The WWW Virtual Library: International Affairs Resources

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International Development

AidData-- "Comprehensive database on development finance"..."an easy-to-use, comprehensive, and timely resource describing the universe of development finance project-by-project, including all grants and loans committed by all major bilateral and multilateral aid donors."

Development Experience Clearinghouse-- From the U.S. Agency for International Development, which bills the site as "the largest online resource for USAID-funded technical and program documentation, with over 137,500 documents available for electronic download." Also much information on U.S. foreign aid per se.

Development Gateway-- A major portal on development, with excellent general and country information, resources, and tools, designed for scholars and practitioners in specific sectors of developmental activity: "helps communities, organizations, and individuals build partnerships, share ideas, and work together to reduce poverty." Much information and analysis available by country, development activity area, and other categories. Try AidData for "an easy-to-use, comprehensive, and timely resource describing the universe of development finance project-by-project, including all grants and loans committed by all major bilateral and multilateral aid donors."

Directory of Development Organizations-- Comprehensive reference for development practitioners, researchers, donors, and policymakers interested in enterprise development and (non-) financial markets, particularly in developing countries. Lists thousands of individual contacts in organizations which offer support, information, and advice to the enterprise sectors in developing  countries, by region and category.

Governance and Social Development Resource Centre-- Excellent site from the University of Birmingham, UK that "provides cutting-edge knowledge services on demand and online. It aims to help reduce poverty by informing policy and practice in relation to governance, conflict and social development." Plentiful high quality resources are available through a research help desk, useful topic guides, gateway guides, and a large document library.

Institute of Development Studies-- From the University of Sussex, England, maintains a Knowledge Services hub that comprises one of the world's leading sources for research, teaching and information on international development, offering a broad and excellent range of information systems and services. Note the excellent free IDS website guide in PDF, "A Good Place  to Start - The IDS Knowledge Services guide to finding development information online."
The components of IDS include:
1.  British Library for Development Studies, an online catalogue of Europe's largest library on international development
2.  Eldis, with the slogan "Sharing the best in development policy, practice and research," is a superlative directory and gateway to electronic information resources on development issues, with subject guides and dossiers, regional and country profiles, news feeds, e-mail bulletins and newsletters, and searchable database of thousands of papers online at its site or linked
3.  BRIDGE, an information and analysis service on development and gender
4.  Governance and Social Development Resource Centre aims to help reduce poverty by informing policymaking and enhancing professional knowledge in relation to governance, conflict, and social development. Note especially the document library, "an up to date collection of the most credible publications available on governance, conflict, and social development issues."

SD Gateway-- Indispensable, top-rate entry point to a wealth of online information from some of the world's leading sustainable development institutes, members of the Sustainable Development Communications Network.

Studying-Development.org-- "Initiative set up by a small group of former London School of Economics development students. Our aim is to provide an easy to use online directory to courses in international development... to help orientate those wishing to enter, or already active in the field of International Development. This directory is international in scope and covers professional training, as well as university degree courses."

• Asian Development Bank-- Information about the economic and social progress of developing countries in Asia and the Pacific, from this development finance institution. Some online publications are available.

• Atlas of Global Inequality-- From the University of California, presentations and downloadable data about the "interaction between global integration (globalization) and inequality [with] maps, graphics and data primarily for use by students and teachers." Indicators with data back to the 1960s concern material inequality, life and death, global connectedness, and economic globalization, with other indicators to be added.

• Bank Information Center-- An "independent, non-profit, non-governmental organization that provides information and strategic support to NGOs and social movements throughout the world on the projects, policies and practices of the World Bank and other Multilateral Development Banks." Much practical information, plus links.

• Canadian International Development Agency-- Canada's official development promotion agency, "to support sustainable development in developing countries in order to reduce poverty and contribute to a more secure, equitable, and prosperous world." Much information on development issues, countries, and Canadian development aid policy and activities.

• Center for Global Development-- Research institute "dedicated to reducing global poverty and inequality through policy-oriented research and active engagement on development issues with the policy community and the public." Site offers working papers, policy briefs, articles, opinion pieces, data sources, news and commentary, the Commitment to Development Index, and more.

• Cities Alliance-- "Global coalition of cities and their development partners committed to scaling up successful approaches to poverty reduction," sponsored by the World Bank and other organizations. Offers news items, newsletter, annual report, analytical publications, discussions of best practices, and city evaluation and action strategies.

