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This Newsletter guides you to content relevant for international co-
operation and economic development. Reposted from sources linked
below. Prepared by the Economic Development and Employment Department
of AGEG Consultants eG. Feel free to circulate it to your network.
Join by sending an email to: AGEG-eco-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
_____________________________________________________________________

CONTENT

1. Please welcome new staff at AGEG's Head Office
2. AGEG Consultants eG sign Framework Contracts with the European
Commission
3. EU Development policy to focus on climate and democracy, says Mrs
Carlsson
4. EU confirmed its position as the world's leading donor in 2008
5. EU Commission report on European competitiveness
6. EU: Access to finance major problem for SMEs
7. AL-INVEST IV: A bridge between EU and Latin American SMEs
8. Launch of a new financial product for development
9. Asia must promote employment, support those without decent jobs,
ADB says
10. Asia's Progress on Millennium Development Goals Remains Mixed
11. Call for Contributions - Migration and Development, CEFE
12. EIT needs experts for the Knowledge and Innovation Communities
(KICs)
13. Call for Proposals: The Microinsurance Innovation Facility
14. Publications
15. Training and Events
16. Websites of the Month
_____________________________________________________________________

Take a Deep Thought

Before you criticize people, you should walk a mile in their shoes.
That way, when you criticize them you are a mile away and you have
their shoes. Jack Handey
_____________________________________________________________________

1. Please welcome new staff at AGEG's Head Office

AGEG Consultants eG has two new Managing Directors, who share general
management tasks. Both are experienced Consultants and are named
Harald, but are not relatives. Harald Himsel will lead the business
development, while Harald Speidel looks more on the administration and
financial management. Martina Jacobson joined the team as Project
Manager for Training, E-Learning, and Sustainable Tourism. All
activities of AGEG Consultants are coordinated from AGEG's Head Office
in Kirchheim unter Teck, Germany. A team of 16 people is responsible
for the acquisition and management of short and long term projects as
well as for the provision of services to AGEG's members and
associates. http://www.ageg.de/headoffice/headoffice_team/
_____________________________________________________________________

2. AGEG Consultants eG sign Multiple Framework Contracts with the
European Commission

The European Commission has selected three consortia in which AGEG
participates as partner for the Multiple Framework Contract to recruit
technical assistance for short-term expertise. The Framework Contract
Beneficiaries is an instrument for fast and transparent recruiting of
experts for activities in the sole interest of the beneficiary
countries/authorities of the European Commission’s external aid
programmes. We expect to receive requests for international and
national expertise by the European Commission from now on.

AGEG is now a 'preferred supplier' for Technical Assistance services
to the EC for the following specific areas of expertise:
 - Transport and Infrastructure sector (Lot 2)
 - Environment (Lot 6)
 - Humanitarian Aid and crisis management (Lot 12)

AGEG is enlarging the database of individual experts especially for
these sectors. We are looking for interested and qualified experts.
Candidates should have experience in EC development co-operation and
in conducting short-term missions (evaluations, studies, technical
assistance, etc.). If you are interested and agree that we can include
your CV in our database, please send your updated CV to Angela
Kirchherr at a.kirchherr@ageg.de and to cv@weitzenegger.de. See
http://www.ageg.de/project_jobs/ There is no deadline, requests come
in every moment.
_____________________________________________________________________

3. EU Development policy to focus on climate and democracy, says Mrs
Carlsson

As president in office of the EU Council, the Minister for
International Development Cooperation of Sweden, Gunilla Carlsson,
presented to MEPs from the Committee on Development the presidency's
priorities for the second semester of 2009: development as part of the
climate change agenda, democracy building as well as policy coherence
and effectiveness. Helping to ensure that developing countries can
effectively fight poverty in all its forms and meet the challenges
that follow in the wake of the global economic crisis and climate
change are the main priorities the Swedish presidency in the field of
development. Replying to some questions of MEPs about the sometimes
incoherent EU approach, the Swedish minister encouraged the European
Parliament to make full use of its scrutinising powers (budgetary and
co-decision procedures) in order to ensure that the EU makes the
development cooperation more effective and ensures that different EU
policy areas and actors work together more coherently. http://www.europarl.europa.eu
_____________________________________________________________________

