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Can Germany’s plans capitalize on the momentum of the launch to create a paradigm shift in cooperation between African countries and the world?

The SDGs have brought a surge of hope that is being translated into policies and procedures for ‘doing’, it is important that this hope does not disappear in the practices of politics and administration or post-development critiques.

Cross-sector partnerships between public authorities, private businesses and civil society organizations are increasingly becoming a key approach for stimulating sustainable development. However, working together with such diverse partners is not...

As one of the emerging BRICS economies, India’s high economic growth is related to its foreign activity, including in Africa. Yet, despite its high domestic poverty and being a recipient of development aid itself, India also provides aid to Bhutan...

Does the international community know how to support Malian change makers for judicial reform? Does their internal programming logic allow for this?

Enhancing the universal relevance of SDGs

Although 90% of businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa’s markets are small and medium enterprises (SMEs), they do not play a significant role in current GDP growth. However, SMEs can lead a much-needed economic diversification, explore new sectors and b...

When it comes to enterprise support, there is a discrepancy between the frameworks offered by NGOs and how people in the communities want to operate. 

A difficult choice looms in the post-2015 debate between accepting a progressive but imperfect starting point for intergovernmental negotiations, and risking losing all the gains made so far.

In July 2014, the UN Open Working Group on Sustainable Development proposed a universal set of post-2015 goals and targets to succeed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The draft consists of 17 ambitious goals for social, economic and enviro...

How to really achieve development’s latest buzzword.

The long wait is over. During the 13th and final session of the Open Working Group (OWG) on sustainable development goals (SDGs), held from 14 to 19 July, the 69 member countries agreed on a set of 17 SDGs and 169 associated targets. These should...

Now that the work of the Open Working Group (OWG) on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is coming to an end, the question of finance casts a dark shadow over the final round of negotiations. Last week, the Group of 77 (G77) and China present...

The African Studies Centre (ASC), the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC), the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS/EUR) and globalization think tank The Broker are excited to announce that they will be hosting the Secretariat fo...

Global efforts to counter tax avoidance by multinational companies call for a rethink of policies on the taxation of aid workers and development projects.

In October, several events will be hosted concerning the post-2015 process. A selection of key events is presented in the table below. The Broker will update you on some of the most relevant events.For a more detailed overview of all events, plea...

A tribute to Loretta Schaeffer and the ASTAE team and the local stakeholders who pioneered new ways of commercially generating and delivering electricity services to people.

2014 will be an important milestone year for adapting the policy field of development cooperation to a post-2015 context.

Now that the eighth and final stocktaking session of the Open Working Group (OWG) on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has taken place, the more ‘friendly’ phase of the post-2015 process seems to have come to an end. The OWG member states’ over...

The creation of more decent jobs should be central to economic policies. The prevailing assumption that GDP growth alone will generate more decent work is not valid. And it obstructs the creation of a society in which labour serves and dignifies b...

Should we invest in understanding and managing threats and opportunities beforehand or simply respond to shocks resulting from unmanaged risks afterwards? To me, and luckily many others working in development, this is a rhetorical question. 

After far-reaching cutbacks and a major shift in the mandate in favour of the Netherlands’ economic interests, Dutch development aid seems to be on its last legs. The relief troops have lost their way and are unable to mount a forceful counter-att...

Both multinationals and social entrepreneurs develop products and services for and with the base of the pyramid (BoP) to serve the demands of these poor communities. Many see social entrepreneurs as the solution to implementing more effective and...

Donors are estimated to receive a return from development aid of 50–80%. To understand the financial effects of aid on donor countries, we need a new economic model.

Imagine the world was a cooperation: what business model would serve us best to achieve sustainable development? 

As a ‘post-Busan’ donor, Spain could act as a strategic channel, providing know-how for collaboration with MICs in development.

In any situation, there is a chance you might lose and a chance you might win. We start a new blog on management of risks, within and beyond development cooperation.

Criticism of East Asia’s alleged self-interest-led development aid can also be applied to Western donors.

Will the BRICS Development Bank’s constructive capacities overcome its destructive ones? The world is watching.

The Broker, together with the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM), and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, organized the Dutch launch of the 2013 European Report on Development (ERD), Post-2015: Global Action for an Inclus...

As a result of increasing complexity and absence of strong leadership it has become difficult for policy makers to ensure accountability in the aid chain. This has resulted in the popularization of Results Based Management (RBM). Instigated by the...

Norway’s recent international cooperation white paper, Sharing for Prosperity, seems stubbornly non-conformist. For it recommits Norway to some fundamental, if today unfashionable, purposes: for low-income lands, pursuit of growth-with-r...

Halving extreme poverty and hunger is the aim of Millennium Development Goal one. Although this goal is in reach, feeding a growing world population with good quality food remains a major challenge. Especially if you take into account climate chan...

Mining companies can contribute to the development of rural communities by encouraging and supporting local farmers to develop more productive activities, beyond their subsistence activities.

In 2010 Wikileaks published several US embassy cables on China’s increasing involvement in Africa. The documents demonstrate the popularity of China’s focus on infrastructure as well as its ‘no strings attached’ approach. In light of the current d...

