Events - Overseas Development Institute (ODI)

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An ODI event in London

ODI holds around 70 public meetings, workshops and seminars in London every year, including meetings with the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on Overseas Development (APGOOD), and other relevant all-party groups. These attract expert speakers from around the world. ODI also holds regular event series, taking an in-depth look at key development issues.

Forthcoming events

Soaring prices, rising hunger: What next in the global food crisis?
Public event - 14 October 2008 13:30 - 15:00

Details:

After falling in real terms for more than 50 years, food prices have soared – condemning an additional 75 million people to hunger and raising the estimated number of undernourished people worldwide to 923 million in 2007.

High food prices threaten any hope of achieving the 1996 World Food Summit goal to cut the number of hungry people in the world by half by 2015 and the Millennium Development Goal that would reduce by half the proportion of people suffering from hunger worldwide by 2015.

Hunger has actually increased, despite the world growing richer and producing more food than ever during the last decade. But for a great many households, high food prices have had a negative short-term impact on household income and welfare. The poorest, the landless and female-headed households have been hardest hit. But, households across the UK and other industrial countries are also feeling the pain of high food prices.

The objective of this event is to highlight and debate the UN Food & Agriculture Organization’s approach to tackling these issues. The FAO recommends urgent action on two fronts to break the hunger-poverty trap: making food accessible to the most vulnerable, and helping small producers raise their output and earn more.

Dr Jacques Diouf will describe FAO efforts to meet the challenge of feeding a world population projected to reach 9 billion in 2050 and explain the essential role that smallholder farmers in developing countries will have to play in that endeavour.

FAO is helping vulnerable countries take urgent measures to boost food supplies. It is also providing policy support to improve access to food. These initiatives include emergency projects to distribute seeds, fertiliser, animal feed and supplies to smallholder farmers. Dr Diouf will also highlight other aspects of the FAO’s work on improving food production, such as preventing transboundary animal diseases, enhancing food safety and quality, and supporting agricultural trade negotiations.

Speaker

Dr. Jaques Diouf - Director-General, FAO

Discussant

Simon Maxwell - Director, ODI

Chair

Rt Hon Tony Baldry MP - Chair, APGOOD

REGISTER TO ATTEND

Food shocks and food stress: Seasonality and the hunger debate
Public event - 16 October 2008 17:30 - 19:30

Details:

Every year, millions of poor rural people across the world suffer from predictable and preventable seasonal hunger. Seasonal fluctuations in food stocks, prices and employment are responsible for much of the malnutrition and poverty that the Millennium Development Goals are targetting, yet seasonality gets very little attention in policy formulation and programme design.

The objective of this meeting, held on World Food Day, is to discuss the consequences of seasonality on hunger and malnutrition as well as the impacts of shocks, like the recent and ongoing food price crisis.

A new book, 'Seasons of Hunger' will also be presented. It documents the failure of past and current policies to recognise and address seasonal dimensions of poverty. ‘Seasons of Hunger’ also reveals encouraging success stories, and provides a costed programme for a minimum intervention package to fight seasonal hunger globally.

Speakers:

Stephen Devereux - Research Fellow and Director of the Centre for Social Protection
Robert Chambers - Research Associate, Institute of Development Studies
Bapu Vaitla - Hunger Watch/Action Against Hunger
Samuel Hauenstein Swan - Hunger Watch/Action Against Hunger

Chair:

Simon Maxwell - Director, ODI

REGISTER TO ATTEND

Outcome mapping for programme and project planning
Workshop - 03 November 2008 - 06 November 2008

Details:

A three-day introduction to the basic principles of Outcome Mapping (OM), with particular emphasis on their application to the planning phase of development projects and programmes.

Plus a half-day OM Surgery to explore ways in which OM concepts and tools can be applied practically within the participants' ongoing projects and programmes.

Designed for programme managers, desk officers and field staff from NGOs, funding agencies and national and international development organisations who are looking for effective ways to address the dynamics of change in the complex environments in which they work

DSA annual conference 2008 - Panel session on cities in an insecure world
Seminar - 08 November 2008 -

Details:

Part of 'Developments Invisible Hands', the Development Studies Association's annual conference, Ursula Grant is convening a panel discussion on Cities in an Insecure World.

