1. THE WEEK IN REVIEW
INTERNATIONAL
UN ROUND-UP: The Human Development Report 2003 this week shows that 59 nations - predominantly in sub-Saharan Africa or the former Soviet Union - have slid further down the poverty ladder in the past decade as they contend with HIV/Aids, wars and mammoth foreign debts. However, the authoritative UN report predicts that the number of people trying to survive on less than a dollar a day could be halved in just over a decade. The target - to reduce the 1.2 billion people living in extreme poverty - was among eight ambitious goals set out at the turn of the millennium. The leaders of the world's most powerful nations promised to help the 800 million who suffer from chronic hunger, the 14 million children who have lost one or both parents to the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the half a million women who die in pregnancy or childbirth each year. * UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has appointed a senior American diplomat and former top UN official in the Balkans as his new special envoy for Liberia, in light of the rapidly unfolding political events in the war-torn West African nation. Mr. Annan informed the Security Council of a number of urgent initiatives he had taken to address the grave situation prevailing in Liberia, notably, naming Jacques Klein, former head of the UN Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH), as his Special Representative for Liberia to lead and coordinate the activities of the UN in that country. * A UN refugee agency team went to the northern Iraqi town of Kalar this week to look into reports that large numbers of Iranians had left Al Tash camp, west of Baghdad, and relocated to the north because of insecurity and lack of assistance. The camp is currently a "no-go" zone for aid workers, with security problems making it difficult for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to have regular contact with the refugees there, agency spokesperson Kris Janowski said in Geneva. * The United Nations International Labor Office (ILO) and its partners have launched a new initiative to help create one billion jobs world-wide for youth over the next decade. The initiative, a so-called five-step road map for national action plans on youth employment, is designed to convert "policy work to action at the country level" and to develop and implement strategies that give young people everywhere a real chance to find decent and productive work.
IMF & WORLD BANK ROUND-UP: The World Bank Group, through its Africa Project Development Facility (APDF), has reportedly agreed to financially contribute to qualified small and medium enterprises' costs for their new Web sites to be developed by DLK Consulting. This is part of a pilot project by DLK and APDF to demonstrate to smaller firms the benefits of having an Internet presence. The APDF will pay about 30 percent of certain costs incurred by those firms that contract with DLK Consulting to provide a complete static Web site service. * The Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank Group Tuesday approved a new Infrastructure Action Plan, signaling a reinvigorated embrace of infrastructure development by the institution. The Action Plan was developed in response to strong client country demand for infrastructure, and it encompasses innovative ways of financing infrastructure projects. Under the Action Plan, the Bank Group will apply new and/or existing instruments more effectively, including a spectrum of public-private partnerships, and project financing at regional, national and sub-national levels. The Plan will also strengthen the knowledge base and country analytic work in infrastructure to provide a better framework for policy dialogue.
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
BURUNDI: Hutu National Liberation Forces (FNL) rebels in Burundi late this week renewed their offensive on the capital Bujumbura with a furious attack in the south of the city, a day after mortar fire killed at least two people. The FNL did not sign the country's ceasefire pact in December and has vowed to continue the three day old offensive until President Domitien Ndayizeye steps down. The army and the government have accused the FNL of teaming up with Burundi's largest Hutu rebel group, the Forces for Defense and Democracy (FDD).
CONGO (BRAZZAVILLE): Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguesso will propose a permanent all-African peacekeeping force at this week's African Union summit, state television said July 9. A "pan-African anti-aggression pact" to be unveiled at the summit being held July 10 through Saturday in the Mozambican capital Maputo will establish the force as the future "security pillar" of the 53-member AU, the report said. The force would provide "a 100 percent African response" to crises and armed conflicts across the war-ravaged continent and boost its potential to attract foreign investment, according to the text of the pact. In other news, indigenous populations in the Lekoumou Region of southern Republic of Congo have asked the government to conduct a census of their populations in order to better incorporate them into national development planning. The request came at the conclusion of a human rights seminar for indigenous people, better known as "Pygmies", held from July 1-3 in Sibiti, the capital of Lekoumou, according to Moke Loamba, president of ADHUC, a national human rights NGO. "I believe that it is reasonable that we first of all conduct a general census before discussing questions of development that are critical for the survival of pygmy communities which have been terribly marginalised by Bantu peoples," Denis Toutou Nganiye, president of the Association pour la promotion socioculturelle des pygmees du Congo, told IRIN.
