The Transatlantic Taskforce presented their “Development report” in Berlin, Germany on March 19. ONE Germany’s policy manager, Andreas Hüebers, was there.

The report was presented by a panel consisting of co-chair Jim Kolbe, Michael Hofmann, German executive director at the World Bank as well as Alicia Spoons, a Transatlantic Fellow at the German-Marshall-Fund and contributing author to the report. The panel presented the main findings on the four chapters: development and security/government, climate change, food security, and aid effectiveness.

This was followed by a lively debate that showed that the consensus which the taskforce members had reached among themselves probably also reflects a consensus that the wider development aid community in Germany would subscribe to.

Interestingly many of the participants were from African Embassies, although this was deliberately a purely transatlantic exercise. The idea to broaden it by integrating Chinese and African contributions was discussed. Jim Kolbe said the taskforce will continue to make sure the report has political impact. In this endeavor he wants to be back in Germany next year.

The launch was preceded by a reception for African Ambassadors in Germany and followed by a presentation in the German parliaments development committee.

-Andreas Hüebers

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s first meeting earlier this week with President Obama comes amidst a deepening global economic crisis. The two pledged a new era of international cooperation and the pointed to the work jointly to find solutions.

President Obama said:

We talked about the economic crisis and how that’s affecting not only developed countries, but very poor countries around the world, and the potential threat to food supplies if it continues to worsen, and the need for international coordination.

The UN Secretary-general, who has said we also need to be concerned not only with Wall Street or Main Street, but those who have no streets,” emphasized that:

Leaders of G20 should not lose sight of the challenges and plight of hundreds of hundreds of millions of poorest people of the developing countries who have been impacted by this economic crisis. The leaders of industrialized countries should keep their commitment on Millennium Development goals and official development assistance, and help developing countries overcome food security and also help them to adapt and mitigate climate change.

His visit comes on the heels of more bad news about the crisis. According to a World Bank study prepared for next Saturday’s meeting of the Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors in London:

The global economy is likely to shrink this year for the first time since World War Two, with growth at least 5 percentage points below potential. World Bank forecasts show that global industrial production by the middle of 2009 could be as much as 15 percent lower than levels in 2008. World trade is on track in 2009 to record its largest decline in 80 years, with the sharpest losses in East Asia.

This is especially troubling for those least responsible for the crisis — the extreme poor. The study goes on to warn of financing shortfalls of anywhere between $270-700 billion as commodity prices continue to decline, global trade collapses, trade finance and private capital flows dry up and remittances drop.

And according to IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, “The worst of the crisis is still to come,” specifically in Africa. The poorest countries lack the social safety nets to deal with the crisis and are becoming increasingly dependent on overseas development assistance.

Unfortunately even before the financial crisis hit, rich countries were falling short of their commitments by about $39 billion a year. At least in the U.S., the President’s budget (PDF) goes against the tide. It designated $51.7 billion for the State Department and other International Affairs Programs, a $4.5 billion increase from fiscal year 2009.

As the situation continues to spiral download, some people are looking to the April 2 G20 summit in London to provide a more pro-poor response. Both the UN Secretary-general and President Obama will participate in the G20 meeting.

-Anita Sharma, UN Millennium Campaign

A World Bank report released on 8 March projects that global GDP will decline this year for the first time since World War II. The new report revised earlier estimates that emerging markets would sustain and grow the world economy even as the economies of developed countries contracted. The report was released ahead of the G20 finance ministers’ meeting to be held in London later this week. The report predicts that developing countries face a financial gap of $270-$700 billion caused by the global recession, and warns that even at the lower end of this range, international financial institutions such as the World Bank and IMF cannot by themselves currently cover the shortfall that includes mounting public and private debt and trade deficits.

The report also highlighted earlier analysis that poverty (people living below $1.25 per day) will increase by around 46 million people in 2009 (and by 53 million for those living below $2 per day), caused by adverse effects on employment and wages as well as slowing remittance flows. The crisis will be a major setback to the progress towards the Millennium Development Goals, as the long run consequences of the crisis may be more severe than those observed in the short run. For example, when poor households withdraw their children from school, there is a significant risk that they will not return once the crisis is over, or that they will not be able to recover the learning gaps resulting from the missed months or years of school attendance. The World Bank also warns that infant deaths in developing countries may be 200,000-400,000 per year higher on average between 2009 and the MDG target year of 2015 than they would have been in the absence of the crisis, according to its preliminary analysis.

