Despite political and economic reforms,
Latin America remains the most unequal region in the world. Deep-rooted poverty is a persistent challenge, while the quality of democratic governance and accountability is
uneven and problematic across the region. On a daily basis, Latin American policy-makers have to make vital decisions on wide range of key global issues such as: social policy
development; insecurity; climate change; food price rises and the possible impact of
biofuels; remittances and migration, AIDS; and the challenges posed by the drug trade.
Our work on Latin America assists policy-makers, donors, and civil society, in resolving these issues. We look at what can be learnt from Latin America's successes and failures over the past few decades to help poverty alleviation efforts in the rest of the developing world. All of this work builds on our strong track record in Latin America. Over recent years, we have been working to:
Our strategy for the region is based on three pillars: strengthening networks, policy relevant research and knowledge sharing. Our work on Latin America draws, primarily, on research by our Latin America and Caribbean Group, with additional relevant research taking place in all of ODI's many research areas.
ODI resources on this theme cover the following areas:
Agriculture, rural development and climate change policy
show details hide detailsCommunity forestry in the Amazon: The unsolved challenge of forests and the poor
(PDF, 112kb)
In the Amazon region, efforts to put Community Forestry into practice have achieved only modest results. The international research project ForLive, analysing experiences in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Brazil, revealed that considerable external resources are needed to overcome the technical, legal and financial barriers inherent in the current community forestry framework. As a consequence no spontaneous option takes place. To enable smallholders in effectively using their forests, there is an urgent need to revise this framework. Alternatives should start from existing locally developed practices with emphasis on education and extension. Larger
areas of public forests should also be provided to communities, as, with appropriate investments in training, infrastructure and equipment, they have shown themselves able to effectively meet social, economic and environmental goals. Policy needs to distinguish more clearly between these
goals. Improved social development skills are needed to support innovation and dissemination of locally appropriate practices and to strengthen local capacity for regulation and control.
ISBN: ISSN 1356–9228
ODI Specialist Series - Natural Resource Perspective
112
-
April 2008
Benno Pokorny and James Johnson
show details hide detailsOptions for rural poverty reduction in Central America
(PDF, 94kb)
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.
ODI Publications - Briefing Paper
-
January 2003
Michael Richards, Simon Maxwell, J. Wadsworth, E., Baumeister, I. Colindres, M. Laforge, M. Lopéz, H. Noé Pino, P. Sauma and I. Walker
show details hide detailsGlobalisation and livelihood diversification through non-traditional agricultural products: The Mexico case
(PDF, 54kb)
Inexorable trends towards globalisation are raising the pressure on countries to compete in international markets, or suffer increased marginalisation. At the same time, poverty reduction is growing in priority for governments and donors alike. This paper describes how efforts to promote trade in niche products in Mexico have contributed towards both objectives, and draws general lessons from these.
ODI Specialist Series - Natural Resource Perspective
67
-
June 2001
Leonel Ramírez Farías
show details hide detailsPolicies to promote non-farm rural employment in Latin America
(PDF, 39kb)
It has been demonstrated for Asia and sub-Saharan Africa that the extent to which rural people make up their livelihoods from sources other than agriculture is much higher than previously thought. In the same vein, this paper reviews extensive evidence from Latin America, distinguishing between diversification arising from traditional agriculture and that driven by exogenous influences, and highlighting the importance of the latter.
ODI Specialist Series - Natural Resource Perspective
55
-
May 1996
Julio A. Berdegué, Thomas Reardon, Germán Escobar and Rubén Echeverría
Tourism can help reduce poverty in Latin America, but community-based tourism is not the answer. Instead, communities should be helped to access mainstream tourism markets.