GHANA: A new kind of "summer school" - the Science and Maths Education Clinic - implemented by Ghana's government since 1987 has been a huge success, BBC Online reports. The project has reduced the educational gender imbalance endemic to many African countries in the fields of science and math at secondary level. The Ghana Education Service has funded the science clinics for girls with the help of local sponsorship.
KENYA: World Bank President, Mr James Wolfenson, will launch a national conference against corruption that will steer a national campaign later this month, the East African Standard in Nairobi reports. Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister, Mr Kiraitu Murungi, said the official will launch the campaign at a high profile national event meant to trigger off the war against the vice. He said the campaign will involve all Kenyans. The Minister proposed that the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission be made independent and only answerable to Parliament. It should conduct investigations, prevent the vice and carry out public education, including school programs. The campaign will be a five-year strategy to be accorded the same magnitude as the fight against the HIV/Aids scourge.
LIBERIA: The U.S. has dispatched two assessment teams to Africa, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said July 8, as Washington continues to consider whether to deploy military troops into war-torn Liberia. "The president is considering the appropriate U.S. role," said Mr. Rumsfeld, who said Washington has fielded a "several-dozen-strong assessment team in Liberia" to aid in that effort. The defense secretary said a second team has been dispatched to work with the West African regional group ECOWAS, which is preparing to send a multinational peacekeeping force into Liberia. It was not immediately clear how long the U.S. assessment teams would remain in place. "It's going to take some time for the assessments to come in," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Wednesday. "They've got some thorough work ahead of them." Meanwhile, Liberia's only major referral hospital, the John F. Kennedy Medical Center in the capital, Monrovia, can no longer contain the influx of cholera patients, most of whom are internally displaced persons, the acting Minister of Health Nathaniel Bartee told IRIN July 8. At least five cases are being reported daily at the hospital, the Minister told IRIN in Monrovia. At the Samuel Doe stadium where 10,000 displaced people are sheltering in open air, at least 10 cases are reported weekly, since rebels threatened to overrun Monrovia mid-last month.
MOZAMBIQUE: The Financial Times (U.K.) reports doctors in Mozambique will start testing a vaccine this week that promises to curb the spread of the biggest killer of African children. The Malaria Vaccine Initiative, a public-private partnership, plans to inoculate a total of 2,000 children in an 18-month trial of the most advanced malaria vaccine. RTSS, developed by the Anglo-American drugs group GlaxoSmithKline, is one of 16 potential vaccines in clinical testing for use against malaria, a disease that kills 1m Africans every year, most of them under the age of five.
SIERRA LEONE: On the eve of the African Union (AU) summit in Maputo, Amnesty International calls on all African governments to fulfill their obligations under international law and to cooperate fully with the Special Court for Sierra Leone. "African governments meeting in Maputo should state publicly their commitment to cooperate with the Special Court; failure to do so will undermine the integrity of the AU," Amnesty International said. The Special Court has indicted Liberian President Charles Taylor for "bearing the greatest responsibility" for war crimes, crimes against humanity and other serious violations of international humanitarian law. Although President Taylor was in Ghana, a member state of the African Union (AU), when the indictment was made public, the Ghanaian authorities failed to arrest him and either surrender him to the Special Court or pursue the case under Ghana's own legal system, as they were required to do under international law. In the last few days, the Government of Nigeria is reported to have offered "asylum" to President Taylor in Nigeria, with the implication that the Nigerian authorities will not arrest President Taylor and either surrender him to the Special Court or open an investigation with a view to determining whether to open criminal or extradition proceedings in Nigerian courts. Amnesty International has written to both President John Kufuor of Ghana and President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria expressing the organization's dismay at their failure to cooperate with the Special Court and to fulfill their obligations under international law.
