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Yes, Africa can end poverty…but will we know when it happens? Africa Can... - End Poverty Waly Wane Jacques Morisset Today poverty data are available for almost all countries in the world 1 .  Because a country's success is measured by the number of people it lifts out of poverty, identifying best performers is a fair exercise only if poverty indicators are fully comparable. One indicator used is the share of the population whose consumption (or income) level is below a nationally defined poverty line or the US 1.25 dollar PPP per day. But even if policy makers and other stakeholders can count on readily available statistics, the poverty numbers should not be taken at face value. Data are useful if they give us a sense of reality Poverty data are based on a set of arbitrary assumptions that may lead to erroneous conclusions.  In the graph, Tanzania ran...

Kenya rising and Germany falling: A tale of two populations Africa Can... - End Poverty Today, October 31, 2011 our planet reaches a new milestone: we are 7 billion people on earth . In the past, when the world's population was a fraction of what it is today, the expansion of humanity was a source of alarm and many apocalyptic tales. More than 200 years ago, Thomas Malthus , one of the leading scholars and economists at that time predicted that the world would simply run out of food. Then, we were less than one billion people. Now I want to take you on a journey into the future. Demography is a great 'time machine' because demographers' predictions have been surprisingly accurate. At a global level, rapid population growth is here to stay, partly because those who will be driving future growth (tomorrow's moms and dads) have already been born. By 2025, the world will already have crossed the 8 billion mark, and a billion more will have...

Who is Kenya fighting? Baobab ACCORDING to Kenya, it is not at war with Somalis but with the al-Qaeda-linked Shabab militia that controls most of south Somalia. Theoretically that may be true. But with several thousand troops on the ground, and with air, special forces and intelligence support from America, Britain, Ethiopia and France, the Kenyan message of peace for all Somalis rings somewhat hollow. The Shabab are adept at propaganda. They lie about battle statistics. They have been accused of dressing up their own dead fighters to look like civilian casualties. Baobab recently asserted that in Somalia the untested Kenyan military needed to be competent and the jihadists inept. Kenya failed the first test by invading Somalia during the rainy season: its assault has already got stuck in the mud. The Shabab fighters are enured to the mosquitoes, thorniness and dysentry of bush fighting. The Kenyans may fare less well. None of this may matter. Kenya has geogr...

EU aid guidelines uphold the rights of vulnerable groups, but older people's rights are not mentioned Eldis Ageing Populations Older people are some of the poorest of the world's poor, where 100 million older men and women live on less than a dollar a day. This paper ... Sent with Reeder  

EuropeAid publishes to IATI Publish What You Fund EuropeAid (the Commission Directorate General which deals with development and cooperation) has published its aid information to the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) Registry, demonstrating commitment to aid transparency ahead of the High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in 6 weeks'... Read more » Sent with Reeder  

Global Lens: Breaking the Cycle with Micro-Insurance Innovations for Poverty Action Blog Amos Odero The second post in our series comes from Amos Odero, a Research Associate on the Urban Micro-Insurance Project in Nairobi, Kenya. " Jua Kali " means "under the hot sun" in Swahili. The term refers to the millions of Kenyans working in small businesses as artisans, mechanics, and vendors under trying conditions, even without shelter from the elements. The Jua Kali sector encompasses small-scale entrepreneurs and workers who lack access to credit, property rights, training, and good working conditions. Kamukunji Jua Kali is an association of informal sector workers in the Kamukunji area of Nairobi who specialize mainly in crafting metal ware, such as pots, pans, wheelbarrows, boxes, farm implements and other household items. This vibrant community is composed of metalwork sheds made ou...

Cheat Sheet: What's Happened to the Big Players in the Financial Crisis ProPublica: Articles and Investigations by Braden Goyette Widespread demonstrations in support of Occupy Wall Street have put the financial crisis back into the national spotlight lately. So here's a quick refresher on what's happened to some of the main players, whose behavior, whether merely reckless or downright deliberate, helped cause or worsen the meltdown. This list isn't exhaustive -- feel welcome to add to it. Mortgage originators Mortgage lenders contributed to the financial crisis by issuing or underwriting loans to people who would have a difficult time paying them back , inflating a housing bubble that was bound to pop. Lax regulation allowed banks to stretch their mortgage lending standards and use aggressive tactics to rope borrowers into complex mortgages that were ...

The difference between management and leadership Seth's Blog Managers work to get their employees to do what they did yesterday, but a little faster and a little cheaper. Leaders, on the other hand, know where they'd like to go, but understand that they can't get there without their tribe, without giving those they lead the tools to make something happen. Managers want authority. Leaders take responsibility. We need both. But we have to be careful not to confuse them. And it helps to remember that leaders are scarce and thus more valuable. Sent with Reeder  

The paradox of expectations Seth's Blog Low expectations are often a self-fulfilling prophecy. We insulate ourselves from failure, don't try as hard, brace for the worst and often get it. High expectations, on the other hand, will inevitably lead to disappointment. Keep raising what you expect and sooner or later (probably sooner) it's not going to happen. And we know that a good outcome that's less than the great one we hoped for actually feels like failure. Perhaps it's worth considering no expectations. Intense effort followed by an acceptance of what you get in return. It doesn't make good TV, but it's a discipline that can turn you into a professional. Sent with Reeder  

Charity Navigator 2.0 in Context Tactical Philanthropy This is a guest post by Ken Berger, president and CEO of Charity Navigator . By Ken Berger On September 20 th of this year, Charity Navigator (CN) launched a significant change to our rating system (called CN 2.0 ). In follow-up, Sean has kindly offered me the opportunity to put this event in the context of CN's present and future. In addition, it offers me the chance to address some criticisms from the "three C's" (critics, competitors and charities with lower ratings). In 2010, CN formed an Advisory Panel . Sean is a member, along with a number of other members of the Alliance for Effective Social Investing , nonprofit operators, academicians and other experts in the nonprofit arena. We shared with them our preliminary thinking on the new Accountability and Transparency dimension and used much of their feedback, along with all our staff and our Board, in the final product you see...

European Debt: The Big Picture The Baseline Scenario By Simon Johnson For everyone struggling to get their arms around the debt crisis in Europe, Bill Marsh in today's New York Times offers literally a compelling picture, with graphic illustration for the key issues. The picture is big , 18×21 inches. Either you need a very large computer screen or a hard copy of the paper (pp. 6-7 in the SundayReview section, "It's All Connected: A Spectator's Guide to the Euro Crisis). The main debt linkages across borders for which we have data are all here – and the graphic pulls your eye appropriately to the centrality of Italy in whatever happens next.  (On why eurozone policy towards Italy now matters so much – and what are the options – see my recent paper with Peter Boone, " Europe on the Brink ".) But you might think also about what is not in the NYT graphic because we lack reliable information.  For example, what is the exposure of U...

BusinessWeek is Wrong: Small Businesses Create Most Net New Jobs The Big Picture Dr. Bill Dunkelberg is the Chief Economist for the National Federation of Independent Business. ~~~ A recent Bloomberg article entitled " Small-Business Job Engine Myth Hampers Effort to Lift Employment " (September 29) reports " …the notion that small business is the force behind prosperity is not true ." The author cites statistics such as "Hourly wages at the largest companies, those with more than 2,500 employees, average around $27, compared with $16 in companies with payrolls of fewer than 100" to prove that small businesses are of little value. Out of 6 million employer firms, only 3,900 are this large. If this is such a good deal, why aren't all firms of that size? Maybe a barber shop with 2,500 chairs is not economical and too large to serve a local market? Maybe wages are better at larger firms because they are specialized (high t...