ODI Publications - Opinion
102
-
June 2008
Jonathan Mitchell and Pamela Muckosy
show details hide detailsCommunity forestry in the Amazon: The unsolved challenge of forests and the poor
(PDF, 112kb)
In the Amazon region, efforts to put Community Forestry into practice have achieved only modest results. The international research project ForLive, analysing experiences in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Brazil, revealed that considerable external resources are needed to overcome the technical, legal and financial barriers inherent in the current community forestry framework. As a consequence no spontaneous option takes place. To enable smallholders in effectively using their forests, there is an urgent need to revise this framework. Alternatives should start from existing locally developed practices with emphasis on education and extension. Larger
areas of public forests should also be provided to communities, as, with appropriate investments in training, infrastructure and equipment, they have shown themselves able to effectively meet social, economic and environmental goals. Policy needs to distinguish more clearly between these
goals. Improved social development skills are needed to support innovation and dissemination of locally appropriate practices and to strengthen local capacity for regulation and control.
ISBN: ISSN 1356–9228
ODI Specialist Series - Natural Resource Perspective
112
-
April 2008
Benno Pokorny and James Johnson
This paper discusses the development and implementation of Juntos ('Together'), a cash transfer programme in Peru aimed at developing human capital and breaking inter-generational transfers of poverty. The paper is based on documentary analysis and fieldwork in Ayachucho Department, the first region in which the pilot phase of the programme was implemented. We selected two communities based on the following criteria: presence of Young Lives sites (given plans to follow up with longitudinal research about the effects of the programme over time), geographical accessibility; size of the population and the number of children enrolled in the programme. The analysis pays particular attention to the impacts of this social protection mechanism on women and children, the strengths and weaknesses of a conditional approach, and changes in family and community dynamics. It concludes by discussing future policy challenges and directions for research.
Chapter in Alberto Minujin et al. (ed.) 2007. 'Social Protection Initiatives for Families, Women and Children: An Analysis of Recent Experiences.' New York: New School and UNICEF.
-
February 2007
Nicola Jones, Rosana Vargas and Eliana Villar
show details hide detailsMaking Tourism Count for the Local Economy in Dominican Republic: Ideas for Good Practice
(PDF, 246kb)
These briefs have been written following a workshop in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, exploring how the tourism sector can contribute more to the local economy. They capture and build upon the presentations and discussions at that workshop.
ODI Project Papers - Report
-
September 2006
Caroline Ashley, Harold Goodwin and Douglas McNab
This study of Haiti is part of the project of the Humanitarian Policy Group, Overseas Development Institute (ODI) to compare three cases (Sri Lanka, Somalia and Haiti) where remittance flows are believed to have contributed to survival and recovery. Remittances to Haiti over the past decade have far exceeded foreign aid or international investment. Although ongoing research has established the value of remittances to developing countries generally, the particular issue of their role in emergencies has yet to be examined. This study assesses how people in Gonaives used remittances both from the Haitian diaspora and from internal sources during and after the city was all but destroyed by the September 2004 hurricane. It is based on information obtained during fieldwork in Gonaives in January 2006, and is supplemented by reports issued by international humanitarian agencies active in the country at the time of the disaster. The findings encompass information from recipients of remittances in Gonaives, but not from the Haitian migrants, either inside or outside of the country, who provided them.
HPG Publication - Background paper
-
April 2006
Patricia Fagen
show details hide detailsInstitutions and Growth - Bolivia Case Study
(PDF, 283kb)
This essay addresses the question of why Bolivia has witnessed zero growth of per capita incomes over the second half of the twentieth century while other Latin American countries have seen their incomes roughly double over this period.
IPPG Working Paper
1
-
April 2006
Steve Wiggins, Alexander Schejtman & George Gray
'Will the pressures of democracy allow the new leaders of the left to balance the demand for edistribution against the requirements of economic stability
and growth? If not, as Latin America's own history
demonstrates, democracy itself may be at risk.'
ODI Publications - Opinion
68
-
April 2006
Alina Rocha Menocal
'Will 2006 be a year of financial crisis in Latin America? With elections expected in Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, and Colombia in addition to those which have already taken place in Bolivia and Chile, and with electorates across the Continent in truculent mood, the outlook for financial markets could be sombre.'