SOUTH AFRICA: The Financial Times (U.K.) reports that South Africa is slipping backwards into under-development, largely due to HIV/ AIDS, according to UNDP's human development report, released this week. This is likely to embarrass Thabo Mbeki, South Africa's president, when he met U.S. President George W. Bush in Pretoria July 8, the paper as he would like to point with pride to his country's status as Africa's economic powerhouse and a driver of political integration. The report, which uses indicators such as life expectancy, educational attainment and income, shows South Africa falling to 111th place out of 175 countries ranked worldwide, from 107th the previous year. It has dropped 28 places since 1990, the UN said, "primarily because more people were dying younger from AIDS-related illnesses."
SUDAN: Humanitarian agencies have expressed alarm over what they describe as the deteriorating food security situation in parts of southern Sudan. They have appealed for urgent donor support to save the lives of thousands of children who are at risk. World Vision International July 8 said it had launched two emergency supplementary feeding clinics in Bahr el Ghazal, southern Sudan. The intervention followed a nutrition survey conducted in mid May in Gogrial, one of the seven counties in the province, which found that over 5,000 out of 21,000 children were severely malnourished. The agency has called for urgent funds to start therapeutic feeding clinics for the most vulnerable children. "What we have now will only stretch for a few weeks - the number of children is overwhelming," World Vision's officer on the ground, Ann Njenga, said. The Warrap and Thiet areas of neighboring Tonj County are suffering similar food shortages and malnutrition, according to World Vision. "Most families have nothing at all. If no intervention is made, they will perish," Njenga said. "With the weak state of most children, any disease can easily kill them. It will be fatal if measles or malaria strikes."
TANZANIA: The World Bank has approved $77 million grant for Tanzania to support its HIV/AIDS reduction efforts and to sustain conservation of forests, the bank said July 7. A grant of $70 million has been allocated for Tanzania's Multi-Sectoral HIV/AIDS Project, which will support the government's national program for HIV/AIDS over five years up to 2008. Meanwhile, IRIN reports that people living in remote areas in Tanzania are due to benefit from a $5.4 million grant from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, a public-private partnership formed in 2002 to attract resources to fight the three diseases. The Fund reported July 7 that the grant would cater for HIV preventive education in the country over five years, "focusing on young people and vulnerable populations in 12 districts." The grant will facilitate the expansion of community-driven preventive programs aimed at civil servants, teachers and health care workers, the Fund said in a statement.
UGANDA: Uganda has waged a successful fight to reduce its infection rate by enlisting the entire population in a frank discussion about sex, The Washington Post reports. Condom use is heavily promoted, putting the Ugandans at odds with the Bush administration, which pushes abstinence and has directed about one-third of new AIDS prevention money for Africa to groups that advocate "abstinence-only before marriage" messages. So when President Bush visits this clinic in the lush hills near the Entebbe airport July 11 during his five-day trip to five African nations, he is likely to hear some opinions contrary to his own. "I won't mind telling Mr. Bush when he visits that young children need to know about condoms here," said Michael Bernard Etukoit, the manager of TASO. "It's too idealistic to say abstain when I serve 50,000 people for AIDS alone in my clinic."
ZIMBABWE: An international NGO July 8 said a shortage of funds was hampering the delivery of assistance to Zimbabwe's urban poor. Help Germany coordinator Hans Sittig told IRIN: "With the limited funds we are just managing to provide help to those who fall under our program. But that is just scratching the surface. There are many other vulnerable groups who are desperately in need of assistance." The development agency is currently running a feeding program for malnourished children aged under six in Harare and Bulawayo, in conjunction with the local health department and the World Food Program (WFP). Meanwhile, The Daily Telegraph (U.K.) reports that U.S. President George W. Bush disappointed millions of Zimbabweans this week when he said America would defer to South Africa's quiet diplomacy on changing the behavior of President Robert Mugabe's regime. Many felt Washington had led them to believe it was taking a stronger line against Mr. Mugabe's battering of political opponents and wrecking of the economy.