Topics of discussion will include:

cities in a world made insecure by war, terrorism etc.
social security/protection in cities;
security of tenure;
physical security vis a vis crime and violence in cities.

"Reforming for results: Can public finance management reform uplift government performance?"
Conference - 12 November 2008 09:00 - 13 November 2008 17:30

Details:

Towards a more strategic and efficiency-oriented approach to strengthening public finance management in developing and transition countries

The 2008 CAPE Public Finance Management Conference will investigate how PFM reforms can be better targeted towards delivering improved performance in public service delivery, with particular emphasis on improvements to strategic resource allocation and operational efficiency. It will examine the interplay among different actors in cases of successful reform, and the contribution of sector-level, decentralised and demand-side PFM reforms to improving strategic resource allocation and operational efficiency. The conference will consider how to achieve better outcomes from PFM reform efforts through approaches which extend beyond primary engagement with ministries of finance and which attempt to deepen reforms. It will ask whether current trends towards more holistic system-wide PFM reform programmes are the solution, or whether more targeted approaches to PFM reform might lead to more effective and sustainable reform outcomes.

The main research question for the conference will be:

How can PFM reforms be better focused on ensuring spending entities (i.e. sectoral and decentralised levels of government) deliver better services?

Specific conference sessions will address the following questions:

Session 1: The role of the Ministry of Finance and centre of government

What are the opportunities for and limitations of the centre of government, especially the Ministry of Finance, to influence spending entities in strengthening their own PFM systems and service delivery performance?

Chair: Alison Evans (Director of Poverty and Public Policy Programmes, ODI)

Jim Brumby (Lead Public Sector Specialist, PREM, World Bank)

The role of MoF in the PFM reform process

Graham Scott (Executive Chairman, Southern Cross Advisers) or Matt Andrews (Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Harvard University)

Driving government performance through the MoF

To be confirmed

Country case

Session 2: The role of sectors and sector spending agencies

How can sectors and spending agencies be engaged most effectively in PFM reforms, with a view to improving government performance?

Chair: Catherine Dom (Principal Consultant, Mokoro Ltd)

Mick Foster (Director, Mick Foster Economics Ltd)

Sector budgeting and resource allocations

Tim Williamson (Research Associate, ODI)

Sector systems and PFM systems

To be confirmed

Country case

To be confirmed

Country case

Session 3: The role of decentralised tiers of government

How can decentralised tiers of government be engaged most effectively in PFM reforms, with a view to improving government performance?

Chair: To be confirmed

Paul Smoke (Professor of Public Finance and Planning, New York University)

Fiscal decentralisation

Jesper Steffensen (Senior Partner, Nordic Consulting Group)

Local government public finance management

Alexey Lavrov (Director of Budget Policy and Methodology, Ministry of Finance, Russian Federation; Head of Regional Finance Reform Programme)

Country case

To be confirmed

Country case

Session 4: The role of donors and international organisations

What role should donors play in advancing PFM reforms and how should they decide where to target their assistance among ministries of finance and spending entities?

Chair: Andrew Lawson (Director, Fiscus Ltd)

José Sulemane (Adviser to Executive Director of Africa Constituency I, International Monetary Fund; former National Director of Planning and Finance, Mozambique)

Clay Wescott (Visiting Fellow, Princeton University)

To be confirmed

Country case

Building on the discussions at the 2007 CAPE Conference on governance and PFM reform [http://www.odi.org.uk/events/CAPE_conference_2007/index.html], all of the sessions this year will consider explicitly the technical, political and institutional dimensions of reform. The conference will aim to arrive at policy-relevant conclusions and will contribute to the debate on the wider question of what constitutes successful PFM reform and how can it be given effect.

The event will bring together researchers and academics on public finance management and reform; senior public sector officials from developing and transition countries; PFM specialists from donor agencies engaged in the design and implementation of government reform programmes; and leading practitioners and consultants on PFM.

Recent public events hosted by ODI >

Can china continue feeding itself? Climate change, water stress and the global food system
Public event - 09 October 2008 14:00 - 15:30

Details:

China will shortly become the most water-stressed country in east and south-east Asia, yet maintains an unwritten policy of ensuring 95% self-sufficiency in grains. Is this realistic given current climate change predictions, changes in crop mix and shifting consumption? And can China's dwindling water resources take the strain?