ODI Publications - Opinion
64
-
January 2006
Lauren Phillips
show details hide detailsLess political and more pro-poor? The evolution of social welfare spending in Mexico in a context of democratisation and decentralisation
(PDF, 994kb)
Analysing the evolution of social welfare spending in Mexico since the mid-1990s, this paper argues that pressures brought about by increased electoral competition at the subnational level have led to an important restructuring of such spending. Thus, poverty alleviation funds and programmes that had traditionally been under the control of the Executive in a political system long dominated by one-party rule have been significantly reduced and welfare spending decentralised to the state and municipal levels. But has this made social welfare spending less subject to political manipulation and more responsive to the needs of the poor? Research findings suggest that, while the funds that are still controlled by the federal government have become considerably more responsive to poverty criteria and less overtly politicised, decentralised funds have thus far failed to live up to the expectations that they would be able to address the needs of the poor more efficiently and in a more accountable manner.
Article in Nord-Süd Aktuell, special issue on Fighting Poverty
-
December 2005
Alina Rocha Menocal
The politics of policy
show details hide detailsSending money home
Looking at the vital role of workers who send their money home to Latin America and how they can create a "brain gain" effect.
Article in New Statesman
-
June 2008
Enrique Mendizabal
show details hide detailsPrograma 3X1 para Migrantes
(PDF, 485kb)
Case study examining Mexico's Programa 3X1 para Migrantes as an example of a social policy intended to promote social cohesion. This case study was commissioned by EUROsociAL as part of a wider ODI project that includes 4 such case studies in total.
EUROsociAL case study
-
December 2007
Alina Rocha Menocal
Is Morales really acting' as a radical populist, confirming the suspicion of critics such as Mexican politician Jorge Castañeda who argue that Bolivia is part of the axis of the “wrong” lefts in Latin America?'
ODI Publications - Opinion
78
-
February 2007
Massimiliano Calì
'Will the pressures of democracy allow the new leaders of the left to balance the demand for edistribution against the requirements of economic stability
and growth? If not, as Latin America's own history
demonstrates, democracy itself may be at risk.'
ODI Publications - Opinion
68
-
April 2006
Alina Rocha Menocal
show details hide details
Politics and Poverty Reduction Strategies: Lessons from Latin American HIPCs Download | Purchase from the ODI Bookshop
This paper addresses the perception that Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) processes in Latin America and the Caribbean have not grappled effectively with politics, and have not engaged successfully with political actors and institutions. Commissioned on behalf of the Latin American and Caribbean PRS Donor Network, it synthesises evidence from documents and interviews on how this situation has arisen and how it might be confronted. It is based on experience in three Latin
American Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs): Bolivia, Honduras and Nicaragua.
ISBN: 0 85003 792 1
ODI Publications - Working Paper
262
-
February 2006
David Booth, Arturo Grigsby and Carlos Toranzo,
'Will 2006 be a year of financial crisis in Latin America? With elections expected in Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, and Colombia in addition to those which have already taken place in Bolivia and Chile, and with electorates across the Continent in truculent mood, the outlook for financial markets could be sombre.'
ODI Publications - Opinion
64
-
January 2006
Lauren Phillips
show details hide detailsLess political and more pro-poor? The evolution of social welfare spending in Mexico in a context of democratisation and decentralisation
(PDF, 994kb)
Analysing the evolution of social welfare spending in Mexico since the mid-1990s, this paper argues that pressures brought about by increased electoral competition at the subnational level have led to an important restructuring of such spending. Thus, poverty alleviation funds and programmes that had traditionally been under the control of the Executive in a political system long dominated by one-party rule have been significantly reduced and welfare spending decentralised to the state and municipal levels. But has this made social welfare spending less subject to political manipulation and more responsive to the needs of the poor? Research findings suggest that, while the funds that are still controlled by the federal government have become considerably more responsive to poverty criteria and less overtly politicised, decentralised funds have thus far failed to live up to the expectations that they would be able to address the needs of the poor more efficiently and in a more accountable manner.
