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On the Concept of Green Growth and the Role of Policy and Public Finance
Get PDFThis article aims to identify the current discussion on green growth, and focuses on the role of public finance in promoting a transition towards green growth. Terms such as “green economy” and “green growth” have become popular in international policy discourse as ways of describing recent efforts to improve the environmental performance of the economy. In this article, the definitions offered by several international institutions are compared and some commonalities are identified. The rationale behind green growth can be explained within the framework of the growth theory. Investment is indispensable to the practical promotion of green growth activities. Using Vietnam as a case study, we identify the critical factors for encouraging and enabling green investment. However, further theoretical background should be developed. In particular, pricing on environmental goods and services is a critical challenge for both the theoretical and the practical development of green growth. Further theoretical and practical study on green growth may improve the discussion on the growth theory as well as the development of policies that promote investment in green growth. To deepen the discussion, further case studies need to be collected and analyzed.research repor
India’s Unique Role in the Enhancement of Democratic Governance as a Model of Constitutional Democracy
Get PDFHow can the unique knowledge, experience, technology, institutions, norms, and ideas of developing countries contribute to the political, economic, and social development of other developing countries? This question is worth asking, as ongoing discussions regarding emerging donors have failed to explore the possible contribution of developing countries to governance issues through the utilization of their unique resources. This paper examines the realities and potential of India’s contribution to the enhancement of democratic governance in developing countries. It argues that India’s enduring experience of constitutional democracy has been attracting attention from other developing countries, particularly those who are tackling the daunting challenge of consolidating democracy in tandem with the projects of nation-building and state-building within the inherently hostile environment of an ethnically and religiously divided society.research repor
Factors Influencing Health Facility Delivery in Predominantly Rural Communities across the Three Ecological Zones in Ghana: A Cross-Sectional Study
Get PDFBackground
Maternal and neonatal mortality indicators remain high in Ghana and other sub-Saharan
African countries. Both maternal and neonatal health outcomes improve when skilled personnel
provide delivery services within health facilities. Determinants of delivery location
are crucial to promoting health facility deliveries, but little research has been done on this
issue in Ghana. This study explored factors influencing delivery location in predominantly
rural communities in Ghana.
Methods
Data were collected from 1,500 women aged 15–49 years with live or stillbirths that
occurred between January 2011 and April 2013. This was done within the three sites operating
Health and Demographic Surveillance Systems, i.e., the Dodowa (Greater Accra
Region), Kintampo (Brong Ahafo Region), and Navrongo (Upper-East Region) Health
Research Centers in Ghana. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify the determinants
of delivery location, controlling for covariates that were statistically significant in univariable
regression models.
Results
Of 1,497 women included in the analysis, 75.6% of them selected health facilities as their
delivery location. After adjusting for confounders, the following factors were associated with
health facility delivery across all three sites: healthcare provider’s influence on deciding
health facility delivery, (AOR = 13.47; 95% CI 5.96–30.48), place of residence (AOR = 4.49;
95% CI 1.14–17.68), possession of a valid health insurance card (AOR = 1.90; 95% CI
1.29–2.81), and socio-economic status measured by wealth quintiles (AOR = 2.83; 95% CI
1.43–5.60).
Conclusion
In addition to known factors such as place of residence, socio-economic status, and possession
of valid health insurance, this study identified one more factor associated with
health facility delivery: healthcare provider’s influence. Ensuring care provider’s counseling
of clients could improve the uptake of health facility delivery in rural communities in Ghana.journal articl
Transformation of Rural Bangladesh: Role of Infrastructure and Financial Institutions
Get PDFThis paper reviews the process of structural transformation and its consequences on the welfare of rural households in Bangladesh. We argue that public investments in roads, electricity, and financial institutions trigger structural transformation, which increases and diversifies rural incomes, raises consumption expenditures, reduces poverty, and increases educational achievements. Data analysis suggests that the average household income goes up by 10 percent and consumption expenditure by 4.7 percent as a result of one additional microfinance institution branch in a village. Grid connectivity and road investment also increase incomes and expenditures, and lower poverty. Analysis also shows that incomes increase more for non-farm sources than for farm sources as a result of infrastructure investments. These developments point to a structural transformation at play in rural Bangladesh.research repor
The Continuum of Humanitarian Crises Management: Multiple Approaches and the Challenge of Convergence
