This background note aims to identify organizations that are working to influence policy and build capacity around pro-poor trade in Latin America. This mapping provides an important baseline for the work of Comercio y Pobreza en Latinoamérica (COPLA, www.cop-la.net), a project funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) on trade, poverty and social exclusion in Latin America, and may also be useful for others concerned with the pro-poor dimensions of Latin American trade a more...

'Refugees and migrants in the Mashrek countries (defined as Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria for the purposes of this report) are at risk of unlawful deportation, ill treatment and exploitation. Difficulties accessing basic rights to healthcare, education, housing and work are compounded by lack of political will, an absence of appropriate laws for the provision of formal legal protection, administrative barriers, budgetary and material restrictions, restrictions on civil society organisations more...

'Around seven hundred thousand mostly low-income and minority men and women are released from prison each year. Returning to lives of low wages and high rates of unemployment, about two thirds will be rearrested within three years. A national prisoner reentry program is proposed whose core element is up to a year of transitional employment available to all parolees in need of work. Transitional jobs are supplemented by substance-abuse treatment and housing after release, expanded work and educat more...

'This paper examines fifteen cases of collective action in six villages in rural Bangladesh. The types of collective action identified were catalyzed by marriage; dowry and domestic violence; disputes over land; illness, injury and death in accidents; and theft and cheating. The role of development NGOs was less significant than would be expected considering their visibility in rural Bangladesh. The study suggests that ‘everyday forms’ of collective action often occur spontaneously and infor more...

'Everyone would agree that international human rights standards are the foundation of the responsibility to protect (R2P). States have an obligation to protect their populations from the worst atrocities on the basis of international human rights precepts. However, it was not until the advent of R2P that the international community accepted for the first time the collective responsibility to act should states fail to protect citizens from genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes or crimes against more...

Mercy Corps' definition of good governance - 'the system and process of accountable, transparent, just, responsive and participatory governance' - tells us what it means in the abstract. However, it does not tell us how we get there from the status quo, let alone how to ensure the practice of good governance is maintained once it has been achieved.
As we solicited articles from some of our country offices, we asked authors to consider the following questions:

• How does your program define more...

'Although the incidence of civil war has declined in recent years, the international community continues to grapple with the devastating effects of
conflict on local, regional, and global security and development. The notion that armed conflict is a problem of global concern is now widely accepted in international policy circles. The 2008 IPI New York Seminar brought together participants from forty-six Permanent Missions to the United Nations and four nongovernmental organizations to examine t more...

There are numerous NGOs in urban areas in China, but none can acquire non-profit status due to the lack of a legal framework. Without access to domestic funding, Chinese NGOs must rely on international aid. But as the Chinese economy develops, donor countries and foundations are decreasing their financial support. The absence of NGO help during the heavy 2008 snow storms in Southern China is a tragic consequence. This article by the executive director of Global Links Initiative looks to the emer more...

This paper argues that NGOs powerfully shape global politics. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, NGOs have increased in activity because governments inadequately deal with global problems like human rights violations and climate change. As entities distinct from governments, NGOs can mobilize and expand support for causes across borders. The author cites the Coalition for an International Criminal Court as a powerful example of how a global NGO network has reshaped international law. Source: In more...

The Report, titled Overcoming Inequality: Why
Governance Matters, identifies deep and persistent disparities based on income, gender, location, ethnicity and other markers for disadvantage as a major barrier to progress in education. Inequity in education is linked
to wider disparities in the distribution of power, wealth and opportunity. And it is perpetuated by policies that either tolerate or actively exacerbate an unfair distribution of life chances – policies that fuel the transmission more...