This briefing paper highlights the increasing use by development finance institutions of financial intermediaries to channel their funding. It identifies features of this lending and the implications for affected communities’ access to land and resources. It also provides recommendations for addressing concerns related to these investments.
Reports
Gender equality: It’s your business
Gender equality gives businesses the opportunity to hire from a wider pool of talent, gain greater insights into consumers’ needs, and improve the security and quality of supply. This report asks: Is your business taking it seriously? Enlightened businesses are realising that enabling women’s full potential delivers returns. For business, equal treatment of women and men means access to the most talented pool of workers, a more balanced and talented board, greater appeal to the consumer base, an enhanced corporate reputation, and even a more stable supply of basic commodities.
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A Shift in Focus: Putting the interests of Somali people first
More than six months after the UN declared a famine, Somalia is still in the throes of its worst humanitarian crisis in decades, with 325,000 children suffering acute malnutrition and 31 per cent of the population estimated to be in crisis. The impact of drought is receding, yet the outlook for the more than 2.3 million Somalis still in need of humanitarian assistance is bleak.In February 2012, key governments and institutions from the region and the wider Islamic and Western world will meet in London to chart a way forward. They must seize this opportunity to refocus on the Somali people that past policies have failed.
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Pakistan floods emergency: Lessons from a continuing crisis
The floods that began in August 2011 and swept across the province of Sindh and parts of neighbouring Balochistan resulted in one of the most destructive disasters that Pakistan has experienced. Six months after the floods began the crisis is far from over. In total, more than 2.5 million men, women and children lack basic necessities such as adequate food and durable shelter. Most people who have returned home are still living in makeshift shelters, struggling to keep their families alive and healthy. The threat of hunger, malnutrition, disease and destitution continues to hang over them.
A safe and just space for humanity: Can we live with the doughnut?
Humanity’s challenge in the 21st century is to eradicate poverty and achieve prosperity for all within the means of the planet’s limited natural resources. In the run-up to Rio+20, this discussion paper presents a visual framework – shaped like a doughnut – which brings planetary boundaries together with social boundaries, creating a safe and just space between the two, in which humanity can thrive. Moving into this space demands far greater equity – within and between countries – in the use of natural resources, and far greater efficiency in transforming those resources to meet human needs.
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Crises in a new world order
In 2010, vast humanitarian crises from Haiti to Pakistan almost overwhelmed the international system’s ability to respond. Despite years of reform, UN agencies, donors, and international NGOs (INGOs) struggled to cope. At the same time, humanitarian action is needed now more than ever. The growing number of vulnerable people, the rise in disasters, and the failure to put most fragile states on the path to development, will significantly increase needs. The UN and INGOs’ response will be vital, but their contribution will increasingly be measured by how well they complement and support the efforts of others, and encourage every humanitarian actor to uphold humanitarian principles.
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