Get PDFThe notion that “relief alone is not enough” is common to all actors involved in the management of humanitarian crises. This notion was officially framed at the United Nations (UN) in 1991 as a “continuum from relief to rehabilitation and development,” and today remains a challenging task in the agenda of international assistance organizations. Despite periodic efforts to understand the problem and to put forward solutions, reviews report a lack of conceptual clarity and little progress. We suggest that one of the reasons for this is the paucity of efforts to clarify the meaning of the continuum in a way that leads to an understanding of both humanitarian crises in general and crisis-specific settings. Thus, the present paper aims to contribute to advancing this conceptual front by comparing general approaches to the continuum of humanitarian crisis management, with those that can be found through the work on two emblematic types of crises: disaster risk reduction and peacebuilding. We show that parallel understandings of the continuum as a matter of actors and as a matter of phases coexist, and need disambiguation; besides there is difficulty internalizing the non-linearity of the process and a lack of clarity on the position of prevention within humanitarian crisis management. We put forward a multi-layered activities model as the most basic understanding of the continuum to which all actors can converge, and describe its strengths and weaknesses. Local ownership is the most important limiting factor, and pursuing approaches internal to or among foreign actors as an alternative to realizing the continuum is not a substitute.research repor
Bangladesh’s Achievement in Poverty Reduction: The Role of Microfinance Revisited
Get PDFUsing long panel survey data collected three times between the years 1991/92 and 2010/11, this paper examines the role of microfinance in poverty reduction in rural Bangladesh. More specifically, in assessing the impact of microfinance on poverty, this paper makes a distinction between the effects of current participation in microfinance programs and those of past participation, and between the effects of continuous participation in microfinance programs and those of irregular participation. Findings suggest that there is a greater decrease in poverty levels for participants in microfinance programs than for non-participants, and for female participants more than for male participants. Additionally, continuous borrowers fare better than irregular borrowers. Overall, microfinance participation, which is found to be cost-effective for borrowers, has contributed to about one-seventh of the total reduction in moderate poverty and one-eleventh of the total reduction in extreme poverty in rural Bangladesh. Finally, this paper recommends the expansion of microfinance funded growth-oriented activities in the non-farm sector, in particular manufacturing and processing activities, so as to reap larger benefits from microfinance.research repor
Potential and Challenges for Emerging Development Partners: The Case of Indonesia
Get PDFEmerging development partners can play an extremely important role in international cooperation, because they have accumulated valuable experience and knowledge in identifying and implementing their own development solutions. They have also overcome many of the same difficulties and constraints that other developing countries face. However, such experience and knowledge has hitherto not been effectively shared among countries of the South. For example, most development partners from the South have not yet established an articulated institutional framework to carry out such knowledge sharing with other countries. Valuable knowledge and technologies are often not well documented or still remain tacit, thereby constraining their smooth transfer to other countries. The objective of this paper is to gather insights into the potential and challenges in development cooperation for new development partners by drawing from a case study on Indonesia. Indonesia is a member of G20 and a pioneering emerging development partner that is mainstreaming knowledge-centered South-South cooperation. The ‘Indonesian model’ is found to be flexible and pragmatic, with a significant emphasis on technical cooperation, and without a strong regional or specific-country focus. The country’s experiences and its innovative use of South-South and triangular cooperation (SSTC) might be considered valuable for other emerging development partners looking for a modality of effective SSTC.research repor
Normative Framing of Development Cooperation: Japanese Bilateral Aid between the DAC and Southern Donors
Get PDFIn the context of current debates about the future of North-South aid in the changing landscape of development cooperation, this paper explores normative frameworks and alternative conceptions of aid, focusing particularly on the case of Japanese bilateral aid in comparison with Southern and DAC donors. Our analysis departs from the conventional approach in aid research which considers the purpose of aid as an economic transfer of resources, and the motivation of donors as an instrument for pursuit of geopolitical or economic interests. We draw on recent social science literature, and explore how donors’ conception of aid is shaped by their identity within the international community and concerned with the type of hierarchical relationship it wishes to create with the recipient. The paper finds that while Japan follows DAC norms, it has attempted to accommodate them within a distinctive paradigm of aid that has roots in post-war reconstruction efforts. Like the norms of Southern donors, many of core norms of Japanese aid lie outside of the consensus DAC paradigm while overlapping with those of South-South cooperation. Drawing on anthropological theory of the gift, the paper argues that the normative framing of Southern donors and Japan contrast with that of the DAC donors particularly in attempting to neutralize the power asymmetry that characterizes donor-recipient relationships. While Southern donors are seeking to create a relationship of solidarity, Japan has over the years sought to create a cooperative relationship necessary for mutually beneficial economic ties of trade and investment, and both contrasting with the charitable relationship created by North-South aid. We argue that these values shape policy approaches in aid models. In showing that the values that inform southern and Japanese donors lie outside of the DAC framework, we highlight the limitations of the DAC paradigm.research repor