annual report 1999/2000...assistant it officer daniel demie assistant public affairs officer caz...

Overseas Development Institute

Annual Report 1999/2000

1960–2000

40 years at the forefrontof international development policy

ODI is Britain’s leading independent think-tank on international development and humanitarianissues. Our mission is to inspire and inform policy and practice which lead to the reduction ofpoverty, the alleviation of suffering and the achievement of sustainable livelihoods in developingcountries. We do this by locking together high-quality applied research, practical policy advice,and policy-focused dissemination and debate. We work with partners in the public and privatesectors, in both developing and developed countries.

ODI’s work centres on five research and policy programmes: the Poverty and Public Policy Group,the International Economic Development Group, the Humanitarian Policy Group, the Rural Policyand Environment Group, and the Forest Policy and Environment Group. ODI publishes two journals,the Development Policy Review and Disasters, and manages three international networks linkingresearchers, policy-makers and practitioners: the Agricultural Research and Extension Network,the Rural Development Forestry Network, and the Humanitarian Practice (formerly Relief andRehabilitation) Network. In addition, it hosts the Secretariat of the Active Learning Network onAccountability and Performance in Humanitarian Assistance. ODI also manages the ODI FellowshipScheme, which places up to twenty young economists a year on attachment to the governments ofdeveloping countries.

As a registered charity, ODI is dependent on outside funds and is supported by grants and donationsfrom public and private sources.

ODI CouncilChairman Earl Cairns

Zeinab BadawiAndrew BarnettDominic BruynseelsRobin CoopeLord DesaiJohn EcclesProf Walter ElkanProf Michael FaberMartin GriffithsLord HolmeMaria Elena HurtadoLord Judd

Richard KershawTess Kingham, M.P.Sir Timothy LankesterProf Michael LiptonProf Angela Little*Sir Peter Marshall*Sir Michael McWilliamDianna MelroseRupert Pennant-ReaJohn Pinder*Stanley Please*Judith Randel

Sir William RyrieProf Amartya SenSalil ShettyProf Frances StewartJonathan TaylorRev Michael TaylorSir John Thompson*Anuradha VittachiBowen Wells, M.P.Kaye Whiteman*Prof Peter Williams*

© Overseas Development Institute 2000

Design and layout by Pippa Leask and Peter GeePrinted in the UK by Russell Press Ltd, Nottingham

40 years at the forefront of international development policy1960–2000Overseas Development Institute

Charity No. 228248Register of Companies No. 661818

* Stood down this year


ODI Annual Report 1999/2000

ODI Staff 2

Chairman’s Statement 3

Director’s Review 4

Poverty and Public Policy 6

International Economic Development 9

Humanitarian Policy 12

Rural Policy and Environment 16

Forest Policy and Environment 20

Public Affairs 22

Fellowship Scheme 24

Finance 26

Publications 1999/2000 28

Meetings 1999/2000 32

Research Specialisations 33

This Annual Reportcovers the periodApril 1999 to March2000 and waspublished in June2000.

Overseas Development InstitutePortland House, Stag Place

London SW1E 5DP, UK

Telephone: +44 (0)20 7393 1600Fax: +44 (0)20 7393 1699

from August 2000Overseas Development Institute111 Westminster Bridge RoadLondon SE1 7HR, UK

Telephone: +44 (0)20 7922 0300Fax: +44 (0)20 7922 0399

Email: [email protected]: www.odi.org.uk


2

ODI StaffDirector Simon Maxwell

ODI Staff

� as at 31 May 2000* left during the period of this report** Active Learning Network on Accountability and Per-

formance in Humanitarian Assisance

Caroline AshleyRoger BlenchDavid BoothJohn BortonCharlotte BoydAdrienne BrownDavid BrownMargie Buchanan-SmithMaurizio Bussolo*Aidan Cox*Elizabeth CromwellJohn FarringtonMick FosterAdrian FozzardLucia HanmerAdrian HewittJohn HowellKarim Hussein

Naila Kabeer*Tony Killick*Nicholas LeaderCatherine LongleyJoanna MacraeAna Marr*Alan NicolAndy NortonSheila PageMichael RichardsRoger Riddell*Benu SchneiderKate SchreckenbergGill ShepherdH-B Solignac LecomteRobert TrippCathryn Turton*Koenraad Van Brabant

Research AssistantsRobert ChapmanTim ConwayElizabeth DrakeLiz LovellAnand Madhvani*Zoë Marriage*Felix NascholdNita Pillai*Tom Slaymaker

Senior Research AssociatesEdward ClayJohn Healey

Head of Fellowship SchemeAdrian HewittFellowship Scheme Programme OfficerSusan Amoaten*/ Susan BarronFellowship Scheme AdministratorAdrienne WatsonPA to the DirectorClaire Louise John*Humanitarian Practice Network (HPN) CoordinatorKoenraad Van BrabantDeputy HPN CoordinatorRachel HoughtonALNAP** Database ManagerFelicity HeyworthALNAP AdministratorKate Robertson

Central SupportAssistant Finance Officer Angela O’BrienAccountant K.J. PatelFinance Administrator Helen LewisAssistant Publications Officer Pippa LeaskPublications Sales/Reception Rachel RankAssistant IT Officer Daniel DemieAssistant Public Affairs Officer Caz Marshall*Assistant Personnel Officer Susan HamiltonLibrarian Kate Kwafo-AkotoLibrary Assistant Chris PescudReception Vicky Fletcher

Project AdministratorsKanwal Amara-Bangali*Helen Awan*Kate BurkeOlivia CheastyAlana CoyleHarriet Dudley*Theniath Freudweiler*Melanie James

Group AdministratorsSylvie CordierSarah Geileskey*Joanna GillLucy MorrisHelen SuichCaroline Wood

Rebecca LovelaceJane NortheyAnn PedersenPatsy de SouzaCathy WaterhouseMelanie Woodland

Company Secretary Allen Brown

International Economic Development Sheila PageRural Policy and Environment John FarringtonForest Policy and Environment David Brown

Poverty and Public Policy David BoothHumanitarian Policy Margie Buchanan-Smith

Group Coordinators

Research Fellows

�

Head of Public Affairs and IT Peter Gee


3Chairman’s Statement

Chairman’s StatementThis year marks ODI’s fortiethanniversary. Simon Maxwell reflectsoverleaf on how the Institute’s work haschanged. To my mind, our currentprogramme demonstrates that ODIcontinues to fulfil an important role,despite progress on poverty reduction inforty years, and despite the proliferationof research centres and sources of policyadvice, in both North and South. Ourniche has changed as a result of theseproliferations, however. We do notattempt to cover every aspect ofdevelopment policy. We are mindful ofthe need not to crowd out the work ofresearch institutes in the South. And weaccept that our voice will be one ofmany competing for the ears ofdecision-makers around the world. Someprinciples follow for ODI. We need tospecialise. We need to move up the ‘valuechain’ in terms of being able togeneralise research results. And we mustwork continually to improve thecontent, targeting and impact of ourpublic affairs programme.

The Council works with the Directorand his staff to implement theseprinciples. We have world-class work inmany areas. Our international networksare strong and we have an increasingnumber of collaborations with researchinstitutes overseas. And, though ourpublic affairs programme needs newinvestment, our meetings are wellattended and the dissemination productsof ODI remain in high demand. I wasparticularly pleased by the series ofmeetings Alan Nicol organised on waterpolicy, in the run up to the Ministerialconference on the subject in the Hague;the Secretary of State, Clare Short,addressed the final meeting.

It is clear from this Annual Reportthat ODI has grown and diversified verygreatly under successive Directors. I wantto pay special tribute to one formerDirector, Professor Tony Killick, whoretired during this year after 20 years atODI, five of them as Director, from1982 to 1987. Tony is greatly respectedin the development profession, especiallyfor his work on structural adjustment,conditionality, and the international

financial architecture. We want to thankhim for his contribution to ODI asDirector, but also for the quality of hisintellectual output, his commitment topolicy change, and his institutional goodfellowship.

I want to thank also seven Councilmembers who stood down this year, andwelcome seven who agreed to join us.We were sorry to say goodbye to oldfriends who had served us well: ProfessorAngela Little; Sir Peter Marshall; JohnPinder; Stanley Please; Sir JohnThomson; Kaye Whiteman; andProfessor Peter Williams. However, weare pleased to welcome new members:Andrew Barnett, Dominic Bruynseels,Martin Griffiths, Professor MichaelLipton, Judith Randel, Salil Shetty, andAnuradha Vittachi. They bring energyand a wide range of experience to ODI.I intend to look at new ways in whichthe energy and experience of Councilmembers can be brought to bear. Forexample, this year, two Council members(Sir Michael McWilliam and RichardKershaw) participated in a review of thepublic affairs programme at ODI, andtwo more (Dominic Bruynseels andFrances Stewart) helped ODI staff thinkthrough future strategy. My thanks tothem.

We are now an organisation employ-ing more than 70 people, with aturnover close to £6 million a year. Weoperate with limited financial resourcesand slender margins. We keep our headabove the financial waters by dint of thehard work and commitment of all ourstaff. In the year under review, we posteda small deficit. We were able to maintainthe value of our assets at last year’s level,but it is a matter of concern that theserepresent a diminishing percentage ofour increased turnover. The financialsituation remains finely balanced.

Nevertheless, ODI is thriving. Thefounders of ODI, forty years ago, sawthe need for a centre which would carryout and foster research, act as a forum fordevelopment debate, and publicise theneeds of the poorest. Surely, that vision isone which still has value today.

Earl Cairns

‘The founders of ODI sawthe need for a centre whichwould carry out and fosterresearch, act as a forum fordevelopment debate, andpublicise the needs of thepoorest. Surely, that vision isone which still has valuetoday’.


4 Director’s Review

Director’sThe anniversary provides threeopportunities: to acknowledge theforesight of our founders; to reflect onprogress in thinking about internationaldevelopment; and to assess the health ofODI. Are we at forty, as Shakespearewould have had us, ‘full of wise saws andmodern instances’? I believe we are –and that the founders would be pleasedwith us.

Forty Years on . . .Certainly, the world we are dealing withis very different to that of 1960. WhenWilliam Clark was appointed as the firstDirector, he defined ODI’s task as beingto ‘keep the British people concernedabout the countries of theCommonwealth and Empire to whichthey were giving their political freedom’.The well-being of the poorest countriesand people was, and remains, an ‘urgentpriority’, but the colonial relationship isnot the only feature of the developmentlandscape to have shifted in forty years. Areview of our current portfolio,described in more detail in the followingpages, illustrates the range of newchallenges: globalisation, for example,raising new issues of global governance;conflict in the post cold-war order,presenting astounding difficulties forhumanitarian policy; sustaining theenvironment, nationally andinternationally; a technologicalrevolution, not least in crop science; andunderlying all of these, partly resultingfrom the decolonisation process of the1960s, a new imperative to achieve abetter partnership between rich andpoor countries, based on trust, respect,and the recognition that developingcountries must set their own strategies.

ODI’s task is not merely to respond to,or even try to influence, donor initiatives(like the UK Government’s new WhitePaper on globalisation, or the WorldBank’s Comprehensive DevelopmentFramework) – though, of course, wespend a great deal of time on those.Rather, our role is to unpack thearguments, explore the theory, adjudicatebetween competing narratives, andcontribute to better policy. It is notsurprising that in so doing, we often findthat ‘old’ debates, with which ourpredecessors would have been familiar,lie embedded in the new.

New themes?This is the case, for example, withglobalisation, which revisits (albeit innew circumstances) many familiararguments about the winners and losersfrom free trade (see ODI Poverty Briefing6 December 1999 by Maurizio Bussoloand Henri-Bernard Solignac Lecomte).It is not self-evident that trade willreduce poverty. Much depends on whathappens to income distribution, anotherfamiliar topic, though one neglected inrecent years. As Lucia Hanmer and hercolleagues have shown, incomeinequality is high and often rising indeveloping countries. High inequalitythreatens the achievement of theInternational Development Targets, andradical new policies will be required toachieve growth with equity.

Policies for poverty reduction findexpression largely at national level, wherethe impetus given by the IDTs,combined with the post-HIPCenthusiasm for poverty planning, havefocused minds on poverty monitoringand pro-poor budgets. ODI’s newGroup on Poverty and Public Policy hasbeen influential internationally on boththese fronts. In particular, Mick Fosterand his colleagues in the Centre for Aidand Public Expenditure (CAPE) havebecome a focus of expertise on donor-coordinated, sector-wide approaches.Donors, they find, still have some way togo in transforming rhetoric aboutdeveloping country ownership intogenuine partnership, not least with eachother. Will they be able to unite behindthe new-style Poverty ReductionStrategy Papers?

There are many countries where thequestion of ownership barely arises,because of conflict. Here too, however,donors need to work closely together, toprotect the basic principles ofhumanitarian aid, and avoid feeding war.ODI work by Joanna Macrae, NicholasLeader and others shows that a strategicframework, as in Afghanistan, forexample, may not be the answer.Furthermore, aid agencies cannot be leftto carry the political responsibility forconflict resolution.

In the humanitarian arena, animportant part of the debate deals withinternational or global issues, forexample the role of peace-keeping. There

There is more than oneanniversary in 2000. Quiteapart from the Millennium,this year also marks thefortieth anniversary of ODI– an event locally of morethan passing interest.

Simon Maxwell (left) with Tony Killick, ODIformer Director who retired this year.

‘Our role is to unpack thearguments, explore thetheory, adjudicate betweencompeting narratives, andcontribute to better policy’.


5Director’s Review

s Revieware many other spheres in which this istrue – to the point where a concern forglobal issues can be identified as one ofthe major differences over forty years.ODI is present in the debate, whetherthe topic is the new financialarchitecture, UN reform, the governanceof economic institutions like the WTO,or new arrangements for carbon trading.Our policy paper on Global Governanceoffers principles for the newchoreography of reform; our policypapers on food aid by Edward Clay, andon carbon trading, by Michael Richards,give concrete examples.

A wider disciplinary mix As these case studies of ODI worksuggest, another change since 1960 hasbeen the disciplinary diversification ofdevelopment studies. Whereas WilliamClark could write about the need tohold the ring as between economists andpolitical scientists, his successor canbenefit from the acceptance thatdevelopment studies is self-consciouslymulti-disciplinary.

This is well illustrated by research onsustainable livelihoods, a focus of ODI’srural work in recent years. As CarolineAshley and others have shown this year,poor people draw on a range of assets inorder to reach multiple objectives. Assetsinclude access to natural resources,machinery and money, but alsointangibles like relationships and socialnetworks; the objectives include income,but also security, autonomy and self-esteem.

There is no way in which economistson their own – or even politicalscientists! – can resolve the complexpolicy questions about entry-points andsequencing that then arise. Our series ofWorking Papers on sustainablelivelihoods illustrates the policy value ofbringing a multi-disciplinary perspectiveto bear on issues of rural poverty.

A consistent pledge onpolicyOur livelihoods work speaks to bothresearchers and policy-makers, andconfirms that one feature of ODI hasnot changed in forty years. We remainbound by what William Clark describedas a ‘pledge’, namely to be a forum forthe sharing of ideas, and one where ‘the

urgency of the problems is kept beforethe public and the responsibleauthorities’.

