GLOBAL COOPERATION NEWSLETTER
September 2009
In this edition
North South Project
UN Economic and Social Council ECOSOC July 2009
New from the International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth
After Accra: Progress despite the turndown
World Bank: Improving effectiveness and outcomes for the poor in
health, nutrition and population
North South Project
The project in development cooperation between the Finnish Federation for Social
Welfare and Health (STKL, Finland) and the Tanzania Council for Social
Development (TACOSODE), Tanzania has started. ICSW is a partner in the project.
At the 31st International Conference of ICSW held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in
September, 2004 the Executive Committee of ICSW adopted the programme“Globalizing Social Policy” as part of its measures to reduce global poverty. The
North South component of the project is to encourage ICSW councils from the global
North to partner global South national councils. The North councils are to work tostrengthen the South Councils.
Countries of North and South are seeking ways to adapt effectively to globalchanges that include the availability and use of natural resources, division of labour,
demographic changes, new technologies and environmental issues including climatechange.
The overall objective in the Finnish/Tanzanian project is to create a stronger
TACOSODE to support its more than 250 member organisations in their work to
reduce poverty. By strengthening TACOSODE there will be a stronger civil society
and enhanced opportunities for citizens to participate and make a difference in the
reduction of poverty levels in Tanzania. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland ismaking a substantial financial contribution to the project.
The steering group for the project met in Dar es Salaam in September. The groupmet with TACOSODE Board members and project staff to review the progress of the
project. The project director Uwe Ottka reported that the baseline study on thesituation of TACOSODE member NGOs in Dar es Salaam and Southern Tanzania has
been completed. Project staff have been recruited and logistical issues resolved.
This included installing a stable internet connection at TACOSODE. It is interesting
to note that Tanzania has only recently had a cable connection to the rest of theworld. Until then Tanzania relied on unstable satellite connections.

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While in Dar es Salaam steering committee members participated and spoke at aseminar on Land policy in Tanzania: current issues and social aspects.
The purpose of the seminar was to discuss the land policy reforms currently
underway in Tanzania and to promote a dialogue and understanding of the issues.
Officials from the Government and Ministries, NGOs and academics participated.
Denys Correll said in his speech, “The acquisition of large tracts of farming landraises new issues for governments, civil society organisations and citizens. To what
degree do foreign owners or leaseholders require control of production, control ofland and control of the water supply? Investors expect a return on their investment
which encourages the farming companies to quickly exploit the land. This militatesagainst the use of existing “low tech” farming in favour of intensive farming withhigh technology.” (The full paper can be found on the ICSW website).

UN Economic and Social Council ECOSOC July 2009
The draft ministerial declaration coming out of the ECOSOC meeting in July 2009has much that is of interest to civil society. The declaration was in relation to
Implementing the internationally agreed goals and commitments in regard to global
public health. Some of the content follows. ECOSOC recognises “the role of social
determinants in health outcomes and takes note of the conclusions andrecommendations formulated by the Commission on Social Determinants ofHealth which aim to improve living conditions, tackle the inequitable
distribution of resources, and measure, understand and assess their impact.
In clause 22 ECOSOC stressed “the importance of multisectoral and inter-ministerial
approaches in formulating and implementing national policies that are crucial for
promoting and protecting health. We reiterate that Governments will play thecentral role, in collaboration with civil society organizations, including
academia, and the private sector, in implementing national strategies andaction plans on social services delivery, and in making progress towards
ensuring more equitable health outcomes.”
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In clause 29 ECOSOC acknowledged “ the contribution of aid targeted towards
the health sector, while recognizing that much more needs to be done. We
callfor
the fulfilment of all official development assistance-related
commitments, including the commitments by many developed countries toachieve the target of 0.7 per cent of gross national income for official
development assistance by 2015 and to reach the target of at least 0.5 percent of gross national income for official development assistance by 2010, as
well as the target of 0.15-0.20 per cent of gross national income for official
development assistance to least developed countries, and urge thosedeveloped countries that have not done so to make concrete efforts in thisregard in accordance with their commitments.”
The full text can be found at http://www.un.org/ecosoc/

