Monday, August 18, 2008

[EQ] Supporting Youth at Risk

Supporting Youth at Risk

A Policy Toolkit for Middle-Income Countries

 

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank, 2008

This work was supported by the Finnish-Norwegian Trust Fund for Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development (TFESSD).

 

Available online as PDF file [135p.] at:

http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2008/05/16/000333038_20080516062635/Rendered/PDF/437050WP0ENGLI1YouthAtRisk01PUBLIC1.pdf

 

This policy toolkit on youth at risk in middle-income countries contains five sections:

 

Section I: Introduction

• Background and Rationale

• Definitions and Conceptual Framework

 

Section II: Core Policies

These six policies have an established track record in preventing disadvantaged children and young people from engaging in risky behavior and, thus, should form the basis of any country’s youth portfolio. We recommend that governments of middle-income countries should adopt and implement these policies on a large scale. These core policies consist of
(i) expanding integrated early child development for children from poor households;
(ii) increasing the number of young people who complete secondary school, particularly those from poor families;  
(iii) using the fact that students are a captive audience while in school to provide them with key risk prevention messages
     and to identify at-risk youth who are in need of remedial support;
(iv) developing youth-friendly pharmaceutical services;
(v) using the media to describe the costs of risky behavior and present alternatives (combined with improved services); and
(vi) promoting effective parenting of and by young people.

 

Section III: Promising Approaches

These nine approaches focus on helping those affected by risky behavior to recover and return to a safe, productive path to adulthood. Young people in this category range from school dropouts to the incarcerated and are more difficult to reach than others in their age group. Although not as many of the interventions in this category have yet been evaluated, there is sufficient evidence to enable us to make some recommendations in the areas of
(i) education equivalency,
(ii) job training,
(iii) financial incentives for completing secondary school,
(iv) after-school programs,
(v) formal youth service programs,
(vi) mentoring,

(vii) employment services,
(viii) life skills training in all interventions aimed at youth at risk, and
(ix) selfemployment and entrepreneur programs.


Section IV: General Policies with a Disproportionately Positive Effect on Youth at Risk

These seven policies address critical risk factors at the community and macro levels, but also have been shown to be particularly effective at reducing risky behavior by young people and should therefore form an essential part of an overall strategy to reduce the number of youth at risk. Examples of these types of policies include
(i) safe neighborhood investments that support community policing and improved services for high violence communities,
(ii) reducing the availability of firearms,
(iii) restricting the sale of alcohol,
(iv) increasing access to contraception,
(v) promoting anti-violence messages in all media,
(vi) strengthening the justice system to focus on treating and rehabilitating rather than incarcerating young people, and
(vii) registering the undocumented.

 

Section V: Moving from a Wish List to Action

This section presents strategies and tools for turning these policy recommendations into a well-designed and well-implemented youth portfolio. Included in this section are thoughts on how to assign and coordinate institutional responsibilities based on comparative advantage; how to reallocate resources away from ineffective programs toward recommended programs; how to improve the development, analysis, and use of data for program monitoring and impact evaluations; how to select programs based on cost-effectiveness and a cost-benefit analysis; and how to benchmark progress against international data sources.

 

 

 

 

*      *      *     * 

This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
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and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American
Health Organization PAHO/WHO or its country members”.

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[EQ] Trafficking in Persons Report

Trafficking in Persons Report

US State Department, June 2008

Available online as PDF file [295p.] at: http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/105501.pdf

Website: http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/

 “…..The US Department of State is required by law to submit a Report each year to the U.S. Congress on foreign governments’ efforts to eliminate severe forms of trafficking in persons. This Report is the eighth annual TIP Report. It is intended to raise global awareness, to highlight efforts of the international community, and to encourage foreign governments to take effective actions to counter all forms of trafficking in persons.

The U.S. law that guides anti-human trafficking efforts, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, as amended (TVPA), states that the purpose of combating human trafficking is to punish traffickers, to protect victims, and to prevent trafficking from occurring. Freeing those trapped in slave-like conditions is the ultimate goal of this Report—and of the U.S. Government’s antihuman trafficking policy.

Human trafficking is a multi-dimensional threat. It deprives people of their human rights and freedoms, it increases global health risks, and it fuels the growth of organized crime.

Human trafficking has a devastating impact on individual victims, who often suffer physical and emotional abuse, rape, threats against self and family, and even death. But the impact of human trafficking goes beyond individual victims; it undermines the health, safety, and security of all nations it touches….”

 

Table of Contents

Introduction
The 2008 Trafficking in Persons Report
Purpose
Human Trafficking Defined
The Scope and Nature of Modern-Day Slavery
Focus of the 2008 TIP Report
Methodology

Major Forms of Trafficking in Persons
Forced Labor
Bonded Labor
Debt Bondage and Involuntary Servitude Among Migrant Laborers
Involuntary Domestic Servitude
Forced Child Labor
Child Soldiers
Sex Trafficking and Prostitution
Children Exploited for Commercial Sex
Child Sex Tourism

Punishing Trafficking Offenders Adequately
Protecting Victims Adequately
Prevention: Spotlight on Addressing Demand
Importance of Research
Democracy and Human Trafficking

Topics of Special Interest
Highly Vulnerable: North Korean Refugees
Boy Victims of Commercial Sexual Exploitation
Women as Exploiters
Trafficking in Persons and New Technologies
Protecting Children From Child Sex Tourism
Trafficking of Migrant Workers
Street Children and Trafficking
Victim Trauma and Recovery
Worker Remittances: A Darker Side?
The Myth of the Bad “Runaway Worker”
Invisible People: Statelessness and Trafficking
Prostitution and Trafficking: Adjusting Policy to Reality
Custody of Child Trafficking Victims
Reports of Products Made with Forced Labor in the Last Year
Trafficking for Forced Begging
The Economics of Trafficking in Persons

