How do you see development? How to portrait the human face of development processes? How development initiates and programmes improve the lives of people?


Development is often portrayed by images of desolation and despair despite the uncountable number of initiatives, programmes, ideas and partnerships that are changing the lives of millions of people in our developing and transition world. In order to raise awareness of the successes in the development process and share innovative and successful actions, the International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG) in collaboration with many partners launches the Global Photography Campaign on "Humanizing Development"

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The recent economic downturn has led to several voices round the world questioning the merits and effectiveness of capitalism as an economic system to promote the general welfare of human society.

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The link between human activity and climate change is established. There is uncertainty as to how exactly the physical processes that mediate between greenhouse gases emissions and changes to our planet's climate will unfold, but these processes are not easy to reverse, and may even be irreversible. Catastrophic effects are possible in the long-run and the more we wait the greater the risks.

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In every economic crisis, it is the poor that suffer the most. Whether it is individuals or countries, they are the most vulnerable and lack the savings and the institutions to support them during difficult times. In past crises, we have focused too late on adverse effects on poor people. Can we do it differently this time

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I recently came across a post by Nancy Birdsall on a new instrument promoted by the Center for Global Development, called 'Cash on Delivery' aid. In a way (Nancy, whose Center is a partner of ID4D, might wish to correct me if I am wrong, or complete if need be) it is conceptually close to 'output-based aid', except that governments rather than non-governmental actors are in charge of delivering the output, and that aid comes as a form of reward upon delivery rather than a direct payment of the costs incurred. 

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My colleagues are finalizing the preparations for a two-day brainstorming session on the future of European aid. It is a good occasion to open the floor to its participants (and beyond: as always anyone should feel free to join in!) to reflect on the way Europeans envisage their development policy: what is it for? How should we go about it? Here are a few initial thoughts.Europe is a giant of development assistance. Combining funds from member states and the Community, EU aid totaled 46 billion Euros in 2007, making it by far the largest contributor to this global endeavor. This amount equates to 93 Euros per capita, compared to 53 and 44 Euros per capita donated by the United States and Japan, respectively.

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My apologies for not writing for nearly a year. I foresaw in my last two blogs that we were entering an intensive busy period in the WTO negotiations. The talks did indeed keep me busy this year, not least before, during and after the meetings in July that were so close to a breakthrough. What none of us foresaw was all the other issues that would come up during the year, culminating in the global financial crisis.

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During the past two months we have seen Governments commit more than USD 3000 billion towards stabilizing financial markets. A further USD 2000 billion have already been announced for economic stimulus packages. Never in the history of humankind has so much money been allocated with so little preparation and strategic analyses

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The debate was initiated at the European Development Days 2008 in Strasbourg and the discussion continues. Rendez-vous in Stockholm for the 2009's edition, and until then "To your keyboards"!

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Oil prices have gone down in recent weeks from the peak reached in mid-summer, but they are still much higher than at the beginning of the decade. With high oil and coal prices, there are stronger incentives to use less fossil fuels. Alternative energies become financially more attractive. These developments can bring about reductions in greenhouse emissions and contribute to mitigate climate change. But it all can go away if the price of oil comes down substantially. So we could seize the opportunity of high oil and coal prices to lock-in these incentive effects on climate change mitigation. This could be achieved by introducing an internationally harmonized floor to the user cost of emitting carbon by using oil and coal. To implement this floor, a variable carbon levy could be enacted by a group of participating countries. The levy would kick in if and when the price of oil and coal were to fall below a pre-agreed threshold. No additional costs would be imposed on anyone above those already being paid now. And this would create certainty to guide consumers and investors in their behavior and resource allocations towards less greenhouse gases emitting activities

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