This Briefing Paper outlines the fundamental issues that will determine whether or not the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) can be achieved. The paper argues that such issues as gender inequity, the situation of fragile states, the humanitarian-development divide, and economic growth may not be present in every MDG, but will influence progress on every one of the goals. The lack of progress on the MDG targets for sanitation and maternal mortality, for example, may be rooted in gender discrimination and policy failings that are not fully addressed by the MDGs themselves. The Paper calls on all actors to work with, rather than against, the grain of southern realities, in efforts to achieve the MDGs.

Gender inequality causes and perpetuates poverty and vulnerability. But greater gender equality can help to reduce the root causes of poverty and vulnerability and contribute to sustainable pro-poor growth. Given that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) address key development challenges, one would expect a gender focus throughout the Goals. The fact is that experiences of poverty differ according to sex, age, ethnicity  and location. However, gender is only explicit in MDGs 3 and 5. MDG3 measures gender parity in education; the share of women in wage employment; and the proportion of seats held by women in national legislatures. MDG5 focuses on maternal mortality and, since 2005, on universal access to reproductive health. This explicit inclusion in just two MDGs is too narrow, and sidelines other gender-specific risks and vulnerabilities, roles and responsibilities, and power relations. It is unlikely to lead to gender equality and the empowerment of girls and women, or tackle the development challenges that must be overcome for sustainable poverty reduction. These limitations are compounded by the gender-blindness of other MDG indicators, and the fact that the gender dynamics that cut across the goals are relatively invisible in policy dialogues. This Briefing Paper discusses how gender relations underpin four clusters of Goals: those on poverty and sustainable development; service access; care and care-giving; and voice and agency. It looks at ways to promote an interlinked gender-sensitive approach to the MDG achievement.

This Briefing Paper discusses the implications of the stalled Doha trade talks for African countries, reviewing the reasons for the collapse of the talks, what was on the table, and the lack of a single African vision of what a good deal would look like.

Katharina Welle asks whether the water sector is lagging behind education and health on Aid Effectiveness (AE). ODI research in Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Uganda suggests that national governance issues may be more important for AE than sector characteristics alone.

This Briefing Paper by David Booth examines aid effectiveness and the impact of the Paris Principles in the run-up to the Third High Level Forum, in  Accra in September 2008. Drawing on research commissioned by ABIA, it concludes that political change in aid recipient countries is more important than anyone is admitting and that donor alignment efforts are compromised by a damaging mix of risk-avoidance and political correctness. It argues that both donors and country authorities should assume greater responsibility for their own incentive structures.

Soaring food prices pose problems for three groups. First, the poor whose ability to buy food is undermined. Second, governments of low-income countries facing higher import bills, soaring costs for safety net programmes and political unrest. Third, aid agencies juggling increased demands for food, cash and technical advice. High food prices threaten the gains made since the 1960s and highlight the long-term need for investment in, and better management of, the global food supply. This Paper examines the causes of rising food prices, expected trends, the likely impact, and possible policy responses. It calls for immediate action to alleviate the distress caused by the price spikes, such as transfers to the poor or general food subsidies. Resources are needed to support WFP and compensate poor countries for higher import bills. In the medium term, growth can boost incomes to compensate for high food prices, but the right policies are needed to help farmers produce more food.

This paper evaluates the gender dimensions of poverty and trade in Latin America. In particular, it notes that changes in employment, prices and social expenditures are three pathways linking trade and gender. Also, trade liberalisation may have positive or negative impacts, but there are risks for women. Therefore it argues that trade reforms must be complemented by social and labour policies to ensure that women can take full advantage of the new economic environment.

In the continuing effort to provide more effective aid, donors have committed themselves to making greater use of country systems and harmonising the way aid is delivered. Donor agencies that agreed to the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness in 2005 are free to choose the modality with which they deliver aid to the government sector, as long as they move progressively towards modalities that use country systems in full. Budget support and debt relief are the modalities that best meet these criteria.

This paper focuses on the political economy challenges to making growth policies pro-poor. It explores: the importance of governance, institutions, the developmental state and corruption in setting the conditions within which pro-poor growth becomes possible (or not); the role of power sharing and downwards accountability in pro-poor policy formulation and implementation; key challenges in policy formation and implementation; and implications for donor and government action.