The important role and value of groundwater calls for global sustainable groundwater management.

The monopoly of ideas produced by the West is over, South South cooperation is thriving. Power relations are shifting. It challenges everyones perspectives development and international cooperation, both in The West as in East and South.

Water is a public good, not a commodity. The ultimate goal after 2015 for water and sanitation is making it accessible to all citizens. 

Land grab is rarely challenged through a food security and food sovereignty perspective in research and policy elaboration, in spite of its multifarious impact on both of such key dimensions of human livelihood. 

This consultation on food security should shed light on who are the key and new actors in the global food security debate and how can they be better included? Does existing knowledge exchange increase innovative capacity?  

I recently chaired a forum that discussed whether a new paradigm has emerged in the field of development cooperation, and if so, what does it consist of? A great deal of time at these kinds of debates is spent exploring definitions and their usefu...

In November 2011, Action for Global Health participated in the Busan Aid Effectiveness Civil Society Forum and the High Level Forum together with health advocates from the Busan Health Working group convened by the network. Our goal in the run up...

As many of those gathered here in Busan, I feel very excited about the chance we have to collectively shape the way in which development is practiced.

Twintig jaar geleden gooide minister Jan Pronk de knuppel in het academische hoenderhok toen hij zei: “Ik ga het hele onderzoeksbeleid behoorlijk veranderen."

We’ll start with a close-up of a woman on her knees. She seems to be scrubbing some tiles. We track back and see that in fact she’s scrubbing the tyre tracks off a forecourt.

Donors keeping their promises is the key to good aid effectiveness. The Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan needs to respond to donors who fail to implement aid effectiveness principles.

De brief van de Staatssecretaris van Buitenlandse Zaken over kennisbeleid valt in vijf secties uiteen. Zo is ook het commentaar ingedeeld.

What should the European Union, the world’s biggest aid donor, aim to achieve at Busan?

Even skeptics admit it: effective aid works. In the last 25 years, the share of poor people in developing countries has been cut by half, and the last decade has witnessed impressive development successes in countries once thought beyond help.

In the run-up to HLF4 there is debate over whether the principle of aid transparency should apply to South-South cooperation. Against this backdrop, it’s important to be clear what it would mean for South-South cooperation providers like China, Br...

De lang verwachte kennisbrief van staatssecretaris Knapen is vooral een voorzichtige brief. En dat is tegennatuurlijk: de brief is aangekondigd als een nadere uitwerking van de focusbrief, waarin heldere keuzen worden gemaakt voor landen en thema’...

According to the State Secretary’s letter, the chief reason for introducing his new measures is to improve the quality of policy through better knowledge and its management, including quality control (‘bewaking van de wetenschappelijke kwaliteit’)...

Op 21 september 2024 bespraken experts tijdens een consultatiebijeenkomst het nieuwe kennisbeleid op het ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken. Lees hier het verslag van de middagsessie.

Op 21 september 2024 organiseerde het ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken een consultatiebijeenkomst over het nieuwe kennisbeleid. Lees hier het verslag van de ochtendsessie.

Imagine this: you are working in your office and the boss comes in with a stranger, someone who is obviously not from your country or culture and says “This is Some Unusual Name. He (or she) is going to teach you how to do your job. Make sure you...

Since the first of January 2010, the water services of Paris have been provided by a single public operator, Eau de Paris. The old public-private company has been transformed into a public body, whose mission is to produce, transport, distribute a...

Op 14 november 2024 stuurde Staatssecretaris Ben Knapen de kennisbrief naar de Tweede Kamer. Het nieuwe kennisbeleid zich zal concentreren op vijf kennisplatforms. Lees hieronder de gehele brief of via deze link.

Talk is cheap. Results are what matter. That is the apparent consensus ahead of next month’s aid effectiveness summit in Busan, whose organizers promise “a clear focus on development results,” while sceptics worry about a lot of rhetoric and littl...

Are we overlooking the capacity of local NGOs? Jennifer Lentfer of how-matters.org argues that rather than being the lowest common denominator of international assistance, local indigenous organizations should be regarded as the fundamental unit o...

The challenges of the coming HLF4 in Busan are increasingly discussed in various media. See here for a selection of leading views and opinions. 

I do not consider myself to be an expert on development assistance, but perhaps I am something of an expert on international security.The current Dutch government, consisting as it does of a centre-right coalition supported by Geert Wilders’ anti-...

The Transnational Institute recently held a debate about the future of Dutch development cooperation. Opinions amongst political parties vary depending on their political orientation but no one seems to be asking the countries in the South about t...

“The supply of knowledge and the demand for knowledge often do not match because the worlds of the fact searching expert and the power struggling decision maker are too far apart. A new specialist, the knowledge broker, is needed to bridge the ga...

He brought us back to earth with a bump. At the General Conference of the European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI) in June, reported on in this issue of The Broker, Oswaldo de Rivero boldly stated that ‘economic...

Europe has to play a specific role in the world. In some areas it is a pioneer in terms of managing globalization challenges: managing crossborder problems, pooling sovereignties of different nations, creating law-based relationships between state...