fact that microfinance does impact both the MFI and its clients. Over the years, tension has been created in terms of prioritising between these two impacts. The essence of microfinance is to create access to useful financial services for the ultimate purpose of improving livelihoods. The targeting of women is important in order to achieve maximum impact on the family. MFIs generally agree that gender dimensions are crucial for designing and implementing effective microfinance interventions for improving livelihoods in a sustainable manner. Yet, some institutions have not fully integrated gender issues in their practical operations largely because of conflicting priorities.(excerpt)
Language: English
Keywords:
ZAMBIA | PROGRESS REPORT | DEMOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS | WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT | RURAL POPULATION | MICROECONOMIC FACTORS | FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES | WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT | GENDER ISSUES | POVERTY | DEVELOPMENT POLICY | Developing Countries | Africa, Southern | Africa, Sub Saharan | Africa | Research Methodology | Economic Development | Economic Factors | Population Characteristics | Demographic Factors | Population | Women's Status | Socioeconomic Factors | Sociocultural Factors | Policy | Political Factors
Document Number: 323225

18.

Title: Advancing research to inform reproductive health policies: the Middle East and North Africa.
Author: Roudi-Fahimi F; Ashford L; Khalil K
Source: Washington, D.C., Population Reference Bureau [PRB], 2008 Jul. 8 p. (Policy Brief: Middle East and North Africa Program (MENA))
Abstract: Sexuality and reproduction are among the most fundamental aspects of life. Yet they often receive little attention in public policy discussions because of cultural and political sensitivities, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa. As the capacity to conduct research on the social and medical aspects of sexual and reproductive health expands in the region, researchers have a greater opportunity to address current policy questions. Decisionmakers in the MENA region need accurate and comprehensive information on who suffers from sexual and reproductive health problems, the nature and extent of these problems, and what works best to address them. When researchers present their findings in a timely and accessible manner, decisionmakers can better use the information for policy change and program improvements. This policy brief discusses current research needs in the MENA region, drawing in part from a 2007 report produced by the Global Forum for Health Research and the World Health Organization, Research Issues in Sexual and Reproductive Health for Low- and Middle-Income Countries. It also presents a framework that illustrates how scientific evidence can be used in the policymaking process to change policies and improve programs that will ultimately improve people's sexual and reproductive health.
Language: English
Keywords:
MIDDLE EAST | AFRICA, NORTH | RECOMMENDATIONS | RESEARCH PROPOSAL | INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES | HEALTH SURVEYS | WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT | FAMILY PLANNING POLICY | REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH | HEALTH POLICY | POLICY DEVELOPMENT | SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASE PREVENTION | WOMEN'S HEALTH | PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT | DEVELOPMENT POLICY | Africa | Developing Countries | Health | Economic Development | Economic Factors | Family Planning | Population Policy | Social Policy | Policy | Political Factors | Sociocultural Factors | Planning | Organization and Administration | Sexually Transmitted Diseases | Reproductive Tract Infections | Infections | Diseases | Programs
Document Number: 323118

19.

20.

21.

Title: Back to basics: the rationale for increased funds for international family planning.
Author: Sarot S
Source: Guttmacher Policy Review. 2008 Summer;11(3):13-18.
Abstract: Contributions from the U.S. government to voluntary family planning activities in developing countries have generated considerable successes over the last four decades. Yet, the U.S. family planning and reproductive health program, administered primarily through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), has encountered and continues to face many roadblocks to further progress, including policy impediments to sound programming imposed by the government itself. Such self-imposed setbacks include the "Mexico City" policy, also known as the global gag rule, which renders local organizations that engage in privately funded abortion-related activities consistent with their own country's laws ineligible for U.S. support for contraceptive services. Additional policy constraints involve withdrawal of U.S. assistance to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on the grounds that UNFPA's support of voluntary contraceptive services in China is somehow tantamount to support of coercive abortion. While these policy problems have caused serious injury and will require repair, an equally important challenge for policymakers under a new presidential administration will be to remedy the trend of chronic underfunding of international family planning programs. (excerpt)
Language: English
Keywords:
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES | UNITED STATES OF AMERICA | CRITIQUE | EVALUATION | WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT | POLICYMAKERS | FAMILY PLANNING POLICY | FOREIGN AID | DEVELOPMENT POLICY | NEEDS ASSESSMENT | CONTRACEPTIVE AVAILABILITY | BIRTH SPACING | MATERNAL HEALTH | CHILD SURVIVAL | WOMEN'S STATUS | Developed Countries | North America | Americas | Economic Development | Economic Factors | Administrative Personnel | Organization and Administration | Family Planning | Population Policy | Social Policy | Policy | Political Factors | Sociocultural Factors | Financial Activities | Contraception | Health | Survivorship | Length of Life | Mortality | Population Dynamics | Demographic Factors | Population | Socioeconomic Factors
Document Number: 323169

22.