• Communication for Development-- From the Natural Resources Management and Environment Department of the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization, "communication processes and media to help rural people to exchange experiences, find common ground for collaboration and actively participate in and manage agricultural and rural development activities." Site contains many  resources on this topic.

• Compendium: A Global Directory to Indicator Initiatives-- This site, by the International Institute for Sustainable Development, Environment Canada, and the International Sustainability Indicators Network, provides an overview of initiatives on sustainable development indicators being carried out at the international, national, and provincial/territorial/state levels, "a worldwide directory of who is doing what in the field of sustainability indicators."

• Consortium for Research on Educational Access, Transitions and Equity-- Co-ordinated from the Centre for International Education, University of Sussex "to develop and encourage the application of knowledge to improve access to basic education... [with] a programme of research focused on countries in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa to analyse policy and practice designed to reduce exclusion." Offers reports, information, bibliographic database, and more. Note especially the CREATE Gateway that "provides links to resources related to access issues in education."

• Country Indicators for Foreign Policy--  High-quality project between Carleton University and the Canadian government to develop "a number of wide-ranging tools that encompass, among other things, the monitoring, forecasting, and evaluation of failed and fragile states, as well as the assessment of supporting policies intended to address the development, security, and economic challenges they represent." Site posts Governance and Democracy Handbook, data, and many insightful reports and methodologies relevant to governance and democracy processes, conflict risk assessment, and fragile and failed states.

• Department for International Development-- "The part of the UK Government that manages Britain's aid to poor countries and works to get rid of extreme poverty." Posts news, country profiles, case studies, research reports.

• Development Executive Group (Devex)-- Social enterprise providing free recruiting services and business information for the international development community, with a network of international development professionals, development news, career advice, business advice, and project notices from donor agencies.

• Developmental Leadership Program-- Joint effort supported by the Australian government and "government, academic and civil society partners from around the world to explore the role of human agency in the processes of development [and] address the policy, strategic and operational implications of 'thinking and working politically'." Posts studies on the role of leadership in development in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and the Pacific.

• Freedom House-- Many online studies ranking countries on measures of freedom (including press freedom), informative backgrounders, and other publications are offered by this nonprofit, nonpartisan U.S. organization dedicated to promoting democracy around the world. Note especially their extensive yearly online report Freedom in the World.

• Gapminder-- "Non-profit venture for development and provision of free software that visualise human development... in collaboration with universities, UN organisations, public agencies and non-governmental organisations." Features free software and interactive moving graphics to visualize facts, data, and trends in development measures.

• Global Development Network-- A worldwide collaborative initiative of development institutions, to generate and share knowledge, policy-oriented research, and techniques. Site has information on the project.

• Global Distribution of Poverty-- "The Global Poverty Mapping Project seeks to enhance current understanding of the global distribution of poverty and the geographic and biophysical conditions of where the poor live."  From the Center for International Earth Science Information Network of Columbia University. Site posts data sets, maps of poverty, studies, project methods, and Where the Poor are: An Atlas of Poverty.

• Global Gender Gap Report-- Annual report by the World Economic Forum, a world-class organization of leaders from business, government, academia, and the media partnering to create new business opportunities and to shape and address in an action-oriented way the key issues on the global agenda. "The Report measures the size of the gender gap [around the world] in four critical areas of inequality between men and women: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, political empowerment, and health and survival."

• Global Integrity-- "Generates, synthesizes, and disseminates credible, comprehensive and timely information on governance and corruption trends around the world... Our information is meant to serve simultaneously as a roadmap for engaged citizens, a reform checklist for policymakers, and a guide to the business climate for investors." Posts much insightful data and analysis. Note especially the Global Integrity Report and the Global Integrity Index.

• Human Security Gateway-- From the Human Security Report Project, an excellent "rapidly expanding searchable online database of [thousands of] human security-related resources including reports, journal articles, news items and fact sheets. It is designed to make human security-related research more accessible to the policy and research communities, the media, educators and the interested public."

• Human Security Report Project-- Independent research centre affiliated with Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada. Excellent site "tracks global and regional trends in organized violence, their causes and consequences... Research findings and analyses are published in the Human Security Report, Human Security Brief series, and the miniAtlas of Human Security... [plus] daily, weekly, and monthly electronic newsletters on global security issues." The Security Stats section presents current and historical data on organized violence around the world and the related death tolls.

• Innovations in Civic Participation-- "Works around the world to strengthen and develop policies and programs that focus on applying [youth] service as a solution to a wide range of social issues." Site posts information, analyses, and resources about and for youth service and civic engagement, especially in new democracies.

