Strengthening Institutions for Development and Poverty
Reduction
Conference,
July 4th 2008, Trinity College Dublin
Presented by the Institute for International Integration Studies in association with Trinity International Development Initiative and supported by The Advisory Board for Irish Aid
Introduction
This year’s conference will debate the role of market, political, social and legal institutions in underpinning economic growth and poverty reduction.
- What types of institution really do matter?
- Does the current vogue for institutional reform pay enough attention to national and local conditions and conventions?
- What lessons should be drawn by policy makers and development practitioners hoping to support institutional change in developing countries?
- What are the implications for aid policy and the coherence of other national policies with the development agenda?
The full brochure for the conference is available here.
Download conference presentations
For further details contact: Michael King at Michael.King@tcd.ie or at 8963196
About the conference
The global development agenda has been re-invigorated by renewed policy commitments in Ireland and around the world in the last number of years. Under the 2006 White Paper on Irish Aid, the Irish Government will increase its overseas aid contribution to 0.7 percent of GNP by 2012. While these resources represent a significant opportunity to make a lasting impact in the lives of the poor, the quality of institutions in the developing world countries and the effectiveness of aid modalities will ultimately determine the success of these financial resources. With this in mind, there is a growing need for improved understanding of the role of institutions in economic growth and poverty reduction. The conference will take an interdisciplinary approach to institutional challenges faced by developing countries and Overseas Development Aid (ODA) in the areas of market, political, social and legal institutions.
The IIIS conference will seek answers to a number of interrelated questions. Which institutions are better for growth and poverty reduction? How do deep-rooted cultural and political institutions affect development outcomes? Does the current vogue for institutional reform pay enough attention to national and local conditions and conventions? What role should Ireland play in institutional reform in developing countries? Can development aid be used effectively to build political and ethnic stability? What institutional reforms are necessary to make Ireland and the EU more supportive of the growth strategies of developing countries? These are some of the challenging questions the conference will consider.
The conference will be opened by Stephen Haber of Stanford University who will provide a provocative and highly relevant lecture on the role of political institutions in economic development. The lecture will focus on how different forms of political organisation in developing countries impact on incentives, and affect the reform of taxation and property rights.
In Session II, Patrick Honohan (Trinity College Dublin) and Elena Panaritis (Author of Prosperity Unbound) will provide insights into best practice in institutional design in the area of market institutions and what improvements can be made in the pursuit of growth and poverty reduction. In Session III, Akere Muna (Transparency International) will discuss the role of integrity systems in tackling corruption in Africa and William Binchy (Trinity College Dublin) will speak on the challenges faced by the judiciaries of developing countries. Session IV is concerned with democracy and civil society. Lise Rakner (University of Bergen) will discuss the importance of democracy for growth and poverty reduction, while Michael Woolcock (University of Manchester) will speak on the role of ‘interim institutions’ in building the rule of law in poor communities.
Session V will address the new policy agenda known as Policy Coherence for Development (PCD). PCD seeks to ensure that the goals of development assistance are not undermined by other areas of EU and Irish policy. Gwénaëlle Corre (ECDPM) will discuss the progress and challenges for PCD mechanisms across the EU. Alan Matthews (Trinity College Dublin) will provide an Irish perspective on institutions and PCD, drawing on research commissioned by the Advisory Board for Irish Aid
The panel session provides an opportunity to open up the themes of the conference for discussion. Chaired by Ronan Murphy (Director General of Irish Aid), the panel discussion will have a particular focus on what role Ireland and the EU can play in supporting institutional change in developing countries. Prior to opening the floor, short contributions will be made by members of the panel including Mike Williams (Trócaire) and Su-ming Khoo (NUI Galway).
Participant Biographies
Keynote speaker STEPHEN HABER’s research focuses on the relationship between political organization and economic growth. He has specialized in the political and economic history of Latin America. He is A.A. and Jeanne Welch Milligan Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences and Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He is also Professor of Political Science, Professor of History, Professor (by Courtesy) of Economics at Stanford, Senior Fellow of the Stanford Center for Economic Policy Research and Research Economist at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). He is the author of numerous books and articles on economic development, economic history, and political economy.
