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Principal Blogs, Portals,
Directories, Networks, and Search Engines about
International Development
Insightful Blogs on International Development Issues-- World Bank Blogs, Center for Global Development, Global Development (The Guardian), Working in Development (The Guardian), Development Channel (Council on Foreign Relations), Democracy Lab (Foreign Policy), Insights (Overseas Development Institute, UK), Development Horizons (International Food Policy Research Institute), Global Development: Views from the Center (Center for Global Development), Development and Cooperation (Engagement Global), Education plus Development (Brookings Institution), Global Development Institute (University of Manchester), Effective States and Inclusive Development
AidData-- "A
development research and innovation lab at the College of
William & Mary [USA]. Our interdisciplinary team of 40
faculty and staff helps international development
organizations to more effectively track, target,
coordinate, and evaluate their investments. We use precise
data and rigorous methods to address the question of ‘who
is doing what, where, for whom, and to what effect’." Huge
global development project and resource tracking open data
bank, with maps and many analytical publications.
Development
Experience Clearinghouse-- From the U.S. Agency for
International Development, which bills the site as "the
largest online resource for USAID-funded technical and
project materials... [with] nearly 200,000 items available
for review or download." Also videos and much information
on U.S. foreign aid itself.
European
Association of Development Research and Training
Institutes-- The "leading European network in the
field of development research and training," an excellent
source for analyses about international development. "The
EADI Research Monitor is an online database
which presents research papers, policy briefs, opinion
pieces and research projects of EADI members."
Open Knowledge Hub-- "Collaborative 'Open Data' platform for sharing digital content about development that aims to improve the supply and accessibility of content that supports evidence-informed policy making and practice by development actors. A key aspect of the hub’s design is to raise the profile of diverse perspectives on development, paying particular attention to research content from developing countries." Many free high quality publications are available through this site.
Other Sources about International
Development
• Bank Information Center-- An
"independent, non-profit, non-governmental organization
that provides information and strategic support to NGOs
and social movements throughout the world on the projects,
policies and practices of the World Bank and other
Multilateral Development Banks." Much practical
information, plus links.
• Bertelsmann Transformation
Index-- "Result of the collaboration of
nearly 300
country and regional experts from
leading universities and think tanks worldwide. The
project analyzes and compares transformation processes
towards democracy and inclusive market economy
worldwide. The BTI aims to identify successful
strategies for steering change.” Many global, regional,
and country reports and relevant data.
• The Broker--
From the UK, "an independent platform and online
magazine on globalization and development, bringing
together cutting-edge knowledge and expert opinions from
researchers, policymakers and practitioners... [and
acting] as an intermediary between knowledge networks,
‘brokering’ global development knowledge to inform
practitioners and provide new and integrated
perspectives on current global policy issues."
• Center for Global Development-- Research institute "dedicated to reducing global poverty and inequality through policy-oriented research and active engagement on development issues with the policy community and the public." Site offers working papers, policy briefs, articles, opinion pieces, data sources, news and commentary, the Commitment to Development Index, and more.
• Country Indicators for Foreign Policy--
High-quality project between Carleton University and the
Canadian government to develop "a number of wide-ranging
tools that encompass, among other things, the monitoring,
forecasting, and evaluation of failed and fragile states,
as well as the assessment of supporting policies intended
to address the development, security, and economic
challenges they represent." Site posts Governance and
Democracy Handbook, data, and many insightful
reports and methodologies relevant to governance and
democracy processes, conflict risk assessment, and fragile
and failed states.
• Democracy Barometer-- "Project
[which] has developed an instrument to assess the quality
of democracy in 30 established democracies and to measure
the fine differences that exist between them. It allows
for benchmarking between established democracies and, as
democracy is seen as an ongoing process, a critical
observation of their democratic development over time."
Includes datasets, country profiles, interactive
comparison graphs, publications, and more.
• Department for International Development--
"The part of the UK Government that manages Britain's aid
to poor countries and works to get rid of extreme
poverty." Posts news, country profiles, case studies,
research reports.
• Development Executive Group (Devex)--
Social enterprise providing free recruiting services and
business information for the international development
community, with a network of international development
professionals, development news, career advice, business
advice, and project notices from donor agencies.
