Article

Open Source, Open Education and Eco-friendly: Can Sharing Improve Policy? (Event) - 05/05/2008

Founder and Chairman of Sun Microsystems Scott McNealy discusses the role of open source technology in international development.

Join the CGD Community on Facebook! - 05/05/2008

One of our goals here at CGD is to foster a diverse community of individuals who share a common interest in improving policies and practices of the rich world towards development. To help our staff, friends, supporters, alumni, and others with an interest our work to stay in touch, we have created a CGD fan page on Facebook. Anyone can visit and see the latest news from CGD. Facebook members can become fans and join the fray in this new online community.

Become a Fan of CGD!

IMF to Offer Buyouts to about 500 Employees (Washington Post) - 04/30/2008

The Washington Post quotes CGD president Nancy Birdsall on the IMF's changing role in the global economy.

Stay Up to Date with CGD RSS Feeds

- 04/28/2008

If you haven’t started using CGD’s RSS site feeds, you’re missing out on the best way to receive our content. We have a variety of feeds that allow you to get all of our content or just the bits that interest you most delivered to your feed reader or home page the moment we publish. More than 2,000 members of the global development policy community have signed up. Shouldn’t you?

Learn more and subscribe today

CGD Experts Urge Foreign Assistance Modernization in Congressional Testimony - 04/28/2008

CGD senior fellow Steve Radelet and president Nancy Birdsall urged the modernization of U.S. foreign assistance in congressional testimony last week. Radelet testified on Wednesday at the first in a series of foreign assistance hearings chaired by new House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman, who said that the aid system needs to be "reinvented and retooled." On Thursday Birdsall told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that "debt relief is no panacea" and that thorough reform, including a new Cabinet-level development agency, is needed.

Learn More

Job Opportunity: Special Assistant to the President - 04/25/2008

The Center for Global Development, an independent, non-profit policy research organization in Washington, is seeking a Special Assistant to the President to fulfill a broad array of support functions. The Special Assistant’s role is to provide timely and effective support to the President to maximize CGD impact, elevate CGD’s profile, and expand CGD’s circle of friends and supporters.

Gates Foundation to Boost Farm Aid 50% as Food Crisis Deepens (Bloomberg) - 04/24/2008

Bloomberg quotes CGD vice president for programs and operations and senior fellow Ruth Levine and CGD non-resident fellow Peter Timmer on the global food crisis.

Worldwide Food Crisis Highlights Need for Foreign Aid Overhaul, Says Oxfam (Fox Business) - 04/23/2008

Fox Business cites CGD senior fellow Steve Radelet's testimony on US foreign aid.

Fair Growth (Forein Affairs) - 04/23/2008

Foreign Affairs reviews CGD's recent publication Fair Growth by CGD president Nancy Birdsall, World Bank chief economist for Latin America Augusto de la Torre, and former Inter-American Dialogue economic policy associate Rachel Menezes.

Donor Attention-Deficit Disorder? Phony Press Release Is Joke, Sort Of (New York Times) - 04/22/2008

The New York Times features Ruth Levine's April fools blog Road to Health: Paved With Good Inventions on donors suffering from Attention-Deficit Disorder.

Can the World Bank Jump-Start the Market for Country Risk Management Tools? - 04/21/2008

CGD recently hosted a high-level roundtable discussion on whether and how the World Bank and other multilateral development banks can help jump-start an expanded market for country risk management tools--insurance and other hedging mechanisms--to manage a broad spectrum of risks, ranging from macroeconomic volatility and natural disasters to trade, liquidity, and currency shocks. CGD visiting fellow Nancy Lee, who until recently worked as a deputy assistant secretary in the U.S. Treasury, reports on some unexpected obstacles and offers her views on how the MDBs can best partner with the private sector in this effort.

Read the blog and comment

Of Income and Incomers (Financial Times) - 04/19/2008

The Financial Times features CGD research fellow Michael Clemens' and non-resident fellow Lant Pritchett's research on migration.

WTO Deal Seen Having Little Impact on Food Prices (Thompson Reuters) - 04/18/2008

Thompson Reuters quotes CGD senior fellow Kim Elliott on the volatility of global food prices.

Talking Food Inflation (CNBC) - 04/16/2008

CNBC interviews CGD senior health program associate Rachel Nugent on food inflation.

