DevDispatch Recommends: January 2021 Global Development publications
Our first DevDispatch Recommends for 2021 is here!!!! We have been scouring the internet all month to bring you all the reports and publications hot off the press. This month, our list is eclectic (just the way we like it!) from highlighting the status of human rights in the world to an assessment of the Ghanaian rice value chain.
Check out our January list.
Africa’s Development Dynamics 2021: Digital Transformation For Quality Jobs
By OECD Development Centre and African Union Commission
In eight chapters, this report explores digitalisation and the opportunity it presents for quality jobs on the continent. Tailor-made policy recommendations are provided for each of the five regions in Africa. For the continent to achieve digital transformation, the following priority actions are required: public policies and infrastructure that ensure universal access to the digital solutions; leveraging digital technology for productivity for SMEs; developing skills and aligning them to the 21st century markets and; co-ordinating digital strategies at continental, regional, national and local levels.
At 284 pages, it is a long but worthwhile read. The report is available in English, French and Portugese.
The World Report 2021
By Human Rights Watch
In this 31st annual World Report on Human Rights, Kenneth Roth, the Executive Director of Human Rights Watch opens the report with an essay to Biden outlining the inevitable challenge his administration will face in restoring the US’ roles in the human rights space. The essay notes the worsening repression of human rights in China and urges the incoming American Administration to put particular emphasis on having human rights at the centre of domestic and foreign policy. The report ends with a profile of the human rights situation in nearly 100 countries and territories in which 27 are African countries. worldwide in 2020.
This is a lengthy report at 386 pages so you are looking at roughly 11 hours of reading time. However on the website, you can select your country of interest and go straight to that information. I found this quite handy.
Global Economic Prospects
By World Bank Group
COVID19 has sent the world into a global health and economic crisis, this flagship report makes it clear that policymakers face formidable challenges—in public health, debt management, budget policies, central banking and structural reforms. It looks at how the pandemic has made the fourth wave of debt more dangerous to what lies ahead for global growth scenarios. Emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs) are having to use unconventional policies for unconventional times.
Evaluating Contraception for Inclusion in Health Benefits Packages: Conceptual Issues and a Proposed Analytical Framework
By Rachel Silverman and Julia Kaufman
The pandemic has highlighted the inadequacies of many health care systems and has several low- and middle-income countries trying to move towards universal health coverage. The family planning community increasingly recognises that inclusion within health benefits packages may be essential for the sustainability of family planning financing. This paper offers an approach that can help donors, governments, and family planning advocates evaluate contraception for inclusion in HBPs, or—more broadly—for subsidisation with public funds.
This policy paper is a quick read at 47 pages and is useful for those who work in the sexual and reproductive health sector and health policy advisors.
Transit Oriented Development in practice.
A powerful example of impact on the ground in the area of Housing by our Brazil Cities team – and a story of how interventions in one city led to an approach that was scaled up and adopted as part of a Brazilian national law that set the standards for better quality social housing.
Three Challenges to Safe and Affordable Urban Housing
The blog raises three critical challenges: (i) importance of core services in informal settlements and slums, (ii) need to support housing rental markets, and (iii) making better use of underutilized land in city centers.
Can Housing Be Affordable Without Being Efficient?
The blog highlights the importance of giving due attention to building efficiency in affordable housing projects, both location efficiency and on-site energy and water efficiency. The key message: over their lifetimes, efficient homes are more affordable, healthier and provide better opportunities for residents than conventional buildings.
Rice value chain in Ghana - Prospective analysis and strategies for sustainable and pro-poor growth
By FAO
For quick reads, check out these blog posts
Published by the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), this report proposes different policy options that can be adopted to create sustainable rice value chains and self-sufficiency in rice production. These policies include those that promote good agricultural practices (GAP), reduce crop losses and increase in the use of inputs and mechanization.
If you are interested in agricultural value chains in Africa or particularly in Ghana, this is a quick read if you have an hour and twenty minutes to spare.
Transit Oriented Development in practice.
A powerful example of impact on the ground in the area of Housing by our Brazil Cities team – and a story of how interventions in one city led to an approach that was scaled up and adopted as part of a Brazilian national law that set the standards for better quality social housing.
Three Challenges to Safe and Affordable Urban Housing
The blog raises three critical challenges: (i) importance of core services in informal settlements and slums, (ii) need to support housing rental markets, and (iii) making better use of underutilized land in city centers.
