Financing for Development: Proposals from Business and Civil Society

Business executives and civil-society activists from developing and developed countries address the question of how to boost the financing of development. Topics covered range from micro-credit to large-scale project finance; from gender and poverty to bridging the digital divide; from local to global environments for investment; from domestic to international taxation; from trade expansion to debt relief; and from official development assistance to reform of the United Nations. Contributors include senior officials of transnational and developing country financial and manufacturing enterprises such as Bank of Asia (Thailand), Moody's Investors Service, State Street Corporation, Unilever, Alcatel, and others. Advocates and advisors of church-based and secular non-governmental organizations including the International Council for Social Welfare; Third World Network Africa; Oxfam UK; Mani Tese Broedelijk Delen (International Cooperation for Development and Solidarity); and the Development Group for Alternative Policies, also contributed.

Barry Herman is Chief of the Finance and Development Branch in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations. Federica Pietracci works in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations, where she is responsible for coordinating FfD activities with civil society. Krishnan Sharma is an economist in the Financing for Development Office of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs at the United Nations.