This meeting will explore some of the issues around water scarcity and food production in China in the context of climate change and international trade. These are issues the government is taking seriously: the 11th five year plan with its emphasis on harmonious development, environmental protection and rural livelihoods marks a significant departure from the previous ‘GDP-ism’, and China has recently published a National Climate Change Programme (see: http://en.ndrc.gov.cn). Nonetheless, questions remain about how to protect water resources, support rural incomes and meet grain targets, particularly in the drier north where climate-induced water stress is expected to worsen.

In this public event, ODI welcomes Professor Wang Jinxia from the Chinese Centre for Agricultural Policy (CCAP), one of China’s foremost research and advisory institutions. In addition to advising the Chinese government on issues related to water and agriculture, Prof. Wang has worked as a consultant for the World Bank, DFID, AusAID and many other donor agencies. She is the author of a recent report on climate change in China, exploring implications for rural incomes and food production.

Speaker

Professor Wang Jinxia - Centre for Chinese Agricultural Policy, Chinese Academy of Sciences

James Keeley - IIED

Discussant

Steve Wiggins - Research Fellow, Protected Livelihoods and Agricultural Growth Programme, ODI

Chair

Roger Calow - Programme Leader, Water Policy Programme, ODI

Shared global challenges: The way forward in fostering global public goods
Public event - 06 October 2008 13:00 - 15:00

Details:

This event will launch the Independent Evaluation Group's flagship report, the Annual Review of Development Effectiveness 2008: Shared Global Challenges. The report assesses the effectiveness of the World Banks recent projects and programmes, and explores a special topic: the Banks experience fostering global public goods including climate protection and control of communicable diseases. These are some of the greatest challenges of our time, and the global community has yet to establish an effective means to capture the possible benefits.

The panel discussion will provide a forum to share views on the role international development organizations should play in fostering global public goods in the context of rapidly- evolving global development challenges. Using the report as a backdrop for the discussion, we will consider: how to more effectively bridge the gap between global needs and country concerns such as fostering work on climate change mitigation; how global knowledge networks can be deployed to foster global public goods; how developing countries can have a greater voice in governance of global programs to enhance program relevance.

Speakers

Vinod Thomas - Director General, Independent Evaluation Group, World Bank

A representative from the ARDE (Annual Review of Development Effectiveness) team (To be confirmed)

Discussants

Andrew Steer - Director General, Policy and Research, DFID (tbc)

Alison Evans Director of Programmes, Poverty and Public Policy, ODI

Accountability and representation: Weaknesses in IMF corporate governance
Public event - 29 September 2008 13:00 - 14:30

Details:

The recent evaluation of aspects of IMF corporate governance by the IEO found that accountability and voice have been the weakest aspects of IMF governance and that this risks undermining the effectiveness of the institution. But action on the IEO's recommendations will require the attention of policy makers in the capitals of the IMF's 185 member countries, who have other concerns given the state of the global economy. Tom Bernes, director of the IEO, will set out his vision of why reform to the internal structures at the IMF is so vital to ensuring that the Fund can remain relevant to the global economy of the 21st century.

Speaker:

Thomas Bernes - Director of the Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) of the IMF

Simon Burall - ODI

Nick Joicey - Director of International Finance, HM Treasury

Chair:

Jan Aart Scholte - Professorial Research Fellow, Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation, University of Warwick

Beyond Relief: Food Security in Protracted Crises
Public event - 25 September 2008 12:30 - 14:00

Details:

Many of those worst affected by food insecurity live in countries characterised by prolonged conflict and poor governance. Initial response and humanitarian relief efforts are rarely followed by programmes that offer a longer-term perspective on food security, even where the 'crises' in question have been going on for decades. This seminar, based on six in-depth case studies from Somalia, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, will provide insights on opportunities for bridging the gap between emergency relief and longer term developmental approaches. The aim of the event is to help rethink how to support food security in protracted crises.