4. EU confirmed its position as the world's leading donor in 2008

The newly published 2009 annual report on the European Community's
development and external assistance policies and their implementation
in 2008 shows that the European Union continues to be the world's
leading development aid donor, accounting for 60% of world aid in
2008. The Commission alone committed EUR 12 billion, more than a fifth
of the EU total. At the same time the quality and effectiveness of aid
are improving, as are transparency and the monitoring of results. The
Commission has continued its efforts to make its aid more effective by
working more closely with other international donors and by
simplifying its procedures. Considerable efforts have also been made
to channel aid through national systems in order to strengthen
ownership at local level and reduce transaction costs for the partner
countries. In 2008 the Commission also stepped up its efforts to
mainstream such issues as gender, the environment, and the rights of
children and indigenous people in the development process. Source:
RAPID http://tinyurl.com/yd4aodv
_____________________________________________________________________

5. EU Commission report on European competitiveness

The European Commission issued its Annual Report on Competition Policy
for 2008. The report provides a summary of the most important
developments with regards to EU competition policy and focuses on
major enforcement actions. Furthermore, the ways in which tools of
competition policy have been applied to combat the financial crisis
are outlined and the benefits to consumers of competition policy are
underlined. For the first time, the 2008 Annual Report includes a
special chapter on a topic considered to be of particular importance
in the field of competition policy. The topic chosen is ''Cartels and
consumers''. In 2008, the Commission fined 34 undertakings in seven
cartel decisions. In cases such as the Banana cartel, consumers
directly suffered from higher prices until the Commission broke up the
price fixing cartel. http://ec.europa.eu/competition/publications/annual_report/index.html
_____________________________________________________________________

6. EU: Access to finance major problem for SMEs

The European Commission published the results of the new ''Flash
Eurobarometer: SMEs' access to finance''. The survey, conducted with
9071 firms in 27 EU Member States, Croatia, Iceland and Norway, was
set up to assess EU companies' use of various sources of finance, to
get a picture of the magnitude of companies' difficulties in getting
access to finance, and to obtain an overview of companies'
expectations for financing their future projects and developments.
Overall, the survey revealed that businesses face difficulties in
accessing finance, as almost half of them have problems to access bank
loans. Despite the fact that availability of bank loans has
deteriorated over the last six months for 46% of SMEs, over 70% of
small businesses were able to receive all or part of the bank load
they wanted, and only 15% were fully rejected. http://tinyurl.com/yantrpd
_____________________________________________________________________

7. AL-INVEST IV: A bridge between EU and Latin American SMEs

The fourth phase of AL-INVEST, financed by the European Commission,
aims at supporting the internationalisation of Latin American SMEs in
collaboration with their European partners in order to contribute to
reinforce social cohesion in the region. Unlike the previous phases,
the fourth phase of the AL-INVEST (2009-2012) is implemented through
three groups of business organisations belonging to three distinct
geographical areas of Latin America: 1. Central America-Cuba-México;
2. Andean Region; 3. Mercosur Chile and Venezuela. These three groups
are supported through horizontal services delivered by a European
consortium lead by EUROCHAMBRES. This consortium will carry out market
studies, business meetings, technical assistance, individual exchange
programmes and trainings. In addition, all European business
organisations with experience and/or interest in working with Latin
America will be gathered under a Network of Interested Institutions.
AL-INVEST IV website: http://www.al-invest4.eu
_____________________________________________________________________

8. Launch of a new financial product for development

AFD and Crédit Agricole Asset Management have launched CAAM AFD
Avenirs durables (Sustainable Futures), an innovative mutual fund that
allows savers to participate in financing projects in developing
countries. This innovative product aims to create new sources of
financing for development, while at the same time meeting the demands
of savers seeking socially responsible investments http://www.caamafdavenirsdurables.org
_____________________________________________________________________

