DevDispatch Recommends: July 2022 Publications
One thing we love about the digital era is the availability of knowledge at our fingertips. We dug deep into the web and discovered these five publications released in the global development space in July addressing climate change, trade, advancement of women’s rights and efficient use of agricultural water.
We hope you find them as insightful as we did!
The Road to COP27: Making Africa’s Case in the Global Climate Debate
By The Mo Ibrahim Foundation
With this year’s COP27 being hosted in Egypt, this report argues Africa’s case in the global climate conversation. It puts forward arguments including the paradox of the continent being the least responsible for climate change, but paying the highest price globally, and poses potential questions to address ahead of COP27.
The paper makes recommendations that take into account the African context and its specific climate vulnerabilities including:
- Addressing the interaction between climate, development and security challenges
- Raising awareness of Africa’s assets and Africa’s ability to be a key stakeholder of a global green economy – not just a victim
- Investing in resilience to prevent loss and damage to lives, livelihoods and critical infrastructure
Readers can look out for expert perspectives on issues including harmful narratives impacting the fight towards climate action, Senegal’s energy development efforts, challenges and opportunities for clean cooking solutions in sub-Saharan Africa and humanizing Africa’s energy transition.
The report is 140 pages long and is recommended for African climate change activists, climate change practitioners and government officials.
Economic Development in Africa 2022: Rethinking the Foundations of Export Diversification in Africa: The catalytic role of business and financial services
By the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), United Nations (UN)
The report is centered around the premise that diversification of African economies is the gateway towards the continent becoming globally competitive, and the level of diversification has to be taken up a notch in light of the African Continental Free Trade Area.
Against this background, the publication proposes policy-oriented actions to help Africa leverage trade in services to diversify economic activities into new and potentially transformative sectors. It suggests that African Governments strategically design and target incentives to encourage entrepreneurs to pursue economic activities with the potential to drive structural change, and that in partnership with the private sector, they introduce policies and investment agreements that ensure skills transfer, technological know-how and innovation and mobilize domestic resources to provide targeted infrastructure and technology that promote industrialization.
The 192 paged report is recommended for African economists, trade departments and policymakers.
Guidelines for the calculation of the agriculture water use efficiency for global reporting
By Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
The paper releases guidelines for the calculation of agriculture water to help countries understand the change in water use efficiency over time in line with the agronomic parameters in SDG indicator 6.4.1, which focuses on yield ratio and proportion of rainfed production.
The compact 48 paged report focuses on computations for irrigated agriculture, livestock and aquaculture. The chapters are broken down into scope of the irrigated agriculture water use efficiency, proportion of irrigated land to cultivated land, FAO’s estimations of yield ratio and recommended methodology for refined yield ratio at country level.
Target audiences including agronomists, and agriculture ministries can expect to find exact ratios and computations for each thematic area in the report.
Advancing Women's Rights and People-Powered Democracy
By IBON International
The paper acknowledges the leaps and bounds of women’s movements in the fight towards equality over time including strides towards better wages, protection from gender-based violence in the workplace, and persevering in the land struggle.
However, there is an unfortunate qualifier. Billions of women in the global south are still marginalized and are unable to enjoy these basic rights. The paper therefore sheds light on the plight of women in the global south notably peasants and rural women who continue to face landlessness and targeted violence at the hands of the military and state repression while falling prey to gendered impacts of climate change.
The paper concludes with reflections to advance women’s rights including addressing barriers to their access to productive resources and social services, offering land redistribution and agricultural support, supporting and developing community-based practices on sustainable consumption, production, and climate adaptation.
This is a quick read at 20 pages, and a key resource for women’s rights activists, researchers and policymakers.
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.
Existential priorities for the African Continental Free Trade Area
By the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)
For quick reads, check out these blog posts
The report underscores the historical significance of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the numerous ways the continent stands to benefit from its successful implementation which hinges on availability of key resources, inclusivity, digitalisation, innovation, green action, infrastructure and industrialization.
Its key messaging includes identifying existential threats and challenges that must be addressed in order to ensure successful realisation of the AfCFTA including conflicts, pandemics and epidemics, climate change and environmental destruction, and cyber-crime inequality and exclusion. It suggests that Africa must work towards progressively deeper and wider economic integration; affordable energy, rules of origin that support regional value chains, empowerment of women and youth, and free movement of persons as key priorities for successful implementation of the AfCFTA.
The report is 202 pages long and highly recommended for practitioners working at the core of the AfCFTA implementation strategy, trade lawyers, and African governments focused on trade policy design.