This briefing paper discusses policies and programmes to strengthen the productive capacities of poor people, arguing that reducing poverty depends, to a large extent, on reducing rural poverty. Evidence suggests that increases in agricultural productivity are closely related to poverty reduction. However, whether or not poor rural people can access markets and services to identify and grasp opportunities greatly depends on the availability and quality of infrastructure and on the institutional environment.

This Briefing Paper provides an introduction to pro-poor growth. It reviews the concepts of growth, poverty reduction, inequality, and democracy and accountability in the pro-poor growth context. It also discusses the policy implications of a pro-poor growth approach and tools that can be used to direct such strategies.

Developing countries are heavily affected by global biofuels policies, both as potential producers (for their own use or export) and as consumers (of crops displaced by biofuels and of energy). Because Europe is a major producer of biofuels, with an estimated 10% share of world bioethanol, its policies can have a significant effect on them. Current EU policy is to promote the use of biofuels and other renewable fuels for transport. But schemes for biofuels will not automatically mitigate climate change, since production also adds to greenhouse gases. If the production of biofuel crops requires heavy use of nitrogen fertilisers or if forests are felled to grow biofuel crops, the net effect could be negative. Similarly, the net effect on any producing country will depend on whether biofuels displace other crops (and which ones) or damage the local environment (ODI, 2007). Even when the net impact is positive there will be distributional effects favouring some producers over consumers (and possibly producers of displaced crops).  

Despite this inherent uncertainty, we identify changes to EU policy that would not only foster development, but help to cut greenhouse gas emissions. These could be incorporated into the initiatives on renewable energy sources that the Commission will be launching in 2008.

This briefing paper presents emerging findings and policy recommendations from a recent multi-donor evaluation of voice and accountability policies and interventions. It Furthermore, donors’ interventions are not sufficiently tailored to the local political and socio-economic context.

This Briefing Paper provides a snapshot of multinational corporations' programmes that focus on AIDS outside the workplace. It explores the 'business case' for the MNC response to the epidemic and highlights some of the debates about the role of businesses in a national response. While the Briefing Paper is focused on South Africa, it offers lessons that may be appropriate for businesses responding to AIDS in other countries.

This paper assesses WaterAid’s work in mapping water supply and sanitation delivery to the poor, finding that mapping can both improve the planning and delivery of services, and increase the public accountability of service delivery.

Agricultural productivity can be supported by well-designed social protection programmes

 

   * In relation to the productive sectors, social protection can enhance resilience in the face of threats, limit disinvestment, and, by reducing perceptions of high risk, promote investment by the poor.

   * Though some of the links between social protection and growth are specific to the agricultural sector, others are more generic.

   * Agriculture can be more socially protecting, and social protection more sensitive to impacts on production, if ministries of finance can leverage joined-up thinking and action.

 New thinking on rural employment is needed to create more and better rural jobs

 

   * Growth in agriculture is essential, and growth in the rural non-farm economy is especially important.

   * Job prospects improve as education, skills, health and early nutrition levels rise.

   * Rural-urban migration (whether temporary or permanent) opens new opportunities and also helps tighten rural labour markets.

   * With rising productivity and wages, it becomes easier to push for better labour standards, to end to child labour and correct gender inequalities.

This paper looks at IMF governance reform, finding that time is running short to finish a deal. In particular, it finds that differences remain amongst key players on the governance reform package; the window of opportunity is narrow and closing fast, and 2008 presents new challenges. It argues that the risk of economic downturn in OECD countries will reduce actors' incentive to undertake reforms.

This paper looks at health policy, asking what we know about the factors influencing the patterns and effectiveness of health policy change and how can we move the agenda forward in order to improve health outcomes. It finds that policy analysis can contribute to meeting health objectives by untangling the complex forces of power and process that underpin change.In addition, it argues that health policy analysis has not been adequately developed and applied in low and middle income countries and that building a critical mass of networked researchers and policy-makers provides the key to developing the field and improving its contribution to health outcomes.

This paper argues that donors have taken risks and made important contributions to Ghana by providing aid as budget support. In particular, budget support in Ghana has supported reforms in ways that other aid modalities would not have done. However, it has neither reduced risks nor maximised benefits. The paper argues that re-design is needed, with a focus on its effectiveness as a tool for budget financing, rather than for policy leverage.