9. Asia must promote employment, support those without decent jobs,
ADB says

Creating the conditions for good jobs and, more importantly, social
protection programs for those unable to find decent work is an urgent
priority for governments in Asia and the Pacific, Asian Development
Bank (ADB) Vice President Ursula Schaefer-Preuss told a conference in
Ha Noi, Viet Nam. Speaking at the conclusion of a three-day conference
titled ''The Impact of the Global Economic Slowdown on Poverty and
Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific,'' Ms. Schaefer-Preuss
said that the recent global economic downturn has cut demand for the
exports on which the region’s economies depend, forcing job cuts in
many of the industries that send their goods overseas and slashing the
incomes of thousands of people in the region. Many may struggle to
find alternative employment. ''Before the crisis – in the context of
high growth rates – only about half of the region's young labor
entrants could find decent jobs, while the rest had to sustain
themselves and their families through the informal sector,'' said Ms.
Schaefer-Preuss. ''The need for social protection strategies to
address the post-crisis labor market becomes more urgent with the
prospect that growth rates may not reach the levels of just a few
years ago.'' The conference, organized by the ADB, together with the
governments of Viet Nam and the People's Republic of China, the ASEAN
Secretariat and nine development partners, saw over 350
representatives from ADB, regional governments, civil society,
intergovernment organizations and academe discuss the social impact of
the global crisis and the need for social policy reforms.
http://www.adb.org/Media/Articles/2009/13020-asian-employments-priorities/
_____________________________________________________________________

10. Asia's Progress on Millennium Development Goals Remains Mixed

Asia and Pacific countries continue to make broad progress in reducing
extreme poverty but hunger still remains widespread and many economies
are struggling to meet other Millennium Development Goals, including
reductions in maternal mortality rates and access to sanitation,
latest available data show. Source: ADB http://www.adb.org/article.asp?id=12968
_____________________________________________________________________

11. Call for Contributions - Migration and Development, CEFE

GTZ has contracted CEFE International to develop a Tool Box for the
Promotion of Private Sector Development Commitment of Migrants. 15
innovative and well described ideas are needed. Approved contributions
(4 pages) will be honoured with up to 375,00 USD. But you can gain
even more. http://www.cefe.net/en/makemoney/call-contributions-migration-and-development
_____________________________________________________________________

12. EIT needs experts for the Knowledge and Innovation Communities
(KICs)

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) launched a
call addressed to individuals for the establishment of a database of
independent experts to assist the EIT in the process of the evaluation
and implementation of Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs). The
database will include profiles from the following areas: Sustainable
energy, Climate change adoption and mitigation, Future information and
communication society, Business creation and venture capital,
Innovation in existing business, Entrepreneurial education, Research
and product development. The list drawn up from the date of
publication of this call will be valid until the end of 2013.
Applications may be submitted at any time, up to the last 3 months of
validity of the list. To register as an independent expert, see
http://eit.europa.eu/experts.html
_____________________________________________________________________

13. Call for Proposals: The Microinsurance Innovation Facility

The Microinsurance Innovation Facility and the European Development
Research Network (EUDN) invite academic researchers to submit
proposals for research that will contribute new knowledge to support
microinsurance development in developing countries. Deadline: 30
October 2009. http://www.eudnet.net/microinsurance.html
_____________________________________________________________________

14. Publications

ADB Improving Its Development Effectiveness, Says Report
http://www.adb.org/article.asp?id=12936
ADB operations have delivered tangible benefits to the lives of
millions of people in Asia and the Pacific over the past four years,
while there are several areas needing further improvement at both the
project level and within the organization itself, says a new
development effectiveness report.

Aid for Trade - Review urges trade opening to combat global recession
http://ictsd.net/i/news/bridgesweekly/50312/
According to participants at the Second Global Review of Aid for
Trade, developing countries should open their borders to trade in
order to stimulate economic growth. The two-day meeting was held in
Geneva and brought together heads of regional and global financial
institutions as well as international development agencies. Strategies
for improving trade capacities for developing countries amid the
ongoing global economic slowdown were discussed.

Climate Change Reference Guide and Glossary
http://tinyurl.com/yexb39q
This is an updated version of the reference guide that originally
appeared in State of the World 2009: Into a Warming World, published
by the Worldwatch Institute.