Article in Nord-Süd Aktuell, special issue on Fighting Poverty
-
December 2005
Alina Rocha Menocal
show details hide details
Politics and the PRSP Approach: Bolivia Case Study Download | Purchase from the ODI Bookshop
This case study of Bolivia addresses the political development implications of both the first National Dialogue and PRSP process in 2000, and the current process in 2003–04. It sets out the
challenges of political development in the country, referring to historical legacies, medium-term trends and relevant policy-reform agenda from the last decade. It then considers how the political background – both basic structures and short-run circumstances – affected the possible scope and character of the 2000 process, and the options announced for the PRSP revision. The paper develops an argument about the ways in which the 2000 process engaged with the fundamental challenges facing political development, and the degree to which the process had relevant impacts, directly or indirectly. We are able to make only some highly tentative and provisional observations about 2003–04, since the process is incomplete.
ISBN: 0 85003 718 2
ODI Publications - Working Paper
238
-
May 2004
David Booth with Laure-Hélène Piron
International aid architecture
show details hide detailsLessons from Latin America: Donors, democracy and development
Latin America is a laboratory of democratic governance and experimentation. As such, it is an important learning ground for other regions in the developing world. The challenge for donors is how to work with these weak democracies to harness their representative nature and their developmental potential. This means having to develop a deeper understanding of the political economy and context of the settings in which they are involved.
ODI Online - Blog
-
June 2008
Alina Rocha Menocal
show details hide detailsCase studies in the role of the affected state in humanitarian action: Peru
This study analyses the Peruvian state’s response to the earthquake and assesses its relationship with domestic non-governmental actors and the international community. The aim is to constructively reflect on the response in order to generate learning and policy recommendations that can help improve future responses.
HPG Publication - Working Paper
-
April 2008
Samir Elhawary and Gerardo Castillo
show details hide detailsEl Salvador: A case study in the role of the affected state in humanitarian action
The following case study of state responses to disasters in El Salvador was undertaken in the context of a broader project on ‘The Role of Affected States in Humanitarian Action’, overseen by the Overseas Development Institute. It sets out to examine the degree to which the Salvadoran state, in the aftermath of decades of conflict, assumed responsibilities for meeting humanitarian needs during three natural disasters that affected the country between 2001 and 2005, and how the state’s response has evolved since 2005. The analysis encompasses the actions of international aid actors and donors during these disasters, and their past and current support for state mechanisms for prevention and preparedness. Research was carried out during a ten-day mission to El Salvador in November 2007.
HPG Publication - Working Paper
-
March 2008
Patricia Weiss Fagen, Georgetown University
show details hide detailsSector Wide Approaches in Brazil: Features, drivers and emerging lessons
(PDF, 309kb)
This study was commissioned by the Brazil office of the UK Department for International Development in response to the growing interest in the role of sector wide approaches (SWAps) in middle income countries (MICs) such as Brazil. The aim of this study is to provide a synthesis of lessons learned from SWAps supported by the World Bank in Brazil, and to offer recommendations on how to take the experience forward. The study was undertaken through a desk review of the relevant literature and interviews with officials of development agencies, the Government of Brazil and the Government of the state of Ceará, focusing on three SWAp cases.
ODI Project Papers - Report
-
February 2007
Richard Batley, Lidia Cabral and Celina Souza
show details hide detailsInterim Evaluation of DFID's Regional Assistance Programme for Latin America
(PDF, 595kb)
This report contains the findings and recommendations of an Interim Evaluation of the three-year Latin America Regional Assistance Plan (RAP) whose implementation began in the early months of 2005. The evaluation is based on field visits to Washington, DC, and the regional offices of DFID carried out in late 2006, as well as documentary analysis and interviews undertaken previously in London.
ODI Project Papers - Report
-
January 2007
David Booth, Malcolm McNeil, Enrique Mendizabal and Lauren Phillips
'Will 2006 be a year of financial crisis in Latin America? With elections expected in Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, and Colombia in addition to those which have already taken place in Bolivia and Chile, and with electorates across the Continent in truculent mood, the outlook for financial markets could be sombre.'
