ENC collection development policy /

Mode of access: Internet.

Agricultural development policy paper.

Mode of access: Internet.

International co-operation in a Latin American development policy.

Mode of access: Internet.

Towards a dynamic development policy for Latin America.

"United Nations publication. Sales no: 64.II.G4."

Essays on Development Policy and the Political Economy of Conflict

Electoral Rules and Leader Selection: Experimental Evidence from Ugandan Community Groups. Despite a large body of work documenting how electoral systems affect policy outcomes, less is known about their impact on leader selection. We study this by comparing two types of participatory decision making in Ugandan community groups: (i) vote by secret ballot and (ii) open discussion with consensus. Random assignment allows us to estimate the causal impact of the rules on leader types and social service delivery. Vote groups are found to elect leaders more similar to the average member while discussion group leaders are positively selected on socio-economic characteristics. Further, dropout rates are significantly higher in discussion groups, particularly for poorer members. After 3.5 years, vote groups are larger in size and their members save less and get smaller loans. We conclude that the secret ballot vote creates more inclusive groups while open discussion groups favor the already economically successful. Preparing for Genocide: Community Meetings in Rwanda. How do political elites prepare the civilian population for participation in violent conflict? We empirically investigate this question using data from the Rwandan Genocide in 1994. Every Saturday before 1994, Rwandan villagers had to meet to work on community infrastructure. The practice was highly politicized and, according to anecdotal evidence, regularly used by the political elites for spreading propaganda in the years before the genocide. This paper presents the first quantitative evidence of this abuse of the community meetings. To establish causality, we exploit cross-sectional variation in meeting intensity induced by exogenous weather fluctuations. We find that an additional rainy Saturday resulted in a five percent lower civilian participation rate in genocide violence. Selection into Borrowing: Survey Evidence from Uganda. In this paper, I study how changes to the standard credit contract affect loan demand and selection into borrowing, using a representative sample of urban micro enterprises, most with no borrowing experience. Hypothetical loan demand questions are used to test whether firm owners respond to changes in loans' contractual terms and whether take-up varies by firms' risk type and other firm owner characteristics. The results indicate that contracts with lower interest rates and less stringent collateral requirements attract less risky borrowers, suggesting that there is scope for improvement of standard financial contract terms. Credit Contract Structure and Firm Growth: Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial. We study the effects of credit contract structure on firm outcomes among small and medium sized firms. A randomized control trial was carried out to distinguish between some of the key constraints to efficient credit use connected to the firms' business environment and production function, namely (i) backloaded returns (ii) uncertain returns and (iii) indivisible fixed costs. Each firm was followed for the 1-year loan cycle. We describe the experiment and present preliminary results from the first 754 out of 2,340 firms to have completed the loan cycle. Firms offered a grace period have higher profits and higher household income than firms receiving a rebate later on as well as the control group. They also increased the number of paid employees  and reduced the number of unpaid employees, an effect also found among firms that received a cash subsidy at the beginning of the loan cycle. We discuss potential mechanisms behind these effects.

Climate or rural development policy?

Being heavily energy dependent, it is not much of a surprise that Europe pays special attention to reducing the use of fossil fuels. Each one of the ten new member states is characterized by relatively low per capita energy consumption and relatively low energy efficiency, and the share of renewables in their energy mix tends to be low, too. The paper examines the problem when policy measures create a decrease in environmental capital instead of an increase. In this case it hardly seems justified to talk about environmental protection. The authors describe a case of a Hungarian rapeseed oil mill which would not be of too much interest on its own but given that almost all similar plants went bankrupt, there are some important lessons to learn from its survival. The enterprise the authors examined aimed at establishing a micro-regional network. They completed a brown-field development to establish a small plant on the premises of a former large agricultural cooperative. By partnering with the former employees and suppliers of the sometime cooperative, they enjoyed some benefits which all the other green-field businesses focusing on fuel production could not. The project improved food security, energy security and population retention as well.

Az Európai Unió nemzetközi fejlesztéspolitikája előtt álló kihívások és válaszok (EU’s international development policy – challenges and answers)

A tanulmány röviden áttekinti, hogy milyen kihívások érték az elmúlt években az EU nemzetközi fejlesztéspolitikáját, és milyen válaszokat adott ezekre a Közösség. A Bizottság által 2011-ben kiadott Agenda for Change című zöld könyv a közös fejlesztéspolitikát erőteljesebb normatív alapokra igyekszik helyezni és a demokrácia és jó kormányzás támogatását teszi az EU egyik fő célkitűzéséve a fejlődő országokban. Mindez a gyakorlatban erőteljesebb kondicionalitást és szelektivitást fog jelenteni az európai segélyezésben. _____ The paper briefly reviews the challenges that the EU’s international development policy faced in recent years and the answers the Community has provided to these. A green paper published by the Commission in 2011, the Agenda for Change attempts to place development policy on a stronger normative basis by making the support of good governance and democracy one of the main goals of the EU in developing countries. In practice, this will mean stronger conditionality and greater selectivity in EC aid.

