Monday, 3 February 2014

Work with the World Bank

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim. How will Kim's plan to reshape the financial institution affect research teams? Photo by: Ryan Rayburn / World Bank / CC BY-NC-ND

An important part of World Bank President Jim Kim’s plan to remake the Washington, D.C.-based institution is to change how the the institution uses, manages, and disseminates knowledge.

This so-called “global practices” model is intended to help bank staff apply their technical knowledge more fluidly across countries and regions.

READ: World Bank procurement team to join governance ‘global practice’

But how will the changes affect research teams, as the shift toward more evidence-based policy and analysis could entail a bigger operational role for research? Andrew Burns, senior economist at the World Bank and lead author of the World Economic Prospects Report, gave us some interesting insights.

“It … means a sort of obligation on the part of research to be more operationally relevant.” he explained. “And you know, those are tricky things to actually make happen because often times, what’s operationally relevant is difficult to get an economically robust result for and that of course is a source of frustration for people working on the ground and equally a source of frustration for the researchers who are actually trying to expand the walls of knowledge.”

Burns said he was “relatively optimistic” that the global practices would concentrate the bank’s practical knowledge and provide an opportunity to improve communication between the operational and research sides of the bank, although he thinks some natural tension will likely remain.

“Policy makers do have to act, and they do have to implement policies in the areas where the knowledge is imperfect, and what researchers are concerned about is being asked to draw stronger conclusions than their research will support.” he said. “I think that’s a healthy tension.”

The World Bank’s operating budget for the next fiscal year will reveal how much bigger a role the research teams will play in the bank’s redesigned business model. It will also show if the global practices themselves will receive allocations for knowledge synthesis and creation independent from the multi-donor trust funds that often drive such initiatives.

Read more development aid news online, and subscribe to The Development Newswire to receive top international development headlines from the world’s leading donors, news sources and opinion leaders — emailed to you FREE every business day.

See more:

Tags: global practices, research, Andres Burns, Jim Kim, World Bank

Paul Stephens

Paul Stephens is a Devex staff writer based in Washington, D.C. His coverage focuses on Latin America and World Bank affairs, as well as Washington's global development scene. As a multimedia journalist, editor and producer, Paul has contributed to the Los Angeles Times, Washington Monthly, CBS Evening News, GlobalPost and the United Nations magazine, among other outlets. He's won a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting for a 5-month, in-depth reporting project in Yemen after two stints in Georgia - one as a Peace Corps volunteer and another as a communications coordinator for the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Understanding US Policy through the USAID Mission Statement

DEVELOPMENT BUZZ

USAID's new mission: Why it matters

By Michael Igoe on 30 January 2014

Nancy Lindborg's tweet on USAID's new mission statement

Nancy Lindborg tweets about USAID's new mission statement. USAID's new mission statement puts into words a sense of what the agency as a whole is meant to be doing: purusue the goal to end extreme poverty by 2030 Photo by: Devex

The U.S. Agency for International Development launched a brand new mission statement Wednesday. It’s the latest move by USAID to reconcile limited resources with ambitious goals, and it’s in line with an international donor landscape more focused on achieving results than on funding projects in perpetuity.

Now, when asked what they do for a living, U.S. development professionals stationed in South Sudan, Georgia and Cambodia, or at headquarters in Washington, can all answer:

“We partner to end extreme poverty and promote resilient, democratic societies while advancing our security and prosperity.”

Is USAID’s new mission statement wide open for interpretation? Sure. Is it chock-full of development buzzwords that are exceedingly difficult to define let alone measure? Absolutely.

But with it, the Obama administration is enshrining its new ambitious goal to end extreme poverty (by 2030) into its lead aid agency’s mission. It is also incorporating several themes from the emerging U.N.-led post-2015 global framework such as inclusive growth, resilience and the importance of peace, democracy, and security to development — drawing on lessons from the Arab Spring as well as droughts and other recent disasters in the Horn of Africa, Sahel and Philippines.

Even if the statement seems designed to please everyone, by putting into words a sense of what the agency as a whole is meant to be doing — and by arriving at those words through consultation with over 2,600 agency staff and partners around the world — USAID’s leadership has taken a step towards legitimizing and defining the role of the development professional in executing U.S. foreign policy.

Here’s why words matter in this case.

The new mission statement replaces this: “On behalf of the American people, USAID is helping to accelerate human progress around the world by reducing poverty, advancing democracy, empowering women, building market economies, promoting security, responding to crises, and improving the quality of life through investments in health, agriculture, and education.”