Speakers:

Luca Alinovi - Senior Agricultural Economist, FAO

Luca Russo - Food Security Policy Analyst, FAO

Sara Pantuliano - Research Fellow, ODI

Chair:

James Darcy - Director of Humanitarian Programmes, ODI

Greening Aid? Understanding the environmental impact of development assistance
Public event - 24 September 2008 13:00 - 14:15

Details:

The recently published Greening Aid analyzes trends in development assistance during the pre- and post-Rio Earth Summit period. The authors have compiled one of the largest datasets of foreign aid ever assembled. By evaluating the likely environmental impacts of more than 400,000 development projects by more than 50 donors to over 170 recipient countries between 1970 and 2001, they seek to answer three central research questions:

Which donor governments spend the most on foreign assistance for the environment and why?
Why do some donor governments delegate the allocation and implementation of environmental aid to multilateral agencies when they could simply allocate it themselves?
And why do some recipient countries receive more environmental aid than others?

Greening Aid explains major trends and shifts over the past two decades, ranks donors according to their performance, and offers case studies that compare and contrast donors and types of environmental aid. This meeting will give the authors their first opportunity in the UK to discuss their analysis.

Speakers:

J. Timmons Roberts - Chancellor Professor of Sociology and Acting Director, Environmental Science and Policy Program, College of William and Mary, USA.

Bradley C. Parks - Research Fellow, Institute for the Theory and Practice of International Relations, College of William and Mary; Associate Director, Department of Policy and International Relations, Millennium Challenge Corporation.

Discussants:

Camilla Toulmin - Director, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)

Seán Doolan - Environment adviser, Africa Division, Department for International Development (DFID)

Chair:

Neil Bird - Research Fellow, Forests, Environment and Climate Change Programme, ODI

Getting the MDG fundamentals right
Public event - 24 September 2008 09:00 - 11:30

Details:

The Millennium Development goals (MDGs) are eight development goals established in 2000 by the international community aimed to be achieve by the year 2015. With many of the goals off-track to meeting the target, the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon is convening a High-level Event on the MDGs on 25 September in New York. The event will bring together world leaders and the development community to accelerate the progress in meeting the Millennium Development Goals.

ODI, in partnership with the Chronic Poverty Research Centre, are hosting this side event around the September 25th MDG High Level event to address the underlying processes that can help to achieve the goals. The objective of the event is to draw attention to the fundamentals which underlie the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). If these are well addressed, the MDGs will be achieved. Presentations will be brief and accompanied by short, briefing papers or policy briefs.

The speakers for this event are yet to be confirmed but the panel will comprise a member of the Chronic Poverty Research Centre, a member each from the governments of Bangladesh and southern Sudan, and a member from a civil society organisation.

Engendering pro-poor change: Putting gender at the heart of the MDGs
Public event - 23 September 2008 09:00 - 11:30

Details:

The Millennium Development goals (MDGs) are eight development goals established in 2000 by the international community aimed to be achieved by the year 2015. With many of the goals off-track to meeting the target, the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon is convening a High-level Event on the MDGs on 25 September in New York. The event will bring together world leaders and the development community to accelerate the progress in meeting the Millennium Development Goals.

Gender is a crucial cross-cutting theme that needs to be considered as part of the achievement of all the eight Millennium Development Goals. Thus, to ensure that there are more partnership events for the MDG Summit in September that specifically addresses gender equality issues, ODI is hosting a gender side event with support from the Foreign Ministry of Denmark.

ODI has recently launched a new programme on Social Development in which gender is a key area of research, and researchers across the institute have and are undertaking research on a range of gender-related themes, from health and immunisation policy to trade, and from poverty reduction and social protection to agriculture.

The objective of this event is to highlight the importance of employing a gender lens to better understand the development challenges underpinning the MDGs. Policy dialogue on the MDGs needs to recognise that notwithstanding the importance of MDG 3 (parity in education and women’s political representation) and MDG5 (reducing maternal mortality and promoting reproductive health), gender dynamics of power, poverty and vulnerability cut across all the goals. This event, involving speakers from Africa and South Asia who are at the heart of gender and policy action, will focus on raising the visibility of gender, equality and women’s empowerment as a linchpin for MDG achievement from Goal 1 to 8. Particular emphasis will be placed on discussing possible policy solutions at the international, national and local levels.

