http://worldviewmission.nl/?page_id=4
. http://worldviewmission.nl/?page_id=10642
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http://post2015.iisd.org/post2015-update/2014-05-01/
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http://post2015.iisd.org/post2015-update/2014-04-02/
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http://www.common-fund.org/call-for-proposals/?
http://www.equatorinitiative.org/index.php?
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“Call for Abstracts” 2nd International Conference on Evaluating Climate Change and Development, September 9-11 2014
2nd International Conference on Evaluating Climate Change and Development
“Tackling a Key 21st Century Evaluation Challenge” – Washington, D.C. – September 9-11, 2014
Introduction
Specific Objectives of the conference
1) To learn from recent efforts to evaluate the results and impact of policies and programs of climate change interventions, including the relationship to other development areas.
2) To review and analyze new and emerging approaches and methods to evaluate climate change policies and interventions and to identify gaps and challenges for future work.
3) To identify innovative and emerging learning and knowledge sharing strategies to enhance the utility of climate change and development evaluations.
4) To provide additional support to strengthen capacity in developing countries to undertake evaluation of climate change interventions.
Call for Abstracts
1. Policy and program level evaluations
2. Evaluating climate change adaptation
3. Evaluating climate change mitigation.
1. Relevance (abstracts must be concise and coherently aligned with the conference themes and objectives as well as the target audience.
2. Novelty and Innovation (abstract must show innovative information and/or present new or emerging developments in climate change evaluation).
3. Advancement of Climate Change Evaluation Practice (abstract should present a significant contribution to the field of climate change and NRM evaluation and indicate how the submitted paper will contribute to the development of global knowledge)
4. Overall Clarity and Quality of Abstract (abstracts should ensure easy understanding of issues and objectives of the paper)
5. Originality and unpublished work (abstract must be original and should not have been previously published)
1. Name and title of presenting author
2. Email and telephone contact details of presenting author
3. Title of the paper
4. Name, title and institutional affiliation of author
Exhibition presentations
Visit Climate-Eval community of practice for more information: http://www.
And for more information on the call for Abstracts, email David Akana at Climate-Eval: dakana@thegef.
Best wishes,
Dennis Bours
Steering Committee Member of the 2nd International Conference on Evaluating Climate Change and Development.
http://climate.dennisbours.com
UN CC: Learn Programme Leverages USD 1 Million in National Funds for Climate Change Teacher Training
New Release – Discussion Paper on Corporate Social Responsibility
UNDP MDG Carbon has recently released a new Discussion Paper on ‘Corporate Social Responsibility as an enabler of Green Growth and Climate Action’ which looks at the role of UNDP and MDG Carbon in helping a host country to establish a CSR Agency, a CSR Strategy and a CSR Fund for sustainable development.
The discussion paper is intended primarily for policy makers, regulators, and implementing agencies to relook at the private sector initiatives under CSR as a driver for green growth and climate action as well to encourage the private sector and organizations interested in CSR to act with national / regional governments to align their CSR efforts with broader sustainable development goals.
Kindly download the Discussion Paper here.
Best regards,
Alexandra
E-mail : alexandra.soezer@undp.org
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New post on ReliefWeb blog – 10/04/2014
http://www.unevoc.unesco.org/go.php?q=e-Forum – Message Board
New article on the ReliefWeb blog: 
Transforming humanitarian data into knowledge: Introducing the ReliefWeb API
Read the article on ReliefWeb: http://reliefweb.int/blogpost/
Are you developing innovative online products for humanitarians? Do you want to incorporate ReliefWeb content and data in your website or online application? Then the new ReliefWeb API may be just what you’re looking for.
It’s been eight months since we released the initial version of the API to a small number of interested developers. We were encouraged by the interest and feedback, but we also quickly realized that there was a lot more to APIs than just making it work – we needed to turn it into a real product.
So, we have been working with Development Seed and Phase2 to refine our API and developers’ resources. The result is ReliefWeb API version 1.0, which we are releasing to the public today.
For all our non-techie humanitarian users, API is short for “application programming interface”, and it allows applications to talk directly to the ReliefWeb database and retrieve information.
As many humanitarians know, ReliefWeb represents one of the most detailed sources of crises and disaster updates. With over 17 years’ worth of carefully selected and curated content, ReliefWeb is globally known as one of the most comprehensive, well-maintained and reliable sources of humanitarian information. We’ve already used our API to develop humanitarian information products such as the ReliefWeb Mobile site and our new Content Trends feature.
Now, it is now possible for our users to build effective humanitarian tools, like applications that analyze historical humanitarian data or websites that pull ReliefWeb content in real-time.
If you are a developer, we think you’ll find our new API to be full-featured, yet fast and easy to use. It requires minimal effort for common tasks and adheres to HTTP API standards and practices, and we’ve fully revamped the documentation. We hope that the API v.1.0 is developer-friendly and sustainable, and that it will inspire you to create useful information analysis tools for humanitarians.
Our new API features: The entire ReliefWeb database A developer portal with all information in one location Interactive documentation of major API features via Swagger.
We will be introducing our API to the developer community at this year’s Drupal NYC Camp at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on Saturday 12 April. If you’re attending the conference, make sure you catch our session.
Of course, this is only really the beginning. We are excited to see what new applications you, the humanitarian community, will create. If you’re interested in utilising ReliefWeb’s API, then check out the ReliefWeb API developer portal. All the information you need is there to get your project started.
