GLOBAL COOPERATION NEWSLETTER
March 2008
In this edition:

Changing notions of Civil Society in “North” and “South”
South Asian Ministers of Social Development meet in New Delhi
Social Security and Africa
New from OECD
New MDG Indicators
International Monetary Fund - paper from the Friedrich Ebert Foundation
New from International Poverty Centre
New from UNRISD
2008 ICSW 33rd Global Conference on Social Welfare
Changing notions of Civil Society in “North” and “South”
The Civil Society and New Forms of Government Network conducted a stimulating discussion
on civil society in London in March 2008.
The first discussant Professor Neera Chandhoke of Delhi University immediately stepped into
controversial ground by suggesting that 20 years ago she was concerned about governments
overreaching themselves. Now her concern is that civil society is overreaching itself. She
was very clear that governments are responsible for creating policy. It was not the
responsibility of civil society to create policy. Civil society has the role of making the state
responsible.
Professor Partha Chatterjee of the universities of Calcutta and Colombia argued that theconcept of “South” is “fast losing its coherence as a meaningful idea”. He based his challenge
on the trajectory of development in some Asian countries that have moved from the
problems that still face most of Africa.
Dirk-Jan Koch of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Radboud University spoke of
his research on what leads NGOs to work in particular countries. He found three strong
determinants. First, NGOs work in countries that are favoured by official aid agencies.
Second, NGOs are concentrated where other NGOs are active. Third, NGOs work where there
is a like-mindedness or similarity with their organisations.
Dr Silke Roth of University of Southampton reported on her research involving 44
biographical interviews with staff of NGOs and UN agencies. Global North interviewees said
that their work opened their eyes to inequalities. Highlighted were the inequalities between
international and local staff in salaries, conditions and security policies. (Local staff are more
vulnerable to attacks). Some Global North respondents described their life style as “postcolonial”. Dr Roth found that the boundaries between development cooperation andemergency relief have become blurred.
Sam Bickersteth of Oxfam spoke of Oxfam’s “rights based framework that seeks to build thevoice and capacity of social movements and partners in order to overcome poverty andsuffering”. These comments seemed in contrast to the findings of Dr Roth’s research.
Members of ICSW in the Global South have reported the opposite to the claim made by
Oxfam. They talk of a new form of colonialism in which Northern NGOs come into their
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countries and by-pass the local organisations and establish their own structures. ICSW has
observed the minimal resources available to indigenous NGOs. The major part of ICSW’s
global programme is to strengthen indigenous NGOs. This is of course dependent on the
resources ICSW receives from Northern donor governments.
The arguments relating to civil society were extended by Lars Engberg-Pedersen of theDanish Institute for International Studies. He described trends that include; bilateral donors
preferring to provide direct support to civil society in the South; strengthening Southownership of development activities; increasing capacity of civil society organisations tohave the necessary technical capacity to carry out their work; heterogeneity of the South(the same point as made by Professor Chatterjee and later by Mike Edwards of the Ford
Foundation); and aid more closely linked to other policy areas including security, trade,climate, immigration etc.
The changing nature of aid was pursued by Professor Jude Howell and Jeremy Lind of theCentre for Civil Society, London School of Economics. They spoke of the shifting focus ofdonors in regard to security and aid. In a longer paper available on the LSE website, “The
Backlash against Civil Society in the Wake of the Long War on Terror” the authors examine
the backlash against civil society within the context of the war on terror.
http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/CCS/
They argue “while the manifestations of the backlash, such as crackdown on NGOs in Russia
or the taming of NGOs by bilateral and multilateral agencies, may appear to be disparate,unconnected phenomena, on closer inspection it is clear that they are intricately intertwined”.
The impact on civil society has included new regulatory controls with new due diligencerequirements.
I have probably not done justice to the comments made by various speakers. I apologise inadvance and to the many other speakers whose papers I have not covered. Editor.
