Center for Global Development - For Educators Here you will find CGD work of special interest to development studies educators and their students including syllabuses from courses taught by CGD-affiliated professors as well as slidedecks and multimedia presentations. We have selected from CGD’s hundreds of publications those that provide broad overviews or are otherwise more readily accessible than CGD’s more technical work. Search the materials by topic using the toolbar below and consult our list of development programs at different universities around the world. Engage with Us! Visit CGD! Book Purchase and Review Copies: CGD books are available for purchase online through our website or, for bulk orders, through the Hopkins Fulfillment Service, P.O.
Home Brazilian family farms go high tech | Latin America & Caribbean: Opportunities for All The Meyer family from Anitapolis, Santa Catarina, southern Brazil A rude awakening by geese screaming at my door was not the way I envisioned starting my day. With temperatures near freezing, the 6.00 AM milking session seemed a daunting first task in my 12-hour internship as a family farmer in Santa Catarina, Brazil. Luckily, after making it out the door with multiple layers of clothing, I was received by a warm “chimarrao” (a caffeine-rich infused drink typical of Southern Brazil) served by Zenaide Meyer. I was there to try to understand how a family farmer makes decisions about adopting new technologies. Within 20 minutes, all 40 cows were milked with new equipment the family acquired two months before with support from the SC Rural Program. At 20 years old, Cleyton participated in a training program for young farmers that was also supported by the SC Rural Program. Many other family-run farms in Anitapolis have adopted new technologies in recent years. But this, too, has changed.
Tulipe - La réponse collective des entreprises du médicament aux populations en situation de détresse Child labour in Mexico "Education for everyone" has been a popular slogan since the Mexican revolution more than 100 years ago. But according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, eight out of 100 Mexican children who enroll in elementary school do not show up for classes. While barely 50 complete middle school, 20 graduate from high school, 13 get a bachelor's degree, and only two become graduate students. A study released by UNESCO last year says the children who don't attend school are mostly working. That means Mexico has one of the largest child labour forces in Latin America, second only to Colombia. Many of Mexico's youths who don't attend school work in plantations. Talk to Al Jazeera travelled to the coastal state of Veracruz to meet some Mexicans who have traded classrooms and pencils for sugar cane fields and machetes. Sixteen-year-old Albino was just 12 when he became a plantation worker. Albino sees his family every 20 days. Source: Al Jazeera
Panama Canal expansion: A smart route for boosting infrastructure in Latin America Since it opened in 1914, the Panama Canal has been one of the world’s most important trade assets and a marvel of engineering. Its expansion has doubled the canal’s cargo capacity, adding a new lane and bigger locks that will shake up shipping routes and make seaborne trade less costly and more efficient. Panama, already projected to be Latin America’s fastest-growing economy over the next five years, was the big winner when the expanded canal opened its locks on June 26. In many ways the Panama Canal is unique: Its $5.5 billion mega makeover was funded by revenues from its tolls, together with a financing package from development banks, including the International Finance Corporation.
The future of Nigeria's manufacturing Can Nigeria get back on the industrial horse? Although current realities don’t hold much promise, the resilience of Nnewi, wartime Biafra’s industrial machine, suggests a new path, says Chijioke Mama. As the colonial era in Nigeria was winding down in the late 1950s, there was a very measurable level of optimism within the country. The oil industry – the country’s present mainstay – was in its infancy and the Nigerian economy was mainly industrial and agrarian. There were demonstrable hopes of a major African industrial hub emerging out of Nigeria; which everyone believed was inches away from becoming an industrialised nation. In Nnewi, young entrepreneurs and artisans with limited formal education, through shared wit, creativity and innovation, had started an amazing story of manufacturing and industrialisation in Nigeria. In the 1950s and then the 1960s, Nnewi made huge strides in manufacturing, especially metallurgy. The problem “We provide amenities and infrastructures by ourselves.
Satellite images used to predict poverty Image copyright AFP Researchers have combined satellite imagery with AI to predict areas of poverty across the world. There's little reliable data on local incomes in developing countries, which hampers efforts to tackle the problem. A team from Stanford University were able to train a computer system to identify impoverished areas from satellite and survey data in five African countries. The results are published in the journal Science. Neal Jean, Marshall Burke and colleagues say the technique could transform efforts to track and target poverty in developing countries. "The World Bank, which keeps the poverty data, has for a long time considered anyone who is poor to be someone who lives on below $1 a day," Dr Burke, assistant professor of Earth system science at Stanford, told the BBC's Science in Action programme. However, surveys are costly, infrequent and sometimes impossible to carry out in particular regions of countries because of, for example, armed conflict. Image copyright Science
Africa’s Unexplored Potential of Trade in Services Services Trade in a Wide Range of Sectors Africa’s export potential in traditional services, such as tourism, is clearly recognized, but the emerging success of exports of nontraditional services, such as business services, is often overlooked. For example, according to the firm-level surveys on professional services presented in the book, more than 16 percent of the interviewed accounting, architectural, engineering and legal firms in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) countries are already engaged in exports, mainly to neighboring countries. This contradicts official statistics, which assert that professional services exports for several countries are negligible or nonexistent. Likewise, many hospitals in Sub-Saharan African countries are treating foreign patients and are using tele-medicine; yet official statistics often do not record such trade flows in medical services. “This is the only way I earn an income. Opportunities and Challenges
Brazil may be the Owner of 20% of the World’s Water Supply but it is still Very Thirsty The most water-dependent Brazil is the world’s second-largest food exporter. In a country where agriculture and agroindustry account for 8.4% of GDP, irrigated lands have increased exponentially over the past decade and water consumption is expected to continue to rise. Currently, less than 20% of irrigated lands have access to irrigation. In the energy sector, hydropower plants will continue to generate most of Brazil’s electricity even with the diversification of energy sources planned over the next two decades. The worst-polluting sector Industry continues to be a leading contributor to environmental degradation in Brazil. Unequal access to water and sanitation Among the poorest 40% of the population, the percentage of households with toilets connected to the sanitation network rose from 33% in 2004 to 43% in 2013. What needs to be improved? Many water companies suffer significant water losses (more than a third of the supply, on average), have excess staff and high operating costs.