GLOBAL COOPERATION NEWSLETTER
December 2009
In this edition
Members of Parliament assess the economic crisis
More from the UN on the economic crisis
New from UNRISD
New from OECD
What Will Happen to British Development Policy if the Tories Win the UK election?
World Bank Annual Review of Development Effectiveness
IFSW Scholarship for the Hong Kong Joint World Conference June 2010
Nairobi Call to Action
ICSW Volunteers and Staff wish you, our readers, seasons greetings and all thevery best for 2010 in your work to relieve poverty in this world.
Members of Parliament assess the economic crisis

The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) brought together 160 members of parliament (MPs) at the UNin November. They reviewed the impact of the global response to the economic crisis following
decisions taken in the past few months by the G20, the United Nations and the Bretton Woods
institutions. The event, the Parliamentary Hearing, is a joint UN-IPU endeavour, designed to provide
MPs with a unique opportunity to interact with high-level UN officials.
The MPs found the response measures taken thus far are mostly positive. But there remained
several areas of concern both in terms of equity and of long-term impact. The global economic
outlook remains uncertain and many imbalances and regulatory gaps will need to be corrected inorder for governments to continue their difficult climb out of recession. The crisis should generate
re-thinking of fundamentals, such as the way well-being and development are measured. The
suggestion is to consider more holistic approaches that take into account the environment and thesocial dimension of economic life.
The most prominent of the MPs concerns was the need to target the stimulus packages at thepoorest and most vulnerable. National responses need to be better negotiated in a tripartite fashion(government, employees and the private sector). They must aim to strengthen safety nets both as away of mitigating the effects of the crisis and preventing new crises.
Participants noted that there are several long-standing commitments by developed countries, suchas the elimination of duties and quotas on imports from least developed countries. If thesecommitments were met they could provide more economic stimulus than concessional loans. Several
developing countries will, in fact, face a new debt crisis unless an international debt alleviation
mechanism is set up as a matter of urgency.
ICSW Vice President Charles Abbey both moderated a session and spoke on behalf of ICSW. CharlesAbbey compared the 1997 Asian financial crisis with the current global financial and economic crisis.
The crises did not have similar causes and points of origin. Regardless, the social impact of thecrises is the same.

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Charles Abbey went on to say “The UN statesthat 100 million people have fallen into povertyor have failed to escape poverty because of thiscrisis. The International Labour Organisation(ILO) expects the unemployment rate toincrease by 0.6 per cent this year (2009).
According to the ILO, the number of
unemployed people in the Asian region could
increase by 23 million increasing those in
extreme poverty to a staggering 140 million.”“Reports are showing that, because of income shocks, poor households are withdrawing theirchildren - often girls - from school so that they can add to the household income by working in theinformal labour market. This, as we all know, will just perpetuate the intergenerational transmissionof poverty and reduce future income during adulthood.”“The crisis is worsening income distribution. High income groups can withstand shocks by drawing
down savings or by using banking facilities. Low-income groups often lack savings or access tofinancial services in order to improve their income.”“The crisis is disproportionately affecting the poor and those workers whose rights are least
protected and those who have weak coping mechanisms in the first place.”
Charles Abbey concluded, “This is aglobal problem and we need global andlocal solutions for the localised
problems millions are experiencing. At
the global level, donor governments,
many of whose countries from whence
this current crisis originated shouldhave more reasons now to keep totheir commitments to assist developing
countries in the South.”At the national and local levels, especially in the south, governments must take this crisis as yet
another opportunity to put in place comprehensive social protection systems for its people because itis the moral and economically right thing to do.”(Charles Abbey’s full paper is on the ICSW web site - http://www.icsw.org/publication/pp.htm)
A great deal of attention was paid to the question of reforming the Bretton Woods institutions andtheir stewardship of the global economy
While acknowledging that important steps had been taken towards greater accountability andtransparency, such as the World Bank’s new disclosure policy, it was far from clear that thecommitment to increase the quotas of developing countries by a few percentage points (3% at theBank, and 5% at the IMF) would be sufficient to make decision-making at these institutions moreattuned to the needs of their "clients".
Papers presented at the Parliamentary Hearing can be found at http://www.ipu.org/splze/unga09.htm

More from the UN on the economic crisis
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The World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations University (UNU-WIDER) has produced two papers on the global economic crisis.
Policy Responses to the Global Economic Crisis in Africa
Africa is the developing region most at risk from the global economic crisis. Its recent strong growthhas been interrupted. Already home to the largest number of low-income countries in the world, theregion is now likely to experience higher unemployment and poverty; increases in infant mortality;and difficulty coping with longer-lasting effects such as higher school drop-out rates, reductions inhealth care, environmental degradation and a rise in conflict. Africa therefore needs to recover as
quickly as possible. In this policy brief UNU-WIDER draws on a number of recent studies to discuss
the policy options for recovery.
The Global Economic Crisis: New Paradigm for Economic Recovery
One year into the global economic crisis, it has become clear that the paradigm for international
development has changed irrevocably. With leadership, moral authority and the capacity of the Westin international development diminishing, developing countries’ recovery and future growth will
critically hinge on their own initiatives, solutions and leadership. This policy brief summarizes theglobal responses to the crisis over the past year, points to their shortcomings and argues that a newparadigm for recovery in developing countries is emerging