• Institute for Food and Development Policy (Food First)-- "Analyzing the root causes of global hunger, poverty, and ecological degradation and developing solutions in partnership with movements working for social change," Food First posts development reports, fact sheets, policy briefs, and other forms of information on and analysis of the world's food producing and distribution processes and the social and environmental situations that accompany them.

• Inter-American Development Bank-- Publications and information on varied developmental issues in Latin America and the Caribbean are available from this intergovernmental organization.

• International Center for Research on Women-- "Works to make women in developing countries an integral part of alleviating global poverty... to ensure that global development programs and policies help improve the lives of women and girls around the world." Posts a searchable library of thousands of "reports, policy briefs, toolkits and position papers on a range of topics for researchers, policymakers, program implementers and others."

• International Development Research Centre-- A "public corporation created by the Canadian government to help communities in the developing world find solutions to social, economic, and environmental problems through research." This site provides full-text publications, research databases, project information, funding opportunities, and links.

• International Finance Cooporation-- Part of the World Bank Group, IFC is "the largest multilateral source of loan and equity financing for private sector projects in the developing world," with special interest in sustainable private sector development. The site posts many papers and reports on global and regional aspects of sustainable private sector development.

• International Food Policy Research Institute-- "Seeks sustainable solutions for ending hunger and poverty... one of 15 centers supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, an alliance of 64 governments, private foundations, and international and regional organizations." Posts policy briefs, research manuscripts, and the annual Global Hunger Index. Note the open access policy information Food Security Portal and the Library and Knowledge Management Unit, with a search facility for online resources on the topics of hunger and poverty.

• International Institute for Environment and Development-- Aims "to promote sustainable patterns of world development through collaborative research, policy studies, networking and knowledge dissemination," especially on major global issues. Many reports, policy and issue papers, and newsletters available free in PDF format.

• International Institute for Sustainable Development-- IISD's mission is to promote sustainable development in decision making, internationally and within Canada. Many online resources.

• International Monetary Fund Publications-- Extensive search facility for IMF titles, many of which appear in full text, although some must be ordered. Note the quarterly journal Finance and Development. Country Information provides access to online economic and financial information and analysis reports for many countries.

• International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth-- "Supported by the Poverty Practice, Bureau for Development Policy, UNDP and the Government of Brazil... to facilitate South-South learning in development solutions by fostering policy dialogue; carrying out policy-oriented research; as well as conducting training and evaluation." Posts working papers, policy research briefs, issues of Poverty In Focus magazine, one pagers and country studies.

• Legatum Prosperity Index-- National and global rankings and analysis "using a holistic definition of prosperity to include both material wealth and quality of life. Rather than replicating other measurements that rank countries by their actual levels of wealth, life satisfaction, or development, the Prosperity Index produces rankings based on the foundations of prosperity. These are the factors that help drive economic growth and produce happy citizens in a given country."

• MEASURE DHS-- "Has provided technical assistance to more than 200 surveys in 75 countries, advancing global understanding of health and population trends in developing countries... to improve and institutionalize the collection and use of data by host countries for program monitoring and evaluation and for policy development decisions." Posts a large publications database, country and topical data, and data from the surveys, with several user-generated online comparison facilities.

• Millenium Development Goals Monitor-- A UN-initiative site to show "how countries are progressing in their efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals... designed as a tool for policymakers, development practitioners, journalists, students and others to track progress through interactive maps and country-specific profiles, learn about countries' challenges and achievements, get the latest news, [and] support organizations working on the MDGs around the world."

• National Endowment for Democracy--  Private, nonprofit U.S. organization created in 1983 to strengthen democratic institutions around the world through nongovernmental efforts. Note especially the Democracy Resource Center Library, which "holds approximately 20,000 works collected over the past twenty-five years from NED grantees and other sources," searchable through an online catalog.  The Journal of Democracy posts some articles online.

• Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation-- The international organization of the industrialized, market-economy countries, to exchange information and harmonize policy to maximize economic growth within member countries and assist non-member countries to develop more rapidly. OECD statistics and many data sets are posted online. The searchable Publications and Documents section is a good place to start. OECD resources focusing on a particular country (OECD member or not) can be found  at the Country Portal. Note the Economics Department, with many publications online. The very useful yearly OECD Factbook is "an essential tool providing a global overview of world economic, social and environmental trends." An interactive eXplorer feature allows Factbook time-series data manipulation on a world map and a scatter plot screen. The Factblog uses graphs, charts, and videos to comment on and analyze major policy debates and current global trends. Read the online version of the OECD Observer magazine for a topical approach to the latest interests of OECD research.