South Asian Ministers of Social Development meet in New Delhi
The Second Forum of Ministers of Social Development from South Asia met on 5 and 6
March 2008 in New Delhi, India. Ministers and High Level Officials from Afghanistan, Bhutan,
Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lank attended the meeting co-organized with UNESCO andwith the support of the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR):.
The “New Delhi Declaration” arising from the forum contains some good material including
acknowledgement of the “relevance of empowering the peoples and civil society of theregion through transparency, public accountability and right to information leading to better
governance and social development” and recognising “the predominant place which needs tobe accorded to social development, in line with the Copenhagen commitments on Social
Development and its follow-up, the Millennium Development Goals and the SAARC
Development Goals as outlined in the SAARC Social Charter”. The full text of the Declaration
is at www.icsw.org/doc/NEW%20DELHI%20DECLARATION.doc.
Social security and Africa
Mr. Hans-Horst Konkolewsky, Secretary General of the International Social Security
Association (ISSA) said in March in Cape Town that social security can contribute to making
sustainable poverty reduction in Africa a reality. The extension of social security coverage
should be an integral part of development strategies. Extension of social security coverage
will be good for the poor and good for economic growth. Mr. Konkolewsky pointed toevidence that investment in social security brings high rates of return for the national
economy by increasing the productivity of the work force. It is hard to identify any other
instruments that could enable the African nations to reduce their poverty and mortality
levels as rapidly and reliably as the basic instruments of social security – social healthinsurance, social pensions and child benefits. Social security should be one of the permanent
ingredients in all national and regional strategies aimed at poverty reduction, pro-poor
economic growth and sustainable livelihoods. For further information http://www.issa.int/pdf/publ/PressRelease/ISSC_declaration.pdf
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OECD From DAC News March 2008
Development Co-operation Report 2007
The Development Assistance Committee (DAC) has launched the 2007 edition of its annual
Development Co-operation Report (DCR). In this report, Richard Manning (DAC Chair until
January 2008) looks at the 12 measures of success he formulated in 2003, when he began
his mandate. Read more...
Fragmentation:
The
more
the
merrier,
or
too
many
cooks?
When there are many donors in one country giving small amounts of aid, the results might
be more negative than positive. One of the questions donors have to ask themselves is, doesit all add up to results? Read more…
The road to Accra
One and a half of the three days of the Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Accra
will be devoted to roundtable discussions that will feed in to the Accra Action Agenda (AAA),a focused list of deliverables designed to produce results where they are most needed tomeet the targets of the Paris Declaration by 2010. Read more…
New MDG indicators
There is a new official list of MDG indicators after the 2007 revision. New MDG targets on full
employment, access to reproductive health, AIDS treatments and biodiversity
http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Host.aspx?Content=Indicators/OfficialList.htm
International Monetary Fund - paper from the Friedrich Ebert Foundation
Roberto Frenkel writes on Current Problems with the IMF and Challenges Ahead - A
Latin American Perspective Dialogue on Globalization Briefing Paper 16-07, FES Berlin,
December 2007. In his Briefing Paper, Roberto Frenkel analyses the current problems of theInternational Monetary Fund from a Latin American Perspective. The Briefing paper N16 is at
http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/iez/global/05126.pdf
New from International Poverty Centre
What is poverty? The International Poverty Centre has announced the Portuguese andSpanish versions of One Pager #26, "What Is Poverty? Good Question<http://www.undp-povertycentre.org/pub/IPCOnePager26.pdf In this One Pager, the author,
Terry McKinley, Acting Director of IPC, discusses the differences between income poverty
and human poverty and warns against trying to merge the two. For example, he criticizes
some recent efforts to develop a comprehensive income measure of basic human capabilities.
He notes that it is difficult to measure some capabilities in income terms while it is pointless
to try to put a price on others, such as human freedom.