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.
Global SDG Accountability Report
By the Transparency, Accountability and Participation (TAP) Network.
This report serves to ascertain the level of accountability for the Sustainable Development Goals at a subnational, national and international level. Information gathered from the SDG Accountability Survey serves as the basis of this report by collecting reflections and inputs from stakeholders around the world.
Split into four sections the report looks at:
1. The foundations of the 2030 Agenda – which explains and contextualises the SDGs;
2. A snapshot of SDG accountability – which outlines the challenges being faced by stakeholders in implementing the SDGs especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic
3. Building a Global Multistakeholder Movement for SDG Accountability – which focuses on case studies of different stakeholders and their role in accountability and how they can improve accountability
4. Recommendations to Advance Accountability for the SDGs & the 2030 Agenda – which summarises the findings of the report and provides recommendations for specific stakeholders.
This report is an asset for the media, parliamentarians and national human rights institutions. It’s 101 pages but is organised such that it can be read in sections relevant to the information you are looking for.
The Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Education, Livelihoods & Food Security Status: Policy Implications For Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)
By P. Tamasiga, A.T. Guta, H. Onyeaka, H. Nkoutchou and M.S. Kalane.
Sub-Saharan countries were particularly vulnerable to the impacts of the COVID-19 as they were already experiencing weak health care systems, low financing for testing and very few resources for response measures. This data-driven report outlines the key trends of the COVID-19 pandemic by region, highlighting case trajectories, lockdown and containment measures, economic impacts, education impacts and health impacts. South Africa still accounts for the highest number of cases and deaths followed by Ethiopia and Nigeria.
Along with containing COVID-19, Central Africa is still facing the additional challenges of pre-existing health concerns, especially malaria.
The policy implications are focussed on supply chains, trade and market access, food and agricultural production, misinformation and the media, health, education and strategic communication. Sub-Saharan Africa has already been deemed to be the most at risk for food insecurity and this is expected to increase 2.5 fold.
Global progress report on HIV, viral hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections, 2021
By WHO
This report looks into how effective the strategies planned for 2016-2021 have been in the fight against HIV, viral hepatitis and STIs. Progress has indeed been made despite the disruption of the global pandemic but in the same breath, there are still many targets that have not been reached. The number of new HIV infections has fallen by 23% to its lowest rate since 2010 with 1.7 million new infections in 2019 however this is far from the target of only 500 000 new infections.
Stigma and lack of resources to implement people-centred policies and services still remain the largest hindrance. COVID-19 severely affected the ability for people to get tested easily. This report analyses the success and shortfalls of each WHO region. The report recommends that the only way to try and get back on track is for governments to collaborate their efforts into universal health care systems beneficial for the most vulnerable.
This report is targeted at anyone who works with marginalised communities of people infected by HIV, hepatitis or any STIs and is also a good read for health care workers and policy makers. It is moderately long at 108 pages.
Mainstreaming gender in urban public transport
By Stockholm Environment Institute
Africa is the fastest urbanizing continent, yet walking still remains the most affordable mode of transport in urban areas. This is due to a lack of service provision. There is also a large gender inequality problem when it comes to transport both in operation and in use. This report seeks to shed light on the under researched matter of women’s participation in transport decision making and their use of public transport systems.
The report uses the case studies of Nairobi, Dar es Salaam and Kampala by interviewing all members of society from taxi drivers to policy makers in the ministries of transport and transport planners. The report identifies accessibility and safety of public transport systems, sexual assault and harassment, lack of integrated and gender sensitive urban planning and underrepresentation as larger barriers towards gene=der mainstreaming in transport.
This report is the perfect short read for city and transport planners at only 40 pages.
Terrorism in the Sahel Facts and Figures
By NATO Strategic Direction- South, ACSRT
The fight against terrorism in the Sahel is still a major issue that deserves attention as the number of terrorist attacks has increased by 18.5% in 2020. This report analyses current and past data to show a conclusive analysis on the rate of terrorism. The largest threats come from the following terrorist groups Boko Haram, ISGS, JNIM and ISWAP and the most affected countries are Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Chad.
This analysis is taken in the form of quantitative analysis with a lot of informative graphs and infographics as well as qualitatively by looking at the types of attacks. The report concludes that 2020 has been the most intense year in terms of terrorism in the Sahel.
This report is target to all members defence ministries and counter-terrorism organisations. It is a very brief read with only 37 pages.