It read like a laundry list of initiatives, and many USAID staff members suffer from initiative fatigue. They’ve said so in internal surveys and they’ve raised the issue during town halls and panel discussions.

But initiatives are an effective means to secure funding from congressional appropriators, even if they do lock that funding into silos and, perhaps, reduce flexibility. Initiatives — like PEPFAR, Feed the Future and Power Africa — can be championed in ways that a general sense of “doing good” cannot. Initiatives turn abstract goodwill into something concrete and fundable.

Is USAID to implement — or contract — a series of ad-hoc programs, loosely bound by their general contribution towards doing good, yet bogged-down by bureaucratic box-checking and subject to the personal interests of powerful lawmakers and unpredictable turns of geopolitical strategy?

Or, does USAID invigorate and empower its staff to analyze challenges and promote change through innovative partnerships and other means, with a common goal in mind?

The old mission statement was framed around a list of activities that USAID does. The new mission statement is framed around the aspirational end goal that USAID and its partners are working toward.

In the 1990s, USAID came close to disappearing. The agency saw huge budget cuts that stripped away much of its expertise and institutional knowledge. The attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, prompted funding to flood back into foreign affairs — to help “win the hearts and minds” of the Afghan people, among other things.

President Barack Obama’s Development Leadership Initiative sought to double the number of USAID Foreign Service Officers and Administrator Rajiv Shah has expressed his desire to “recentralize” past expertise and decision-making. Some of his efforts to do so, like requiring his personal approval for large funding awards, have turned heads among the agency’s implementing partners.

USAID’s workforce is larger and younger than it has been for a long time, and has been rebuilt under the auspices of Obama’s 2010 presidential policy directive to reposition development as a branch, not a servant, of U.S. foreign policy.

With the Afghan transition supposedly underway and USAID’s role in stabilization and reconstruction efforts poised to wind down over the next few years, it is even more critical for the U.S. government’s development enterprise to assert itself as a “premier” agency dedicated to resourcing civilian power so it can accomplish an articulable mission.

In December, I wrote a ”New Year’s Resolution for U.S. Aid,” suggesting agency leaders use the occasion of the second Quadrennial Development and Diplomacy Review – which is currently underway — to more clearly articulate the role of the “development professional” in U.S. foreign policy. USAID’s new mission statement is a step in that direction.

Part of my reason was that foreign assistance is wildly misunderstood by the “average American,” who overestimates U.S. spending levels by 20 times or more and yet, according to some surveys, thinks we should spend more on foreign assistance. (At the same time, when asked how to cut the federal budget and reduce the deficit, foreign aid tends to be among the most popular responses.)

The miscalculation — or total disconnect — seems less to do with innumeracy and more to do with a general lack of clarity about what U.S. foreign aid does. Development professionals lack the sort of professional identity enjoyed by diplomats and military personnel; it is incumbent on the international development community to articulate that identity if it wants a seat at the table where big international decisions are made.

Obviously, a mission statement alone is not enough. So I am encouraged to hear about efforts like the Administrator’s Leadership Council management system, a new open-access, internal database to catalogue all of USAID’s various initiatives in a way that tracks their respective contributions to a common set of extreme poverty-related goals to help determine where funding can be most effective.

The next step for the agency’s leadership is more clearly talking about and showing what it won’t do. For a mission statement to have teeth, it has to serve as a useful benchmark for difficult decisions about where and how to spend money and locate people around the world; and whether or not USAID has the leadership empowered to make those decisions is still a wide open question.

We know that extreme poverty will increasingly exist in fragile and conflict-affected states; and we know these are the most difficult environments in which to administer high-quality and highly-accountable programs.

USAID is getting closer to giving a name and unique mission to the type of professional who forges partnerships that can ease poverty and help build democratic institutions under those challenging conditions. USAID’s mission is still messy. But now the professionals tasked with carrying it out can better explain, and defend, what they’ve signed up for.

Join the Devex community and access more in-depth analysis, breaking news and business advice — and a host of other services — on international development, humanitarian aid and global health.

Michael Igoe
Michael Igoe is a Global Development Reporter for Devex. Based in Washington, he covers US foreign aid and emerging trends in international development and humanitarian policy. Michael draws on his experience as both a journalist and international development practitioner in Central Asia to develop stories from an insider's perspective.

Work with those in the Diaspora to create value for money accountability!

Create better transparent accountability by working with Diasporas too!