This task is a good deal lessstraightforward than it was in 1960, withthe proliferation of voices and channelsof communication. It is perhaps notsurprising that ODI was represented atthe world trade talks in Seattle – nor thatSheila Page was on the inside, helping torepresent the interests of theGovernment of Malawi, rather than onthe streets outside. ODI needs to offer anindependent and reasoned voice, whichwe strive to do through our meetings,publications and wider public affairsprogramme. As we were reminded by aninternal public affairs review this year, ledby a Council member, Sir MichaelMcWilliam, our role is to make ‘strategicinterventions in the policy process’.

As we focus on that task ahead, I hopethe founders would agree that ODIremains an interesting and lively place. Inthe last analysis, ODI is the people whowork in it. We have lost some goodpeople this year: Aidan Cox (to UNDP),Maurizio Bussolo (to the OECDDevelopment Centre), Ana Marr (to aPhD), Cate Turton (to privateconsultancy), Naila Kabeer (to the IDSin Sussex) and above all, Tony Killick (toan active retirement). However, I ampleased to welcome new ResearchFellows: Andy Norton, Adrian Fozzardand Adrienne Brown (all CAPE), KarimHussein (RPEG), and Benu Schneider(to work on international finance inIEDG). Oliver Morrissey will also bejoining us shortly, to work on aid, in ashared appointment with the Universityof Nottingham. They will help to shapeODI for the next forty years.

Simon Maxwell

‘In public affairs, we set outto make ‘strategicinterventions in the policyprocess’.

‘Development studies istoday self-consciously multi-disciplinary’.


6 Poverty and Public Policy

Poverty and Many of the preconditions are wellknown – increased agriculturalproductivity, widened access toeducation, especially for women, ameasure of physical security, and peace.Yet attaining these minimal objectivesremains tremendously difficult anduncertain.

A new groupRecognition of the complex challengesfacing public policy for povertyreduction has led to the formation of anew Poverty and Public Policy Group(PPPG) at ODI. The group bringstogether members of the former Povertyand Social Policy Unit, and the DFID-funded Centre for Aid and PublicExpenditure (CAPE).

PPPG’s interests span all aspects ofpublic policy for poverty reduction,focusing particularly on policy reformswithin poor countries and theirimplications for external finance and aid.CAPE, which retains its separate identity,undertakes specialist work on new formsof development cooperation, centring onthe budget process and sector plans.

Linking debt relief andpoverty reductionAfter the G8 Summit decision in mid-1999 to link debt relief under the HighlyIndebted Poor Country (HIPC)Initiative II to poverty reduction ineligible countries, ODI contributed ideason how this link might be made. Amemorandum was submitted to a WorldBank/IMF conference in Addis Ababaand to the major Board meeting inOctober. This advocated moving awayfrom specific conditions (spend x% ofthe budget on social sectors), towardsbasing decisions on an assessment of

country poverty reduction strategies andactions. The emphasis should be onassessing the process as well as thecontent, recognising that particularpolicy measures can easily be reversed,but that an accountable and transparentpolicy and budget process may havemore lasting effects (Mick Foster andJohn Healey with Matthew Martin andHoward White).

These ideas were adopted not only foraccess to HIPC II debt relief, but by theWorld Bank and the IMF as the basis fortheir future lending to poor countries.CAPE staff have continued to work withthe World Bank on approaches topoverty-reduction strategy, includinggood-practice guidance on participationin poverty strategy, and on the budget. Akey message is that donors need tosupport processes that have localownership. This implies a more passiverole than development agencies are usedto, giving time for local decision making,not swamping the process with donor-driven analysis and donor-determinedtimetables.

Managing poverty reductionat country levelThe new approach to poverty reductionplaces a premium on improving in-country policy processes throughwell-sequenced institutional changes.This implies speeding up learningbetween countries about what worksand what does not. ODI has contributedto this process with research andadvisory work in poor countries of sub-Saharan Africa.

A ‘Status Report’ on poverty in Africa,prepared for a donor consortium, theSPA, documents the Africanisation ofglobal poverty. Low growth,environmental degradation, HIV/AIDSand the impact of financial or climaticshocks are obvious proximate causes; butthe primary causes lie elsewhere, in thesocial and political ‘embeddedness’ ofAfrican poverty. Governmentcommitment and political accountabilitylook like being prime requirements forsustained poverty reduction (TonyKillick, with Howard White at IDS).

Uganda is widely seen as a continentalleader in bringing the goal of povertyeradication into the centre of thenational policy process. A revised PovertyEradication Action Plan (PEAP) hasnow been accepted as Uganda’s Poverty

PPPG StaffDavid BoothAdrienne Brown (CAPE)Tim ConwayAidan CoxHarriet DudleyMick Foster (CAPE)Adrian Fozzard (CAPE)Joanna GillLucia HanmerJohn HealeyNaila KabeerFelix Naschold (CAPE)Jane Northey (CAPE)Andy Norton (CAPE)

The internationalcommunity is committed toachieving a substantialreduction in world povertyearly in this century. Fromhistory we know this ispossible.

‘The external agencies musttry to keep the difficultbalance of assessing theprocess without imposing ablueprint from outside’.


7

Reduction Strategy Paper for thepurposes of debt relief under HIPC II.To date, however, major achievementshave been limited to improving budgetallocations and releases for poverty-reducing purposes. Much remains to bedone to improve the effectiveness withwhich funds are used, and to promoteservice- and outcome-oriented thinkingthroughout government, down to thedistrict level.

One contribution to this effort hasbeen the work of the PovertyMonitoring Unit located withinUganda’s Ministry of Finance, Planningand Economic Development, which inAugust 1999 launched a first UgandaPoverty Status Report. This document,which reports progress and problems inimplementing the PEAP, was producedwith technical support from ODI (LuciaHanmer and David Booth).

PPPG research shows that Ghana, too,has some important things to teach othercountries in the region. Public-policydialogue about poverty is not asdeveloped as in Uganda. However, someheadway has been made in linking

amount by which growth reducespoverty. Inequality is very high in manycountries, both before and after tax:Latin American cases are well known,but inequality is also high in sub-Saharan Africa. This raises a question forfurther research: how can the pooracquire the assets they need to benefitfrom growth? (Lucia Hanmer, FelixNaschold and Simon Maxwell).

Child poverty is politically sensitive inboth rich and poor countries. The natureand extent of poverty is changing as aresult of globalisation, and so is the state’scapacity to respond. There are somewinners, for example children inhouseholds where the parents are skilled;and some losers, for example childrenfrom unskilled households, or whosewelfare benefits are caught in a fiscalsqueeze. Research at ODI for UNICEFsuggests that better support to childrenneeds a stronger functional analysis ofchild poverty, and more analysis of themultiple consequences of globalisation(Andy Norton and Simon Maxwell).

Poverty reduction is not just a moralimperative. It also has a legal foundation,by virtue of international conventionson economic, social and cultural rights.A rights-based approach sets theachievement of human rights as anobjective of development, and invokesthe international apparatus of humanrights accountability in support ofdevelopment action. An ODI meetingseries and Briefing Paper confirmed thatthere is value-added here, particularly inthe ideas of entitlement andaccountability (Simon Maxwell).

A rights-based approach to povertyreduction and a concern with thereduction of inequality also informed anODI review of donor approaches to

Poverty and Public Policy

Public Policybudgets to plans for achieving nationalpoverty-reduction goals, and elicitingperformance-improvement efforts fromsector ministries and local governmentbodies (David Booth).

Poverty policy and its monitoring inTanzania is generally less advanced thanin Uganda or Ghana. But there arecommon experiences across the threecases. One is the difficulty of improvingofficials’ orientation to poverty outcomesas long as budget authorities areincapable of delivering allocations in apredictable way. This experience is beingdrawn upon in current technical supportto mainstreaming poverty and gender inThe Gambia (David Booth, NailaKabeer and Lucia Hanmer).

Launch of the Uganda Poverty Status Report and National ParticipatoryPoverty Assessment – David Booth

Inequality, child poverty andrightsQuestions about the distribution ofincome and wealth lie at the core ofdevelopment studies. They have beenneglected but are now re-surfacing,thanks in part to research by LuciaHanmer and others at ODI. This foundthat reaching the OECD DAC target forreducing absolute poverty will dependstrongly on the pattern as well as the rateof economic growth, and on the qualityof government policies.

High inequality emerges as aparticularly significant barrier – bothbecause it hampers growth, and becauseit lowers the poverty elasticity, the

‘What is at issue is not justthe type or quality of policythat a government is willingto ‘sign up’ to, but also thequality of its domesticpolitical and bureaucraticprocesses’.


8 Poverty and Public Policy

social protection (Andy Norton and TimConway). Commissioned by DFID, thisstudy compared the ways the majormultilateral agencies conceptualise socialprotection and promote it in policy andprogramme work with partner countries.This work is relevant to the CopenhagenPlus Five conference on socialdevelopment, in Geneva in mid-2000.

Mainstreaming of poverty indevelopment agenciesODI research has continued on howdevelopment cooperation can becomemore effective in benefiting poor people.Research undertaken with otherEuropean institutes on the record of tenEuropean agencies in seven countries hasnow been synthesised into a book,European Development Cooperation and thePoor (Aidan Cox and John Healey),which indicates a gap between growingaspirations and the realities of

choice of aid instruments. Earlier in theyear, Tim Conway and Simon Maxwellprepared a study of the ‘state of the art’in country programme evaluation for theDAC Expert Group.

Good practice in sectorprogrammesThe European donor study found thatagencies were moving only slowlytowards the sector-wide partnershipapproach to poverty problems. CAPEhas been assisting donors to makeheadway on this by synthesising recentlessons and current best practice.

CAPE argues that the sector approachis a response to a particular set ofproblems of the aid relationship. Aconceptual framework has beendeveloped for helping to diagnose whensector approaches are appropriate. Otherthemes of CAPE work on this topic arethe need for clarity regarding the publicsector role; the importance of countryownership, and advice on how to assessand support such ownership. There is athe need to link sector objectives morerigorously to work plans and budgets;and for better monitoring ofperformance, including collectinginformation on barriers to benefitsreaching the poor.

The advice to donors in sectorprogrammes includes: stand back fromthe detail; work more effectively withgovernment budget systems; and respectthe need for reliable, timely support(Adrienne Brown, Mick Foster, AdrianFozzard, Felix Naschold and TimConway).

implementation.A similar pattern emerged from the

wider scoping study of all OECDdonors, commissioned by the DACInformal Poverty Network and led byAidan Cox. The synthesis report showedthat donors had not adequatelyconceptualised the nature and causes ofpoverty, while their management systemsdid not adequately ‘mainstream’ thisobjective in terms of direction, guidanceand incentives to staff. Follow-up to thescoping study has involved PPPG staff indrafting substantial parts of acomprehensive set of Guidelines onPoverty Reduction for the DAC. (DavidBooth, Tim Conway, Aidan Cox andLucia Hanmer).

‘Despite many positiveexamples of developmentassistance contributing topoverty reduction, there is astrong perception thatdonor rhetoric runs ahead offield realities’.

The scoping study found particularweaknesses in the poverty orientation ofdonors’ country strategies. Thisconclusion is supported by other ODIwork, including an evaluation of UKsupport to poverty reduction in Zambialed by David Booth. While tracingsignificant improvements in the povertyfocus of the country programme overthe period (1990–97), the evaluationpoints to a number of shortcomings,including weak linkage between analysisof country-specific causes of poverty and

‘The internationalcommunity has a duty tounderpin the economic andsocial rights of poor people,including financially’.

‘The good news is that theDAC income-poverty targetis attainable – provided thatsignificant improvementstake place in incomedistribution’.


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International Economic DevelopmentIs globalisation good or badfor poor people? Can policyhelp to bias outcomestowards poverty reduction?And are new or reformedinstitutions neededinternationally? ODIresearch has much to say onthese issues.

IEDG StaffMaurizio BussoloEdward ClayAidan CoxJoanna GillJohn HealeyAdrian HewittMelanie JamesTony KillickAna MarrSheila PageAnn PedersonNita PillaiBenu SchneiderHenri-Bernard Solignac Lecomte

International Economic Development

In IEDG, the main focus has been ontrade and finance, with strong links towork elsewhere in ODI on poverty andsocial protection. Proponents ofglobalisation argue that a stronginternational economy helpsdeveloping countries grow, and thatpolicy can be managed to make growthmore effective at poverty reduction.The policies that this implies includeopening trade, participating actively ininternational negotiations, and takingsteps internally to ensure the effectiveparticipation of the poor.

international forces. This alternativeparadigm involves protection,compensatory finance and controls toguard against capital movements andother shocks.

Trade liberalisationTrade liberalisation is at the heart ofthe argument and is deeply contested –as Sheila Page discovered as a memberof the Malawi delegation to thecontentious WTO Ministerial meetingin Seattle. The theoretical argumentsare complex because trade policytouches poverty through increasingcountries’ income and growth and alsothrough its direct effect on incomedistribution. Some argue thatliberalisation affects incomedistribution more strongly than it doesgrowth, and should benefit unskilledlabourers. In East Asia, this was true,but in Latin America less so. Differentnatural endowments, labour marketimperfections and many other factorsare in play. How governments manage

‘Protection rarely helps thepoor. Trade policy is notusually as effective as othermore targeted fiscalmeasures...in protectingsections of the population’

A surprising alliance of NGOs andpopular commentators is arguing thatthis conventional view is based onmistaken facts or theories. Theseopponents of integration andliberalisation claim that globalisationhurts the trading interests ofdeveloping countries, makes poorpeople in poor countries poorer, causesenvironmental degradation, and leavespoor countries at the mercy of

Tony Killick SymposiumTo mark the retirement of TonyKillick, former Director and SeniorResearch Fellow, a symposium,chaired by Adrian Hewitt, was heldat ODI on 29 June 1999. Amongthe distinguished participants whopresented papers on a range of keyissues in international economics –including trade, debt, structuraladjustment – were Walter Elkan,David Henderson, Paul Mosley,Chris Stevens, Frances Stewart,Dr Benno Ndulu, and SamuelWangwe.


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Public Affairs aPublic Affairs

ODI’s websiteWith the massive growth in the use ofthe Internet over the past year ourwebsite (www.odi.org.uk) has becomean even more important part of ourcommunications and public affairsprogramme. Visits to the site have nearlytrebled over the past year, at 268,000 inApril 2000, compared with just over100,000 in April 1999 and 47,000 in April1998.

Following a major redesign last year therange of material included has beenconsiderably expanded, enhancing thewebsite’s value. The home page, updatedseveral times a week, features the latestODI news and links to all sections of thewebsite. Many more reports and workingpapers are now available in full, tocomplement the full texts of BriefingPapers,ODI Poverty Briefings, and NaturalResource Perspectives which have beenprovided for some years. The five researchgroups and their associated networkseach have a ‘homepage’, with links toinformation summaries of major researchprojects and other important ODIactivities in their areas.

The on-line publications cataloguesection with its secure internet orderingfacility is being increasingly used, andemail orders and requests to join ODI’smailing lists are growing. To provide forfurther expansion we have recentlymoved the site to a new server, and wenow have a shorter web address(www.odi.org.uk).

PublicationsWe have not neglected our conventionalpublishing programme; there is still a verystrong demand for books and othermaterials in printed format. ODIpublished thirteen new books this year,seven in collaboration with externalpublishers, two in India - see the list onpage 28. The pricing policies of majorcommercial publishers are becoming a

To communicate ODI’sresearch as effectively aspossible, ODI is committedto a wide ranging publicaffairs programme, aimedat reaching policy-makers atall levels.

