Podcast appearances and mentions of owen barder

Picking up where we left off with Owen Barder, Jim digs deeper into how tech enters the discussion, in particular what Precision Development has been doing to tackle major sustainable agriculture challenges in developing countries. Key topics: When to do AB testing (à la Facebook) vs. a full-blown Randomized Control Trial (the typical government approach); the fact that data helps flag a problem, but you still need to dig deeper to understand exactly what that problem is; and the fact that farmers today, especially in developing countries, are operating under more uncertainty than they need to.     > Transcript on website   RATE, WRITE, SUBSCRIBE Be sure to leave us a rating on Spotify or a review on Apple Podcasts!   Wicked problems require more than one line of thought — was there anything you agreed or disagreed with? Anything you'd like us to explore further? Write us a note at podcast@techmatters.org and follow us on LinkedIn! 

Throughout Owen's journey, one central question has been: How do you navigate market failure, especially when the stakes are sky-high? The typical choice between government intervention vs. private investment vs. third sector solutions often can't cut it. Owen and innovators like him don't have all the answers, but are able operate at the highest institutional level, crafting and implementing new models that go beyond a single ideology in order to tackle some of the most formidable global economic challenges.   With a distinguished career as a civil servant in the UK Treasury, the UK Department of International Development, private secretary to the Prime Minister, and Vice President of the Center for Global Development, Owen Barder has worn many hats. As if that's not impressive enough, he's also the CEO of Precision Development, a nonprofit on a mission to bring tailored data and services to smallholder farmers in developing countries, fostering economically and ecologically sustainable practices.   > Transcript on website   RATE, WRITE, SUBSCRIBE If you like what you hear, leave us a 5 star rating on Spotify or a review on Apple Podcasts!   Wicked problems require more than one line of thought. Was there anything you agreed or disagreed with? Anything you'd like us to explore further? Write us a note at podcast@techmatters.org and follow us on LinkedIn!

As we learned from Nithya Ramanathan in Season 1, data = money = power. To understand what this means for our future, and what we can actually do about it, we're coming back strong with a whole new lineup of interviews in Season 2. You'll hear from Jake Porway, co-founder of Datakind, Yvette Alberdingk Thijm of Witness, Owen Barder of Precision Development, and many more about the importance of human-centered design, field-based learning, and the needs, challenges, and power of data for good. Tune into the biweekly Tech Matters podcast by following and subscribing on your favorite platform! 

Mobile phones are improving lives and yields for millions of farmers around the world. Michael Kremer, a 2019 Economics Nobel Prize winner developed Precision Agriculture for Development (PAD) to give farmers in developing countries advice on how to improve their yields. He and Owen Barder, CEO of PAD, tell Digital Planet how it works. To reduce failures on surveillance or delivery missions, drones need to be monitored effectively. Karen Willcox at the Oden Institute of the University of Texas in Austin explains how her team has found a way to send back real time data using sensors that create a digital twin of the drone, which can show where fatigue and stress may cause damage during the flight. Racist and sexist biases within algorithms are causing concern, especially considering they are making many decisions in our lives. Noel Sharkey, Professor of Robotics and AI at the University of Sheffield in the UK, and he thinks it’s time to halt this decision making until it can be properly regulated, or it will have major, real-life effects on all of us. (Photo: Farmer carrying silage and talking on phone. Credit: Getty Images) Producer: Rory Galloway

"When people look back on our time they will wonder why we tolerated refugee camps for so long.” Owen Barder, Vice President at the Center for Global Development, talks in this episode about why we should abolish refugee camps, and what’s wrong with the humanitarian aid system more broadly. Barder talks about the alternatives to keeping displaced people in camps, and how to make the humanitarian system more simple, more focused, and serve the interests of displaced people receiving aid, rather than those providing it.  Displaced is produced by the Vox Media Podcast Network in partnership with the International Rescue Committee.  Find our show notes here: www.rescue.org/displaced Email us at displaced@rescue.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the second part of our review of the future of development finance Owen Barder, Vice President at the Center for Global Development, discusses its current goals and challenges with Jonathan Charles. What needs to be done and what can the EBRD and other Multilateral Development Banks do better? Can we deliver the Sustainable Development Goals by their 2030 deadline?

Kudos to Finland for ascending to the top spot in CGD's 2016 Commitment to Development Index, our ranking of how a country's policies help or hinder development. Most of the policies that score well on the index require some sort of international cooperation—so what does the CDI tell us about the apparent retreat of globalism across the political landscape? I discuss the latest rankings, their implications, and the politics that could affect them with Owen Barder, senior fellow and director of CGD Europe, which produces the Index. 

