LEDNA latest contributions

World Urban Forum 5, Rio de Janeiro - Brazil

ledna-team — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:40:04 +0100

The World Urban Forum is the world’s premier conference on cities. It was established by the United Nations to examine one of the most pressing problems facing the world today: rapid urbanization and its impact on communities, cities, economies, climate change and policies.

The Fifth Session of the World Urban Forum hosted by the Government of Brazil will bring together governments, local authorities, researchers, urban practitioners, the private sector and civil society organizations to discuss inclusive cities under six major topics:

Leadership Development in Africa – Part 2: Delegation

lexlindeman — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:19:34 +0100

Lex Lindeman

Building Competitiveness in Africa's Agriculture

ledna-team — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:14:41 +0100

A Guide to Value Chain Concepts and Application.

2010 African Incubation Conference: "Growing Economies through Incubation"

ledna-team — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:35:49 +0100

The International Conference on Business Incubation, co-sponsored by infoDev, SABTIA and SEDA (The Small Enterprise Development Company), is the premier African gathering for incubation practitioners and economic development professionals from Africa. It is an opportunity for these professionals to get together at a conference and to participate in in-depth workshops, roundtable discussions and networking activities. The theme of the Conference is "Growing Africa through Incubation".

Conference features

Chief Technical Advisor: Inclusive Finance, Comoros

ledna-team — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:37:05 +0100

The UNDP is recruiting a Chief Technical Advisor who will be responsible for the implementation of the Support Programme for Financial Inclusion in the Comoros. Known as PAFIC, this Programme aims to contribute to poverty reduction and to achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by promoting inclusive finance.

Value Chains and small enterprise development

ledna-team — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:18:26 +0100

This paper discusses some of the options available on how value chain analysis can be applied at the local level.

Chief Technical Advisor (Inclusive Finance)

ledna-team — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:57:17 +0100

In the context of the programme "Building Inclusive Financial Sectors in Rwanda” known as BIFSIR and set within the strategic framework of the National Microfinance Strategy (NMS), the UNDP is recruiting a Chief Technical Advisor for a 1 year contract renewable. The CTA's mission will be to provide the technical leadership and management of BIFSIR, including responsibility for managing the project cycle.

ICT as a Catalyst to Entreprise Competitiveness: A Research Report

ledna-team — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:34:40 +0100

This USAID report examines the use of ICT as a tool to increase enterprise competitiveness. It also focuses on how to engage the private sector in successfully implementing the tools of ICT, the successes and challenges of various ICT projects, and how ICT is being used in a variety of sectors, such as manufacturing, agriculture, and tourism.

Benchmarking tool to assess LED readiness of municipalities

ledna-team — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:12:10 +0100

This brochure and manual recently released by the GTZ-LED Project in South Africa present a new qualitative benchmarking tool to assess the understanding and ability to execute Local Economic Development processes of municipalities or organisations responsible for LED. Gabriele Trah, the Project Manager, presents the tool thus:

"The LED maturity assessment provides a practical way for a municipality’s or development organisation’s state of maturity in terms of LED good practice to be assessed.

The benefits of the assessment include:

Chief Technical Adviser (CTA) Strategic Urban Development Plan

ledna-team — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:48:08 +0100

UN-HABITAT is recruiting a Chief Technical Adviser for the Greater Cairo Strategic Urban Development Plan whose horizon is 2050. The long term goal of the project is to contribute to sustainable urban development of Greater Cairo Region and increase its competitiveness on both the regional and global levels, this would be achieved through realizing the short term objectives of:

ICT as a catalyst for enterprise competitiveness: Daybreak Series

mducker — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 19:10:25 +0100

The event will focus on BGI’s most recent publication, Information Communication Technology as a Catalyst to Enterprise Competitiveness. The report’s main objective was to examine the use of ICT as a tool to increase enterprise competitiveness. It also focused on how to engage the private sector in successfully implementing the tools of ICT, the successes and challenges of various ICT projects, and how ICT is being used in a variety of sectors, such as manufacturing, agriculture, and tourism.

Microfinance activities & Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision

ledna-team — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:27:47 +0100

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, an international Committee fostering regular cooperation on banking supervisory matters and whose Secretariat is located at the Bank for International Settlement, the bank of central banks, has issued a Consultative Document entitled: Microfinance activities and the Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision.

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Does Microfinance Really Help Poor People?

ledna-team — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 10:54:39 +0100

Ever since microcredit first began to capture public attention 25 years ago, the usual story line has been that it is a tool of extraordinary power to lift poor people--especially women--out of poverty, by funding their microenterprises and raising their incomes. This picture has been buttressed by hundreds of inspiring stories of microentrepreneurs who used tiny loans to start or expand their businesses, and experienced remarkable gains not only in income and consumption but also in health, education, and social enpowerment.

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Islamic Microfinance Challenge 2010

ledna-team — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 10:04:10 +0100

Innovating, Sustainable, Scalable, and Market-Driven Models. CGAP, Deutsche Bank, Islamic Development Bank, and Grameen-Jameel are pleased to announce Islamic Microfinance Challenge 2010: Innovating Sustainable, Scalable, and Market-Driven Models. The contest is a joint initiative to promote the innovative design of Shariah-compliant products for Islamic microfinance clients.

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African Mobile Micro-Finance and M-Remittances Summit-West Africa

ledna-team — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 11:46:53 +0100

BSP Events & Forums is proud to present its inaugural African Mobile Micro-Finance and m-Remittance Summit – West Africa. A highly focused event, the summit will explore and provide an update on current and future commercial developments of m-Remittances and mobile micro-finance products and services in Africa.