Economic Development in Africa Report 2009
http://tinyurl.com/ybh9fcv
Strengthening regional economic integration for Africa’s development
The Economic Development in Africa Report 2009 was published by
UNCTAD. It argues that regional integration is essential for sustained
development on the continent, especially within the context of crisis.
The report analyses trends in the trade of goods and services,
migration and investment, assessing the potential for increasing them
in ways that support economic development. Source: GTZ.

Fighting Poverty with Facts: Community-Based Monitoring Systems
http://tinyurl.com/y8db6dc
This book and case studies show how accurate local information can
help reduce poverty and improve governance.

Financing for Development and the Reform of the Financial
Architecture: A View from Latin America
http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/iez/global/06318.pdf
DoG Briefing Paper N° 5by Fabiola Mieres, FES Buenos Aires.

GIGA Journals available free-of-charge on the Internet
http://hup.sub.uni-hamburg.de/giga/
The four renowned academic journals of the GIGA German Institute of
Global and Area Studies are now available online and free-of-charge.
Every Internet user can now access the full content of the GIGA
Journal Family at no cost, which means that the reach of the journals
is now significantly greater.

How to ensure development friendly economic partnership agreements.
Lessons across regions
http://tinyurl.com/ydnfolv
Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) provide an important
opportunity for deeper regional integration, broader trade with the
European Union and enhanced economic and social development in the
African, Caribbean and Pacifi c (ACP) countries. Based on a thorough
legal, institutional, and economic assessment, the authors explore the
link between the rules negotiated under comprehensive EPAs and their
development potential. And they provide fresh ideas into how we can
best ensure that EPAs assist ACP countries in reaping the gains of
regional integration and trade.

How to Reform the International Financial System?
http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/iez/global/06693.pdf
FES Briefing Paper 11-2009 by Xu Mingqi, FES Shanghai, September 2009
With the peak of the financial crisis in the rear window, Xu Mingqi
gives a Chinese perspective on how to reform the international
financial system in order to avoid similar future crises.

International Migration Outlook: SOPEMI 2009
http://tinyurl.com/y9js9yt
This publication examines the economic crisis and its impact on
international migration, describes how flows and migration policy have
been recently affected by the crisis, and analyses the forecast medium
and long-term impact.

Is there demand for formality among informal firms:
evidence from microfirms in downtown Lima
http://tinyurl.com/y8omoyg
Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik Discussion Paper 12/2009
Miguel Jaramillo.

Knowledge Web on SMEs and entrepreneurship:
Ambitious entrepreneurship, high-growth firms and macroeconomic growth
http://tinyurl.com/y8m523n
The study assesses the impact of ambitious entrepreneurship and high
growth firms on subsequent macroeconomic growth for a sample of
countries. According to the study, ambitious entrepreneurship -
entrepreneurs expecting to grow their firm - has a positive impact on
macroeconomic growth. The study reveals that the effects of ambitious
entrepreneurship are stronger than that of entrepreneurship in
general. Moreover, its effects are stronger in low-income countries
that in high-income countries. In particular, established high-growth
firms do not seem to drive macroeconomic growth.

NORRAG News 42 - A safari towards aid effectiveness?
http://www.norrag.org/latest_issue.php
This issue of NORRAG News takes a critical look at the Paris
declaration & the Accra agenda for action as part of the new aid
reform architecture.

Regional Atlas on West Africa
http://tinyurl.com/yag8g76
This atlas describes the West African region, its population,
settlement, territories, its economy and its vulnerabilities. It
analyses the developments and the ways in which West Africa is
conforming to a constantly changing global environment.

Sustainable Economic Development in Conflict-Affected Environments
http://tinyurl.com/18r
This comprehensive GTZ-Guidebook on Sustainable Economic Development
in Conflict affected Environments synthesises that work and
contributes to the current international efforts, in particular of the
Donor Committee for Enterprise Development (DCED), to improve economic
development approaches in these difficult conditions. It explains the
challenges of working in a conflictive environment and guides
development practitioners towards successful project planning,
implementation and monitoring.