• Developmental
Leadership Program-- Joint effort supported by the
Australian government and "government, academic and civil
society partners from around the world to explore the role
of human agency in the processes of development [and]
address the policy, strategic and operational implications
of 'thinking and working politically'." Posts studies on
the role of leadership in development in Africa, the
Middle East, Asia, and the Pacific.
• Effective States and Inclusive
Development-- From the Global Development Institute
(UK), a "global partnership investigating the kinds of
politics that promote development... deepening the
understanding of governance in the developing world in
ways that impact on policy and practice so that people’s
lives and livelihoods are improved." Posts many papers,
books, and a blog.
• Fragile States
Index-- From the Fund for Peace, an annual ranking
and global map of the countries of the world, according to
the degrees of state effectiveness and weaknesses-- "a
critical tool in highlighting not only the normal
pressures that all states experience, but also in
identifying when those pressures are pushing a state
towards the brink of failure." Includes methodology, data,
country and global analysis, trends, and past rankings.
• Freedom House-- Many online studies ranking countries on
measures of freedom (including press freedom), informative
backgrounders, and other publications are offered by this
nonprofit, nonpartisan U.S. organization dedicated to
promoting democracy around the world. Note especially
their extensive yearly online report Freedom in the
World.
• Gapminder-- "Non-profit venture for development and provision of free software that visualise human development... in collaboration with universities, UN organisations, public agencies and non-governmental organisations." Fine site features free software, videos, data, and interactive moving graphics to visualize facts, data, and trends in development measures.
• Global
Age Watch Index-- "Ranks countries by how well their
aging populations are faring. It is based on four domains
that are key enablers of older people's well-being:
income, health, employment and education, and enabling
environment." Also includes "report cards" by countries,
topical reports, data, blogs, and the Index Insight
Report.
• Global
Development Institute-- At the University of
Manchester, UK, this "largest dedicated development
research and teaching institute in Europe" posts numerous
publications from a world-class staff of researchers, on
many topics of development worldwide.
• Global Gender Gap
Report-- From the World Economic Forum, analyzes
"the evolution of gender-based gaps among four key
dimensions (Economic Participation and Opportunity,
Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political
Empowerment) and tracks progress towards closing these
gaps over time," worldwide.
• Global Innovation Index-- From the World Intellectual Property Organization, "a leading reference on innovation and a valuable bench-marking tool for decision-makers... provides an annual ranking of the innovation capabilities and performance of economies around the world."
• Global
Integrity-- "Generates, synthesizes, and
disseminates credible, comprehensive and timely
information on governance and corruption trends around the
world... Our information is meant to serve simultaneously
as a roadmap for engaged citizens, a reform checklist for
policymakers, and a guide to the business climate for
investors." Posts much insightful data and analysis. Note especially the Global
Integrity Report.
• Global Poverty Mapping Project-- "The
Global Poverty Mapping Project seeks to enhance current
understanding of the global distribution of poverty and the
geographic and biophysical conditions of where the poor
live." From the Center for International Earth Science
Information Network of Columbia University. Site posts data
sets, maps/atlas of poverty, studies, project methods, and
more.
• Human
Freedom Index-- “Presents the state of human freedom
in the world based on a broad measure that encompasses
personal, civil, and economic freedom. Human freedom...
recognizes the dignity of individuals and is defined here
as negative liberty or the absence of coercive constraint.
[This] Index is a resource that can help to more
objectively observe relationships between freedom and
other social and economic phenomena... Co-published by the
Cato Institute, the Fraser Institute, and the Liberales
Institut at the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom.”
• Indices of Social Development--
From the International Institute of Social Studies in The
Hague, with World Bank support, "an innovative database,
which will open new areas of research on social
development, comparing various dimensions within
countries, and their impact on other aspects of
development." Aims to show "weaknesses and strengths
across countries, as well as the links between social
development and other development outcomes." Presents
downloadable data and charts on six main indicators for
many countries since 1990.
• International
Center for Research on Women-- "Works to make women
in developing countries an integral part of alleviating
global poverty... to ensure that global development
programs and policies help improve the lives of women and
girls around the world." Posts many reports, policy
briefs, and position papers.