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Mobile Payments and Mobile Commerce Summit-West Africa

ledna-team — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 11:04:40 +0100

As the mobile telecommunications and financial services industries in Africa undergo a new kind of revolution driven by an exponential growth in m-commerce and m-payments services, industry participants are always looking for new and innovative ways to monetise the opportunities whilst overcoming the challenges presented as a result of providing these services.

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World Bank to Host 2nd African Diaspora Open House 2010

ledna-team — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 08:39:42 +0100

The Second African Diaspora Open House, which will take place on February 25, 2010, at the World Bank in Washington, DC., will be a sequel to the one held in November 2007. The African Diaspora Program (ADP), formerly known as the “Mobilizing the African Diaspora for Development” initiative, was launched by the World Bank in September 2007, and introduced to the wider public during the first African Diaspora Open House at the World Bank in November 2007.

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Decentralisation and Local Governance

ledna-team — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:26:38 +0100

The Hague Academy for Local Governance will be holding in July 2010, a short course on Decentralisation and Local Governance. The course is designed for professionals dealing with decentralisation processes and local service delivery in developing and transitional countries. It discusses questions like: How do decentralisation policies contribute to poverty reduction and reaching the Millennium Development Goals? In what way can a transfer of power and budget from central to local authorities lead to better services on the local level?

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Training in Local Economic Development

ledna-team — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:16:01 +0100

The Hague Academy for Local Governance will organise a one week long course on LED in The Hagues in the Netherlands in mid June 2010. This course is about strengthening the economic capacity of a local area. Together with top experts and practitioners in the field of local economic development, you will discuss how local governments can create conditions for economic growth and job generation, thus improving the quality of life for all.

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Making the Most out of public Spend:

ledna-team — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 11:54:34 +0100

Procurement as a local economic activism
This briefing from the Centre for Local Economic Strategies in the UK, makes the case for procurement as an enabling tool to promote local businesses, employment and wider community benefits in addition to core service delivery. The briefing seeks to:

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African Women's Economic Summit

ledna-team — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 09:58:59 +0100

The African Development Bank in partnership with the association New Faces New Voices (NFNV) organises the African Women’s Economic Summit : Investing Differently in Women from 19 to 20 March 2010 in Nairobi, Kenya. This Summit will:

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Achieving Zero Unemployment: Imagine the possibilities

Serge-Zelezeck — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 06:38:54 +0100

Can unemployment be totally eliminated in a given community? Capitalist theories and practice clearly suggest that it is not possible. Even in the most prosperous economies there is always a certain percentage of unemployed varying according to the health of the economy but never actually reaching zero. Yet some suggest that pre-capitalist societies did not know of the phenomenon of unemployment. And many have pointed to the fact that there is no expression or word in African languages, for example, describing a social reality that may be compared to modern unemployment.

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Consultant: Facilitator

ledna-team — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 15:55:56 +0100

The UNDP is recruiting a Facilitator to facilitate the holding of a round table on Improving Market Access for Drylands Commodities Project (MAP) organised by the Drylands Development Centre (DDC) in Nairobi, Kenya, from 23 to 25 March 2010. The objectives of the round table are to:

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Hello

andyparsnip — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 12:18:49 +0100

Hello, I'm Andy from the UK. I work full time at a cheap web design company but I also take a strong interest during my free time in Ledna and similar organisations that concern develoment in Africa - look forward to find out more from your very informative site, thanks for sharing!

In addition: A video that will change your world

Sonja-Ende — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 20:54:50 +0100

Thanks for sharing the link with the LEDNA community.

The internationally recognised presentation by Hans Rosling at the TED conference in Monterey, USA, in February 2006 showed new ways of interpreting data and statistics. Prof Rosling is generally expert for international health, but he is also the director of the Gapminder foundation. The video shows indeed a fantastic presentation and is worth watching the full 20 min.

Watch the video on the TED website

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Hope Chapel Community School

b_reilly — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:52:36 +0100

Meet Pastor and Mrs. Fredrick Mumba: Pastor Mumba is married to Faides and together they have five kids, Jed'daya 16, Ishisha 14, Abgail 12, Chikondi 10 and Erishamah one month. They also keep three orphans, making the total number of children to eight.
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A video that will change your world

b_reilly — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:43:40 +0100

This morning, Ian Campbell, the missions pastor at WSEFC, sent me a video that visually displayed different challenges around the world. I've seen some of the data, but to see it in video form - presented by TED - was fascinating.
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Foundations for Farming in Zimbabwe and Zambia

b_reilly — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:31:01 +0100

Forgotten Voices is proud to partner with an organization called Foundations for Farming, formerly called Farming God's Way. God has been working miracles for a really long time through this program. On my latest trip to Zimbabwe and Zambia, I got to meet up with our good friend, Pierre, who leads Foundations for Farming in southcentral Zimbabwe.

Confronting the Crisis Collectively: WACAP 7th Forum

ledna-team — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 12:19:39 +0100

The 7th Forum of the World Alliance of Cities Against Poverty (WACAP) will be held this year in Rotterdam in the Netherlands from 24 to 26 Febraury 2010. The theme of the Forum this year is "Confronting the Crisis Collectively: working towards the end of poverty" . The Forum will underscore the cardinal role local and region governments can play in harnessing national governments, international organisations, civil society and the private sector in addressing the challenges of poverty.

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ILO addresses Parliament on financing local economic development in Ghana

ledna-team — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 11:53:21 +0100

The Local branch of the International Labour Organization (ILO) on Tuesday 9 Febraury 2010 presented 600 copies of two publications on 'Financing Local Economic Development in Ghana' to Parliament.

The two publications; one a 123 page document on financing local economic development deals with old problems and new strategies in bringing local government and local businesses together to find common solutions to local socio-economic challenges.

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