Development

Mirko Hohmann is a Project Manager and Alexander Pirang is a non-resident Fellow with the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) in Berlin. You can follow Hohmann @mirkohohmann. Last month, INTERPOL cybercrime experts travelled to Sri Lanka to advise local police officers on cybercrime investigations and the development of digital forensics capabilities. Similar workshops have slowly been set up in various countries where digital infrastructures are being developed, and they are a crucial step to increase the security and resilience of tomorrow’s digital global landscape. As more than half of the world’s population is still offline, large-scale efforts are currently directed at extending internet connectivity in order to bridge the digital divide. Yet, massively expanding connectivity also increases the cybersecurity risk individuals and organizations face. Neglecting cybersecurity has negative consequences on two fronts. First, developing countries will not be able to reap the full benefits of information and communication technologies (ICTs) if security considerations are not taken into account. These nations, which are expanding access rapidly, will be especially vulnerable to cybercrime, data breaches, and attacks on critical infrastructures if their systems are insecure from the start. There even are real concerns that attacks have the potential to take entire countries offline, as was the case in an alleged recent denial of service attack on Liberia’s internet infrastructure. Second, insecure infrastructure in the developing world can have negative impacts on developed nations. In an increasingly interconnected digital ecosystem, insecure networks in one place can be abused to disrupt infrastructure around the globe. Similarly, without effective domestic law enforcement capabilities, safe havens for cybercrime can arise. As more users and devices go online, the potential for cross-border problems is increasing exponentially. These developments should push all countries to improve the resilience of the weakest systems connected to the internet. Cybersecurity capacity building (CCB) is critical to this effort. CCB initiatives encompass a broad set of activities, such as supporting governments in developing national cybersecurity strategies or enhancing the technical capabilities of local CSIRTs. A number of maturity models have been developed to assess and benchmark cybersecurity capacity, and the Global Forum for Cyber Expertise (GFCE) was created as a first attempt to exchange and pool international expertise on CCB. The UN GGE has pointed to CCB as a means to “bridge the divide in the security of ICTs and their use.” Despite an engaged community of experts and an increasing number of projects, present efforts still fall short of what is needed to transform cybersecurity from an afterthought into an integral part of expanding connectivity. Initiatives are often under-funded and uncoordinated—both within and between countries—and only few best practices have been identified. In addition to gaps in capacity, there is little exchange—let alone integration—between cybersecurity experts, development actors and diplomats. As a result, awareness of capacity building pitfalls that have plagued efforts in other areas is increasing only slowly. In a new report, we make the case that these gaps can be addressed in three ways. First, cybersecurity and international development experts must integrate their efforts. Otherwise, increases in connectivity, aided by development funding, are likely to outpace the resilience of the networks being connected. At the same time, cybersecurity professionals run the risk of failing to incorporate the strategies—honed over decades—that make development programs work. Second, coordination and cooperation among donors must improve. Most donor countries have taken a piecemeal approach to CCB. Improved coordination at the international level, such as through the GFCE, is necessary to avoid duplication and to facilitate exchange. Efforts should include civil society, academia and the private sector, as government-led efforts will not be sustainable unless they are not linked to actors on the ground over the long term. Third, continued and mutual learning is crucial to future efforts. Given that CCB efforts are still relatively new, there is little knowledge on what strategies have worked and why. Although a lack of successful projects should not deter action, there is a need to be transparent about whether a particular initiative was successful. That requires developing benchmarks and best practices. Existing maturity models such as the Cyber Readiness Index or the Cyber Security Capacity Maturity Model could serve as starting points. Implementing these recommendations will require political leadership in donor countries to ensure the cybersecurity and development communities talk to each other. Unfortunately, CCB efforts garner less attention than more high profile issues such as cyber espionage. The UN GGE gets a lot of attention in cyber policy circles and is expected to issue a report this summer. Having the GGE elevate the importance of connecting the security and development communities would go a long way in promoting the importance of cybersecurity capacity building.

