EU UPS AID TO AFRICAN, CARIBBEAN, PACIFIC STATES
The European Union announced a 35 percent rise in development aid to poor countries in Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) on Thursday as part of efforts to stem migration into the wealthy bloc.
The aid package to be shared among the 77 ACP countries over the 2008-13 period will total 22 billion euros ($28.1 billion). The announcement was made as EU and ACP ministers met in Papua New Guinea to discuss migration together for the first time.
THE WEBSITE:
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L01493490.htm
CELEBRATING GUAYANESE ART AT THE IDB
"The exhibit recognizes the cultural contributions made, from pre-Columbian times to the present"
A new exhibit at the IDB Cultural Center showcases the diverse nature of Guyanese art, from pre-Columbian times to the present.
The exhibit features a wide array of Guyanese works, from pre-Columbian utilitarian utensils made by Amerindians, to paintings, sculptures and leather and fiber objects created by contemporary artists.
THE WEBSITE:
http://www.iadb.org/NEWS/articledetail.cfm
IDB APPROVES $5 MILLION LINE OF CREDIT TO DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Support for streamlining and improving quality of operations
The Inter-American Development Bank today announced the approval of a $5 million conditional revolving line of credit to Dominican Republic to support the preparation, execution and evaluation of projects.
These resources will be used to finance activities and investments related to designing projects, expanding executing agencies’ capacity to carry out operations, strengthen their institutional frameworks and conduct ex post evaluations of projects
THE WEBSITE:
http://www.iadb.org/NEWS/articledetail.cfm?artid=2917&language=En
EFFECTIVE POLICIES TO MEET THE MDG AGENDA IN THE CARIBBEAN
To celebrate the first Caribbean sub-regional meeting of the Poverty Reduction and Social Protection Network of the Regional Policy Dialogue, key Caribbean policymakers met in Kingston, Jamaica on February 23 and 24 to discuss Effective Policies to Meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the Caribbean.
The meeting was hosted by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) and received substantial support from the IDB’s Regional Department 3, demonstrating once again the Bank’s permanent commitment to actively support its borrowing countries in their efforts to adapt, implement, and monitor the MDG agenda. The Regional Technical Cooperation Division (INT/RTC) of the IDB was responsible for the general coordination of the event, with technical coordination from The Poverty and Inequality Unit (SDS/POV) .
THE WEBSITE:
http://www.iadb.org/NEWS/articledetail.cfm?artid=2858&language=En
IDB LAUNCHES CALL FOR PROPOSALS TO PROMOTE REGIONAL PUBLIC GOODS SEPTEMBER 15 TO NOVEMBER 15
For development projects that support or require joint action
The Inter-American Development Bank today launched a call for proposals for collective action by countries in Latin America and the Caribbean that offer solutions to common problems or take advantage of shared opportunities.
The call for proposals is issued under the Regional Public Goods Initiative, created by the IDB Board of Executive Directors. The Bank will provide up to $10 million annually to help finance the selected proposals.
A regional public good is any good, product, service, regulatory system or policy regime that generates shared benefits for participating countries as a result of concerted action.
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LATIN AMERICAN LEADERS SEEK TO STRENGTHEN SOCIAL POLICIES
Social Equity Forum met at IDB headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Meager results attained in the reduction of income inequality during the past decade undermined efforts to fight poverty and constrained potential growth in Latin America, members of the Social Equity Forum concluded at a meeting held at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, D.C.
High-level personalities in the forum also agreed that behind these disappointing outcomes were weak institutions incapable of implementing social policies in most countries in the region.
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DEBT INTOLERANCE AND LATIN AMERICA
Developing countries can no longer sustain levels of debt previously thought to be safe. Countries are less tolerant to debt in emerging markets where chances of default are high even in the presence of relatively low debt-to-GNP ratios.
Multilateral organizations have joined efforts to deal with high debt levels. But debt intolerance affecting countries with a history of high inflation and serial default, mainly developing countries, leads to a situation in which binding constraints have “teeth” at relatively low levels of debt. The debt threshold might be much lower than previously thought, according to recent analysis of debt intolerance.
“External debt thresholds are uncomfortably low,” said University of Maryland economist Carmen M. Reinhart, who highlighted current trends on debt intolerance. Reinhart recently spoke at IDB headquarters in Washington, D.C, and pointed out that more emerging market debt defaults loom on the horizon.
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THIRSTY CITIES
Access to clean water and sanitation services has become a critical problem throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, but nowhere more urgently than in the region’s cities. Already under pressure from decades of accelerated population growth, water systems in cities from Mexico to Argentina are reaching the breaking point. Aging treatment plants, old and leaky water mains, depleted aquifers and polluted sources make it ever more difficult to keep up with the growing demand. Meanwhile, tens of millions of people in marginal urban areas still lack even basic water and sewer services.
A recent IDB study estimated that in Mexico and Central America alone, governments will need to invest US$23 billion in the coming decade if they are to meet the United Nations Millennium Development Goal of halving the portion of their populations without water and sanitation services by the year 2015. In South America, tens of billions of additional dollars will need to be invested.
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FIGHTING POVERTY WITH PEACE OF MIND
They have a name for it in Swahili - hapa na hapa.
It means literally a pain here and a pain here (in a different part of the body) - a general malaise that often leaves people listless, sleepless and reporting to medical clinics with an array of vague symptoms.
They have a name for it in English too - depression.
A New Frontier
Mental health issues, their prevalence in developing countries, and their links to poverty reduction, remain something of a new frontier in the international community.
The issue first emerged in the early 1990s. A series of studies, including the 1993 World Development Report, "Investing In Health" and the Harvard University Burden of Disease Study, predicted that neuropsychiatric disorders would assume increasing importance in developing countries.
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