Number of results to display per page
Search Results
49532. Ever Dollar Counts: How Global AIDS Donors Can Better Link Funding Decisions to Performance
- Author:
- David Wendt, Nandini Oomman, and Christina Droggitis
- Publication Date:
- 04-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development
- Abstract:
- Billions of dollars have been allocated to fight HIV/AIDS in poor countries over the past decade, yet less than half of those requiring treatment receive it, and for every two people put on treatment, five more become infected. This situation, in combination with the global economic crisis and the growing pressure to respond to broader global health objectives, is forcing donors to consider how to do more with their available funds. One way to improve the effectiveness of HIV/AIDS programs is to tie funding decisions to performance. Performance-based funding rewards effective programs and gives incentives for poor performers to improve. Donors have experimented with this approach, but they should do much more to ensure that funding decisions reflect and respond to how well funding recipients meet the objectives of their programs.
- Topic:
- Health
49533. Mobile Phones and Economic Development in Africa
- Author:
- Jenny C. Aker and Isaac M. Mbiti
- Publication Date:
- 06-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development
- Abstract:
- We examine the growth of mobile phone technology over the past decade and consider its potential impacts upon quality of life in low-income countries, with a particular focus on sub-Saharan Africa. We first provide an overview of the patterns and determinants of mobile phone coverage in sub-Saharan Africa before describing the characteristics of primary and secondary mobile phone adopters on the continent. We then discuss the channels through which mobile phone technology can impact development outcomes, both as a positive externality of the communication sector and as part of mobile phone-based development projects, and analyze existing evidence. While current research suggests that mobile phone coverage and adoption have had positive impacts on agricultural and labor market efficiency and welfare in certain countries, empirical evidence is still somewhat limited. In addition, mobile phone technology cannot serve as the “silver bullet” for development in sub-Saharan Africa. Careful impact evaluations of mobile phone development projects are required to better understand their impacts upon economic and social outcomes, and mobile phone technology must work in partnership with other public good provision and investment.
- Topic:
- Economics
- Political Geography:
- Africa
49534. How to Pay "Cash-on-Delivery" for HIV Infections Averted: Two Measurement Approaches and Ten Payout Functions
- Author:
- Mead Over and Timothy B. Hallett
- Publication Date:
- 04-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development
- Abstract:
- In contrast to current donor policy, which funds a recipient country's national AIDS control program, this paper proposes a measurement strategy to enable a donor to reward a recipient country's success at HIV prevention, irrespective of the inputs, activities, or who gets the credit. In accordance with the “cash-ondelivery” model of foreign assistance, the objective is not to replace traditional input- or activity-oriented aid, but to complement it by enhancing the motivation for local actors and their partners (including the traditional bilateral and multilateral funding agencies and their agents) to achieve measurable reductions in the rate of new HIV infections. This paper proposes two approaches to measuring the number of HIV infections averted between a baseline survey and a follow-up survey and explores the properties of ten alternative “payout functions” which would link measured epidemic changes to the size of the reward to be paid. All measurement approaches include the possibility of statistical error and thus a risk of rewarding the country too little or too much. This risk depends on the initial rate of infection and on HIV prevention success and can be reduced by either increasing the survey sample size or increasing the interval between surveys. By negotiating in advance the choice of one of these measurement approaches and one of a menu of payout functions, the donor and recipient agree on the recipient's incentive structure with respect to the magnitude and precision of the estimated reduction in the rate of new infection.
49535. The Race Against Drug Resistance
- Author:
- Rachel Nugent
- Publication Date:
- 06-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development
- Abstract:
- We are rapidly losing our ability to cure an alarming number of the most serious and common diseases of the developing world because of an invisible adversary: drug resistance. Resistance is inevitable—but careless practices in drug supply and use are hastening it unnecessarily. Without an immediate global effort to safeguard lasting treatment effectiveness, drug resistance will quickly become a widespread threat—claiming lives, raising the cost of curing patients, and making future generations increasingly vulnerable to deadly diseases that were easily cured in the past.
- Topic:
- Health and War on Drugs
49536. The Roots of Global Wage Gaps: Evidence from Randomized Processing of U.S. Visas
- Author:
- Michael Clemens
- Publication Date:
- 06-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development
- Abstract:
- This study uses a unique natural experiment to test a simple model of international differences in workers' wages and productivity. Large differences in wages across countries could arise from several sources. These include barriers to trade in outputs, differences in technology, differences in workers, or differences in the other factors of production accessible in different countries. To measure the relative importance of these sources in one setting, this study exploits the randomized processing of U.S. visas for a group of Indian workers who produce software within a single multinational firm. In this setting, international barriers to trade in outputs, barriers to technology transfer, and all observable or unobservable differences between workers are extremely low. The results indicate that location outside of India causes a sixfold increase in the wages of the same worker using the same technology to produce a highly tradable good. Under plausible assumptions about competition in the industry, this suggests that country-of-work by itself is responsible—in this industry—for roughly three-quarters of the gap in productivity between workers in India and workers in the richest countries. These findings have implications for open questions in labor, growth, international, and development economics.
