GLOBAL COOPERATION NEWSLETTER
January 2011
In this edition
Governance in the Commonwealth: current debates
Reflections on a year at UNRISD by the Director
Social Movements and Poverty in Developing Countries
News from the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) Netherlands
New Publications from International Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG)
Transnational NGO Initiative-Preparing to make a leadership “leap”?
International Day of Persons with Disabilities
African Union Conference of Ministers in charge of social development
Governance in the Commonwealth: current debates
This new book edited by Seth Lartey and Deepti Sastry
is a compilation of presentations from the governanceand democracy workshop held at the 2009
Commonwealth People’s Forum in Port of Spain,
Trinidad and Tobago. Drawing on case studies fromWest and Central Africa, South Asia, Caribbean, andthe Pacific, it explores various governance debates andmakes recommendations to policy makers on theeffective participation of citizens in democraticprocesses.
Timothy M Shaw, Professor and Director, Institute ofInternational Relations, The University of the West
Indies, Trinidad and Tobago says “The authors in thispublication draw on the themes of governance anddemocracy, both fundamental to Commonwealthprinciples. Governance and democracy are key
principles for civil society in the Commonwealth,helping build a framework to support effective andlegitimate institutions.”
To request a hard copy, contact geninfo@commonwealth.int or download
http://www.commonwealthfoundation.com/NewsArticle.aspx?articleID=142 (106pages 1.4Mb)

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Reflections on a year at UNRISD by the Director
Sarah Cook reflects on her first year as Director of the UN Research Institute for SocialDevelopment. (Extracts). “My tenure started with an outstanding conference in late 2009 onthepoliticalandsocial
dimensions
oftheglobal
financialcrisis.”
http://www.unrisd.org/publications/cn25e “The global context was marked by fiscal
retrenchment, cuts in social spending, high unemployment, tightening aid budgets and ongoing debates about viable policy alternatives for achieving balanced growth withoutcompromising the poverty reduction and social gains of recent years. For UNRISD, thesetrends translate into new and urgent demands for research on social development, but alsoa restrictive resource environment for launching such work. The past year was marked
above all by a high level of uncertainty: we enter 2011 with hope for greater security forall.”“For UNRISD, the highlight of the year was the publication of our long-awaited report
Combating Poverty and Inequality. http://www.unrisd.org/publications/povertyreport
360page USD45. The key messages, alongside detailed empirical support and policy options,speak directly to development debates and challenges that have been intensified by crisis:that addressing the multiple facets of inequality is inextricably bound up with reducing
poverty and achieving inclusive growth; that the creation of productive employment must
be a core goal of economic development; that social policies play an essential role in growth,
equity, social reproduction and social cohesion—all of which are necessary for sustained
poverty reduction; and that poverty reduction requires a serious analysis of the politicalarrangements
thatenable the poor to have voice in policy processes.”

Social Movements and Poverty in Developing Countries
http://www.unrisd.org/publications/pp-bebbington Author: Anthony Bebbington (Professorof Environment and Society, and Director of the Graduate School of Geography at ClarkUniversity, United States) Paper No.: 32 Pages: 56
Poverty and inequality are both products and producers of the prevailing relationships ofpower in a society. By many definitions, social movements are understood as questioning
the nature and exercise of power in society. As such they also play roles in challenging
relationships of poverty and inequality. This paper explores some of these roles.
The paper first discusses characteristics of social movements—their motivations, emergenceand strategies. Languages of justice and rights are far more prominent in social movements
than are languages of poverty reduction. Movements rarely take on the mantle of “beingpoor” as an identity-based grievance, and few movement leaders think of themselves ortheir bases in this way. Indeed, many movements argue that a policy focus on poverty is
depoliticising and diverts attention from structures of inequality and exclusion.

News from the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) Netherlands
The ISS produces much information of interest to social development practitioners in theJanuary edition of the ISS Newsletter http://www.iss.nl/About-ISS/ISS-newsletter/GeneralNewsletter-no.15-January-2011#events there is coverage of Gender trends in developing
countries during financial crises This paper looks at several financial crises: the Asianfinancial crisis, the Brazilian, Argentine and Turkish financial crises, around the turn of thelast century. Data are analysed for a 10-year period around these crises. The data include
gender indicators (mostly female-male gaps) in education, health and the labour market
and show lack of progress or even declines in gender equality in these periods of crises inthe eight countries analysed. Moreover, a control group of countries is used ascounterfactual, indicating better performance on gender equality and hence, a diverging
trend between the two country groups.