If you have any technical questions or are seeking some API support, you can leave a message on our ReliefWeb API Google group. Our tech support team, along with the ReliefWeb API community, will endeavour to answer any queries you might have.
We’re also keen to hear your ideas and suggestions for innovative web applications for the humanitarian community and how you will use the new ReliefWeb API. Either leave a comment below or contact us at feedback@reliefweb.int
For questions about this list, please contact: feedback@reliefweb.int
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Seventh Session of the World Urban Forum (WUF7) “Urban Equity in Development – Cities for Life”
The seventh session of the World Urban Forum (WUF7) was held in Medellín, Colombia from Saturday, 5 April to Friday, 11 April 2014. With sessions held every two years, the Forum examines rapid urbanization and its impact on communities, cities, economies and policies. This year’s session of the Forum, with the theme “Urban Equity in Development – Cities for Life,” drew over 22,000 participants from more than 140 countries representing governments, UN agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), urban professionals, local authorities and academics. The WUF, convened by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), is a non-legislative technical forum.
The opening ceremony, on Monday, 7 April, was preceded by four assemblies, focused on the themes of gender equality, urban youth, business and children, as well as by a weekend of city and parallel exhibition events. During WUF7, participants met in dialogues, roundtables, special sessions and plenaries. They also took part in city events, side events, networking and cultural events and televised “urban talk” debates. As the host city, Medellín showcased many of its innovative urban transformations, including solutions for accessible mobility and for public and green spaces in the city.
The WUF7 Medellín Declaration will feed into the post-2015 development agenda process and preparations for the Third UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) in 2016.
WUF7 concluded with a reminder of the need for sustainable urbanization in achieving sustainable development.
The WUF Bulletin is a publication of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) <info@iisd.ca>, publishers of the Earth Negotiations Bulletin © <enb@iisd.org>. This issue was written and edited by Paula Barrios, Ph.D., Kate Harris, Jennifer Lenhart, and Kate Neville, Ph.D. The Editor is Brett Wertz <brett@iisd.org>. The Director of IISD Reporting Services is Langston James “Kimo” Goree VI <kimo@iisd.org>. Funding for coverage of this meeting has been provided by the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat). IISD can be contacted at 161 Portage Avenue East, 6th Floor, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 0Y4, Canada; tel: +1-204-958-7700; fax: +1-204-958-7710. The opinions expressed in the Bulletin are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of IISD. Excerpts from the Bulletin may be used in other publications with appropriate academic citation. Electronic versions of the Bulletin are sent to e-mail distribution lists (in HTML and PDF format) and can be found on the Linkages WWW-server at <http://www.iisd.ca/>. For information on the Bulletin, including requests to provide reporting services, contact the Director of IISD Reporting Services at <kimo@iisd.org>, +1-646-536-7556 or 300 East 56th St., 11D, New York, New York 10022, USA.
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Dear All,
A Global Partnership of Solidarity or Global Partnerships for Wealth?
Today there will be a Thematic Debate on “The role of partnerships in the implementation of the Post-2015 Development Agenda” organized by the Office of the President of the UN General Assembly.
In a statement released yesterday, the Campaign for Peoples Goals for Sustainable Development along with other civil society groups and social movements warn that “The privileging of the private sector’s role in partnerships poses the danger of corporations and their lobby-groups gaining unchecked influence over the agenda-setting and political decision-making by Governements.
If left unmanaged and unsupervised, these partnerships are likely to evolve to further serve corporate interests resulting in the privatization of public services to the detriment of the peoples’ right to basic services and universal social protection. Indeed it is strange to think that while governments deliberate over a new set of “sustainable development goals”, other negotiations are taking place that will further cement the ‘sovereign rights’ of corporations over state jurisdictions .”
If you want to sign-on to this statement, please send your organization’s name and country to secretariat@peoplesgoals.
Paul Quintos IBON International 3rd Flr., IBON Center 114 Timog Avenue, Quezon City 1103 Philippines Telefax: +63 2 9276981
Skype ID: paul.quintos Websites: iboninternational.org peoplesgoals.org
— Jeffery Huffines NGO Major Group Organizing Partner CIVICUS UN Representative (NY) Cell: +1 646-707-1060 Email: jeffery.huffines@
Follow threats and take action to protect civil society – join Civil Society Watch at www.cswatch.org
Statement.Global Partnership.final 2014Apr8
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South Bulletin: Turbulence in Emerging Economies: From Easy Money to Hard Landing?
South Bulletin
6 May 2014
Published by the South Centre
Dear Pamela Puntenney,
Turbulence in Emerging Economies: From Easy Money to Hard Landing?
This issue of South Bulletin focuses on the deepening economic problems in emerging economies. There is a concern that emerging economies may be the ones facing the next financial and economic crisis. The South Centre’s chief economist, Yilmaz Akyuz, in his article, proposes urgent steps needed to avoid or deal with a potential crisis in these economies.
The Centre’s Executive Director, Martin Khor, in his article, also talks about new problems confronting several developing countries which faced sharp currency depreciation and capital outflows at the start of 2014. He also argues the case for capital controls over capital outflows in countries facing potential flight of capital to avoid a potential crisis.
China seems to be preparing to play a bigger role in global economic affairs, but not at the cost of giving up its developing country status. This was the impression made at the conference Transformative Global Governance: China and the United Nations, held in Shanghai on 13-14 January 2014. An article on this is in the Bulletin.
