Track V: Business at the Bottom of the Pyramid
January 29, 2006 by admin · Comments Off
| Panel I: Fair Trade: Turning the Pyramid Upside Down |
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Base of the Pyramid fanfare focuses on the business opportunity for multinationals to sell goods and services to the poor in developing countries. Fair Trade turns the pyramid on its head by connecting the poor directly to international buyers – and, in turn, to millions of US consumers – and empowering them to become international businesspeople. In six years, sales of Fair Trade Certified products in the US have channeled more than $67 million in additional, above-market revenue to farmers and farm workers throughout Latin America, Africa and Asia. Fair Trade income funds sustainable local development projects – health systems, scholarships, women’s leadership initiatives, and microfinance programs – in over 50 countries around the developing world, and provides over 1 million farmers with resources to invest in their businesses and their products.
Fair Trade is increasingly recognized as the gold standard of social and environmental certification. It has expanded from its emergence in the specialty coffee market to a growing number of commodities: cocoa, tea, rice, sugar, bananas, mangoes, pineapples, and grapes. Consumers can now choose Fair Trade Certified products in Dunkin’ Donuts, McDonalds, supermarket chains, and college cafeterias. Panelists will draw upon their experiences at various stages in the Fair Trade supply chain to examine the following issues: Read more |
Track IV: Trade for Development
January 29, 2006 by admin · Comments Off
| Panel I: Accommodating Developing Countries’ Concerns |
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Recent trends in trade arrangements have a tendency to curtail the policy options that developing countries can tailor to achieve their objectives of growth, economic development, and social welfare. At the same time, in the past decades we have seen that countries that have achieved high levels of growth and poverty reduction have benefited from a combination of orthodox and heterodox policies, which invariably include integration objectives.
The follow-up question is, what can developing countries do to combine their objectives of integrating into the world trading system, on the one hand, while preserving the policy space they need for economic development, on the other. This panel will identify the needs for policy space that developing countries should defend and safeguard in world trade. In particular, the discussion will be geared towards brainstorming and developing concrete flexibilities that can be engineered into trade agreements to make policy space actionable and effective. These issues will be addressed from the multilateral, regional, and bilateral negotiating scenarios. Read more |
Track III: Health and Growth
January 29, 2006 by admin · Comments Off
| Panel I: The Eonomic and Social Impact of Infectious Disease in Developing Countries |
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This panel will explore how infectious disease impedes economic growth in developing countries. Panelists will discuss the social and economic impact of HIV/AIDS, TB, and Malaria on developing countries and prospects for lessening the effects of these pathogens.
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| Panel II: Sectors & Strategies: Public, Private and NGO Response to the Health Needs of the Developing World |
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In response to Global Health challenges, such as HIV/AIDS the public, private and non-governmental organizations have all responded. The debate lies in which sector has responded in the most effective manner. And can often disjoint aid efforts better work together to provide solutions to the health needs of the developing world. Through a discussion of the various types of initiatives from government agencies such as USAID, private multi-nationals such as Merck, and most recently high level non-governmental initiatives such as the Gates Foundation a comparison will be drawn. Which sector is providing the most innovative response? How can the sectors better work together? Through a discussion of the different sector approaches and better opportunities for them to collaborate together a framework of best practices and successful strategies for future collaboration will emerge.
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| Panel III: Women and Healthcare: Challenges Facing Healthcare in Developing Nations. Read more |
Track II: Environment, Natural Resources and International Development
January 28, 2006 by admin · Comments Off
| Panel I: Improving Access to Modern Energy Services: Lessons Learned and Future Opportunities |
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Two billion people, or roughly one third of humanity, still lack access to modern energy services such as heat, light and mechanical power, all of which are integral to economic development. Employing sustainable energy technologies to increase access to these services has proven beneficial to poor, underdeveloped communities by improving livelihoods and generating sources of income. In addition to the significant environmental benefits associated with sustainable energy technologies, cleaner technologies are often the most cost-effective solutions in remote, rural areas. In the case of electricity, for example, conventional grid-extension can be prohibitively expensive. Moreover, studies indicate that poor energy consumers have a high willingness and ability to pay for these technologies given the proper financial mechanisms. If the provision of modern energy services through sustainable energy technology creates a potential win-win solution for the environment, the private sector as well as poor, rural energy consumers, why haven’t more projects succeeded? Which economic, financial and policy barriers exist to successful implementation of profitable rural energy programs? What is the role of government, multi-lateral institutions, and the private sector? What are the important lessons to be learned from past rural energy efforts and how can we make projects more self-sufficient in the future? Lastly, what creative solutions can we employ to improve access to energy services in underdeveloped countries? Read more
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