New from the International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth
Title: HIV and Income Inequality: If There Is a Link, What Does It Tell Us?
Author: Göran Holmqvist
Series: One Pager # 83
Download: http://www.ipc-undp.org/pub/IPCOnePager83.pdf
Title: HIV and Income Inequality: If There Is a Link, What Does It Tell Us?
Author: Göran Holmqvist Series: Working Paper # 54
Download: http://www.ipc-undp.org/pub/IPCWorkingPaper54.pdf
The author argues that there is a positive association between income inequality
and HIV prevalence. However, the link is another illustration of how unequal
societies with large social divides pay a price in terms of public health.
Title: The 2015 Debt Crisis Author: Paul Ladd Series: One Pager # 84 Download:
http://www.ipc-undp.org/pub/IPCOnePager84.pdf
Title: The Global Economic Crisis Hampers Human Development. How?
Author: Degol Hailu Series: One Pager # 95 Download: http://www.ipcundp.org/pub/IPCOnePager95.pdf
Title: Do CCTs Lessen the Impact of the Current Economic Crisis? Yes, but...
Author: Fábio Veras Soares Series: One Pager # 96 Download:
http://www.ipc-undp.org/pub/IPCOnePager96.pdf
The two One Pagers (Numbers 95 and 96) discuss the current financial andeconomic crisis. The first highlights the impact of the crisis on human development.
The second argues that conditional cash transfers can lessen the impact, only if the
programmes are well established.
Title: Do Poorer Countries Have less Capacity for Redistribution? Author: Martin
Ravallion Series: One Pager # 97 Download: http://www.ipcundp.org/pub/IPCOnePager97.pdf . In this One Pager the author discusses thepossibilities of reducing poverty through income redistribution

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After Accra: Progress despite the turndown
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/43/52/43150493.htm#accra
In September 2008, the Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF3)
http://www.oecd.org/document/3/0,3343,en_2649_33721_41297219_1_1_1_1,00.
html sent out a clear message: it is urgent that we change the way we financedevelopment. The validity of the agreed roadmap to achieve this – the Accra
Agenda for Action (AAA) – was reaffirmed in December at the Doha Review
Conference on Financing for Development. Development Assistance Committee(DAC) members reconfirmed their commitments to the AAA, promising to keep up
peer pressure for progress in implementing a series of “beginning now” issues, fiveactions for which the stakeholders committed to putting in place immediate change.
In this context, the DAC-hosted Working Party on Aid Effectiveness
http://www.oecd.org/department/0,3355,en_2649_3236398_1_1_1_1_1,00.html
has not stood still. The Working Party includes an ever-growing number of donor
and developing countries, as well as civil society institutions, foundations andparliaments.
Since the High Level Forum in Accra, the Working Party’s programme has not only
been refocused to concentrate on key roadblocks and opportunities identified there;
it is also looking at critical issues that were not sufficiently addressed at Accra. A
series of new “clusters” and networks will focus attention where it is most urgently
needed: ownership and accountability; country systems; transparent andresponsible aid; assessing progress; managing for development results; sector
approaches to aid effectiveness; and South-South co-operation. At the same time,these groups will act as political drivers of change.
The Working Party is already beginning to prepare the Fourth High Level Forum on
Aid Effectiveness (HLF4), which will be held in the Republic of Korea in 2011. This
forum – and the analysis that feeds into it – will enable us to assess how countries
have performed in delivering on their commitments.

World Bank Improving effectiveness and outcomes for the poor in
health, nutrition and population
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTOED/EXTWBASSHEANUTPOP/0,,c
ontentMDK:22163572~menuPK:6080533~pagePK:64829573~piPK:64829550~theS
itePK:4422776,00.html?cid=IEG_AnnouncementsEN_P_EXT_MISC_CCHNP1
The World Bank Group's support for health, nutrition, and population (HNP) has
been sustained since 1997-totaling $17 billion in country-level support by the WorldBank and $873 million in private health and pharmaceutical investments by theInternational Finance Corporation (IFC) through mid-2008. This report evaluates theefficacy of the Bank Group's direct support for HNP to developing countries since1997 and draws lessons to help improve the effectiveness of this support.
The content of this Global Newsletter may be freely reproduced or cited provided
the source is acknowledged. Views do not necessarily represent policies of ICSW.
Newsletter Editor: Denys Correll – Executive Director.
ICSW C/- MOVISIE Netherlands Centre for Social Development
PO Box 19129
3501 DC Utrecht
Netherlands
Website www.icsw.org Email: icsw@icsw.org
If you wish to cease receiving this newsletter, please click 'here' and give us yourname and email address
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GLOBAL COOPERATION NEWSLETTER
October 2009
In this edition
UNESCO examines global financial crisis
World Bank position on social protection condemnedOECD Development Assistance Committee speaks out on conflict
New Head of UN Research Institute for Social Development
Global GovernancePuzzled by acronyms?
UNESCO examines global financial crisis

The UNESCO Management of Social Transformations (MOST) programme examined theimpact of the global financial crisis (GFC) in its recent meeting in Paris. ICSW wasrepresented by Charles Abbey – ICSW Vice President and Denys Correll – ICSW Executive
Director.

ICSW delegates with Zola S. Skweyiya, Former Minister of Social Development of South Africa who was
President of the Intergovernmental Council of the MOST Programme from 2005 to 2009.