Joakim Reiter is the former deputy secretary general of the UN Conference on Trade and Development. Trade, and its phenomenal expansion in the last two decades, has been decisive for lifting more than one billion people out of poverty. Yet, judging from the current debate on global trade, this basic fact seems to have been forgotten. Even some Western democracies, traditionally the biggest proponent of trade, seem increasingly lukewarm—in a few cases, reluctant—to keeping their borders open to goods and services. Trade skeptics argue the benefits of trade have not been equitable. They have a point. Though some consumers have benefited, large companies have gained the most from global integration, and account for the vast majority of world trade. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs), women and rural communities have often been less fortunate. However, the imbalance is not due to excessive globalization. On the contrary, those on the margins have not been able to benefit because they lack the capacity to fully participate in global trade. The internet and digital technologies are game-changers. Digital trade, or e-commerce as it is usually called, is growing rapidly. Estimates show that in 2015 it amounted to a staggering $22 trillion. Rich nations are leading the way, but others are not far behind. In China, over 400 million people participate in e-commerce—ten times more than in Germany. The value of all goods traded on China’s Alibaba has, in the last four quarters alone, been equivalent to the GDP of my home country Sweden. Far more companies, especially SMEs, have also become exporters through internet-based trade, almost accidentally. According to eBay, some 95 percent of the U.S.-based SMEs that sell their products on eBay’s platforms have ended up exporting their merchandise. Of these, the majority of SMEs exported their products to four or more continents. These companies have also faster growth and survival rate than the national average, even higher than for traditional exporting enterprises. The lack of borders on the internet makes it easier to overcome the many borders and other hurdles that still apply to physical trade. And this is true for trade between countries, and equally true for trade within countries, which matters a lot. Increased productivity and employment opportunities in rural areas though domestic trade creates more equitable societies, reduces unsustainable pressures for urbanization, and combats poverty. The former pig-farming village of Dong Feng in China is an excellent example. In 2006, a young village entrepreneur established an online store to sell furniture, inspired by Ikea. Within four years, furniture production had boomed and, with it, cotton refinement as well as three hardware stores, fifteen logistics and distribution companies and seven computer stores. Today, the village and its surroundings host no less than 400 online stores that sell merchandise within China and abroad, to a value of $50 million annually. What is more, e-commerce is already leaving its mark on global trade. Since the 2007 financial crisis, world trade has struggled to recover. In fact, if trade continues on its current trajectory for the next few years, this decade will have had the slowest pace of trade growth measured since World War II. There are, however, a few exceptions to this generally bleak picture. Business to consumer e-commerce is growing at double-digit rates and show no signs of slowing down. Thanks to internet-related trade, there is an enormous opportunity to make tomorrow’s trade more inclusive and to break the current pattern of slow overall trade growth. But there is much to do to fully tap this potential. The gaps between rich and poor citizens, communities and countries are still large when it comes to readiness for e-commerce. Whereas 70 percent of consumers in United Kingdom have bought things online, only 5 percent of consumers have done so in a number of emerging economies. And it is even less among consumers in the poorest countries. Countries should take a number of actions to build a business environment that better utilizes the internet and mobile communications, especially in rural communities and poorer countries. They should, among other things, adopt policies that foster competitive ICT-infrastructure, efficient payments solutions, modern customs, and adequate legislation on consumer protection and data. It is doable. And the good news is, when the right conditions are in place, leapfrogging is possible. M-Pesa, the mobile-based money transfer system, has succeeded to revolutionize financial inclusion, especially in Kenya. Digital solutions can bring significant benefits to far more people and far more cost-efficiently than in past. And the benefits are not limited to ICT-services, or even services at large, but also play a critical role for the future of manufacturing and agriculture. Global e-commerce is in its infancy, but it is already altering how countries trade with each other. It is making traditional hurdles such as geography, size and capital-endowments far less relevant for a country’s successful integration into world economy. It offers both new growth prospects and more inclusivity from trade. Putting serious efforts in unleashing its full potential is a no-brainer.

Anne Connell is the assistant director of the Women and Foreign Policy program at the Council on Foreign Relations Wednesday, March 22, is World Water Day, an internationally-celebrated day dedicated to collaboration between the United Nations, governments, and non-governmental organizations to tackle the world’s water crisis. Ensuring universal access to safe water by 2030 is identified as a critical component of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’s mandate to eradicate extreme poverty. The global water crisis is not only deadly—lack of access to clean water claims more lives each year than AIDS, breast cancer, terrorism, and all the world’s conflicts combined—but is incredibly economically costly. And the opportunity cost of water shortage, contamination, and inadequate infrastructure falls disproportionately on women and girls. In communities around the world, women and girls spend much of their days walking long distances to seek out safe water, fetching or drawing it, and carrying heavy containers back to their households. In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, an average trip to collect water covers over 3 miles and takes 33 minutes each way—and in a number of countries, such as Mauritania, Somalia, Tunisia, and Yemen, the trip takes longer than an hour each way. In South Africa alone, women collectively walk the equivalent distance of sixteen times to the moon and back every day just to collect and transport the water their families and communities need to survive. Water availability also affects whether or not girls—especially those from poor, rural, or marginalized families—are educated. The gender gap in water-related work begins early in life: young girls between the ages of five and nine spend an estimated 40 million more hours a day on household chores than boys, and girls aged ten to fourteen years old spend 120 million more hours each day. If, like in many sub-Saharan African communities, fetching water takes several hours, it considerably shortens the time girls have available for schooling and disincentives families from prioritizing girls’ education. The burden of water collection is not only felt by women and girls themselves, but has far-reaching effects on broader prosperity. The 200 million hours women and girls spend every day collecting water globally is time that could be spent carrying out income generating activities and contributing to the formal economy. Indeed, experts estimate that lack of ready access to clean water causes annual economic losses of up to 7 percent of GDP in some countries: in India, for example, it’s estimated that the time women spend every year fetching and carrying water is equivalent to a national loss of income of 10 billion rupees, or $160 million.   Women carry metal pitchers filled with water from a well outside Denganmal village, Maharashtra, India, April 21, 2015. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui   Given these strong connections between lack of access to clean water and other development areas—including gender equality—governments, multilateral organizations, and private sector leaders are investing in projects to build and repair wells, bring water sources closer to communities, and install solar pumping technologies. Evidence suggests that these efforts would be strengthened by investment in women’s access to and ownership of water tools and technologies: when women run water cooperatives or own water pumps, for example, they are significantly more likely than men to invest profits and time saved back into their communities. In one program in Nigeria, a social enterprise model for women-run water centers not only reduced the time spent collecting water for over 6,000 women, but successfully provided better access to clean, affordable water for over 30,000 people and led to improved economic, health, and educational outcomes across the community. Efforts geared toward improving the management of the world’s resources and extending access to safe water should thus capitalize on the central roles women already play in water management. It is clear that lessening the burden of unpaid water work that falls on women and girls is not only essential as a matter of human rights—it unleashes a range of positive economic and development outcomes.