Today's podcast brings you highlights of an excellent discussion at CGD's offices in London which involved, among others, CGD's Owen Barder. The discussion was organized and broadcast by BBC Radio and focused on the UK's aid budget, including attempts to make aid more transparent, ways to tackle corruption, and how to think of international development in a political landscape where major countries seem to be turning inward.

It's been three weeks since the UK voted to leave the European Union in the move popularly known as Brexit, and the consequences are still becoming apparent. Senior fellow and director of CGD Europe Owen Barder joins the podcast from London this week to take a balanced look at possibilities for the UK's future, and consider implications for the country and the developing world.

Foreign aid reached its highest point in 2014 but less has been going to the poorest nations. Development economist Owen Barder gives reasons for this trend and explains why he won’t sit on panels that exclude women.

Which country's aid is the best? And who is giving what to whom? Recent statistics from the OECD tell us that the amount of aid given to poor countries was at an all-time high in 2014 – but the proportion of aid going to the poorest countries has fallen. CGD Senior Fellow and Europe program leader Owen Barder reflects on the figures and discusses what else countries should be doing beyond aid to improve development.

How do rich countries' policies affect the world's poorest people? The results are in on CGD's 2015 Commitment to Development Index, which highlights strengths and opportunities in national policies on aid, environment, technology, and more. Owen Barder discusses this year's rankings.

Owen Barder is Vice President, Director for Europe and a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development - an organization that conducts research and analysis on a wide range of topics related to how policies and actions of the rich and powerful affect poor people in the developing world. From 1988 to 2010, Owen was a British civil servant. During that time he worked at No.10 Downing Street, as the Private Secretary of Economic Affairs to the Prime Minister; in the UK Treasury, including as Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer; and in the Department for International Development, where he was variously Director of International Finance and Global Development Effectiveness, Director of Communications and Information, and head of the Africa Policy & Economics Department. As a young Treasury economist, Owen set up the first UK government website, to put details of the 1994 budget online. During 2004-2006 Owen worked at CGD, mainly on the Advance Markets Commitment for vaccines. Owen has also worked in the South African Treasury on budget strategy; at Development Initiatives where he helped to establish the International Aid Transparency Initiative; and was a visiting scholar in economics at the University of California, Berkeley. He has lived in several countries in Africa, most recently in Ethiopia during 2008-2011. Barder has been an Associate at the Institute for Government, a member of the Advisory Group of Twaweza, the Board of Publish What You Fund, and a member of the UK Government International Development Sector Transparency Panel. Owen is also a Visiting Professor in Practice at the London School of Economics. He writes a personal blog at http://www.owen.org/blog and hosts a development podcast at http://DevelopmentDrums.org. He is on Twitter as @owenbarder.

How can we make humanitarian aid better? Give refugees cash. That's the main recommendation of a high level panel convened by the UK's Department for International Development (DFID), and chaired by CGD's Owen Barder. How would that work? What have trials taught us? And what are the problems? I'm joined by two members of the Panel: Degan Ali, Executive Director of African NGO Adeso, and CGD's Owen Barder.