AMERICAS & CARIBBEAN
ARGENTINA: Roberto Lavagna, Argentina's economy minister, has warned that the country will not be able to offer its private creditors a credible restructuring plan without a medium-term agreement with the IMF, The Financial Times (U.K.) reports. "We are not going to make promises we can't fulfill," he said in an interview. "We would not be able to pay simultaneously the multilateral organizations and the private sector in the first few years. There is no way - even if we increased the fiscal surplus." In January, Argentina signed an interim agreement with the fund, which has allowed it to roll over about $6.8 billion in multilateral debt. However, the agreement expires next month, leaving little time to negotiate a new and longer-term agreement. Mr. Lavagna's comments suggest that any delay in striking a new deal could affect Argentina's plans to come up with an offer to private creditors in September. Meanwhile, President Nestor Kirchner this week declared war on hunger, which affected one out of six every households last year. Half of the 36 million Argentines slid below the poverty line and one-fifth of the workforce was jobless in 2002.
UNITED STATES: President George W. Bush opened his African tour July 8 with a pledge to work more closely with African nations to help them build a prosperous and peaceful future, but the limitations of his promise of more engagement were on display from the first hours of his visit, writes the New York Times. After meeting with West African leaders here, the president said that the U.S. would participate in their efforts to end Liberia's civil war and bring stability, but he stopped short of committing American troops to a peacekeeping operation. Bush's six-hour stay in Senegal was the first stop on a five-day trip that will also take him to South Africa, Botswana, Uganda and Nigeria. It is his first trip as president to sub-Saharan Africa, and White House officials said Bush intended to focus on promoting democracy, fighting AIDS and increasing trade. The president plans to tout a $15-billion global AIDS initiative, along with a $10-billion Millennium Challenge Account to provide aid to developing nations that take specific actions to combat poverty and corruption while promoting human rights and a free society. Commenting in The Guardian (U.K.), Saskia Sassen, professor of sociology at the London School of Economics, says that at the top of the list for horse trading in Africa are oil and military bases or, at the least, troop stations. In return, Bush is offering aid for Aids victims and enhanced access to U.S. markets. This is horse trading at its best. The fine print on the offer of U.S. market access has some notable features: the benefits for African producers are actually neutralized by the distortions resulting from U.S. government subsidies to its farmers; these subsidies are larger than many African economies, and they are three times as large as total U.S. aid to Africa as a whole.
ASIA & PACIFIC
BANGLADESH: Appalling weather conditions have hampered rescue efforts in Bangladesh where more than 500 people are feared dead after a ferry capsized on the Meghna River, BBC Online reports. The ferry was carrying about 750 people when it sank on its way from the capital, Dhaka, to southern Bangladesh July 8. Only four bodies have been recovered so far with more than 500 passengers declared missing. It is understood the vessel had a capacity of just 350. The accident in treacherous monsoon weather is the fourth sinking involving large loss of life this year, and increases pressure on the government to take effective measures to improve safety.
CAMBODIA: The World Bank has cancelled part of an $18 million loan for Cambodia's troubled demobilization program, after the government failed to follow proper procurement procedures when purchasing motorcycles to distribute to former soldiers, The Financial Times (U.K.) reports. The Bank's decision raises serious doubts over the future of the $42 million demobilization program, which has been dogged by controversy and corruption allegations almost from the start. The announcement comes three weeks before Cambodian parliamentary elections.
CHINA: A multi-million-dollar internationally funded project aimed at improving China's ability to fight SARS and other infectious diseases was launched July 7 in Beijing, reports Business Daily Update. The project, which is financed by the World Bank and government agencies from Britain, Canada and Japan, will focus on addressing SARS-related diagnosis, clinical management and infection control in the event of a further outbreak. It will also contribute to the overall strengthening of China's public health system in infectious disease prevention and control by improving the surveillance and case reporting systems and setting up alert and response mechanisms to address any future public health crisis. The project will be funded by a $11.5 million World Bank loan, a 3 million pound ($5 million) grant from Britain's Department for International Development, a 5 million Canadian dollar ($3.7 million) grant from the Canadian International Development Agency, and a $2 million grant from the Japan Social Development Fund.
