POLITICS: World Bank, IMF Heads Skip Summit on Global Crisis

When a major international conference on financing for development took place in the Qatari capital of Doha last November, the heads of both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) skipped the meeting.

POLITICS: Will Women Be an Afterthought at U.N. Crisis Meet?

A groundbreaking U.N. General Assembly conference on the global economic crisis and its impact on development, set to begin Wednesday, may sideline women's numerous concerns, civil society groups say.

POLITICS: Is West Undermining Summit on Financial Crisis?

When a Western diplomat was asked whether his country would be represented by a head of state at next week's U.N. summit meeting on the global financial crisis, his response was tinged with sarcasm and contempt.

HEALTH: Killer Diarrheal Diseases Eclipsed on Donor Agendas

Interest in reducing the harm caused by diarrheal diseases has waned among the global health and aid communities, said two new reports released Tuesday in Washington.

U.S.: Obama Boosts Foreign, Development Aid Spending

True to his promises to bolster Washington's "soft power" abroad, President Barack Obama released details of his fiscal year (FY) 2010 budget that included significant increases in development assistance and other civilian-oriented tools of U.S. foreign policy.

U.S.: Obama's Global Health Plan Disappoints Activists

Global health activists expressed disappointment Tuesday over U.S. President Barack Obama's plans to spend 63 billion dollars over the next six years to fight diseases in poor countries overseas.

Q&A: “Boosting Agriculture Is Not an Option But an Imperative”

New support from donors will enable the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to help about 70 million poor smallholder farmers increase their productivity and incomes over the next five years, the Fund's new president Kanayo F. Nwanze told IPS.

ECONOMY: Crisis Pushing Key Poverty Goals Out of Reach

The global economic crisis has created a "development emergency" that will put at least some of the U.N.'s key poverty-reducing 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) out of reach for many countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, according to a new report released Friday by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

POLITICS-US: Overcoming Toxic Legacy of Bush-Style Democracy

A massive overhaul of U.S. development assistance is needed, says a new report from an influential Washington think tank.

DEVELOPMENT: IMF, Reform Thyself, Groups Say

Ahead of the annual meetings of the world's biggest international financial institutions this weekend, calls are growing for the United Nations to take new initiatives on financing for development in poor countries.

HAITI: Donors Pledge 324 Million Dollars to Rebuild After Storms

International donors have pledged 324 million dollars over the next two years in additional aid to help Haiti recover from food riots and damage to roads and other key infrastructure caused by four hurricanes that ravaged Latin America's poorest nation last summer.

DEVELOPMENT: Making Sanitation Sexy

Though the issue of human excreta is often taboo in polite company, human waste and sanitation are starting to take their rightful place in debates about development and human health.

DEVELOPMENT: U.N. Triples Allotment for Population

The 1994 landmark International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), held in the Egyptian capital of Cairo, fixed a target of 20.5 billion dollars for investments in population programmes worldwide for the year 2010.

AFRICA: G20 Summit’s Trade-Related Commitments Disappoint

The Group of 20’s pledges of trade finance and aid for trade are too vague, according to the editors of the e-book ‘‘Rebuilding Global Trade’’, published last week. And the London summit of this group of developed and developing economies last week failed to make a strong commitment to the multilateral trade regime.

POPULATION: Global Financial Crisis Threatens Family Planning

The spreading global financial crisis is threatening to undermine another one of the U.N.'s major development and health goals: family planning.

LATIN AMERICA: IDB Capital Boost – Drop of Water in Sea of Crisis

The United States’ cautious backing has cleared up doubts about a new increase in the Inter-American Development Bank’s (IDB) capital, which has been called for by the multilateral lending institution’s governors as well as by the countries of Latin America.

LATIN AMERICA: Half Century of Failed Development Policies – NGOs

As it gets ready to commemorate its 50th anniversary at an assembly in Medellín, Colombia, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has come under heightened criticism from civil society groups which argue that its financing often goes against sustainable development and effective measures to overcome poverty.

POLITICS: Form of New U.N. Women's Entity Still Nebulous

When a high-level panel of former political leaders and senior government officials released a study in late 2006 on ways to eliminate duplication and strengthen coordination among the U.N.'s myriad bodies, it also recommended the creation of a specialised agency for women aimed at consolidating gender-related activities under a single umbrella.

DEVELOPMENT: World’s Poor Offer Lessons in Bank Study

To be successful, poverty-reducing programmes must be informed by the lives and experiences of the millions of poor people around the world and emphasise economic opportunity, says a study released Wednesday by the World Bank.

ECONOMY: Poor Countries to Need Up to 700 Billion Dollars

In the latest in a series of increasingly dire predictions, the World Bank Sunday warned that developing countries may need up to 700 billion dollars in external financing this year due to the squeeze in global credit markets which has seen a dramatic plunge in private investment.

HAITI: Stability May Rest in Donors’ Pockets

A series of crises in 2008 have pushed more Haitians into poverty and increased the potential for serious instability in the Caribbean nation of nearly 9 million, said the latest update briefing from the International Crisis Group (ICG).