Latin America’s MDG Progress on Gender Equality: Poor Women Still Lag Behind –One Pager # 49. Eduardo Zepeda notes that Latin America and the Caribbean have shownnotable progress on MDG indicators for gender equality. But he emphasizes that whennational averages are disaggregated, the picture is less impressive, particularly for poor
women workers. They are not, in fact, making significant progress in securing decent wage
employment
inthenon-agricultural
sector.
http://www.undppovertycentre.org/pub/IPCOnePager49.pdf
The Many Dimensions of Poverty – New book by Nanak Kakwani and Jacques Silber. This
book draws together 14 articles that were presented at the IPC-sponsored International
Conference on "The Many Dimensions of Poverty http://www.undp-povertycentre.org/mdpoverty/ held in Brasilia in 2005. It takes a multidisciplinary approach to poverty, including
five different perspectives from the disciplines of economics, sociology, anthropology,
psychology and institutional economics. There are also studies of chronicity of poverty, theconcept of vulnerability, the political economy of poverty alleviation and the pro-poorness ofgovernment programs. The broad view of poverty that the book offers is likely to orient
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research on poverty in directions neglected hitherto and to help those in charge of
implementing poverty reduction policies.
Information about the full book is available at the Palgrave Macmillan website:
http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?PID=276181
The Urgent Need for Financial Reform to Mobilise Savings in Sub-Saharan Africa –One Pager # 50 The authors, Sedat Aybar and Costas Lapavitsas, note that financial
liberalization has failed to boost the region’s low savings rate and call for specific financialsector reforms to support increased domestic resource mobilization. Emphasizing that thereis there no absolute scarcity of savings, they call for a range of reforms, such as mobilebanks, strengthened microfinance institutions and public mechanisms such as revitalized
postal savings institutions and development finance institutions.
Available at http://www.undp povertycentre.org/pub/IPCOnePager50.pdf
New from UNRISD
Small but Smart: Small States in the Global System is the title of a paper by UNRISD
Research Coordinator Naren Prasad. He talks about development strategies in small
economies.
http://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BF3C2/setLanguageCookie?OpenAgent&langcode=en&u
rl=/80256B3C005BE6B5/search/C0C7723F9A3BC6FAC12573F400553607?OpenDocument
China’s Family Support System: Challenges and Solutions under the Circumstancesof Rural-Urban Female Labour Migration.
Based on interviews with rural-urban migrants in Anhui and Sichuan provinces of China, thispaper focuses on the coping strategies adopted by Chinese rural-urban migrant families todeal with the tensions caused by changes in generational care chains.
http://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BF3C2/setLanguageCookie?OpenAgent&langcode=en&u
rl=/80256B3C005BCCF9/search/88EBA49BA3FF4D72C1257401003B4257?OpenDocument
2008 ICSW 33rd Global Conference on Social Welfare
The programme for the conference is taking shape. On the website
http://www.icsw2008.org/ you will find updates on speakers and the programme.
Date: 30th June to 4th July 2008
Venue: Tours, France
Contact Information: globalconference@cnas-icsw.org
This will be the 80th Anniversary of ICSW. The theme of the conference is Social Work, Social
Protection and Social Development: Where have we been? Where are we going?
The content of this Global Newsletter may be freely reproduced or cited provided
the source is acknowledged. The views expressed in this publication are notnecessarily the policy of ICSW.
Newsletter Editor: Denys Correll – Executive Director
ICSW C/- MOVISIE Netherlands Centre for Social Development
PO Box 19129
3501 DC Utrecht
Netherlands
Email: icsw@icsw.org
Tel: +31 30 789 2226

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GLOBAL COOPERATION NEWSLETTER
April 2008
In this edition:
Report on the UN Commission on the Status of WomenUN Commission for Social Development Final Resolution on Employment
UNRISD Annual Report 20072008 ICSW 33rd Global Conference on Social Welfare – Early Bird Registrations
finish end of April. Register NOW.
Report on the UN Commission on the Status of Women
Judith Kaulem, ICSW Regional President for East and Southern Africa reports on the 52nd
Session of the United Nation Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) that was held at
the UN Headquarters in New York in March.
The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is a commission of the United Nations
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) exclusively set up for gender equality and theadvancement of women. Every year representatives of Member States gather at the UN
headquarters in New York to evaluate progress on gender equality including identifying
challenges and gaps in the advancement of women’s rights. The Commission also seeks tomake recommendations on global standards and policies to promote gender equality.