CONTRIBUTOR: JOE CERRELL

It's our responsibility to #stopthemyth on foreign aid

By Joe Cerrell on 03 February 2014

Foreign aid helps refugees like Nikuze Aziza at the Kiziba camp in Rwanda feed their families and stay healthy. Photo by: Gates Foundation

Two weeks ago, Bill and Melinda Gates released their annual letter for 2014. I was excited to see it focus ondebunking persistent myths in development aid, and it got me thinking about the myths I’ve encountered working in advocacy, government relations and communications at the Gates Foundation for the past decade.

One constant refrain about aid that I’ve heard — particularly in more recent years living in Europe — is this: “We have to choose between helping the poor here at home and helping the poor abroad.”

The truth is that framing the discussion in these terms poses a false choice, that if we only cut off resources for overseas aid programs, we could fix our domestic financial challenges at home. The truth is that the amount of assistance provided to poor countries is a tiny fraction of national budgets, contrary to prevailing public opinion. We all share a common interest in ensuring continued support for both programs at home and internationally.

Huge return on small investment

Let’s be clear — funding support for domestic issues comes first, and it always has. Take the United Kingdom for example, one of the largest aid donors in the world. In 2012, the combined expenditure for many of the biggest domestic social programs (pensions, welfare and health care) accounted for more than 50 percent of the U.K. annual budget, while the amount spent on overseas aid by contrast is less than 1 percent. This general proportion of spending is the same for all major aid donors, including the United States.

When you then see what relatively small investments can lead to — including expanded immunization coverage, declines in chronic hunger amongst children and big gains in agriculture productivity — the case for foreign aid is undeniable.

Why then does this myth persist? The biggest reason is that so few people are aware of how little is spent on overseas aid and the great impact it is having. A recent survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that most Americans believe that 28 percent of the U.S. budget goes to foreign aid. The same survey also showed that when people understood that aid was only about 1 percent of the budget, they were much more supportive of maintaining and even increasing the amount.

Click on the image to view larger version.

The bottom line

Quite simply, if 1 percent of the budget was redirected back to domestic issues in a donor country, it would only be a drop in the bucket — but invested in the developing world, it is helping to spur historic progress and prosperity.

As Bill and Melinda Gates pointed out, by many measures the world is better today than it has ever been. Upwards of a billion people have lifted themselves out of poverty; many countries that used to be recipients of aid are now self-sufficient, and some have become emerging donors.

What this says to me is that if more people knew what is undeniably true — that aid is a small piece of the budget and that it works — they would support it. We need to do a better job sharing the success stories and each of us has a shared responsibility to help #stopthemyth.

Join the Devex community and access more in-depth analysis, breaking news and business advice — and a host of other services — on international development, humanitarian aid and global health.

Am sure there will come a time when we can provide value for money accountability that is not questionable. I am part of Diaspora Africans. I am bent on developing myself and working hand in hand with people ready to engage in global development, be it Africa or elsewhere. There are challenges tied to foreign aid withoout doubt but they are surmountable. I believe soon we shall read statements such as: "amount of say, USD was sent to country X to help strengthen that country's health delivery structures, with an initial boost of five years. After five years, Y health workers were trained and achieved a good understanding of standard of care protocols; Z health facilities were rehabilitated; T community based peer health-mobilizers were trained to encourage communities continue with best hygiene practices; it was possible to get feed back from rural and far flung communities to the central government and vice versa." This is what I know Bill & Melinda Gates, various development partners and people like me are engaged in and want to see others do. In increasing on list of peers, donors and development partners should work with those of us in the Diaspora too

Saturday, 1 February 2014

New in America? Read this please.

You are a new person to USA. You could be lucky and get to live with an American who may show you the ropes. It could be a community such as a church. Hadwen Park Church in Worcester, MA is one such community.

You were chased out of a home you grew up from. This could be right here in USA or you could be a non-resident/ non citizen. It means you left another country to come to USA.

It is the reason you are here. This country has what one calls assimilation or integration milestones. Like a baby who is born without teeth, there comes a time when the teeth will grow. This is called "teething." It is a milestone. Your stay here has the same milestones. The milestones revolve around these points.

