Values and Vision: Perspectives on Philanthropy in 21st Century China

Values and Vision: Perspectives on Philanthropy in 21st Century China is an exploratory study of philanthropic giving among China's very wealthy citizens. Recognizing the increasing number of successful entrepreneurs engaged in philanthropic activity in China, the study explores the economic and policy contexts in which this philanthropy is evolving; the philanthropic motivations, aspirations and priorities of some of the country's most engaged philanthropists; and the challenges and opportunities for increasing philanthropic engagement and impact in China

A Hundred Key Questions for the Post-2015 Development Agenda

With a new development framework under way and an increasingly urgent need to address political, socioeconomic and environmental issues on a global scale, this is a critical moment for the international development agenda. Almost 15 years after the Millennium Declaration, a new phase for international development is about to begin and, with it, comes the opportunity to critically assess how new development goals and milestones are likely to be shaped and delivered. This paper assumes that a greater understanding of development needs and practices can better sustain a new agenda for change, and that a key step in this process is to identify priorities based on both new and long-standing knowledge gaps, to help orient decision-making processes and funding allocation in academia and beyond. This paper present the results of a consultative and participatory exercise that addresses the need to articulate and better align the research interests and priorities of academics and practitioners working on international development in a post-2015 international development framework. The exercise was organized around a two-stage consultation and shortlisting process. A four-months open consultation was conducted, offering development stakeholders and individuals the opportunity to submit their questions. People were invited to submit questions related to some of the thematic priorities that guided the “World We Want” campaign—a global stakeholder consultation conducted by the UN between 2010 and 2014 involving governments, civil society and lay citizens. In this first phase, 705 individuals from 109 organizations based in 34 countries were involved in the formulation of 704 questions. The questions were then discussed and shortlisted during a two-day workshop with academic and practitioners representing different world regions and areas of expertise, among whom are also the authors of this paper. After the final shortlisting, questions were regrouped into nine macro-thematic sections: governance, participation and rights; environmental sustainability; food security, land and agriculture; energy and natural resources; conflict, population dynamics and urbanization; economic growth, employment and the private sector; social and economic inequalities; health and education; development policies, practices and institutions. The final 100 questions address a varied combination of long-standing problems that have hindered the development agenda for decades as well as new challenges emerging from broader socioeconomic, political and environmental changes. Well-established concerns about the rights of women, and of vulnerable groups such as poor workers, small-scale farmers, people with disabilities, children and ethnic minorities feature alongside emerging issues, including the role of business in protecting human rights, and information and communication technologies as tools for empowerment and social integration. Similarly, traditional concerns linked to rural livelihoods, land tenure and agricultural production are presented together with environmental sustainability, natural resource extraction, urbanization, food security, and climate change adaptation and mitigation. While civil society and the empowerment of marginalized populations are recognized as key for development, questions on new actors including the private sector, emerging economic powers and new middle-income countries as development donors and partners feature heavily in the shortlist. The questions also reflect the mainstreaming of gender perspectives into a wide range of development areas, helping to cement the view that gender should be considered central to future development initiatives. A large number of the submitted questions (102) specifically addressed broader issues related to development politics, practices and institutions. This outcome, combined with the fact that a number of these were included in the final shortlist, highlights the fact that there is a critical need for a deeper collective reflection on the role and relationships of different actors in international development, and the impact that contemporary economic and political scenarios will have on the development agenda. We envision our list of 100 questions contributing to inform the post-2015 agenda and future development-related research priorities of international, governmental and non-governmental organizations. But, perhaps more centrally, we believe that these questions can act as starting points for debate, research and collaboration between academics, practitioners and policy makers. The value of research exercises such as this one rely on the ability of a variety of stakeholders to reach consensus around a set of research priorities put forward by anyone willing to engage in the process. We believe that the process of co-production we set out here, of debate and discussion between different stakeholders, is essential for successfully and effectively tackling the key challenges ahead for the international development agenda

Standardizing and Disseminating Knowledge: The Role of the OECD in Global Governance