INDIA: India has grown tired of its image as a nation in need of a handout, The Financial Times ( U.K.) reports. As a first step in its efforts to be seen as a rising world power, New Delhi has decided to prune its dependence on foreign money and only accept government-to-government aid from a club of six donor countries. Emboldened by a treasury chest holding $82 billion in foreign currency, India said it planned to stop receiving "small aid packages", as part of a wider plan to become an aid donor rather than aid recipient. India is already a significant donor to several sub-Saharan African countries and has given $100 million to the new government in Afghanistan, the FT notes. But a month after India's decision to cut 22 countries from the list of donors, some foreign governments are searching for reasons why some were dropped. "It has nothing to do with money," said one aid official. "It's about foreign policy." This may indicate why diplomatically significant countries such as the US, Britain and Russia are included in the club of six. But while most donors in New Delhi respect India's wish, some western aid officials believe that the decision stems from New Delhi's view that European donors often packaged their aid with sermons about human rights, corruption and good governance. India has now told the 22 government donors to channel funds directly to NGOs or through UN agencies.
INDONESIA: The government's decision to cut off its ties with the IMF by the end of the year should not disturb the country's monetary situation, Asia Pulse reports Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Dorodjatun Kuntjoro Jakti as saying. Mr. Dorodjatun said the Japanese government has expressed its readiness to help Indonesia stabilize its monetary sector. The two countries are expected to sign an economic partnership agreement, which will include trade and investment.
PAKISTAN: The Home Minister of Balochistan province, Sardar Sanaullah Zahri, has resigned. Sources from his party, the Balochistan National Democratic Party, told the BBC that Mr. Zahri took the decision following the killings of more than 50 Shia Muslims last week at a mosque in the provincial capital, Quetta. His resignation has been accepted by the governor of Balochistan. The Pakistani authorities have removed a number of senior police officers from their posts after sharp criticism by Shia leaders that they failed to protect their community.
THAILAND: Thai health authorities this week pledged to provide HIV/AIDS medicines for all needy patients and reduce new cases as major policies to contain its spread, The Nation (Thailand) reports. By 2006, the number of new infections should not be higher than 15,000, Charan Trinwuthipong, chief of the Diseases Control Department, said at the ninth National AIDS Conference.
SRI LANKA: Jon Westborg, a special envoy from Oslo, travelled to rebel-held northern Sri Lanka July 8 in a bid to revive the island's stalled peace process, officials said. He was to hold talks with leaders of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at Kilinochchi, 200 miles (330 kilometres) north of the capital Colombo. Officials said Mr. Westborg was expected back here July 9 after sounding out the rebels on reviving the Norwegian-brokered process seeking to end three decades of ethnic bloodshed that has claimed over 60,000 lives. Two weeks ago, the Tigers raised prospects of ending a deadlock in the Norwegian-backed peace bid even as authorities accused them of killing scores of rivals.
EUROPE & CENTRAL ASIA
EUROPEAN UNION: The Washington Post reports that the EU plans to step up pressure on the U.S., Australia and other nations after recently agreeing to changes in its farm spending programs, European Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said July 7. At a meeting in Italy, ministers of the 15-nation EU agreed to call for the U.S. to limit its own farm subsidies, criticized commodity monopolies on wheat, dairy and sugar trade in Canada, New Zealand and Australia, and argued that WTO rules protecting wine and spirits trademarks should be extended to all other agricultural goods. The news comes as The Guardian (U.K.) reports that African trade ministers warned U.K. trade and industry secretary Patricia Hewitt this week that the price of a successful conclusion to the new round of global trade talks will be further cuts to Europe's farm subsidies. Still, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Germany) reports that developing countries, and particularly the Cairns Group, expect substantial progress at the upcoming WTO talks in Cancun in the area of the export subventions. The U.S. position has weakened after the EU CAP reform for the U.S. too applies fierce market protection for cotton, sugar, and peanuts.
FRANCE: The French Ministry for Finance this week presented a report asking for the European Development Fund (EDF) to be integrated in the EU budget. La Tribune (France) writes that such a move would considerably reduce the French contribution to the fund: it would entail that the contribution be lowered from a current 25 percent to a more modest 16.4 percent, in so far as the French supply to the EDF would - if the scheme were adopted - be made equal to France's contribution to the EU budget. The paper writes that while Paris claims its intention is not to cut the French aid to poorer countries, France's tense budgetary situation should be regarded as one of the main motivations of the move.
