WBI News

Grant Competition for Climate Adaptation: Apply Now!

Deadline: May 18, 2009

The 2009 Development Marketplace (DM) grant competition is seeking innovative solutions to addressing Climate Adaptation in three sub-themes. The call for proposals is open through May 18, 2009. Winning projects will receive a grant for up to US$ 200,000 for implementation over two years. www.DevelopmentMarketplace.org

Anti-Corruption: Competition Open for Practitioners, Students and Young Professionals
Deadline: April 30, 2009

Students, young professionals, and practitioners are invited to participate in two competitions on fighting corruption in the private sector through collective action, launched by the World Bank Institute (WBI). Main prizes cover participation and travel expenses to WBI's Executive Development Program on "Fighting Corruption through Collective Action in Today’s Competitive Marketplaces" to be held in Washington D.C., June 8 to 11, 2009. Winners will also be given the opportunity to present their work at this program and will have their case studies published on the World Bank Institute’s Fighting Corruption web portal.

For questions about the competiton, please contact: acedp@worldbank.org

www.FightingCorruption.org

Read past newsletters at WBI News Archives

CESD Chairman attended ABCDE Cape Town 2008

Vugar Bayramov, the chairman of Center for Economic and Social Development (CESD) attended Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics (ABCDE) 2008 in Cape Town, South Africa. CESD Chairman had speech on CIS countries’ accession to the WTO. Vugar Bayramov mentioned that only Turkmenistan among all CIS-member nations is in no hurry, while Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Georgia, and Armenia are already full members. Azerbaijan, including Russia, Ukraine, Byelorussia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan are countries negotiating membership, of which Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan are said to have better chances to become members. From CIS countries Kyrgyzstan , Georgia, Moldavia and Armenia had already acceded to the organization. Terms of the accession conform with the terms of the developed countries rather than those of developing countries. Other CIS states are at different stages of the negotiations in the accession. Russia and Ukraine approached to the stage of signing of final protocol. At the same time, with a view to assume obligations upon becoming members these countries may encourage starting negotiations by Azerbaijan. Armenia assumed several obligations due to the work held by the Government of Azerbaijan and with the support of several states during the accession. The most important is supposed not to impede with Azerbaijan’s accession to WTO and also to try not to apply the WTO rules in the occupied territories.

 
CESD Chairman had speech in International Forum on Public Policy

Dr Vugar Bayramov, CESD Chairman, had speech in International Forum on Public Policy which held in Isyyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan in November 30- December 02, 1006. CESD Chairman addressed to role of public policies in decision making process in Azerbaijan. He indicated ways and methods policy institutes used or should use to influence decision-making process. Mr. Bayramov also focused achievements CESD gained in terms of increasing of civil society organizations (CSOs) role in decision-making process: “CESD uses different methods and ways to influence decision-making process. By holding public participation, writing effective policy papers, producing policy-relevant analysis, organizing effective advocacy strategies, holding media campaign the center tries to influence on decision-making process. Public hearings are organized by the center with participation of both state officials and community members”. He added that policy center plays important role in Azerbaijan which has rich oil resources and transparency is still problem. Special attention was paid how policy centers can extend their activities.

CESD Chairman attended PASOS workshop

Dr. Vugar Bayramov, the chairman of Center for Economic and Social Development (CESD) attended “Writing Policy Papers; Training for Trainers” workshop in Warsaw , Poland on September 20-24, 2006 organized by Policy Associations for Open Society (PASOS). Representatives from Central and Eastern Europe and Commonwealth Independent States attended the workshop. Ways of effective writing of policy papers, methods of conducting workshops and delivering materials were discussed. Participants agreed to have cooperation in order to spread writing skills on policy papers to have more influence on decision-making process.

CESD Board Chairman had presentation at University of Lodz, Poland

 Dr. Vugar Bayramov, chairman of CESD, had presentation in Gender and Citizenship in a Multicultural Context 6th European Gender Research Conference at University of Lodz on August 30- September 03, 2006.. The conference is a triennial event organized by the Association of Institutions for Feminist Education and Research in Europe (AOIFE). Previous European Feminist Research Conferences were held at the universities of: Aalborg (1991), Graz (1994), Coimbra (1997), Bologna (2000) and Lund (2003). Continuing this tradition, the 6 th European Gender Research Conference was a high-level, interdisciplinary event focused on gender research in a wide but well-defined range of thematic areas:

changing concepts and practices of citizenship in relation to gender issues in Europe ,

interrelations between concepts and structures of citizenship and European multicultural contexts defined as intersections of race, ethnicity, sexuality, class, nationality, religion, etc.,

gender, science and technology and global citizenship,

gender and participation in political and economic processes.

Dr. Bayramov’s presentation on empowering of women’s role in economic development. CESD chairman spoke about ways and positive impacts of women’s participation in decision-making process. His conclusion was as following;

Gender inequality is still main problem in CIS

Gender equality is key to development

More participation of women in decision making on community level is considerable tool for economic development (example: applying quota)

More gender participation less corruption

CESD Board Member Attended International Conference in Shanghai , China

Ms. L. Hanifayeva, board member attended workshop on ' Policy Trends, Growth Patterns and Distributional Outcomes under Globalisation'and the conference is titled 'Economic Openness and Income Inequality: Policy Options for Developing Countries in the New Millennium' organized by International Development Economics Associates (IDEAs) at the Shanghai Administration Institute (SAI) in Shanghai, China between 21-27th August, 2006. Economic assessments of the impact of globalization differ, inter alia, on the nature and determinants of inter-country and intra-country distributional outcomes in recent years. There is no consensus on how such inequalities have moved and on what influences changes in such inequalities in either direction. Further, such differences on intra-country inequality relate not only to the poor performers among the developing countries, but even to the rapidly expanding economies in Asia . There are three related issues of relevance in this context: (i) the relationship between the increasingly homogenous patterns of growth across countries and the adoption of policies that emphasize economic openness and the primacy of markets; (ii) the relationship between this pattern of growth and distributive outcomes; and (iii) the trends in inequality and relative deprivation in recent years. The sessions in the workshop and conference addressed these themes, with focused on the alternatives that are necessary and feasible in the current conjuncture and the foreseeable future.

CESD Chairman attended CIVICUS World Assembly 2006

Dr. Vugar Bayramov, chairman of Center for Economic and Social Development (CESD), had presentation in CIVICUS World Assembly 2006 in Glasgow, UK on June 23, 2006. CESD was one of the organizers of "New anticorruption initiatives by civil society institutions" workshop. In his speech, Dr. Bayramov focused on new initiatives by Azerbaijan Civil Society Institutes regarding to fighting with corruption and enhancing transparency. His conclusion is that civil society organizations play one of key roles in enhancing transparency and promoting sustainable development

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