The rising importance of sustainable development in the South American
trade agenda
http://tinyurl.com/yby99p8
This paper recently published by IISD summarizes the main findings of
four national case studies (Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Peru). It
puts forward the hypothesis that the links between trade and
environmental and labour issues have gained importance when it comes
to the performance of exports and trade negotiations of Latin American
countries.

World Bank: Doing business 2010: Reforming through difficult times
http://tinyurl.com/y9ncgjg
The report assesses the ease of doing business in a wide range of
countries based on a set of specified indicators affecting 10 areas of
everyday business: starting a business, enforcing contracts, employing
workers, getting credit, closing a business, registering property,
protecting investors, dealing with construction permits, paying taxes
and trading cross borders. The 10 indicators are updated, and the
countries ranked according to the analysis of economic outcomes.
_____________________________________________________________________

15. Training and Events

InWEnt and WBI invite participants to International Business Forum
eConference
5 - 23October, 2009, Free
http://tinyurl.com/yaaaawn
The eConference will look at the impact of and responses to the
economic, financial and climate change crises in Africa and will serve
as a lead-up to the 13th International Business Forum ''Global Crises-
African Challenges'', jointly organized by InWEnt and WBI in Ghana on
October 4-6, 2009.

Value Chain Design for Impact
http://hposthumus.nl
20 - 22 October 2009, 2 - 4 February 2010, 22 - 24 June 2010
There is an increasing demand for solid result measurement. The DCED
has developed practical guidelines, based on proven good practice.
Applying these guidelines improves project performance and enables you
to communicate credible results. By the end of the course you will be
able to set up a practical result measurement system that can be used
for internal learning and decision-making.Contact hans@hposthumus.nl
or hbekkers@business4development.com.

Global Forum on Remittances 2009
http://www.ifad.org/remittances/events/forum09.htm
Tunis, Tunisia, 22-23 October 2009, Laico Tunis Hotel
This year’s forum will mainly focus on remittances to and within the
African continent. The objective of the forum is to raise awareness
among different stakeholders in the remittance market and highlight
the potential benefits that remittances can bring to the social and
economic development of the African continent. The Global Forum on
Remittances 2009 is the third in a series of groundbreaking
conferences dedicated to highlighting the importance of international
migration and the vital flow of remittances that result. The
conference is part of a series of events devoted to the creation of
worldwide synergies among government, civil society and the private
sector stakeholders that are key to maximizing the development impact
of migration. The importance of this process is further highlighted by
the Group of Eight’s explicit call on reducing the cost of remittances
by 50 per cent over the next five years.

SEEP Annual Conference
http://www.seepnetwork.org/Pages/conference.aspx
Arlington, VA 22204 USA, 2-6 November 2009, Sheraton National Hotel
In a continuing effort to Power Connections among microenterprise
practitioners, this year's SEEP Annual Conference will host two
special events dedicated exclusively to SEEP member-proposed topics,
products and tools.

Corporate Governance & Responsibility Forum 2009
http://www.cgrforum.com
Dead Sea, Jordan, 2-4 November 2009, Marriott Hotel
The Corporate Governance and Responsibility Forum 2009, is a highly
interactive Forum that will build on outcomes and successes from the
Forum previously held in 2007.

Industrial Policy in Developing Countries
http://tinyurl.com/nmnr3l
Bonn, 18.-19.11.2009, Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik
International Workshop in commemoration of Jörg Meyer-Stamer.

Information, Knowledge and Communication - Web 2.0 in Development Co-
operation
http://www.eadi.org/index.php?id=994
Bonn, Germany, 19 - 20 November 2009
A seminar for communication professionals in the field of development
research and co-operation , organised by EADI and Euforic.
Registration deadline: 31 October 2009.

Workshop: Promoting Global Value Chains: The Role of Governance
http://www.eadi.org/index.php?id=1120
Maastricht, Netherlands, 26-27 November 2009
EADI Working Group on Industrialisation Strategies in co-operation
with Maastricht School of Management.

