- The Trump Administration is gearing up to propose ‘dramatic reductions’ in foreign aid expenditure. Alex Thier at the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) argues that these proposals would make America weaker.
- The EU and the UK have begun rolling out an $85 million Euro project of cash transfers to refugees in Lebanon, but not all agencies are convinced it is the right approach.
- Berk Ozler from the World Bank has burst the bubble on a universal basic income being a panacea for poverty reduction. Chris Blattman echoes his scepticism.
- Financial literacy training is becoming a significant component of poverty alleviation, yet the evidence shows that it hardly ever works in changing people’s behaviour. The Poverty-Action lab provides a brief on how the training works best.
- The Maldives is pivoting from its focus on climate change financing to massively scaling up its tourism operations over the next decade.
- Duncan Green provides his thoughts on this year’s World Development Report, the World Bank’s flagship publication, this year subtitled ‘Governance and The Law’. David Booth also has a good summary over at ODI.
- The Center for Global Development assesses the fallout of the Indian government’s decision to ‘demonetise’ the economy a few months ago.
- The Global Fund, a multilateral health agency that receives $5 billion a year, has had its hunt for a new executive director mired in surprising controversy. Amanda Glassman provides some ways in which the potential candidates could better stake their claim to the top job.
Aid and Development links: American aid, financial literacy, demonetisation and more
The future of US aid, cash transfers in Lebanon, universal basic income and more.
Photo: Flickr/USAID
Published 6 Mar 2017
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