GLOBAL COOPERATION NEWSLETTER
November 2011
In this edition
Transferring cash and assets to the poor
Social protection floor for a fair and inclusive globalisation
Human Development Report 2011
The Global Agenda
ICSW Europe Board and the World Conference 2012
Landmine use highest since 2004 despite record clearances
G20 - Wrong international forum for development
World of Work Report 2011: Making markets work for jobs
International Training Centre programme 2012
Transferring cash and assets to the poor
The UK Auditor General has produced a report (November 2011) on the Department forInternational Development’s (DfID) practice of supporting cash transfers to people in poverty.
The report examines whether DfID is achieving value for money through transfers by reducing
poverty and increasing well-being at reasonable cost. The DfID programme involves reachingpeople in need and giving optimal support, in a timely and scheduled way, as well as assessing
whether it knows the short- and longer-term effects of its interventions.
The Auditor General’s report concludes DfID “is successfully using transfers to reach particularly
impoverished populations in challenging places, through delivery chains that are shorter and moretransparent than other, more traditional, aid interventions. Transfers show clear immediate benefits
including reducing hunger and raising incomes.”
This report can be found on the National Audit Office website at www.nao.org.uk/TransferringCash-and-Assets-to-the-poor
Social protection floor for a fair and inclusive globalisation"Social Protection Floor for a Fair and Inclusive Globalization" was launched inGeneva on 8th November 2011. The report was prepared by the Advisory
Group, led by Ms Michelle Bachelet.’
The floor is based on the idea that everyone should enjoy at least basic income
security sufficient to live, guaranteed through transfers in cash or in kind, suchas pensions for older people and persons with disabilities, child benefits,
income support benefits and/or employment guarantees and services for theunemployed and working poor.
Together, in cash and in kind transfers should ensure that everyone has access to essential goods
and services, including essential health services, primary education, housing, water and sanitation.
This report, prepared under the guidance of Ms Michelle Bachelet and members of the Advisory
Group, shows that the extension of social protection, drawing on social protection floors, can play apivotal role in relieving people of poverty and deprivation. It can in addition help people adapt theirskills to overcome the constraints that block their full participation in a changing economic andGlobal Cooperation Newsletter

Page 1social environment, contributing to improved human capital development and stimulating greater
productive activity. The report shows how social protection has helped to stabilise aggregate
demand in times of crisis and to increase resilience against economic shocks, contributing toaccelerate recovery towards more inclusive and sustainable development paths.
Human Development Report 2011
The 2011 Human Development Report argues that the urgent global
challenges of sustainability and equity must be addressed together –and identifies policies on the national and global level that could spur
mutually reinforcing progress towards these interlinked goals. Bold
action is needed on both fronts, the Report contends, if the recent
human development progress for most of the world’s poor majority is
to be sustained, for the benefit of future generations as well as for
those living today. Past Reports have shown that living standards inmost countries have been rising - and converging - for several
decades now.
Yet the 2011 Report projects a disturbing reversal of those trends if environmental deteriorationand social inequalities continue to intensify, with the least developed countries diverging
downwards from global patterns of progress by 2050.
The Report shows further how the world’s most disadvantaged people suffer the most fromenvironmental degradation, including in their immediate personal environment, anddisproportionately lack political power, making it all the harder for the world community to reachagreement on needed global policy changes. The Report outlines great potential for positivesynergies in the quest for greater equality and sustainability, especially at the national level. TheReport emphasises the human right to a healthy environment, the importance of integrating social
equity into environmental policies, and the critical importance of public participation and officialaccountability. The 2011 Report concludes with a call for bold new approaches to global
development financing and environmental controls, arguing that these measures are both essentialand feasible. The 2011 Report is available for free downloading in 16 languages.
http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_2011_EN_Complete.pdf
The Global Agenda
Since 2010, delegates and members of the three internationalorganisations – ICSW, International Association of Schools of Social Work(IASSW) and International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) – haveresearched and globally consulted to produce a draft Global Agenda
document that seeks to address the social work and social development
challenges in our societies.
The complexities of an ever-changing landscape of widening andworsening social infrastructure have created a heightened need for global
collaboration to redress social inequities. Consequently, a worldwide
movement representing the entire spectre of social work practice, social
work education and social development work convened in November inGhana to continue building a new global Agenda. The three organisations
intend to submit the Agenda in March 2012 to the UN in New York.
Later in July the Agenda will also be presented at the Joint World Conference of the threeorganisations in Stockholm. (See www.adpgh.org and www.globalsocialagenda.org for furtherdetails).

