GSW was asked to attend the UN Women Expert Group Meeting (EGM) in Mexico City entitled ‘Challenges and Achievements in the implementation of the MDGs for Women and Girls’, to present findings of a paper into ‘gender responsive’ expenditure tracking, commissioned by UN Women. The GSW and other papers presented formed the basis for an overall EGM report, of which the main recommendations will be presented at the 58th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (10th-21st March 2014). 

A joint World Bank-DRI mission visited Sarajevo, in Bosnia and Herzegovina to assess debt management activities in the country based on the DeMPA methodology developed by the World Bank. The mission met with staff from various institutions involved in debt management such as the Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank and presented its preliminary assessment to the authorities. The final report will shortly be finalised and submitted to the Bosnian State authorities.

DFI was on the panel at the launch of the Global Governance and Impact Report at the BWI Spring Meetings chaired by U.S. Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Ranking Member of the Financial Services Committee. The result of a collaboration between 10 organisations and individual contributors, this comprehensive report analyses the governance and impact on sustainable development of the G20, IMF, World Bank, FSB, OECD and UN.

DFI pursued its support for the network of low income Francophone countries with the latest OIF ministerial meeting at the BWI Annual Meetings. A wide range of development financing issues was discussed – LIC representation in the G20, debt relief, sustainability and architecture - but the ministers' main concern was the potential risks to their tax revenues caused by G8 and G20 decisions. They therefore urged the G8, G20 and the OECD to permanently include LIC countries in the formal decision making process so that their needs are taken into account. With support from OIF and regional organisations, LIC countries are planning to undertake their own studies analysing the potential negative impact of other countries' tax policies on their revenues. DFI will report on these studies on this website. The next meeting is scheduled around the BWI Spring Meetings in April 2014.

The AfDB commissioned DRI to facilitate a meeting in Washington to consult senior representatives of ministries from “potential” borrowing countries from the pilot facility on its planned future credit policy. 13 countries attended the consultation seminar, among which 6 presented national case studies detailing their priority unfunded national/regional infrastructure projects, their current and planned funding sources for infrastructure, their prospects for debt sustainability, and how AfDB funds would be useful to their development financing. The other countries were invited to make short presentations on their own country’s responses to the pilot proposal, based on a comprehensive questionnaire they had previously received. A background study based on this preliminary consultation and researched by DRI will be finalised shortly.  

A joint World Bank-DRI mission visited Dhaka in Bangladesh to assess debt management activities in the country based on the DeMPA methodology developed by the World Bank. The mission met with staff from various institutions involved in debt management such as the Ministry of Finance, the Bank of Bangladesh, and presented its preliminary assessment to the authorities. The mission will finalise the report and submit it the Bangla authorities.  

A joint World Bank-DRI mission visited Sarajevo to produce a reform program based on the previous DeMPA assessment for the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The mission met with staff from various institutions involved in debt management such as the Ministry of Finance, Central Bank and other and presented its preliminary assessment to the authorities. The mission will finalize the report and submit it the Bosnian Federation authorities 

At the request of the Niger authorities, a joint World Bank/Debt Relief International mission visited Niamey to prepare a debt management Reform Plan. The mission was a follow-up to the DeMPA mission of March 2012 which revealed certain weaknesses. In collaboration with the local authorities, the mission proposed four major areas of reforms in terms of governance, debt management strategy, external borrowing procedures and operational risks.

DRI and OIF participated in a discussion panel during the African Caucus in Khartoum with representatives of the World Bank, the IMF and Gravitas Capital Advisors. Entitled ‘Financing Infrastructure through Structured Bonds’, the event focused on the topic of financing for development for Africa and the financing prospects of these institutions. Panellists discussed the needs of the African continent in terms of infrastructure and the fight against exogenous shocks, while highlighting the difficulties African leaders face in accessing financing. Download the presentation here. The Governors of the African Caucus therefore called the IBW to take concrete measures to encourage the growth of African countries as per their Khartoum Declaration. Khartoum will again host next’s year African Caucus. 

Since the Launch of Government Spending Watch, there has been a large amount of interest from a multitude of organisations from CSOs to INGOs/IFIs. Recently, both Save the Children (You will need Java to watch the session ) and the Open Knowledge Foundation have asked DFI to conduct webinar sessions to facilitate dissemination of the project throughout their organisation. The webinars have focused in particular on introducing the initiative; providing walkthroughs of the website and data, the methodology and also practical uses of the data. Another session for the Global Campaign for Education is to be held in the next few months. As these events were extremely well received, DFI is happy to provide other organisations with webinar sessions. Contact us at Esta dirección electrónica esta protegida contra spambots. Es necesario activar Javascript para visualizarla  for further information.