The terms on which the EU and the Africa Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states trade with each other are established in the Cotonou Agreement 2000, which specifies that a new regime must be agreed by end-2007, a date that coincides with the expiry of a World Trade Organization (WTO) waiver for the current regime. This Briefing Paper, which builds upon substantial ODI work, identifies the best way forward.

This Briefing Paper summarises key findings from a comprehensive review of literature on the impacts that tourism has on poverty.   Findings from many disciplines and destinations build a more comprehensive, though still piecemeal, picture than existed before.   Tourism can have important pro-poor impacts and these can be strengthened by deliberate public policy interventions.  Tourism can affect the poor via three, quite different pathways. But there is not a single destination where poverty impact has been assessed in terms of all three.

This Briefing Paper summarises findings from recent analyses of tourism value chaines from a pro-poor perspective.  It illustrates that diagnostic tools such as local economic mapping and value chain analysis can be usefully applied to service sectors, and to explicitly assist in identifying poverty-targeted interventions, not just value chain competitiveness.  Findings from recent studies indicate that the share of destination level revenue accruing to the poor varies widely according to context, ranging from as low as 5% to over 25%.

This Briefing Paper seeks to draw greater attention to Central Asia as a developing region. It analyses the governance situation, which poses a key obstacle to development. Focusing on the role of external actors it argues that European countries and the EU should play a greater role in supporting the region’s development, and in helping to reduce the negative spill-overs from ‘geopolitics’ on governance and development.

How much should countries get and why? A comparison of ways to calculate aid allocation followed by policy recommendations for donors and implications for the aid debate.

A look at what shapes parliamentary performance and what donors can do to enhance it.

This paper examines how environmental objectives are pursued by donors in a context where aid delivery mechanisms are changing, asking how donor support can best be delivered to meet environmental objectives.

While budget analysis and advocacy activities have expanded dramatically in Africa, Asia, and Latin America over the past decade, no material has been systematically gathered on the impact of such work. Therefore, civil society groups interested in undertaking budget work have little access to the experiences of the pioneering organisations. This Briefing Paper summarises the findings of a study, led by the International Budget Project and the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, which attempts to fill this gap by bringing together evidence from case studies of organisations in Brazil, Croatia, India, Mexico, South Africa, and Uganda that have been engaged in budget work for at least five years.

While budget analysis and advocacy activities have expanded dramatically in Africa, Asia, and Latin America over the past decade, no material has been systematically gathered on the impact of such work. Therefore, civil society groups interested in undertaking budget work have little access to the experiences of the pioneering organisations. This Briefing Paper summarises the findings of a study, led by the International Budget Project and the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, which attempts to fill this gap by bringing together evidence from case studies of organisations in Brazil, Croatia, India, Mexico, South Africa, and Uganda that have been engaged in budget work for at least five years.

This paper offers reccomendations for building effective global public-private health partnerships, finding that global public-private health partnerships add significant value in tackling diseases of poverty; but the value of these partnerships is compromised by a number of common problems.It argues that ameliorative actions are workable and need to be mainstreamed so as to realise the full potential of partnerships.

This paper investigates whether WTO rules restrict developing country 'policy space' by limiting their development policies. It finds that developing countries need 'policy space' to use policy to promote development, but international ruleslimit it. The principal areas where trade agreements do or may restrict countries are tariffs, TRIPs, and investment. It concludes that while some ‘space’ has been closed, much remains, and space can cause problems as well as create opportunities.

Sanitation and hygiene specialists should rethink key messages and take them beyond just water circles, to make new alliances, if poor households in developing countries are to be better served.

This paper asks whether the EU commission is right in suggesting that radical changes to the Rules of Origin will both simplify processes and make them more development friendly.

Migrant workers could contribute significantly to the reduction of poverty in Asia, however new protective policies must be implemented to secure their status and ensure benefits are distributed evenly.

This Briefing Paper highlights trends in sovereign borrowing and discusses remaining institutional weaknesses of the sovereign debt regime that require attention.

