- Oxfam welcomes the improvements in the text of the Final Draft of the Outcome Document for the UN Summit to adopt the Post-2015 Development Agenda. They also offer recommendations on additional changes to make the agenda truly transformative so that it leaves no one behind.
- This Brookings Institution book identifies three critical challenges that define the ‘last mile’ of the road to ending extreme poverty - securing peace, creating jobs, and strengthening resilience. It outlines an agenda to inform development research and poverty reduction strategies for governments, international organisations, donors, charities, and foundations.
- This IMF paper shows that Low-Income Countries participating in IMF-supported adjustment programmes have significant increases in Foreign Direct Investment inflows.
- Aid and development have been historically shaped by the context of the Cold War and the decolonisation process, while the post-cold war era led to new development priorities with a stronger emphasis on issues like governance, rights and democratisation. This is according to a new book by Myles Wickstead, which also looks at priorities for a new set of Sustainable Development Goals.
- This Egmont article argues that ‘going back to basics’ in the revised European Neighbourhood Policy would be counter-productive and that instead the ENP needs to move towards the future and break away with the historical elusiveness of this overarching policy. They put forward recommendations to include is a truly revised ENP.
- While capacity has been developed and new knowledge generated in the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), challenges exist in ensuring that all the available knowledge is used to inform policy, improve food systems and processes, and expand product range, according to this CAAST-NET-PLUS report.
- This IMF report argues that declines in union density and minimum wages are linked to higher inequality. But unions, if nonrepresentative, can also increase unemployment and inequality. Labour market policies should be assessed on a country-by-country basis, considering other policy objectives.
- This UNCTAD report looks at how fostering Africa’s trade in services can have a role in achieving the Sustainable Development goals.
- This IMF paper examines how susceptible East African Community (EAC) economies are to asymmetric shocks and reviews adjustment mechanisms that would help ensure a successful experience under a common currency.
- This IFPRI study looks at the appropriate technology hypothesis and the role of the input mix. It argues for a need to increase capital and inputs per worker to not only boost output per worker but also to accelerate technology adoption and total factor productivity growth.
- Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) represents a critical tool for ensuring that local communities and indigenous peoples have a say in whether and how extractive industry projects move forward. This Oxfam policy brief examines publicly available corporate commitments and shows disappointing trends in relation to the oil and gas sector and women’s participation in decision making.
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