Let us unpack the issues:
1. Housing: You need somewhere to stay. It is your mailing address too. A house is where you are warm, have food and live with other people. It is imperative that you are watching your house keeping and management practices. At all times, seek advice, ask questions on how to operate household instruments. Discuss your general and food preferences and ask about your hosts preferences too.
2. Employment: This will take time. You may engage in voluntary work. But, until you have your work authorization card do watch your penny and needs. The card will be in the mail once you have met the eligible time of waiting.
3. Spiritual growth and development: You may have been told "you are evil" and this common from all the anecdotes I have collected from asylum seekers. This emotional assault needs healing. You need to join a spiritual community. USA has many of them. Hadwen Park Church in Worcester is a welcoming church for all. Try it. It is found in Worcester, MA.
4. Insurance: You will get this from a health facility. It is your money on a card in case you get ill and need treatment.
5. Livelihood: You may have to give up the kind of transactions you engaged in back home. You may not be making money the way you used to. You may not be meeting with people and friends the way it used to be back home. Adjust to this new life. Do take time to ask around. Join volunteer teams. Universities have community clean up teams, reading clubs, Environment day teams, jogging teams and singing teams. You will never go wrong. Join a team to increase on your 'community' dimension. About this time you can learn driving or polish your driving. For those coming from former British colonies ( well ,I mean other colonies and not America!), you drive on the left hand side. In USA, we drive on the right hand side.
6. Security: Know your way around cities and neighborhoods. Have your documentation in order ( yes, that passport is important). Do not make wrong turns or be seen loitering in neighborhoods where you are new.
7. Citizenship: You come as an asylum seeker. You have to file your application through a lawyer at a specific time. You may then be directed where to go for your biometrics. Later, you will be given a schedule for your hearing. Once successful, your status becomes: a resident green card holder.
8. Child rearing: You may have come with a child or children. Seek advice on child care in the health facility near you. Attend those meetings in order to learn so much about child welfare in USA.
9. Positive parenting: As a parent also attend parenting workshops. This will help you in understanding parenting.
10. Accountability: If you happen to live with other people in the community or a house there are expectations you all have. Meeting these expectations, minding about others and not disappointing them constitutes accountability. Be an accountability practitioner.
11. Taking stock of action and decisions: Do you write something down? Do you make notes? Well, if you do also note some of your activities down. Join others in the chores at the home you live in. No one will make the bed you lie in but yourself.
12. Decision-making:You came to USA. Your English is different, it is good or it may be such that you need to attend the English as Second Language class-ESL. Join ESL if you always find your self talking something like "English." Many have failed to get work in USA because of that.
13. Associations: Join an association, such as: YMCA, YWCA or any other.
14. Conflict with law: Learn what the police wants.
15. Illnesses. sickness and health-care: Regularly visit a health facility. Most especially watch your dental, skin and ear and eye health.
16. Remittances: You may have started working and back home from your original country are one or two people you need to send money to. Watch out for scam money transfer offices!
17. Social networks: Twitter, face book, blogs constitute part of your social networks. The physical communities such as churches, school, community and hobbies should be another area you need to enrich.
18. Professionalism: start with GED, go on to join a formal training. The education system of USA is envied worldwide. Get the certificates, diplomas and all the degrees you can. WATCH OUT! Diploma mills are lurking in the dark.
19. Health Chronic illnesses, weight watching, nutrition and Aging: Engage in health education on these subjects. Get to do the exercises too.
20. Treatment of your remains in case of death: Have you considered the fact that you may die, like now? Arrange to have your remains treated with dignity. Leave instructions and...pay for the service while you are alive.
21. Asset building: It is possible to make it in USA. Yes, join the chamber of commerce or workforce or business training ( a friend calls it "terraining"). Your financial dimensions will grow in direct proportion to effort, timing and planning for money.
22. Voluntarism: Volunteer as much as possible. I have made more friends through this than I have made as a scientist!
23. Subscription and membership to clubs or organizations: Pay to play. I heard that from a friend.I want to add: pay to have say.
24. Vacations: Rest as much as possible.
25. Altruism and philanthropy: Give because someone gave in order for you to be here. Those first days you arrived in USA, someone came for you, someone called your phone. That money was as a result of someone who donated some money or a large lump some. Thank you in advance.