This report argues that attempts to scale-up efforts to combat HIV/AIDS are being hampered by insufficient alignment and harmonisation. The paper discusses the relationship between the ‘Three Ones’ principles and scaling-up. Recent initiatives to put the principles into practice are described. It is argued that the limited progress that has been achieved bodes poorly for accelerated scaling-up. More aggressive pursuit of the alignment and harmonisation agenda is needed.

It is now accepted that HIV/AIDS is a long-wave event, with accumulative and systemic impacts. It follows from this that longitudinal studies are needed, to establish the effects on individuals, households and communities and their complex interactions over time. But what kinds of longitudinal studies illuminate these issues the best?

This briefing paper outlines the various ways in which food and nutritional security is essential in the HIV/AIDS response. It looks at Article 28 in the Declaration of Commitment by the United Nations General Assembly Special Session dedicated to HIV/AIDS (UNGASS), and argues that this provides the high profile international endorsement needed to secure vigorous action, if used effectively.

This paper discusses what Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) must offer if they are to be ‘development agreements’? It aruges that the Cotonou Partnership Agreement already provides an enabling framework for measures to improve the poverty reducing impact of trade – to contribute to poverty reduction EPAs must result in things happening that would not otherwise occur. If EPAs are to be ‘developmental’, they need to do more than merely increase trade as a share of GDP or promote economic growth. Finally, it finds that EPAs could improve on the Cotonou Partnership Agreement by supporting measures to improve supply capacity and enhancing the poverty reducing effects of increased trade.

This Briefing Paper sketches the main potential channels through which the economic effects of an EPA may come about and reviews the results of several modelling studies which have already been undertaken to assess these effects. When interpreting the results, we will also outline the limitations of these models.

This ODI Briefing Paper focuses on why and how CSOs can engage more effectively in policy processes in international development. Section 1 sets the scene and highlights the opportunities and challenges facing CSOs policy work. Section 2 focuses on why evidence matters for CSOs’ work in international development. Section 3 provides a framework that matches the engagement mechanisms and evidence needs to the critical stages of policy processes. Section 4 summarises strategic and practical advice on how CSOs can ensure their policy engagement is more effective, influential and sustained

This Briefing Paper explains what details are needed to assess the impact of ‘reciprocity’ and why it is essential that they are fully discussed with ACP stakeholders – which is why the endgame must not be rushed.

This Briefing Paper reviews the challenges facing the IMF and its continued raison d’être and then focuses on two current proposals to change formal representation on the Board. Whilst seemingly mundane and complex to the outsider, these are actually critical to addressing the larger question of accountability and legitimacy.

The quality of aid must improve if poverty reduction objectives are to be met. There are two main challenges: first, changing donor practices to increase aid effectiveness (e.g. aid untying, harmonisation), and second, donors recognising that aid will only be successful if it is truly ‘owned’ by recipient countries. Mutual accountability goes to the heart of these two challenges. In the current aid system, recipients are highly accountable to donors, but donors are seldom accountable to recipients. Making donors more accountable to recipients could encourage them to improve their aid practices, and more leadership by recipients in the aid relationship itself could promote better country ownership.

This Briefing Paper explores the consequences of aid scaling-up for macroeconomic management, reports on the results of recent research and makes policy recommendations.

The relationship between governance and development has risen up the international policy agenda. There is widespread agreement that governance matters - intrinsically and for improvements in economic and social outcomes (see Box). But what exactly is ‘good governance’? In what ways and why does governance vary among countries? When, why and how do governance issues make a difference to the way countries develop? What are the priorities for poor countries? Why does governance matter for aid effectiveness and what can donors do?

This report argues that the majority of African governments miss out on the potential to link national development strategies with tourism. Many development agencies also have a relationship with tourism which is often little more than ambivilent. The paper offers a case in support of the benefits brought though the tourist trade.

This Briefing Paper looks at how tourism linkages can be strengthened for greater local impact. The focus is on linkages at the level of the firm, between a company and the local economy, rather than on inter-sectoral linkages between tourism and, for example, agriculture and manufacturing.

When and where should the 'dismal science' of economics give more attention to natural disasters? It is too soon to try to draw longer term lessons from the most recent, extreme and high profile events. So this briefing paper offers some provisional answers, drawing on the results of investigations at ODI on the economic and financial consequences of natural disasters in eight developing countries and droughts in Sub-Saharan Africa.