Other articles in the bulletin include:
- Latin American and Caribbean Leaders Create a Zone of Peace and Unite Against Poverty and Inequality
- A step forward for Asian Cooperation
- Equity, climate change and sustainable development – South Centre-Ecuador Side Event at COP 19
- WIPO at Crossroads: Results of the General Assembly 2013
- South Centre pledges continued support to the G77 and China
- G15 to be engaged in post-2015 Development Agenda
- Welcome to the real world, by Humberto Campodonico
We hope you find this issue interesting, and we welcome your comments. With best wishes, Martin Khor Executive Director, South Centre and Editor, South Bulletin
To download the entire South Bulletin, please click here. To read individual articles, please see below.
- Turbulence in Emerging Economies: From Easy Money to Hard Landing?
- Developing countries facing new economic problems
- Policy Dilemmas and the Case for Capital Controls over Outflows
- Latin American and Caribbean Leaders Create a Zone of Peace and Unite Against Poverty and Inequality
- A bigger global role for China?
- A step forward for Asian cooperation
- South Centre pledges continued support to the Group of 77 and China
- G15 to be engaged in post-2015 Development Agenda
- Equity, climate change and sustainable development: Perspectives of Developing Countries – South Centre-Ecuador Side Event at COP 19 Warsaw November 2013
- WIPO at Crossroads: Results of the General Assembly 2013
- Welcome to the real world
http://us5.campaign-archive2.com/?u=fa9cf38799136b5660f367ba6&id=2c9fb37411&e=1e33eb2f1a
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Mrs. Christina Rehbein strategy workshop minutes strategy workshop 23114 final
Carl-Mosterts-Platz 1
40477 Düsseldorf
Tel: +49 (0)211/4693-218
Fax: +49 (0)211/4693-197
k.rehbein@erlassjahr.de
http://www.erlassjahr.de
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http://www.iisd.ca/oceans/marinebiodiv7/brief/brief_marinebiodiv7e.html
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Dear international friends,
PATRICK HONOHAN: DO THE RIGHT THING!
7 Apr 2014
Freeze the sale of Anglo Bonds
The European Central Bank is piling pressure on Ireland to sell the illegitimate Anglo bond debt.This debt is the debt of gambling bankers. It was never our debt and it should not be paid. The debt originates from the bailout of the infamous Anglo Irish Bank – Irish Nationwide Building Society, through promissory notes given by the state to pay off the bondholders, even while this zombie bank was under criminal investigation. The debts of Anglo & Co – about € 30 billion – are worth nearly half the cost of the private banking debt made public in Ireland – € 64 billion, a staggering 40% of our national income. Last year Anglo & Co were hastily wound down, and as part of this ‘deal’, the promissory notes were converted to tradeable bonds, and placed with the Irish Central bank for sale on the markets.
If Patrick Honohan, the Governor of the Irish Central Bank, sells this unjust debt on the international markets, it will make it harder for us to refuse to pay the new holders of the debt – and we will be bound to pay interest to the new bondholders, adding insult to injustice.
Call Patrick Honohan at the Irish Central Bank: +353 1 2246000 and ask him to freeze the sale of the Anglo Bonds. Or email him at patrick.honohan@
Tell him to do the right thing and not to sell the Anglo bonds.
Here is a draft message to help you…
Draft message:
Dear Governor Honohan,
I am contacting you to ask you to freeze the sale of the Anglo bonds – the bonds relating to Anglo Irish Bank -Irish Nationwide Building Society – which you call ‘floating rate treasury bonds’.
This debt was never the debt of the people of Ireland. It is the debt of a gambling bank now under criminal investigation. It should not be paid.
If you sell this unjust debt on the international markets, it will make it harder for us to refuse to pay the new holders of the debt. And we will be bound to pay interest to the new bondholders, adding insult to injustice.
Please do the right thing and freeze the sale of the Anglo bonds.
—-
Learn more about why Ireland should not sell the Anglo bonds:
In February 2013, amid huge public outrage at the promise to pay over € 30 billion to settle the Anglo debts, the Irish government changed the form of the debt but without in any way reducing the size of it. It was previously in ‘promissory note’ form – like an IOU – and the government changed it to sovereign bonds, a tradable form of debt now held at the Irish Central Bank. The Irish Central Bank is set to sell the bonds gradually to international markets but now the European Central Bank is pressuring Ireland to sell them faster. Check out our blog on the issue here.
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Hi all,
Thought this new working paper from the IMF would be of interest regarding the empirical record of the DSF
Best
Sargon
New item in your series of interest:
Working Paper No. 14/48: Assessing Bias and Accuracy in the World Bank-IMF’s Debt Sustainability Framework for Low-Income Countries Author/Editor: Andrew Berg ; Enrico Berkes ; Catherine A. Pattillo ; Andrea Presbitero ; Yorbol Yakhshilikov Summary: The World Bank and the IMF have adopted a debt sustainability framework (DSF) to evaluate the risk of debt distress in Low Income Countries (LICs). At the core of the DSF are empirically-based thresholds for each of five different measures of the debt burden (the “debt threshold approach” DTA). The DSF contains a rule for aggregating the information contained in these five different variables which we label the “worst-case aggregator” (WCA) in view of the fact that the DSF considers a breach of any one of the thresholds sufficient to indicate a high risk of debt distress. However, neither the DTA nor the WCA has heretofore been subject to empirical testing. We find that: (1) the DTA loses information relative to a simple proposed alternative; (2) the WCA is too conservative (predicting crises too often) in terms of the loss function used in the DSF; and (3) the WCA is less accurate than some simple proposed alternative aggregators as a predictor of debt distress.