• International Development Research
Centre-- A "public
corporation created by the Canadian government to help
communities in the developing world find solutions to
social, economic, and environmental problems through
research." This site provides full-text publications,
research databases, project information, funding
opportunities, and links.
• International Finance Corporation--
Part of the World Bank Group, IFC is "the largest
multilateral source of loan and equity financing for
private sector projects in the developing world," with
special interest in sustainable private sector
development. The site posts many papers and reports on
global and regional aspects of sustainable private sector
development.
• International Food Policy Research Institute-- "Seeks sustainable solutions for ending hunger and poverty... one of 15 centers supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, an alliance of 64 governments, private foundations, and international and regional organizations." Posts policy briefs, research manuscripts, and the annual Global Nutrition Report. Note the Library and Knowledge Management section.
• International Institute for
Democracy and Electoral Assistance--
"Intergovernmental organization that supports democracy
worldwide... as a universal
human aspiration and an enabler of sustainable
development, through support to the building,
strengthening and safeguarding of democratic political
institutions and processes at all levels." Publications
include the annual Global State of Democracy Report and
other trackers of democracy worldwide.
• International Institute for Environment
and Development-- Aims "to promote sustainable
patterns of world development through collaborative
research, policy studies, networking and knowledge
dissemination," especially on major global issues. Many
reports, policy and issue papers, and newsletters
available free in PDF format.
• International Monetary Fund-- The
IMF oversees a wide range of international economic and
financial issues. At the eLibrary, you
can "find in-depth, independent analysis on the financial
crisis, development, macroeconomics, poverty reduction,
trade, globalization, and much more." Numerous publications on economic and
financial issues, including country
information and World Economic Outlook Reports,
are available and searchable online. The Data Mapper presents World Economic Outlook data in
map, graphic, and bubble chart form, such as GDP,
inflation, and current account balance, from 1980 to the
present, plus five-year projections. There is a
video
archive. Also see the quarterly journal Finance and Development.
• International Policy Centre for
Inclusive Growth-- "Supported by the Poverty
Practice, Bureau for Development Policy, UNDP and the
Government of Brazil... to facilitate South-South learning
in development solutions by fostering policy dialogue;
carrying out policy-oriented research; as well as
conducting training and evaluation." Posts working papers,
policy research briefs, issues of Poverty In Focus
magazine, one pagers and country studies.
• Legatum Prosperity
Index-- National and global rankings and analysis
"using a holistic definition of prosperity to include both
material wealth and quality of life. Rather than
replicating other measurements that rank countries by
their actual levels of wealth, life satisfaction, or
development, the Prosperity Index produces rankings based
on the foundations of prosperity. These are the factors
that help drive economic growth and produce happy citizens
in a given country." Also check the various other programs
and publications that this Institute has about
development.
• National
Endowment for Democracy-- Private, nonprofit U.S.
organization created in 1983 to strengthen democratic
institutions around the world through nongovernmental
efforts. In addition to
other NED publications on-site, the Journal of Democracy posts some
articles online.
• Organization
for Economic Cooperation and Development-- The
international organization of the industrialized,
market-economy countries, to exchange information and
harmonize policy to maximize economic growth within member
countries and assist non-member countries to develop more
rapidly. OECD data
and statistics
search facilities are available online. Development Finance Data is presented
in "a range of easy to view formats from high level
overviews to country and sector specific data." The Publications
section is a good place to start searching for publications,
as are the iLibrary and the
Papers section.
OECD resources focusing on a particular country (OECD member
or not) can be found in the Countries section. The very
useful yearly OECD
Factbook is "an essential tool providing a global
overview of world economic, social and environmental
trends." The Regional
Well-Being: A Closer Measure of Life site "allows you
to measure well-being in your region and compare it with 362
other OECD regions based on nine topics central to the
quality of our lives."
•
Our World in Data-- From the the Global
Change Data Lab, insightful "online publication that shows
how living conditions around the world are changing. It
communicates this empirical knowledge through interactive
data visualizations (charts and maps) and by presenting
the research findings on global development that explain
what drives the changes that we see and what the
consequences of these changes are."
• Overseas Development
Institute-- "Britain's leading independent think
tank on international development and humanitarian issues.