The report concludes that stabilization, protecting longer-term growth and development, and protecting the vulnerable will be the main challenges for developing and emerging market countries, but pursuing these objectives requires significant resources which low income countries lack. As a response to the crisis, the World Bank is calling on developed nations to dedicate 0.7% of the money they spend on stimulus programmes (the G20’s announced fiscal stimulus collectively amounts to almost $1 trillion for 2008 and 2009 as of end of January, with a further $650 billion in 2010) toward a Vulnerability Fund to help developing countries absorb the shock of the financial crisis. Some G20 countries such as the UK have expressed interest in this idea, but to date, none of the countries has committed to it. The upcoming G20 finance ministers’ meeting will be an important moment to discuss this proposal.

-Mikiko Imai

As we wrote about yesterday, some ONE staff are currently traveling through Ghana and Nigeria to see firsthand some of the extreme poverty and development issues currently taking place in Africa. Today Chandler Smith brings us this account about the Millennium Challenge Corporation. Click here to read more about this ongoing series on the ONE Blog.

Working in the development community, I’ve heard a lot about the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). I’ve heard about how it’s a “different kind of program” and how it works with other countries to make sure that U.S funds are used for projects that are country-owned and will be sustainable in the future.

Today, I saw a lot of that talk put to action. We drove east of Accra on Highway 1–the most visible MCC project in Ghana. Basically, the MCC is a U.S. government mechanism that provides large-scale, long-term funding for developing countries who have met a specific set of indicators reflecting good governance, economic investment, and investment in people. Once selected for MCC funding, for example, Ghana had to develop a compact proposal explaining the initiatives they would like funded, and agreeing to transparency and careful accounting during implementation of the projects. The U.S. not only provides the funds for the projects – like the highway – but the MCC helps Ghana establish an on-the-ground group to manage the projects. Compacts run for five years – making funding predictable and allowing longer-term projects – like highway building – to take place.

Highway 1 feeds from the rural areas into Accra and is the major transportation artery in the country. When it is finished, its six-lanes will enable workers to commute to Accra and goods to be transported to the airport for export in a timely manner.

We travelled on Highway 1 to a farm where as many as 50 farmers have been trained by the Millennium Development Authority – the local group that helps implement all of the MCC projects in Ghana. The farmers have learned how to and improve their access to seed and fertilizer, and received other vital training. There, the farmers told us a little bit about how this training has improved production on the farm. For more on that, check out this video:

The highlight of today’s visit was without a doubt the Jei River pineapple farm. Jei River was started with funding from the MCC. With this start-up money, the farm has grown to be one of the largest in Ghana and specializes in four different types of pineapple. My favorite kind was the Sugar Loaf pineapple. It is white both on the inside and outside, and is very sweet (just as the name suggests). This farm was an example of how a small loan and proper training can become a sustainable farm with as many as 400 workers.

These are just a few of the places we visited today, and each time we arrive somewhere new, I am struck by the resourcefulness and diligence of each individual. I’ve also learned how important it is that we listen to people on the ground to make sure that whatever the United States does to provide aid ensures sustainability for the future. The Millennium Challenge Corporation appears to be a pretty good start.

-Chandler Smith

After an inspiring morning with friends and cocoa farmers from a Technoserve project, we headed back into the city to meet with three clients from Opportunity International (OI). OI is one of the global leaders in micofinance, providing financial services to the poor including small business loans and training in basic business practices. Their work revolves around a proven “Trust Group” model in which groups of individual borrowers apply for and work to repay group loans – thus building a strong sense of accountability and community among clients. Our group spent the afternoon with some of the many thousands of OI clients.

We first met with a gentleman named Jospeh who used his loan to begin the development of a private school in his neighborhood, which initially served only a few children in a single building. Today the school serves roughly 190 students in 7 room complex, which recently welcomed a new computer center, boasting several machines for the children to use.

After spending time with the excited kids, we moved on to meet with Anna who runs and operates her own business in her backyard. In addition to being a wife, mother of four and a landlord, Anna is a businesswoman: she used her loan to start several business ventures, including batiking her own fabric, handcrafting pillows and making laundry detergent. We were lucky enough to witness the final stages of batiking, in which Anna and her workers used wax to paint elaborate designs on dyed cloth, which are later sold as decorative fabric across Ghana.