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=41444.0
DISCLAIMER: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF. The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate.
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Final Evaluation of an Apprenticeship Project in Bangladesh
From: Haider Nazia EDA HAINA [mailto:nazia.haider@eda.
Sent: 2014-04-28 11:06:38
Subject: Final Evaluation of an Apprenticeship Project in Bangladesh
Dear Colleagues,
Please find attached a draft ToR for an upcoming evaluation, scheduled to
take place this summer (July – August 2014, preferably) in Bangladesh. More
information about the project is available on the following website:
http://www.swiss-cooperation.
For this task, SDC is searching for an international consultant. If
you/your agency is interested in the task, please email me at
nazia.haider@eda.admin.ch with your updated resume, consultancy charges,
and availability by Wednesday, 30 April 2014. If shortlisted, I will send
you other documents required to complete the proposal. Please note that we
are seeking this support from various agencies through a closed tender and
will shortlist according to internal criteria.
Kind regards,
Nazia
Nazia Haider
Senior Programme Officer
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)
Embassy of Switzerland
Bay’s Edgewater, 8th Floor, Plot 12, North Avenue, Gulshan 2, Dhaka 1212,
Bangladesh
Tel. +88 02 881 23 92/94, Ext: 123
Fax +88 02 882 34 97
nazia.haider@eda.admin.ch
www.sdc.org.bd
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Dear David and other friends,
It sounds very interesting to us in Kerala. We started a similar process in
Kerala in 2012 in relation with the ‘Additional Skill Acquisition
Programme (ASAP) (www.asapkerala.gov.in ). The objective of the programme
is to provide additional skill training to the students at Higher Secondary
Schools and arts and science Under Graduate Collages in the state to
enhance their labour market acceptability.
At present we have 33 Skill Development Centres to provide industry sector
specific skill training and we plan to develop this centres into Community
Skill Parks (CSP). All the courses are being developed, delivered, assessed
and certified with the active participation of the industry in accordance
with the occupation standards and qualification packs being developed by
sector skill councils and National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) (
www.nsdcindia.org)
Do we have forum colleagues from www.psdc.org.my to get more information
on their experiences?
Warm regards
P. Anil Prasad
Under Secretary (Lifelong Learning)
Additional Skill Acquisition Programme (ASAP)
Higher Education Department, Government of Kerala
3rd Floor, Trans Towers
Vazhuthacaud, Thiruvananthapuram
Kerala, India Pin Code 695014
Phone +91 471 2772513
Official e-mail : aprasad@asapkerala.gov.in
Project website: www.asapkerala.gov.in
Personal home pages
www.wikieducator.org/User:
www.apletters.blogspot.com
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Linear and circular economy
From: Rafael Barrio Lapuente [newdidactics@gmail.com]
Sent: 2014-04-25 12:13:39
Subject: Linear and circular economy
The proposals of circular economy had a significant role in the meeting of
the World Economic Forum in Davos 2013. I attach the link to the report
http://www.weforum.org/
The essence of circular economy is to design products with no waste
products that facilitate disassembly and reuse…
The idea of Cradle to Cradle (Remaking the Way We Make Things) developed by
chemist Michael Braungart and architect William McDonough ranked as the
next industrial revolution
Traditionally the main slogan of environmentalism has been ” Reduce, reuse,
recycle .” The authors propose a different approach: Reduce the impact on
the environment cause slowdowns same , but faster or slower would be coming
to the same end. Optimize the design and production architectural and
industrial. Design for not to contaminate.
The global consultancy McKinsey, which ensures that from the current model
of linear economy ( produce – use – throw ) to a circular economy in which
the elements are reused to complete the cycle ( “cradle to cradle” ) would
save annual 700 billion.
On a curricular level, the overall objective would be to educate and train
young people from the perspective of sustainability from the industrial
product development with the idea that every product should fulfill a life
cycle that would allow recycled and re- feedback process creation of new
products
I attach a link with the idea of an economic model based on circular
economy as an alternative to the linear model economy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
From my point of view, this idea I could have a big impact on the future of
the TVET curriculum.
King regards
Rafa
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From: Raja Asad Ullah Khan [liveasad@live.com]
Sent: 2014-04-04 08:35:33
Subject: Competency Based Standards improvement and reflection in KSA model
Dear Members;
In the face of growing worldwide concern with regard to finding new and
better way for the TVET approaches, the Competency Based Standards (CBS)
take a vital role in strengthening the technical and vocational trainings.
This is the basic refrain since last few decades in making attributes which
led to gain the KSA model in its real form.
Now days TVET is focusing on CBS. And aspects which are mandatory to
incorporate in the development of CBS considering country’s requirements.
I need to know from the TVET experts:
• Aim and range of CBS
• Challenges (Need identification, Analysis, organization and planning)
• Role of Industry in developing CBS
• Assessment/ evaluation of CBS
Raja Asad Ullah Khan
TVET Associate,
Lahore, Pakistan.
E-mail: liveasad@live.com
view thread online:
http://www.unevoc.unesco.org/
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Hi all,
NEW REPORT
Eurodad just released a new report that assesses the quantity and quality of conditionality attached to IMF loans.