Public Affairs andPublications StaffVicky FletcherPeter GeePippa LeaskCaz MarshallRachel Rank

Library StaffKate Kwafo-AkotoChris Pescud

cause for concern. Most want to issuebooks in hardback only at prices now inexcess of £60 for an average book,putting them beyond the reach of mostprospective purchasers, particularly indeveloping countries. In response to thistrend we now plan to work more withthose publishers still willing to publish inpaperback at realistic prices, and also todeal more with Southern-basedpublishers.

Briefing Papers and ODI PovertyBriefings mailed free of charge to 5,000recipients worldwide continue to be verypopular, and are also available from thewebsite. Our two journals DevelopmentPolicy Review and Disasters (published onour behalf by Blackwell Publishers)continue to play a major role in theirrespective fields. Having served as editorof the Development Policy Review since1986, Sheila Page is stepping down thisyear, to be succeeded by David Booth.

Fourteen new Working Papers havebeen published, also available from thewebsite.

Meetings, Seminars andConferencesMeetings continue to be an importantpart of ODI’s public affairs programme.This year there have been two series oflunchtime meetings: Halving Poverty by2015: Have We Got What it Takes?(Summer 1999); Lessons Without Borders:Conversations Across the Boundary betweenDeveloped and Developing Countries(Autumn 1999). Additionally a lateafternoon series on Water and the Poor:Visions and Actions for 2025 was held fromJanuary to March 2000, from 5.00 to6.30pm, ending in a roundtable meetingwith a major presentation by theSecretary of State, Clare Short MP. Thelater time was judged to be a success,providing more opportunity for informaldiscussion afterwards. The texts of talks,presentations and meeting reports are

‘our website (www.odi.org.uk)has become an even moreimportant part of ourcommunications and publicaffairs programme. Visits tothe site have nearly trebledover the past year...’


23

nd InformationPublic Affairs

available on our website For details of these and other

meetings see page 31.

The mediaTo ensure that ODI’s work iscommunicated effectively todevelopment policy-makers it isimportant to work with the print andbroadcast media to encourage and shapecurrent debate on issues in internationaldevelopment, reaching beyond thenarrow constituency of developmentspecialists and thereby influencing thepolicy agenda.

Over the past twelve months ODI staffhave continued to appear across themedia from the Financial Times and TheGuardian to Channel 4, BBC Radio 4(including Business Breakfast,Today, TheWorld Tonight) and Radio 5 (Wake up toMoney), the BBC World Service and BBCWorld TV.

ParliamentODI supplies specialist advice toparliamentary committees and supportsthe All Party Parliamentary Group onOverseas Development (APGOOD), formany years the pre-eminent parliamentarygroup for those interested indevelopment issues at Westminster.APGOOD meetings have been very wellattended by a diverse range of peoplefrom political, NGO, business and civilsectors, with an impressive line-up ofspeakers. Clare Short MP, the Secretary ofState for International Development

addressed a packed audience on PostSeattle:Making the World’s TradingSystem work for the poor; Peter HainMP, Minister of State for Foreign andCommonwealth Affairs, spoke on HowBritish Foreign Policy can helpdevelopment in Africa; Mike Moore, theDirector General of the World TradeOrganisation on developing countryinterests post Seattle, and PresidentMuseveni of Uganda and Clare Short MPon ‘Education for All’. The All PartyGroup has increased its ties with theNGO sector, with Oxfam, Worldaware,ActionAid and Save the Children. TheGroup has been asked by the Secretaryof State to contribute towards thegovernment consultations for their newwhite paper on globalisation.

LibraryAs part of ODI’s informationmanagement strategy the library isbecoming an information centre,combining document storage withinformation provision from electronicsources. As part of this process, thecollection has been weeded andrearranged to improve access tofrequently used documents, and at thesame time creating much-needed spacefor new acquisitions. The library’sdatabase has been systematically updatedand continues to be accessible on line,hosted by the Electronic DevelopmentInformation System gateway at theInstitute of Development Studies,University of Sussex (http://nt1.ids.ac.uk/eldis/odionly.htm).

As a complement to the journalcollection, ODI staff also have electronicaccess to a range of journals, andbibliographic and statistical databases onCD ROM. An increasing number of on-line library catalogues, informationgateways and commercial informationsources and fast document supply areavailable via the internet, and anewsletter with details of useful web sitesis produced each month.

The Library networks with otherdevelopment institute libraries globallyand is active in the European Associationof Development Research and TrainingInstitutes (EADI) Information andDocumentation Working Group, Forumfor Inter-Lending (FIL) and theInternational Group of the LibraryAssociation.

Public Affairs ReviewA comparative appraisal of ODI’spublic affairs programme wasundertaken this year, by a team madeup of ODI council members and staff.The review endorsed the criticalimportance of our website, andconcluded that the Institute shouldtake a more strategic and lessopportunistic view of public affairsand working with the media. Itregarded the meetings programme asessential for an institution seeking toinfluence the policy climate, andargued for increased branding of ODI’spublications output. Overall, thereview recognised the need for ODI toimprove the communication of ODI’sresearch and other activities, andargued for increased resources to bedevoted to this in the medium term.

‘ODI supplies specialistadvice to parliamentarycommittees and supportsthe All Party ParliamentaryGroup on OverseasDevelopment (APGOOD)’.

‘To ensure that ODI’s work iscommunicated effectively todevelopment policy-makersit is important to work withthe print and broadcastmedia to encourage andshape current debate onissues in internationaldevelopment’.


24

The ODI FellowFellowship Scheme

There are currently 40 Fellows workingin 17 countries in Africa, the Caribbeanand the Pacific.

RecruitmentCompetition for Fellowships hascontinued to rise. The number ofapplicants for postings in 2000 was 13%higher than in 1999. We have beenrefining the new selection proceduresintroduced in 1999, to provide us with amore rounded picture of applicants’professional and personal qualities. This,together with improvements to ourbriefing process, is helping us to ensurethe most successful fit between Fellowsand their postings.

Career prospectsOn completion of their assignments,Fellows have gained highly relevantexperience and are in great demand bypotential employers. Most Fellowscontinue to follow a career indevelopment. The 17 Fellows whocompleted their assignments this yearhave been employed by a wide range ofinternational organisations (three at theUK Department for InternationalDevelopment, others at the World Bankin Washington, the Organisation forEconomic Cooperation andDevelopment in Paris and at the Foodand Agriculture Organisation in Rome)and in research institutes and privateconsultancies. A total of three formerFellows from this and recent cohortsgained entry under the World Bank’sYoung Professionals Scheme this year andanother has just joined the IMF.

During its 36-year historythe ODI Fellowship Schemehas provided over 450economists to work forgovernments indevelopment countries.Demand for the Schemeremains high and itcontinues to be demand-ledby governments.

FocusFellowship Scheme postings continue tofocus on poverty and the majority of ourplacements continue to be to low-income and least developed countriessuch as Rwanda and Mozambique,where we now have three and fiveFellows respectively. In addition, we havealso responded to specific requests fromthe UK Department for InternationalDevelopment to support some richercountries, such as South Africa, todevelop capacity for example in budgetforecasts and public finance modelling.

Fellowship achievementsThe typical work of a Fellow variesgreatly between posts and countries.Liaison with international counterparts,working with the International MonetaryFund and the World Bank continues toplay an important role for all Fellows.Budget preparations, development ofMedium Term Expenditure Frameworks,debt relief and poverty reductionstrategies are key areas of involvement formany Fellows. Demand is also emergingin the fields of HIV/AIDS, health sectorreform and sector wide investmentprogrammes in areas such as education.The following examples indicate thewide range of activities in which Fellowsare engaged:• Review of financial targets and

briefing Cabinet members following achange of government and a majorpolicy shift (Fiji).

• Design of a strategy for theprivatisation of a state industry,including proposed sector structureand divestment strategy (Lesotho).

Fellowship Scheme StaffSusan AmoatenSusan BarronAdrian HewittAdrienne Watson

Fellows in post*AfricaThe GambiaCatherine Porter, Economic Research

Department, Central Bank of the GambiaLesothoHabib Rab, Ministry of FinanceMalawiGeorgina Rawle, Planning Department,

Ministry of EducationThomas Leeming, Ministry of FinanceMozambiqueAlessandro Marini, National Sugar Authority,

Ministry of Agriculture and FisheriesNicola Pontara, Poverty Alleviation Unit,

Ministry of Planning and FinanceLídia Cabral, Ministry of Planning and FinanceCarlos Oya, Ministry of JusticeGiuliano Russo, Ministry of HealthNamibiaJames MacGregor, Ministry of Environment

and TourismRichard Williams, Ministry of Agriculture, Water

and Rural DevelopmentRwandaStrahan Spencer, Ministry of Finance and

Economic PlanningKarin Christiansen, Ministry of Agriculture,

Animal Resources and ForestryRichard Erlebach, Ministry of Finance and

Economic PlanningSouth AfricaPhil Compernolle, Department of FinanceSwazilandPatricia Clancy, Financial Planning, Ministry of

FinanceGregory Vaughan-Morris, Public Policy

Coordination Unit, Prime Minister’s OfficeTanzaniaVanessa Head, Policy Analysis Division, Ministry

of Finance

‘The number of applicantsfor postings in 2000 was13% higher than in 1999’.


25

wship SchemeFellowship Scheme

• Preparation of a national mediumterm economic strategy paper(Caribbean Development Bank).

• Development of policy on healthsector reform, to includedecentralisation of health delivery,managing the reform process,protecting the poor and devising afinancial policy for the reform(Guyana).

• Devising a strategic response to HIV/AIDS as a member of the HIV/AIDSCrisis Management and TechnicalCommittee (Swaziland).

• Preparation of the government’sresponse for the World TradeOrganisation’s Trade Policy Review(Papua New Guinea).

• Introduction of a new VAT policy(Papua New Guinea).

• Devising budget mechanisms todirect debt relief to povertyprogrammes (Uganda).

• Preparation of the DevelopmentBudget for 2000 and the PublicInvestment Programmes 2000–2002.The introduction of the MediumTerm Expenditure Framework to lineministries (Rwanda).

Capacity buildingCapacity building continues to be a keyelement of the Fellowship Scheme andFellows are encouraged to pass on theirskills through counterpart training. SomeFellows run courses at local universities.Our extended pre-departure briefingprogramme stresses the issue of capacitybuilding and Fellows are encouraged toconsider ways of achieving this, to ensurethat their contribution continues to have

an effect after they complete theirposting.

Future of the FellowshipSchemeAs we complete our work in somecountries, we also look at the possibilitiesof expanding into new countries. We arecurrently looking at the need for andfeasibility of operating in countries suchas Palestine, Vietnam and Nigeria.Involvement in Nigeria would be at Staterather than Federal level and wouldinvolve a departure from recent practiceof placing Fellows in national posts.

We continue to respond to demandsto place Fellows in the PlanningDepartment of line ministries such asHealth and Education. However, there isa continuing need for good macro-economic management and a soundbudget process and the demand forFellows from Finance Ministries andCentral Banks continues to be high.

Agricu lture Min istries and Corporations

16%

Privatisation Units3%

Trade Min istries5%

Environment Min istries6%

Health Min is tries4%

Other (e.g . Prime Minister’s Officer, Education, Justice)

3%

Dev elopm ent Banks3% Central Banks

16%

Finance and Planning Ministries

44%

Fellowship Scheme placements 1991–1999

Shabih Mohib, Policy Analysis Division, Ministryof Finance

UgandaAnne-Marie Ainger, Ministry of Finance,

Planning and Economic Development -Education

David Lawson, Ministry of Finance, Planning andEconomic Development - Banking andFinance

Tim Williamson, Ministry of Finance, Planningand Economic Development - Water andLands

Vincent de Boer, Bank of UgandaRomilly Greenhill, Ministry of Finance,

Planning and Economic Development -Budget Policy

Stephen Rice, Ministry of Finance, Planning andEconomic Development - Health

ZambiaMatthew McCartney, Internal Revenue

Mobilisation Department, Ministry ofFinance

CaribbeanBarbadosChristopher Crowe, Economics and

Programming Department, CaribbeanDevelopment Bank

GuyanaLindsay Chalmers, Privatisation Unit, Ministry of

FinanceAndrew Keith, Agricultural Project Cycle Unit,

Ministry of AgricultureHans Beck, Ministry of FinanceSylvia Holman, Ministry of HealthMontserratGareth Forber, Development Unit, Ministry of

Finance and Economic DevelopmentPacificFijiSusan Matheson, Economic Analysis Unit,

Ministry of FinanceRobin George, South Pacific Applied

Geoscience Commission and the MineralResources Department of the FijiGovernment

David Joiner, Ministry of National PlanningPapua New GuineaTarun Brahma, Research Unit, Bank of Papua

New GuineaRob Rudy, Internal Revenue CommissionJuan Luis Gomez Reino, Office of National

Planning and ImplementationSolomon IslandsLoga Gnanasambanthan, Ministry of National

Planning and DevelopmentSarah Cooke, Ministry of Commerce,

Employment and Tourism

*as at April 2000

‘Capacity building continuesto be a key element of theFellowship Scheme andFellows are encouraged topass on their skills throughcounterpart training’.


26

FinanceFinance

Balance sheet summary

31 March 2000 31 March 1999£ £

Fixed AssetsTangible assets 109,635 73,351Investments (Market Value) 1,024,732 1,189,680

1,134,367 1,263,031Current Assets

Stocks 22,635 14,389Debtors and cash 989,761 558,670

Current LiabilitiesCreditors and accruals 928,884 628,684

Net Current Assets/Liabilities 83,512 (55,625)

Net Assets 1,217,879 1,207,406

Reserves 1,217,879 1,207,406

Income and expenditure account summary

1999/2000 1998/1999£ £

IncomeGrants and project finance 5,498,480 4,880,933Investments 135 5,509Donations 40 7,140Other operating income 79,553 82,330

Total income 5,578,208 4,975,912

1999/2000 1998/1999£ £

ExpenditureStaff Costs 2,157,702 1,837,147Depreciation 74,314 60,665Research expenditure and other direct costs 1,907,986 1,697,175Other operating expenses 763,017 707,114Meetings, conferences and publications 41,460 80,619Professional and audit fees 7,713 7,462Fellowship supplements 650,596 561,667

Total expenditure 5,602,788 4,951,849

(Deficit)/Surplus (24,580) 24,063

The complete accounts are available from ODI on request.