International environmental and development policy cooperation and the transition process of the Central and Eastern European countries

The political and economic changes in countries of the Central and Eastern European region during the recent two decades had significant implications on their participation in international environmental policy-making. These changes were motivated by the changing international political priorities and economic interests, realization of their part in the "common but differentiated responsibility" for the global environmental processes and the relatively modest capacities for international development cooperation. The situation of these countries was acknowledged by the international community by granting specific provisions to these "economies in transition" in international environmental policy mechanisms. In spite of the rapidly diverging external relations of the various groups of these countries, to some extent and in different forms the transition phase is still prevailing and has its effect on the ongoing international environmental negotiations. The paper describes the background of these changes, demonstrates the specific provisions for these countries that made possible their participation in the common efforts to tackle the emerging global and regional environmental problems by acceding to the relevant international mechanisms.

Faith and crossing boundaries: implications for development policy and practice

Religion is not new to development. Indeed, religious institutions and individuals motivated by faith have been at the forefront of service provision since long before states and other actors became involved in development. Moreover, more than eight out of ten people self-profess religious belief. In developing countries, religious belief is often higher still. These facts alone suggest development agencies should seriously engage with religious beliefs and religious institutions, as they work to improve well-being, address inequality and alleviate poverty and vulnerability. For many, faith acts as a central organising framework for their core beliefs and values, and thus draws their internal map of reality and sets their compass of acceptable norms, behaviours and relationships. As a result, faith plays a significant role in shaping worldviews, laws, behavioural norms, public policy and social practices in the developing world, as has been extensively discussed in this volume.

Points of equilibrium: religious beliefs and economic development policy

Eighty per cent of the world's population professes religious belief. Such beliefs provide precepts on how individuals should conduct their private lives and (often) how society should be organized. Given there are 2.1 billion Christians worldwide and 1.3 billion Muslims, understanding the religious approach to social life based on sacred texts and social teachings of Christianity and Islam has a strong relevance to those interested in implementing international economic development policies. This paper argues that religion can thus play a positive role in development and specifically support development economic policies at the international level. The purpose of this paper is not to present a fully formed development economic policy, but rather to identify teachings of the world's two largest religions – such as preferencing the poor, minimizing inequality and having the economy serve wider realms of society – that directly speak to how sustainable economic development is understood within these faith traditions and how these teachings could scaffold and support and international policy frameworks aimed to achieve sustainable economic development. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

A methodological framework for studying policy coherence for development

The purpose of this article is to develop a methodological framework for analyzing Policy Coherence for Development (PCD). With this goal, we analyze different views of PCD in order to establish a comprehensive approach of Coherence adapted to globalization process. In this context, the article proposes a methodological framework based on four dimensions of analysis in CPD. In each dimen-sion, we set the areas and actors to investigate and we put forward research questions that could be use as a guide for a comprehensive approach to study PCD.

Social development as knowledge building: research as a sphere of policy influence

The value of using social development knowledge as a tool for building development policy was promoted by the British Department for International Development in the late 1990s. This article takes the case of a capacity building initiative that sought to build social development knowledge as a resource for policy formulation in 'southern' countries. Situating knowledge as a development resource presents difficulties for intervention processes that have historically developed to provide access to economic and social assets. This article highlights some of the issues involved in trying to build social development capacity and questions the suitability of this style of intervention. Inappropriate and short-term support for knowledge capacity building carries the danger that the traditional separation between the academic and practice spheres will be reinforced, making the process of democratising knowledge more difficult.

Religion, sustainable development and policy: principles to practice

The nexus between religion and development is now well recognized in scholarship but the implications for development policies are relatively unexplored. The challenge with analysing religion as a policy construct is to ensure that its rich anthropological dimensions are not lost, but rather that these inform the conception and implementation of development planning, especially in diverse, multireligious societies. The aim of this special issue is to unpack the complex anthropological, sociological and even theological dimensions of religion that can enable development policymakers to identify the ways in which religion shapes the society, the environment and the economy. Therein also lie the opportunities to articulate policies that are truly responsive to serious structural issues of inequalities and oppressions. The authors address five foci that are central to sustainable development policymaking – urbanization and spatial equality; gender justice; environment and human/animal tensions; economic growth; and postsecularity and governance.