Recommendations of the Commission which are aimed at promoting women’s rights inpolitical, civil, economic, social and educational fields are then submitted to the ECOSOC.
The theme for the 52nd CSW was “Financing for Gender Equality and Women’s
Empowerment”.
Violence Against Women Campaign
The official opening of the 52nd session witnessed the launch of the Violence Against Women
Campaign by the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. In his opening remarks the
Secretary General deplored violence against women. He stated, “Violence against women isnever acceptable, never excusable and never tolerable”. Mr. Ban Ki-moon urged all states toensure that violence against women is outlawed in their national legislation. The negative
effect of violence against women on the women themselves and on global development wasstrongly deplored by several speakers during the official opening. Speakers put across achallenge that the unity of purpose displayed at the session to end violence against womenshould be translated into funding commitments and favourable policies to end violenceagainst women by all stakeholders at all levels.
The Secretary General’s report highlighted gender equality and the empowerment of womenas goals in and of themselves, as well as important means of moving towards theachievement of all internationally agreed goals, including the Millennium Development Goals.
In the United Nations Millennium Declaration, Heads of State and Governments rededicatedthemselves to supporting all efforts to uphold the equal rights of women and men and topromote gender equality and the empowerment of women as effective ways to combat
poverty, hunger and disease and to stimulate development that is truly sustainable.
However, during the several NGO parallel sessions, it became very apparent that in many
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cases, civil society organisations (CSOs) were not aware of the number and variety ofagreements, conventions, declarations nor agencies and bodies that exist relating to womenor issues relating to women on which they could leverage in their lobby and advocacy work.
In cases where they do know, these instruments are not used to the maximum to build thecapacities of local voices. This raises more profound questions regarding CSOs’ effectivenessin lobbying for change or influencing policy formulation at global and national levels. There is
therefore more need for more awareness-raising on the variety, form and use ofinternational instruments and mechanisms. In addition there is a vital need for training in
information sharing and skills on how to use these mechanisms to maximum effect. As
organisations become more accustomed and experienced in using the international
instruments and mechanisms, they will be able to provide a robust civil society voice in thecreation and development of future policy and legislation with more pragmatic indicators,
monitoring and evaluation systems.
The Gender Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR) Campaign
The GEAR campaign was premised on the realisation that the UN has been viewed by the
women’s movement as the galvanising force for the advancement of women’s rights.
However, a glaring fact is that UN agencies dealing with women’s issues such as UNIFEM,Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW) and Office of the Special Advisor on Gender
Issues (OSAGI) are under-funded and very small. The campaign sought to influence the UN
to strengthen the gender equality architecture as part of its reform process. One of the
proposals put forth was to combine the women’s division in the UN into one big structure
headed by an Under Secretary General with powers for decision making.
International Commitment on financing gender equality and empowerment of
women
Global commitment on financing for gender equality and women’s empowerment has been
made by Governments, including the Fourth World Conference on Women (1995), thetwenty-third session of the General Assembly (2000), the Millennium Summit (2000) andthe International Conference on Financing for Development (2002), as well as inintergovernmental processes, including the General Assembly and the Commission on the
Status of Women. The Secretary General’s report highlighted that sufficient resources shouldbe allocated to national machineries for the advancement of women as well as to all
institutions as appropriate, that can contribute to the implementation and monitoring of the
Platform for Action.
In line with the theme of financing gender equality and women’s empowerment, several
parallel sessions organised by NGOs focused on financing for women’s rights. Genderbudgeting was strongly highlighted as a strategy for ensuring that women’s concerns andrights are financed. Civil society organisations raised concerns over the shift by most donors
to fund projects and allocate very small budgets for administration and institutional
development.
Global FundThe Global Fund has put out the call for proposals for Round 8. There are many opportunities
for CSOs to tap into these funds. The Global Fund Round 8 priority areas include:- Preventing HIV in women and girls- Reducing violence against women- Education for girls- Home Based Care
- Livelihood, property and inheritance rights- Access to treatment, care and support- Risk populations, sex workers and girls in difficult situations.