Wednesday, 1 January 2014

Black Diversity across the world

Islands in an economic storm

Tourism, agriculture and fossil fuels drive the Caribbean’s regional economy but as this interactive guide shows, the global recession has had markedly different impacts on different countries

Bahamas

The Bahamas has suffered one of the most pronounced economic setbacks across the region. Though located in the Atlantic, it is considered by organisations such as the IMF to be part of the Caribbean. Inboundtourism has rebounded after the global recession - the islands now welcome almost 6m visitors per year, up from 4.2m in 2000 – but gross domestic product (GDP) per capita contracted by 5 per cent in 2009 and is still 5 percentage points below its 2000 level. Similarly, unemployment rose by 5.5 percentage points in 2009 and is only now showing signs of returning to its longer term trend. The government is now implementing an austerity programme even the International Monetary Fund calls “ambitious”. As a result, the central government debt ratio is expected to peak at about 60 per cent of GDP in fiscal year 2014/15 and fall to about 55 percent of GDP by fiscal year 2017/18. Fossil fuels exports will be important in bringing the Bahamas back to steady growth - they rose 46% in 2012 and have doubled in two years – as will the opening of the giant Baha Mar resort from 2015 onwards. Baha Mar is being built and financed largely by China. Tourists have evidently not been put off by high crime rates - the islands have the 10th highest homicide rate in the world and 317 out of every 100,000 of its population are in prison.

Country facts

Source: World Tourism Organisation

Amount of cocaine products seized 2007-2011
5,086 kg

Population, July 2013
368,000

Barbados

Barbados remains one of the more popular tourist destinations in the Caribbean, but the numbers have stagnated over the past decade, and a rapid decline in sugar exports has contributed to the toll on the labour force. The value of sugar exports has fallen by two thirds since 2000, with the decline picking up pace in 2008. The jobless rate fell to 7.4 per cent in 2007, but since then the unemployment trend has reversed, and grew for the fifth consecutive year in 2012 to 11.6 per cent. GDP fell by 4 per cent in 2009 and has been relatively static since, with the sluggish economy and growinggovernment debt likely to put public finances under pressure in the medium term. In 2000 Barbados' debt to GDP ratio was among the lowest in the region, at 46 per cent, but has since almost doubled and now stands at 86 per cent. Many experts fear the country will eventually have to enter an IMF programme.

Country facts

Source: World Tourism Organisation

Population density in people per square kilometre, second highest in the region
659

Population, July 2013
276,000

Jamaica

For decades Jamaica's economy was been driven by exports and tourism industry, but both were hit by the global recession; the economy is still struggling to shake off the effects. Exports of bananas had already been weakening in the early 2000s but plummeted in 2008. Fossil fuels, an increasingly important export for Jamaica, dropped by over half between 2007 and 2009 but have shown steady growth since then. Tourism fell sharply during the recession, and only recovered to the level of 2006 in 2011. More encouragingly, visitor numbers grew 7 per cent in 2012, despite extremely high levels of crime. Jamaica's homicide rate has fallen for two successive years but remains the fifth highest in the world, and over half of all cannabis products seized in the Caribbean over the last five years were in Jamaica. The overall impact is clearly visible in the economic data. Gross domestic product per capita fell sharply in 2008 and is now just 0.2 per cent higher than at the turn of the millennium. Jamaica's debt to GDP ratio has grown over the same period and government arrears now stand at a precipitous 146 per cent of national income – one of the highest ratios in the world even after two debt restructurings in the past three years.

Country facts

Source: World Tourism Organisation

Proportion of all cannabis products seized in the Caribbean 2007 - 2011
56%

Population, July 2013
2,715,000

Saint Kitts and Nevis

With a population of just 55,000 St Kitts and Nevis is one of the least populous countries in the Caribbean. Over 700,000 visitors arrived on its shores in 2011 - more than 10 for every resident and up threefold from 2000 - but despite buoyant tourism, the wilting sugar and banana industries have weighed heavily on the economy. Exports of bananas and sugar have each declined by over 99% since 2000, as the country lost preferential access to European markets after Latin American producers complained to the World Trade Organisation. GDP per capita had been growing from 2003 to 2008 but has since contracted sharply and at US$12,804 is down 5 per cent in real terms on its 2000 level.

Country facts

Source: World Tourism Organisation

Increase in inbound tourism 2000-2011
289%

Population, July 2013
55,000

Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago has the healthiest economy in the Caribbean, thanks largely to its huge energy exports. Oil was long the mainstay, but natural gas is now the dominant export. Tourism numbers, while inconsistent, have remained relatively healthy at around half a million per year since 2000. As a result. GDP per capita is 61 per cent higher than it was in 2000 - the highest increase among all large Caribbean economies for that period. Energy revenues also bolster state finances, with the debt to GDP ratio at a healthy 39 per cent and unemployment has been below 6 per cent since 2007. However, the country was in 2009 clobbered by the collapse of CL Financial, a large conglomerate with tentacles across the Caribbean. Trinidad had to shoulder the bill for its bailout, and four years on is still cleaning up the mess. Crime is still a tremendous problem for Trinidad and Tobago, despite the murder rate creeping down from its peak - 41.1 homicides per 100,000 people in 2008 - since the government was forced to declare a state of emergency in 2011. In 2008 Trinidad and Tobago had the second highest rate in the Caribbean, but the 2011 figure was down a third on this level and is down to fifth place. Nonetheless, the number of homicides has begun to climb again in recent years.