Drug Resistance Working Group (Interview) - 04/15/2008

CGD Senior Health Policy Associate Rachel Nugent discusses CGD's research on drug resistance.

The Other Surge: A Frontline View of Development in Iraq - 04/14/2008

As Gen. David Petraeus and Amb. Ryan Crocker struggle to answer the question, "when can we leave Iraq?" they focus on the security component of withdrawing U.S. troops. But there is another crucial task that is frequently overlooked: getting Iraq on a development path. After a three-week, Humvee-riding, body-armor-wearing expedition to areas of Iraq only rarely seen by visitors, CGD vice president Dennis de Tray offers suggestions on how to leverage recent security gains into development success with a focus on the areas that people care about most: jobs and basic services.

Read the blog and comment

Yank the Subsidies for Biofuel! - 04/14/2008

Growing instability in the developing world as the result of rocketing food prices is forcing policymakers to evaluate a range of policy options. Among their first actions, writes CGD senior fellow Kimberly Elliott, should be to end ill-conceived subsidies for biofuels, especially U.S. subsidies for corn-based ethanol, since crop-to-fuel conversions are not only boosting world food prices but may be accelerating climate change.

Read the blog and comment

Biofuels One Factor in Rising Food Prices (Voice of America) - 04/13/2008

Voice of America interviews CGD senior fellow Kimberly Elliott on biofuels.

What Will Doha Really Do for World Food Prices? (Reuters) - 04/11/2008

Reuters quotes CGD senior fellow Kimberly Elliott on the Doha round.

CGD Media Coverage from World Bank President Robert Zoellick's Speech - 04/08/2008

World Bank president Robert Zoellick outlined new initiatives of the World Bank in a major speech delivered at an event organized by CGD ahead of the Bank/IMF Spring Meetings. The speech garnered substantial media attention convering various topics including sovereign wealth funds investing in Africa and measures to help poor people cope with soaring global food prices.

Zoellick Pushes New Approaches for World Bank in CGD Speech - 04/07/2008

World Bank president Robert Zoellick outlined new initiatives of the World Bank in a major speech delivered at an event organized by CGD ahead of the Bank/IMF Spring Meetings. The speech included a proposal for sovereign wealth funds to invest in Africa and measures to help poor people cope with soaring global food prices. CGD president Nancy Birdsall welcomed the fresh approaches for finally bringing the bank into the 21st century.

Learn more

Put Double-Majority Voting Back on the Table at the IMF - 04/07/2008

This week IMF governors will debate a change in members' quota shares--or voting power--that is meant to give China, India, and other developing countries more votes and thus a bigger stake in the fund's future. CGD president Nancy Birdsall thinks that the proposal falls short. Instead, she writes, the fund should opt for double-majority voting which would require that decisions be endorsed by both a majority of IMF member countries and a majority according to countries' voting weight. Birdsall argues that adopting this approach would restore the IMF's role as a legitimate and effective international forum on global financial issues.

Read the blog and comment

Job Opportunity: Online Communications Manager - 04/07/2008

The Center for Global Development seeks a creative, focused and flexible Online Communications Manager. The successful candidate will be responsible for developing, updating and maintaining CGD’s suite of online communications products including: the Center’s main Web site, four policy blogs, our e-mail newsletters, Ask CGD Live Interviews online and other new media initiatives. The Online Communications Manager works with a small team of communications professionals and reports to the Director of Communications and Policy. Experience with Convio and SalesForce are highly desirable. Innovative individuals who want to tap the power of new information and media technologies to change the world are especially encouraged to apply.

Liberia is Moving Forward and Here's Your Chance to Participate - 04/07/2008

CGD senior fellow Steve Radelet provides an update on Liberia's recovery from civil war and progress towards debt relief in advance of a CGD speech on Friday by Liberian minister of finance Antoinette Sayeh. Want to assist in Liberia's reconstruction? Consider applying to become a Liberia Fellow, one of a select group of young professionals who work in government ministries in Monrovia for one year. A new call for applicants will be announced later this year.

Learn more

Liberia on the Move (Interview) - 04/04/2008

Senior fellow Steve Radelet introduces CGD's event on Friday April 11, 2008: "Liberia on the Move: Economic Growth, Debt Relief, and Poverty Reduction."