Title: Poverty as a gendered experience: The policy implications.
Author: Sen G
Source: Poverty in Focus. 2008 Jan;(13):6-7.
Abstract: Policy discussions about the interactions between poverty and gender inequality have tended in the last two decades to use the idea of the feminisation of poverty to explain differences between male and female poverty in a given context, as well as changes over time. Typically, this approach has fed the perception that female-headed households - however defined - tend to be poorer than other households. Recent empirical work has, however, cast doubt on this generalisation and sent analysts of gender and poverty back to the drawing board. It is clear now that, not only is the empirical generalisation inaccurate, but that a single-minded focus on female-headed households narrows which households we focus on and how we understand what goes on within them. Focusing on female-headed households is of course much simpler, since this avoids having to address the messy complexities posed by gender relations within households, or the ways in which development policies and programmes affect them. But it is clearly inadequate to the task. (excerpt)
Language: English
Keywords:
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES | CRITIQUE | RECOMMENDATIONS | EVALUATION | WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT | POLICYMAKERS | HOUSEHOLDS | POVERTY | DEVELOPMENT POLICY | GENDER ISSUES | SEX DISCRIMINATION | HOME ECONOMICS | Economic Development | Economic Factors | Administrative Personnel | Organization and Administration | Family and Household | Sociocultural Factors | Socioeconomic Factors | Policy | Political Factors | Social Discrimination | Social Problems | Microeconomic Factors
Document Number: 323217

23.

Title: Demographic change in the Arab countries: prospects for the future. Summary of social policies. No. 1.
Author: Shakour B
Source: Beirut, Lebanon, Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia [ESCWA], 2008 Dec 16. 11 p. (E/ESCWA/SDD/2008/Technical Paper.4) Workshop on Reinforcing National Capacities in Responding to the World Programme of Action on Youth: National reports and systematic documentation of accomplishments, Beirut, 17 December 2008.
Abstract: Demographic analysis indicates that in the near future the Arab countries will fall into two groups. The first group will consist of those countries enjoying a demographic return from the increased supply of jobs, the fall in the dependency ratio and the resultant increase in savings: Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, the Syrian Arab Republic and the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. The second group will comprise those countries enjoying a demographic return but one whose onset was too late to fall within the time frame set by the programme of work of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development and the United Nations? Millennium Declaration of 2000. Both groups will face major challenges and both need to formulate appropriate policies. The first group could face multiple challenges, so it must not miss this opportunity and must make an effort to seize it, especially as it will help these countries carry out their commitments to eradicate poverty and improve the quality of human life. The countries in the second group need to work to accelerate the onset of the demographic dividend by developing population policies that will accelerate fertility reduction and develop human capital. These countries may not manage to halve the material poverty rate by 2015, but they may be able to reduce human poverty. They could do this by directing their policies towards human welfare, especially in the countries that suffer from human poverty in addition to the poverty of income. (Excerpt)
Language: English
Keywords:
MIDDLE EAST | CONFERENCES AND CONGRESSES | DEMOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS | YOUTH | POLICYMAKERS | WORKSHOPS | CAPACITY BUILDING | SOCIAL POLICY | DEMOGRAPHIC IMPACT | POPULATION POLICY | POPULATION PROJECTION | DEVELOPMENT POLICY | POLICY DEVELOPMENT | AGE DISTRIBUTION CHANGES | POLITICAL FACTORS | Research Methodology | Age Factors | Population Characteristics | Demographic Factors | Population | Administrative Personnel | Organization and Administration | Education | Program Sustainability | Programs | Policy | Sociocultural Factors | Population Dynamics | Estimation Techniques | Planning | Age Distribution
Document Number: 331362

24.