Once again, we had a great visit with some of our partners on the ground. It was truly inspiring to see another example of economic development initiatives working. More to come… stay tuned.

-Luisa Engel

Last week, a new report calling for a new U.S. led initiative on global agricultural development was released. The report, titled “Renewing American Leadership in the Fight Against Global Hunger and Poverty,” was produced by a group of bipartisan foreign policy and development leaders, led by Catherine Bertini (former head of UN’s World Food Programme) and Dan Glickman (former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture), convened by The Chicago Council on Global Affairs and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The report calls for a renewed U.S. commitment to alleviating global poverty through agricultural development in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, the two regions with the largest number of poor people, many of them small farmers and their families. The report includes five recommendations and 21 specific action suggestions for how the U.S., through increased agricultural development assistance and partnerships at home and abroad, could help achieve the Millennium Development Goals’ first goal of halving hunger and poverty by 2015. It calls for a government-led strategy to significantly increase investment in the key areas of global agricultural development where the US has much to contribute — specifically in the areas of research, education and infrastructure — and help nations in Africa and South Asia to achieve their goals of alleviating rural poverty and related hunger.

The five recommendations include:

1. Increase agricultural education and extension;
2. Increase funding for agricultural research;
3. Emphasise on expanding rural and agricultural infrastructure;
4. Reform of US and international institutions that deliver agricultural development assistance; and
5. Reform of US policies that discourage agricultural development abroad.

The report argues that the proposed recommendations can be implemented at a modest cost – total costs to the US budget is estimated at $340 million in the first year starting in 2009 (compared to $83 million now spent on these activities in SSA and S. Asia), increasing to $1.03 billion by year five and continuing to year ten.

The timing of the report release coincided with President Obama’s submission of the broad outlines of the FY10 Budget request last week which put the country on a path to double foreign assistance, a pledge made during his presidential campaign. President Obama’s budget blueprint also makes it clear that U.S. will “reach out to the global community and renew its role as a leader in global development and diplomacy” and that part of this commitment will include embarking on new initiatives that will foster global food security through sustainable agriculture. The time has come for renewed leadership from the U.S. on long-term funding for agriculture and we here at ONE will be keeping an eye on new developments.

- Mikiko Imai

Last week the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced two new grants designed to support small cocoa and cashew farmers in Africa. The $48 million in total funding will support public-private partnership projects that aim to boost production for smallholder farmers and expand productivity in the cashew and cocoa sectors in Africa.

The World Cocoa Foundation received $23 million for cocoa initiatives, and one of the German government’s development agencies, Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), was given $25 million for cashew projects in Africa. Both grants awarded will supplement $42 million in cash and in-kind contributions from the private sector, NGOs, and local governments that will provide technical assistance to farmers and the industries.

Smallholder agriculture is a source of income and livelihood for more than half of sub-Saharan Africa’s population. According to the Foundation’s press release, cocoa is a key export from West Africa and accounts for 70% of the world’s supply, while Africa produces one third of the world’s cashew crop. Initiatives that improve the quality and yield for these crops have the potential to increase incomes and improve livelihoods of thousands of farming families.

The cocoa project will focus on farmer training and education, crop diversification, and making the supply chain more efficient, and aims to double the incomes of smallholder cocoa farmers. The five-year project will reach approximately 200,000 cocoa farmers in Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia, and Nigeria. Bill Guyton, president of the World Cocoa Foundation commented on the grant announcement, “Cocoa has the potential to deliver significant improvements in income as well as in family and community well-being across rural West and Central Africa.”

Africa’s cashew market is currently impeded by a lack of cashew processing facilities. The cashew project plans to, build processing capacity, increase farmer productivity, and increase links between farmers and the marketplace. The project aims to help 150,000 smallholder farmers in Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Mozambique increase their incomes by 50 percent by 2012. The development or expansion of local factories will also provide new employment opportunities in these countries.

Funding like these grants, that come with technical assistance and partner expertise, and focus on expanding opportunities for agriculture and trade, are an exciting step towards harnessing the power of agriculture to positively impact livelihoods in Africa.

-Beth Adler

On Tuesday, a broad-based coalition that includes several of ONE’s partners launched A Roadmap to End Global Hunger – a comprehensive strategy for addressing global hunger through short, medium, and long-term initiatives and reaching the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving hunger by 2015. Representatives Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) and Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.) joined the co-sponsoring NGOs* at Tuesday’s release on Capitol Hill, and new bipartisan legislation that incorporates the key points of the Roadmap to End Global Hunger is expected to be introduced in the coming weeks.