ODI Publications - Opinion
64
-
January 2006
Lauren Phillips
show details hide details
Politics and the PRSP Approach: Bolivia Case Study Download | Purchase from the ODI Bookshop
This case study of Bolivia addresses the political development implications of both the first National Dialogue and PRSP process in 2000, and the current process in 2003–04. It sets out the
challenges of political development in the country, referring to historical legacies, medium-term trends and relevant policy-reform agenda from the last decade. It then considers how the political background – both basic structures and short-run circumstances – affected the possible scope and character of the 2000 process, and the options announced for the PRSP revision. The paper develops an argument about the ways in which the 2000 process engaged with the fundamental challenges facing political development, and the degree to which the process had relevant impacts, directly or indirectly. We are able to make only some highly tentative and provisional observations about 2003–04, since the process is incomplete.
ISBN: 0 85003 718 2
ODI Publications - Working Paper
238
-
May 2004
David Booth with Laure-Hélène Piron
Evidence from Latin America suggests that introducing complementary policies, both directly and indirectly related to trade, may make the crucial difference in generating development benefits for the poor.
ODI Publications - Project Briefing
12
-
June 2008
Sheila Page
This background note aims to identify organisations that are working to influence policy and build capacity around pro-poor trade in Latin America. This mapping provides an important baseline for the work of Comercio y Pobreza en Latinoamérica (COPLA, www.cop-la.net), a project funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) on trade, poverty and social exclusion in Latin America, and may also be useful for others concerned with the pro-poor dimensions of Latin American trade and trade-related policies. It focuses on organisations working on at least one of the following issues: spatial poverty (lagging regions); gender; indigenous peoples; and small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
ODI Publications - Background Note
-
March 2008
Tom Pengelly
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.
ODI Publications - Briefing Paper
38
-
March 2008
Nicola Jones and Hayley Baker
show details hide detailsRegional integration and Poverty: A case study of Bolivia
(PDF, 220kb)
This paper investigates the impacts of regional integration processes on poverty in Bolivia. It first demonstrates that regional integration has stimulated a diversion of trade away from traditional US and EU markets towards countries in MERCOSUR and the Andean Community. At the same time, the composition of exports has changed from predominantly minerals towards slightly more elaborated goods, such as vegetable fats, food and beverages. This paper presents econometric analyses of the impact of imports, exports and FDI (by sector, and trade block) on individual labour incomes and household poverty status. The results show that higher exports generally tend to benefit the workers who work in the exporting sectors. However, this result only holds for export sectors that exploit some natural resource rents (mining, hydrocarbons, modern agriculture), and not for those which rely purely on low wages in order to be competitive (most manufacturing sectors). Imports typically have a negative effect on worker salaries, except the imports of capital goods, which do not compete with local production. This implies that the change towards more regional trade of goods with a smaller natural resource rent component is unlikely to contribute to a reduction in poverty. For exports and FDI to be helpful for reducing poverty, they would have to focus on sectors which are labour intensive and at the same time exploit some natural resource rents. Sectors that might fulfil these criteria are modern agriculture and tourism.
ODI Project Papers - Report
-
October 2004
Osvald Nina and Lykke E. Andersen
show details hide detailsRegional Integration and Foreign Direct Investment in Developing Countries
(PDF, 245kb)
The empirical literature offers little guidance on whether some regions are more successful in attracting FDI than others. We bring together two differing approaches (detailed descriptions of regions and studies estimating effects econometrically based on 0/1 dummies) and estimate a model explaining the real stock of UK and US FDI in developing countries, covering 68 (UK) and 97 (US) developing countries over 1980-2001 and identify the effects of specific regional investment-related provisions on FDI. We show that i) membership of a region leads to further extra regional FDI inflows, but the type of regional provisions matters; ii) that the position of countries within a region matters
ODI Project Papers - Report
-
July 2004
Dirk Willem te Velde and Dirk Bezemer
show details hide detailsRegional Integration and Poverty: Mapping the linkages
(PDF, 466kb)
This paper brings together the building blocks to examine the effects of regional integration on poverty.