This paper examines the links between globalisation and education and discusses appropriate roles for government in reconciling the processes of globalisation with education and training systems.

Considerable debate has arisen around the prospect of developing countries committing to the application of rules under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) to water services. Views tend to be polarised around a pro-trade ‘ versus' pro-development axis. A key question is whether ‘ pro-trade' and 'pro-development', and specifically ‘pro-poor, objectives of policy in relation to water supply and sanitation (WSS) are consistent and coherent? If pro-trade and pro-development objectives are to be compatible and convergent in relation to WSS, it must be possible at a national level to liberalise the market according to GATS principles and to regulate so as to secure (poor) citizens' access. But is that actually the case? And do GATS procedures and rules allow for flexibility?

There has been little detailed empirical study of how the GATS-development relationship operates in practice, and the water sector provides a topical example with which to consider the relationship between the above twin goals. ODI has recently undertaken studies (a collaboration between ODI's Water Policy Programme and International Economic Development Group) in Mexico, South Africa and Senegal where existing markets in urban areas offer opportunity for analysis of ‘live' examples of services liberalisation in the water sector.The studies ‘mapped' the trade-development interface and showed how the inclusion of water services under GATS might affect the achievement of development goals, particularly for developing countries.

This briefing paper is based on nine country case studies which investigated the experience of implementing Medium Term Expenditure Frameworks in a PRSP context. The countries were Albania, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.

If the 'scaling-up' of aid is to be effective in helping achieve the Millenium Development Goals then 'absorptive capacity' constraints must be taken into account. This paper looks at how increased aid flows can be best utilised, through careful design and implementation of aid plans and avoiding the pit-falls of diminishing returns stunting effectiveness.

This briefing paper looks at the worth of regional integration in reducing poverty, suggesting we should be cautious in our expectations of poverty reduction in the poorest of countries. The effects of such integration, through trade and investment, are likely to be uneven across a region.

This paper summarises the analysis and conclusions of a recent research project into the challenge of inequality in MICs. It draws together an overview concept paper with detailed analysis of three country case studies (Brazil, China and South Africa).

El mejor uso de la evidencia basada en la investigación que se haga dentro de la política y práctica de desarrollo, puede ayudar a salvar vidas, reducir la pobreza y mejorar la calidad de vida. El programa de ODI “Research and Policy in Development”, RAPID, (investigación y políticas en el desarrollo), ha elaborado un marco analítico simple, así como herramientas prácticas que pueden ayudar a los investigadores a aplicar lo antedicho.

L’application, aux politiques et pratiques de développement, de preuves tirées de la recherche peut aider à sauver des vies humaines, réduire la pauvreté et améliorer la qualité de vie.Le programme ODI de recherche et d’action pour le développement a élaboré un cadre analytique simple et des outils pratiques pouvant faciliter la travail des chercheurs.

A 4-page briefing paper outlining some of the theory behind, and practical application of the RAPID Analytical and Practical Framework. Better use of research-based evidence in development policy and practice can help save lives, reduce poverty and improve the quality of life. But for this to happen more effectively researchers need to do three things. First, they need to develop a detailed understanding of the policymaking process and the nature of evidence. Second, they need an overall strategy for their work and thirdly, they need to be entrepreneurial. Based on over five years of theoretical and case study research, the RAPID programme has developed an analytical framework and practical tools.

This study, through a careful examination of the nature of the cotton market, suggests that under certain assumptions subsidies by smaller subsidisers (such as the EU) may be disproportionately harmful to some suppliers, notably to West and Central African countries. This is especially damaging to them since they have the potential to increase supply.

Discussions of the human right to water have been mixed with argument over private versus public services and proand anti- 'commodification' of water. This paper analyses the three principal legal forms of a right to water – respectively, as a human right, contractual right and property right –  to understand the divergences in opinions.

This paper looks at budgets and the evolving theory and practices surrounding their use in the developing world. There has been a growing tendency to appreciate the importance of the complex web of actors and institutions involved in the budget process, and to link budgets with measurable results. This in turn has affected the nature of both public sector management and reform, and development assistance. This paper suggests ideas for the orientation of future research in this area.

