Winter 2013-2014 Issue of Developments is Available Online
February 28, 2014
Leading off, development practitioner Zaki Raheem describes how hundreds of entrepreneurs in Somaliland answered a call for business plans with proposals to fill major gaps in the economy. Many are now implementing their ideas with help from matching grants from the Partnership Fund, part of the U.S. Agency for International Development project, Partnership for Economic Growth, being implemented by DAI.
Other stories include:
Saad Hamid, a communications specialist working in Pakistan, writes about how marginalized boys and girls across the country are now going to school by the thousands thanks to the innovative efforts of scores of local education champions, partially funded by a U.K. Department for International Development program.
Even though water is scarce in Morocco, farmers are demonstrating how they now earn more money while actually using less water on their crops. Andrew Watson, DAI’s Managing Director for Environment and Health, tells the story.
At first glance, natural resource conservation has little to do with electronic hotel reservations. Practitioners Lia Grigg and Miguel Baca write about a Honduran entrepreneur who helped marry the two ideas for the benefit of both local hotel operators and protected areas.
Fiscal reform means more than helping countries develop sound and accountable systems and policies; it can also mean assisting Jordan to issue a $1.25 billion bond, saving the country millions of dollars that it can now use locally. Developments Editor Charles Coon writes about it here.
What does a poor country do when it strikes it rich through discoveries of natural gas? Zachary Kaplan, DAI’s resident expert in public-private partnerships, recommends next steps toward a “local content” policy in Mozambique that could benefit communities across the country while improving the business environment for the extractives companies.
In the Philippines, the Pulilan Local Government recently went cash-light, launching an electronic payroll system by which its 300 employees receive their salaries digitally. As a result, John Jepsen and Mamerto Tangonan write, more than 10,000 Pulilan households can now pay their utility bills via their mobile phones, a cheaper and less risky way to transfer money.
Finally, in the executive opinion section, Del McCluskey, DAI’s Global Practice Leader for Environment, Climate Change, and Urban Services, proposes a way for the Philippines to build back better after the horrific typhoon Haiyan, a road map that might also serve other nations vulnerable to catastrophic weather.
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