GDNet Blog

The People, The Planet, The Can: Emerging lessons from policymakers’ perspective

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 03:45:47 +0000

[This post is part of an ongoing project of a book on project to study the challenges involved in communicating complex ideas. The objective of this project is to gain a greater and more nuanced understanding of the challenges and opportunities for research uptake among think tanks and policy research institutes in developing countries. This [...]

The Future of the “Arab Spring”: Between Islamist and Secular forces

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 14:56:26 +0000

“This is not an Arab spring, in my view, nor is it an Arab inferno. It is a process of change that was bound to happen, but one has to be realistic about its chances.” These are the words of Marwan Muasher, currently VP for studies at Carnegie Endowment, summing up his views of the [...]

Islamism and Islamist Movement into a Historical Perspective

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 14:47:39 +0000

(This is a cross-post based on a blog post, “Islamism and Islamist Movement into a Historical Perspective“, published on the ERF Blog by Zeinab Sabet, Research Communication Capacity Building Manager at GDNet. The post is based on video from the first plenary session at the 2013 ERF Annual Conference, speaker Jean-Philippe Platteau, (University of Namur and [...]

Inequality of Access to Information: Can Information Sharing be universalized?

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 06:53:39 +0000

Access to information has long been established as one of the major problems faced by southern researchers. Enhancing information accessibility and use helps to better understand, analyze and research ongoing development challenges so that practical solutions can originate from those directly affected by them. This cause is supported by the Connect South Campaign that has [...]

The GDN Community shares its views on the post-MDG development agenda

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 16:03:31 +0000

By Sherine Ghoneim and Cheryl Brown On March 19th, 2013, Global Development Network (GDN) is hosting a High Level Panel Seminar on the post-2015 Millennium Development Goals, in New Delhi. A survey was conducted to give the GDN Community the chance to contribute to this and other forums by sharing its views on five key [...]

Corruption: A “plague” to the Nigerian economy

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 12:54:16 +0000

Corruption is a global phenomenon and its adverse effect on economic development has been a problem facing countries worldwide. Africa is one of the continents that are deeply implicated by corruption and one of the countries that suffer the most is Nigeria. Nigeria is rated amongst the most corrupt nations of the world, and as [...]

Collaborated ‘Open Data’ and research uptake

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 14:29:21 +0000

(This is a cross post base on a blog post I wrote published at the erf blog , during ERF’s 19th annual conference) Huge progress has been achieved to make data available and accessible to the public. This is considered a huge opportunity for researchers to make use of this data to analyze questions, provide evidence [...]

ERF 2013 Annual Conference – Highlights Day 1

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 12:16:40 +0000

Economic Research Forum (ERF)’s 19th Annual Conference kicked-off yesterday. Interesting and fruitful discussions are be ing held on the controversial issue of Economic Development and the Rise of Islamist Parties. Amongst others, the following are the main topics that are being addressed: The Causes of the Arab uprisings and the rationale for the rise of [...]

Economic Development and the Rise of Islamist Parties

Sat, 02 Mar 2013 12:23:49 +0000

(This is a cross-post based on a blog published by Salma el Meliegy , Communications Assistant at ERF ) The political upheavals, which swept the Arab World in early 2011 ushered in Islamist political parties in Egypt, Tunisia, and potentially elsewhere in the region. The rise of political Islam in the Middle East is contended [...]

GDN launches a High Level Panel Seminar and open consultation on the post-2015 development agenda

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 14:00:20 +0000

By Sherine Ghoneim, Director, GDN Cairo The Millennium Development Goals reach their deadline in 2015, but what should the next set of global development priorities be? The UN Secretary General has appointed a High Level Panel to provide guidance and recommendations on the post-2015 development agenda and a number of open, inclusive consultations are taking [...]

Arab Spatial Development and Food Security Atlas

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 14:25:06 +0000

(This is a cross-post based on a blog post published Marcia MacNeil, Communications Specialist at IFPRI) The main objective of Arab Spatial is to improve access to quality data and to support decision and policy making for a food-secure Arab world, covering the 22 member countries of the Arab League of Nations from Mauritania and [...]

Tips to overcome research communications challenges

Sun, 10 Feb 2013 14:36:29 +0000

A successful researcher needs to be an effective communicator of his/her own research. This is why GDNet committed itself to help southern researchers communicate their work more effectively. Through its series of research communications capacity building training events, and in collaboration with research communication and media consultants, GDNet creates an opportunity for researchers to build [...]

Research uptake: a road hedged up with thorns

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 16:12:25 +0000

“The road that goes from a piece of research to public policy is a winding, forked and blurry one” (Weyrauch y Selvood, 2007) The goal of any research is to have an impact, and not to be kept in a drawer or forgotten on a bookshelf. The global south does not lack robust economic and [...]

The challenges facing southern researchers in the Arab world

Tue, 25 Dec 2012 15:38:04 +0000

Development experiences from many Arab countries show that the achievement of development in different sectors depends on the practical level of knowledge and skills of the labor force available to those countries. That’s why it is crucial to encourage southern research that can help the developing countries cope with the developed world, since it is [...]

Southeast Asia, the new rising star in the global market

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 11:21:56 +0000

We have been referring to the developing economies in Asia as the “Asian Miracle” since they not only witness very high rates of sustained growth, but also underpinning that growth, rapid increases in labor productivity and the import, adoption, use and development of technologically sophisticated processes for generating high-value goods and services. According to some [...]

Cultural barriers to collaboration in Latin America

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 12:17:54 +0000

By Luis Ordonez If we want to go beyond cooperation and start real collaboration among partners, we must be aware of the cultural aspects involved. While businesses recognized this a long time ago, the collaboration movement has only recently begun to catch up, learning some painful lessons along the way . Some of the critical areas [...]

GDNet to investigate southern research uptake: Perceptions, challenges and experiences

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 15:57:22 +0000

By Cheryl Brown Every year, the GDNet Members survey gives thousands of southern researchers the opportunity to comment on GDNet’s services, and to share their experiences of the research process: from gaining funding, to accessing journals, to getting their research used. In the last two surveys, close to 1000 southern researchers gave their views on [...]

Another reason why “the storm of the Century” should be on everyone’s mind

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 12:13:41 +0000

The Fourth International Conference on Climate Change, hosted by The Philosophical Society of Quebec, taking place in London on Friday, November 9th, gains significance in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. A Conference designed for the professional, practitioner and layman alike; the world’s leading thinkers on climate change, climatology and environmental science are coming together to discuss policies, strategic perspectives and the [...]

Research Network on Inequality and Poverty

Sun, 04 Nov 2012 13:36:55 +0000

Combating poverty and inequality is on the top of priorities for many development organizations. This is why the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association (LACEA), the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank came together to launch their joint initiative “Network on Inequality and Poverty”. The objective of the initiative is to advance the state [...]

LACEA 2012 Annual Meeting, Lima, Perú

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 15:18:54 +0000

The 17th Annual LACEA Meeting kicked off today in Lima, Perú. Hosted by Universidad del Pacifico (UP), the annual meeting of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association (LACEA) and the Latin American Meeting of the Econometric Society (Lames) will take place from November 1st – 3rd, 2012. As last year, 2012 LACEA and LAMES [...]