Innovations in Development Financing

by Emily Kallaur

Recently Development Gateway hosted a brownbag led by Navin Girishankar of the World Bank, who presented his new paper “Innovating Development Finance: From Financing Sources to Financial Solutions”.

The paper takes stock of creative financing mechanisms for development, from solidarity mechanisms like the Stolen Asset Recovery (StAR) initiative to risk management tools such as weather indexed insurance for Malawi. In an effort to mobilize resources to support achievement of the MDGs, donors have also turned to new sources of funding for development initiatives, such as proceeds from national lotteries (in the UK and Belgium) or levies on air travel.

Overall, innovative financing still accounts for a fairly small share of total development aid. The paper concludes that innovative financing should be increasingly mainstreamed, but that it is not a substitute for raising the overall volume of development assistance through traditional means (e.g. for concessional financing). According to the analysis, the only major new source of concessional financing in the period studied has been aid from emerging bilateral donors (non-DAC members), who accounted for roughly $3 billion in development assistance in 2006.

The paper also argues that innovations should be studied to determine whether the transaction costs associated with creative mechanisms are justified by the end results. Capturing better data on non-traditional development financing will be important to gauging the value added of these promising tools.

World Bank report highlights the importance of ICT for development

by Elizabeth Corley


Yesterday, the World Bank launched its report Information and Communication Technologies for Development 2009: Extending Reach and Increasing Impact. The report looks at how access to ICT effects socio-economic development. Among its findings:

• A 10-percentage-point increase in broadband penetration results in an increase of 1.3 percentage points in economic growth.
• In India and the Philippines, results show that for every new job in the IT sector, between 2 and four jobs are created in other sectors.
• E-government can reduce corruption. Based on a survey of five e-government projects in India, analysts found that computerization decreased corruption.

During the discussion at the launch, Christine Qiang, senior economist at the World Bank and manager of the ICT4D reports, noted that behavioral and organizational adjustments must accompany e-government solutions. Business and institutional leadership need to work with technical leadership.

Anand Anandalingam, dean of the Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, commented on the need to focus on information, not just the communication part of these technologies. He also underscored the need for skilled labor to meet the demand for sustainable IT solutions and the role government can play in developing the backbone of the network.

As new applications are developed and mobile telephony expands, the potential for ICT to contribute to economic development grows. The evolving nature of this sector requires policy responses and new models for development. The report includes analysis of trends and best practices to maximize the impact of ICT.

Not if or when but which and how

by Elizabeth Corley

When the organizer for Blog Potomac, declared last week that social media was dead, he meant it was alive and well. He explained that it is doing so well that an innovator such as himself had to move on. In terms of technology life cycles, if you don’t have a blog by now, you are behind the curve.

It is not too late to jump on the bandwagon. (Thanks to Matt Hamm for this image.) The challenge is how to make it work for you. It is not a question of if or when to use social media, but which tools and how.

Development Gateway uses a number of social media platforms to communicate with our stakeholders. The enhanced version of dgCommunities, the platform we provide for information on development, is scheduled for launch in the coming weeks. It will make sharing content easier and has been designed with social features. In addition to this blog, we use several other platforms such as Twitter.

We added Twitter to our toolbox because of its speed and flexibility. It is one way we share knowledge on what is going on in international development and inside the organization. It has helped us connect with people who care about aid effectiveness.

Twitter has been mentioned frequently in the news lately. First, as an application that will change the way we live, according to Time. Then, it was examined in light of the Iranian elections. More recently it became the subject of attention when Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, died on June 25, and tweets jumped to 5,000 a minute. (Sounds like a lot, doesn't?)

Our Twitter updates are integrated into a broader communications strategy that puts the Web site at the hub. Our tweets reference the Web site but go beyond our programs to help promote other notable efforts and engage in less formal conversations with our followers. Other tools, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, this blog, and the ning, are vehicles for communication and knowledge sharing. Each one has its own role. The trick is to use them well you need to be driving the wagon, not bouncing around in the back.

Six steps to managing an international team

by Alex Coleman

This is the first in a series of six blog entries describing the management process used by the AMP technical team. The team consists of 20 software engineers in Argentina, Burkina Faso, Georgia, Finland, Morocco, and Romania. We also have 6 technical specialists in Washington, Dakar, and Nairobi. The team supports 11 AMP installations in Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Burundi, DRC, Ethiopia, Malawi, Montenegro, Niger, Senegal, and Tanzania.

1. Over Communicate (Provide various channels of communication)

There can never be too much communication with your team horizontally and vertically. Communication is imperative because of the distance and increased probability of a misunderstanding of requirements. It helps foster the team spirit crucial to the success of the program.