Part of the MOST mission is to create a nexus between research, policy and practice. ICSW
supports this mission.
Professor Zaki Laidi presented the keynote address. He said it was too early to tell what theconsequences and impact of the global financial crisis will be on the role of the state. “We
don’t know what type of crisis we are dealing with. We don’t know what is going on. We areat a critical point where there is a confluence of a financial crisis and an environmental
crisis. We don’t know if this is a turning point.” Professor Laidi suggested that the current
global governance institutions are inadequate to meet the current challenge. The first signsof this are the demise of G8 and the rise of G20. The nub of the debate is that moregovernments want a say in global governance.
Pierre Sanè, who is in charge of the MOST programme, spoke of the interconnection ofsocial, fiscal and economic factors in the current crisis and the need to focus on the mostvulnerable – those people living in developing countries.
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Katja Hujo Research Coordinator at the UN Research Institute for Social Development
outlined the impact of the GFC on developing countries. Ms. Hujo then went on to look atfour areas of social policy responses. The first area was health and education where she
spoke of maintaining and expanding social infrastructure in health, education and careservices which would creates job opportunities for women who are suffering more thanmen in this GFC. The second area was investment in water, sanitation, transportation,
housing etc which all have beneficial impacts on health. The third area was social
protection where governments should expand and create cash transfer and employment
programmes with wider eligibility conditions, increased amounts of benefit or increasing
their duration. Fourth was the expansion of labour market policies by combining short-termwith long term measures.
Ms Hujo spoke of six areas where governments could go beyond short term responses.
First, create affordable and accessible social services (health, education, water/sanitationetc.) for all; second to protect people against income loss (social insurance and assistance)and poverty; third to protect and promote employment (decent work); fourth to adopt asmart targeting approach by having special support schemes for excluded and vulnerable
groups (this complements universal programmes); fifth to have the state resume its role inproviding public goods and increase state capacity; and sixth to create sustainable and fair
financing schemes. Ms Hujo reinforced points made by Pierre Sanè talking oftransformative social policy contributing to economic development, social cohesion andempowerment of people.
Mr. Harjeet Singh, Under Secretary of Policy Division Malaysia in the Ministry of Women,
Family and Community Development provided some inspirational comments on themeasures Malaysia have implemented to counteract the social consequences of the GFC.
The impact on Malaysia includes a decline in exports, a fall in commodity prices (gas, oiland palm oil), a fall in FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) and a decline in the stock exchange.
Stimulus measures are aimed to reduce unemployment and ease the burden on the mostvulnerable. The Social Safety Net has been expanded by increasing the allowable
household monthly income. This measure is expected to result in the number of eligible
households to rise from 54,000 to 110,000 and a rise from 14,000 to 40,000 of elderly
citizens who will become eligible. The ministry launched a project in October 2008 to
identify those in need of welfare assistance. There are three types of assistance. First,
financial aid for the commercially unproductive group including seniors and single mothers;
second, incentives for the productive group e.g. farmers who produce more rice will receive
more incentives; and third, subsidies to reduce the cost of living increases on petrol, rice,sugar, flour and cooking oil.
The Latin American perspective was presented by Mr. Martin Hopenhayn, Director of Social
Development Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). In his
speech Mr Hopenhayn, examined the global financial crisis from a social point of view which
he sees as the “tip of the iceberg”. There are a multitude of other consequences. Ideologies
that supported the privatisation of services have predominated in Latin America over thelast decades. The Washington consensus once seen as the only economic model is now
questionable as the sole economic model.
Mr Hopenhayn maintains that financial self regulation of the market will not go further,saying: “it does not work.” In the past twenty years, exclusion played a dominant role.
During that time, Latin America has paid a high price on environmental and social
protection. The Washington Consensus has left a huge divide in social protection with hugeinequalities.
Pierre Sanè summed up the feelings of many in the conference. He is alarmed that due tothe GFC donor governments will not meet their commitments to Official Development
Assistance (ODA). These governments were not even meeting the targets before the crisis.
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The governments used public money to bail out banks which has reduced money available
for other expenditure including ODA. Governments in developing countries are experiencing
reduced revenues because of the GFC. The only thing that will prevent the reduction in
ODA is popular mobilisation. The questions we need to ask are: Will children haveeducation? Will people have access to health care?
The response to the GFC must involve civil society organisations and thus enable people tofeel empowered. This leads to the core aim of the MOST programme which is to strengthen
research/policy linkages. The complementarities between UN agencies need to bestrengthened. We can all learn through the exchange of good practices and good initiatives
e.g. Ecuador, Malaysia and Jordan. We need to strengthen regional cooperation andcooperation between regions.
For more information on the MOST Programme visit UNESCO's MOST Programme
http://portal.unesco.org/shs/en/ev.phpURL_ID=3511&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
For a film on the MOST Programme Watch the film “MOST: A "think tank" for nations”