Voices from the Field features contributions from scholars and practitioners highlighting new research, thinking, and approaches to development challenges. This article is authored by Sabrina Karim, an assistant professor of government at Cornell University and U.S. Foreign Policy and International Security Fellow at Dartmouth College, and Kyle Beardsley, an associate professor of political science at Duke University.  Persistent allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation by United Nations peacekeepers threaten to delegitimize peacekeeping operations around the world. This month, UN Secretary General António Guterres called for “a new approach” to prevent sexual exploitation and abuse by United Nations peacekeepers.  Previous Secretaries General have attempted to fix the problem, but have not been successful. In our recent book, Equal Opportunity Peacekeeping, we suggest that any fix to this problem must address the broader gender inequalities within missions.  Missions will be much more effective overall, including in the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse, when they address gender inequalities in peacekeeping missions. One of our major findings is that when missions  consist of personnel from member states with better records on gender equality, sexual exploitation and abuse allegations are fewer.  This points to the larger culture of gender inequalities in missions as a major culprit in sexual exploitation and abuse. One suggested route to reduce sexual exploitation and abuse has been to emphasize increases in the proportions of female peacekeepers in missions. We find this solution problematic.  For one, the focus is not on changing the culture of peacekeeping missions, but rather on bringing women into missions in which they have little power. Women in peacekeeping missions face rampant discrimination, are confined to particular gendered roles, and their participation is thwarted by “old boys networks” that prevent them from having influence within missions.  Moreover, female peacekeepers are less likely to be deployed to dangerous missions—ones where there are high levels of wartime sexual violence, low GDP, and high levels of battle-related fatalities.  If female peacekeepers are excluded from these missions, they will not be able to affect peacekeeping engagements with the most vulnerable populations.  And, within missions, they are restricted to certain spaces, often unable to help local women. Indeed, the problems of discrimination against women and the relegation of women to safe spaces are major topics in our book. Moreover, our research indicates that female peacekeepers suffer from harassment as well as sexual exploitation and abuse.  Thus, the expectation that female peacekeepers can solve the problem of sexual exploitation and abuse is unrealistic given that they, themselves, face many barriers that prevent them from being able to make any meaningful change in missions. Instead, we argue that reforms that target the culture of peacekeeping missions are better suited to solve the problem of sexual exploitation and abuse.  We propose an alternative model of peacekeeping—equal opportunity peacekeeping.  This includes five areas where large normative shifts are needed. Leadership: No change is possible without strong leadership.  We suggest that leaders for missions (Special Representatives to the Secretary General, Force Commanders and Police Commissioners) be selected with an eye toward gender equality. Recruitment standards: We suggest that the types of recruits for peacekeeping missions can go a long way to improve effectiveness.  Standards should be based off of qualities of which both men and women excel, as well as standards that incorporate beliefs about gender equality. Promotion/demotion: Promotions within missions (such as lucrative placements or medals) can be awarded based off of performance on gender equality. Punishment can also be based on such standards.  As a step forward, the UN has begun to name and shame contributing countries whose personnel receive allegations. Role models, mentors, and networks: One way to improve women’s ability to gain access is to provide them with role models and mentors and to introduce them to different networks.  This allows them to seek advice and gain information in a comfortable setting and to counter “old boys networks.” Training and professionalization: We suggest that training and professionalization be tailored to instill an understanding of the link between gender equality and mission effectiveness.   Within the mission, training and professionalization should be targeted for both men and women equally. The culmination of these changes constitutes equal opportunity peacekeeping.  Thus, if the UN is serious about change, it should consider adopting an equal opportunity peacekeeping model, a model that focuses on larger gender inequalities in missions as a way to ensure that the overall quality of peacekeeping missions improve.  Only then might the reduction of sexual exploitation and abuse in peacekeeping missions be possible.   Learn more in Karim and Beardsley’s new book Equal Opportunity Peacekeeping, published by Oxford University Press in March 2017 >>

Welcome to “Women Around the World: This Week,” a series that highlights noteworthy news related to women and U.S. foreign policy. This week’s post, covering from March 4 to March 10, was compiled with support from Becky Allen, Anne Connell, and Alyssa Dougherty. International Women’s Day On Wednesday, March 8, the world marked International Women’s Day, an internationally-celebrated holiday dedicated to recognizing the social, political, economic, and cultural contributions women have made globally and highlighting the inequalities that remain. This year’s celebration was marked by an historic number of events, marches, and protests.  In Paris, unions, student organizations, and women’s associations held a women’s strike starting at 3:40 p.m., a reduction in hours meant to symbolize the 26 percent gender pay gap in France. In Buenos Aires, tens of thousands marched to combat the scourge of violence against women, which kills one woman every thirty hours in that country. In Montenegro, hundreds of women rallied for better state aid for mothers. And in the United States, rallies and events were held in conjunction with the "Day Without a Woman" strike, meant to highlight women’s crucial contributions to the U.S. economy.  In a positive trend, some governments chose to mark International Women’s Day by announcing plans to improve conditions for women: in Iceland, for example, the  government announced a strategy to eliminate workplace inequalities by 2022, and in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appeared with local women’s activists in support of a national campaign to improve rural sanitation. Women’s parliamentary participation inches up This week, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) issued a report finding that women’s participation increased incrementally in recent years, rising from 22.6 percent in 2015 to 23.3 percent in 2016. Regionally, the greatest gains occurred in the Pacific, but moderate progress in recent years across Asia was undercut by the slowing pace of change in India. The report highlights gender quotas as an effective tool to increase women’s political representation, but notes that gaps remain: last year, Liberia was the only country in the world to pass new quota legislation at the parliament level, and implementation has been inconsistent in many countries. IPU Secretary General Martin Chungong underscored the importance of inclusive national politics, arguing that “parliaments are crucial to…strengthening the policies and legislation needed to meet the goal of gender equality and women’s full and equal participation at all levels by 2030.” Global legislation on sexual assault A new study of eighty-two legal systems around the world reveals significant gaps in policies to prevent and respond to sexual violence. The report outlines seven trends that are pervasive around the globe, including laws that permit marital rape, provide loopholes, or require inordinately cumbersome evidence for prosecution. In eight countries surveyed, for example, perpetrators of rape may be exonerated if they marry the survivor, even in cases of rape of a minor. In five countries, a settlement may be agreed upon by families in place of punishment, and in nine countries, verbal forgiveness by a victim will terminate a case and prevent penalty. Sexual violence around the world has been correlated with risk of HIV, increased rates and infant and child mortality, and economic loss.