SERBIA & MONTENEGRO: Special Representative of the UN Interim Administration in Kosovo, Michael Steiner, left his post this week, but not after having finalized the new criminal law code last Sunday, and a trade agreement with Albania on Monday, Handelsblatt (Germany) reports. The daily writes that while several important developments took place in the breakaway Serbian republic of Kosovo in the last few years, the ongoing conflict between Serbia and Kosovo over the international representation of the province highlights the main problems in the region: the lacking reconciliation among Albanians and the Serb minority; how to solve that dispute in cooperation with the democratic government in Belgrade; and the reconstruction of politics and of the economy. The ethnic Albanian majority (about 90 percent) and the Serb minority live side by side without little or no contact between the groups, and security remains an important issue. Just as critical is the economic situation, Handelsblatt reports. Most factories are closed, and official unemployment amounts to 57 percent. The government and the other institutions are not perfect but they work and they learn, Mr. Steiner told the UN Security Council last week. At the same time, he urged the international community not to delay any longer the decision on the international status of the province.
NORTH AFRICA & MIDDLE EAST
IRAQ: The formation of an interim Iraqi administration appeared to be back on track yesterday as seven leading Iraqi political parties yesterday endorsed coalition plans to appoint a "governing council" later this month, The Financial Times (U.K.) reports a party spokesman said. The governing council will still fall short of a fully-fledged provisional government, but will have direct responsibility for a number of policy areas, including education, legal reform, minority rights, and oil policy, according to Hoshyar Zebari, spokesman for the Kurdistan Democratic party, which hosted yesterday's meeting in the northern Iraqi city of Salahuddin. He said it would also have control over budget funds, though the CPA could not be reached for comment on this. Technically, the CPA will control the disbursement of funds from the Iraqi Development Fund, a blueprint for the Iraqi budget. It is still unclear who will sit on the 25-30 member governing council, which was formally known as the "political council" but was recently renamed. The CPA has said the governing council is likely to be formed in mid-July. Earlier this week, Paul Bremer, head of the provisional authority, inaugurated the 37-member Baghdad city council, elected a week ago.
ISRAEL: The Israeli Government has voted to release a new batch of Palestinian prisoners - a gesture likely to bolster relations with Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, BBC Online reports. But Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said the move will be limited and will only proceed in tandem with a crackdown on militant groups by the Palestinian authorities. A ministerial committee will decide who will be released from a list of 200-400 candidates drawn up by Israel's Shin Bet security services - militants and those involved in violence against Israelis will not be eligible. Securing the freedom of prisoners is a top priority for Abu Mazen, but the proposed releases fall well short of Palestinian demands that all prisoners in Israeli custody be freed.
PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY: The U.S. will provide direct aid to the Palestinian Authority, rewarding Washington-backed political and security reforms with money for humanitarian projects, the White House said July 8. "The funds will be used for humanitarian purposes, to alleviate suffering and to improve the Palestinian economy," White House national security spokesman Michael Anton said, confirming media reports. The initial outlay will run about 20 million dollars, said the spokesman, citing "considerable support in Congress" for the significant shift in U.S. policy. To date Washington has provided millions in aid -- totaling some 200 million dollars this year -- to the Palestinians through the UN or non-governmental organizations. The move aimed to shore up support for Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmud Abbas and help him pursue reforms of the Palestinian Authority. Bush mistrusts Palestinian Authority president Yasser Arafat and has shunned him.
2. DEVELOPMENT IQ
Humble Pie
THIS WEEK, we note that a well-known international NGO served Paul Bremer, the head of the U.S. civil administration in Iraq a slice of humble pie last week and asked Washington to pick up the check. What was on the menu?
LAST WEEK, we asked in which country fighting had produced the highest average monthly death tolls in any war since World War Two? The answer: the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the "most deadly war ever documented in Africa, indeed the highest war death toll documented in the world since World War II," according to the International Rescue Committee. An IRC survey found that between August 1998 and August 2002, at least 3.3 million people died from the ongoing conflict, or approximately 2,000 war-related deaths every day for four years. Thanks to Denise Vauthier, Chris Welch, Tom Herlehy, Hudson Minshew, Jim Nickum, Anthony Zola, David Gooday, Bryan Roberts, Barbara Dickerson, Lam Dang, Jim Anderson, Robert Warren and Frank Williams for their responses.