Global Law Enforcement Data
Commendable Intiatives Around the World
2008 TIP Report Heroes
Tier Placements
U.S. Government Domestic Anti-Trafficking Efforts
Country Narratives
Special Cases

Relevant International Conventions
Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000
Stopping Human Trafficking, Sexual Exploitation, and Abuse by International Peacekeepers
Glossary of Acronyms
Human Trafficking Defined
A Closing Note From the Drafters of the Report

 

 

*      *      *     * 

This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;
Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues.  [DD/ IKM Area] 

“Materials provided in this electronic list are provided "as is".Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings
and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American
Health Organization PAHO/WHO or its country members”.

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    IMPORTANT: This transmission is for use by the intended recipient and it may contain privileged, proprietary or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient or a person responsible for delivering this transmission to the intended recipient, you may not disclose, copy or distribute this transmission or take any action in reliance on it. If you received this transmission in error, please notify us immediately by email to infosec@paho.org, and please dispose of and delete this transmission. Thank you.  

[EQ] Working Together to Make Aid More Effective

Working Together to Make Aid More Effective

Ninth Report of Session 2007–08 - Volume I

UK House of Commons International Development Committee –July 2008

 

Available online as PDF file [65p.] at:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmselect/cmintdev/520/520.pdf

 

“…..If the millions of people still living on less than $1 a day are to be lifted out of poverty donors need to provide more effective aid not simply larger quantities of aid. The UK has performed well against almost all of the targets in the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, the central agreement in this area, but global progress has been patchy and slow. The Accra High Level Forum in September is an opportunity to shine a spotlight on this lack of progress. The UK’s Department for International Development should aim to make progress there in two key areas: the division of labour among donors; and developing country ownership of the development process.

The principle of ownership—that the development process should be led by developing countries themselves—is critical to the success of international commitments on aid effectiveness. Aid should be driven by need and demand. DFID should commit to achieving a technical assistance portfolio which is 100% coordinated and demonstrably demand-driven.

The Accra High Level Forum should lead to more effective mechanisms to monitor progress against a greater range of targets linked to ownership. DFID must consistently define ownership as a democratic process which fully involves parliaments, civil society and citizens. Efforts to make aid more effective depend on credible evidence which links particular actions with better development outcomes. Large pieces of this evidential base are missing. DFID must ensure that it is not simply joining a plausible consensus but has done the research to prove to us and, equally importantly, the taxpayer that its approach delivers more effective aid. Without it, DFID is operating on well-intentioned guesswork. Credible monitoring and evaluation of development impact is needed to show objectively that aid can make a difference. DFID should actively support independent and recipient-led monitoring and evaluation initiatives and should submit to—and encourage other OECD donors to submit to—reviews conducted other than by peers.

 

Cooperation with other donors cannot simply be on DFID’s terms. Working with others to make aid more effective requires a certain flexibility of approach. DFID has so far found this difficult to achieve. It needs to reassess its engagement on aid effectiveness with other donors so as to give greater priority to effective coordination over promotion of its own way of working.

 

Joint working between DFID and other donors, and indeed DFID working through other donors, is likely to become a more frequent occurrence. This has implications for the scrutiny performed by this Committee. DFID must work proactively to ensure that we have meaningful oversight of all of its work, however the budget is spent.

 

The principles contained in the Paris Declaration are as applicable to new donors, such as China, India and Brazil, as to other donors. DFID must seek opportunities to share with new donors its own experience of working towards more effective aid but also to support efforts by developing countries to draw new donors into a recipient-led dialogue on aid effectiveness.


Implementing the Paris Declaration requires some changes in the way DFID operates. Staff buy-in is crucial to the success of any change programme and DFID must ensure its frameworks for assessing staff performance make aid effectiveness targets a priority….”

 

Content

Summary

Introduction

1 More effective aid

The aid “burden”

The Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness

Monitoring the Paris Declaration

The benefits of better coordinated aid

Transaction costs

DFID’s promotion of its own model

2 Ownership

Democratic ownership

The limitations of ownership

Technical assistance

Predictable aid

3 Division of labour

The Role of the EU and OECD as coordinating institutions

4 Next steps in implementing the Paris agenda

Delivering results at the Accra High Level Forum

Beyond Accra

Budget support

Staff performance assessment

Evaluating impact

5 Conclusion


List of recommendations

Annex A: The Committee’s visit programme in Ghana

Annex B: The Committee’s visit programme in Rome, Berlin  and Copenhagen

Appendix

 

 

 

 

*      *      *     *

This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;
Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues.  [DD/ IKM Area]

“Materials provided in this electronic list are provided "as is". Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings
and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American
Health Organization PAHO/WHO or its country members”.

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PAHO/WHO Website: http://www.paho.org/

EQUITY List - Archives - Join/remove: http://listserv.paho.org/Archives/equidad.html

 

 

    IMPORTANT: This transmission is for use by the intended recipient and it may contain privileged, proprietary or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient or a person responsible for delivering this transmission to the intended recipient, you may not disclose, copy or distribute this transmission or take any action in reliance on it. If you received this transmission in error, please notify us immediately by email to infosec@paho.org, and please dispose of and delete this transmission. Thank you.