27Finance

Action contre la Faim, Sierra LeoneActionAidAfrican Development BankAfrican Wildlife FoundationAide à la Décision EconomiqueAssociation of African UniversitiesAustralian Agency for International

Development (AusAid)Bioforce développementBritish Geological SurveyBritish Red CrossBrown University, Providence RI,

USACatholic Agency For Overseas

DevelopmentCanadian International Development

AgencyCARE InternationalCenter on International Cooperation,

New York UniversityCentre for Economic Analysis, NorwayCentre for International Forestry

ResearchCentre for Land Use and Water

Resources Research, University ofNewcastle

Centro Agronómico Tropical deInvestigación y Enseñanza (CATIE)

Comic ReliefCommonwealth SecretariatCorporación Financiera del Valle S.A.,

ColombiaDeloitte and ToucheDepartment for International

DevelopmentDepartment of Foreign Affairs, DublinDisasters Emergency Committee, UKEmerging Market Economics LtdEnvironmental Research Group

Oxford LimitedEurolatina, San SalvadorEuropean Centre for Development

Policy ManagementEuropean CommissionEuropean Community Humanitarian

OfficeEuropean Tropical Forest Research

NetworkFood and Agriculture Organization of

the United NationsFord FoundationForeign & Commonwealth OfficeForeign Policy Association

Forestry Research Programme, NaturalResources Institute

German Development InstituteGreen College, Centre for Natural

Resources and Development,University of Oxford

Harvard Institute for InternationalDevelopment (HIID)

Henry Dunant CentreHunting Technical Services LtdImani Development (International)

LtdInformation, Training and Agricultural

Development (ITAD Ltd)Institute of Development Studies,

HelsinkiInstitute of Development Studies,

University of SussexInstitute of Economics, Copenhagen

UniversityInstituto Affari InternazionaliInstituto Complutense de Estudios

InternacionalesInter-American Development BankIntermediate Technology Development

GroupInternational Committee of the Red

CrossInternational Crops Research Institute

for the Semi-Arid Tropics(ICRISAT)

International Institute for Environmentand Development

International Institute of TropicalAgriculture

International Labour OfficeInternational Union for the

Conservation of NatureJapan Bank for International

CooperationKatholieke UniversiteitLeventis FoundationLondon School of Hygiene and

Tropical MedicineLoughborough UniversityMédecins Sans Frontières, The

NetherlandsMinistry of Foreign Affairs, FinlandMinistry of Foreign Affairs, The

NetherlandsMississippi State UniversityNatural Resources International

Limited

Nordic Consulting GroupOffice of US Foreign Disaster

AssistanceOne World TrustOrganisation for Economic

Cooperation and DevelopmentOxfam, GBOxford Policy Management LtdPlanistat EuropePsychology at Work LtdRedRRoyal Danish Ministry of Foreign

AffairsRoyal Ministry of Foreign Affairs,

NorwaySave the Children, U.K.School of Agriculture and Forest

Sciences, University of WalesSchool of Public Policy, University of

BirminghamSMITS EngineeringSocieté d’Eco-AménagementSwedish International Development

Cooperation Agency (Sida)Swedish University of Agricultural

SciencesSwiss Agency for Development and

CooperationThe Environment and Development

Group, OxfordUnited Nations Children’s FundUnited Nations Conference on Trade

and DevelopmentUnited Nations Development

ProgrammeUnited Nations High Commission for

RefugeesUnited Nations Office for Project

ServicesUniversité de GenèveUniversity of PortsmouthUniversity of UppsalaUniversity of Wales, BangorUniversity of WolverhamptonWageningen UniversityWaterAidWorld BankWorld Conservation Union (IUCN)World Food ProgrammeWorld Health OrganizationWorld VisionWorldawareZimconsult Ltd

Funders


28

ODI PublicatioBooksAlsop, R, Farrington, J. and Khandelwal,

R. (2000) Coalitions of Interest:Partnerships for Processes of AgriculturalChange. New Delhi: SAGE PublicationsIndia.

Blench, R. (ed.) (1999) Natural ResourceManagement in Ghana and its Socio-economic Context. London: ODI.

Bourn, D. and Blench, R. (eds) (1999) CanLivestock and Wildlife Co-exist? AnInterdisciplinary Approach. London: ODI/ ERGO.

ODI Publications

Van Brabant, K. (2000) Operational SecurityManagement in Violent Environments.London: ODI.

Working Papers

Turton, C. (2000) Sustainable Livelihoodsand Project Design in India. WorkingPaper 127. London: ODI.

Turton, C. (2000) The SustainableLivelihoods Approach and ProgrammeDevelopment in Cambodia. WorkingPaper 130. London: ODI.

Turton, C. (2000) Watersheds and RuralLivelihoods in India, Working Paper131. London: ODI.

Poverty BriefingsSummarise contemporary debate, insightsand experience on ways of more effec-tively reaching and benefiting the poor.New thinking on and recent experienceof poverty reduction measures andemerging approaches to poverty allevia-tion by donor agencies as well as naturalresource, finance and trade aspects arecovered. The analysis, evidence andinsights are drawn from ODI's recentresearch and reviews of wider contempo-rary research, issues being debated andobservation from the field. All the papersare free of charge and available on ourwebsite.Killick, T. (1999) Making Adjustment Work

for the Poor. 5: May.Bussolo, M. and Solignac Lecomte, H.-B.

(2000) Trade Liberalisation and Poverty. 6December 1999.

Booth, D., Foster, M., Norton, A. (2000)Towards National Public ExpenditureStrategies for Poverty Reform. 7 March2000.

Briefing PapersThese papers on topics of current devel-opment interest are available free of chargeand are mailed to around 5,500 recipientsin the UK and overseas. They are onODI’s website.

Clay, E. and Stokke, O. (2000) Food Aidand Human Security. London: FrankCass.

Cox, A. (ed.) (1999) DAC Scoping Studyof Donor Poverty: Reduction Policies andPractices. London: ODI / OECD.

Cox, A. and Chapman, J (2000) TheEuropean Community ExternalCooperation Programmes: Policies,Management and Distribution. Brussels:European Commission.

Farrington, J., Turton, C., and James, A.J.(eds) (1999) Participatory WatershedDevelopment: Challenges for the Twenty-first Century. New Delhi: OUP India.

Adams, M., Cousins, B. and Manona, S.(1999) Land Tenure and EconomicDevelopment in Rural South Africa:Constraints and Opportunities. WorkingPaper 125. London: ODI.

Ashley, C. (2000) Applying LivelihoodApproaches to Natural ResourceManagement Initiatives: Experiences inNamibia and Kenya. Working Paper 134.London: ODI.

Ashley, C. (2000) The Impacts of Tourism onRural Livelihoods: Namibia’s Experience.Working Paper 128. London: ODI.

Ashley, C. and Hussein, K. (2000)Developing Methodologies for LivelihoodImpact Assessment: Experience of theAfrican Wildlife Foundation in East Africa.Working Paper 129. London: ODI.

Baumann, P. (1999) Information and Power:Implications for Process Monitoring – AReview of the Literature. Working Paper120. London: ODI.

Baumann, P. and Singh, B. (2000) TheLahaul Potato Society: the Growth of aCommercial Farmers’ Organisation in theHimalayan Valleys. Working Paper 126.London: ODI.

Blench, R. (1999) Traditional LivestockBreeds: Geographical Distribution andDynamics in relation to The Ecology ofWest Africa. Working Paper 120.London: ODI.

Blench, R. and Somner, F. (1999)Understanding Rangeland Biodiversity.Working Paper 121. London: ODI.

Gsänger, H. and Voipio, T. (2000) EuropeanAid for Poverty Reduction in Nepal.Working Paper 123. London: ODI.

Hobley, M. and Shields, D. (2000) TheReality of Trying to Transform Structuresand Processes: Forestry in Rural Livelihoods.Working Paper 132. London: ODI.

Nicol, A. (2000) Adopting a SustainableLivelihoods Approach to Water Projects:Policy and Practical Implications,WorkingPaper 133. London: ODI.

Sellamna, N.-E. (1999) Relativism inAgricultural Research and Development: isParticipation A Post Modern Concept?Working Paper 119. London: ODI.

Sutton, R., (1999) The Policy Process: anOverview. Working Paper 118. London:ODI.

Global Governance: an Agenda for the Renewalof the United Nations? 1999 (2) July.

What can we do with a Rights-based Approachto Development? 1999 (3) September.

Reforming Food Aid: Time to Grasp theNettle? 2000 (1) January.

Gill, G. and Carney, D. (1999) CompetitiveAgricultural Technology Funds inDeveloping Countries. London: ODI.

Healey, J. and Cox, A. (2000) EuropeanDevelopment Cooperation and the Poor.Basingstoke: Macmillan.

Page, S. (1999) Regionalism amongDeveloping Countries. Basingstoke:Macmillan.

Page, S. (ed.) (1999) Regions andDevelopment: Politics, Security, andEconomics. London: Frank Cass.

Page, S., Robinson, P, Solignac Lecomte,H.-B., Bussolo, M. (1999) SADC-EUTrade Relations in a Post-Lomé World.London: ODI.


29ODI Publications

Natural ResourcePerspectivesThese short papers summarise researchand are mailed to over 4,000 recipients inthe UK and overseas. They are on ODI’swebsite.Ashley, C., Boyd, C., and Goodwin, H.

(2000) Pro-poor Tourism: Putting Povertyat the Heart of the Tourism Agenda.Number 51, March .

Blench, R. (1999) Hunter-gatherers,Conservation and Development: FromPrejudice to Policy Reform. Number 43,June.

Blench, R. (1999) Seasonal ClimateForecasting: Who can use it and Howshould it be Disseminated? Number 47,November.

Boyd, C. et al. (1999) Reconciling Interestsamong Wildlife, Livestock and People inEastern Africa: A Sustainable LivelihoodsApproach. Number 45, June.

Coulter, J. et al. (1999) Marrying FarmerCooperation and Contract Farming forService Provision in a Liberalising sub-Saharan Africa. Number 48, November.

Ellis, F. (1999) Rural Livelihood Diversity inDeveloping Countries: Evidence and PolicyImplications. Number 40, April.

Farrington, J., Carney, D., Ashley, C., andTurton, C. (1999) Sustainable Livelihoodsin Practice: Early Applications of Conceptsin Rural Areas. Number 42, June.

Gill, G. and Carney, D. (1999) CompetitiveAgricultural Technology Funds inDeveloping Countries. Number 41, April

Goldman, I (2000) Institutional Support forSustainable Rural Livelihoods in SouthernAfrica: Results from Zimbabwe, Zambiaand South Africa. Number 50, March.

Goldman, I. et al. (2000) InstitutionalSupport for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods

ns 1999/2000Brown, D. (2000) Principles and Practice of

Forest Co-Management: Evidence fromWest-Central Africa. EUTFP 2.

Brown, D. et al. (2000) Getting Aid DeliveryRight: Host Country, Donor andInternational Complementarity for GreaterAid Effectiveness in the Forest Sector.EUTFP 4.

Davies, J. and Richards, M. (2000) The Useof Economics to Assess StakeholderIncentives in Participatory ForestManagement: A Review. EUTFP 5.

Haden, P. (2000) Forestry Issues in theGuiana Shield Region: A Perspective onGuyana and Suriname. EUTFP 3.

ODI JournalsDevelopment Policy ReviewEditor: Sheila PageCo-editors: John Farrington, DavidBooth, Adrian Hewitt and Henri-BernardSolignac LecomteAssociate Editor: Margaret Cornell

in Southern Africa: Framework andMethodology. Number 49, March. 2000.

Inamdar, A., Brown, D., and Cobb, S.(1999) What’s Special about WildlifeManagement in Forests? Concepts andModels of Rights-based Management, withRecent Evidence from west-central Africa.Number 44, June.

Richards, M. and Moura Costa, P. (1999)Can Tropical Forestry be made Profitable by‘Internalising the Externalities’? Number46, October.

Agricultural Research andExtension Network (AgREN)PapersArya, V. (1999) Towards a Relationship of

Significance: Lessons from a Decade ofCollaboration between Government andNGOs in Rajasthan, India. AgRENPaper 97.

Bentley, J.W. and Baker, P. S. (2000). TheColombian Coffee Growers’ Federation:Organised, Successful Smallholder Farmersfor 70 Years. AgREN Paper 1000.

Boyd, C. and Turton, C. (eds) (2000) TheContribution of Soil and WaterConservation to Sustainable Livelihoods inSemi-arid Areas of Sub-Saharan Africa.AgREN Paper 102.

Dierolf, T. et al. (1999) A Process and Tool toObtain, Build on and Disseminate LocalTechnical Knowledge. AgREN Paper 95b

Hagmann, J. et al. (1999) Putting Process intoPractice: Operationalising ParticipatoryExtension. AgREN Paper 94.

Hoffmann, V., Lamers, J., and Kidd, A.(2000). Reforming the Organisation ofAgricultural Extension in Germany:Lessons for Other Countries. AgRENPaper 98.

Longley, C. (1999). On-farm Rice Variabilityand Change in Sierra Leone: Farmers’Perceptions of Semi-weed Types. AgRENPaper 96b.

Nathaniels, N.Q.R. and Mwijage, A.(2000) Seed Fairs and the Case ofMarambo Village, Nachingwea District,Tanzania: Implications of Local InformalSeed Supply and Variety. AgREN Paper101.

Soleri, D., Smith, S. and Cleveland, D.(1999). Evaluating the Potential forFarmer-breeder Collaboration: A CaseStudy of Farmer Maize Selection fromOaxaca, Mexico. AgREN Paper 96a.

Upreti, B.R. (1999) Managing LocalConflicts over Water Resources: A CaseStudy from Nepal. AgREN Paper 95a.

Whiteside, M. (2000). Ganyu Labour inMalawi and its Implications for LivelihoodSecurity Interventions - an Analysis ofRecent Literature and Implications forPoverty Alleviation. AgREN Paper 99.

European Union TropicalForestry PapersA new series of papers on topics ofcurrent forestry policy interest, funded bythe European Commission.

Richards, M. (2000) ‘Internalising theExternalities’ of Tropical Forestry: A Reviewof Innovative Financing and IncentiveMechanisms. EUTFP 1.

Rural Development ForestryNetwork (RDFN) PapersDearden, P.N. (2000) Participatory

Curriculum Development: a Workshop toUpdate the Forest Guards Course in Nepal.RDFN Paper 24d.

Joshi, A. (2000) Progressive Bureaucracy: AnOxymoron? The Case of Joint ForestManagement in India. RDFN Paper 24a.

Kaimowitz, D. et al (2000) LocalGovernments and Forests in the BolivianLowlands. RDFN Paper 24b.

Kowal, T.M. and Padilla, E. (2000)Collaborative Links between Research andExtension Organisations: Lessons from theCONSEFORH Project Experience inFarm Forestry with Intermediary Agencies.RDFN Paper 24c.

Krantz, L. and Borel, R. (2000) TheMonitoring Team Approach to ProjectFollow-up and Evaluation: Experiencesfrom two SIDA-Funded Programmes inCentral America. RDFN Paper 24eFrom the Field.

Sodeik, E. (2000) Designing ParticipatoryStrategies for Forest Projects in West Africa:Two Case Studies from Benin. RDFNPaper 24e From the Field.

Underwood, M. (2000) Base-line TrainingNeeds Assessment for Community Forestryin South Africa. RDFN Paper 24d.

Disasters: The Journal ofDisaster Studies, Policy andManagementEditors: Joanna Macrae and Helen YoungAssistant Editor: Corwen McCutcheon


30 ODI Publications

Relief and RehabilitationNetwork (RRN) PapersGarfield, R. (1999) The Impact of Economic

Sanctions on Health and Well-being. RRNPaper 31

Paul, D. (1999) Protection in Practice; Field-Level Strategies for Protecting Civilians fromDeliberate Harm. RRN Paper 30.

Horwood, C. (2000) Humanitarian MineAction. An overview of the first decade.RRN Paper 32.

Humanitarian Policy GroupReports

Other significantpublications by ODI authorsAshley, C. and Carney, D. (1999)

Sustainable livelihoods: Lessons from earlyexperience. London: DFID.

Benson, C., Clay, E. (1999) ‘NaturalDisasters: what is the true cost?’ inUrban Age, Special Report, World Bank,Washington DC, May.

Blench, R. M. (1999a) ‘Why are there somany pastoral peoples in East Afr ica?’in Azarya, V., Breedveld, A., de Brujn,M. and van Dijk, H. (eds) Pastoralistsunder pressure? pp. 29–49. Brill, Leiden.

Blench, R. M. (1999b) ‘Are the Afr icanPygmies an ethnographic fiction?’ inBiesbrouck, K., Elders, S. and Rossel, G.(eds) Central African hunter-gatherers in amulti-disciplinary perspective: challengingelusiveness pp. 41–60. Leiden: CNWS.