The report “Conditionally yours: An analysis of the policy conditions attached to IMF loans” finds that the number of IMF conditions per program actually increased in recent years, this against the IMF’s stated intentions to ‘streamline’ conditions in order to make programs less cumbersome.
The report also provides new evidence of controversial conditions in politically sensitive economic policy areas, particularly tax and spending, including increases in VAT and other taxes, freezes or reductions in public sector wages, and cutbacks in welfare programmes including pensions.
The report is online now. Enjoy reading and please forward to others who might be interested, including government officers etc. Many thanks!
LAUNCH EVENT:
We also like to invite you to the ‘physical’ report launch at the Spring Meetings in Washington DC:
Reforming IMF conditionality. Where do we stand?
Saturday, April 12, 14:15 to 15:45, World Bank HQ in Washington DC, room tbc
Organized by ANND, Eurodad, ITUC and Oxfam International
Based on new research papers by Eurodad and ANND, this takes a look at recent practice of conditionality that was attached to IMF programmes over the past years three years, assessing in particular:
- the quantity of IMF conditionality and the reform burden it puts on programme countries under stress,
- the IMF’s trade and investment conditionality, as in countries of the MENA region
- the IMF’s tax conditionality and its distributional impact
- and IMF labour market conditionality and what it means for vulnerable populations.
Experts from ANND, Eurodad and the International Trade Union Confederation will present their latest observations. The IMF will be given an opportunity to answer and the floor then open to questions.
Chair: Nicolas Mombrial, Oxfam International, Head of Washington D.C office
Panelists: Peter Bakvis, ITUC, Washington D.C. representative
Bodo Ellmers, Eurodad, Policy and Advocacy Manager
Kinda Mohamadieh, ANND; Policy Advisor
Name tbc, IMF
Bodo Ellmers Senior Policy and Advocacy Officer Eurodad, European Network on Debt and Development
Tel: + 32 2 894 46 51
Skype: eurodad-bodo
Email: bellmers@eurodad.org Rue d’Edimbourg, 18-26. Brussels 1050. Belgium
Two exciting new jobs at Eurodad! Grants, Finance & Office Manager // Finance & Accounting Officer.
More information here.
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Fyi the Annual Stakeholder Forum of the multi-donor Debt Management Facility takes place in Brussels tomorrow and the day after. It is usually a pretty interesting event attended by lots of senior staff of the IFIs and leading debt (management) experts.
All the best
Bodo
Bodo Ellmers Senior Policy and Advocacy Officer Eurodad, European Network on Debt and Development
Tel: + 32 2 894 46 51
Skype: eurodad-bodo
Email: bellmers@eurodad.org Rue d’Edimbourg, 18-26. Brussels 1050. Belgium
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DESA News April 2014: Population and development, Public administration, Partnerships beyond 2015
http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/newsletter/desanews/2014/04.html
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From: Ann Kobia <kobiamakena@gmail.com> Date: Tue, Apr 1, 2014 at 8:32 AM Subject: PACJA updates Fw: Keynote Address by President of Liberia/Chair of HLC To: pacja-updates <pacja-updates@googlegroups.
— Dear Colleagues,
- African regional Post-2015 process – multiple regional and sub-regional consultations and meeting of the Sherpas held to articulate on the CAP;
- How the High-Level Committee (HLC) was set up on May 2013 during the 21st AU Summit and the countries representing the HLC;
- How the Summit gave the responsibility of further refining the CAP to the HLC and how the Summit requested the AUC, RECs, relevant stakeholders to engage member states and work with the PRC (Country Ambassadors to the AU) and African group in New York to ensure that the CAP fed into the Post-2015 development agenda;
- The work of the HLC after its formulation, how the roadmap from May 2013 Summit onwards was designed by AUC and Liberia Chair Office and how this roadmap was approved on September 2013 on the margins of UNGA (United Nations General Assembly);
- The establishment of the technical working group at UNGA comprising of UNECA, UNFPA, NEPAD, UNDP Regional Bureau and AfDP to refine the draft CAP;
- The technical working group met with the Sherpas several times to incorporate comments from various stakeholders and build consensus around priority areas of the CAP;
- The revised CAP was thus, presented to the Heads of State and Government at the January AU Summit 2014 and was adopted with Peace and Security being added as a pillar rather than an enabler;
- At the end of February 2014 the HLC endorsed the changes made and further discussed strategy for advocacy around the CAP.
- The Chair highlighted that the CAP aims at re-orienting the development paradigm away from externally-driven towards domestically-inspired and funded initiatives;
- She further highlighted as being incorporated in the CAP some major points such as – good governance, ownership and participation by Africans, service delivery on Health & Education, decent jobs and strengthened resilience to external shocks, harnessing science, technology and innovation, sustainable development agenda for Africa on the basis of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities, addressing inequalities, resource mobilization and innovative financing and inclusive development;
- She moved on to say that now the CAP has been developed, next step would be advocacy, negotiations and forging alliances;
- She also said the 19 areas of focus identified by the UN Open Working Group (OWG) on the SDGs are mostly in line with African priorities. However, she stressed the need to forge ahead with advocacy and negotiations to ensure that African voice is not only heard but well taken and reflected in the Post-2015 Development Agenda.
- She concluded by saying ‘The people of Africa have spoken. We have listened and now is the time for action’.