Country facts

Source: World Tourism Organisation

Proportion of all cannabis products seized in the Caribbean 2007 - 2011
19%

Population, July 2013
1,344,000

Anguilla

Anguilla is among the smallest countries in the Caribbean, with a population of just 14,000. Reliable macroeconomic data is patchy, but such is the strength of its tourism sector - in 2012 it had almost ten times as many visitors as residents - that these figures can shed light on the broader situation. Inbound tourism contracted by 22 per cent in 2008 and is still well below its 2006-07 peak, suggesting that the national economy is struggling to return to pre-recession levels.

Country facts

Source: World Tourism Organisation

Antigua and Barbuda

Antigua and Barbuda is one of the smaller territories in the Caribbean. It has relied primarily on tourism and fossil fuels exports in recent decades, but both industries were hit by the global recession and that took a toll on the broader economy. Inbound visitor numbers had been rising steadily from 2002 to 2009 but then dropped 17 per cent; in 2012, visitor numbers were still 15 per cent down on their 2009 figure. Similarly, fuels exports had been on an upward trend from 2000 to 2009 but plummeted the following year and are down a third on the 2000 total.

Country facts

Source: World Tourism Organisation

Aruba

The third most densely populated Caribbean territory, Aruba is heavily reliant on tourism. In 2012 it received a total of almost 1.5m visitors compared with a resident population of just 105,000. Tourism in Aruba has proved largely immune to the global recession. In 2008, there was a notable increase with annual totals rising from an average of 1.24m (2000-2007) to 1.43m (2008-2012). Aruba was also the site of the eighth largest total amount of cocaine seized in the region in 2008. Some 144kg of the substance was discovered over the course of the year, valued at about $24m.

Country facts

Source: World Tourism Organisation

British Virgin Islands

The British Virgin Islands is among the smallest and least populous Caribbean territories - its 32,000 inhabitants are spread across just 44 square miles - but in 2012 it attracted more than 20 tourists for every resident. The health of its tourism industry may be due in part to its relatively low crime. Among Caribbean islands the BVIs enjoy a low homicide rate of 8.6 per 100,000 residents - the regional median is 15.3 - although its incarceration rate is the third highest. Nevertheless while its visitor numbers are impressive in absolute terms, tourism to the BVIs has been falling slowly from a peak of 948,000 in 2007.

Country facts

Source: World Tourism Organisation

Cayman Islands

Among the smallest and least populous islands in the region, the Caymans rely primarily on tourism and financial services to drive the economy, while boats and precious jewellery are among the main exports. Up-to-date figures on the size of the Cayman economy are few and far between, but according to the recent CIA figures, tourism accounts for around 70 per cent of GDP, making it a reasonable proxy for broader economic wellbeing. Data suggest the islands may be returning to trend after a brief spike in the middle of the last decade - inbound visitor numbers grew from 1.4m in 2000 to fluctuate around 2m from 2003 to 2007 before settling around 1.8m in the years since.

Country facts

Source: World Tourism Organisation

Cuba

Despite being the largest and most populous country in the Caribbean, US trade restrictions against Cuba mean that its economic potential has been curtailed for over five decades. And even in more recent history Cuba's exports have continued to struggle. Revenues from bananas, sugar and fossil fuels were all down by 50 per cent or more when data was last available. But Cuba remains a popular tourist destination for non-Americans. Its relative safety helps. A homicide rate of 6 or fewer per 100,000 since 2001 is the second lowest in the Caribbean and less than a third of the regional median. Between 2000 and 2012 tourist numbers rose by over 50 per cent to 2.7m per year.

Country facts

Source: World Tourism Organisation

Curaçao

Curaçao is an overseas territory of the Netherlands and has a population of around 155,000. Like many of the other relatively small islands in the Caribbean - its total land area is 171 square miles - Curaçao has an economy dominated by tourism. Relative to its population, however, visitor numbers are not as high as those of many other territories in the region. It also has experienced a notable decline: inbound tourist numbers fell by 50 per cent in 2012, from 837,000 to 420,000, that latest figure giving a ratio of 2.7 visitors per resident.

