EVENTS AT ODI

Trade policy in the crisis: What implications for development?
09 June 2009 14:00 - 18:30
Social protection to tackle childhood poverty: Lessons from West and Central Africa
16 June 2009 12:30 - 14:30
See below for more details on these events, or visit ODI's online events booking system at http://apps.odi.org.uk/events to book a place.



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1. Trade policy in the crisis: What implications for development?
09 June 2009 14:00 - 18:30
Foreign and Commonwealth Office


Speakers:
Supachai Panitchpakdi - Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
Dominique Njinkeu - Director, International Lawyers and Economists Against Poverty (ILEAP)
Carlos Primo Braga - Senior Adviser, International Trade Department, The World Bank
Simon Evenett - Professor of Economics, University of St. Gallen
Ambassador Ransford Smith - Deputy Secretary-General, Commonwealth Secretariat
Susan Prowse - Programme leader, Trade Programme and Research Fellow, Overseas Development Institute
Pradeep Mehta - Secretary General, CUTS
Jagdish Bhagwati - Columbia University and Senior Fellow in International Economics at the Council on Foreign Relations (TBC)
Patrick Low - Director Development and Economic Research, World Trade Organisation (WTO) (TBC)
Bernard Hoekman - Director, Trade Department, World Bank

Chairs:
Alan Winters - Chief Economist DFID and Professor of Economics, University of Sussex (TBC)
Sheila Page - Senior Research Associate, ODI



The global financial crisis has raised fears of a shift to protectionist trade policies, which could reverse decades of progressive liberalisation. However, no clear evidence has emerged on how trade policies have responded to the crisis and the implications for developing countries' trade prospects are still unknown.

At this event, leading experts will focus on three issues: whether and how the global crisis has affected trade policy across countries; the extent to which trade policy responses to the crisis have influenced developing countries' capacity to trade; and finally, what types of policies may maximise the developmental benefits of trade during the crisis, as well as the possible role of multilateral institutions in promoting such policies.

The event will be followed by the launch of the new World Bank book on Trade Preference Erosion



An ODI public event




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2. Social protection to tackle childhood poverty: Lessons from West and Central Africa
16 June 2009 12:30 - 14:30
Overseas Development Institute


Speakers
Rebecca Holmes - Research Officer, Social Development and Social Protection programmes, ODI
Dr Nicola Jones - Research Fellow, Social Development and Social Protection programmes, ODI
Dr Armando Barrientos - Research Director, Brooks World Poverty Institute

Discussants:
Antony Hodges - Regional Chief, Economic and Social Policy, UNICEF, West and Central Africa Region
Ivan Lewis MP - DFID (TBC)

Chair:
Dr Caroline Harper - Programme Leader, ODI



Child-sensitive social protection is an issue of critical importance in West and Central Africa for a number of reasons: it is the world's poorest region with the lowest average child development indicators and faces daunting governance challenges.

However, there is growing interest and policy debates about social protection in the region, highlighted in recent African Union Agreements, as well as a growing array of national social protection frameworks and pilot social protection initiatives.

At this event, we will present findings and discuss the policy implications of a major research project on child-sensitive social protection in West and Central Africa (2007-9). The event will bring together academics, NGOs and other development practitioners to discuss the policy implications of our research, and highlight particular challenges in the context of the global economic recession.



An ODI and UNICEF public event



Child with cocoa basket. Courtesy of Flickr/publik15


Other forthcoming events
UK leading the way: Moving forward in international climate change policy
03 June 2009 13:00 - 14:15

Livestock interventions in disasters: new ways to improve response - the Livestock Emergency Guidelines and Standards (LEGS)
04 June 2009 12:30 - 14:00



Find out more about events you might have missed
How serious are donors about aid effectiveness? - The challenges to 2010 and beyond
Moving out of poverty: Success from the bottom up
New industries from new places: The emergence of hardware and software industries in China and India
Visit the events archive:
http://www.odi.org.uk/events



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If you would like to attend, please register using ODI's online events booking system at: http://apps.odi.org.uk/events