To commemorate International Women’s Day, I sat down with my friend and colleague Rachel Vogelstein, CFR senior fellow and director of the Women and Foreign Policy Program. We talked about the significance of the day, the status of women and girls around the world in 2017, the relationship between women’s advancement and broader U.S. foreign policy interests, as well as challenges and opportunities for advancing global women’s issues in today’s political climate. You can check out the video of our discussion below or on Facebook.

This post is co-authored by Anne Connell, assistant director of the Women and Foreign Policy program at the Council on Foreign Relations. Wednesday, March 8 marks International Women’s Day, an internationally-celebrated day dedicated to recognizing the social, political, economic, and cultural contributions women around the world have made to their countries and their communities. This year, the United Nations commemoration of International Women’s Day will focus on how women’s economic empowerment across the globe can accelerate progress toward the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Learn more about women’s economic participation through these ten publications from the Women and Foreign Policy program, and join the conversation on social media with @CFR_WFP for #IWD2017:   Inequalities Inhibit the Global Economy   At a Council on Foreign Relations general meeting, Rachel Vogelstein, senior fellow and director of the Women and Foreign Policy program, hosted Dina Powell, global head of corporate engagement and president of the Goldman Sachs Foundation, and Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation, for a discussion on gender equality and economic growth. Powell highlighted Goldman Sachs’ efforts to advance financial inclusion for women around the world through its 10,000 Women program, noting that women face an estimated $285 billion credit gap. Walker suggested that closing that gap and implementing other economic interventions will be critical to addressing the drivers of inequality—including gender inequality—which is “among the greatest challenges our world faces.” Watch video of the meeting »   Women in Small and Medium Enterprises   In a 2013 CFR Policy Innovation Memorandum “Banking on Growth: U.S. Support for Small and Medium Enterprises in Least-Developed Countries,” Gayle Tzemach Lemmon analyzes policies to boost the performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) around the world, which are frequently owned and run by women. Women SME owners have shown great potential in spurring economies, but, as Lemmon argues, “[they] are often unable to acquire the skills, resources, and support necessary to grow and sustain their businesses.” Read the Policy Innovation Memorandum »   Women arrange produce for sale at a roadside market in Ojodu district in Nigeria’s commercial capital Lagos August 19, 2016. REUTERS/Akintunde Akinleye - RTX2M43J     Women in Tech Drive Growth   Catherine Powell, CFR senior fellow, and Ann Mei Chang, formerly the chief innovation officer and executive director at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Global Development Lab, highlight women’s roles in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector in emerging economies in a new CFR Discussion Paper. As Powell and Mei Chang explain, “Expanding women’s access to ICT jobs would not only advance economic opportunities for women, their families, and their communities, but would also help address the shortage of skilled workers for these jobs and grow the digital economy.”  Read the full report »   A worker is seen during the manufacturing process for Egypt’s first tablet computer "Inar" at a factory in Benha May 18, 2013. Picture taken May 18, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany (EGYPT - Tags: POLITICS SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS EDUCATION) - RTXZZAO     Development’s Gender Gap   “Because closing the gender gap in development financing will advance U.S. interests in poverty reduction, sustainable development, and economic productivity, the United States should lead the effort to increase international financing for gender equality,” writes Rachel Vogelstein in a CFR Policy Innovation Memorandum and corresponding article in Foreign Affairs. Despite the significant economic payoffs of investment in women and girls, international and national efforts to promote gender equality have been chronically underfunded, particularly when compared to other development priorities. To achieve the recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and foster stability and prosperity around the world, Vogelstein argues, the United States should spearhead a multilateral effort to create a pooled gender equality financing mechanism, commit to an initial contribution of $100 million, and convene a conference to mobilize international pledges.  Read the Policy Innovation Memorandum »   Unpaid Care Work   Globally, women do three times more of the world’s unpaid work than men. And evidence suggests that economic policies that reduce and redistribute unpaid work could increase women’s labor force participation, promote sustained economic growth, and advance gender equality. Gayle Tzemach Lemmon analyzed unpaid work and other gender inequalities across a variety of labor market indicators in a recent roundtable featuring Shauna Olney, chief of the gender, equality and diversity branch (GED) of the International Labor Organization. Listen to the meeting »   Via-Juliana Akre, a nurse, poses in a maternity ward of an Abidjan, Ivory Coast hospital. Ivory Coast has nearly halved its maternal death rate since 1990, but still fell short of the Millennium Development Goal target for maternal mortality reduction (MDG 5) – many Ivorian women lack access to properly equipped health facilities, skilled health care workers, and antenatal care. REUTERS/Thierry Gouegnon     Gender Disparities in Developing Countries   Cherie Blair, founder of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, evaluates the International Monetary Fund’s warning that emerging and developing economies will converge to advanced economy income levels at less than two-thirds the pace predicted a decade ago, and suggests that more women need to join the workforce in these markets to counter this trend and spur growth. In a guest blog post on Women Around the World, Blair writes that “where women are engaged in employment, they tend to be concentrated in lower productivity sectors, often working in precarious, underpaid, and unprotected conditions.”  