The Roadmap pitches several strategies for addressing the dire situation of global hunger. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 963 million people are hungry around the world, the majority of whom live in developing countries. As the document notes, despite previous U.S. commitments to end global hunger, the number of hungry people continues to rise as global hunger is exacerbated by continued higher than average food prices and the global economic downturn. The Roadmap calls for a total of approximately $50 billion in U.S. funding for agriculture and food security initiatives over five years.

The document details the need for a faster, more efficient response to food emergencies and emphasizes the importance of flexibility in the provision of emergency food assistance, including options for buying food locally and regionally, and implementing voucher programs where food is available but families are too poor to afford it. The plan calls for donated food aid, like bags of rice or maize, as well as cash assistance that can provide timely and appropriate emergency assistance. The plan also calls for additional funding for safety-net programs – like cash-for-work and school feeding programs – to prevent the most vulnerable populations from descending further into hunger. It also stresses the importance of establishing and expanding early childhood nutrition programs.

In order to promote the development of the agricultural sector in the developing world and break the cycle of hunger and poverty, the Roadmap suggests a more than quadruple investment in market-based agriculture and market development. The suggested $1.38 billion over five years would be aimed at initiatives supporting low-income, smallholder farmers – particularly women. Considering that agriculture employs nearly two-thirds of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa, programs that assist farmers in producing more goods, and helping farmers access markets in which to sell these goods, could have a wide-spread, positive impact on household income and food security.

The Roadmap calls for the (more…)

Today, President Obama submitted a broad blueprint of his first budget request to Congress. This marks the start of an important process that will ultimately decide how federal dollars are spent and directed in fiscal year 2010, including funding for America’s efforts to fight global poverty and end deaths from preventable diseases like AIDS and malaria.

In the weeks and months ahead, ONE members will have the chance to play an important role during a critical stage of the budget process. And in the end, if we are successful, we can make sure that more people with HIV/AIDS have access to lifesaving medication, that more bed nets are provided to protect families from malaria, and that more kids living in the poorest regions are given the chance to attend school for the first time.

The President’s budget has designated $51.7 billion for the State Department and other International Affairs Programs. This number represents a $4.5 billion increase over the $47.2 billion that was passed for fiscal year 2009. However, because today’s outline only provided top line figures, we do not yet know how much of it will represent an increase for global poverty reduction programs. ONE is seeking a $4 billion increase for poverty reduction accounts as a positive start in setting a spending trajectory that will enable President Obama to fulfill his historic anti-poverty commitments, which ONE members helped secure during the presidential campaign, including his commitment to double foreign assistance. Since those campaign commitments, the President has continued to articulate the importance of addressing global poverty, including in his Inaugural Address and most recently in his speech to Congress. In the next couple weeks, ONE will work to make sure that these commitments and sentiments are fully reflected in the nuts and bolts of the President’s budget request, which we’ll learn more about in April.

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Five months into the new fiscal year, Congress is set to vote on nine remaining appropriation bills for FY2009, including funds for global poverty reduction, health, and assistance to Africa and elsewhere in the developing world. Levels agreed upon by House and Senate negotiators offer some welcome news as well as a few areas of concern. ONE’s own Larry Nowels takes an expert look at the numbers behind the FY2009 appropriation bills and what they mean for ONE’s issues:

The best outcome overall is that in the face of the financial crisis and recent approval of a nearly $800 billion economic stimulus package, Congress did not cut the total amount allocated for foreign policy and development programs from levels set in mid-2008. Reducing the commitment to the world’s poor would have been a troubling outcome and a signal of challenges ahead in the next budget debate for FY2010 that begins next month.

In total, the appropriation includes about $18 billion for programs that most directly impact the lives of poor people around the world, an increase of 4%. The largest component — $6.85 billion – supports global HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria, 7.5% higher than last year. Other global health programs also fare well. Child survival and maternal health receive $497 million (+10%) and family planning/reproductive health grows to $545 million (+18%). The appropriation further allocates $50 million for the U.N. Population Fund, an organization that had been determined ineligible for U.S. support for the past eight years due to its programs in China.

Spending for other bilateral development programs is set at $1.8 billion, a 10% increase, with special attention focused on global food security and agriculture. Amounts for clean water, basic education, biodiversity, and microcredit remain at levels provided in FY2008.

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