Activities
Future:
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24 May 2012, 17:30 – 19:00
“Die Rolle der Weltbank in der globalisierten Welt und die österreichische Perspektive”
Ein Vortrag von Dr. Konstantin Huber
Executive Director at the World Bank
for Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Czech Republic, Hungary, Republic of Kosovo, Luxembourg, Slovak Republic, Slovenia and Turkey
Die Weltbank zwischen Armutsreduktion und Krisenbekämpfung; neue und alte Ansätze für Low Income und Middle Income Countries; die Rolle der Weltbank zu Global Public Goods und im Klimaprozess; ihre Stellung im Spannungsfeld nachhaltiger Entwicklung; zwischen öffentlichem Sektor, privatem Sektor und Zivilgesellschaft; ihre zukünftige Bedeutung im Rahmen einer neuen Finanzarchitektur.
Alois Wagner Saal, C3 – Centrum für Internationale Entwicklung, A-1090 Wien, Sensengasse 3
Einladung: [PDF]
Anmeldung erbeten an: office@oefse.at
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5-7 June 2012
2nd Workshop on “Energy Access for all – the Role of Local Initiatives for Energy Management”
Schedule: [PDF]
Past:
We have made all the material on the past events open-source, feel free to download them. We trust you will find the material useful.
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11 April 2012
Food Security – the Global Perspective
Lecture by Dr Steffen Fritz
the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis – IIASA
Presentation: [PDF]
- 18 October 2011
THE FUTURE OF MICROCREDITS FROM A GENDER PERSPECTIVE: CHALLENGES AND CHANCES
a WU-SID Seminar
A poster show and panel discussion was part of a joint WU-SID Seminar in which international students of a course on “Selected Topics in Gender Studies” offered by the Gender and Diversity Management Group of the Vienna University of Economics and Business investigated the potential challenges and chances of microcredit programmes. Members of the Vienna Chapter of SID contributed by serving as interview partners for the students conducting research for their seminar papers and by participating in the panel discussion.
The students presented their research in a poster show.
The panel session was opened by Thomas Nowotny, President of the Vienna Chapter of SID and after an introduction by Edeltraud Hanapi-Egger the panellists
• Wolfgang Böhm
• Teresa Salazar de Buckle
• Hermi Trupke-Senkowsky
• Tezer Ulusay de Groot
presented a critical review of the state of the art and attempted to assess the challenges and chances for the future of micro-credit systems in the emerging economies worldwide with special emphasis on gender issues.
The panel was moderated by Uwe Schubert
Presentations are available to download: [ZIP].
* Speakers and panelists
Thomas Nowotny (Doz.Dr.) President of the SID Vienna Chapter and former Austrian diplomat. He teaches political science at the University of Vienna.
Edeltraud Hanappi-Egger (Univ.Prof. Dr.) Professor for “Gender and Diversity in Organizations” at the Management Department, Vienna University of Economics and Business
Wolfgang Böhm (Ing. Dr.) Working since 1970 in development. 5 as volunteer in printing engineering in Cameroon. Followed by study in mass communication and social anthropology. At the same time working in the selection and preparation of the volunteers. Since 1983 working as desk officer for Mission Austria on pastoral programmes and since 1992 also with ”Dreikönigsaktion der Katholischen Jungschar” on development programmes. Presently desk officer for Kenya, Ethiopia and the Middle East.
Teresa Salazar de Buckle (MA Sc.Chemistry) Member of SID, Vienna chapter, GOAL expert and former Head of Integrated Programmes in UNIDO. International Consultant with expertise in the use of systems approach to industrial sector analysis and evaluation including gender participation in industrial development and micro-enterprise development. Practical experience in selected South, Central American and African countries.
Hermi Trupke-Senkowsky (Dr. Social and Economic Sciences)Member of SID. Advisor on Credit Schemes for Small Industries, Lagos; Economic Research Department of the Central Bank of The Gambia, Banjul; Consultancies for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and development economist with the International Fund for Agricultural Development IFAD (United Nations, Rome). Extensive experience with credit and related activities in developing countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. Well acquainted with the specific problems and opportunities faced by rural women in the poorest areas of the developing world where even the smallest forms of micro-credit schemes can make a significant difference for the social and economic status of the women and their families.
Tezer Ulusay de Groot (MA Economics and Management)Tezer Ulusay de Groot is currently working as an international development consultant. Previously, she was as team leader for UNIDO´s integrated programs in various African and Arab countries and worked in international development projects in Asia. She also supported the development of SME Policy for the United Republic of Tanzania, which was subsequently ratified. Ms. Ulusay de Groot has broad experience in the area of developing women´s entrepreneurship, women´s economic empowerment as well as private sector development and clustering of enterprises. She has written numerous reports, project documents, conference papers and a UNIDO working paper.
Uwe Schubert (Dr. Ph.D) Vice president of SID, Vienna chapter, retired professor of environmental economics, Vienna University of Economics and Busines
- 18 May 2011
World Population, Female Education and Sustainable Development
a lecture by Prof. Wolfgang Lutz.