• Overseas Development Institute-- "Britain's leading independent think tank on international development and humanitarian issues. Our mission is to inspire and inform policy and practice which lead to the reduction of poverty, the alleviation of suffering and the achievement of sustainable livelihoods in developing countries." Posts many reports, discussion papers, briefings, toolkits, topical resource libraries, and so on.

• Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative-- From Oxford University, posts many studies resultant from its programs "to build and advance a more systematic methodological and economic framework for reducing multidimensional poverty, grounded in people’s experiences and values," through "broadening poverty measurement, improving data on poverty, building capacity, and impacting policy."

• Report on the World Social Situation-- Biennial report from the Division for Social Policy and Development of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations, "contributing to the identification of emerging social trends of international concern and to the analysis of relationships among major development issues which have both international and national dimensions." Full current report and past ones are available online.

• Save the Children-- Nonprofit organization that works in the U.S. and many developing countries "to help children and families improve their health, education and economic opportunities" and also mobilizes "rapid life-support assistance for children and families caught in the tragedies of natural and man-made disasters." Note their fine annual online State of the World's Mothers report.

• SciDev.Net-- Science and Development Network, "a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to providing reliable and authoritative information about science and technology for the developing world... we give policymakers, researchers, the media and civil society information and a platform to explore how science and technology can reduce poverty, improve health and raise standards of living around the world."

• Social Watch-- "International network informed by national citizens' groups aiming at following up the fulfillment of the internationally agreed commitments on poverty eradication and equality. These national groups report, through the national Social Watch Report[s], on the progress - or regression- towards these commitments and goals." Posts the annual global Social Watch Reports and many other publications and occasional papers.

• South Centre-- An intergovernmental organization of  developing countries in Geneva, Switzerland, dedicated to providing policy analysis support for equitable development for the global South, and greater South-South co-operation. Policy papers, studies, and newsletter online.

• Third World Network-- Reports and angles on development issues from the perspectives of the developing countries, from an independent non-profit international network of organizations and individuals involved in issues relating to development, the Third World, and North- South issues. Fine site covering many issues, with numerous publications online and links to others off-site.

• Trade and Environment Database-- An inventory of cases on the impacts of trade on environment, culture, and other issues, from the American University. Each case is coded on many different criteria and accompanied by a written report. The coded material in the cases can be sorted to help with case selection.

• Transparency International-- "The global civil society organisation leading the fight against corruption...[with a mission] to create change towards a world free of corruption... by building momentum for the anti-corruption movement, raising awareness and diminishing apathy and tolerance of corruption, as well as devising and implementing practical actions to address it." TI's many excellent online corruption surveys, indices, working papers, and reports analyze and rank countries "in terms of the degree to which they are perceived to be the homes of... public officials who abuse their office for personal gain."

• UNESCO Water Portal-- "Intended to enhance access to information related to freshwater available on the World Wide Web. The site provides links to the current UNESCO and UNESCO-led programmes on freshwater and will serve as an interactive point for sharing, browsing and searching websites of water-related organizations, government bodies and NGOs, including a range of categories such as water links, water events, learning modules and other on-line resources." Note as well UNESCO's World Water Assessment Program.

• UN Women-- The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women's site describes the entity's work, and that of others, to promote women's empowerment and gender equality. Posts news and online publications on women's issues around the world, including the biennial Progress of the World's Women and the World Survey on the Role of Women in Development.

• United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)-- This U.N. agency "protects children and their rights by providing services and supplies and by helping shape policy agendas and budgets in the best interests of children." UNICEF compiles and publishes information on the situation of children, performance of countries in caring for children, protection of children's rights, and its programs for children. Many publications are online about development as it affects children, such as the annual The State of the World's Children.

• United Nations Conference on Trade and Development-- "UNCTAD is the principal organ of the United Nations General Assembly dealing with trade, investment and development issues." Site posts major development studies in summary or full-text, basic documents, and newsletters. Check out the many UNCTAD program subsites.

