Ideas to Action:
Independent research for global prosperity
The World Bank’s Independent Evaluation Group has begun an evaluation of one of the Bank’s flagship products—Doing Business. Here, I present four issues that I believe must underpin all aspects of the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) evaluation.
Last November, a CGD working group of experts convened to address the unintended consequences of anti-money laundering (AML) policies for poor countries, where they recommended that the Financial Stability Board (FSB) should take the lead on addressing problematic de-risking by banks. Below, we outline our takeaways on the FSB’s progress thus far.
A recent flurry of legislative activity has seen the introduction of four bills that aim to crack down on the financing of terrorism. While it is very important to combat money laundering and the financing of terror, the actions can result in unintended negative consequences for poor countries as well. We like some things in these new bills, but they also leave a lot to be desired.
Yesterday, the UK’s Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) published a hard-hitting report on the Department for International Development’s private sector development work.
This post is joint with Julie Walz.
Last week, USAID finally published an external review on its activities in Haiti: “Independent Review of the U.S. Government Response to the Haiti Earthquake”. The report is dated March 28, 2011. Yes, 2011. It took over a year to post the document on the USAID website. The review was conducted by MacFadden and Associates – which operates an $80M Indefinite Quantity Contract from USAID. There are some frank and enlightening assessments of USG response and coordination, but very little discussion of aid accountability.
This is a joint post with Julie Walz.
The Assessing Progress in Haiti Act (H.R. 1016) was approved by a voice vote in the Senate this week, almost a year after it was passed by the House. The Act “directs the President to report to Congress on the status of post-earthquake humanitarian, reconstruction, and development efforts in Haiti” including progress of programs, alignment with the Haitian government priorities, and coordination among U.S. agencies and other donors.
Commentary Menu