Strategies to Achieve Pro-Poor Growth in Brazil, China and India:
The Case of the Education Sector, International Workshop
http://gc21.inwent.org
Berlin, Germany, 10. - 11. December 2009, InWEnt Training Centre
Organised by Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) / InWEnt
Internationale Weiterbildung und Entwicklung.
_____________________________________________________________________

16. Websites of the Month

Child Migration Research Network
http://www.childmigration.net
The Child Migration Research network (CMRN) has been established to
help assess the impact of migration on children and youth. The aim of
the CMRN is to bring together researchers who look at how migration
affects children and to highlight research work, especially that in
grey literature or other hard to reach sources, that focuses on this
area.

CTA Weblog and weekly Newsletter
http://brussels.cta.int
CTA's new features include: A section where an invitee per week will
comment some of the most burning development issues discussed in
Brussels. A signpost for sharing, e-mailing and printing an article,
links to the source for each news item. News categorised by thematic
groups.Links to the Brussels Development Briefings and to the EC, ACP
and other Brussels-based websites. Other features, such as the daily
updated calendar of events, remain.

dgCommunities is now Zunia - Knowledge Sharing and Collaboration
Worldwide
http://zunia.org
Zunia is an online network for knowledge sharing and collaboration
among development professionals worldwide. It covers extensive topic,
collecting information from more than 200 development organizations.
Together with its members, Zunia is aggregating reports and other
information to help us all do a better job in aid and development.

EU – China: Civil Society Forum
http://eu-china.net
The Site aims to make social, environmental and human rights
objectives form the basis of the European-Chinese relations and to
ensure that labour standards and additional social and ecological
standards are adhered to in Chinese affiliated companies and suppliers
of European enterprises.

Eurostep website on EU Country & Regional Programming to ACP countries
http://www.acp-programming.eu
This website is a tool for civil society actors in ACP countries and
in Europe to follow the discussions on the programming of aid to ACP
countries under the 10th European Development Fund (2008-2013). Indeed
the European Commission is currently programming aid to 78 countries
in Africa, Caribbean and the Pacific. The aid programme covers 22.8
billion euros over the 5 year period.

Experience Development
http://www.experiencedevelopment.org
The UK's most comprehensive development sector guide, providing
information on the latest in development research, news, events and
jobs.

Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM)
http://www.gemconsortium.org
The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) is a not-for-profit academic
research consortium that has as its goal making high quality
international research data on entrepreneurial activity readily
available to as wide an audience as possible. GEM is the largest
single study of entrepreneurial activity in the world.

ILO job crisis observatory
http://www.ilo.org/jobcrisis
The International Labour Organization (ILO), a has launched a website
which will present the most relevant analysis and information on the
impact of the economic crisis on the world of work, and on policy
responses to the job crisis.

Institute for Research and Debate on Governance (IRG)
http://www.institut-gouvernance.org
The Institute for research and debate on governance (IRG) intends to
provide food for thought and help sharing approaches and experiences
on governance One of the major objectives in this domain is to give
rise to, confront and bring together new conceptions of governance
which move away from the Western-based notions of ''good governance”
and constitute a source of renewed proposals for regulating societies.

International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI)
http://aidtransparency.net
IATI will help those involved in aid programmes to better track what
aid is being used for and what it is achieving – from the taxpayers in
donor countries who provide the money, to those in developing
countries who benefit from aid spending.

New blog on the future international role of the European Union
http://www.thebrokeronline.eu/en/regulars/blogs/Europe-s-International-Role
The decisions that are made in the autumn of 2009 will shape Europe’s
international role in the future. The script that drives global policy
making is being rewritten, in response to the financial crisis,
climate change and global security challenges. Following the recent
publication of an article on Europe's global challenges by Simon
Maxwell, Paul Engel, Dirk Messner and Pierre Schori, the magazine the
Broker has created a special blog to stimulate further debate on how
the decisions made over the next three months can shape Europe's
international role in the future.