ODI Project Papers - Report
-
March 2004
Dirk Willem te Velde, Sheila Page and Oliver Morrissey
show details hide detailsSpecial and Differential Treatment in post-Cotonou Services Negotiations
(PDF, 555kb)
The principle objective of the study is to assess the costs and benefits of SDT options in possible EPA negotiations on services in the CARIFORUM-EC context. The study will focus predominantly on key sectors in representative Caribbean countries. Sectors of key importance to the Caribbean (and mentioned in the CPA) include: Tourism; Financial services; Education; Mode IV; ICT; Cultural services. The study will focus on key sectors in three representative countries, with varying levels of development: Barbados; St Lucia; and Suriname.
ODI Project Papers - Scoping study
-
February 2004
Dirk Willem te Velde, Ian Gillson and Sheila Page
show details hide detailsInvestment related provisions in regional trade agreements
(PDF, 554kb)
This paper discusses the expected effects of investment related provisions in regional trade agreements and assesses the way in which they have been implemented for a number of key regions: ASEAN (AFTA, or ASEAN Free Trade Area), NAFTA, MERCOSUR, CARICOM, ANDEAN, COMESA and SADC. Trade rules are present in all Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs). We show that regions differ in two fundamental respects: 1) over time when one region can change or add investment related provisions; and 2) across regions when investment related provisions differ at one single point in time. Evidence shows that investment related provisions in key regions differ significantly, including differences in: extent of regional tariff preferences; restrictiveness of rules of origin; investment rules, including national treatment for pre and post establishment and presence of effective dispute settlement mechanisms; and regional co-ordination on investment. Other differences relate to the different type of membership: North-North, South-South, North-South, South-South-North.
ODI Project Papers - Report
-
October 2003
Dirk Willem te Velde and Miatta Fahnbulleh
show details hide detailsForeign Direct Investment and Income Inequality in Latin America: Experiences and Policy Implications
(PDF, 554kb)
This report aims to understand the relationship between inward FDI and income inequality in Latin American countries. Does FDI lead to a narrowing of income inequality, as would be expected on the basis of traditional trade models, and do the effects differ by country? A second objective has been to examine the role of FDI policy in shaping the relationship between FDI and income inequality in Latin America. Do different FDI policies have different effects on income inequality? Can and should FDI policy be used to target income inequality? The research has found that FDI tends to increase wage inequality in Latin America. FDI raised real wages of skilled workers more than wages of less skilled workers in Chile, while it lowered real wages of skilled workers less than wages wages of less skill workers in Bolivia. Appropriate policies to improve the distributional impact of FDI include good quality and appropriate education and training and linkage promotion between multinationals and domestic firms.
ODI Project Papers - Report
-
April 2003
Dirk Willem te Velde
show details hide detailsTrade and Regionalism: the links with development
(PDF, 555kb)
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) recently begun supporting a Regional Trade Dialogue with Latin American and Caribbean Trade Vice-Ministers and Sub-Secretaries. This paper outlines the links between trade, regional integration and development policies and strategies.
ODI Project Papers - Report
-
April 2001
Sheila Page
International aid in conflict-affected countries is based on the liberal assumption that an inverse relationship exists between violent conflict and development. This paper contests this assumption through a study of the Colombian context that demonstrates violent conflict and development can in fact be interconnected as part of the transition to capitalist modes of production and in the process of state formation. It further argues that a failure by aid agencies to comprehend the complex interaction between conflict and development can result in distorted outcomes in their programming that are detrimental to the stated objectives of achieving peace, development, and justice.
Article in Colombia Internacional
67
-
July 2008
Samir Elhawary
This paper highlights some of the main land tenure issues in Colombia. It demonstrates that attempts by humanitarian organisations at alleviating the crisis must incorporate a comprehensive understanding of land issues in their policies and address them in their programming as part of a context-specific, integrated and inter-disciplinary approach.