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New Publications from International Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG)(All publications can be found at http://www.ipc-undp.org/)
1)
Can
SocialProtection
Help
PromoteInclusive
Growth?
By Melissa Andrade, Fábio Veras Soares, Radhika Lal and Rathin Roy. The paper is based on
the South-South dialogue organised by IPC-IG and held in Johannesburg from 11 to 14
October 2010. The papers show that governments in the global South are comfortable withbroad definitions that emphasise the expansion of capabilities and opportunities.
Poverty in Focus # 222) Global Poverty and the New Bottom Billion: What if Three-quarters of theWorld’s Poor Live in Middle-income Countries? By Andy Sumner, Institute ofDevelopment Studies This paper argues that the problem of global poverty has changed
because most of the world’s poor no longer live in poor countries, meaning low-income
countries (LICs). Working Paper # 74 One Pager # 1203) Maximizing Co-Benefits: Exploring Opportunities to Strengthen Equality andPoverty Reduction through Adaptation to Climate Change by Leisa Perch. Howcountries fuel growth (and not just in structural and mechanical terms) determines who will
have access to resources, how they will be used in a macro sense, and the sustainability ofsuch actions. This paper is largely exploratory, seeking to identify options and structures
rather than define solutions, and it focuses largely on adaptation in the context of national
climate-change strategies. Working Paper # 75 One Pager # 1214) The Consolidation of Social Assistance in Brazil and its Challenges, 1988–2008
by Luciana Jaccoud, Patricia Dario El-Moor Hadjab and Juliana Rochet Chaibub, Institute forApplied Economic Research (IPEA). This paper is one of a series of papers that waspresented at the session on Social Development Strategies for Inclusive Growth at theIndia-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Academic Forum: A Policy Dialogue which was held on 1213 April 2010 in Brasilia. Working Paper # 76 One Pager # 1225) Cash Transfers and Gendered Risks and Vulnerabilities: Lessons from Latin
America by Rebecca Holmes, Nicola Jones, Rosana Vargas and Fábio Veras Soares.
This Policy Research Brief examines the extent to which gendered economic and social risksare addressed in CCTs in Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Peru. Policy Research Brief # 166) Impact Evaluation of the Expansion of the Food Subsidy Programme inMozambique by Fábio Veras Soares and Clarissa Teixeira. This paper documents both thetargeting performance of the 2008 expansion of the Food Subsidy Programme (PSA) inMozambique and the impact of the programme in some key indicators. Policy Research
Brief # 17

Transnational NGO Initiative-Preparing to make a leadership “leap”?
The Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs in the Maxwell School at Syracuse University(www.maxwell.syr.edu/leadershipinstitute) has announced the inaugural Transnational NGO
Leadership Institute. This specialized “leap” program offers leadership training for up-and-Global Cooperation Newsletter

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coming international NGO leaders seeking top NGO positions. Global professionals from allregions, sectors and organizational sizes are invited to attend a cost-effective, intensive andinterdisciplinary program 15th to 19th September in upstate New York. Institute attendees
transitioning to top leadership positions will be provided with state of the art knowledge
about NGO leadership, competency and talent development approaches, as well as strategic
and analytical skills. The program will enable participants to examine their personalleadership style, expand specific competencies and roles and network with peers.
Participants will examine five issues they are likely to encounter when making
this leadership “leap”:• Leading in a complex context: the broader landscape of actors and issues• Organisational governance: board leadership, organisational change and design• Collaboration: communication, networks, partnerships, collaborative governance andleadership• Power relationships: politics, symbolic leadership and leadership in times of change andcrisis• Strategic resource mobility: allocation and management
Contact information
Open registration for the inaugural Transnational NGO Leadership Institute begins on 1stJanuary 2011. Contact Tosca Bruno-van Vijfeijken, Director for Education andPractitioner Engagement, Transnational NGO Initiative, Maxwell School at Syracuse
University at tmbruno@maxwell.syr.edu or +1 (315) 443-5073 for more information. TheTNGO Initiative website can be found at: http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/moynihan_tngo.aspx

International Day of Persons with Disabilities
WHO marked International Day of Persons with Disabilities on 3rd December 2010 byannouncing the upcoming date for the launch of the next World report on disability.
http://www.who.int/disabilities/world_report/en/ The report, the first to be issued indecades summarizing the best available scientific evidence on disability, will be launched 9June 2011. To help build awareness ahead of the launch, WHO has started a socialmedia campaign, including a Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/pages/WorldHealth-Organization-WHO/154163327962392?sk=app_4949752878 and has released thefirst of a series of videos featuring women with disabilities talking about their lives.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5QXcFk4kvA

African Union Conference of Ministers in charge of social development
In November 2010 ministers met to discuss Strengthening Social Policy Action Towards
Social Inclusion
The opening statement was made by H.E. Adv. Bience P. Gawanas AU Commissioner forSocial Affairs. Material from the conference can be found at
http://au.int/en/dp/sa/content/2th-session-african-union-conference-ministers-chargesocial-development-khartoum-sudan This included a concept note in English, French, Arabicand Portuguese.
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