New website for Development Practitioners
http://www.alternativedevelopment.net/
A new website has just been launched aimed at experienced development
consultants, as a forum for them to exchange their views and hands-on
experiences of development projects. Alternative Development is not
about the theories of development but about the often mundane matters
on which success actually hinges, from basic project design faults,
out-of-date assumptions, the procedures for winning donor bids,
recruiting experts, engaging counterparts in change, straightjacketed
project budgets etc.

Northern Alliance for Sustainability / The Switch
http://anped.org/theswitch
The Switch covers various campaigns, new book releases, academic
papers, policy processes and more. It takes a holistic and progressive
approach to the sustainability debate and does not shy away from
addressing controversial topics. The new Switch website is designed by
Erol Hofmans. During the coming months, we will present more features
and make the Switch your knowledge portal for sustainability.

One World Action
http://owa.netxtra.net
One World Action is working to create the power and opportunity for
the poorest citizens to transform their own lives, and to challenge
the international policies that make and keep people poor.

Portal of NGO national platforms for non governmental diplomacy
http://www.ong-ngo.org
This Forum aims at facilitating cooperation between national platforms
and regional coalitions of NGOs at the regional, inter-regional and
international levels through common advocacy and capacity building
actions.

PREVAL builds capacity in Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation
http://preval.org
PREVAL, a Regional Programme working in Latin America and the
Caribbean, is an unique global platform working with (national and
local) government institutions, project technical units, and rural
organisations to build and strengthen their capacity to develop and
implement Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (PM&E) systems as
opportunities to produce information to feed into decision making and
learning.

Rural Poverty Portal
http://www.ruralpovertyportal.org
Powered by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD),
the Rural Poverty Portal is a website where rural poor people, policy-
makers, donors, research institutes, non-governmental organizations
and other development partners can share information about eradicating
rural poverty. Source: IFAD

The Executive Agency for Competitiveness & Innovation (EACI)
http://ec.europa.eu/eaci/
EACI is an executive body composed by an international team of
specialists on energy, transport, finance, environment,
competitiveness and innovation from both the European Commission and
the private sector.

The MIX Market ™ - a global, web-based, microfinance information
platform
http://mixmarket.org
It provides information to sector actors and the public at large on
microfinance institutions (MFIs) worldwide, public and private funds
that invest in microfinance, MFI networks, raters/external evaluators,
advisory firms, and governmental and regulatory agencies.

The World Economy
http://www.theworldeconomy.org
This web site aims at presenting our bestsellers The World Economy: a
millenial perspective, it also presents its sequel The World Economy:
historical statistics.

United Nations site for the MDG Indicators
http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Default.aspx
This site presents the official data, definitions, methodologies and
sources for more than 60 indicators to measure progress towards the
Millennium Development Goals. The data and analyses are the product of
the work of the Inter-agency and Expert Group (IAEG) on MDG
Indicators, coordinated by the United Nations Statistics Division. You
will also find the official progress reports and documents produced by
IAEG. Links to related sites and documents and constantly updated news
will keep you up to date with the ongoing activities on MDG
monitoring.

WBI Launches New Website
http://wbi.worldbank.org/wbi/
Want to learn more about WBI's renewal strategy? Listen to Sanjay
Pradhan, the World Bank's VP responsible for WBI, and read more about
our innovative approaches to knowledge exchange and South-South
learning.

Web 2.0 for research, administration and teaching
http://web2practice.jiscinvolve.org
The Joint Information Systems Committee : http://www.jisc.ac.uk/
(JISC), an organisation which supports education and research in the
use of information and communications technology (ICT), have launched
a series of web2practice guides: to explain how emergent web
technologies like RSS, microblogging and social media can enhance
working practice. The guides and the resources used to create them can
be downloaded: http://web2practice.jiscinvolve.org/downloads/,
modified and shared under a creative commons licence.

World Business Fair
http://www.worldbusinessfair.com
An International Trade Promotion Platform For Global Entrepreneurs &
Professionals, running on NING.

Weitzenegger's International Development Job Market
http://www.weitzenegger.de/new/jobmarket.php
Looking for a job in development cooperation? This Website gives you a
list of professional opportunities around the world. Updated as you
arrive. I am still working on updates, so come back soon.