As the fourth anniversary of the massive, January 12, 2010, earthquake in Haiti approached, I  invited CGD senior fellows Vijaya Ramachandran and Michael Clemens, experts respectively  on disaster relief and labor mobility, to join me on the Wonkcast to discuss the role of outsiders  in trying to assist Haiti's recovery. The record is not reassuring on either count. But it does offer  valuable lessons for future efforts in Haiti and for attempts elsewhere to help poor countries  struck by disasters.  Vijaya's research on Haiti found that in the aftermath of the quake there was an outpouring of  international support, with some $6 billion in public and private contributions from the United  States alone. Vijaya explains that such a large sum, if distributed directly to citizens, would have  doubled the income of the average Haitian for a year. But reconstruction has been painfully slow  and there has been little sign of improved living conditions. What happened to all that money? “Nobody knows,” Vijaya says. “There is so little tracking of what happened to these funds.  We know from the available data that money was disbursed to organizations in the US and  elsewhere--nongovernmental organizations, for-profit organizations, some public organizations,  including various agencies that were implementing programs in Haiti--but after that the trail goes  cold.”   Much of the relief and reconstruction money initially passed through USAID, the leading US  development agency. USAID reports on disbursements to its primary contractors but these firms  and NGOs typically then subcontract to others. And while the primary contractors are required  to collect data on their subcontractors' activities, they are not required to disclose it. Usually they  don't--and neither does USAID. “The information is likely somewhere in USAID's system, but it's not being aggregated or  released in any understandable way to the public,” Vijaya says.  This way of doing business is increasingly at odds with a global push for greater transparency,  including in foreign assistance. The International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) has created  an online toolset that makes it easy for aid donors, NGOs and for-profit contractors to disclose  their activities on a common platform in a consistent digital format. Vijaya explains: “IATI basically creates a very simple accounting format where different  organizations can report what they're doing. And this format is standardized, so we can  compare what one organization, say Save the Children, is doing in comparison to Oxfam … and  these organizations themselves can see what the other players are doing.” Subcontractors can  use the system just as easily--and likely would if USAID encouraged them to do so, Vijaya adds. “There's no reason why this data cannot be uploaded quickly and easily,” she says.  The issue is not going away. Vijaya and I recall how after Typhoon Haiyan devastated the  central Philippines last November a blog post that she wrote with Owen Barder urging the  United States and other donors to be transparent about their assistance received thousands  of Facebook likes from Filipinos in the Philippines and overseas. The Philippine government  launched its own Foreign Aid Transparency Hub (FAiTH) and is looking to the United States and  other donors to support this effort by disclosing more detailed data on their own activities in the  Philippines.   Of course, aid can only do so much. Michael Clemens argues that the benefits of increased  labor mobility potentially dwarf aid, in Haiti, the Philippines, and elsewhere. After a short break I turn to Michael to discuss the potential for increased labor mobility to raise  incomes and reinforce recovery in Haiti. It's an issue on which he has been actively involved, as  one of the world's top researchers on such questions and as a policy entrepreneur, pushing for  Haitians to receive the same opportunities that many other poor developing countries have to  send temporary workers to the United States.    Increased labor mobility for Haiti “could help enormously,” Michael says. “Something like 10  percent of Haitians live outside Haiti, and about a quarter of the economy in Haiti is sustained by  people sending money home, so really a huge feature of the economic landscape.” The United States did slightly modify migration rules for Haitians after the quake: those already  in the country were temporarily protected from deportation. But Michael discovered that Haiti  was not included on the list of countries eligible for temporary work permits known as H2 visas,  which allow people to work in seasonal agriculture and service industries, such as tourism.  Under Michael's leadership, CGD pushed for Haiti to be included.   “We recommended to the Department of Homeland Security that they undo that ban and allow  Haitians to access these visas,” Michael explains. They did that, but since then, nobody has  taken the next step of building a program that would allow Haiti to really use this program for  mutual benefit.” The next step Michael refers to would be the creation of a guest-worker program, similar to  successful programs in New Zealand and Canada, that help to ensure mutual benefits through  activities such as pre-departure training, collaboration and information sharing, and selection  of workers. In the absence of a broader national program, Michael suggests a US-Haitian  partnership that could effectively and cheaply help Haiti recover and grow its economy. Such a partnership, he says, should include Haiti's labor ministry; an international organization to provide technical assistance, showing Haiti how other countries manage such programs; and private sector recruiters to recruit, train, and monitor the workers.  Michael estimates that such a program, which could unleash hundreds of millions of dollars in remittances from Haitians  working in the United States, could be set up and run for less than a million dollars. That's less than a tenth of one percent of foreign assistance provided to Haiti since the quake.  We end the discussion concluding that there are two “stroke of the pen” changes that could  make a world of difference to Haiti, even four years after the quake. 1) USAID Administrator Raj Shah should announce that primary contractors are strongly encouraged to begin using IATI to disclose data on subcontractor activities and 2) a philanthropist involved in trying to help Haiti  should step forward to sponsor the creation of US-Haitian labor mobility partnership. 