— — Thank you for posting to the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance member’s mailing list.Please note that you have posted to a moderated email list. In conformity with Pan African Climate Justice Alliance ZERO TOLERANCE SPAM policy, any posts to this mailing list will be held for moderation. If your intention was to contact the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance Secretariat, please use the email address [Info@pacja.org]. Thank you for your co-operation and understanding and supporting our Vision, “A global environment free from the threat of global warming with sustainable development equity and justice to all”
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Dear Friends and Colleagues,
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Trillions of Dollars of Public Spending to be Directed Towards Greening Global Markets
Sustainable Public Procurement Programme Can Accelerate Shift to Resource-Efficient World
NEW YORK, 1 April 2014 – A new global programme, launched Tuesday, will harness the power of the trillions of dollars that Governments spend on public procurement each year towards a shift to a more resource-efficient world.
The Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) Programme – the first action to get underway as part of the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production (10YFP) – will assist Governments to redirect public spending into goods and services that bring significant environmental and social benefits.
“The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development nations spent an average 13 per cent of gross domestic product on public procurement in 2011, while in some developing nations this can hit 20 per cent. This adds up to trillions of dollars globally, demonstrating the scale of the opportunity ahead,” said Achim Steiner, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director. “Governments can use this enormous purchasing power to force markets onto a sustainable path by demanding goods and services that conserve natural resources, create decent greens jobs and improve livelihoods around the globe.”
The SPP Programme—co-led by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability and the Korea Environmental Industry and Technology Institute (KEITI)—will enable this shift by improving knowledge of sustainable procurement’s benefits and supporting implementation through access to experts and tools.
Existing initiatives from around the globe prove that sustainable procurement transforms markets, boosts eco-industries, saves money, conserves natural resources and fosters job creation. For example:
* Indian Railways replaced more than one million incandescent light bulbs with energy-efficient fluorescent lamps in 400,000 employees’ homes, saving more than 100,000MWh of energy and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 90,000 tonnes each year.
* In Brazil, the Foundation for Education Development saved 8,800 cubic metres of water and 1,750 tonnes of waste by using notebooks made from recycled paper in Sao Paulo schools.
* In France, a contract for the purchase of toner cartridges was awarded to an organization that, between 2009 and 2011, recovered 11,500 kilogrammes of waste, saved the Government 30 per cent in costs and created nine full-time jobs for disabled people.
Many other nations, including the Republic of Korea, have created sustainable public procurement policies that will bring further such benefits in the near future.
In the United States—where the Government procures more than $500 billion a year in goods and services—the Federal Government has incorporated sustainability requirements into purchasing regulations. Additionally, an Executive Order stipulates that 95 per cent of all new contracts use products and services that are energy- and water-efficient, environmentally preferable, non-ozone depleting and contain recycled content.
Chile’s public procurement and contracting bureau set a target of 15 per cent of procurement orders meeting sustainability targets by 2012. This was exceeded one year ahead of schedule: 17.2 per cent of orders included sustainability criteria by the end of 2011. The bureau oversees $8 billion in transactions, accounting for more than 3.2 per cent of GDP.
In Japan—where a 2010 study found that government bodies spent US$672 billion (17.6 per cent of GDP)—green purchasing laws now require ministries, provincial governments and an increasing number of cities to make 95 per cent of their purchases from designated “green product” categories.
The programme, by working to ensure such purchasing decisions are the norm rather than the exception, aims to play a vital role in the transitioning the globe to an inclusive Green Economy.
The launch comes just a few months ahead of the first United Nations Environment Assembly, when the world’s environment ministers will meet to discuss the post-2015 sustainable development agenda, with a special focus on sustainable consumption and production.
“A rapid transformation, which will support the post-2015 sustainable development agenda, is eminently possible,” said Mr. Steiner. “Governments from across the globe signed up to the UNEP-led Sustainable Public Procurement Initiative at Rio+20, and are backing this commitment with action. This demonstrates that the political will is already in place.”
The programme is also supported by the European Commission, the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment, the China Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Republic of Korea, ISEAL Alliance, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Swedish Ministry of the Environment and the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
ADDITIONAL QUOTES:
* “If public money is spent on products and services that reduce environmental impacts, encourage social improvement and achieve financial efficiency, a huge step forward could be made towards sustainable development,” said Gino Van Begin, Secretary-General, ICLEI World Secretariat. “This is what the 10-Year Framework Programme on Sustainable Public Procurement aims to achieve.”
* “The Republic of Korea has gained strong expertise in the implementation of green public procurement based on an electronic monitoring system over the past 10 years,” said Yongjoo Kim, President of KEITI. “We wish to contribute to the programme, in close partnership with UNEP and ICLEI, by identifying and disseminating good practices.”
About the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production (10YFP)
The 10YFP is a global framework for action that enhances international cooperation to develop, replicate and scale up Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) and resource efficiency initiatives around the world. It was established after Heads of State at Rio+20 agreed that SCP is a cornerstone of sustainable development, and an important contributor to poverty alleviation and the transition to low-carbon and green economies. The SPP Programme is the first of an initial suite of programmes to be launched under the 10YFP. Other programmes on consumer information, sustainable lifestyles and education, sustainable buildings and construction, and sustainable tourism are expected to be launched in 2014. UNEP hosts the Secretariat of the 10YFP.