Read the blog post on Women Around the World »   Photo courtesy of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women     Private Sector Innovation and Women’s Entrepreneurship   As part of CFR’s ExxonMobil Women and Development Roundtable Series, Jane Nelson, director of the Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative at the Harvard Kennedy School, and Sarah Thorn, senior director of global government affairs of Walmart, joined Rachel Vogelstein for a conversation about private sector innovation to support women’s entrepreneurship. The discussion addressed the importance of public-private partnerships to train female entrepreneurs and facilitate the integration of women-owned businesses into global supply chains. Listen to audio of the event »   Promoting Women’s Economic Participation at the World Bank   In a guest blog post on Women Around the World, Henriette Kolb, head of the Gender Secretariat at the International Finance Corporation (IFC)—the private sector financing arm of the World Bank—evaluates international dialogue on gender equality and proposes steps to transform rhetoric into action. Kolb outlines the World Bank Group’s new gender strategy, which aims to support governments and the private sector to close unjust and economically costly gender gaps.  Read the blog post on Women Around the World »   Female Labor Force Participation in the Middle East   In a blog post on Women Around the World, senior fellow Gayle Tzemach Lemmon analyzes the low rate of women in the workforce in Middle East and North African (MENA) countries and the impediment it poses to economic growth. Lemmon asserts that “[a]s it stands now, MENA countries won’t reach the current global average for at least 150 years when it comes to women’s labor force participation.” Read the blog post on Women Around the World »   Asmaa Megahed, a carpenter and designer, works inside her workshop in Cairo, Egypt February 27, 2017. Asmaa argues that “Women can do any business no matter how difficult…there are many men say that women can’t do anything just “cooking and cooking", but women can do the impossible." REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh     The Business Case for Gender Equality   Sarah Degnan Kambou, president of the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), and Lyric Thompson, senior policy manager at ICRW, argue that the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) reflect considerable improvement on women’s and girls’ issues compared to their predecessor, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Degnan Kambou and Thompson emphasize the need to work with the private sector to track, measure, and finance the SDGs, given that private sector financial flows dwarf official development assistance.  Read the blog post on Women Around the World »

Welcome to “Women Around the World: This Week,” a series that highlights noteworthy news related to women and U.S. foreign policy. This week’s post, covering from February 26 to March 4, was compiled with support from  Anne Connell, Alyssa Dougherty, and Loren Grier. Brussels Summit addresses family planning Last week, the Belgian government hosted an international summit on women’s health in Brussels, during which representatives from fifty countries—including development ministers from Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Sweden—pledged nearly $200 million for women’s sexual and reproductive healthcare services worldwide. Afghanistan, Chad, and Ethiopia were among the developing countries that sent representatives to the conference to present evidence on the relationship between family planning, prosperity, and stability. The summit aimed in part to address the estimated $600 million dollar funding gap left by the Trump administration’s executive order reinstating and expanding the Mexico City policy, which will reduce resources for family planning, and also could jeopardize funding for HIV/AIDS, malaria, and maternal and child health programs. Swedish Minster Isabella Lovin stressed the importance of protecting against global regression on women’s health, noting that “we have seen a decrease in maternal mortality during the last twenty-five years. […] This is progress that we cannot see now reversed.” Legislation on child marriage Bangladesh and Malawi—two countries that consistently rank among the world’s top twenty nations with the highest prevalence of child marriage—both recently passed legislation on this issue.  Malawi’s parliament took a historic step toward ending the harmful practice last week by closing a constitutional loophole that allowed children between the ages of fifteen and eighteen to marry with parental consent. The minimum age of marriage in Malawi will now be eighteen without exception—a significant reform in a country where approximately one out of every two girls is married underage. In Bangladesh, however, parliament approved new legislation to the opposite effect, passing a law on Monday that authorizes underage girls to wed under “some circumstances,” to be determined by local councils and courts. Despite significant declines in the practice since 2000, over half of Bangladeshi women today are married by the time they turn eighteen, and the nation continues to have one of the highest rates of marriage of girls under the age of fifteen. China restricts women’s rights group The social media account for a leading women’s rights organization in China has been suspended from Weibo, a social networking site used by 30 percent of the Chinese public, following allegations that its content violated Chinese law, less than a week after the group re-posted an article authored by leading international women’s rights advocates about the reinvigoration of the international women’s movement. The article at issue referenced events and public demonstrations planned in the Unites States and around the world to mark International Women’s Day on March 8.  No such activities are scheduled in China, in part due to the government’s crackdown on political debate and previous demonstrations, which took place shortly before International Women’s Day last year. The group, which intends to use another Weibo account until the ban is lifted, has seen a significant uptick in interest in their efforts as a result of the ban.  