Can Housing Be Affordable Without Being Efficient?
The blog highlights the importance of giving due attention to building efficiency in affordable housing projects, both location efficiency and on-site energy and water efficiency. The key message: over their lifetimes, efficient homes are more affordable, healthier and provide better opportunities for residents than conventional buildings.
Malawi Economic Monitor, December 2020 : Doing More with Less - Improving Service Delivery in Energy and Water
By the World Bank
The pandemic has induced a sharp recession in many countries across the globe. Malawi’s economy has been heavily affected, with growth projected at 1.0 percent in 2020, down from earlier projections of 4.8 percent. With population growth around 3.0 percent, this represents a 2.0 percent contraction in per capita GDP. Political stability has returned following the June 2020 Presidential elections, which should support investment. However, global and domestic factors emanating from the pandemic are affecting Malawi’s economy, including: 1) disruption in global value chains and trade and logistics; 2) decrease in tourism; and 3) decrease in remittances. This has combined with social distancing policies and behavior to also reduce domestic demand. The Malawi Economic Monitor (MEM) provides an analysis of economic and structural development issues in Malawi. The publication intends to foster better-informed policy analysis and debate regarding the key challenges that Malawi faces in its endeavor to achieve high rates of inclusive and sustainable economic growth.
Nigeria Development Update, December 2020 : Rising to the Challenge - Nigeria's COVID Response
By the World Bank
This report highlights how the COVID-19 (coronavirus) crisis has impacted Nigeria’s economy. In 2020, Nigeria’s economy is expected to experience its deepest recession since the 1980s due to the COVID-19-related disruptions, notably lower oil prices and remittances, enhanced risk aversion in global capital markets, and mobility restrictions. This edition of the Nigeria Development Update takes stock of the recently implemented reforms and proposes policy options to both mitigate the impact of COVID-19 and foster a resilient, sustainable, and inclusive recovery.
Uganda Economic Update, 16th Edition, December 2020 : Investing in Uganda’s Youth
By the World Bank
Uganda is entering a pivotal stage of its development path. The population is currently estimated at 46 million and will most likely rise to around 104 million by 2060. Close to 70 percent of the future population will be of working age and about half will reside in urban centers. This presents an enormous opportunity to invest in education and health so that the soon-to-be working age population will have the skills and health necessary to be fully productive and contribute strongly to the country’s development. The sixteenth Uganda Economic Update, which includes the special topic of ‘Investing in Uganda’s Youth’ reviews recent economic developments, with particular attention on the effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and provides an outlook for the macro-economy.
Nigeria: “My heart is in pain” - Older people’s experience of conflict, displacement, and detention in northeast Nigeria
By Amnesty International
The violence in Northeast Nigeria is now in its second decade, with both Boko Haram and the Nigerian military responsible for war crimes and likely crimes against humanity. Amid the conflict, older people’s perspectives and human rights have been largely ignored, despite the distinct and often disproportionate risks they face, whether in their villages, in military detention, or in displacement. This report examines specific violations and abuses that older people have suffered disproportionately, linked also to the intersection of older age, gender, and disability. It also analyses how the humanitarian response has failed to uphold many older people’s rights, including related to food, health, shelter, and participation.
Measuring attitudes & perceptions on the impact of COVID-19 in select Sub-Saharan African cities
By Metropolis Canada's COVID-19 Social Impacts Network for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a severe economic contraction in many developing countries, especially those in Africa. COVID-19 has exposed and exacerbated inequalities between countries just as it has within countries, leaving the most vulnerable groups further behind. To effectively counter the consequences of the pandemic, further international and national efforts are needed, including coordinated policy actions and reforms, creating an enabling policy environment.UNESCO in cooperation with the Metropolis Canada’s COVID-19 Social Impacts Network has prepared the following report on the impact of COVID-19 in Sub-Saharan Africa to provide governments with data and information on pandemic-related phenomena to develop effective, inclusive, and evidence-based responses. The study explored in this report aims to identify key issues, indicators, and socio-demographics in hopes of generating evidence-based policy responses addressing the socioeconomic dimensions of the COVID-19 crisis in nine cities across Sub-Saharan Africa (Maputo, Mozambique; Johannesburg, South Africa; Harare, Zimbabwe; Nairobi, Kenya; Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire; Dakar, Senegal; Libreville, Gabon; Freetown, Sierra Leone; and Kampala, Uganda).
That’s all we got for you this month. Let us know if you tuck into any of these.