The various methods of communication are:

• Chat. On a daily basis, we use an internal chat system-AMPCHAT. All the technical team members are required to be available on this chat during work hours. We also use chat systems such as MSN, Skype, and YAHOO as backup options. Encourage developers in different countries to use the chat systems and SIP phones to discuss technical issues.


• Webex. This online tools works well for international calls, demonstrations, and recording of meetings.
  


• Teleconference. We hold a quarterly teleconference team meeting to outline the management and technical direction for the upcoming months.
  

• E-mail. Electronic mail, combined with teleconferences and chats organized by technical specialists, is good for smaller teams for the kickoff and development of a new feature. Various daily meetings are held to discuss the feature requirements, project plan, and ongoing updates. These methods are also good for upgrade and installation planning.


• Telephone. Old-fashioned technology still has its place. Phone interviews for new hires are important to encourage direct communication and a team spirit.


• Face-to-face. Upon hire, new team members are paired up with senior developers. This sometimes takes place in another location. Working side by side for a period of two months helps the new hire to understand our software development process.

My next post will focus on step 2: Nurturing the team

Until 2015: How can we optimise the implementation of the MDGs?

by Anna Lauridsen

This week, development practitioners, experts and academics gathered in Brussels to discuss the state of play of the Millennium Development Goals at After 2015: Promoting Pro-Poor policy After the MDGs. Co-organised by DFID, ActionAid, the EADI, and the Development Studies Association, the event attracted panelists from across the development field.


The conference set out to tackle two ambitious questions: 1) What has been the impact of the MDG paradigm on poverty reduction to date and what does that mean for an MDG plus agenda? and 2) What are the key meta-processes shaping development over the next 10-15 years and what do they imply for an MDG plus agenda? The conclusions from the conference were meant to feed into the upcoming 10 year review of the MDGs in 2010.

Despite the doom and gloom surrounding the MDGs and how they are not expected to be achieved (especially in the light of the financial, food and fuel crises) a few suggestions were made on turning the situation around, or at least improving it. Some speakers suggested a new paradigm of global sustainable development, including poverty, and others proposed additional millennium goals of social inclusion. However, at this point in time, what is really needed? If the MDGs are failing, would it really be wise to add new ones at this stage? Are we risking an intellectualisation of the MDGs, and of development at large? Perhaps the answer is more practical and straightforward and less high-level and policy oriented.

To date, the MDGs have worked and failed to various degrees in different countries. As most of the developed and developing world has entered the information and communication age it is high time to ask how this change could benefit the poor. Undoubtedly, MDG 5 of improving maternal health, which has been the biggest failure across the board, could have been alleviated by better infrastructure and information, but also by the use of information technology. There is no question that the use of mobile phones and other web based tools to exchange information must be further explored and integrated in all development work.

Finally, to what extent can countries learn from each others' success and failures? How could a system for peer review be set up among countries implementing the MDGs in order for them to monitor each others progress? Is there for the possibility for more locally defined measures and indicators? Louis Kasekende highlighted how the tracking of progress is undermined by the lack of current and reliable data and how poor quality of data makes monitoring difficult. The multiplicity of players also contributes to a lack of coherence, coordination, and duplication of effort. The need for reliable data and targets points to yet another role ICT can play in achieving the international development agenda.

The conference provided the opportunity to discuss the approaching deadline of the MDGs and what can be done to ensure that all of the efforts used to achieve them – regardless of success – was not completely wasted. The questions raised by the participants show clearly that there is a growing need for information and communication technology in the future of development.

Please consult http://www.thebrokeronline.eu/ for further reading

ICT: Is it helping Mexico?

by Steve Markham

I’m from Mexico and I graduated from Georgetown University in 1991 when a BS in computer science was the only available high tech degree. ICT related careers are now available at most universities in the US and most other countries—including Mexico. So what has this cadre of techies in Mexico done to help a country that, according to several UN and World Bank reports, is still haunted by severe income distribution problems, poverty and corruption?

Mexico now offers highly specialized technical degrees and has many capable programmers, web designers, and computer engineers who have been able to garner the momentum of the internet. Mexico has used ICT successfully to compete in the private sector, but this generation of techies is still looking for a way to use ICT to address the social ills mentioned above. Today’s generation is computer savvy and has the potential to use web 2.0, as a first step, to create greater transparency. However I haven’t seen it reach a stage where ICT is helping to deinstitutionalize corruption by creating greater transparency through online social networks. Maybe the success in the private sector has helped with income distribution problems by creating more high paying jobs, but these jobs will not go to the best candidates or create a stable economy as long as the other problems remain deeply entrenched.

Development Gateway supports a country gateway for Mexico.