Discusses the results of research in four countries in sub-Saharan Africa, which investigated key stages along the ‘journey’ from Water Supply and Sanitation (‘WSS’ or ‘WatSan’) ‘allocations’ in Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) to budget allocations and actual expenditure on sector outputs. The research has observed the kind of events or factors which may disrupt and delay the flow of funds and their translation into poverty reduction outcomes.

The character of the food system and the nature of food policy are both changing, as urbanisation, technical change and the industrialisation of the food system transform the way food is produced, marketed and consumed in developing countries. The challenges are daunting and immediate – and need to be on the agenda of policy-makers throughout the developing world.

This paper asks how good the record of public expenditure in developing countries has been in delivering two MDG targets, one each in education and health, viz. primary school completion for all (or universal primary education) and a two-thirds reduction in child mortality.

The Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) have set ambitious targets for poverty reduction. In an attempt to tackle poverty many of the worlds poorest countries have now produced their own Poverty Reduction Strategies which rest somewhere between focusing on achieving the MDG targets and focusing on the priorities of their own population. Donors have increasingly focused aid to support the Poverty Reduction Strategies, mainly in the form of budget support. This paper suggests that this has had mixed results and more could be done to ensure aid effectiveness.

Reducing rural poverty means rural development. Governments and donors in Central America, as elsewhere,have struggled to find paradigms and programmes that reduce rural poverty. An emphasis in the region in the 1970s and 1980s on agrarian reform, subsidies and strong intervention gave way to structural adjustment and state withdrawal in the 1990s. But conditions in rural areas have improved only slowly, and the rural poor have been further set back by natural disasters like Hurricane Mitch in 1998. What can be done to identify better rural development strategies? This paper explores the options, focusing particularly on the two poorest countries in Central America, Honduras and Nicaragua.

The global 'water crisis' is a major feature of the development landscape and is set to become increasingly prominant in years to come. This paper suggests where faultlines between different approaches to dealing with it lie and how they might be bridged.

Although foreign direct investment (FDI) contributes to growth in developing countries, there is evidence that the benefits are not equally distributed. Foreign-owned firms tend to pay higher wages in developing countries, but skilled workers tend to benefit more than less-skilled workers. This conclusion is based on new research conducted into the effects of FDI on wages in five East Asian economies and the effects of foreign ownership in five African countries. While FDI may support development in the aggregate, more attention should be focused on the distribution of gains from FDI, notably effects on wage inequality.

This Briefing Paper reviews global trends in international humanitarian policy. It focuses in particular on the period since 1998, when the last ODI Briefing Paper on this issue was published. It argues that humanitarian action has been associated with a controversial agenda of military and political intervention, led largely by the West. The struggle to define more effective international responses to conflictrelated emergencies has resulted in a proliferation of new actors working alongside their humanitarian counterparts. This is raising new questions about the objectives of international humanitarian action, and the principles according to which it works. Donor governments are increasingly assertive in seeking to guide operational agencies in this area of policy. New forms of contractual and management relationships, and a trend towards increased earmarking of contributions, are raising further questions about the independence of humanitarian action.

El desarrollo rural debe constituir un elemento medular de los esfuerzos por reducir la pobreza. Tres cuartas partes de los 1.200 millones de personas, que sobreviven con menos de un dólar al día, habitan y trabajan en las zonas rurales. Los habitantes rurales tienen dos veces más probabilidades de ser pobres que sus contrapartes urbanos. Sin embargo, el desarrollo rural enfrenta una pérdida de confianza: el financiamiento ha disminuido y tanto gobiernos como donantes se esfuerzan por reformular sus políticas. ¿Qué nuevo rumbo deben tomar las políticas en materia de desarrollo rural?

Rural development should be central to poverty reduction. Three quarters of the 1.2 billion people surviving on less than one dollar a day live and work in rural areas. Rural people are twice as likely to be poor as urban counterparts. However, rural development faces a loss of confidence: funding has been falling, and governments and donors are scrambling to rethink policy. What new directions should rural development policy take?

This Briefing Paper reviews the ways in which the Nobel Prize winning economist Professor Amartya Sen has focussed international attention on the significance of fundamental human freedoms and human rights for development theory and practice.

This paper looks at the experience of the ‘Social Policy Principles’ initiative as a test case of elements of the international policy community responding to the challenges of globalisation – and seeks to draw some general lessons from the early efforts associated with this.