Through successive replications of its mixed-income, mixed-use residential tower model, the University of Winnipeg Community Renewal Corporation has become Winnipeg’s leading social real estate developer. Featuring green construction and generous common spaces, 40% to 51% of each tower’s units are affordable while the rest are rented at market or premium rates. With the completion of…(Read more)
Tag: development
Labour-Absorbing Services: Four Strategies
Economists Dani Rodrik and Rohan Sandhu recently published their latest paper on strategies for increasing the labour-absorbing capacities of the services sector in developing economies, where large numbers of young people are entering the workforce every year. As their abstract says: “Manufacturing generates very little employment in the developing world. Urban jobs are predominantly informal,…(Read more)
Special Issue of the African Evaluation Journal Honours Dr. Sulley Gariba
The African Evaluation Journal has published a special issue in honour of one of the continent’s prime leaders in the field, the late Sulley Gariba, Ghanaian diplomat, policy advisor, and evaluation strategist and practitioner. Dr, Gariba constructed new pathways for African-developed and -owned evaluation by governments and civil society, and promoted youth engagement in the…(Read more)
Ian Smillie Publishes Under Development, A Memoir
Warm congratulations to Ian Smillie on the publication of his memoir, Under Development, reflecting on his 50 years of learning and action in fighting poverty and advancing justice in Africa and around the world. A perceptive analyst and superb writer, and of Canada’s most accomplished and creative nonprofit leaders, Ian built breakthrough programs at CUSO,…(Read more)
CAIDP Conference 2024 A Success
The 2024 conference of the Canadian Association of International Development Professionals in partnership with the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University was held from February 20 to 22 in Ottawa and online. The theme of the conference was Development Cooperation in a Time of Geopolitical Instability. The event featured excellent keynote addresses…(Read more)
Just Transition Finance: Pathways for Banking and Insurance
At COP 28 in Dubai, the Finance Initiative of the United Nations Environment Program and the International Labour Organization released a new report entitled Just Transition Finance: Pathways for Banking and Finance. Among other things, this guide for financial institutions to: “Tailor products to support place-based just transition priorities and invigorate local economies; promote investments…(Read more)
New Public Sector Index: Measuring the Capabilities of Local Governments to Solve Critical Challenges
Writing in Project Syndicate, Mariana Mazzucato of University College London and James Anderson of Bloomberg Philanthropies introduce their project to develop a new public sector index of the capabilities of cities to solve critical challenges. “What critical skills, processes, and structures”, the authors write, “will a given municipality need in order to detect emergent issues…(Read more)
A Just Energy Partnership for Senegal
One of the concrete wins for the Global South at the Macron-Motley Climate Finance in late June 2023 in Pairs was the announcement by the European Union and other development partners of a Euro 2.5 B Just Energy Partnership for Senegal. “This partnership will help accelerate the deployment of renewable energies, so as to increase…(Read more)
Using AI in Evaluation
At the blog of the American Evaluation Association, AEA 365, evaluation consultant Sylva Ferretti has contributed a two-part reflection on working with AI in evaluation, particularly ChatGPT. Overall, she finds this AI tool to be useful, additive, and even progressive in her practice in the field of international development and humanitarian assistance. ChatGPT is, especially, able…(Read more)
In 2022, green lending exceeded debt financing for the fossil fuel industry
“For the first time, more money was raised in the debt markets for climate-friendly projects than for fossil-fuel companies,” writes Bloomberg’s Tim Quinson. Data compiled by Bloomberg show that, in 2022, “roughly $580 billion was arranged in 2022 for renewable energy and other environmentally responsible ventures, while the oil, gas and coal industries turned to…(Read more)