Country facts

Source: World Tourism Organisation

Dominica

Dominica is the third largest island nation in the Caribbean behind Cuba and Jamaica but has one of the lowest population densities at 246 people per square mile. For decades its economy was reliant primarily on exports of bananas, but declining revenues in this area have seen Dominica become among the poorer nations in the region. Dominica was the fifth biggest exporter of bananas in the Caribbean in 2000, shipping 30m tonnes overseas; by 2012 the figure had shrunk to 155,000 tonnes. Nevertheless, a burgeoning tourism industry has helped raise GDP per capita by 30 per cent over the same period to US$6,780. Visitor numbers almost doubled from 312,000 in 2000 to 608,000 in 2009 and despite falling since are still above their 2000-2003 average at 347,000.

Country facts

Source: World Tourism Organisation

Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic was for decades one of the largest agricultural exporters in the Caribbean. This sector is declining in importance but the country still exports about 40 times as many bananas by weight as the rest of the region combined, generating revenues of US$65m in 2012. Sugar is another lingering strength - exports brought in US$129m in 2011 (the latest year for which data are available), twice as much as any other country. More important for the Dominican Republic's economy today is tourism. Visitors in 2012 numbered 4.9m, a rise of 55 per cent in 12 years. As a result, national GDP per capita has risen by almost half since 2000 and is US$5,766 and, after rising to a peak of 18.4 per cent in 2005, unemployment is down to 13 per cent.

Country facts

Source: World Tourism Organisation

Grenada

Unlike many of its neighbours, Grenada's main economic challenges have come not from the global recession but from Hurricane Ivan, which reached the island and its capital, St George's, on September 7, 2004. An estimate from the OrganiSation of Eastern Caribbean States and the UN Economic Commission for Latin America put total damage at US$800m, or twice Grenada's GDP. Its previously thriving agricultural sector was severely damaged and suffered again a year later during Hurricane Emily. Rebuilding costs have seen government debt climb from 87 per cent of GDP in 2004 to 109 per cent in 2011. The tourism sector has provided relief for Grenada, with visitor numbers increasing from 316,000 in 2000 to 460,000 in 2009. The global slowdown appears to have pushed that figure down to 361,000 in 2012.

Country facts

Source: World Tourism Organisation

Guadeloupe

As an overseas territory of France, Guadeloupe is lacking in macroeconomic data with which to make direct comparisons with other Caribbean islands. It relies heavily on French subsidies and imports as well as a regular flow of tourists from France. According to statistics from the UN World Tourism Organisation, more than 90 per cent of Guadeloupe's inbound tourists come from mainland France, and Europe as a whole accounts for over 95 per cent. Tourism from metropolitan France made up a smaller portion - 83 per cent - at the turn of the millennium, and the drop in tourism from other countries has played a part in falling visitor numbers to Guadeloupe. The islands saw 1m inbound tourists in 2000 but by 2007 the figure was half of that. In 2011 - the latest available data - numbers had fallen to 418,000.

Country facts

Source: World Tourism Organisation

Haiti

Like Grenada, Haiti's economic struggles have come more from natural disasters than the global slowdown. The earthquake of 2010 led to the deaths of more than 100,000 people and cost an estimated US$7.8bn, leaving Haiti as the poorest country in the western hemisphere, according to the CIA World Factbook. The earthquake's effects can be seen in the charts to the right - having remained relatively static in real terms between 2004 and 2009, Haiti's GDP per capita fell in real terms by 5 per cent in 2010 to US$665. Tourism suffered slightly in the same year, although visitor numbers rebounded in 2011, reaching 946,000 - a more than 100 per cent increase on the same figure for 2000.

Country facts

Source: World Tourism Organisation

Martinique

Another French overseas territory, Martinique has seen a similar fall in tourism to Guadaloupe. Visitor numbers have followed a general downward trend between 2000 and 2012, shrinking by 29 per cent overall but stabilising around 550,000 per year since 2007. Martinique is also notable for its low and stable homicide rate. In 2009 - the latest year for which data are available from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime - there were 4.2 homicides per 100,000 of the population, the lowest rate in the Caribbean and equal to the global median.