- Topic:
- Economics and Labor Issues
- Political Geography:
- United States and India
49537. Leveraging World Bank Resources for the Poorest: IDA Blended Financing Facility Proposal
- Author:
- Benjamin Leo
- Publication Date:
- 06-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development
- Abstract:
- With the Millennium Development Goals deadline only five years away, the international donor community faces significant challenges due to the global economic crisis, record government deficits, and simultaneous funding requests from nearly every multilateral development institution. This paper proposes a new World Bank financing model for creditworthy emerging economies, such as India and Vietnam, which currently receive billions of dollars in IDA assistance. In contrast to the current IDA-centric financing model, the IBRD would provide the same loan volumes to qualifying emerging economies while IDA would provide grant subsidies to buy down the concessionality level of these IBRD loans. As such, these countries would be held harmless both in terms of aid volumes and lending terms. By better leveraging the IBRD's balance sheet for loan capital, IDA then could re-allocate what it otherwise would have provided to emerging economies. For the current IDA-15 replenishment period, this would mean up to $7.5 billion in additional assistance for the world's poorest, most vulnerable countries. In relative terms, this would entail a 30 percent increase over existing levels. Of this, African countries would have received an additional $5.5 billion in IDA assistance. If donor governments find a way to scrape together increased contributions to IDA, then the allocation pie would grow by an even larger margin. The Inter-American Development Bank already successfully utilizes a similar approach for its lower middle-income and low-income country clients. It is time for World Bank shareholders to seriously consider the same resource-maximizing model. With the IDA-16 replenishment and IBRD general capital increase negotiations currently underway, they have an excellent window of opportunity to implement this win-win-win approach.
- Political Geography:
- Africa, America, and Vietnam
49538. The Afghan War: A Campaign Overview
- Author:
- Anthony H. Cordesman
- Publication Date:
- 06-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Abstract:
- Defeating the insurgency not only in tactical terms, but by eliminating its control and influence over the population. Creating an effective and well-resourced NATO/ISAF and US response to defeating the insurgency and securing the population. Building up a much larger and more effective (and enduring base for transition) mix of Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). Giving the Afghan government the necessary capacity and legitimacy at the national, regional/provincial, district, and local levels. Creating an effective, integrated, and truly operational civil-military effort. NATO/ISAF, UN, member country, and NGO and international community efforts. Dealing with the sixth center of gravity outside Afghanistan and NATO/ISAF's formal mission. with the actions of Pakistan, Iran, and other states will be critical to success in Afghanistan.
- Topic:
- NATO and War
- Political Geography:
- Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and Asia
49539. African Conflicts and U.S. Diplomacy: Roles and Choices
- Author:
- Richard Downie and Jennifer G. Cooke
- Publication Date:
- 01-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Abstract:
- The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the American Academy of Diplomacy (AAD) cohosted a conference on October 29, 2009, to examine the role of diplomacy in U.S. relations with Africa. Discussions were grounded in the belief that as U.S. interests and engagement in Africa expand, U.S. diplomatic capacities must expand accordingly. The need to effectively manage multiple strands of U.S. investments in security, development, and conflict mitigation and management has become more complex and more important. The United States faces a far more competitive environment in Africa than in previous decades, with “emerging powers”—most notably China, India, Brazil, and a number of smaller Asian states—making major political and economic plays, and with regional organizations, transnational influences, and African civil societies asserting themselves more and more in national affairs. At the same time, the United States faces continuing constraints in diplomatic resources and personnel. In this context, the United States will need to identify how best to use its influence in Africa, which policy areas and places it should prioritize, and how to balance effectively the use of diplomatic, military, and developmental tools.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy
- Political Geography:
- Africa and United States
49540. Agricultural Productivity in Changing Rural Worlds
- Author:
- Melinda Smale and Timothy M. Mahoney
- Publication Date:
- 02-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Abstract:
- In a village near Sheikhupura, Pakistan, Shahid Zia and other elders discuss strategies for coping with steadily declining water levels in the tube wells long used to irrigate their rice crop. They bemoan the rising costs of renting combines to harvest their wheat, made necessary to reduce post-harvest losses from the monsoon that now arrives earlier. Their soils are tired, and their crop yields stagnant. Farmers whose fathers once led the Green Revolution on the moist, rich soils of Pakistan's Punjab, they must now rehabilitate their soils, restore groundwater, and diversify crops to remain commercially competitive. The harvest laborers whose livelihoods these well-educated landowners supported now eke out a living in the slums of Lahore.
- Topic:
- Water
- Political Geography:
- Pakistan, Asia, and Punjab