More information on how to develop the proposals can be found on the following website:
www.theglobalfund.org
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Information can also be obtained from the website on how the Global Fund operates in
conjunction with the Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) for each country.
UN Commission for Social Development Final Resolution on Employment
The February 2008 edition of Global Cooperation summarised some inputs into this year’s
priority theme “Promoting full employment and decent work for all.” This edition brings you
the results of the Commission. The 46th session of the Commission closed a week later than
expected due to difficult negotiations over the resolution on the priority theme.
Since last year the Commission has organised its work according to a two year cycle ofdealing with a single priority theme. The first year is a “review session” which aims to shareexperiences, review current processes and identify best practices. The second year is a“policy session” resulting in a set of resolutions for policy action. In the cycle 2008 is the“policy year” and thus the Commission sought policy options that would help achieve full
employment and decent work for all. Negotiations proved painstaking and difficult, as
evidenced by the delay in agreeing on the final resolution.
Discussed at length was the link between poverty eradication, the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) and the goals of full and productive employment.
The Commission finally adopted a resolution on the priority theme (E/CN.5/2008/L.8)
http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/LTD/N08/243/86/PDF/N0824386.pdf?OpenElement
Several contentious issues emerged, including:• migrant workers’ rights;• the question of official development assistance (ODA) and the link between decent
work for all and the commitments made in the Monterrey Consensus on Financing forDevelopment;• the right of peoples to self-determination.
The resolution recognises the link between the goals of full and productive employment anddecent work, and poverty eradication, as well as sustainable development; it recalls theprime responsibility of both individual countries and the international community regarding
the creation of an enabling environment for social and economic development; it encourages
States to adopt national and international policies and strategies that take into account the
specific situation of social groups such as women, youth, persons with disabilities, and older
persons; and it calls for an effective social dialogue with workers’ organisations.
The Future Organisation and Methods of Work of the Commission
The Commission reaffirmed the value of the two-year review and policy cycle. The priority
theme for the 2009-2010 cycle is “Social integration”. The theme for the next cycle 20112012 will be selected in 2010. The G-77/China, the EU and the USA had different opinions onthat issue. The G-77/China wanted the priority theme for 2011-2012 to be identified before
2010 and proposed “poverty eradication”. The EU and the USA said the theme would not beappropriate. They argued that the topic had been addressed by the Commission in 2006.
Civil Society Participation
Over 200 organisations attended the Commission and several made oral interventions during
plenary sessions. Statements on the theme were submitted by 23 civil society organisations.
More than 25 side events, many of which were organised or co-organised by NGOs, took
place during the session. They covered a variety of topics including effective employment
strategies, social protection, integration and ageing.
Overall civil society was happy with the resolution on the priority theme. NGOs were pleased
that many of the points they had raised were included in the text. In particular NGOs
appreciated reference to a people-centred approach to economic and social development andthe central importance of employment and decent work to poverty eradication. They also
welcomed the mention of international migration (not included in the first draft) and the
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informal sector, as well as recognition of the importance of International Labour Organisation(ILO) principles relative to decent work and corporate social responsibility.
Some issues could have had stronger language, in particular gender equality, policy
coherence, and youth employment. Civil society only appears in the paragraph on the rights
of women workers. The fact that the impact of climate change was entirely left out also led
to criticism. Most NGO representatives regretted that the resolution was addressed to the
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), rather than the General Assembly, which is in abetter position to mainstream decent work issues throughout the UN system.
Resolutions and documents related to the Commission meeting can be found online:
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/csd/csocd2008.htm
Thanks to the NGO Committee for Social Development and the Non Government Liaison
Service for some of the following content of this article.
