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Today's Features
In the Line of Fire: Doing Development in Fragile States
Following a recent conference on state fragility, World Vision Canada's head of humanitarian assistance, Michael Weickert, sat down with Governance Village editor Brandon Currie to discuss the numerous challenges his organization faces in operating in fragile states [MORE]

Understanding State Fragility: A 'Tripartite Approach' to Debating Canada's Engagement
In late November, a diverse array of 'government, civil society and engaged scholars' came together at Carleton University to debate approaches toward fragile and failed states. As part of an event that celebrated the granting of a research award to the Country Indicators for Foreign Policy project, participants had the opportunity to engage in a frank, wide-ranging discussion on how Canadian policy can move forward in places like Somalia, Sudan and, most notably, Afghanistan. [MORE]

e-Dialogues
e-Dialogue Closing Commentary

For three weeks in November, Governance Village and the Parliamentary Centre hosted and facilitated an online dialogue to discuss three of the main challenges facing democracy support: improving results, building cooperation and mobilizing resources.  What follows is not a summary of the rich discussion but my own commentary on some of the most interesting issues that emerged from the exchanges.  [MORE]

Thank you message for e-Dialogue participants
 Dear Colleagues: I would like to thank you for participating in the e-discussion on "Celebrating the Gains of Democracy, Confronting the Challenges". This forum provided an opportunity for the Parliamentary Centre and CIGI to tap the knowledge and experience of individuals and institutions engaged in democratic development. [MORE]

e-Dialogue questionnaire now available
To help us evaluate and improve our e-Dialogue Program, please take a moment to fill out a brief questionnaire, presented in both English and French.
 
From the GV Library
Afghanistan: Decision Point 2008
2008 is a pivotal year in the development of the Afghan state: the situation has reached a classic decision point. The Taliban are entrenched in the South, running parallel governments in several districts and controlling the majority of secondary roads. Assistance is clearly needed on a number of security, developmental and counter-narcotics measures required to steer the country back on course.[MORE]

Chronic Failure in the War on Terror: From Afghanistan to Somalia
By comparing the conflict dynamic in two different theatres central to the United States' self-proclaimed War on Terror, a number of chronic failings in the US' approach have become evident. Foreign policy projection under President Bush has been both insular and divisive, with the overly simple ‘with us or against us' axiom being a blanket formula applied to all parts of the globe with results that can best be described as unequal. Reliance upon such a blunt measure has contributed in no small measure to much of the increased instability present around the globe. [MORE]


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Profiles in Governance
IAN SMILIE: DIAMONDS AND DEVELOPMENT
"People said: ‘Diamonds were sexy; it was easy.’ Well, diamonds weren’t sexy and it wasn’t easy. To get a global certification system for all rough diamonds was a total pipe dream. But we did." [MORE]

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DR. NELSON SEWANKAMBO: AFRICAN HEALTH PIONEER
“There are many organizations working in development that prescribe. ‘You need a well. You need a protected stream. You need a hospital.’ And then they build the hospital. Salama SHIELD engages affected people – they decide what they need.” [MORE]

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PAUL POLAK: POVERTY REDUCTION REVOLUTIONARY
"Poverty reduction is just a byproduct of what I like to do. I like to ask questions and satisfy my curiosity. It’s not a dreary, dry, depressing topic – it’s a hell of a lot of fun." [MORE]

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MARK SEDRA: REBUILDING THE AFGHAN SECURITY SECTOR
"Most Afghans who look at the Taliban period nostalgically are not doing so because of their ideology or conception of Islam. It’s about the Taliban’s ability to provide a basic public good. And that’s security." [MORE]

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Featured Research
Gender Analysis for HIV Project Planners
Gender analysis is a tool to help program planners understand how differences in the lives of women and men contribute to HIV risk and how program effectiveness might be improved. [MORE]

Preventing Corruption in Humanitarian Assistance
This report describes research on the problem of corruption in humanitarian assistance, carried out in 2007 and 2008 by Transparency International (TI). Seven major international humanitarian NGOs volunteered to be part of the project and allowed researchers access to their headquarters, staff and documentation along with similar access to field programs in crisis-affected countries. [MORE]

Corruption Warning Signs: Is Your Project at Risk?
What factors conspire to cause a development project to fail? Poor project design and management of course. Also lack of client ownership. And capacity constraints. And corruption. Corruption warning signs: is your project at risk? is a toolkit recently developed by the Latin America and Caribbean unit of the World Bank that lists these pitfalls phase by phase throughout the project's life. [MORE]

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Jobs 
Closing Jan 10: Country Manager - Medecins sans Frontieres - Africa [MORE]
Closing Jan 10: Project Manager - Grameen Foundation - Ghana [MORE]
Closing Jan 15: Grant Writer - Aid to Artisans - Hartford, USA [MORE]
Closing Jan 16: Writer - International Water Management Institute - Sri Lanka [MORE]
Closing Jan 16: Communications Strategist - World AIDS Campaign - Amsterdam/Cape Town [MORE]
Closing Jan 19: Food Security Advisor - World Vision International [MORE]
Closing Jan 22: International Affairs Specialist - OAS - Washington [MORE]
Closing Feb 3: Information Officer - American Red Cross - Banda Aceh, Indonesia [MORE]
Closing Feb 6: Managing Director - Shelter-Afrique - Nairobi [MORE]

MORE JOBS

Events
Jan 19: Professional Development for Parliaments - Various Locations [MORE]
Jan 23-25: Atlantic International Studies Organization Annual Student Conference - Mount Allison University [MORE]
Feb 5: Strategies for E-Campaigning: a Workshop - Various Locations [MORE]
March 3-4: Putting Together a Funding Prposal: A Workshop [MORE]
March 8: International Women's Day - Various Locations [MORE]
April 18-19: Unite for Sight Conference 2009 - Yale University [MORE]

MORE EVENTS

Tools
The Democracy Index, 2008
The results of the Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index 2008 confirm the spread of democracy has come to a halt. [MORE]

The 2008 Ibrahim Index of African Governance
Published October 6th, 2008, this index is a comprehensive ranking of sub-Saharan African nations according to governance quality.  [MORE]

The CIDA Governance Toolkit
In partnership with CIDA, this tool offers information and measurement tools for key governance issues. [MORE]

Measuring Governance: A Handbook
A comprehensive tool for assessing trends in governance and democracy. [MORE]

World Governance Indicators
A web tool with the ability to generate charts, tables and world maps of governance indicators across 212 countries. [MORE]