For more information, please visit www.unep.org/10yfp
For more information, please contact: Shereen Zorba, Head, UNEP News and Media 254-20 762 502, +254 788 526 000, shereen.zorba@unep.org
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Dear Colleagues,
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Human Opportunity Index (HOI) : national equality of children’s opportunities in Pakistan (English)
ABSTRACTThis paper complements the World Bank’s recent report on poverty by providing some additional information on inequality. In contrast to reports that analyze measures of inequality of income or wealth (such as the Gini), this paper focuses on equality of opportunities of children, where opportunities refer to access to basic services and goods (access to education, health conditions and basic infrastructure) that improve the likelihood of children to maximize their human potential. It introduces a new metric to Pakistan, the Human Opportunities Index (HOI), that combines the overall coverage rate of the opportunity with a penalty for the share of access to opportunities that are distributed in an unequal fashion. The Human Opportunity Index was developed recently at the World Bank and has been estimated now for over 20 countries in Latin America and Africa.
Newman, John. 2012. Human Opportunity Index (HOI) : national equality of children’s opportunities in Pakistan. World Bank Policy Paper Series on Pakistan ; no. PK 8/12. Washington, DC : World Bank Group.
Worldbank info Youth Pakistan 862440NWP0Worl02012000HOI0National
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http://www.thegef.org/gef/ http://www.utsn.nl/uitvoering-financien/projectkosten/
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UN OWG Decent Work Side Event – 7 February 2014
Decent jobs in the transition to a sustainable economy
7 February 2014 – 1:15pm to 2:30pm
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Eurodad FINAL questions for party groupings 01.04.2014 (1)
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[Eurodad debt] New Report by OEFSE on soft loan policies of four European Donor countries: Austria, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands.
This report by Eurodad partner ÖFSE presents the results of a research project on the development orientation of soft loans. It provides a comprehensive analysis of the historical evolution and institutional structure of tied aid as well as a comparative assessment of soft loan policies of four European Donor countries: Austria, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. Its conclusions are both relevant for the current discussion on Financing for Development and the debate on the future of ODA.
The study compares the selected soft loan programs with regard to the respective institutional set-up, strategic orientation and implementation patterns. The comparison revealed a marked heterogeneity in the soft loan landscape. In almost all of the dimensions analysed, the programs show considerable differences. In addition, the study shows that development policy aspects are anchored in the programs to different degrees.
The report derives three general conclusions on the characteristics of the field of soft loan financing:
- the pronounced institutional heterogeneity surrounding the various instruments,
- the hybrid nature of the programs, and
- the rather conventional understanding of development in which they are grounded.
To read the full report, click here.
Bodo Ellmers
Senior Policy and Advocacy Officer
Eurodad, European Network on Debt and Development
Tel: + 32 2 894 46 51
Skype: eurodad-bodo
Email: bellmers@eurodad.org
Rue d’Edimbourg, 18-26. Brussels 1050. Belgium
2 Apr 2014
Blog: Ireland’s Financial Foe: the European Central Bank
A call to Patrick Honohan, the Governor of the Irish Central Bank to do the right thing
by Nessa Ni Chasaide
Last week it emerged 
that the European Central Bank (ECB) is not happy with the restructuring of Ireland’s most odious socialised banking debt – the debts of Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide Building Society. The debts of Anglo et al – about € 30 billion – are worth nearly half the cost of the private banking debt made public in Ireland – € 64 billion, a staggering 40% of our national income.
In February 2013, amid huge public outrage at the promise to pay over € 30 billion to settle the Anglo debts, the Irish government changed the form of the debt but without in any way reducing the size of it. It was previously in ‘promissory note’ form – like an IOU – and the government changed it to sovereign bonds, a tradable form of debt now held at the Irish Central Bank. The Irish Central Bank is set to sell the bonds to international markets at a rate of about € 0.5 billion per year.
But now it seems the ECB wants this process speeded up as they are concerned that this restructuring broke ECB rules by allowing so called ‘monetary financing’ within the Eurozone. The ECB is afraid that the new arrangement is viewed as the ECB creating money by allowing the Anglo debt to be paid over a longer time period.
The Anglo: Not Our Debt campaign, of which DDCI is an active member, also has problems with the Anglo debt restructuring – but for very different reasons. Our objections are three-fold:
- This debt is the debt of gambling bankers. It represents almost half of the overall socialised banking debt being paid by people in Ireland. It is not our debt and we should not pay any of it. While the deal lengthens the payment period (to 39 years instead of the original 17 years), the converting of the promissory notes into bonds means the government believes that the Anglo debt is a legitimate debt that should be paid. It shouldn’t.
- The government has now made it more difficult not to pay this debt. The promissory notes were basically an inter-agency promise between state agencies – the Irish government, Anglo (state owned) and the Irish Central Bank. They could have decided between them not to pay it, or at least negotiated hard with the ECB for agreement not to pay it. By changing the debt into bonds, the debt will now be traded internationally and we will owe it to private bondholders instead – who will of course put up a serious fight if they are not paid
- Selling the bonds will probably cost us over € 1 billion in interest payments that would otherwise stay within the Irish state. By trading the debt on the private markets, the Irish Central Bank will have to pay interest to private bondholders, rather than keep the interest payments within the state system. The bonds will carry a floating interest rate so we don’t know exactly how much they will cost us. But once they are all sold it’s likely that the annual interest bill will be over € 1.3 billion– not even counting the maturing debt principle.
For all these reasons, we should not sell these bonds to private bondholders. The Irish Central Bank should freeze the sale of the bonds, pending a full cancellation of this illegitimate debt.