Country facts

Source: World Tourism Organisation

Puerto Rico

As an unincorporated territory of the US, Puerto Rico benefits from a reliable flow of tourism from the US. Since 2009, Americans have accounted for about 85 per cent of all overnight visitors. After peaking in THE middle of the last decade, total inbound tourism dropped sharply in 2009 and is lower than at any time this century. Visitor numbers increased from 4.6m in 2000 to 5.2m in 2008; as the global recession hit, the numbers tumbled to 4.4m in 2009 and fell to 4.2m in 2012. Tourism expenditure per visitor has, however, risen over the same period, from US$678 per head in 2008 to US$762 in 2012.

Country facts

Source: World Tourism Organisation

Saint Lucia

Saint Lucia has traditionally relied on a combination of tourism and agricultural exports to drive its economy, but its once thriving banana export trade has declined in recent years, falling by over half between 2000 and 2007. The banana trade then recovered somewhat in 2008, the latest year for which data ARE available. The value of banana exports in 2008 was down 20 per cent on 2000 in real terms, although volumes had fallen by a smaller amount, 18 per cent. St Lucia had higher revenues from fossil fuel exports than bananas in 2008 - US$31m compared with US$22m - but the figures were less remarkable when compared WITH the rest of the Caribbean that year. St Lucia accounted for about a fifth of all Caribbean banana exports, its share of fuels exports was less than 1 per cent. Tourism has fared well, with visitor numbers growing steadily from 727,000 in 2000 to 984,000 in 2010, before a slight dip to 950,000 in the following year. GDP per capita fluctuated around its 2000 figure - US$5,014 - until 2005, before beginning an expansion which has seen figures for 2008 onwards settle around 15 per cent higher than 2000 levels.

Country facts

Source: World Tourism Organisation

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Like neighbouring St Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines faces the challenge of replacing revenues from a previously thriving banana trade. In 2000 the islands brought in roughly a quarter of the Caribbean's banana export revenues, but by 2012 its share had fallen to just over 2 per cent. In the early part of the last decade it looked as though tourism revenues may be one way to fill the gap -- having risen from 256,000 in 2000 to 328,000 in 2007 -- but then the global recession took its toll. Visitor numbers fell to 200,000 by 2012, an overall drop of just over a fifth. The broader economy has been affected by the fall in tourism, but after shrinking for three successive years, GDP per capita rallied in 2011 and 2012 and, at US$6,498, it is now 28 per cent higher than its 2000 level.

Country facts

Source: World Tourism Organisation

Sint Maarten

The Dutch territory of Sint Maarten is among the least populous islands in the Caribbean but its small area gives it by far the highest population density in the region, at over 1,000 people per square mile. Tourism dominates its economy, with 85 per cent of the workforce employed in the sector according to the CIA World Factbook. Between 2000 and 2005 visitor numbers grew steadily from 1.3m to 2m, but a sharp drop in 2009 saw the total fall to 1.7m. Since then figures have rebounded and surpassed the previous peak, reaching 2.2m in 2012 with an average spend per tourist of US$386.

Country facts

Source: World Tourism Organisation

United States Virgin Islands

The US Virgin Islands enjoy a thriving tourism industry, with visitor numbers surpassing 2.5m in all but two years between 2004 and 2012. In 2012 the USVIs had total inbound tourism equivalent to 25 people per resident. Its tourism industry is healthy despite high rates of crime and imprisonment. The USVIs have the sixth highest homicide rate in the world, and second highest in the Caribbean behind Jamaica, with 39.2 homicides per 100,000 people. This figure has risen steadily from 22.1 per 100,000 in 2000. Incarceration is also high -- an estimated 530 prisoners per 100,000 people - the second highest in the Caribbean behind Cuba.

Country facts

Source: World Tourism Organisation

Monday, 3 February 2014

Work with the World Bank

WHERE DOES RESEARCH FIT INTO JIM KIM'S 'SOLUTIONS BANK'?

Understanding US Policy through the USAID Mission Statement

USAID's new mission: Why it matters

Work with those in the Diaspora to create value for money accountability!

Create better transparent accountability by working with Diasporas too!

It's our responsibility to #stopthemyth on foreign aid

Saturday, 1 February 2014

New in America? Read this please.

You are a new person to USA. You could be lucky and get to live with an American who may show you the ropes. It could be a community such as a church. Hadwen Park Church in Worcester, MA is one such community.

Wednesday, 1 January 2014

Black Diversity across the world

Islands in an economic storm

Blog Archive