HPG Publication - Working Paper
-
December 2007
Samir Elhawary
This study of Haiti is part of the project of the Humanitarian Policy Group, Overseas Development Institute (ODI) to compare three cases (Sri Lanka, Somalia and Haiti) where remittance flows are believed to have contributed to survival and recovery. Remittances to Haiti over the past decade have far exceeded foreign aid or international investment. Although ongoing research has established the value of remittances to developing countries generally, the particular issue of their role in emergencies has yet to be examined. This study assesses how people in Gonaives used remittances both from the Haitian diaspora and from internal sources during and after the city was all but destroyed by the September 2004 hurricane. It is based on information obtained during fieldwork in Gonaives in January 2006, and is supplemented by reports issued by international humanitarian agencies active in the country at the time of the disaster. The findings encompass information from recipients of remittances in Gonaives, but not from the Haitian migrants, either inside or outside of the country, who provided them.
HPG Publication - Background paper
-
April 2006
Patricia Fagen
Over the last five years, ODI’s Research and Policy in Development programme (RAPID) has been involved in research and advisory and capacity development work with a wide range of organizations throughout the developing world keen to improve the impact of their research on policy and practice, and has produced a wide range of practical guidelines and toolkits. Here’s what we’ve learned, summarised in six simple lessons.
Article in Glocal Times
-
February 2008
John Young
show details hide detailsTaller de desarrollo de capacidades para la incidencia politica
(PDF, 14mb)
The report of the Policy Influence Capacity Building Workshop held in Buenos Aires in 2007. The report contains the outline of the presentations and debate. It is in Spanish.
ODI Events - Workshop report
-
February 2007
CIPPEC
We are constantly talking about networks. Banks use their networks to offer global services to customers; airlines fly passengers all over the world via their networks of partners; news agencies use media networks to keep us informed every minute of the day; and terrorist networks threaten citizens around the world. The importance of networks extends to the development sector: they organise civil society to advocate for and implement change; they link the local with the global, the private with the public; and they provide spaces for the creation, sharing and dissemination of knowledge. In a way, networks seem to make anything and everything happen. But we have yet to understand what they are and what they can and cannot do. In the development literature, a huge variety of policy and social network concepts and applications exists. This paper attempts to set out a framework to help clarify what research policy networks do.
ISBN: 0 85003 816 2
ODI Publications - Working Paper
271
-
July 2006
Enrique Mendizabal
show details hide detailsNetworks in Peru: achieving and supporting change
(PDF, 612kb)
This report looks at the roles that research policy networks are playing in Peru. We ask what the Peruvian economic and social research community is doing to affect a larger impact on pro-poor policy processes in Peru. Within this we focus on the role that research policy networks play; specifically, we study their strategies and try to identify and comment on some best practices.
ODI Project Papers - Report
-
January 2006
Enrique Mendizabal
This four-day workshop held in Bolivia from 26th - 29th March 2007, in partnership with Fundación Carolina, was for AECI country coordinators in Latin America and the Caribbean. The workshop helped introduce some key issues around policy engagement and the new aid mechanisms available for international cooperation. ODI’s RAPID and PPPG groups delivered the workshop together combining group work facilitation and expert input. In addition, local practitioners from civil society, the public sector and donors participated with their own perspectives on the issues.
The Policy Influence Capacity Building Workshop was held in Buenos Aires in February 2007, facilititated by Latin American CSPP, RAPID and CIPPEC. Through a participative, multidisciplinary and theoretical-practical approach it pursued three main goals: 1) To exchange knowledge, practical experiences, tools and methodologies about evidence based policy influence; 2) to develop possible regional and national strategies to facilitate the application and sharing of this knowledge on and with other public policy oriented organisations; and 3) to strengthen the development of a network of organisations that wish to carry out and support the development of skills for more effective evidence based policy influence.
This workshop on Outcome Mapping took place in Havana, Cuba, between the 20th and 24th September 2005. It was organised by the Cuban National Forum of the International Forum for Rural Transport and Development - Latin America and was funded by the IFRTD network. ODI was invited to facilitate the workshop and introduce its participants to the Outcome Mapping methodology.