Blench, R. M. (1999c) ‘The NigerianNational Livestock Resource Survey: apersonal account’ in Baroin, C. andBoutrais, J. (eds) L’Homme et l’animaledans le Bassin du Lac Tchad pp. 627–648.Par is: IRD.

Blench, R. M. (1999d) ‘The westwardwanderings of Cushitic pastoralists’ inBaroin, C. and Boutrais, J. (eds)L’Homme et l’animale dans le Bassin duLac Tchad pp. 39–80. Paris: IRD.

Blench, R. M. (1999e) ‘Animal traction inAfrica: analysing its environmentalimpact’ in Starkey, P. and. Kaumbutho,P. (eds) Meeting the challenges of animaltraction pp. 52–59. Zimbabwe:ATNESA/ London: IT Publications.

Atkinson, P. and Leader, N. (2000) The‘Joint Policy of Operation’ and the‘Principles and Protocols of HumanitarianOperation’ in Liberia. HPG Report 3.

Bradbury, M., Leader, N. and Mackintosh,K. (2000) The ‘Agreement on GroundRules’ in South Sudan. HPG Report 4.

Le Billion, P. (2000) The Political Economy ofWar: An Annotated Bibliography. HPGReport 1.

Leader, N. (2000) The Politics of Principle:the Principles of Humanitarian Action inPractice. HPG Report 2.

Mackintosh, K. (2000) The Principles ofHumanitarian Action in InternationalSpecialisations. HPG Report 5.

RRN Discussion PapersLeader, N. (1999) Humanitarian Principles in

Practice: A Critical Review. RRNDiscussion Paper 3.

Relief and Rehabilitation Network (1999)North Korea. Conflict management, foodaid and humanitarian principles. RRNDiscussion paper no. 2.

Van Brabant, K. (1999) Security Training.Where are we now?. RRN DiscussionPaper 1.

Blench, R. M. and MacDonald, K.C. (eds)(2000) The origin and development ofAfrican livestock. London: UniversityCollege Press.

Booth, D. with Hentschel, J. et al. (1999)‘Participatory Poverty Assessments: TheWorld Bank Contribution andEmerging Agenda’ in Jones, S. andNelson, N. (eds) African Urban Poverty,London: Intermediate TechnologyPublications.

Bossuyt, J., Solignac Lecomte, H.B. andvan Hove, K. (2000) ‘EU Coherence inTrade, Conflict Management andCommon and Foreign Security policy’,Relief and Rehabilitation NetworkNewsletter No. 16, March, London:ODI.

Buchanan-Smith, M., and Barton, D.

(1999) Evaluation of the Wajir ReliefProgramme: 1996–1998’. Oxford:OXFAM.

Buchanan-Smith, M., Collins, S.,Dammers, C., Wekesa, F., and Macrae,J., (1999) Evaluation of DanishHumanitarian Assistance to Sudan 1992–1998. Copenhagen: Ministry ofForeign Affairs.

Conway, T. and Maxwell, S. (1999)‘Country Programme Evaluations:Sythesis Report from the Workshop’pp.11–52 and ‘Country ProgrammeEvaluation: Synthesis A State of the ArtReview’ pp.53–106 in EvaluatingCountry Programmes: Vienna Workshop1999. Evaluation and Aid EffectivenessSeries No. 2. (www.oecd.org/dac/Evaluation/pdf/count_pr.pdf). Paris:OECD/DAC.

ECDPM (1999) The Future of Lomé’sCommodity Protocols: Fiddling WhileRum Burns? Lomé Negotiating Brief6, Maastricht.

Foster, M. and Fozzard, A. (2000) ‘DFIDEconomist Manual: Aid and PublicExpenditure’, Feb.

Foster, M.. (1999) ‘Lessons from SectorWide Approaches in Health’, Geneva:WHO, March.

Hanmer, L. and Geske Dijkstra, A. (2000)‘Measuring Socio-Economic GenderInequality: Towards an Alternative tothe UNDP Gender DevelopmentIndex’, Feminist Economics, 6(2): 41-75.

Hanmer, L. and Maxwell, S. (1999) ForRicher, for Fairer: Poverty Reduction andIncome Distribution, DevelopmentResearch Insights, No. 31, Brighton:ID21

Hanmer, L. and Naschold, F. (2000)‘Attaining the InternationalDevelopment Targets: Will Growth beEnough?’, Development Policy Review, Vol18(1):11-36, Mar.

Hanmer, L. and Wilmshurst, J. (2000) ‘Arethe International Development TargetsAttainable? An Overview’, DevelopmentPolicy Review, 18(1): 1-5, Mar.

Hanmer, L., de Jong, N., Kurian, R. andMooij, J. (1999) ‘Are the DAC TargetsAchievable? Poverty and HumanDevelopment in the year 2015’ Journalof International Development, 11: 547-63.

Hanmer, L., Pyatt, G. and White, H. (1999)‘What do the World Bank PovertyAssessments Teach us About Poverty insub-Saharan Africa?’ Development andChange, 30(4): 795-823, Oct.

Hussein, K., Sumberg, J. and Seddon, D.(1999) ‘Increasing violent conflictbetween herders and farmers in Africa’,Development Policy Review 17 (4).London: ODI.

Lanjouw, S., Macrae, J., and Zwi, A. (1999)‘Rehabilitating health services inCambodia: the challenge ofcoordination in chronic politicalemergencies’ Health Policy and Planning.Vol 14, no. 3, pp. 229-242.

Laporte, G. et Solignac Lecomte H.B.(1999) ‘L’appui de l’Union Européenneà l’intégration régionale dans le cadre


31ODI Publications

de la Convention de Lomé :l’expérience de la Commission del’Océan Indien’, in L’Union européenneet les pays ACP: un espace de coopération àconstruire, Paris: GEMDEV, EditionsKhartala.

Maxwell, S. (1999) ‘If the Need for Actionis So Evident, Why is Change soDifficult?’, UN Chronicle, 36(4),Department of Public Information,United Nations, New York.

Macrae, J. (1999) ‘Aiding peace...and war:UNHCR, returnee reintegration, andthe relief-development debate’. NewIssues in Refugee Research Working Paper14. Geneva: UNHCR.

Macrae, J. (1999a) ‘Foreword’ in Respondingto emergencies and fostering development.Pirotte, C., Husson, B. and Grunewald,F. (eds). London and New York: ZedBooks.

Macrae, J. (2000) ‘Humanitarianism: facingnew challenges’ in Great Decisions, pp.8796. New York: Foreign PolicyAssociation.

Macrae, J. (2000) ‘Oil...and Water: politicaland humanitar ian intervention in theSerbian energy sector’ Relief andRehabilitation Network Newsletter 16.London: Overseas DevelopmentInstitute.

Morris, M., Tripp, R. and Dankyi, A.A.(1999) ‘Adoption and Impacts ofImproved Maize ProductionTechnology. A Case Study of theGhana Grains Development Project’,Economics Program Paper pp. 99–01.Mexico, D.F.: CIMMYT.

Page, S. (1999) ‘International TradePolicies’ prepared to go in ‘EnterpriseCompetitiveness and Public Policy’.Commonwealth Secretariat, Exportand Industr ial Development Division:London.

Page, S. (1999) ‘Private Investment: AnElusive Target’ in Susanna Wolf (ed.)The Future of EU-ACP Relations.Frankfurt: Peter Lang.

Page, S. (1999) ‘Régions: rôles de l’OMCet de l’UE’, in L’Union européenne et lespays ACP. Paris: GEMDEV.

Page, S. (1999) ‘The Relationship betweenthe European Union and Mercosur’,The International Spectator, XXXIV, 3(July–September), pp. 91–108.

Page, S. (1999) ‘The WTO andRegionalisation’ in Austrian Journal ofDevelopment Studies (Journal furEntwicklungspolitik), No.1.

Page, S. (1999) ‘The WTO andRegionalisation’ in Austrian Journal ofDevelopment Studies (Journal fürEntwicklungspolitik), No.1.

Page, S., Bulmer-Thomas, V. (1999) ‘TradeRelations in the Americas:MERCOSUR, the Free Trade Area ofthe Americas and the EuropeanUnion’, in Bulmer Thomas, V. andDunkerley, J. (eds) (1999) The UnitedSates and Latin America: The New Agenda.London: University of London.

Page, Sheila (1999) Tourism andDevelopment: The Evidence from Mauritius,

South Africa and Zimbabwe.www.ids.ac.uk/ids/global/page.pdf.Brighton: Institute of DevelopmentStudies.

Pal, S., Tripp, R. and Janaiah, A. (2000) ThePublic-Private Interface and InformationFlow in the Rice Seed System in AndhraPradesh. New Delhi: NCAP.

Richards M and Davies P. (1999)‘Economic Concepts for the ForestrySector’. Chapter 3 in Volume 3. GreenIssues: Water Supply and Sanitation,Agriculture, Forestry and Wildlife Resources.Economics for EnvironmentalManagement. State EnvironmentProtection Administration (SEPA),China/Department For InternationalDevelopment (DFID). Sutton, UK:Crown Agents.

Richards M. (2000) ‘Can Tropical ForestryBe Made Profitable? The Potential andLimitations of Innovative IncentiveMechanisms’. World Development Vol. 28(6).

Richards M., Davies J and Cavendish W.(1999) ‘Can PRA methods be used tocollect economic data? A non-timberforest product case study fromZimbabwe’. PLA Notes 36: 34-40.London: IIED Sustainable Agricultureand Rural Livelihoods Programme.

Schreckenberg, K. (1999) ‘Products of amanaged landscape: non-timber forestproducts in the parklands of the Bassilaregion, Benin’. Global Ecology andBiogeography Letters 8, 279-289.

Solignac Lecomte, H.B. (1999) ‘L’avenirdes relations commerciales ACP-UE –Analyse à la veille de l’ouverture desnégociations de Lomé V’, in L’Unioneuropéenne et les pays ACP: un espace decoopération à construire, Paris: GEMDEV,Editions Khartala.

Solignac Lecomte, H.B. (1999) ‘L’incertofuturo degli accordi commerciali UE-ACP’, in L’Europa e il sud del mondo –Quali prospettive per il post-Lomé?, I libridi africe e orienti, n.2, Repubblica diSan Marino: AIEP editore.

Solignac Lecomte, H.B. (1999) Lomé V etle commerce ACP-UE, Rapport ECDPM9, Maastricht, London: ECDPM-ODI.

Solignac Lecomte, H.B. (1999) Lomé V etle commerce ACP-UE: quels enjeux pourles pays de la Francophonie? inOrganisation Internationale de la

Francophonie, Conférence des Ministresde l’Economie et des Finances de laFrancophonie, Monaco 14–15 avril –Documents de Travail, Paris: AgenceIntergouvernementale de laFrancophonie.

Solignac Lecomte, H.B. (2000)‘Developing a Post-Lomé TradingRegime: ACP and EU Positions’, inRegionalism and a Post-Lomé ConventionTrade Regime: Implications for SouthernAfrica Johannesburg: Institute forGlobal Dialogue – Institut Françaisd’Afrique du Sud.

Solignac Lecomte, H.B. (2000) ‘FromLomé to Fiji: the unfinished mutationof ACP-EU trade relations’, Chapter inthe South African Yearbook of InternationalAffairs,World Topics 2000/01.Johannesburg: South Afr ican Instituteof International Affairs, SAIIA-CWCI.

Solignac Lecomte, H.B. (2000) ‘TheImpact of the EU-South AfricaAgreement on Lomé’, in Bertelsmann-Scott, Mills and Sidiropoulos, The EU-SA Agreement – South Africa, SouthernAfrica and the European Union.Johannesburg: South Afr ican Instituteof International Affairs, SAIIA-CWCI.

Solignac Lecomte, H.B. and van Hove, K.(1999) Aid for Trade Development: Lessonsfor Lomé V, Discussion Paper No. 10,Maastricht: ECDPM.

Tripp, R. (1999) ‘The Debate onGenetically Modified Organisms:Relevance for the South’ in Cohen, J.(ed.) Managing Agricultural Biotechnology:Addressing Research Program Needs andPolicy Implications pp.15–23. Wallingford:CABI Publishing.

Tripp, R. (2000) ‘Strategies for SeedSystem Development in Sub-SaharanAfrica. A Study of Kenya, Malawi,Zambia and Zimbabwe’, ICRISATWorking Paper. Patancheru, India:ICRISAT.

Tripp, R. and Pal, S. (2000) ‘Informationand Agricultural Input Markets: PearlMillet Seed in Rajasthan’, Journal ofInternational Development 12, pp. 133–144.

Van Brabant, K. (1999) Opening the BlackBox. A framework for understanding,promoting and evaluating humanitariancoordination. Commissioned by DisasterStudies Programme of the Centre forRural Development Sociology.Netherlands: University ofWageningen.

Wiles, P., Chan, L, Horwood, C., Leader,N. (1999) Evaluation of DanishHumanitarian Assistance to Afghanistan1992–1998. Copenhagen: Ministry ofForeign Affairs.


32 Meetings

Meetings series

Halving Poverty by 2015:Have we got what it Takes?May – June 1999‘Are the International Development

Targets Reachable? Reassessing theProspects in Asia and Africa’. LuciaHanmer and Felix Naschold, ODI;Stephen Ackroyd, Oxford PolicyManagement; Susan Joekes, IDS; andRosemary McGee, Christian Aid. (26May 1999)

‘Forests and Poverty: Can PovertyReduction be Reconciled withConservation?’. Gill Shepherd, ODI.(2 June 1999)

‘Poverty in Africa: Why EconomicGrowth Will Not Be Enough’. TonyKillick, ODI and Howard White, IDS.(9 June 1999)

‘How are the official donors facing upto the challenge? a view from theDevelopment Assistance Committee(DAC)’. Dag Ehrenpreis, SeniorAdviser on Poverty Reduction,OECD/DAC and Peter Grant, Headof Economic Policy and Research,DFID. (17 June 1999)

‘Will cancelling debt contribute topoverty reduction? A practicaldebate’. Paul Williams, Debt andFinance Team, HM Treasury; PaulSpray, DFID; and Matthew Lockwood,Christian Aid/Jubilee 2000 Campaign.(23 June 1999)

‘Are Donors Part of the Solution, orPart of the Problem? How CanDevelopment Cooperation HelpReach the IDTs?’ Mick Foster, Centrefor Aid and Public Expenditure, ODIand David Bevan, Centre for the Studyof African Economies, Oxford. (30 June1999)

Lessons without Borders –Conversations across theBoundary betweenDeveloped and DevelopingCountriesOctober – December 1999‘Lessons Without Borders?’. Dr Peter

Kenway, Director, New Policy Instituteand Simon Maxwell, Director, ODI.(20 October 1999)

‘From Income Poverty to SustainableLivelihoods: Practical Implicationsof Evolving Frameworks forUnderstanding Poverty’. CarolineAshley, Overseas Development Institute

and Marilyn Howard, Social PolicyAnalyst. (4 November 1999)

‘Managing a National PovertyReduction Policy: Who, What andHow?’ David Booth, ODI andCatherine Howarth, New PolicyInstitute. (10 November 1999)

‘Inequality: Can Poverty Targets BeMet Without Tackling It HeadOn?’. Lucia Hanmer, ODI and FranBennett, Oxfam Policy Adviser on EU/UK Poverty Issues. (17 November1999)

‘Social Exclusion and Finance’. AnaMarr, ODI and Guy Palmer, NewPolicy Institute. (25 November1999)

‘Government Perspectives on PovertyReduction in North and South’.Rachel Lomax, PermanentSecretary, DSS and Barrie Ireton,Director-General Programmes,DFID. (9 December 1999)

Water and the Poor, Visionsand Actions for 2025January – March 2000An ODI-SOAS Meeting Series

Leading up to The Second WorldWater Forum and MinisterialConference, 17-22 March 2000.