Peer Reviewed

Title: International migration as a tool in development policy: A passing phase?
Author: Skeldon R
Source: Population and Development Review. 2008 Mar;34(1):1-18.
Abstract: International migration was identified as one of the ten most pressing global challenges facing humankind by an international panel of leading economists, but it was also deemed to be one of the least likely of the ten challenges to respond to cost-effective policy intervention. A sense of skepticism may be setting in about how effective programs of migration management can be in bringing about development. Already a sense exists that the policy debate may be moving on from migration and development to other topics such as migration and climate change. Ultimately, when we are dealing with these global challenges or with the ways in which the millennium development goals are to be achieved, the emphasis must be placed on structures: on establishing the kinds of institutions that will lead to improvements in human well-being. A focus on phenomena that are consequences rather than causes of the process, such as the diaspora, remittances, or skilled migrants, without addressing the causes of a lack ofdevelopment in the first place, is unlikely to bring success. Migration can be best addressed, paradoxical though this may at first seem, if the current preoccupation with international migration as a tool to promote development becomes a passing phase in the debate on development. Migration should not be eliminated from the equation, but it should be recognized as an integral part of the development process itself and planned for accordingly. (excerpt)
Language: English
Keywords:
GLOBAL | CRITIQUE | INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION | DEVELOPMENT POLICY | GOALS | DESTINATION | ORIGIN | REMITTANCES | BRAIN DRAIN | Migration | Population Dynamics | Demographic Factors | Population | Policy | Political Factors | Sociocultural Factors | Planning | Organization and Administration | Microeconomic Factors | Economic Factors
Document Number: 325565

25.

Title: Empowering women through microfinance: Evidence from India.
Author: Swain RB; Wallentin FY
Source: Poverty in Focus. 2008 Jan;(13):20-21.
Abstract: Microfinance programmes have been increasingly promoted for their positive economic impact and the belief that they empower women. We investigate the impact of the Self Help Bank Linkage Program in India on women empowerment, defined as a process in which women challenge the existing norms and culture to effectively improve their wellbeing within the context of the society they live in. Women in poor households are more likely to be credit constrained, and hence less able to undertake income-earning activities. Microfinance programmes offer access to credit to low-income households, specifically targeting women, and thus may meet poverty reduction and women's empowerment objectives. Most microfinance programmes target women with the explicit goal of empowering them. However, their underlying premises are different. Some argue that women are amongst the poorest and the most vulnerable of the underprivileged. Others believe that investing in women's capabilities empowers them to make choices, which is valuable in itself, and also contributes to greater economic growth and development. (excerpt)
Language: English
Keywords:
INDIA | RESEARCH REPORT | CRITIQUE | SURVEYS | CASE CONTROL STUDIES | WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT | HOUSEHOLDS | MICROECONOMIC FACTORS | FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES | WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT | POVERTY | DECISION MAKING | HOME ECONOMICS | DEVELOPMENT POLICY | Developing Countries | Asia, Southern | Asia | Sampling Studies | Studies | Research Methodology | Economic Development | Economic Factors | Family and Household | Sociocultural Factors | Women's Status | Socioeconomic Factors | Behavior | Policy | Political Factors
Document Number: 323224

26.