UNRISD Annual Report 2007
Here are some quotes from preliminary research findings contained in the annual report:• “Poverty eradication is a function of sustained levels of economic growth and structuralchange. Most countries have experienced growth episodes and varying degrees oftransformation.” (Page 12)• “Current poverty reduction strategies in many low-income countries are constrained byan overly restrictive macroeconomic framework and do not reflect the growth strategies
of successful late developers. Fewer countries are successfully following the classical pathof structural change in which industry, and manufacturing in particular, played theleading role. The service sector is now dominant in many economies; and in a few
countries, such as India, it is also the growth sector. However, in low-income countries,
the growth of the service sector is a result of the failure of both industrialisation andagricultural development. Much of the service sector consists of low-value-creating
informal sector activities.” (Page 12).
• “A two-tier social protection system seems to be emerging or consolidating in mostcountries. Social insurance schemes, which cover employees in the formal labour force,coexist with a variety of social assistance schemes that are largely targeted at the pooror low-income groups. The character of the labour market and patterns of statebusiness-labour relations define the scope and redistributive character of insurance
schemes. Social insurance schemes in highly unequal societies and fragmented labour
markets tend to be regressive.”(Page 13)• “Structural change in many countries that eliminated poverty occurred underauthoritarian conditions. Most developmental states were highly centralised, had a firm
grip on political power and enjoyed considerable autonomy in the political economy.
Structural trans-formation that reduced poverty also occurred under democratic
conditions.” (page 13)• “Preliminary findings of the UNRISD research underline the need for strong interlinkages
between social and economic policies. (Page 19)
http://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BF3C2/setLanguageCookie?OpenAgent&langcode=en&u
rl=/80256B3C005BF3C2/search/C9CFD9EE3F161C47C125741F00410C0D?OpenDocument
2008 ICSW 33rd Global Conference on Social Welfare – 80th Anniversary
Not long to go now to the opening on the 30th June. At http://www.icsw2008.org/ youwill find the latest on speakers and the programme.
Dates: 30th June to 4th July 2008 Venue: Tours, France Contact Information:
globalconference@cnas-icsw.org The theme of the conference is Social Work, Social
Protection and Social Development: Where have we been? Where are we going?
The content of this Global Newsletter may be freely reproduced or cited provided the sourceis acknowledged. Views expressed in this publication are not necessarily the policy of ICSW.
Newsletter Editor: Denys Correll – Executive Director. Contributor this month Judith Kaulem
ICSW C/- MOVISIE Netherlands Centre for Social Development
Global Cooperation Newsletter
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PO Box 19129
3501 DC Utrecht
Netherlands
Email: icsw@icsw.org

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GLOBAL COOPERATION NEWSLETTERMay 2008
In this edition:

ICSW 33rd Global Conference
New Resource for Civil Society
New International Poverty Centre (IPC) Resources
ICSW 33rd Global Conference
The conference will start on the last day of June in Tours France. To celebrate our80th anniversary our French hosts will launch the ICSW history at the conference. It
is an amazing story that starts in the 1920s. Joining us in Tours will be
representatives of our two kindred organisations that had their origins at our first
conference in 1928. (International Association of Schools of Social Work andInternational Federation of Social Workers). After this conference IASSW, ICSW andIFSW come together again for joint conferences in 2010 and 2012.
The Conference has received the label of the French Presidency of the European
Union. The French government thus acknowledges the importance of the 33rd ICSWGlobal Conference by labeling it a social policy event of the French Presidency of theEuropean Union. The French Presidency starts in July 2008.
Alternatives Economiques, a French monthly magazine that focuses on economic
and social issues has become a partner of the Conference. An article on the
Conference will be published in the June issue of the magazine. Take a look at thewebsite of Alternatives Economiques, http://www.alternatives-economiques.fr/.
Government Ministers have shown great interest in the conference. The newly
appointed Minister of Women, Family and Community Development for the Federal
Government of Malaysia YB Datuk Dr. Ng Yen Yen is attending. Also the Minister forSocial Development of Morocco Mrs. Nouzha Skalli. From Brazil Secretary of Social
Welfare and Human Rights Rio de Janeiro Government will attend.
