DevDispatch Recommends: Publications Released in Global Development this December
Your December publications are here to take care of your holiday reading. Discover UNICEF’s agenda to connect every school to the internet, the impact of COVID-19 in select Sub-Saharan African cities and older people’s experience of conflict, displacement, and detention in northeast Nigeria amongst others.
Small Grants Programme: 25 years of Engagement with Indigenous Peoples
By Terence Hay-Edie, Alejandra Pero and Anna Lisa Jose for the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
This publication provides an account of Small Grants Programme’s (SGP) experience working with Indigenous Peoples over the last twenty-five years. The publication celebrates past achievements and advances critical lessons that can be used in forging new partnerships with Indigenous Peoples in future programming cycles, including opportunities to employ blended finance solutions. Building on the learning-by-doing experience gained over six Operational Phases, combining resources from the GEF with those of other bilateral donors, the SGP has cumulatively delivered financial support to over 25,000 community-based projects with civil society organizations in 133 countries at the global level. Among those countries, Indigenous Peoples’ have been vital partners in at least 94 countries.
Emissions Gap Report 2020 by the United Nations Environment Programme
By UNEP
For over a decade, the UNEP Emissions Gap Report has provided a yearly review of the difference between where greenhouse emissions are predicted to be in 2030 and where they should be to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.The report finds that, despite a brief dip in carbon dioxide emissions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is still heading for a temperature rise in excess of 3°C this century – far beyond the Paris Agreement goals of limiting global warming to well below 2°C and pursuing 1.5°C.However, a low-carbon pandemic recovery could cut 25 per cent off the greenhouse emissions expected in 2030, based on policies in place before COVID-19. Such a recovery would far outstrip savings foreseen with the implementation of unconditional Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement, and put the world close to the 2°C pathway.The report also analyses low-carbon recovery measures so far, summarizes the scale of new net-zero emissions pledges by nations and looks at the potential of the lifestyle, aviation and shipping sectors to bridge the gap.
How many children and young people have internet access at home?
By the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
At the height of nationwide lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic, up to 1.6 billion children were affected by school closures, causing the largest mass disruption of education in modern history. This joint report by UNICEF and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) presents new insights into children and young people’s access to digital connectivity worldwide, as well as the factors that drive inequities among and within countries.As a result of this learning crisis, UNICEF has joined forces with ITU to launch Giga, an ambitious global initiative to connect every school to the internet and every young person to information, opportunity and choice. With the support of Generation Unlimited, UNICEF now works under the Reimagine Education initiative to transform education by giving children and young people equal access to quality digital learning.
Global Wage Report 2020-21: Wages and minimum wages in the time of COVID-19
By the International Labour Organisation (ILO)
This ILO flagship report examines the evolution of real wages around the world, giving a unique picture of wage trends globally and by region. The 2020-21 edition analyses the relationship of minimum wages and inequality, as well as the wage impacts of the COVID-19 crisis.The 2020-21 edition also reviews minimum wage systems across the world and identifies the conditions under which minimum wages can reduce inequality. The report presents comprehensive data on levels of minimum wages, their effectiveness, and the number and characteristics of workers paid at or below the minimum. The report highlights how adequate minimum wages, statutory or negotiated, can play a key role in a human-centred recovery from the crisis.
For quick reads, check out these blog posts
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.
Human Development Report 2020- The Next Frontier: Human Development and the
Anthropocene
By the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Thirty years ago, UNDP created a new way to conceive and measure progress. Instead of using growth in GDP as the sole measure of development, we ranked the world’s countries by their human development: by whether people in each country have the freedom and opportunity to live the lives they value.The 2020 Human Development Report (HDR) doubles down on the belief that people’s agency and empowerment can bring about the action we need if we are to live in balance with the planet in a fairer world. It shows that we are at an unprecedented moment in history, in which human activity has become a dominant force shaping the planet. These impacts interact with existing inequalities, threatening significant development reversals. Nothing short of a great transformation – in how we live, work and cooperate – is needed to change the path we are on. The Report explores how to jumpstart that transformation.
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).