• United Nations Development Programme-- Promotes sustainable human development by assisting countries to build their capacity to design and carry out development programs in poverty eradication, employment creation and sustainable livelihoods, empowerment of women, and protection and regeneration of the environment. Online reports and statistics are available in great quantity. See the annual Human Development Report, an excellent comprehensive guide to global human development, with analyses of major issues, updated Human Development Indicators that compare the relative levels of human development of over 175 countries, and an agenda to help transform development priorities. Much of the report is available online, plus links to regional and national HDI reports. The Democratic Governance section, with publications on democratic governance, is based on UNDP's efforts to "bring people together within nations and around the world, fostering partnerships and sharing ways to promote participation, accountability and effectiveness at all levels."

• United Nations Development-- Covers a wide range of developmental and environmental issues. E-learning materials "have been designed to help learners explore the MDGs [and to] guide participants through using the international data service ESDS International and provide learners with an increased understanding of... the potential of that data for use in their own research or teaching."

• United Nations Research Institute for Social Development-- UNRISD attempts to provide governments, development agencies, grassroots organizations, and scholars with a better understanding of how development policies and processes of economic, social, and environmental change affect different social groups. Online reports and forum.

• U.N. Women Watch-- Women Watch is a gateway to U.N. information and data on women worldwide and a forum on global women's issues, to provide up to date information on the U.N.'s work on behalf of the women of the world, track the global agenda for improving the status of women, and constitute an electronic space for exchange of information and ideas on women's issues.

• U.S. Agency for International Development-- Extensive development information, reports, and links from AID, the U.S. government agency that provides economic development and humanitarian assistance to advance U.S. economic and political interests overseas.

• World Bank eAtlas of the Millennium Development Goals-- Created by Collins Geo, "lets you visualize and map the indicators that measure progress toward the [eight] Goals, with clear explanations of each Goal and its related Targets as the context. When you select an indicator, the eAtlas creates a world map keyed to that indicator, with country rankings and data in your choice of tables or graphs."

• World Bank Group sources:
            This ultrarich, highly searchable megasite contains texts, statistics, and images of thousands of recent World Bank Reports on development. The Open Knowledge Repository serves to "increase access to information at the World Bank and to make its research as widely available as possible." The News and Broadcast Page is a helpful stop. The eLibrary facilitates finding and accessing World Bank publications and knowledge. Good access points for economic research reports online are the Data and Research, Documents and Reports, and Document Search pages. Publications and databases are available on the Data page.  Also see the data and analysis available at the Countries and Regions page. Data by Topics presents country data on many variables. The Atlas of Global Development presents development data clearly with maps, graphs, and analysis. The Indicators Databank has hundreds of indicators from the World Development Indicators set, covering over 200 countries from 1960 to date. The World Databank also presents a range of indicators and data. Also see the Prospects, Research, and Topics in Development pages for many other World Bank reports. Many insightful World Bank blogs are available.
            The JOLIS Library Catalog allows you to search the joint library holdings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund, the publications of these organizations, and related resources.
            The Bank has interfaced Google Maps with World Bank data "to give you a visual entry point to browse projects, news, statistics and public information center by country."
            The DevForum is a medium for dialogue and knowledge-sharing among members of the development community. The World Bank Annual Report is online. The Complete World Development Report Online section allows searchable access to the full series of these reports from the World Bank on major development issues (since 1978). Also consult World Development Indicators, "the World Bank's premier annual compilation of data about development." Poverty Reduction and Equity provides a very useful and large directory for World Bank reports and data on poverty around the world. Gender and Development highlights projects, programs, publications, policy, news, and events concerning women's issues.   GenderStats is "an electronic database of gender statistics and indicators designed with user-friendly, menu-driven features," with data by country and category. The Worldwide Governance Indicators project reports and analyzes aggregate and individual governance indicators on six dimensions of governance for 213 economies over the period from 1996 to 2010.
           The Beyond Transition Newsletter "covers the key policy issues and policy processes in the transition countries of Europe and Central Asia, offers analyses and lessons across countries, and presents interdisciplinary work in fields such as economics, law, and politics." The Knowledge for Development Program "helps build the capacity of client countries to access and use knowledge to strengthen their competitiveness in the global economy and increase their social well-being." 

• World Resources Institute-- A policy research center striving to address how societies can meet basic human needs and promote economic growth without undermining natural resources and environmental integrity. This site has a large number of full-text searchable studies and other resources online (such as databanks), by location and subject. Read their World Resources Report online.

• Worldwatch Institute--  Informs policymakers and the public about emerging global problems and trends and the complex links between the world economy and its environmental support systems, with the motto "independent research for an environmentally sustainable and socially just society." Free and paid downloads of reports and articles. Among other features, note Vital Signs, a compilation of significant global trends in various categories.