Global Cooperation Newsletter

Page 2

Charles Abbey the Executive Director of African Development Programme and global Vice-Presidentof ICSW is hosting the meeting in Ghana and will lead the delegation to meet with the Minister andsenior officials at the ministry.
ICSW Europe board and the World Conference 2012
Led by Eva Holmberg-Herrström, President of ICSW Europe the European board discussed the Joint
World Conference, Stockholm July 2012. Conferences are a main pillar of ICSW – a major meeting
point for networking and exchanging of knowledge and experiences.
The board called on the European members and others to submit abstracts. The local programmecommittee has discussed at length how to engage practitioners and users to send in abstracts.
Traditionally these kinds of conferences are dominated by the researchers who are used to writing
proposals and abstracts. The programme committee thinks it is very important that practitioners
and users raise their voices and show their experiences and knowledge. It is important for ICSWthat we take the floor in this arena. Some of our members are preparing for the Stockholm
conference with pre-conferences in their own countries.
This conference is important for Sweden, for Europe and the world. It offers an opportunity to listen
to good speakers and for Europeans to network not too far from home countries and at reasonable
expense. It will be some time before another global ICSW Conference will be organised in Europe.
In order to make the conference a real arena for networking, the ICSW Global President ChristianRollet has asked “North” members to raise scholarships for one or more persons from the global
South or from former East Europe. Eva underlined and supported the request. Please contact Eva(eva.herrstrom@icsw.org) if you want to make a contribution.
Landmine use highest since 2004 despite record clearancesThis was the discouraging headline from the BBC on 23rd November 2011.
The Landmine Monitor Report 2011 stated that more countries deployed anti-personnel mines lastyear than in any year since 2004. This is despite record areas of land being cleared of landmines.
The Landmine Monitor was created in 1998 by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. Its
latest report says funding to clear mines, and to help victims of them, reached an all-time high of
USD 637m (£407m) in 2010. "In these tough times government are showing their strong
commitment to ridding the world of landmines by continuing to fund efforts to clear mines andassist survivors," said Jacqueline Hansen, programme manager for Landmine Monitor.
Eighty per cent of the world's countries (158 nations) have signed the Ottawa Treaty to ban mines,
with several more countries preparing to join.
The Monitor identified 12 producers of antipersonnel mines (the same number as reported in2010): China, Cuba, India, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Singapore, South Korea,
the United States (US), and Vietnam.
Loren Persi-Vicentic from Landmine Monitor said the number of people living with landmine injuries
was increasing every year. "Only 9% of mine action funding is dedicated to assisting this growing
population of survivors, who requires assistance for the rest of their lives," he said.
The Global Landmine Overview 2010–2011 can be downloaded at
http://www.the-monitor.org/index.php/publications/display?url=lm/2011/
G20 - Wrong international forum for development
A study by Barry Herman, Graduate Program in International Affairs, The New School, 1 Nov. 2011
In September 2011, the “Development Working Group” of the Group of 20 met in Paris and sought
to finalise its proposals for policies that the leaders of the 20 would be likely adopt at their summit
meeting in November in France. Had the countries in the Group forged development-oriented
compromises to end the stalemates in the main global trade, financial and environmental forums,
they might have made a more convincing case for appointing themselves the leaders of global
economic policy making. They have not, but have nevertheless begun directing the international

Global Cooperation Newsletter

Page 3

institutions to follow the G20’s own development agenda. This note is offered to help understandthe actions the Group is taking, which are quite detailed, but receive little public discussion.
Editor’s note: I received an email from Barry Herman which alerted me to the website for Social
Justice in Global Development. I must admit to not knowing of this organisation which started in2010 in Germany. It is worth a look at their website. http://www.socdevjustice.org/
World of work report 2011: Making markets work for jobs
The World of Work Report is published annually by the International Institute for Labour Studies the research arm of the ILO – the 2011 edition of shows that it will not be possible to recoversuccessfully from the Great Recession unless social inequalities are addressed through welldesigned policies. Growing youth unemployment, income inequalities made worse as a result ofrising food and oil prices, and other social inequities undermine support for pro-growth policies.
They also entail a risk of social unrest which has started to materialise in the Arab region, some
Asian countries and the Euro area. And they deprive the world economy from the kind of income
growththatisneededinordertoensuresustainableeconomicrecovery.
The report presents two scenarios for the next five years: under business-as-usual, the world
economy will remain unstable, undermining employment prospects; by contrast, a strategy which
addresses social inequalities adequately will support employment and sustain economic growth.
Such a strategy is complex and faces implementation hurdles as some groups resist change; thereport shows, however, that it can be achieved.
Reference: 978-92-9014-974-3[ISBN] Authors: International Institute for Labour Studies Format
available: A4 xviii+140 pp. Prices: CHF 50; USD 50; GBP 30; EUR 35 Support medium: Paperback
Downloadforfreeat
http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/--publ/documents/publication/wcms_166021.pdf
International Training Centre Programme 2012
The International Training Centre (ITC) is the training arm of the International Labour Organisation(ILO), a UN agency entrusted with promoting social justice, including internationally recognised
human rights and labour standards.
The ITC provides training in subjects that further the ILO's pursuit of decent work for all. Five
regional teams ensure that ITC training for the world is relevant and appropriate to local needs,
aspirations and conditions.
The Centre is more than a training institute. The campus in Turin, Italy is a meeting place where
professionals from all over the world share experience. Here, they transcend national frontiers andcapitalise on cultural diversity to develop an in-depth view of the world of work. This is also true ofthe ITC’s distance learning virtual campus networks. The training catalogue can be downloaded:
http://www.itcilo.org (English, French, Portuguese and Spanish)
The content of this Global Newsletter may be freely reproduced or cited provided the source isacknowledged. Views do not necessarily represent policies of ICSW.
Newsletter Editor: Denys Correll, Executive Director
ICSW, Plot 4, Berkeley Lane, Off Lugard Avenue,Entebbe, Uganda
Phone: +256 414 32 11 50
Website www.icsw.org Email: icsw@icsw.org
If you wish to cease receiving this newsletter, please click 'here' providing your name and email
address

Global Cooperation Newsletter

Page 4