August/September Quote | "The people who were in power didn't want to relinquish that power. They knew that by allowing blacks the opportunity to vote, that would be a way of empowering blacks [while] reducing their total control." Curley Clark, Mississippi activist,
on Freedom Summer, 1964 |
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Feature Article: The Dangers, Risks and Unintended Consequences of EmpowermentTo many, the virtues of empowerment may seem self-evident. A number of development organizations, including the World Bank, have begun to see the value in a) establishing environments where poor people can flourish, and b) equipping them with the capabilities to do so. However, such endeavors can be very complicated as they are often complex, multi-faceted, and involve a shift in resource or power allocation which can be perceived as threatening. Full Article
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Announcements/Points of InterestUNDP Human Development Report (HDR) 2004 — This year's HDR on "Cultural Liberty in Today's Diverse World"argues that cultural freedoms should be embraced as basic human rights and necessities for the development of the increasingly diverse societies of the 21st century. It contends that people have the right to maintain their ethnic, linguistic, and religious identities. The adoption of policies that recognize and protect these identities is the only sustainable approach to development in diverse societies. Social Development Paper No. 60: Investing in Youth Empowerment and Inclusion: Insights from the ECA and LAC Regions — The World Bank's Post Conflict and Reconstruction Unit presents Social Development Paper No. 60: Investing in Youth Empowerment and Inclusion: Insights from the ECA and LAC Regions While this report was not prepared with an exclusive conflict focus, it does touch on conflict-related issues and presents the beginnings of a framework to be further refined. Over the coming year the unit hopes to be able to articulate a longer-term work program on the youth-conflict nexus. Online Inventory of Governance Datasets and Indicators — Associated with the growing demand for quantifying the governance performance of countries, localities, and institutions, there has been a virtual explosion of datasets measuring quality of institutions, governance and corruption. While many of these indicators and surveys are relatively well known, academics, policy makers, civil society and journalists frequently ask what other works are available. Depending on the desired goal of the user, one set of data and related tools is likely to serve as a better match than others. Thus, it is relevant to provide a relatively comprehensive review of the available datasets on governance, in order to facilitate access to a broad spectrum of such data, and allow the user to identify those datasets that are particularly suited to his/her objectives. Facilitating this identification process is key, given the large number of datasets available. As this inventory is launched, information is available on over 140 datasets with online accessibility (both within and outside of the World Bank). Anti-Corruption and Governance Library — WBI Governance announces the web-based Anti-Corruption and Governance Library, part of the Library of Learning Objects developed and maintained by the Internet Strategy & Applications Team at WBI. Many of the publications and presentations are quickly accessible through the Library's user-friendly interface. The scope and number of Anti-Corruption and Governance Library offerings will be expanded, the number of files is increased and the interactive technology refined. Please forward specific feedback/comments to governancewbi@worldbank.org
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