New from UNRISD
Annual Report 2008: The UN Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) Annual Report
2008 - Progress Report by the Director. This report presents the Institute's work from January
through December 2008, including its conference, research, advisory, publication and dissemination
activities.
http://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BF3C2/setLanguageCookie?OpenAgent&langcode=en&url=/802
56B3C005BF3C2/search/ED4D7C19479E1A71C125767100510B2D?OpenDocument
UNRISD on the Global Economic Crisis The (UNRISD) has released a series of podcasts featuring
extracts from the UNRISD Conference on the “Social and Political Dimensions of the Global Crisis:
Implications for Developing Countries”
There are five podcasts. The first podcast examines the impact of the crisis on the livelihoods ofthose in developing countries and looks at the coping strategies employed by people affected by thecrisis in the developing world. The second podcast considers the social policy changes that havebeen employed at the country and regional level as a result of the crisis. The third podcast studies
the social policy changes that have been employed at the global level as a result of the crisis. This
relatively longer podcast features in full the three presentations that were given on this subject atthe conference. The fourth examines the political dimensions of the global crisis and the fifth
presents reflections on the future. It considers what will happen following the present global crisis
and includes the views of three experts whom have been asked the question: Where are we going tobe in ten years time?
http://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BF3C2/setLanguageCookie?OpenAgent&langcode=en&url=/802
56B3C005BE6B5/search/B6CC0CB09F0E2E43C1257678003AA52C?OpenDocument
New Book: The United Nations and Civil Society: Legitimating Global Governance - Whose
Voice? This book pays particular attention to food and agriculture, which now lie at the heart ofglobal governance issues. McKeon shows that politically meaningful space for civil society can be
introduced into UN policy dialogue.
http://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BF3C2/setLanguageCookie?OpenAgent&langcode=en&url=/802
56B3C005BE6B5/search/D24858D7F40B9CD6C125762C002CD3D8?OpenDocument
UNRISD Podcast: The United Nations and Civil Society: Legitimating Global Governance –Whose Voice?
In this episode the author Nora McKeon talks about her book on “The United Nations and Civil
Society: Legitimating Global Governance – Whose Voice?”
http://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BF3C2/setLanguageCookie?OpenAgent&langcode=en&url=/802
56B3C005BE6B5/search/4FA5CD6732157BA2C125762C0047842A?OpenDocument&category=Podca
st+Transcript

New from OECD
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Adema, W. and M. Ladaique (2009), "How Expensive is the Welfare State? - Gross and Net
Indicators in the OECD Social Expenditure Database (SOCX)", OECD Social, Employment andMigration Working Papers, No. 92, OECD Publishing, © OECD.
http://www.oecd.org/document/9/0,3343,en_2649_34637_38141385_1_1_1_37419,00.html

What Will Happen to British Development Policy if the Tories Win the UK election?

http://blogs.cgdev.org/globaldevelopment/ (with thanks and acknowledgement to the Centre for
Global Development)
The Centre for Global Development hosted a speech by Andrew Mitchell the Shadow Secretary ofState for International Development in early December. Mr. Mitchell is likely to be responsible for
DfID if the Conservative Party wins next year’s election. Mr. Mitchell based his comments on theParty’s green paper http://www.conservatives.com/~/media/Files/Green%20Papers/Aid-PolicyPaper.ashx?dl=true

Some of the key points made by Mr. Mitchell were: Development
policy is now mainstream and bipartisan in Britain; The
Conservative Party intends to keep the aid budget high, including
the target of reaching 0.7% of national income by 2013;
Democracy is likely to be more prominent; Britain will experiment
more with aid innovations. As the report states, “All of thissuggests that Britain, no matter who wins the next elections, isnot about to discard its role as a leading edge in development
thinking.”

World Bank Annual Review of Development EffectivenessThe independent Evaluation Group of the World Bank has just released its annual flagshippublication -- the Annual Review of Development Effectiveness -- for 2009. This presents
findings on the outcomes of Bank projects and country programs and the evolution of monitoringand evaluation (M&E). It also examines the Bank's support for environmentally sustainable
development compatible with economic growth and poverty reduction.

IFSW Scholarship for the Hong Kong Joint World Conference June 2010

The International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) invites applications for this prestigious award
from younger social workers or social work students who have a demonstrated interest ininternational social work. The winner will be funded to attend the 2010 Joint World Conference inHong Kong. For full information go to http://www.ifsw.org/p38001972.html For the conference
http://www.swsd2010.org

Nairobi Call to Action

In the last issue of Global Cooperation I reported on the 7th Global Conference on Health Promotion.
The Nairobi Call for Action is now available at http://gchp7.info/nc2ace.pdf.
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 C/- MOVISIE Netherlands Centre for Social Development
PO Box 19129
3501 DC Utrecht
Netherlands
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