Links

Asia Pacific Business Coalition on AIDS

Launched in 2006, the Asia Pacific Business Coalition on AIDS supports the establishment and coordination of country-level business coalitions through out the Asia Pacific region. The APBCA network of business coalitions collaborate to assist companies manage the impact of the HIV epidemic on their business and the communities in which they operate.

http://www.apbca.com/about/

(Added: Thu Nov 15 2007   Hits: 42)

Measuring the impact of business on development [pdf]

More work is needed to find ways to measure the development impact of doing better business. The best examples of business impact on development use corporate investment as a springboard for local enterprise (Caroline Ashley. ODI Publications,April 2008).

http://www.odi.org.uk/publications/opinions/101_private_sector_caroline_ashley_apr08.pdf

(Added: Fri May 02 2008   Hits: 5)

South Africa's firms trigger backlash in region

Corporate South Africa's surge into other African countries is fueling perceptions of hegemony. (Joseph J. Schatz, The Christian Science Monitor, 26 September 2006)

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0926/p04s01-woaf.html?s=hns

(Added: Tue Sep 26 2006   Modified: Thu Jan 25 2007   Hits: 62)

Stepping up the ladder: how business can help achieve the MDGs [pdf]

Business and development is the topic to watch and work on in 2008. This Opinion outlines the three -- possibly four -- steps to effective engagement of the private sector in efforts to reach the MDGs. It calls for action to seize growing opportunities to build new kinds of development relationships with the private sector( Simon Maxwell, ODI, April 2008).

http://www.odi.org.uk/publications/opinions/99_private_sector_simon_maxwell_apr08.pdf

(Added: Fri May 02 2008   Hits: 50)

The Global Compact

In an address to The World Economic Forum on 31 January 1999, United Nation Secretary-General Kofi Annan challenged business leaders to join an international initiative - the Global Compact - that would bring companies together with UN agencies, labour and civil society to support nine principles in the areas of human rights, labour and the environment. Through the power of collective action, the Global Compact seeks to advance responsible corporate citizenship so that business can be part of the solution to the challenges of globalisation. In this way, the private sector - in partnership with other social actors - can help realize the Secretary-General's vision: a more sustainable and inclusive global economy.

http://www.unglobalcompact.org

(Added: Fri Jun 25 2004   Modified: Thu Jan 25 2007   Hits: 138)

The Offshore World

This Open-Democracy article, provides a good run down on how offshore tax havens enable large corporations and high net-worth individuals to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. Tax evasion is an issue with clear development ramifications: the wealth hidden in tax havens, if fairly taxed would provide vast amounts of funding for development both within nations and in the form of ODA. Moreover, the article notes that problem of income and corporate tax avoidance is particularly acute in developing countries: more than half of the total holdings of cash and listed securities of wealthy individuals in Latin America is held in offshore tax havens, and the equivalent figure for Africa is likely to be higher still. The article also contains this staggering fact: the amount of tax revenue lost internationally due to tax havens may be as high as $255 Billion every year. By comparison, it is estimated that provision of safe water supplies to everyone on Earth would cost only $30 Billion a year.

http://www.opendemocracy.net/globalization-vision_reflections/offshore_3375.jsp

(Added: Mon Mar 27 2006   Modified: Thu Jan 25 2007   Hits: 101)

The shirts off their backs: How tax policies fleece the poor

As world leaders gather in New York for a UN summit examining progress towards halving world poverty, a new Christian Aid briefing paper shows how poor countries are losing hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue as rich individuals and multinational companies avoid paying their tax. The Shirts off their Backs warns that unless massive gaps in poor countries' revenues are plugged by responsible tax policies and international action to curb tax havens, the UN's poverty targets will be missed. The briefing shows how poorer countries are losing US$500 billion (£270 billion) a year in revenues to prosperous international tax dodgers.

http://www.christian-aid.org.uk/indepth/509tax/index.htm

(Added: Tue Oct 25 2005   Modified: Thu Jan 25 2007   Hits: 86)

The World Economic Forum

The World Economic Forum is an independent international organization made up of the world's leading companies. It claims to be committed to improving the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas. Incorporated as a foundation in 1971, and based in Geneva, Switzerland, the World Economic Forum is impartial and not-for-profit; it is tied to no political, partisan or national interests. The Annual Meeting is the World Economic Forum's flagship for a larger set of activities that include regional meetings and initiatives. The Annual Meeting takes place yearly, almost always in Davos, Switzerland. The website includes links to past and upcoming meetings.

http://www.weforum.org/

(Added: Fri Jan 28 2005   Modified: Thu Jan 25 2007   Hits: 158)

Who Benefits From Land Titling? Lessons from Bolivia and Laos (pdf)

Households in the developing world are becoming more feminised through the breakdown of marriages, the impact of civil war and HIV/AIDs. This research in Bolivia and Laos PDR shows, despite legal and policy contexts which support equal access to titling for both men and women, women still face significant social, political and cultural constraints to acquiring rights to land. (International Institute for Environment and Development, 2007)

http://www.iied.org/pubs/pdfs/14553IIED.pdf

(Added: Tue Mar 04 2008   Modified: Thu Mar 20 2008   Hits: 66)