Peer Reviewed

Title: Estimating the costs of achieving the WHO-UNICEF Global Immunization Vision and Strategy, 2006 -- 2015.
Author: Wolfson LJ; Gasse F; Lee-Martin SP; Lydon P; Magan A
Source: Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 2008 Jan;86(1):27-39.
Abstract: The objective was to estimate the cost of scaling up childhood immunization services required to reach the WHO-UNICEF Global Immunization Vision and Strategy (GIVS) goal of reducing mortality due to vaccine-preventable diseases by two-thirds by 2015. A model was developed to estimate the total cost of reaching GIVS goals by 2015 in 117 low- and lower-middle-income countries. Current spending was estimated by analysing data from country planning documents, and scale-up costs were estimated using a bottom-up, ingredients-based approach. Financial costs were estimated by country and year for reaching 90% coverage with all existing vaccines; introducing a discrete set of new vaccines (rotavirus, conjugate pneumococcal, conjugate meningococcal A and Japanese encephalitis); and conducting immunization campaigns to protect at-risk populations against polio, tetanus, measles, yellow fever and meningococcal meningitis. The 72 poorest countries of the world spent US$ 2.5 (range: US$ 1.8-4.2) billion on immunization in 2005, an increase from US$ 1.1 (range: US$ 0.9-1.6) billion in 2000. By 2015 annual immunization costs will on average increase to about US$ 4.0 (range US$ 2.9-6.7) billion. Total immunization costs for 2006-2015 are estimated at US$ 35 (range US$ 13-40) billion; of this, US$ 16.2 billion are incremental costs, comprised of US$ 5.6 billion for system scale-up and US$ 8.7 billion for vaccines; US$ 19.3 billion is required to maintain immunization programmes at 2005 levels. In all 117 low- and lower-middle-income countries, total costs for 2006-2015 are estimated at US$ 76 (range: US$ 23-110) billion, with US$ 49 billion for maintaining current systems and $27 billion for scaling-up. In the 72 poorest countries, US$ 11-15 billion (30%-40%) of the overall resource needs are unmet if the GIVS goals are to be reached. The methods developed in this paper are approximate estimates with limitations, but provide a roadmap of financing gaps that need to be filled to scale up immunization by 2015. (author's)
Language: English
Keywords:
GLOBAL | DEVELOPING COUNTRIES | RESEARCH REPORT | ESTIMATION TECHNIQUES | WHO | UNICEF | CHILDREN | IMMUNIZATION | VACCINES | ECONOMIC FACTORS | FUNDS | GOVERNMENT FINANCING | ECONOMIC POLICY | DEVELOPMENT PLANNING | DEVELOPMENT POLICY | Research Methodology | UN | International Agencies | Organizations | Political Factors | Sociocultural Factors | Youth | Age Factors | Population Characteristics | Demographic Factors | Population | Primary Health Care | Health Services | Delivery of Health Care | Health | Medical Procedures | Medicine | Financial Activities | Policy
Document Number: 323460

27.

Title: International Women?s Day call: IFIs must stop contributing to violence against women.
Author: Gender Action-USA; 50 Years Is Enough: U.S. Network for Global Economic Justice; Africa Action-USA; Association for Women�s Rights in Development [AWID]; BanglaPraxis-Bangladesh
Source: [New York, New York], Women's UN Report Program and Network, 2007. [4] p.
Abstract: The theme of International Women's Day 2007 is Ending Impunity for Violence Against Women. Gender-blind International Financial Institution (IFI) operations-those of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and the regional development banks-financing private-corporate led growth, debt repayment, and low inflation and public spending often aggravate existing discrimination against women and girls, particularly among marginalized groups such as indigenous peoples. Such IFI investments intensify poverty, human displacement, trafficking in and violence against women, prostitution, sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS, sexual harassment, and sexual assault. The IFIs may not intend their investments to contribute to violence against women, but the impacts are all too real. For example, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)-funded Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline, supposedly designed to boost development, has degraded theenvironment, driven many women and girls in communities around the pipeline into prostitution, and increased sexually transmitted diseases, sexual harassment and violence against women. The East Asian financial crisis-brought on ten years ago largely by bad IMF advice designed to stimulate foreign investment-strained household gender relations, increasing domestic violence against women and girls, family abandonment by household heads, and female suicide. (excerpt)
Language: English
Keywords:
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES | CRITIQUE | EVALUATION | WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT | CAMPAIGNS | INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION | WORLD BANK | FOREIGN AID | DEVELOPMENT POLICY | INVESTMENTS | VIOLENCE | GOVERNMENT FINANCING | Economic Development | Economic Factors | Communication Programs | Communication | Political Factors | Sociocultural Factors | International Agencies | Organizations | Financial Activities | Policy | Behavior
Document Number: 316492

28.