Speaker:
Ms Rasheda K Chowdhury - Minister for Primary and Mass Education, Women and Children and Cultural Affairs, Bangladesh
Yassine Fall - UNIFEM Senior Economic Adviser to the UN Millennium Project as Senior Policy Adviser on Gender Equality
Representative from the Foreign Ministry of Denmark - To be Confirmed
A CSO representative - To be confirmed

Corruption in humanitarian assistance: risks, perceptions and prevention
Public event - 17 September 2008 12:30 - 14:00

Details:

Due to the pace at which aid agencies have to operate during a humanitarian emergency, the capacities of governments and agencies to assist affected people are often stretched. What is more, relief frequently has to be delivered amidst weak or absent rule of law, endemic corruption and immense needs. This makes humanitarian response particularly vulnerable to corruption.

How do staff in leading NGOs perceive risks of corruption in humanitarian operations? What strategies have they put in place to prevent and detect corruption? What can be learned from these strategies and what more can be done?

A forthcoming HPG Policy Brief, which draws on a larger report conducted in partnership with Transparency International and Tufts University's Feinstein International Center, explores these issues. It finds that aid agencies are aware of corruption risks and have developed strategies to prevent it. However, the humanitarian community has not yet addressed this problem jointly, shared information on these practices, or discussed ways to improve their effectiveness. The paper draws on a set of four cases studies (Afghanistan, Liberia, Northern Uganda and Sri Lanka) that look at how aid recipients are affected by corruption.

At this ODI event, Sarah Bailey will present the main findings of the paper and their implications for humanitarian action. Alex Jacobs, Director of MANGO, will respond with a focus on management and accountability, and a final discussant will provide a field prospective on the issues. The event will be chaired by a representative of Transparency International.

Speaker:

Sarah Bailey - Research Officer, Overseas Development Institute

Discussants:

Alex Jacobs - Director, MANGO

To be confirmed

Chair:

A representative from Transparency International

Innovations in poverty reduction: The role of local government
Public event - 11 September 2008 17:30 - 19:00

Details:

Local governance is critical for poverty reduction. Local governments have a natural advantage in knowing and understanding the needs and resources of their own territories and so they can provide better local public goods to meet the demands of their populations. However, while the debate on governance has focused on the institutions of the national state less attention has been given to sub-national governments. And while decentralization reforms cross the developing world have advanced, their implementation continue to face critical challenges: legal frameworks are often inconsistent, sub-national authorities lack the capacity to implement them, the budgets are limited or have grown beyond their competencies and opportunities for sustainable economic development have not accompanied new political accountability at the local level.

This ODI public event will address the importance of sub-national authorities and governments for poverty reduction. It will then highlight some lessons learned in Latin America and the UK and address their relevance across the development world.

Former Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, will discuss poverty reduction in London, drawing upon his previous experience as a Local Councillor, Leader of the Greater London Council, Member of Parliament and Mayor.

Objectives:

1. Improve understanding of the importance and role of sub-national and urban governments for reducing poverty and improving inclusion
2. Disseminate and compare lessons learned, best practices, and tools generated from working with sub-national governments to reduce poverty in Latin America and the UK
3. Present the innovations generated by the regional partnership approach known as PAR: its model, impacts and future potential in the Latin American region and beyond
4. Facilitate the exchange and comparison of experiences and approaches among practitioners from a cross-regional perspective

Speakers:

Ken Livingstone - Former Mayor of London

Adam Behrendt - Governance advisor, DFID Andes

Chair:

Simon Maxwell - Director, ODI

The MDGs - challenges and opportunities: Bangladesh Perspectives
Public event - 09 September 2008 10:00 - 11:30

Details:

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) represent a global commitment to tackle poverty, hunger, disease, education, inequality and environmental degradation. Since their launch in 2000 the MDGs have been a useful tool for international development and to reach the targets by 2015 is no mean achievement.

At this event, Dr. A. B. Mirza Azizul Islam, Honourable Adviser (Minister) for Finance and Planning, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, will present the successes and challenges of MDG’s in Bangladesh and the actions for the international community to accelerate progress towards meeting the goals.

Speakers:

Dr. A. B. Mirza Azizul Islam - Honourable Adviser (Minister) for Finance and Planning, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh

Mark Lowcock - Director General, Country Programmes, Department for International Development

Chair:

Simon Maxwell - Director, ODI