TOM ARNOLD has been Chief Executive of Concern Worldwide, Ireland’s largest humanitarian organisation, since 2001. He was previously Assistant Secretary General with the Irish Department of Agriculture and Food, and was Senior Economist with ACOT, the Farm Advisory Service. In 2003, he was appointed to the UN Hunger Task Force by Kofi Annan.
WILLIAM BINCHY is Regius Professor of Laws at Trinity College Dublin, head of the Trinity College Law School, and a member of the Irish Human Rights Commission. For the past decade he has organised Trinity's Annual Workshop on Constitutionalism for African Chief Justices and Senior Judiciary.
ÉAMONN CASEY is policy officer of Dóchas, the association of Irish development Non-Governmental Development Organisations (NGOs). As policy officer, he supports members to address concerns at Irish and EU levels. Before joining Dóchas in 2006, he worked with the United Nations and had a successful career in journalism.
GWÉNAËLLE CORRE is a senior researcher at the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM), Brussels. Prior to ECDPM, she worked for three years as a consultant for the European Commission's Directorate General for Development. Her research interests include aid effectiveness, political dialogue, the three C’s (coherence, coordination, and complementarity) and institutional development.
PATRICK HONOHAN is Professor of International Financial Economics and Development at Trinity College Dublin. He was a Senior Advisor in the World Bank working on issues of financial policy reform in developing countries. In the 1980’s he was Economic Advisor to Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald and spent several years at the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) and the Central Bank of Ireland.
SU-MING KHOO is a Lecturer in the School of Political Science and Sociology, NUI Galway, where she is Project Leader of the Development Education and Research Network. Her research interests include globalization and development theory and recent publications have focused on human rights, the MDGs and development education.
ALAN MATTHEWS is Professor of European Agricultural Policy at the Department of Economics, Trinity College Dublin. His research interests include the Irish farm and food system, agricultural policy modelling and the relationships between trade, aid and food security in developing countries. Since 2007, he has been principal investigator on a wide ranging research project on policy coherence for development (PCD).
COLM MCCARTHY teaches economics at University College Dublin. He has previously worked as an economic researcher with the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), the Central Bank of Ireland and DKM Consultants. His research interests include climate change, public investment and economic statistics.
AKERE MUNA is founder and president of Transparency International Cameroon. A lawyer by training, he is President of the Pan African Lawyers Union and former president of the Cameroon Bar Association. He is a member of several national commissions on legal reform. He was actively involved in the TI working group that helped to draft the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption.
RONAN MURPHY is Director General of Irish Aid, the division of the Department of Foreign Affairs which administers Ireland’s aid programme. Irish Aid’s budget this year is €914 million. A career diplomat, he has served as Ambassador in Moscow (1995-99) and Vienna (2001-2004). He spent two years in Geneva as Special Adviser to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson.
ELENA PANARITIS specializes in property rights, markets for illiquid real estate assets and public sector management. She currently heads Panel Group, a specialized advisory group that invests in undervalued property and provides counsel on transforming informal real estate. She teaches housing finance and public policy reform at Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania and the School for Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University. Her recent book Prosperity Unbound is published by Macmillan.
LISE RAKNER is Professor of Comparative Politics, University of Bergen and a Senior Researcher at the Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI) in Bergen. Her work has focussed on issues of democratisation and human rights, particularly related to electoral management and political parties in sub- Saharan Africa and political economy.
BRENDAN TUOHY is the former Secretary General of the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources (2001-2007). He is a former member of the National Economic and Social Council and the UN Task Force on Information and Communications Technology for Development. He is a member of the Advisory Board to the IIIS and serves as non-executive director of the UN Global E-Schools and Community Initiative (GESCI).
MIKE WILLIAMS has been head of Trócaire’s international department since 2004. He has previously held senior management positions with Concern and Oxfam Ireland and spent over 5 years working and living in Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia and DRC.
MICHAEL WOOLCOCK is Professor of Social Science and Development Policy at the University of Manchester, and Research Director of the Brooks World Poverty Institute. He is on leave from the World Bank, where is a Senior Social Scientist in the Development Research Group. His research explores the social dimensions of economic development, in particular the role that social institutions play in the survival and mobility strategies of the poor.