At a December 2016 symposium entitled “Women’s Participation in Conflict Prevention and Resolution,” CFR hosted three panel discussions in Washington, DC, with government officials, civil society experts, and military and private sector leaders. Watch the videos or read the transcripts of the discussions on how women’s participation in conflict prevention and resolution advances security interests; countering violent extremism by engaging women; and securing peace by addressing conflict-related sexual violence. The following is an excerpt from the full report of the symposium. “No society has ever successfully transitioned from being a conflict-ridden society to a developing society or better unless women were a part of the mainstream of that society,” retired General John Allen, former commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan and former special presidential envoy to the global coalition to counter the self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS), recalled telling former Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Research shows that including women in conflict prevention and resolution, as well as in efforts to reduce radicalization and violent extremism, generally leads to more secure peace. Yet despite years of good intentions and international commitments, the broader inclusion of women in conflict resolution is still plagued by obstacles, including a lack of funding, cultural and safety barriers, and a dearth of examples by the countries that most vocally preach the merits of inclusion.   A 27-year-old Yazidi woman, who escaped from captivity by Islamic State militants, is pictured at Sharya refugee camp on the outskirts of Duhok province July 4, 2015. The woman and her sister were taken as prisoners after militants attacked their village in the northern Iraqi province of Mosul. REUTERS/Ari Jala   The growth of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS), and the group’s reliance on women, has galvanized global attention on the bigger role that women can play in conflict situations, reflected Alaa Murabit of the advocacy group Voice of Libyan Women. But “it should not have taken ISIS using women as recruitment tools for us to say, wait, women have agency in conflict,” Murabit said. “Women are already on the front lines of countering all forms of violence in their communities, whether that be through negotiating ceasefires with proscribed groups [or] working with victims,” reflected Jayne Huckerby, director of the International Human Rights Clinic at Duke University School of Law. She suggested the more important question is “how we can be supportive of those particular efforts” and draw on them in broader diplomatic and security work. As Allen reflected, it is critical to “empower civil society, give them a voice, and provide them funding and support, and sometimes physically provide them security . . . [because] solving the problems by military means is never going to do it. We’re going to be fighting forever.” He advised future administrations to marshal women’s leadership to make a difference at the “ground level,” in order to “defeat the circumstances that can change a young man or woman’s views, to radicalize them, and make them ultimately susceptible to extremist recruitment.” Similar strategies are needed to address and prevent conflict-related sexual violence. Princeton Lyman, former U.S. special envoy to Sudan and South Sudan, suggested that “to address violence and to prevent sexual violence requires empowering local women. Where women are organized and nonviolent in major ways, they have an impact.”   Military personnel walk past women in Tabit village in North Darfur, Sudan. The joint peacekeeping mission in the region known as UNAMID visited Tabit in November 2014 to investigate media reports of an alleged mass rape of 200 women and girls (Courtesy Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/Reuters).   A number of obstacles limits women’s ability to participate in peace and security processes. In many cases, the failure by Western governments or international organizations to include women in their delegations, military command, or police forces—not to mention in their own politics—can undermine the message that women’s inclusion is important. Murabit suggested that “leading by example is probably step number one.” Another obstacle is physical and cultural barriers. Those promoting the inclusion of women should do more to protect them when they speak out, participants said. Lyman called for UN peacekeepers to “protect people who want to stand up,” as they have conspicuously failed to do in South Sudan. Donor countries and international organizations, some panelists noted, often harmfully dismiss a lack of local women’s participation by blaming so-called cultural differences. Involving women will, in some cases, require jettisoning cultural barriers that excuse the sidelining of women, panelists said. Finally, money talks. U.S. government financing could be used as a lever, such as making financial assistance conditional on recipient countries boosting women’s inclusion in peacemaking and peacekeeping. Allen advocated making Defense Department money available for State Department–run programs, such as those that help women fight radicalization, thereby funding “the solution that fits the need.” Given limits on what the government can do, there is a need for a greater effort from society at large, especially private-sector financial assistance, said Adnan Kifayat, a former advisor to the Department of Homeland Security on violent extremism and head of Global Security Ventures with the Gen Next Foundation. Society needs to “stand up . . . all the elements of national power,” Kifayat advised. That includes investing in the contributions that women make to preventing conflict and extremism around the world. Because, in the twenty-first century, unleashing the potential of 50 percent of the world’s population is not just the right thing to do—it is a strategic imperative to advance national security. Read the full CFR Symposium Report>>

This is a guest post by Diptesh Soni, a consultant in the Johannesburg office of Dalberg Global Development Advisors. Diptesh is a former CFR Africa program intern. Across the world, there is an inescapable sense that the machines are coming, and they’re going to take our jobs. This fear is not new. From the cotton gin, to the tractor, to the assembly line and beyond, jobs have, and will continue to face threats from technological advances. But throughout these disruptions, large-scale unemployment has typically been avoided: either machines could not do many of the innately human things people could do, or technology so drastically brought down costs that new markets were unlocked, in turn requiring more workers to serve new customers. Today, both these factors are playing out across sub-Saharan Africa. Africa commands a meagre 1.5 percent share of the world’s total manufacturing output, and the low number of jobs available in manufacturing is, in part, leading to the growth of service-based employment. Technology is rapidly reducing the cost of serving consumers across industries as diverse as financial services, transportation, and hospitality. This is allowing products and services that were traditionally only accessed by the privileged few, to reach a wide pool of new customers. Greater internet and mobile penetration, the development of online market places, and changes in user and consumer behaviour are creating technology-enabled business models across the continent. It is precisely at this juncture where technology can be used to create job opportunities for Africa’s burgeoning youth population. With youth unemployment in major African economies such as South Africa and Nigeria reaching upwards of 50 percent, new forms of working are required to meet the needs of a worryingly inert labour force. As traditional jobs become scarcer in increasingly competitive job