The power to make this decision lies with the Governor of the Irish Central Bank, Patrick Honohan. He should not bow to this renewed pressure from the ECB, the same institution that forced us in 2010, through extreme bullying in the context of the ‘bail-out’, to pay for the entire banking debt.
It is time for Governor Patrick Honohan to do the right thing.
Patrick Honohan, will you do the right thing?
— Nessa Ní Chasaide Co-ordinator
Debt and Development Coalition Ireland Unit F5 Spade Enterprise centre North King Street Dublin 7 Ireland
Ph: + 353 1 6174835 Skype: nessani Website: www.debtireland.org
My work days are Monday – Thursday
— Nessa Ní Chasaide Co-ordinator
Debt and Development Coalition Ireland Unit F5 Spade Enterprise centre North King Street Dublin 7 Ireland
Ph: + 353 1 6174835 Skype: nessani Website: www.debtireland.org
My work days are Monday – Thursday
“How to Make External Debt Sustainable?” A panel discussion among policy makers, academics and civil society
International Monetary Fund, MC 2-210, Washington D.C.
Wednesday, 9th of April, 2:15 pm to 3:45 pm
Since the outbreak of the world recession in 2008 countries as diverse as Greece, Grenada, Burundi and Ukraine have run into serious debt sustainability problems. Ultimately even the IMF had to acknowledge, what academics have been warning against for years: Multilateral debt relief initiatives such as HIPC and MDRI have not solved the global sovereign debt crisis “once and for all”. A recent IMF staff paper has identified some of the reasons for this in the set-up of global debt management, but has stopped short of making proposals for remedy.
One of the key elements of any debt restructuring process is the definition of a sustainable debt level for sovereigns. IFIs have developed various methodologies for distilling definitions for a sustainable debt out of a plethora of economic data and political circumstances. However, in real life, economic expertise tends to be over-ruled by political preferences (for or against relieving individual countries of their over-indebtedness) and by the dominance of creditors, who urge debtors to kick the can the road rather than solve a looming crisis in time.
Against this sobering background we ask for the link between the technical definition of debt sustainability and its translation into meaningful debt restructuring.
How can timely and sufficient debt relief be provided?
What are the missing links in global sovereign debt management?
Speakers:
Sara Burke, FES New York
Eric LeCompte, Jubilee USA
Adrian Cosentino, Secretary of Finance Argentina
Lee C. Buchheit, Partner, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP
Aldo Caliari, Director, Rethinking Bretton Woods Project, Center of Concern
Kristina Rehbein, erlassjahr.de
Timothy Antoine, Grenada Ministry of Finance (TBC)
Paul Inderbinen, Finance Ministry Switzerland (TBC)
The current program version is attached. We are looking forward to see many of you there.
Best,
Kristina
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http://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/
http://www.cigionline.org/sites/default/files/CIGI_PB_28.pdf
http://www.imf.org/external/pp/longres.aspx?id=4839
United Nations Millenium Goals Development Report:
Year 2013, http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/report-2013/mdg-report-2013-english.pdf
Year 2012
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/MDG%20Report%202012.pdf
ILO Micro Finance For Decent Work:
Social finance: http://www.ilo.org/employment/areas/social-finance/lang–en/index.htm
EU Funding For Sustainable Development: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/index_en.htm
- We need sustainable statistics to support sustainable development”
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhP5RqaQZLs
- http://youtu.be/pjMH1Ikb0nA
- www.climateandhealthalliance.org/summit/climate-and-health-summit
http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/index.php?menu=1665
http://www.un-ngls.org/spip.php?spip.php&page=article_fr_s&id_article=4370
http://vikasnath.com/2013/11/25/united-nations-new-issues-new-ideas-not-enough-financing/
- http://www.flickr.com/photos/worldbank/2765588193/in/photostream/
- http://www.ruralfinance.org/news-events/events/events/ru/?srec=178299&no_cache=1
http://www.stakeholderforum.org/sf/outreach/
-
CIEPR_2013_RevisitingSovereignBankruptcyReport.pdf 1228 kB Download A Renewed Proposal for a Sovereign Debt Forum – 22Aug2012.pdf 79 kB Download 
Notes call 07.11.2013.doc 52 kB Download
Notes CADTM meetings 12-13 Nov
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http://www.nsdcindia.org/
Regards Md. Quamruzzaman Deputy Director NSDC-Secretariat.
Ministry of Labour and Employment
Web: www.nsdc.gov.bd
http://www.unevoc.unesco.org/e-forum/Green%20Day.doc
http://www.unevoc.unesco.org/e-forum/MVP-Programme-Norway.pdf
http://www.iisd.ca/vol12/enb12592e.html
http://www.japanfs.org/en/aboutus/greeting.html
http://www.hioa.no/content/
http://www.ifpri.org/book-753/ourwork/program/2020-vision
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http://edunorth.wordpress.com/writing/
http://edunorth.wordpress.com/public-speaking/
http://eurodad.org/files/pdf/5280b0e731441.pdf
MAGAZINE
www.climateandhealthalliance.
http://www.stakeholderforum.org/sf/outreach/index.php/component/content/article/184-cop-19-day-2/1549-rapidly-growing-slums-could-be-the-key-to-sustainable-urban-energy-system-transformation http://www.stakeholderforum.org/sf/index.php
http://www.unevoc.unesco.org/worldtvetdatabase1.php?ct=PAK