‘Where are We Now? An Overview ofIssues Confronting the Sector’. IvanCheret, Lyonnaise des Eaux; TonyAllan, School of Oriental and AfricanStudies; and Alan Nicol, ODI. (26January 2000)

‘Baking or Boiling? Global ClimateChange and Water Resources - to2025, and Beyond’. Declan Conway,Climatic Research Unit, University ofEast Anglia and Nigel Arnell,University of Southampton. (2February 2000)

‘More Crop per Drop and Dams onDemand? Implications for the 21stCentury’, David Seckler, InternationalWater Management Institute and AchimSteiner, World Commission on Dams.(9 February 2000)

‘A Community of Consumers: TheRegional Scenario in SouthernAfrica’. Barbara Schreiner, Departmentof Water Affairs and Forestry, Republicof South Africa. (16 February 2000)

‘The Water Resources Challenge inAfrica – A Perspective’. David Grey,World Bank, Washington D.C. (23February 2000)

‘A Vision for Water 2025’. Bill Cosgrove,

Director, Vision Management Unit,World Water Council. (1 March 2000)

‘Framing Appropriate Actions for theFuture’. Khalid Mohtadullah,Executive Secretary, Global WaterPartnership. (8 March 2000)

‘Poverty and Policy: Squaring up tothe Challenge at The Hague’.Addressed by Clare Short, Secretary ofState for International Development.Roundtable discussion involving a rangeof public, private and civil societystakeholders. (14 March 2000)

‘Politics and Standards: Aid to NorthKorea’. Aidan Foster-Carner, seniorresearch fellow formerly of LeedsUniversity and Jon Bennett. (21 April1999)

‘Tony Killick Symposium’ AdrianHewitt (Chair); Benno Ndulu, WorldBank;Samuel Wangwe, Economic andSocial Research Foundation, Dar-es-Salaam;Walter Elkan;Paul Mosley,University of Reading; DavidHenderson,University of Melbourne;Chris Stevens, IDS;Frances Stewart,Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford. (29June 1999)

‘World Development Report 1999/2000 Entering the 21st Century’.Shahid Yusuf, Economic Adviser andTeam Leader and Weiping Wu, SimonEvenett and Charles Kenny, Membersof the WDR team. (10 September1999)

‘Economic Liberalisation andEmployment in Latin America andIndia’. Professor Homi Katrak, VisitingProfessor in Economics, University ofSurrey and Maurizio Bussolo, ODI.(1 December 1999)

‘Preparing for World DevelopmentReport 2000/2001’. Half dayworkshop for policy directors andcampaigners. (17 February 2000)

‘World Food Prospects: Critical Issuesfor the Early Twenty-First Century’.Per Pinstrup-Andersen, DirectorGeneral, IFPRI and Andrew Bennett,DFID. (22 February 2000)

Meetings


33

Caroline Ashley (RPEG): sustainablelivelihoods and natural resourcemanagement; pro-poor tourism;wildlife and biodiversity;community-based natural resourcemanagement; Southern Africa.

Roger Blench (RPEG): naturalresource conflict; animal tractionissues in sub-Saharan Africa;climatic issues (especially drought)in relation to policy (e.g. El Niño);ethnoscience and the domesticationof the wild in sub-Saharan Africa.

David Booth (PPPG): pro-poorinstitutional reform and donorstrategies; participatory methodsand the micro-macro interface;institutional and socio-culturalperspectives.

John Borton (HPG): complexemergencies; humanitarianprogrammes; institutional learningand issues surrounding evaluationand accountability practices.

Charlotte Boyd (RPEG): incentives forconservation; wildlife; Non-timberforest products; trees on farm;community-based natural resourcemanagement and tourism.

Adrienne Brown (PPPG – Centre forAid and Public Expenditure):Public sector planning andmanagement, and institutionalreform; donor co-ordination,especially sector wide approaches.

David Brown (FPEG): communitybased forest management andbiodiversity conservation;institutional dimensions ofparticipatory development;environmental governance andaccountability; Francophoneperspectives.

Margie Buchanan-Smith (HPG):complex emergencies; famine earlywarning systems; natural disastersevaluations; relief-developmentlinkages.

Edward Clay (IEDG): economic andfinancial aspects of natural disasters;food and nutrition policy, especiallyfood aid and food security.

Elizabeth Cromwell (RPEG): seeddelivery systems; agriculturalbiodiversity conservation; farmlevel economics; economic policyand agriculture/environment.

John Farrington (RPEG): publicsector reform, democraticdecentralisation and community-

Research SpecialisationsResearch Specialisations

based organisations in naturalresource planning and servicedelivery.

Mick Foster (PPPG – Centre for Aidand Public Expenditure): publicfinance; aid policies, especiallysector wide approaches and budgetsupport.

Adrian Fozzard (PPPG – Centre forAid and Public Expenditure)Public expenditure managementand reform; aid management anddecentralisation.

Lucia Hanmer (PPPG): micro-economics; gender relations andthe household; quantitativemethods and econometrics.

John Healey (PPPG): aid policy andpractice and poverty reductionaspects; governance and the politicsof economic policy-making indeveloping countries.

Adrian Hewitt (IEDG): EU/Southrelations; foreign aid (UK, Japan);international trade; policy; WTO;Africa and the Caribbean;Parliament; development strategy.

John Howell (RPEG): agriculturaldevelopment in Africa (especiallySouth Africa) and South Asia; UKaid policy.

Karim Hussein (RPEG):participation and capacity building;agricultural research and extension;farmers’ organisations; ruraldevelopment policy; and sustainablelivelihoods.

Tony Killick (IEDG): internationaleconomic policy; World Bank andInternational Monetary Fund;structural adjustment andconditionality; African economicproblems; aid and poverty.

Nicholas Leader (HPG): emergencymanagement; aid policy in unstablesituations; humanitarian principlesand food distribution duringconflict.

Catherine Longley (RPEG): farmers’management of crop diversity; theeffects of war and natural disasterson seed systems; seed security andagricultural rehabilitation.

Joanna Macrae (HPG): humanitar ianprinciples, aid policy in unstablesituations, relief-development aidlinkages.

Simon Maxwell (Director):development theory and policy;poverty; food security; economic,

social and cultural rights; aid.Alan Nicol (RPEG): water resource

management and secur ity at alllevels; global water policydevelopment; and internationalhydropolitics.

Andy Norton (PPPG – Centre forAid and Public Expenditure):Social policy analysis and socialdevelopment; participatoryapproaches to policy development;poverty reduction and publicpolicy processes.

Sheila Page (IEDG): internationaland regional trade: the WTO;comparative trade and developmentperformance; capital flows andforeign investment; tourism;Southern Africa and Latin America.

Michael Richards (FPEG): economicanalysis of forest co-management;innovative financing and incentivemechanisms; forestry and globalgovernance; Latin America andSouth Asia.

Benu Schneider (IEDG):International financial issues; capitalflows; national monetary andexchange rate policy; domesticfinancial markets in developingcountries; and economic policies inIndia.

Kathrin Schreckenberg (FPEG):RDFN Coordinator; on-farm treeresources; non-timber forestproducts; participatory forestry;curriculum development.

Gill Shepherd (FPEG): Relationshipbetween forests, environment andpoverty; and national-level policymechanisms for balancing forestbenefits for local people, state,private sector and internationalcommunity.

Henri-Bernard Solignac Lecomte(IEDG – joint appointment withECDPM): future of ACP-EUco-operation; industrial growth inAfrica; trade policies and tradeagreements; regional cooperation.

Robert Tripp (RPEG): seed systems;agricultural research and extension;natural resource management.

Koenraad Van Brabant (HPG): HPNCoordinator; security management;organisational learning,coordination, sanctions and aidconditionality for conflictmanagement, war economies.

Overseas Development Institute


10 International Economic Development

liberalisation remains central (MaurizioBussolo and Henri-Bernard SolignacLecomte).

In a practical case, the SouthernAfrican Development Community isfollowing potentially conflictingpolicies. The largest member country(South Africa) signed an agreementwith the European Union; meanwhile,negotiations continued to liberalisetrade relations within the Community,and talks began on an agreement

between the EU and SADC as awhole. ODI research concluded that ofthe various combinations of futuretrade policy available to SADC,liberalisation of trade with all tradingpartners, preferably multilaterally, buteven unilaterally by SADC, is muchmore beneficial than a limitedagreement with the EU or the currentsemi-open position (Maurizio Bussolo,Page, Henri-Bernard Solignac-Lecomte).

For Malawi and Zimbabwe, whichwere considering their positions in theabortive Seattle WTO negotiations ofDecember 1999, clear gains could beidentified from trade liberalisation inagriculture and services, only partlyoffset by the cost of the loss of someexisting preferential arrangements(Sheila Page). Trade liberalisation cantherefore offer major benefits for thesedeveloping countries.

Trade negotiationsBut participating in trade negotiationsraises many challenges for developing

countries. How can a country withlimited resources achieve informedforward-thinking analysis to identifythe negotiating issues relevant to it andformulate positions which reflect all itsinterests? Countries must develop atrade policy structure, includingstrengthening and involving privatesector institutions. They must co-ordinate international positions withnational priorities and then learn toparticipate effectively in the growingrange of international negotiations; notonly for trade, but also theenvironmental conventions. In order toidentify the factors which determinesuccess or failure, we plan a series ofcase studies of internationalnegotiations and of countryexperiences (Sheila Page, Henri-Bernard Solignac Lecomte, MichaelRichards, FPEG).

Capacity-buildingDeveloping countries can benefit fromtrade capacity development (improvingtheir ability to export and to negotiate),but this is a sensitive area for donors,whose commercial interests mayconflict with their developmentobjectives. Our research in Senegal,Ghana and the Indian Ocean hasshown that where there is no cleartrade strategy within the framework ofa development programme, there is arisk that donors will shape prioritiesthrough their trade capacity efforts. Forexample, donors may be tempted to‘positively discriminate’ in favour oftrade related assistance which benefitstheir own firms. Donors’ support toenhance negotiating capacity inorganisations in which they alsoparticipate has a clear risk of conflict ofinterests (Henri-Bernard SolignacLecomte).

With DFID, ODI has developed astrategy of independence and restrictedreporting (e.g. that there is a positionpaper, not the content) in our workadvising countries on WTOnegotiations (Sheila Page). Workingthrough non-country agencies (forexample the CommonwealthSecretariat) or preparing DAC policyguidelines might help.

Sector perspectivesTourismIn its rapid growth, the value of tourismhas overtaken the traditional leadingexports, oil and cars. The supporters oftourism point to the possible benefits

The need to improve Europeandevelopment cooperation has beena recurrent theme in the aiddebate. Analysis needs to start withthe numbers, and ODI has made amajor contribution by describingand tabulating the externalcooperation programmes of the EU.Our earlier publication,Understanding EC Aid, was revisedand expanded, and was publishedby the European Commission asThe European Community ExternalCooperation Programmes: Policies,Management and Distribution. It isnotable that the EC has becomethe world’s fifth largest aid donor inthe 1990s. (Aidan Cox and JenniferChapman)

Improving aid cooperation

5.3 (9.7%)

9.4 (17.3%)9.4 (17.4%)

6.6 (12.1%)

23.7 (43.6%)

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

EU MemberStates

EC Japan USA Other DAC

$bn

OECD Aid in 1997 (disbursements $ million)


11International Economic Development

in terms of employment and foreignexchange; critics claim that there arerisks to people and the environmentand that most income goes abroad.ODI research is broadly optimisticabout the potential (research by IEDGcomplementing that by RPEG ontourism and livelihoods). World tourismis growing faster than demand for basicgoods, although little more than forsome new manufactures. And for manydeveloping countries that tourism islabour intensive is an important benefit.The costs, in imports, profits goingabroad, or environmental damage, tendto be similar to those of other sectorsin a particular country. These may behigh in small countries (for exampleMauritius), but in larger countries withlocal capital and good policies(Zimbabwe and South Africa in ourstudy), these costs do not outweigh thebenefits (Sheila Page).

Sugar, Rice and RumSome Caribbean countries remainheavily dependent on traditionalcommodities, not just sugar, but alsorice and rum. ODI continues to re-examine how these commodities canbe encouraged, or the producershelped to move to new products andmarkets. The ‘culture of preferences’which allowed these agriculturalcommodities into the otherwiseprotected markets of Europe andNorth America militated againstproduct development. While in thericher islands, the transition out ofexport-commodity-based trade is nearlycomplete, the study revealed that inthe poorer countries of the Caribbeanthese sectors remain so important for

employment and output linkages thatradical restructuring would bepolitically and socially painful, and

possibly unbearable (Adrian Hewitt).

Managing shocksThere is a need for more attention tothe economic and financialconsequences of major natural disasters.ODI led an evaluation of the BritishGovernment’s response to the volcaniceruption in Montserrat, a catastrophicevent which required 90% of thepopulation to relocate, and which islikely to cost the UK Government over£160 million in relief andreconstruction. The key technicalchallenges were to translate informedbut inevitably uncertain scientificinformation about the evolution of theeruption into practical policy; and tocommunicate both risk assessment and

proposed action to the localpopulation. The key administrativechallenge was to coordinate the workof different government departments,in Montserrat and London. The lessonslearned – about the interpretation ofscience, and the need for strongleadership of a cross-sectoralemergency task force – resonate formany other emergencies. (EdwardClay)

‘Developing countries canbenefit from trade capacitydevelopment (improvingtheir ability to export and tonegotiate), but this is asensitive area for donors,whose commercial interestsmay conflict with theirdevelopment objectives’.

‘The lessons learned fromMontserrat – about theinterpretation of science,and the need for strongleadership of a cross-sectoral emergency taskforce – resonate for manyother emergencies’.

‘The supporters of tourismpoint to the possiblebenefits in terms ofemployment and foreignexchange; critics claim thatthere are risks to people andthe environment and thatmost income goes abroad.ODI research is broadlyoptimistic about thepotential’


12

HumanitaOver the last few years,the role of humanitarianaction has broadened.Increasingly it has beenseen as a conflictmanagement tool, relatedto broader political andforeign policy objectives.

What are the implications of this shift?This has been a key issue for HPG’sresearch agenda, whilst the groupremains committed to improvingoperational practice and promotingaccountability and learning within theinternational humanitarian system.

The politics of policycoherenceDuring the 1990s, the concept of‘coherence’ became fashionable in publicpolicy circles, including coherencebetween humanitarian and politicalaction. Attempts to promote coherencehave exposed the inherent tensionsbetween the mandates of different publicinstitutions. HPG has undertaken amajor study examining what coherencehas meant in theory and practice. It hasdrawn three major conclusions.

First, the concept of coherence hasproved a convenient means of shiftingresponsibility for the formulation ofinternational public policy in non-strategic countries from diplomats to aidagencies. There is growing pressure inthe EU and elsewhere for aid to serve apolitical agenda, rather than, as originallyintended for governments to pay morepolitical attention to conflict reduction.