markets, the digital economy can support the livelihoods of entrepreneurial individuals seeking to provide services to new customers in new ways. A growing body of evidence is highlighting the job-creation potential of the digital economy. Since mid-2013, Uber has created over four thousand economic opportunities for driver-partners in South Africa. The firm states that one thousand such opportunities were created in both Nigeria and Kenya since launch around two years ago, and it forecasts over three thousand more for Nigeria in the next year. Giraffe, an on-demand recruitment app in South Africa, has attracted over two-hundred and fifty thousand jobseekers since launching in 2015, placing thousands of them with hundreds of South African businesses. E-retail is also set to boom: an estimated 90 percent of internet users in Nigeria either currently shop online or expect to do so in the near future, with 60 percent of Kenyan and 70 percent of South African users reporting the same sentiment. But such work is not without its risks. Workers in the digital economy typically lack the job security and stability that comes with full-time employment, making their livelihoods more flexible but also more fragile. Uber has come under public and regulatory scrutiny in many Western countries for undermining the labour rights of its driver-partners, who are technically independent but oftentimes rely solely on the platform for their incomes. Despite these risk, for the millions of struggling work seekers throughout sub-Saharan Africa, perfect employment should not be the enemy of a good living. As smartphones and data become more affordable, and more people become digitally literate, the growth of digital livelihoods across Africa is inevitable. Eliminating various tech and non-tech barriers is crucial to making the digital economy more inclusive. For example, zero-rating job sites so users aren’t charged for data costs, as Vodacom has done for Giraffe in South Africa and Facebook’s Free Basics has done with Jobberman, makes job seeking and applying cheaper. Free Wi-Fi initiatives, such as Project Isizwe in South Africa and Rwanda’s Smart Kigali initiative, can also help. Municipalities can help online workers avoid challenges of poor connectivity and unreliable power by creating and supporting business and tech hubs for digital entrepreneurs. Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, and a host of other African countries are building these ecosystems with increasing government support. Relevant content and greater emphasis on digital literacy and language skills would help increase local demand, while also allowing users and online workers alike to better utilize digital applications. The development of world-class platforms such as Jobberman in Nigeria, SweepSouth for domestic workers, and IDWork for construction artisans in South Africa are exemplifying the calibre of local innovation and how technology can solve tangible local problems in the labour market. Coupled with reliable, secure, and inclusive payment systems, lower transaction costs can expand opportunities for un- and underbanked groups. And affordable financing can help workers acquire tangible productive assets such as phones, computers, and cars. For workers and policymakers alike, there are good reasons to worry about the impact of technology on jobs. Yet if history is any guide, harnessing the power of new technology to reach new consumers will present tremendous opportunities for digital work and entrepreneurship. But to realize these opportunities our conception of work must change, if the work itself is to follow suite.

Mark Graham, Nicolas Friederici and Sanna Ojanperä are researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute. They recently published The Impact of Connectivity in Africa: Grand Visions and the Mirage of Inclusive Development. Mark Zuckerberg recently published a manifesto about the future of Facebook and our increasingly technology-saturated world. In it, he argued "Connecting everyone to the internet is…necessary for building an informed community." For those familiar with Zuckerberg’s statements, this is a familiar claim. He argues that not only should we connect everyone in the world to the internet, but that doing so is a necessary step in solving some of the planet’s most pernicious problems. Zuckerberg is not alone in this thinking. Huge sums of money have been invested in projects that connect the billions of people who lack an internet connection. These schemes tend to present digital connectivity as a mechanism to achieve key social and economic developmental goals. This is especially true in Africa--the part of the world with both the lowest incomes and rates of connectivity. Because of the vigor with which such claims are made, and the vast resources that tech companies are able to deploy, we decided to examine the actually existing evidence base that might support them. In a new paper, we set out to test those claims. In it, we analyzed a wide range of policy documents and reports, and found widespread claims that increasing connectivity will lead to economic growth and social development. One report for instance, notes that “The internet is a tremendous, undisputed force for economic growth and social change.” What is noteworthy is that those reports tend to either not cite evidence or support claims with non-rigorous and non-peer-reviewed studies. Some go further to assert than not only will more connectivity lead to growth, but can also reduce inequality despite the fact that there is little comprehensive evidence to suggest that it can actually do so. Those reports are sprinkled with quotes such as: “Today, armed with little more than a smartphone, anyone — regardless of where they were born or how much they earn — can start a business, record a music video, crowdfund an invention, take courses with Nobel Prize-winning professors, or even launch a successful campaign for office.” “[T]he impact of ICTs on income growth and poverty alleviation are undeniable, and greater adoption of ICTs in lower-income groups will accelerate income gains at the base of the economic pyramid.” None of this is to say that there are not some responsible, nuanced and careful assessments of the impacts of connectivity. The 2016 World Development Report from the World Bank is measured in its assessment that increased connectivity has boosted growth in some instances, but that overall it has created winners and losers. However, such publications are a small minority. The question then is why, in the absence of a solid evidence base, such fantastic visions about the transformative power of digital connectivity abound. Our assertion is that ‘self-evident’ discourses of connectivity allow policymakers to point to shiny new technological fixes rather than focus on the messy business of how the political economy of any given context works to (usually unfairly) allocate power and wealth. Twenty years ago, James Ferguson famously asked ‘what do aid programs do besides fail to help poor people?’ Our worry in the context of visions like those of Mark Zuckerberg is not just that the massive resources invested in connecting the world’s disconnected will be wasted. It is also that by framing development and inequality as something that can be solved with more connectivity, we distract from the real structural economic processes that serve to widen inequalities and produce poverty. We should be concerned when developmental interventions don’t work. But we should be even more worried when we think important issues have been effectively addressed when they have not. None of this is to say that information and communication technologies do not have a role to play in international development. Yet we do have a responsibility to ensure that, when so much is at stake, more of our interventions are grounded in a solid evidence base from the world’s economic margins rather than the hopes of Silicon Valley billionaires.