Our mission is to inspire and inform policy and practice
which lead to the reduction of poverty, the alleviation of
suffering and the achievement of sustainable livelihoods
in developing countries." Posts many reports, discussion
papers, briefings, toolkits, topical resource libraries,
and so on.
• Oxfam's Policy, Practice, and Research-- Thousands of free Oxfam publications on development: "training manuals, research reports and policy briefs – based on our 70 years in the field, as well as programme overviews, staff profiles and our practitioner blog."
• Oxford Poverty and Human
Development Initiative-- From Oxford University,
posts many studies resultant from its programs "to build
and advance a more systematic methodological and economic
framework for reducing multidimensional poverty, grounded
in people’s experiences and values," through "broadening
poverty measurement, improving data on poverty, building
capacity, and impacting policy." Note especially the
thorough Global
Multidimensional Poverty Index.
• SciDev.Net-- Science and Development Network, "a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to providing reliable and authoritative information about science and technology for the developing world... we give policymakers, researchers, the media and civil society information and a platform to explore how science and technology can reduce poverty, improve health and raise standards of living around the world."
• Social Progress
Imperative-- An attempt "to advance global human
wellbeing, by combining national social performance and
capacity indicators with solutions-oriented outreach to
sector leaders, and grassroots champions, who together can
effect large-scale change." Numerous publications and
videos, including the key Social Progress Index, which
uses over 50 indicators to measure "the extent to which
countries provide for the social and environmental needs
of their citizens."
• Social Watch-- "International
network informed by national citizens' groups aiming at
following up the fulfillment of the internationally agreed
commitments on poverty eradication and equality. These
national groups report, through the national Social Watch
Report[s], on the progress - or regression- towards these
commitments and goals." Posts the annual Social Watch
Report, Global Interactive Map, Gender Equity
Index, and many publications and occasional papers.
• South Centre-- An intergovernmental
organization of developing countries based in
Geneva, Switzerland, dedicated to providing policy
analysis support for equitable development for the global
South, and greater South-South co-operation in promotion
of common interests. Policy papers, studies, and
newsletter online.
• Transparency
International-- "The global civil society
organisation leading the fight against corruption... to
create change towards a world free of corruption... by
building momentum for the anti-corruption movement,
raising awareness and diminishing apathy and tolerance of
corruption, as well as devising and implementing practical
actions to address it." TI's many excellent online
corruption surveys, indices, working papers, and reports
analyze and rank countries "in terms of the degree to
which they are perceived to be the homes of... public
officials who abuse their office for personal gain."
• UN Women-- The United Nations Entity
for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women's site
describes the entity's work, and that of others, to
promote women's empowerment and gender equality. Posts
news and online publications on women's issues around the
world, including the biennial Progress of the World's
Women and the World Survey on the Role of Women in
Development.
• United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)--
This U.N. agency "protects children and their rights by
providing services and supplies and by helping shape
policy agendas and budgets in the best interests of
children." UNICEF compiles and publishes information on
the situation of children, performance of countries in
caring for children, protection of children's rights, and
its programs for children. Many publications are online
about development as it affects children, such as the
annual The State of the World's Children.
• United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development-- "UNCTAD is the principal organ of the
United Nations General Assembly dealing with trade,
investment and development issues." Site posts major
development studies in summary or full-text, basic
documents, and newsletters. Check out the many UNCTAD
program subsites.
• United Nations Development Programme-- Promotes sustainable human development by
assisting countries to build their capacity to design and
carry out development programs. Online reports and
statistics are available in great quantity. See the major
annual Human
Development Report, an excellent comprehensive guide
to global human development, with links to regional and country
HDI reports and to other analytical material.
• United Nations Research Institute for
Social Development-- UNRISD attempts to provide
governments, development agencies, grassroots
organizations, and scholars with a better understanding of
how development policies and processes of economic,
social, and environmental change affect different social
groups. Online reports and forum.
• U.N.
Women Watch-- Women Watch
is a gateway to U.N. information and data on women
worldwide and a forum on global women's issues, to provide
up to date information on the U.N.'s work on behalf of the
women of the world, track the global agenda for improving
the status of women, and constitute an electronic space
for exchange of information and ideas on women's issues.