If ‘knowledge is power’, it is unsurprising that the production, legitimation, and application of social scientific knowledge, not least that which was designed to harness social organization to economic growth, is a potentially contentious process. Coping with, adapting to, or attempting to shape globalization has emerged as a central concern of policy-makers who are, therefore, interested in knowledge to assist their managerial activities. Thus, an organization that can create, synthesize, legitimate, and dissemination useful knowledge can play a significant role in the emerging global governance system. The OECD operates as one important site for the construction, standardization, and dissemination of transnational policy ideas. OECD staff conducts research and produces a range of background studies and reports, drawing on disciplinary knowledge (typically economics) supplemented by their ‘organizational discourses’. This paper probes the contested nature of knowledge production and attempts to evaluate the impact of the OECD’s efforts to produce globally applicable policy advice. Particular attention is paid to important initiatives in the labour market and social policy fields—the Jobs Study and Babies and Bosses

Rehabilitating Health Systems in Post-Conflict Situations

Although baseline data for post-conflict situations are frequently unavailable, there is a clear deterioration in the health conditions of populations during and following conflict. Excess mortality and morbidity, displaced populations, and vulnerability to communicable diseases during and following conflict all call for immediate relief and restoration of basic services. As much as possible, short-term relief and assistance programmes should be implemented in a manner compatible with longer term health system rehabilitation. This paper presents a framework for analyzing the inputs and policies that make up post-conflict rehabilitation programmes in the health sector. Post-conflict ...health, conflict, war, institutions

Making Poverty History? How Activists, Philanthropists, and the Public Are Changing Global Development

From August 1 to 3, 2007, fifty preeminent U.S. and international experts from government, business, academia, and the philanthropic and nonprofit sectors came together at the Aspen Institute to explore the changing contours of the global development community. By examining the common challenges development actors face -- promoting accountability, using resources effectively, and achieving scale and sustainability -- participants aimed to spur successful practices and establish foundations for collaboration among the expanding field of players determined to lift the lives of the world's poorest people

Global Health Law: A Definition and Grand Challenges

It has been only recently that scholars have engaged in a serious discussion of public health law. This academic discourse examines the role of the state and civil society in health promotion and disease prevention within the country. There is an important emerging literature on the international dimensions of health, but no similar systematic definition and exposition of a field we call global health law. In this article we aim to fill this gap by defining global health law and characterizing the grand challenges. Given the rapid and expanding globalization that is a defining feature of today\u27s world, the need for a coherent system of international health law and governance has never been greater. We begin with a discussion of the health hazards posed by contemporary globalization on human health and the consequent urgent need for global health law to facilitate effective multilateral cooperation in advancing the health of populations equitably. We then offer a definition of the emerging field of global health law. After explicating the central features identified in our definition, we turn to an examination of the grand challenges – legal, political, and social – to reaching the full potential of global health law to advance human health in just and effective ways. Our definition of global health law follows, and the remainder of this section explains the salient aspects of the definition: Global health law is the study of the legal norms, processes, and institutions needed to create the conditions for people throughout the world to attain the highest possible level of physical and mental health. The field seeks to facilitate health-promoting behaviour among the key actors that significantly influence the public\u27s health, including international organizations, governments, businesses, foundations, the media, and civil society. Global health law should stimulate investment in research and development, mobilize resources, set priorities, coordinate activities, monitor progress, create incentives, and enforce standards. The field should be guided by the value of social justice, and seek equitable distribution of health services, particularly to benefit the world’s poorest populations. The domain of global health law primarily is concerned with (1) formal sources of public international law, including, for example, treaties establishing the authority and responsibility of states for the health of their populations and duties of international cooperation, and (2) formal subjects of international law, including states, individuals, and public international organizations. However, to be an effective global health governance strategy, global health law must evolve beyond its traditional confines of formal sources and subjects of international law. It must foster more effective collective global health action among governments, businesses, civil society and other actors. Accordingly, our definition of global health law is prescriptive as well as descriptive: it sets out the sort of international legal framework needed, but still unavailable, to empower the world community to advance global health in accordance with the value of social justice