The speaker line-up continues to strengthen. These are just some of the speakers
who will contribute to the conference:Mrs. Diana Nistorescu is the Executive Director of the Romanian Federation of NGOs
active in child protection will make a presentation in symposium 2 - The Growing
Role of Civil Society, NGOs, Empowerment of Citizens.
Mr. Fabio Veras Soares is researcher at the UNDP – International Poverty Centre(Brazil). He will speak in symposium 7 - Poverty Reduction and Minimum Income
Policies: Results and Limits.

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Mrs. Shereen Usdin is co-founder of the Soul City Institute for Health andDevelopment Communication (South Africa) and 2004 SABC/Shoprite-Checkers
Health Woman of the Year. She will give a presentation in symposium 8 - Human
Development: Sustainable Development, Human rights, Social Policies andMulticulturalism, Basic Education
Driss Guerraoui professor of economics at the University Mohamed V of Rabat –Agdal. He is adviser to the Prime Minister of Morocco on social policies. In Tours, He
will deliver a presentation in symposium 8 - Human Development: Sustainable
Development, Human Rights, Social Policies and Multiculturalism, Basic Education.
Isabel Ortiz has over 15 years experience working in 30 countries in various areasof economic and social development. Recently she has worked with Nobel Laureate
Joseph Stiglitz's Initiative for Policy Dialogue. She will speak in plenary session 3 Social development: From Targeted Policies on Poverty Reduction to Comprehensive
Social Policies.
The conference organisers recommend you book your hotel as soon as possible asother events are taking place in Tours in early July. You can make a reservation
through the Vinci Convention Centre when you register online for the Conference.
Also, you can use websites:- http://www.tourism-touraine.com/- http://www.ligeris.com/- http://www.booking.com/region/fr/touraine.fr
See the end of this newsletter for conference registration details.
New Resource for Civil Society
The Black Sea guide (Advocacy in International Institutions by Civil Society
Organizations: A Practical Guide) was written for Black Sea NGOs. But it is of use toNGOs everywhere as it has chapters on the European Union (EU), World HealthOrganization (WHO), and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
ICSW has been pleased to assist in the sponsoring and preparation of the Guide.
The author of the manual is Dr. Ioannis Stribis, legal advisor at the International
Centre of Black Sea Studies.
In addition to chapters on the EU, WHO and UNDP the manual provides a detailed
analysis of the Organisation of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) and theParliamentary Assembly of the Organisation of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation(PABSEC). The Guide examines the structure and activities of these organisations,
their experience of interaction with civil society organisations and the possibilities
and mechanisms for lobbying and advocacy among organisations.
The manual can be found on the Black Sea NGOs Network website by visiting
http://www.bsngon.com/activities/public.php or the ICSW website – top news.
New International Poverty Centre (IPC) Resources
IPC has three new sections on its website where you will find information on country
experiences with Cash Transfer Programmes in Asia and the Pacific, Africa andLatin America and the Caribbean. Click here to visit the website or go to:
http://www.undp-povertycentre.org/CCT.do

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Country Experiences:•

Asia and the Pacific: Bangladesh, Cambodia, Brunei, China, India,
Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkey,
and Vietnam.

•

Africa: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Cape Verde, Chad, Egypt,
Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique,
Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania,
Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

•

Latin America and the Caribbean: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia,
Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico,
Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, andUruguay.

A Consistent Measure of Real Poverty: A Reply to Ravallion IPC One pager
No.54. Thomas Pogge contributes to the lively debate on poverty measurement. He
argues that a-dollar-a-day calculations are not sufficient to inform policy.
Click here to download: http://www.undppovertycentre.org/pub/IPCOnePager54.pdf
Which Poverty Line? A Response to Reddy IPC One pager No. 53.
Martin Ravallion responds to a recent IPC One Pager. He reaffirms the importance ofthe "$1 or $2 a day" measurements in estimating poverty.
Click here to download: http://www.undppovertycentre.org/pub/IPCOnePager53.pdf
Inflation-Targeting in Sub-Saharan Africa: Why Now? Why at All? IPC One
pager No. 51.