World Bank position on social protection condemned

Even though most, if not all, UN agencies have supported the push for universal social
protection in every country, the International Trade Union Confederation denounced theWorld Bank for its stand on social protection. The ICTU said in a statement in September:“Even though the World Bank has endorsed improved social safety nets to protect themillions of workers who have lost their jobs due to the global economic crisis, the latest
edition of the Bank’s highest circulation publication discourages countries from adopting
social protection schemes by designating governments that do so as anti-business. Doing
Business 2010, launched on 9th September 2009 by the World Bank, also recommends thatcountries should reduce severance pay for dismissed workers and reduce or eliminate
requirements for prior notice about job cuts. For the full statement visit http://www.ituccsi.org/spip.php?article4275

OECD Development Assistance Committee speaks out on conflict

The October 2009 DACnews focuses on Conflict and dialogue: What can the development
community do better? The DACnews takes a look at how the reality of conflict impinges ondevelopment and vice versa. It also focuses on the growing complexity of the development
landscape and how increasing dialogue is helping to build a road on common ground.
Topics covered include: Challenges and opportunities in the Central African Republic
The situation in the Central African Republic (CAR) is too disturbing for donors to ignore.
Yet its chronic, complex and deep-seated nature makes it difficult to identify astraightforward response that will have a fair chance of success. The DAC, through its
International Network on Conflict and Fragility (INCAF) is preparing a report on CAR as partof the Fragile States Principles Monitoring Survey. Read more…
 Armed violence and development
The United Nations Secretary-General's report “Promoting Development through theReduction and Prevention of Armed Violence” cites increasing evidence on the complex
ways in which armed violence acts as both a cause and consequence of underdevelopment.
It recognises and draws from the armed violence reduction work underway in the DAC.
Read more… www.oecd.org/dac/newsletter.

New

Head

of

UN

Research

InstituteforSocialDevelopment

UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, has appointed Dr. Sarah Cook as the new Director of
UNRISD. Dr. Cook, who joins UNRISD from the UK Institute of Development Studies, is a
development economist and China specialist whose recent work has included research onsocial protection in Asia, social welfare in rural China, the informalization of employment
and the gender impacts of economic reform. She is the first British national to take the
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helm at UNRISD. ICSW extends its congratulations to Dr. Cook and looks forward toworking with her and learning of the directions she will set for UNRISD.

Global Governance

The Friedrich Ebert Foundation has issued a briefing paper by Marc Saxer, “The Comebackof Global Governance. Ways out of the crisis of multilateral structures” DoG Briefing Paper
N°4, FES Berlin, April 2009. After years of crisis, in the face of genuine global problems theclimate seems to be changing in favour of global governance. Marc Saxer provides an
overview of recent major reform initiatives, but also warns against exaggerated optimism.
The author identifies the lack of representativeness and effectiveness of multilateralstructures along with differing conceptions of global governance among key actors as themain obstacles to overcome the crisis and advocates for a more realistic reform approachfor the multilateral architecture. This Briefing Paper N° 4 can be found directly at
http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/iez/global/06319.pdf.

Puzzled by acronyms?

http://www.acronymfinder.com/
New on the ICSW Website

Content
GlobalCooperation
Newsletter
September 2009
Global Cooperation Newsletter September(Es)
Global Cooperation Newsletter September(Fr)
European Newsletter September 2009
South East Asia and the Pacific Newsletter
East and Southern
October 2009

AfricaNewsletter

Link
http://www.icsw.org/doc/09_Global_Cooperati
on_Eng_Sep_2009.pdf
http://www.icsw.org/doc/09_CooperationMond
iale_FR_Sep_2009.doc
http://www.icsw.org/doc/09_CooperacionMun
dial_ESP_Sep_2009.doc
http://www.icsw.org/doc/ICSW_European_ne
wsletter_September_2009.doc
http://www.icsw.org/doc/SEAPNewsletter_2_O
ctober2009.doc
http://www.icsw.org/doc/ESA_Newsletter_200
9_Oct_Eng.doc

The content of this Global Newsletter may be freely reproduced or cited provided thesource is acknowledged. Views do not necessarily represent policies of ICSW.
Newsletter Editor: Denys Correll – Executive Director.
ICSW C/- MOVISIE Netherlands Centre for Social Development
PO Box 19129
3501 DC Utrecht
Netherlands
Website www.icsw.org Email: icsw@icsw.org
If you wish to cease receiving this newsletter, please click 'here' and give us your nameand email address

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