As always, we encourage readers to submit Development IQ 'guest quizzes' of their own design!
How high is your business IQ? Those in the know become free Individual Members of The Development Executive Group for access to new career opportunities. More than 18,000 professionals are already members. Learn more about this free membership at www.DevelopmentEx.com
3. JOB OPPORTUNITIES OF THE WEEK
Program Associate/Child Labor Program, Winrock International
Winrock International is seeking candidates for the position of Program Associate for the Child Labor Program under the Department of Labor's Education Innovations Program. This position will be based in Arlington, VA and is contingent upon funding.
The Program Associate for the Child Labor and Education Program will be responsible for supporting the day-to day operations of the Child Labor Program under the Department of Labor's Education Innovations Program. The responsibilities will include backstopping project activities to promote education as a means towards the prevention and reduction of child labor in the Philippines and Brazil. The position will work directly with field offices in coordinating communications among Winrock, the Department of Labor and the project offices with the Leadership Development Unit at Winrock.
EDUCATION:
EXPERIENCE:
SKILLS/KNOWLEDGE:
E-mail cover letter and resume with the subject of HRM-PACL to:
[email protected]
To see a full list of international development jobs, visit the Recruiting Center. Go to www.DevelopmentEx.com and click on "Find Jobs".
4. NEW REPORTS & PAPERS
HDR 2003
The world is facing an acute development crisis, with many poor nations suffering severe and continuing socio-economic reversals, warns the Human Development Report 2003. The Report's annual Human Development Index (HDI), measuring the progress of nations on key social and economic indicators, shows that 21 countries experienced declines in the 1990s. In the 1980s, only four countries tracked by UNDP showed similar decade-long declines. "Reversals in HDI are highly unusual as these indicators generally tend to edge up slowly over time," said Mark Malloch Brown, UNDP Administrator. "The fact that over the course of the 1990's, 21 countries experienced a decline-in some cases a drastic drop-signifies an urgent call for action to address health and education as well as income levels in these countries." Nonetheless, Africa and the world can reach the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of halving poverty, ending hunger, putting every boy and girl in school and stemming health and environment crises if there is "commitment of will and resources today," said Mr. Brown, giving this assessment at the second African Union Summit in Maputo, Mozambique, when launching the report, which spells out the global compact that the MDGs represent.
To access the report, please go to: http://www.undp.org/hdr2003/
5. LETTER OF THE WEEK
Trade over Aid
If [U.S. President George W.] Bush is expecting only praise for his administration's efforts to reduce poverty, bring growth and combat AIDS, when he tours Africa this week, he should think again.
Marcus Courage
The Briefing welcomes letters and comments from readers. Send yours to [email protected] Letters may be edited for space and clarity.
Bachelors degree required in international development, international relations, education or a related field. Masters degree preferred.
Three years relevant experience that includes: hands-on experience with international development issues related to education, especially basic and secondary levels; communicating and implementing programs and projects in developing and emerging countries; participating in strategic planning and developing strategic communications; writing proposals. Strongly preferred is experience in basic education and prevention of child labor in developing countries, quantitative and qualitative monitoring and evaluation methods, and gender and development.
Knowledge of international child labor laws and issues required. Must be a strong, tactful and patient communicator with excellent written and oral communications skills. Fluency in English is required and fluency in Tagalog or Portuguese is preferred. Strong financial management, analytical and evaluation skills with the ability to understand concepts and issues and present them clearly, strong organizational skills and demonstrated ability to manage multiple tasks; proficiency with Microsoft Office applications. The successful candidate must be eligible for work in the U.S.
As every African leader will tell you, trade is more important than aid.
What Africa really needs is a sharp cut in rich countries' farm subsidies. Instead we have a situation in which European and American cows receive more money than 300 million Africans earn.
Last month's lamentable EU Common Agricultural policy reforms and the Bush administration's handouts to American farmers are impoverishing a whole continent. Without the successful completion of the Doha round of world trade negotiations, Africa will never be able to trade its way out of poverty. If Mr. Bush is serious about helping Africa, then he must commit his administration to proper reform of farm subsidies.
Managing Director
Africapractice
London, England