Second, while political actors havebeen quick to claim leadership overhumanitarian aid resources, the povertyof diplomacy is revealed by

contemporary warfare. The politicaleconomy of many current conflicts isnot sensitive to conventional approachesto peace-making. This suggests a needfor foreign policy and defence actors tore-analyse the dynamics of violence, andalso the tools available to them tointervene.

Third, the idea that humanitarianaction should form part of a widerpolitical strategy is problematic, ethicallyand technically. Principles of neutralityand impartiality that have guidedhumanitarian action for over a centuryhave proved robust, if difficult toimplement. Integrating humanitarianagendas with political strategies ofconflict reduction means compromisingthese principles, and providing (orwithholding) aid not on the basis ofneed, but according to politicalaffiliation.

Thus, a more sophisticated approachto coherence is needed, that recognisesconflict as well as complementaritybetween humanitarian and politicalobjectives. For example, the primaryprinciples governing the use ofhumanitarian aid might be enshrined inlaw, to protect them from undue politicalinterference (Joanna Macrae andNicholas Leader).

HPG StaffKanwal Amara-BangaliHelen AwanJohn BortonMargie Buchanan-SmithOlivia CheastyTheniath FreudweilerSarah GeileskeyFelicity HeyworthRachel HoughtonNicholas LeaderRebecca LovelaceJoanna MacraeLucy MorrisKate RobertsonKoenraad Van Brabant

‘The primary principles thatgovern the use ofhumanitarian aidmight be enshrined in law,to protect them from unduepolitical interference’.

Humanitarian Policy

Disasters: the journal of disaster studies, policy andmanagementDuring the past year Disasters hascontinued to assert its place as theleading peer-reviewed journal inits field, significantly expanding itsreadership, particularly throughincreased use of the Internet. Itsability to reflect debates acrossdisciplines and continents providesinsights into both natural disastersand complex emergencies. Ahighlight of the year was thepublication of a special issue (23/4)on International Public Nutrition inComplex Political Emergencies. Thiscomprised a series of state of theart papers arguing for a newapproach to nutrition in conflictsituations that addressed not justthe physiological status of affectedpopulations but improved analysisof the causes of malnutrition(Joanna Macrae).


13Humanitarian Policy

rian Policy

contemporary conflicts and how aid maybecome incorporated into them. Theobjective is to make available to aidworkers the growing literature in thisfield, enabling them to navigate betterthe complex environments in whichthey work. A Humanitarian PracticeNetwork Paper has been published, and anextensive bibliography has beenproduced. These have provided thestarting point for the development of alarger portfolio of work on wareconomies, including a research study on

regulating transnational corporations inconflict-affected countries (Philippe LeBillon (Research Associate), NicholasLeader and Joanna Macrae).

Learning from evaluationsDuring the year, HPG fielded two teamsas part of Danida’s evaluation of itsHumanitarian Assistance between 1992and 1998. Carrying out case studies inSudan and Afghanistan, the teams raiseda number of issues facing bilateraldonors in protracted emergencies: forexample, the need for an overall strategyto guide a donor’s response; and theinappropriately short time-frame ofsome donor grants.

In Afghanistan, the team reviewed theworkings of the Strategic Framework –the most ambitious attempt yet by theUN to bring coherence to its assistance,human rights and political activities inone country. The Strategic Frameworkhas been most successful in bringingtogether the assistance part of the UN’swork through the Principled CommonProgramme. But institutional mandatesstill undermine better coordination and amore principled engagement with thewarring parties. There are significantconceptual and practical obstacles toDamaged buildings in uncleared minefield near Sarajevo – Peter Wiles

Food distribution in conflict:towards a principledapproachFood aid is the most abused andmanipulated commodity inhumanitarian action. Many foodagencies have come to humanitarianwork from a background indevelopment and natural disasters, andare struggling to apply humanitarianprinciples to food distribution inextremely challenging environments.HPG’s work in this area draws on recentlessons learned in developing a moreprincipled approach to humanitarianaction. See, in particular, HPG Reportsnumbers 2 to 5.

A number of case studies haveexplored what humanitarian principlesmean for food distribution, and draw outpractical recommendations for principledfood distribution: for example, the needfor a strong situation analysis whichanalyses how food aid is exploited, andagreement with local authoritiesoutlining the principles of humanitarianaction and the respective responsibilitiesof each actor (Nicholas Leader andSusanne Jaspars of Nutrition Works).

The political economy ofwar: what relief workersneed to knowThe past decade has seen a bewilderingarray of books and articles suggestinghumanitarian aid may actuallyexacerbate conflict when it is trying toprovide relief. HPG has been working inpartnership with a number of NGOs,international organisations andacademics to review the existingevidence regarding the dynamics of

The Active Learning Network onAccountability and Performance inHumanitarian Assistance (ALNAP) isan interagency forum, with itssecretariat in HPG, working toimprove learning and accountabilityin the international humanitariansystem.1999/ 2000 was animportant year for ALNAP’sestablishment. It is now funded byalmost half its 44 memberorganisations, demonstrating thebreadth of support from, andownership by the internationalhumanitarian system.

Whilst the twice-yearly meetingsprovide an important learning forumfor the ALNAP members, new ideashave been developed to strengthenlearning in the field. During the heatof the humanitarian response to theKosovo crisis, in 1999, ALNAPmembers conceived of the idea ofestablishing a Learning Office in theearly stage of a humanitarianassistance/ disaster relief operation.Its aim would be to ensure thatlearning from previous operations

An important year for ALNAPwas available in readily usable form,and that experience from the currentoperation was recorded and learnedfrom. A retrospective study of howthe Learning Office might haveoperated during the response to theOrissa Cyclone showed there wassupport for the concept amongagencies working in Orissa and atthe Delhi level. A real-time pilot willbe run in an ongoing operation,probably in 2001. Thus, supportfrom across the internationalhumanitarian system is being builtup, giving such an initiative a greaterchance of success.

A global study on consultationwith, and participation by,beneficiaries and the affectedpopulation in the planning,management, monitoring andevaluation of humanitarianprogrammes was also agreed by theALNAP membership. This willproduce good practice and guidancematerials for humanitarian agencies(John Borton).


14 Humanitarian Policy

Destroyed house in Kosovo – John Cosgrave

In 1994, HPG launched the Reliefand Rehabilitation Network (RRN),as a unique forum for the exchangeof experience and good practice inthe humanitarian aid sector. Fiveyears on it has a membership ofover 1,300 and a reportedreadership of over 7,000. Duringthis last year, an independentreview of the RRN confirmed thatthe network has earned its place asan important and authoritative, yetaccessible, reference, widely valuedfor its objectivity and analysis, andfor its ‘consolidating’ role. Itsmaterials are often used forteaching and training.

As the RRN appeals most topractitioners, and now covers topicsbeyond straightforward relief andrehabilitation, the name has beenchanged to ‘Humanitarian PracticeNetwork’ (HPN). Directions for thefuture include greater use of

website publishing to increaseaccessibility, further developing theconcept of the network withcollaborating partners, andpromoting more interactivelearning.

During 1999/ 2000 the RRN hascontinued to publish on topicalissues that aid practitioners aregrappling with, for example on‘Protection in Practice: Field-LevelStrategies for Protecting Civiliansfrom Deliberate Harm’, and on‘Humanitarian Mine Action – the firstDecade of a New Sector inHumanitarian Aid’ (Network Papersnumbers 30 and 32).

HPG’s training and research workon operational securitymanagement has been compiledinto a Good Practice Review,meeting a felt and urgent need ofhumanitarian agencies (KoenraadVan Brabant and Rachel Houghton).

The RRN comes of age:the ‘Humanitarian Practice Network’

greater synergy, not least because theUN’s total aid is dwarfed by, for instance,the cross-border smuggling trade, andwarring parties continue to receivemilitary support from externalgovernments. Donor governments havealso tended to use the StrategicFramework to delegate political problemsto the sphere of humanitarian assistance,reinforcing some of the conclusions ofHPG’s research on policy coherence(Nicholas Leader).

The Sudan case study revealed someof the inadequacies of the humanitarianresponse to the Bahr el Ghazal famine in1998. For example, the UNConsolidated Inter-Agency Appealrevised its request for resourcesdownwards compared with the previousyear, influenced more by its expectationof donor generosity than by need; donorpledging was very late; and coordinationmechanisms were weak, particularly onpreparedness and contingency planning.

More recently, an evaluation of theDisasters Emergency Committee of UKNGOs member agencies’ response to theKosovo crisis has been carried out. Thiswas one of the best-fundedhumanitarian operations ever, at least inthe early stages, raising difficult issuesabout the unequal allocation ofhumanitarian aid at a global level. Theissue of impartiality was exacerbated inthe case of Kosovo, where theinternational humanitarian response wasclosely entwined with NATO’s politicaland military objectives, again particularlyin the early stages (Margie Buchanan-Smith, Peter Wiles, Research Associate).


15Humanitarian Policy

Roma refugee children from Kosovo, now in Sarajevo – Peter Wiles

Waiting for a house to be rebuilt in Kosovo – John Cosgrave

‘Kosovo – this was one ofthe best-fundedhumanitarianoperations ever, at least inthe early stages, raisingdifficult issues about theunequal allocation ofhumanitarian aid at a globallevel’.

‘Building on HPG’s strongcombination of research,evaluation, network anddissemination activities, thegroup is developing anintegrated approach to itswork, in the interests ofmaximising impact andreaching different targetaudiences through differentfora’.

An integrated approach for2000 and beyond:maximising impactBuilding on HPG’s strong combinationof research, evaluation, network anddissemination activities, the group isdeveloping an integrated approach to itswork, in the interests of maximisingimpact and reaching different targetaudiences through different fora. Thus,for example, HPG’s research on theapplication of humanitarian principles,in Liberia and southern Sudan, weredisseminated to ALNAP members,through the RRN as a discussion paper,and at a workshop in Nairobi.Meanwhile, the journal Disasters, whichis edited by HPG, published a number ofpapers from the DEC conference – ‘TheEmperor’s New Clothes: the Erosion ofHumanitarian Principles’. Thus, HPGwas able to make a major contributionto the debate on humanitarian

principles, reaching different targetaudiences through different fora.

The integrated programme offers theopportunity for a more pro-active andstrategic approach to planning andsetting of HPG’s objectives and priorities.During 2000, an Advisory Group will beestablished, from bilateral donors, UNagencies, NGOs and the Red Crossmovement, to ensure consultation andfeedback between HPG and thehumanitarian aid system.


16

Rural Policy anRural Policy and Environment

ODI research on rural policy is centrallyconcerned with institutions: markets,community organisations, privatecompanies, government bureaucracies,and international organisations. Arecurrent institutional structures conduciveto poverty reduction? If not, what can besaid about the entry points andsequences for reform?

Public administration, publicchoice and local governmentA first illustration asks how bureaucraciescan be made more accountable to poorpeople. Earlier work began to addressthis question in the context of majorgovernment and donor programmes forrehabilitating micro-watersheds in India.These were particularly innovative ingiving people control over funds forimplementing watershed rehabilitationto their own design. During the year, thework’s major output was published(Farrington, Turton and James (eds)1999) focusing on the scope forobtaining the evident benefits ofparticipatory approaches to watersheddevelopment on a wider scale.

In parallel, an amendment to India’snational Constitution in 1993 hadopened the way for central governmentto channel funds for rural developmentactivities, including watersheddevelopment, through reformed localgovernment (panchayati raj) organisations.This clearly offers the potential forstrengthening local watershed planningand implementation processes, and forelected bodies to make demands onservice delivery agencies.

However, implementation of thesereforms varies widely by State, and there

Institutions lie at the heartof the developmentprocess, and institutionalchange needs to underpinmarket reform.

are major concerns over how newlyelected bodies will interact with theresource user-groups formed specificallyfor watershed management. Research onthis topic (Baumann) has recently beencompleted, and provides the intellectualbase for major new work funded by theFord Foundation into the widerinteraction between local governmentand natural resource user-groups(Farrington and Baumann).

The theme of improved accountabilitywill be taken further in new researchcommissioned by DFID, in which KarimHussein will explore ways of improvingdownward accountability in publicadministration in developing countries.

Seeds and sustainabilityA second illustration concerns seeds – atopic much in the news this year becauseof the debate about genetically modifiedorganisms. Although agriculturalbiotechnology continues to generatecontroversy, little attention has beengiven to the prospects and problems ofdelivering the products of biotechnologyto resource-poor farmers; theestablishment of a competent andtransparent regulatory system; the role ofthe private seed production and inputmarketing systems; and the provision ofadequate information to farmers. AnODI review emphasises the importanceof a supportive institutional environmentfor the equitable utilisation of any newtechnology (Rob Tripp).

Seeds are a crucial input intoagriculture, for both relief anddevelopment. But do these contrastingsituations require different solutions, andis sufficient effort made to identify and

RPEG StaffCaroline AshleyRoger BlenchCharlotte BoydKate BurkeRobert ChapmanSylvie CordierAlana CoyleElizabeth CromwellJohn FarringtonJohn HowellKarim HusseinCatherine LongleyZoë MarriageAlan NicolTom SlaymakerPatsy de SouzaHelen SuichRobert TrippCathryn TurtonMelanie Woodland

Dinka agro-pastoralists, southern Sudan –Catherine Longley.

A Dinka cattle camp, Bahr el Ghazal Province,southern Sudan – Catherine Longley.

‘Although agriculturalbiotechnology continues togenerate controversy, littleattention has been given tothe prospects and problemsof delivering the products ofbiotechnology to resource-poor farmers...’


17

d EnvironmentRural Policy and Environment

respond to these requirements? ODIresearch in Malawi, southern Sudan andUganda has found that needs assessmentprior to the distribution of emergencyseed is inadequate, and that the role ofagricultural markets is very important forfarmers’ coping strategies in emergencysituations. Seed need not always beprovided through relief agencies: farmers’informal seed systems often continue towork well, and seed aid can severelydistort local markets if it is continuedbeyond the immediate emergency(Catherine Longley).

Other ODI studies in Africa and Indiahave also highlighted the role of markets:whilst, with a few exceptions, the privateseed sector is poorly developed in sub-Saharan Africa, in the state of AndhraPradesh private seed companies hadcaptured a surprisingly large share of themarket for rice varieties bred by thepublic sector. The likelihood of thisexperience being repeated elsewhere(e.g., in Africa) is limited by restrictivegovernment regulations and thedistortion of markets through theprovision of free or subsidised seed.Although considerable donor effort iscurrently invested in idealised villageseed enterprise projects, higher priority

and ODI staff continue to work in anumber of advisory capacities in relationto SL, helping to coordinate work onpolicies, institutions and processes(Karim Hussein). However, ODIcontinues to research and publish on thestrengths and weaknesses of theapproach, looking at methodology (seeBox p. 18) and in, a series of WorkingPapers, examining SL applications intourism and wildlife impacts, project andprogramme design, and organisationaland institutional change (CarolineAshley).

How can policies and strategies inSouth Asia be made more supportive ofpoor peoples’ initiatives to diversify theirlivelihoods? ODI (John Farrington,Caroline Ashley) is leading a consortiumin a three-year research programmefunded by DFID’s Rural Livelihoods andEnvironment Department to investigatethese issues. Underlying assumptions arethat poor people rely on a combinationof initiatives to protect themselves againstvulnerability and to climb out of poverty,including better management of naturalresources, taking on local and distantemployment, and engaging in micro-enterprise. They generally take onpart-time work as it becomes attractiveand accessible, and drop other jobs. By

Globalisation and waterIs access to water a basic humanright? Should people be expected topay for it? Although there has longbeen evidence of peoples’ – evenpoor peoples’ – willingness to payfor water, this question is at thecentre of current debates on water. Itunderpins a number of related policyquestions: how can the poor bestexpress demand for domestic water,and how can poverty best beaddressed through waterinterventions?

