Global

Taken from Dan Smith’s blog, which can be found at www.dansmithsblog.com

Mid August to Mid September 2009

As part of our partnership with radio station Passion for the Planet you can listen to the following interviews this month:

Could overseas aid be doing more harm than good?

We might have accepted climate change as a given, but what do the rest of the world really think?

Taken from Dan Smith’s blog, which can be found at www.dansmithsblog.com

It can be safely predicted that ideas and the terms of discussion about international development will change fundamentally in the coming five years.  A major policy statement from the UK Department for International Development (DFID) marks an important milestone on this road, though it’s a long way from being the endpoint. In this very long post, I explore the White Paper and a way of taking DFID’s logic forward.

Mid September to mid October 2009

As part of our partnership with radio station Passion for the Planet this month you can listen to the following interviews:

Why is it that some large western corporations have a negative effect on peace and yet others can be at the very heart of peacebuilding?
Are children the hidden victims of a conflict – their plight forgotten while the adults fight and then their needs ignored once peace returns?

International Alert was recently invited to speak at the GLOBECRAFT Conflict and Climate Change Symposium hosted by the Geneva School of Diplomacy on 7 – 9 September 2009. The symposium brought together experts from the security, climate change, development and humanitarian relief sectors to discuss the emerging security implications of climate change. Participants ranged from high-level climate scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, directors and advisors of relevant UN bodies and NGOs, to government ministers and CEOs of climate-related corporations.

These are extraordinary times for those who work in overseas development. We are living through a recession of historic proportions, and yet thus far there are few overt calls for a reduction in overseas development aid. The main questions for the 2010 election will be about public spending: where to make cuts, and how deep should they be? In the past, faced with similar pressures, there would have loud and widely voiced calls for a retrenchment of overseas development assistance (ODA), and a refocusing of government priorities on issues closer to home.

International Alert recently organised and hosted a roundtable discussion in Brussels on “Socio-Economic Reintegration of Ex-combatants – What Role for the European Union?”. The roundtable brought together experts, practitioners and policymakers for a lively and productive discussion about the issues and problems that arise when working towards the socio-economic reintegration of ex-combatants into post-conflict societies and communities.

International Alert’s Training and Learning Team recently held a four-day training course on Conflict Sensitivity for Development and Humanitarian Organisations, aimed at helping such organisations to include the “conflict” dimension into their work.

The Conservative Party is set fair to win next year’s UK general election. What will happen to development policy?

As part of our partnership with radio station Passion for the Planet this month you can listen to the following interviews:

Can reconciliation after conflict really work? Hear about a boy from Liberia who became friends with his father's killer and a ground-breaking peace and cultural festival that took place in the country.

Plus, when it comes to negotiating peace, why a woman's touch often succeeds where men fail, and why some local chiefs are deferring to the women of the tribe?

International Alert recently hosted a roundtable on Climate Change, Conflict and Effective Responses bringing together people from a range of think-tanks, NGOs and government departments to start a discussion on the complexities of responding to climate change in fragile and conflict-affected contexts.

From Dan Smith’s blog, which can be found at www.dansmithsblog.com.

While thousands of negotiators, activists, diplomats, scientists, politicians and journalists meet in Copenhagen for the climate summit – formally said, the 15th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – the question has been raised whether we should want them to succeed or fail. Which, of course, begs the next question: what is success at Copenhagen?

Thousands of negotiators, activists and lobbyists have descended on Copenhagen for two weeks to discuss a global deal on climate change. The high profile issues are about reducing carbon emissions and how much money the developed countries, who have the main responsibility for global warming, will put on the negotiating table to help people in poorer countries cope with the consequences. But these are not the only important issues.

This practice note offers options for economic development planners and practitioners for promoting accountable and conflict-sensitive governance of natural resource wealth. The presence of significant natural resource endowments has been documented as contributing to the outbreak of conflict as different parties compete for control over resource-rich territory, fuelling conflict through revenues generated by extractive resources, and undermining peace processes as powerful individuals or groups refuse to give up what they regard as their fair share of the spoils.

Practice note

This practice note explains what economic development planners and practitioners can do to support the socioeconomic reintegration of former combatants. It will assist you in your efforts to mobilise economic actors to play a constructive role in reintegration processes.

Practice note 4