Prof. Lutz is founding Director of the new Witgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital “combining his current function as leader of the World Population Programme of IASSA, Director of the Vienna Institute of Demography of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and Professor of Applied Statistics at the Vienna University of Economics and Business.
Prof. Lutz provided an overview of world population trends from 1000 to 2100 and of projections from 2000 to 2100. He illustrated a population decline in Eastern Europe and an increase in Sub-Saharan Africa. He gave projections for the European Union up to the year 2050 for both men and women and the percentage of the population above the age of 65. He demonstrated the growth of the world’s human capital in a table that showed a mildly optimistic education trend scenario for the world’s population aged 15 years and above in terms of levels of educational attainment for the period 1970-1950. On the basis of that scenario, his conclusion was that the world was moving towards a global community of 2-6 billion well-educated, and hence healthy and wealthy people.
He showed the global distribution of human capital and the related trends for the period 2000-2030, together with the demography of educational attainment and economic growth. He argued that complementing primary education with secondary education in broad segments of the population would in all likelihood lend a strong boost to economic growth.
His tables demonstrated the relationship of fertility rates to the level of educational attainment and infant mortality to mothers’ education. The conclusion to be drawn from those relationships was that female education was key to reducing world population growth.
Prof. Lutz concluded that a policy focus on female education and basic health was a multiple win strategy. It offered a number of major benefits: the reduction of mortality and disability, avoidance of unintended pregnancies, the determination of desired family size – and hence the reduction of population growth, as well as the elimination of poverty. He also believed it would enhance adaptive capacity to climate change. The issue at stake was one of establishing how the international policy community could be made aware of such findings that ultimately would have a major bearing on the manner in which priorities could be set for international sustainable development policies in the future.
Download link of the PowerPoint slides of the presentation: [PDF]
- 10 March 2011
Drug Production, Drug Trafficking and Drug Abuse – an Impediment to Security and Development
A panel discussion organized jointly by the Vienna Chapter of the Society for International Development, the Directorate for Security Policy at the Federal Ministry of Defense and the Austrian Institute for International Affairs.
The panel:
Akire Fujino, Special Advisor to the Executive Director, Division for Policy Analysis and Social Development United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC Vienna)
Bernardo Perez Salazar, Columbia, Instituto Latinoamericano de Altos Estudios, Senior Policy Advisor to UN-HABITAT
Otmar Höll, Director, Austrian Institute for International Affairs, OIIP
Thomas Nowotny, President, Vienna Chapter, Society for International Development
Colonel Frank from the Federal Ministry for Defense and Sports welcomed the participants and stressed that the subject of the panel was of great interest to the Ministry as currently new strategies and activities were being considered. Therefore, drug production trafficking and abuse and their negative influence on security and development is an appropriate subject to be discussed at this time. Mr. Fujino gave a summary of a century of Drug Control Activities and Conventions by the United Nations and its predecessor, the League of Nations, as well as an overview of Opiates, Canabis , Cocaine, Amphetamine type stimulants and precursor chemicals required for their production. He described cultivation and manufacture areas as well as the main trafficking routes and cited examples of sustainable alternative development efforts [PDF]. Mr. Perez Salazar outlined the development of drug production and trade in the Andean countries, the policies and practices applied by authorities and guerrillas and their consequences. He stressed that at the same time, efforts to reduce drug supply and demand have been mostly ineffective and have lead to serious human rights violations [PDF]. Mr. Höll stressed security issues and policy approaches and the effects of drug production and trafficking on “Fragile States” which he illustrated with the case of Afghanistan. He also outlined conventional and alternative counter measures [PDF]. Mr. Nowotny summarized that by now all existing drugs have become available in all regions of the world. He stressed that drug trafficking and drug use create not just social problems but serious challenges to internal and external security. However, present policies attempting to limit supply and criminalizing consumption have not only failed; they have had mostly negative consequences and concluded that more emphasis should therefore be on curtailing demand [PDF].
Thank to Mr. Perez Salazar, his full research article is now available to download: [PDF]
- 25 November 2010
Presentation and Panel Discussion on
The Real Wealth of Nations: Pathways to Human Development
Organized jointly by the Vienna Chapter of the Society for International Development (SID) and the United Nations Information Service in Vienna (UNIS).
Presentation by Dr. Isabel Pereira, a leading member of the report’s core team. Opening remarks by Jens Wandel, Director, UNDP Bratislava Regional Centre. Panel discussion with: Rober Zeiner, Director of Programs and International Projects, Austrian Development Agency (ADA) Dr. Werner Raza, Director, Austrian Research Foundation for International Development (ÖFSE) Thomas Nowotny, President, the Vienna Chapter of the Society for International Development (SID) Maher Nasser, Director, United Nations Information Service Vienna (UNIS)The first UNDP Human Development Report was published 20 years ago (with some inputs from SID). Its aim was to shift policy debates beyond a sole focus on Gross Domestic Product per capita as the primary means for measuring a country’s development. The Report introduced a new Human Development Index, which gave equal weight to other indicators including life expectancy and literacy rates. This initiative has been followed by many others which build on these early efforts to measure the progress of societies, including through the complementary work of such institutions as the OECD, the Sarkozy Commission, and various NGOs. For its part, the Human Development Report has evolved as well. The 2010 20th anniversary edition – with an Introduction by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen – constitutes an important step further in the evolution of the human development approach and its implications for social and economic policies.