It's that time of year again when climate negotiators from around the world head to the jamboree known as the Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change or, in UN summit jargon, the UNFCCC COP. This year's COP, held in Warsaw, will be the 19th annual round of global talks on averting a planetary catastrophe.   I asked CGD senior associate Michele de Nevers, formerly a senior official at the World Bank and the veteran of many previous COPs, to join me on the Wonkcast to discuss the prospects for the Warsaw COP. a   “That this is the 19th annual round of climate talks says a lot,” Michele explains.   “It says that climate change continues to be tremendously important, especially for developing countries. But it also says that we haven't gotten very far with the UN process. If it's been going on for 19 years and we don't have a legally binding treaty or anything close, what is this process really doing?” Michele asks.   I ask Michele if there was ever a time when people felt more hopeful about what these meetings could achieve. She recalls several times of high hopes, such as the 1997 meeting in Kyoto, Japan (COP 3), that resulted in the Kyoto Protocol, and the 2007 meeting in Bali, Indonesia (COP 13), where there was agreement on a broad framework of issues that were equally relevant to both developing and developed countries.   Michele also recalls the “huge expectations” leading up to the 2009 climate negotiations in Copenhagen, Denmark (COP 15). “Expectations were so high, in fact, I think they contributed to a sense of failure that wouldn't have existed if expectations had been more realistic,” she says.   “I don't think there's been a COP as important as Copenhagen since but now all eyes are turned to the COP that will take place in France in 2015. Last year in Doha, it was agreed that in 2015 countries will agree to set targets that will be implemented by 2020.”   Despite the lackluster outcomes of past meetings and the low expectations for the Warsaw COP, Michele does not doubt the importance of the COP meetings as a forum for networking and exchanging ideas.   As for actually agreeing upon and taking on steps to address the problem, Michele says that there is increasing attention to smaller groups that agree to work together on a voluntary basis. As an example she cites a new report from the Oxford Martin School, Now for the Long Term, that calls for “inclusive minilateralism” and a “multi-stakeholder coalition” that would bring together countries (a “C-20” utilizing the existing G-20), companies (a “C-30” selecting 30 companies affiliated to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development), and cities (working through the existing C40 Cities initiative). We also discuss the idea that if the US and China, a “C-2” could come to an agreement, others would fall into line.   As for CGD's participation in the Warsaw COP, Owen Barder, CGD senior fellow and director for Europe, will be attending. At the COP, Owen will, among other things, seek input on a proposal he is developing for opening the EU Emissions Trading System to participation by developing countries—yet another option for inclusive minilateralism as an alternative to the stalled UNFCCC COPs.     My thanks to Catherine An for a draft of this blog post, and to Kristina Wilson for recording and editing the Wonkcast. You can follow Michele on Twitter at @MicheledeNevers, me at @LMacDonaldDC and the Center for Global Development's institutional feed at @CGDev).  

This is a special edition of Development Drums. Instead of interviewing a guest, as normal, we bring you a presentation on Complexity and Development by Owen Barder. This is the audio-only version of an online presentation with slides, which is available from the Center for Global Development. You can also download the slides and full transcript. […]

This is a special edition of Development Drums. Instead of interviewing a guest, as normal, we bring you a presentation on Complexity and Development by Owen Barder. This is the audio-only version of an online presentation with slides, which is available from the Center for Global Development. You can also download the slides and full transcript. […]

Despite a general policy of austerity and cut backs, the budget for development aid has been ring fenced by the coalition government. Frances Cairncross asks whether a more relaxed immigration policy might be a better way for the UK to help the developing world. The official aid budget is dwarfed by a private form of help for the developing world: remittances sent home by immigrants working in richer countries. So should governments keen to help the developing world encourage migration and remittances as a replacement for state-funded aid? "They have the key advantage that the people who send them know the people who are supposed to be receiving them... There's less opportunity for corruption and for waste... and they might have lower overhead costs," argues Owen Barder of the Center for Global Development. Frances Cairncross, rector of Exeter College, Oxford and former managing editor of The Economist, explores the limits of this free market alternative to state-funded development aid. Contributors include: Steve Baker Conservative MP for Wycombe Dilip Ratha Migration and remittances expert from the World Bank and the University of Sussex Owen Barder Senior fellow of Washington DC think-tank, the Center for Global Development Hetty Kovach Senior policy adviser to Oxfam Devesh Kapur Director of the Centre for the Advanced Study of India at the University of Pennsylvania Onyekachi Wambu From the African Foundation for Development, or AFFORD Alex Oprunenco Head of international programmes with Moldovan think-tank, Expert Grup Professor Paul Collier Author of The Bottom Billion and director at the Oxford University Centre for the study of African Economies Producers: Helen Grady and Daniel Tetlow.

Guest presenter Alison Evans, Director of ODI, interviews Owen Barder about his new paper, Beyond Planning: Markets and Networks for Better Aid, and Roger Riddell, author of two key books on aid and a non-executive director of Oxford Policy Management. This podcast is in collaboration with the Overseas Development Institute. Download transcript (pdf)

Guest presenter Alison Evans, Director of ODI, interviews Owen Barder about his new paper, Beyond Planning: Markets and Networks for Better Aid, and Roger Riddell, author of two key books on aid and a non-executive director of Oxford Policy Management. This podcast is in collaboration with the Overseas Development Institute. Download transcript (pdf)