• U.S. Agency for International
Development-- Extensive development information,
reports, data, and news from AID, the "lead U.S.
Government agency that works to end extreme global poverty
and enable resilient, democratic societies to realize
their potential."
• Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem)--
"New approach to conceptualizing and measuring democracy.
We provide a multidimensional and disaggregated dataset
that reflects the complexity of the concept of democracy
as a system of rule that goes beyond the simple presence
of elections. The V-Dem project distinguishes between five
high-level principles of democracy: electoral, liberal,
participatory, deliberative, and egalitarian, and collects
data to measure these principles." Multinational project
based at the University of
Gothenburg, Sweden.
•
WomanStats Project-- The "largest
cross-national compilation of data, statistics, and maps
on the status of women worldwide... organized by country
[with] over 350 variables for 176 countries."
• World Bank Group sources:
This ultra-rich megasite contains texts, statistics, and
images of thousands of World Bank Reports on development.
The valuable Open
Knowledge Repository serves to "increase access to
information at the World Bank and to make its research as
widely available as possible." The News
Page is a helpful stop. The eLibrary
facilitates finding and accessing World Bank publications
and knowledge. Good access points for economic research
data and reports online are the Data, Research and
Outlook, and Documents and Reports pages. Note the Data Catalog,
"a listing of available World Bank datasets, including
databases, pre-formatted tables, reports, and other
resources," such as social, governance, financial,
economic, and climate statistics, data, and reports. The Countries
and Economies page presents time-series tables of
key indicators by country. Also see the country data and
analysis available in the Where We Work section.
The Atlas
of Global Development presents development data
clearly with maps, graphs, and analysis. The Geospatial
Poverty Portal "offers the latest data on
subnational poverty, inequality, and multidimensional
poverty and small area estimation guidelines." The
annual World
Development Indicators is "compiled from
officially-recognized international sources. It presents
the most current and accurate global development data
available, and includes national, regional and global
estimates." The Indicators Databank has hundreds of
indicators from the World Development Indicators data set,
covering over 200 countries from 1960 to date. The Global
Economic Prospects and related sections offer
economic analysis and forecasts. Also see the Topics
page for World Bank reports by topic. The World Bank YouTube
channel posts videos on development topics.
The World Development Report section allows access to the full series of these reports from the World Bank on major development issues (since 1978). Also consult World Development Indicators, "the World Bank's premier annual compilation of data about development." The Poverty section provides a very useful and large directory for World Bank reports and data on poverty around the world. The Gender site highlights projects, programs, publications, policy, news, and events concerning women's issues. The Gender Data Portal is "the World Bank Group’s comprehensive source for the latest sex-disaggregated data and gender statistics covering demography, education, health, access to economic opportunities, public life and decision-making, and agency." The Worldwide Governance Indicators project reports and analyzes aggregate and individual governance indicators on six dimensions of governance for 215 economies since 1996. The Human Capital Project is "a global effort to accelerate more and better investments in people for greater equity and economic growth," featuring a Human Capital Index and other reports.
The World Bank Group's Archives Holdings website "is a
state-of-the-art platform, which maximizes the public’s
online access to a vast amount of original primary source
material in the custody of the Archives."
• World Happiness
Report-- From the Sustainable Development Solutions
Network, "landmark survey of the state of global
happiness... describe[s] how measurements of well-being
can be used effectively to assess the progress of nations.
The reports review the state of happiness in the world
today and show how the new science of happiness explains
personal and national variations in happiness," with
national rankings.
• World Inequality Report 2022--
A comprehensive global assessment that "relies on a
cutting-edge methodology to measure income and wealth
inequality in a systematic and transparent manner. By
developing this report, the World Inequality Lab seeks to
fill a democratic gap and to equip various actors of society
with the necessary facts to engage in informed public
debates on inequality." Note the large amount of global and
country data and analysis in the World Inequality
Database.
• World Resources Institute-- A policy research center striving to address
how societies can meet basic human needs and promote
economic growth without undermining natural resources and
environmental integrity. This site posts a large number of
full-text studies, maps, data, and other resources. Note
the World
Resources Report.