This post originally appeared on the Council on Foreign Relations Net Politics Blog and is written by Chenai Chair and Broc Rademan, researchers at Research ICT Africa, a public-interest research organization that examines information and communication technology policy in Africa. You can find them @RIAnetwork. According to the International Telecommunication Union, roughly 75 percent of Africans are not connected to the internet. This dismal statistic has turned the continent into a laboratory to test innovative public policy- and market-based solutions to improve connectivity. Installing free Wi-Fi hotspots has emerged as a promising solution to overcome the challenges of coverage, cost and network quality in South Africa and other countries across region. However, it will take more than just free Wi-Fi to significantly increase connectivity. Fixed broadband networks (e.g. laying cable) are too expensive to install and operate for African internet users. Mobile technologies can be deployed more quickly and cheaply and increase mobile phone ownership. However, the cost of communicating is still relatively expensive. A digital readiness assessment study in the Western Cape province found on average citizens spend 20.1 percent of their individual income on mobile service that is voice, SMS, data and any monthly mobile subscriptions. Unlike data plans, free public Wi-Fi is just that for the end user: free. That makes the provision of public Wi-Fi attractive to public authorities looking to improve internet access, especially given the growing penetration of smartphones across Africa. Data suggests that there were roughly 226 million smartphone users in 2015 and is expected to rise to 720 million by 2020. Governments have begun to require the provision of Wi-Fi as a condition of public network investment and infrastructure upgrades. For example, the Western Cape government requires Neotel, an internet service provider, set aside a portion of bandwidth to be allocated for a local Wi-Fi hotspot at the public buildings it is contracted to connect. Similarly, the cities of Tshwane (Pretoria) and Cape Town have required that new government buildings establish a functioning Wi-Fi hotspot with free uninhibited access to anyone in the vicinity. In both cities, schools, libraries, health facilities, parks and squares now offer free Wi-Fi. The business models for free Wi-Fi are varied, but overall, the local authorities end up subsidizing a daily data cap to be used by anyone with a Wi-Fi-enabled device to do with as they please. Having government subsidize internet access is risky. Will people use their newfound access to browse cat videos or something more productive? Recent research we undertook in South Africa suggests that individuals availing themselves of free Wi-Fi were doing so for job seeking, student assignments and information inquiries more than any other activities. Nevertheless, there are still some problems facing the African users of public Wi-Fi. First, the Wi-Fi is provided in mostly urban areas, and therefore exclude rural populations. Second, many public spaces in urban and peri-urban areas are unsafe at night, making internet access a daytime affair. Third, Wi-Fi-enabled devices are not the most affordable devices on the market, which limits the accessibility of feature phone owners and those who have no device at all. Fourth, the sustainability of publicly-funded Wi-Fi projects is uncertain given the dynamic nature of the sector and budgetary constraints in developing economies. This threatens the longevity of such operators as well as the health and competitiveness of the private sector. There are also challenges beyond technology that affect internet accessibility and use in Africa. Mozilla recently funded research conducted in Nigeria, Kenya, and Rwanda. According to the study, digital literacy remains a challenge as some individuals, particularly in rural areas, do not have the skills to navigate the internet. Apart from the lack of devices and digital know-how, public perceptions of the internet also hinder access. Some users shy away from internet use given the nature of some online content, particularly fake news or malicious content. Non-users also express a general mistrust of the internet, which may be attributed to a lack of understanding of what the internet is. Gender disparities can also hinder online participation, especially in rural areas where women have described their partners restricting them from going online. Providing free public Wi-Fi is an innovative and affordable way to improve connectivity in Africa. However it is by no means a silver bullet. More evidence-based research could identify the full extent of the limitations of free public Wi-Fi and identify strategies to improve internet accessibility in Africa. Some of this research will come later this year, once we complete household and individual surveys in nine African countries to better understand internet usage and accessibility.