South America

One of the most successful tools in the fight against poverty, one that has attracted increasing attention over the past decade, is social protection via cash transfers. In fact, the New America Foundation’s Global Savings and Social Protection Database – which focuses on Latin America, Africa, East and Asia – has identified over 90 cash-transfer programs in 45 countries, with over a half billion beneficiaries. As the Chronic Poverty Research Centre puts it, “social protection is critical in preventing descent into chronic poverty and reducing the depth of poverty...

By Julia Stevens and Li Zou, Center for Social Development

Cross posted on YouthSave.org

On April 17, 2012, a Symposium on International Research and Innovation at Washington University in St. Louis highlighted the experiences and insights of the international research partners in YouthSave. The event, which was hosted by the Center for Social Development at Washington University’s Brown School, drew an engaged audience of students, researchers, and program representatives with interests in international research and collaboration.

By Alejandra Montes Saenz, Save the Children Colombia

Cross-posted on YouthSave.org

The meaning of Russian President Vladimir Putin's third term and updates on immigration policy and trends are topics for discussion in this week’s podcast.  Host Pamela Chan is joined by Schwartz Fellows Steve Levine and Tamar Jacoby.  

To learn more about today’s topics, check out:

Steve’s blog, The Oil and the Glory (http://oilandglory.foreignpolicy.com/ ) and book, Putin's Labyrinth: Spies, Murder, and the Dark Heart of the New Russia (http://www.amazon.com/Putins-Labyrinth-Spies-Murder-Russia/dp/0812978412)

Last month, the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) held an event on government-to-person (G2P) payments and financial inclusion. The event was based on a February report, “Social Cash Transfers and Financial Inclusion: Evidence from Four Countries,” which itself was a follow up to a 2009 paper “Banking the Poor via G2P payments” on the same topic.

NAF's Global Savings and Social Protection initiative is excited to release its first heat-mapping of different countries' potential to implement savings-linked social protection programs. NAF has identified 51 countries around the world that have social safety net/public benefit programs that involve cash transfers. For these countries, this map shows 11 different variables relating to their payment infrastructure. A country's score of 1-5 on each variable corresponds to its relative quintile; that is to say, India's score on ATM's per 100,000 adults is a '2' because its data falls in the second quintile (between the 20th and 40th percentile). Each variable is used to compute the country's composite Payment Infrastructure rating of Low/Medium/High. Roll over or click a country to view individual indicators.

With Barack Obama's administration pivoting toward Asia and with the U.S. president now off to Hawaii for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit (and then to Australia and Indonesia), let's remember that the most important trip of his time in office was not east but south. In March, in the midst of the fallout from Japan's tsunami and nuclear meltdown and the brutal escalation in Libya, Obama made an international trip the Western media almost entirely ignored.

It is widely known that China needs to rebalance its economy to rely more on consumption, but the extent of China’s imbalance between consumption and investment is not fully appreciated.  Comparisons to other emerging markets and countries like Japan, Taiwan, and Korea that pioneered the East Asian growth model show that China’s low levels of consumption are unparalleled.

Hugo Chavez is trying to come to the rescue of his friend and fellow "colonel," Moammar Kadafi. The Venezuelan president has offered to mediate Libya's civil war, and warned against any foreign intervention in support of Libya's opposition, which now controls much of the east of the country, including the port of Benghazi, home of the Hugo Chavez soccer stadium. The Venezuelan government even railed against the move to oust Libya from the United Nations Human Rights Council because of Kadafi's violent crackdown on his own people.

The New America Foundation’s Counterterrorism Strategy Initiative hosted co-authors Karin Hayes and Victoria Bruce on September 7, 2010. They presented a brief overview of their book, Hostage Nation, which focuses on the bloodless rescue of two American contractors and a former Colombian presidential candidate. The following discussion explored the rescue specifically and the US-sponsored drug war generally.