Title: Children and the Millennium Development Goals. Progress towards a world fit for children.
Author: UNICEF
Source: New York, New York, UNICEF, 2007 Dec. [97] p.
Abstract: Five years after the Special Session, more than 120 countries and territories have prepared reports on their efforts to meet the goals of 'A World Fit for Children' (WFFC). Most have developed these in parallel with reports on the Millennium Development Goals, carrying out two complementary exercises. Reports on the Millennium Development Goals highlight progress in poverty reduction and the principal social indicators, while the World Fit for Children reports go into greater detail on some of the same issues, such as education and child survival. But they also extend their coverage to child protection, which is less easy to track with numerical indicators. The purpose of this document is to assemble some of the information contained in these reports, along with the latest global data - looking at what has been done and what remains to be done. It is therefore organized around the four priority areas identified in A World Fit for Children, discussing each within the overall framework of the Millennium Development Goals. To appreciate the achievements for children over the past two decades, it is also useful to reflect briefly on how their world has changed. Children born in 1989, the year when the Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted, are now on the brink of adulthood. They have lived through a remarkable period of social, political and economic transformation. (excerpt)
Language: English
Keywords:
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES | RECOMMENDATIONS | EVALUATION | CHILDREN | GOALS | UN | DEVELOPMENT POLICY | SOCIAL POLICY | HEALTH POLICY | CHILD SURVIVAL | CHILD HEALTH | CHILD NUTRITION | SANITATION | EDUCATION | Youth | Age Factors | Population Characteristics | Demographic Factors | Population | Planning | Organization and Administration | International Agencies | Organizations | Political Factors | Sociocultural Factors | Policy | Survivorship | Length of Life | Mortality | Population Dynamics | Health | Nutrition | Public Health
Document Number: 325497

29.

Title: Gender Equality Action Plan 2007-2009. Making faster progress to gender equality.
Author: United Kingdom. Department for International Development [DFID]
Source: London, England, DFID, 2007 Feb. 18 p. (DFID Practice PaperBriefing)
Abstract: This Gender Equality Action Plan (GEAP) explains how the Department for International Development (DFID) will help developing countries to achieve gender equality and women's empowerment. In 2006, DFID published a White Paper, called 'Eliminating World Poverty: making governance work for the poor' which committed us to making our work on gender equality and women's rights more of a priority. The Plan explains what action we will now take. It sets out how DFID can better use its partnerships, its money, and the way we manage our staff to make a lasting difference to gender equality and women's empowerment. (excerpt)
Language: English
Keywords:
UNITED KINGDOM | GOVERNMENT PUBLICATION | GOVERNMENT AGENCIES | DEVELOPMENT POLICY | FOREIGN AID | GENDER ISSUES | INEQUALITIES | WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT | ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT | GOALS | SEX DISCRIMINATION | POLITICAL FACTORS | Europe, Western | Europe | Developed Countries | Organizations | Sociocultural Factors | Policy | Financial Activities | Economic Factors | Socioeconomic Factors | Women's Status | Planning | Organization and Administration | Social Discrimination | Social Problems
Document Number: 316349

30.

Title: Youth in crisis. Coming of age in the 21st century.
Author: United Nations. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Integrated Regional Information Networks [IRIN]
Source: [Nairobi, Kenya], IRIN, 2007 Feb. 80 p. (IRIN In-Depth)
Abstract: Across the globe, a generation of youth is rapidly reaching adulthood bearing the tragic consequences of their nations' worst problems. In this 'Youth in Crisis' In-Depth, IRIN traces the impact of the events shaping their lives, from the illegal forced marriage of teenage girls in Afghanistan and Ethiopia, to the tripling of school fees and the deteriorating education system in Zimbabwe. Cultural conservatism, as well as fear of attacks on schools by Taliban insurgents, and poverty, mean half of all Afghan children do not go to school, and those who do often 'graduate' to unemployment. To be young in some nations is to be more disadvantaged than one's parents were: the numbers of children attending school in the Republic of Congo has fallen from almost 100 per cent before the 1998-2002 civil war to below 75 percent now. The same is true in northern Uganda where high illiteracy rates are a consequence of two decades of war and insecurity, condemning Acholi youngsters brought up in displaced peoples' camps to a life of far fewer opportunities than older siblings, parents and even grandparents. (excerpt)
Language: English
Keywords:
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES | PROGRESS REPORT | CASE STUDIES | YOUTH | ADOLESCENTS | VIOLENCE | WAR | RISK FACTORS | QUALITY OF LIFE | POVERTY | DEVELOPMENT POLICY | UNEMPLOYMENT | OUT-OF-SCHOOL YOUTHS | HIV INFECTIONS | EDUCATION | Studies | Research Methodology | Age Factors | Population Characteristics | Demographic Factors | Population | Behavior | Political Factors | Sociocultural Factors | Biology | Social Welfare | Economic Factors | Socioeconomic Factors | Policy | Employment | Macroeconomic Factors | Educational Status | Socioeconomic Status | Viral Diseases | Diseases
Document Number: 316336


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