This is a joint post with Peter Timmer and Julie Walz.

"If you care about the poorest, you care about agriculture," declared Bill Gates in a high-profile speech in Rome on Monday, at a meeting of the Global Council of the International Fund for Agricultural Development.  IFAD is one...

This post was co-authored by Ross Thuotte.

Last week, lawmakers in Somaliland (Somalia's northern, semi-autonomous region) reportedly established Somaliland's first central bank. The measure will pave the way for foreign commercial banks to start operating in Somaliland by 2013, providing much-needed financing support for Somaliland's private sector businesses. Simultaneously, the...

This is a joint post with Julie Walz.

The aid community is well-accustomed to pushing for transparency in foreign aid transactions. But are we missing another key flow of money?

A recent article by Geoffrey York, African bureau chief for the Globe and Mail, described a contract signed...

Co-written by Julie Walz

Two years ago, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti, plunging an already poor and unstable country into complete and utter chaos. In the days and weeks that followed, international responses and donations were overwhelming. Yet almost all of the assistance provided to Haiti has bypassed its...

It is no secret that Africa faces an infrastructure crisis. The low-income economies of the region have fewer miles of paved roads and fewer modern freight and passenger-transport systems than any other region in the world. Electricity is also highly unreliable; businesses in many African countries suffer from power outages...

This is a joint post with Julie Walz.

As we approach the Fourth High Level Conference on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, South Korea, the topic of emerging donors looms large. While some policymakers hope the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China) will play a larger role,...

Last week the G20 agriculture ministers meeting in Paris issued a communiqué calling for the World Food Programme to develop hedging strategies to purchase food. In a little-noticed section toward the end of a 24-page document, the ministers stated:

We invite the multilateral, regional and national...

This is a joint post with Julie Walz.

South Africa announced last month that it will launch its own development aid agency in 2011 - the South African Development Partnership Agency. This move places South Africa ahead of other emerging donors such as India...

This post is joint with Julie Walz

The surprise return of ousted dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier to Haiti has thrown more uncertainty into a country already struggling with political paralysis from the November election and a painful recovery from last year's quake. Duvalier returned after nearly 25...

This is a joint post with Owen McCarthy.

At the next meeting of its Executive Board in Rome on November 8, the management of the World Food Programme (WFP) will propose an expanded financing facility to the tune of $557 million to fund advance purchases of food. This is...

This post is joint with Enrique Rueda-Sabater

Moving from the clearly obsolete G7 to a broader group that reflects the reality of today's world makes eminent sense. Doing it on the basis of a grouping improvised during the crisis-before-last (and making sure that it included the then-favorite finance ministers of...

This is a joint post with Julie Walz.

Last month, the Indian Express reported that India might not accept aid from the United Kingdom after April 2011. India has been the largest single recipient of British aid, receiving more than €800m (about $1.25b) since 2008. This...

The McKinsey Global Institute, the research arm of consulting giant McKinsey & Co, has just released its latest report, Lions on the Move: The Progress and Potential of African Economies. The report concludes that "Africa's economic growth is creating substantial new business opportunities that are often overlooked by...

This is a joint posting with Julia Barmeier.

The oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico is turning out to be the worst environmental disaster in United States history--we now know that as much as 40 million gallons of oil may end up in the Gulf, destroying wildlife and livelihoods,...

This posting is jointly written with Lauren Young

A dashing Brazilian man who keeps a flakjacket in his midtown Manhattan office, two firefighters from New York and Miami, a terrorist attack, and an attempted rescue using nothing but a curtain cord and a ladies handbag. Would you believe that this...

This post was written jointly with Julia Barmeier

According to its website, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has stopped accepting nominations for its UNESCO-Obiang Nguema Mbasogo International Prize for Research in the Life Sciences. But we are guessing that the applicant pool remains...

The World Food Programme feeds almost 100 million people around the world. It has a world class logistical capability but its financial risk management capacity is extremely limited. In a new paper coauthored with Benjamin Leo and Owen McCarthy, I argue that the World Food Programme must be...

This is a joint post with Julia Barmeier.

In a little-noticed move in January, private military contractor DynCorp bought 100% of the shares of international development contractor Casals & Associates (the value of this acquisition...

This is a joint post with Lauren Young.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has been getting negative press about the relief efforts after the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile. Perhaps worst is a scathing report from Refugees International accusing the UN of ineffectual leadership, missing coordination, and...

This is a joint posting with Owen McCarthy and Julia Barmeier

The events in Haiti have demonstrated the reactive nature of emergency response -- specifically the myriad of appeals for funding for food, medicines and basic supplies. While these initiatives can produce positive results for the disaster victims, they are...