Understanding these narrativesand their implications for policy onwater at all levels is central to newODI research (Alan Nicol). Many ofthe research issues were debated ina series of eight weekly meetings inearly 2000, the final sessionproviding a platform for theSecretary of State to set out the UKposition for the Second World WaterForum in The Hague (17–22 March2000). ODI also hosted the UK NGOconsultation on the Global WaterPartnership ‘Framework for Action’document prior to its presentation inThe Hague.

Natural ResourcePerspectives series (NRPs)The NRP series provides accessibleinformation on NR policy issues bymailing its four-page briefing papersto some 5,500 persons worldwide.These papers are accessed by manymore via the ODI website. Recenttopics have included: land reform insouthern Africa, livelihooddiversification, the politics of jointmanagement of forest and waterresources, institutional support forsustainable livelihoods, pro-poortourism and co-management ofwildlife and livestock.

should be given to the development offarmers’ capacity to demand attentionfrom public research and to participate ina more active and discerning fashion incommercial input and output markets(Rob Tripp).

How sustainable is rainfed farmingwhere heavily subsidised seed andfertiliser are provided? Participatorymonitoring and evaluation studies inMalawi suggest that farmers have a clearsense of what components contribute tosustainable farming, but lack access tomany, and so fall back on chemicalfertiliser and hybrid maize seed(Elizabeth Cromwell).

Sustainable Livelihoods (SL)The sustainable livelihoods frameworkdeveloped by DFID to help in designingprojects and programmes targetingpoverty has continued to be a majorfocus of ODI work.

We have been involved in theassessment of progress made inimplementing Sustainable Livelihoodsapproaches since their launch in 1998.(Caroline Ashley and Diana Carney),

Managing biodiversityGlobal conventions promote on-farmconservation and the sustainable useof agricultural biodiversity. Butprecisely how this might be done ispoorly understood, while manydonors are looking for evidence thatthe sustainable use of biodiversityon-farm can contribute tosustainable livelihoods and thusultimately to eradicating poverty.Early results from a collaborativestudy between ODI and theIntermediate TechnologyDevelopment Group suggest thatfactors normally supposed toinfluence diversity such as distanceto market centres exert less influencethan the types of information andinputs available to those markets(Elizabeth Cromwell).

contrast, governments perceivediversification as commodity- or area-based, and prioritise the creation offull-time jobs. ODI staff will also befocusing on access to natural capital insouthern Africa in another three-yearproject (with the Institute ofDevelopment Studies (IDS), Sussex).Strong information flows between thetwo projects will be generated by thework of a number of ODI staff on theIDS project: Alan Nicol on water,Caroline Ashley on livelihoods andCharlotte Boyd on wild resources.

Pro-poor tourismWe will also be developing our earlierwork on the livelihood impacts oftourism in a new study of pro-poortourism. The results of recently-availablework suggest that the poverty impacts oftourism include a wide range of


18 Rural Policy and Environment

livelihood impacts, not just income orjobs. Changes in policy or in externalsupport can influence the factors havinga central bearing on whether and howfar the poor will benefit, including thetype of tourism, planning regulations,land tenure, market context, and accessto capital and training. Ultimately, suchchanges must be compatible with thecommercial orientation of tourism; evenso, there is plenty of scope for givingtourism a more pro-poor orientation(Caroline Ashley and Charlotte Boyd).

Land redistributionHow can governments committed toland redistribution strike a balancebetween the needs of the poorest andrequirements of income-generatingagricultural development? In SouthAfrica, grant assistance is available toallow black Africans to purchase whitecommercial farms; and a legislativeframework exists that should ensure anorderly process of land transfer. Butdifficult policy choices remain. In theshort run, farm labourers without tenuresecurity and retrenched workers demandpriority in grant allocation, but therequirements of rural job creation andgreater farm productivity compel thegovernment towards support for existingblack farmers able to provide investmentand business experience. These publicchoice questions are central to the designof grants and grant conditions in which

ODI is engaged through the Ministry ofAgriculture and Land Affairs (JohnHowell).

EC agricultural and ruraldevelopment strategiesHow can the EC’s rural developmentstrategy be made more effective for thefuture? How can greater consistency beachieved between this and its policies ontrade and on European agriculture?Questions of this kind are beingaddressed by work in support of ECpolicy formulation conducted jointly byODI (John Farrington and Gerry Gill)and Belgian colleagues at ADE. Adiagnostic report and policy orientationpaper were completed during the year(see www.rurpol.org), and work iscurrently focusing on the preparation ofsub-sectoral strategy papers and onapproaches for introducing the newpolicy at country level.

Coalitions of interestA major project in Rajasthan publishedduring the year drew attention to thepower- and personality-base of the manydifficulties facing coalitions. (Ruth Alsop,Elon Gilbert, John Farrington and RajivKhandelwal) Further work on Multi-Agency Partnerships is being conductedin West Africa. This study asks how theinteraction between rice breeders andfarmers can be strengthened in order toimprove the quality and relevance of the

Mr. A Cissé (left) and Mr. M. Traore (right).Research Partners to the Multi-AgencyPartnerships Project for Technical Change inWest African Agriculture – Robert Chapman.

varieties distributed, in the face of severeweakening of public sector agencies inthe 1990s, over-centralised seeddistribution systems, and bottlenecks ininput supply. On the positive side, riceprocessing and marketing are vibrant, inresponse to rapidly growing demand.The project is at the stage of identifyingcommunity-based organisations as a test-bed to help in assessing how externallinkages can be strengthened, and withwhat effect (Roger Blench, RobertChapman).

Methodologies forSustainable Livelihoods (SL)approachesSL approaches are providing insightsinto better ways of addressingpoverty. But there will never beenough resources for full-scale fieldstudies of the complexities ofpoverty. So can rapid yet reliablemethods be developed to guideinterventions?

One effort in this direction hasbeen the development of GIS-basedmethods in Ethiopia to enable thesystematisation of disparateinformation for use in ‘drought-proofing’ communities. These willdovetail with existing early warningsystems (e.g. for food security) andwill lead to the establishment ofsimple community-level securitymapping (Alan Nicol). At a broaderlevel, Working Paper 133 (part of theseries mentioned below) ‘Adopting aSustainable Livelihoods Approach toWater Projects: Implications for Policy

and Practice’ proposes new ways ofapproaching the issue of povertyreduction through water projects(Alan Nicol).

A series of recent ODI WorkingPapers (WP127–134) on practicalapplications of SL approachesillustrates the wide range of uses ofSL and hence of the methodologiesinvolved. Two, in particular assessmethodological issues. Onesummarises and analysesmethodologies for assessinglivelihood impacts of wildlife projectsin East Africa (WP129, Ashley andHussein). The other recounts effortsover an extended period to introduceorganisational change into a forestrydepartment in India, starting from abasic premise that unless there arefundamental changes within servicedelivery organisations, there will beno change in their external relationswith resource users (WP 132, Hobleyand Shields).


19Rural Policy and Environment

Soil and water conservation– crisis or not?How can policies better support localaction for improved soil and waterconservation in semi-arid parts of Africa?A three-year study in six countriessuggests that farmers have a wide rangeof undescribed but effective techniquesfor maintaining soil fertility. Differencesin soil and water status between villagesreached by external (often donor)interventions and those which are nottend to be less than claimed, not leastbecause labour availability is generally a

Onions are a popular cash cropon the 2,400 ha Tono IrrigationProject in the upper east regionof Ghana – Robert Chapman.

Women play a vital role in N. Ghana in theharvesting and preparation of rice – RobertChapman.

major constraint on willingness toundertake conservation measures, anddiffering socio-economic environmentshave created very different profiles oflabour availability within and betweencountries. A key requirement for thefuture is for policy to identify andsupport local initiatives in this area.(Charlotte Boyd, Roger Blench and TomSlaymaker) Related work focuses on thepolicy requirements for sustainable farminvestment by smallholders (MichaelMortimore and Mary Tiffen).

The Agricultural Researchand Extension Network(AgREN)AgREN publishes around six papersper year on topics relevant to thechallenges faced by developmentpractitioners. In working out itsstrategy for the next few years, therehas been a wide-ranging review ofAgREN’s activities. An emaildiscussion among AgREN membershas provided a useful basis forsubsequent face-to-face interviewswith a representative sample ofAgREN members. Consultations withother networks have also beenundertaken.

AGREN publications (listed in thepublications section p.29) are alsoavailable electronically atwww.odi.org.uk/agren/publist.html

‘In the short run, farmlabourers without tenuresecurity and retrenchedworkers demand priority ingrant allocation, but therequirements of rural jobcreation and greater farmproductivity compel thegovernment towardssupport for existing blackfarmers able to provideinvestment and businessexperience’.


20

Forest policy needs an internationalframework to deal with these questions –and FPEG researchers are increasinglyinvolved in international debates.

Helping to shapeinternational policyInternational Conventions were signedat Rio in 1992, on biodiversity,desertification and climate change – butno agreement could be reached on aforest convention. Instead a parallel, non-legally binding process has beenunderway, leading from the ‘ForestPrinciples’ agreed at Rio to theIntergovernmental Panel on Forests(IPF) and the Intergovernmental Forumon Forests (IFF).

The lack of a formal Conventionmeans that the sustainable use andmanagement of forests is in danger ofbeing side-lined in internationalthinking. FPEG research attempts toredress the balance by highlighting, forexample, the importance of donorsupport for good quality National ForestProgrammes.

Internalising the externalitiesThe potential of forest-based carbonoffset trading is in the limelight. Butcarbon trading and other high potentialincentive mechanisms face majortechnical, political and institutionalchallenges. They will only be successfulwhen accompanied by effective forestsector regulatory measures and by effortsto limit the adverse impacts of non-forestsector policies and macro-economicadjustment (Michael Richards).

Forest Policy and Environment

Forest Policy anBushmeat and endangeredspeciesWhile wood and fibre are the centralfocus of much international interest intropical forests, other non-timber forestproducts figure strongly in thelivelihoods of forest dwellers. Commercein ‘bushmeat’ – game meat from tropicalforests, usually marketed in dried andsmoked form – is a major element in theeconomy of areas such as Central Africa.With increasing access to forest areasthrough road-building and theexpansion of the timber trade, andincreasing sophistication of huntingtechnologies, the present levels of offtakeare unsustainable. Many internationalenvironmental agencies argue that thethreat is serious enough to justify a banon hunting for commercial purposes, anapproach which finds little favour inmany of the producer nations. A UKsubmission to CITES (the Conventionon International Trade in EndangeredSpecies), co-authored by ODI, called forincreased investment in the search forsustainable management models and hasresulted in the establishment of an inter-sessional Working Group on bushmeat(David Brown).

Partnership with the EUImproved international policy dependson better communication anddissemination. FPEG has just completeda major four-year programme with theEuropean Commission to improve thequality of communication between theMember States of the Union and theirdeveloping country partners. Outputsinclude a series of EU Tropical Forestry

FPEG StaffDavid BrownAnand MadhvaniMichael RichardsKate SchreckenbergGill ShepherdCathy WaterhouseCaroline Wood

Can the global benefits oftropical forest conservationbe reconciled with theneeds of poor forest-dwellers? Can theinternational trade inendangered species becontrolled without harmingpoor people? Can theglobal timber industry beregulated?

‘Carbon trading and otherhigh potential incentivemechanisms face majortechnical, political andinstitutional challenges’.

Forests and livelihoods in Nepal: members of a village Forest User Groupmake plans for their forest with staff from the Nepal-UK Forestry project.


21Forest Policy and Environment

nd EnvironmentPapers, the TROPICS database ontropical forestry projects undertaken bythe European Commission and MemberStates, and a website edition of the EUTropical Forestry Sourcebook.

Policy at national levelFPEG contributions internationally arefounded on expertise in national forestpolicy issues.

Diversified forest managementfor greater equity – evidencefrom NepalNepal has been a pioneer incommunity-based natural resourcemanagement, but the process remains fullof pitfalls. At user group level, theprotection of village forests has resultedin hardship for poorer villagersdependent upon daily product flowsrather than occasional bonanzas;management regimes must diversify tomeet these demands. Locally, the Nepalgovernment is being encouraged todecentralise many functions andspending decisions to district and villagelevel; but these seem likely to challengethe autonomy of forest user groups.Nationally, the Ministry of Forests, Soiland Water Conservation is unable tofocus only on the community forestryfavoured by the donors to the exclusionof other kinds of forest management. Itsown preoccupations are with thevaluable forests of the Terai (plains) areasof Nepal rather than the low-value hillforests (Gill Shepherd).

Developing participatoryapproachesParticipatory approaches are widelyadvocated in the forest sector, aselsewhere. FPEG work shows that thereis potential, but that the institutional

framework is often a constraint.In Cameroon, for example, ODI

research indicates a high potential forimprovement of fruit tree traits aspreferred by consumers and traders.Farmers are already taking on this ontheir own. A study of two species(African plum and bush mango) showsimprovement over at least the last twogenerations of farmers. However, thestate needs to support farmer initiativesby providing better planting material andimproving access to markets (KateSchreckenberg with RPEG ResearchFellow Charlotte Boyd).

Similarly, participatory forestmanagement can be improved if theanalytical tools used by forest users canbe improved. ODI is working with theNepal-UK Community Forestry Project

The RDFN provides timely review andcase study material on key forestryissues. It does so in a manner thatsuccessfully appeals to policy-makersand researchers as well as reachingpractitioners, many of whom havelittle access to other forestryliterature. The value of theinformation provided isdemonstrated by the fact thatnetwork members haveindependently translated papers intonumerous languages includingAmharic, Bahasa Indonesia, Hindiand other Indian languages,Kiswahili and Mandarin Chinese. Anaverage of two requests forinformation about tropical forestryare received per day and theNetwork continues to expand withupwards of 25 new members joiningevery month.

With the support of a FordFoundation grant, the last year has

seen a rapid development of theelectronic side of the Network,providing internet access to the morethan 150 RDFN publications to date(in three languages) and beginningthe transfer of key items from theRDFN’s valuable grey literaturecollection to the web. Responses tothe RDFN website have beenenthusiastic, praising the largeamount of useful material availableand its clear presentation.

Rural Development Forestry Network

Log skidding in Costa Rica:market values alone areinsufficient forsustainable forestmanagement – MichaelRichards.

to develop a participatory economicmethodology for forest user groups(FUGs), and to identify appropriatemonitoring indicators. The aim is toincrease economic transparency in theuser groups and encourage moreequitable FUG rules (Michael Richards,with Associate Jonathan Davies).

In The Gambia, FPEG is examiningthe use of participatory methodologiesin forest resource management. Widelypublicised government attempts toinvolve rural populations in communityforest management and fire protectionhave provided the model for otherattempts to manage dry lands forestssustainably through co-managementwith local users. An important issue iswhether participatory tools can, ofthemselves, create attitude changeswithin public bureaucracies, and thustranscend the constraints of institutionalstructures and processes (David Brown,with RPEG Fellows Karim Hussein andCatherine Longley, and Associate MickHowes).

The reality of trying to reform forestrystructures and processes is not an easyoption as illustrated by RDFN Mailing24 on institutional change and WorkingPaper 132 (Hobley and Shields). Anapproach that permeates all levels of thedelivery agency and takes on board theneeds of a broad range of stakeholders isessential.