The webstory, photos and the UNDP film are now all posted on the UNIS website at the following link:
http://www.unis.unvienna.org/unis/en/events/2010/HDR-presentation.html
- 26 -29 October 2010
Workshop
Social & Environmental Responsibility of Business:
The Role of Small- and Medium-scale Enterprises in Advancing
the Global Sustainable Development Agenda
Organized by the Vienna chapter of the Society for International Development jointly with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, the Austrian Development Agency and the International Network for Educational Exchange.
The goal of the workshop was to promote a constructive dialogue between academia, business representatives and policy-makers responsible for driving sustainable development objectives through the Corporate Social Responsibility movement in Europe and abroad.
The workshop was an integral part of the seminars on sustainable development and Corporate Social Responsibility at three Vienna universities – the University of Economics and Business, the University of Resources and Life Sciences and the University of Vienna – with foci particular to the universities at which the seminars are being held.
National and international experts offered insights into the general context of the topic and introduced specific issues for in-depth discussion in four working groups (for details see workshop programme and individual PowerPoint presentations). Scholars, representatives of companies and NGOs, as well as interested visitors participated actively. A poster show of companies and NGO’s provided opportunities to get first hand information and promote networking.
80 people attended the workshop. Participants included students from the three Vienna universities (about 50%), representatives of Austrian companies and companies from Costa Rica, Ethiopia, India, Peru and Serbia, as well as a number of NGOs and interested individuals.
Following materials of the workshop are free to download:
Details of the program [PDF]
The PowerPoint slides of the presentations [ZIP]
Speking notes [ZIP]
Working papers of students from the University of Vienna [ZIP]
- 30 September 2010
President’as Statement to CONGO Civil Society Development Forum [PDF]
- 30 June 2010
SID letter to Minister of Foreign Affaires re budget cuts in development cooperation [PDF]
- 17 May 2010 at 6 p.m.
Climate Change – Looking beyond Copenhagen
A discussion by:
- Fabian Wagner, Senior Scholar in IIASA’s Atmospheric Pollution and Economic Development Program, on: “The Road from Bali to Cancun: High Expectations, Low Results?”
- Joanne Bayer; Leader of IIASA’s Risk and Vulnerability Program (and Lead Author at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), on: “Adaptation and Insuring the Most Vulnerable”
- Florian Kraxner, Deputy Leader of IIASA’s Forestry Program, on: “What can Biosphere Management Contribute”
The Vienna Chapter of SID, together with the Austrian Foreign Policy Association invited three experts from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis – IIASA to make presentations on the topic of “Climate Change Looking Beyond Copenhagen”. The first presentation [pdf] on “mitigation” – that is on the lowering of greenhouse – gas emissions – showed that in the already wealthy countries a reduction of emissions by up to 25 % could be achieved rather easily and with close to zero overall costs. Beyond that point, costs are rising steeply. The goal of keeping the rise in temperatures below the margin of two centigrades will be difficult to reach at the target date 0f 2050.
The second presentation dealt with “adaptation” that is with policies to adapt to an increase in the world`s surface temperatures. In particular it demonstrated that populations in poorer countries could shield against some natural disasters via rather low cost insurance schemes.
- 22 March 2010
See the attachments [ZIP] for presentations on limits to resource use and value systems in a developmental setting
- 14th Dec. 2009
The international Monetary Fund and the present economic crisis – a critical analysis
By: Dr. Ulrich Baumgartner: former senior staff member of the IMF; Professor Kunibert Raffer: Institute of Economics at the University of Vienna Facilitation:Ruth Picker, Global Responsibility – Austrian Platform for Development and Humanitarian Aid Lessons drawn from the global economic crisis in the thirties informed the establishment and original mission of the International Monetary Fund. Since then, developments in the world economy and the collapse of the Bretton Woods system have brought about significant changes in the Fund’s mandate and activity. The current world economic crisis has highlighted the need for further reform of the IMF, including its activities in poorer countries. Proposals to that effect have been made – but can they be realized? see attached summary [PDF] and PowerPoint slides [ZIP]13th UNIDO General Conference
- 28 May 2009:
Panel discussion on the environmental aspects of sustainable development – a critical review,
A joint undertaking in collaboration with the Vienna University of Economics and Business Moderator: Uwe Schubert, Professor of Environmental Economics. In the context of the world financial, economic and social crisis, the panel focused on the extent to which current environment-related activities can contribute to an environmentally sustainable development, See attached summary [PDF] and PowerPoint slides [ZIP]- 27 November 2008:
Environmental challenges for capitalism
Lecture by Miguel Angel Centeno, Professor of Sociology and International Affairs, Princeton University, USA. See attached summary [PDF]