Terry McKinley questions the adoption of explicit inflation targeting by countries
such as Ghana and South Africa. The author argues that such a choice is particularly
ill-advised now as supply-side factors, such as rising oil and food prices, are driving
up inflation in many such developing countries. He maintains that, instead,policymakers should focus on stabilizing the real exchange rate and free fiscal policy
to cushion domestic investment and necessary consumption.
Click here to download: http://www.undppovertycentre.org/pub/IPCOnePager51.pdf
MDG Targets: Misunderstood or Misconceived? IPC One pager No. 33
Author: Hamid Tabatabai Click here to download: http://www.undppovertycentre.org/pub/IPCOnePager33.pdf Also in Portuguese, Spanish andFrench.
MDGs: Misunderstood Targets? Portuguese and Spanish versions of IPC One
Pager No. 28. Jan Vandemoortele, former co-chair of the U.N. Inter-Agency Groupon the MDGs, argues that the MDG targets were set at the global level, not at thecountry level. Thus, he claims that it would be a tragic mistake to classify somedeveloping countries as ‘failures’ simply because their performance, thoughsignificantly improved, did not match artificial global benchmarks. Available at:
http://www.undp-povertycentre.org/pub/IPCOnePager28.pdf
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Alternatives for Projecting MDG Indicators IPC Technical paper No. 2
Rafael Guerreiro Osorio addresses the question: will my country reach all or some of
the Millennium Development Goals by 2015? The answer to this question requires
some kind of projection. However, scarcities of data and technical skills make thisexercise difficult. In this paper, the author introduces simple techniques to project
the behaviour of indicators, especially when there are limited data points to worktodownload:
http://www.undpwith.
Click
here
povertycentre.org/pub/IPCTechnicalPaper2.pdf
The Vast Majority Income (VMI): A New Measure of Global Inequality IPC
Policy Research Brief No. 7. Anwar Shaikh and Amr Ragab introduce a newworldwide measure of welfare, which they call the Vast Majority Income (VMI). The
VMI directly calculates the per capita income of the first 80 per cent of the
population. It combines information on income levels and their distribution into atodownload:
http://www.undpsingle
measure.
Clickherepovertycentre.org/pub/IPCPolicyResearchBrief7.pdf
Quantitative Approaches to Multidimensional Poverty Measurement edited
by
Nanak
KakwaniandJacques
Silber.
http://www.undppovertycentre.org/book.htm This book draws together 14 articles that were
presented at the IPC-sponsored International Conference on “The Many Dimensionsof Poverty”, held in Brasilia in 2005. This book explores the latest developments inthe field of multidimensional poverty measurement. It includes clear presentationsof more than a dozen different quantitative techniques. The book provides empiricalillustrations based on data sources from developed or developing countries.
Poverty in Focus: PSIA - Gauging Poverty Impacts
IPC’s journal, Poverty in Focus, highlights the PSIA and PIA concepts and theexperience so far of using these analytical tools for enhancing the effectiveness ofpoverty reducing policies, programmes and projects. Available online at:
http://www.undp-povertycentre.org/pub/IPCPovertyInFocus14.pdf
2008 ICSW 33rd Global Conference on Social Welfare – 80th Anniversary
Not long to go now to the opening on the 30th June. You will find the latest on
speakers and the programme at http://www.icsw2008.org/
Dates: 30th June to 4th July 2008 Venue: Tours, France Contact Information:
globalconference@cnas-icsw.org The theme of the conference is Social Work, Social
Protection and Social Development: Where have we been? Where are we going?
The content of this Global Newsletter may be freely reproduced or cited provided
the source is acknowledged. Views expressed in this publication are not necessarily
the policy of ICSW.
Newsletter Editor: Denys Correll – Executive Director. ICSW C/- MOVISIENetherlands Centre for Social Development
PO Box 19129
3501 DC Utrecht
Netherlands
Website www.icsw.org Email: icsw@icsw.org

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