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- Volume 2016, Issue 3, 2016
International Trade Forum - Volume 2016, Issue 3, 2016
Volume 2016, Issue 3, 2016
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Building hope, skills and incomes for refugees through trade
Author: Arancha GonzálezEarlier this year the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) released new record-breaking migration figures: the number of people residing outside of their country of origin grew to a staggering 244 million. According to the UNHCR a total 65.3 million people were displaced at the end of 2015, compared to 59.5 million just 12 months earlier. In the 3 minutes it will take you to read these few words 72 more people would have become refugees.
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Unlocking women’s economic potential
Author: EKATERINA BAGLAEVAThe economic empowerment of women is a matter for all. Inclusiveness does not only ensure a fairer world for both men and women, it also leads to faster and more sustainable economic growth.
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Interrogating Africa’s development numbers
Author: MORTEN JERVENIn November 2010, Ghana Statistical Services announced new and revised gross domestic product (GDP) estimates. The estimated size of the economy was then adjusted upward by more than 60%, suggesting that in previous GDP estimates economic activities worth about US$13 billion had been missed.
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Why our stereotypes of African agriculture are all wrong
Author: Calestous JumaFrom newspaper editors to TV anchors to bloggers, the default symbol of African agriculture is a woman holding a hand hoe. This imagery highlights the drudgery African women face in farming. It also conflates family farming with broader agricultural enterprise.
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Creating income opportunities for refugees in East Africa
Authors: PABLO LO MORO, THOMAS ANDERSON and GABRIELA TRIFFILETTIDidier is 21. When his father was murdered, Didier fled to Nakivale in southeast Uganda. He found safety in the bustling settlement along with more than 60,000 refugees. As the initial shock started wearing off, he focused on finding ways to support himself and his younger siblings. Yet, those livelihood opportunities are difficult to come and going back home is not safe.
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Integrating displaced populations, creating economic growth
Author: JENNY BETH BISTOYONGA record high 65.3 million people are forcibly displaced worldwide, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 2015 Global Trends report. Of these 21.3 million are refugees. With an estimated 34,000 people being forcibly displaced every day as a result of conflict or persecution, one in every 113 people globally is either an asylum-seeker, an internally displaced person or a refugee.
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Breaking down barriers to economic integration
Author: DEXTER FINDLEYThe influx of refugees and migrants presents a continual challenge for societies across the world. Some current policy approaches have at best lacked meaningful impact or at worst contributed to human rights violations.
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Integrating refugees through work
Author: ROSA RIERAIt is lunch break at the Siemens Erlangen, Germany, campus. At a table in her company’s cafeteria, Andrea Scheerbaum is swiping on her phone, showing colleagues pictures of Damascus she received over the weekend. Since last year, just like many of her colleagues, Andrea has volunteered to be a ‘buddy’ to one of the about 150 refugees who participated in Siemens’ professional integration programmes by September 2016.
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Welcoming refugees makes good economic sense, too
Author: PHILIPPE LeGRAINThe so-called ‘boat people’ who fled Viet Nam in the late 1970s were often seen as a burden and were often refused refuge elsewhere. Eventually, the United States of America accepted many of them. Most arrived with little or no English, few assets or no relevant job skills. Yet Vietnamese refugees now have a higher employment rate than people born in the United States and higher average incomes, too.
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Uganda: Vocational skills contribute to refugee integration
Author: AKENA PATRICKThe cycles of conflict in South Sudan in December 2013 and July 2016 resulted into a large influx of refugees into Uganda. More than 317,000 South Sudanese refugees sought refuge in the Adjumani district in the north of Uganda.
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Boosting youth confidence through skills training
Author: ABDIRAHMAN KUSOW HANSHIThe Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) provides vocational training for young people under the umbrella of the Youth Education Pack (YEP). It provides literacy and numeracy training, vocational skills and life skills targeting youth aged between 15 and 25 from both refugee and vulnerable host communities, and those with limited or no formal education. In Kenya, YEP is operational in the Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps.
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A digital caravan for better and more e-commerce
Authors: IVAN BOSCH CHEN, MIMI LIE and ANANDAMAYEE SINGHIn July 2016, the International Trade Centre (ITC) in partnership with DHL, a logistics company, and eBay, an online retailed, organized The Swiss Summer Route, an ‘e-commerce caravan’ that travelled from Geneva to Zurich. The caravan, in the form of a pop-up store, helped shine the spotlight on e-commerce, which for producers in developing countries can still be a huge barrier to exports.
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Boosting East African exports with Indian investments and expertise
Authors: GOVIND VENUPRASAD, IRENE EBRAHIMI DARSINOUEI and CANDICE UNGERERTraditionally, ginger has been the major spice export from Ethiopia. It exported over US$24 million worth of ginger in 2011 with numerous farmers dedicating their efforts to ginger production. However, following the outbreak of bacterial wilt, a plant disease that devastates ginger, the production of ginger plummeted in 2012.
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Ensuring greater participation of women in international trade
Author: CARMEN GISELA VERGARAReducing the gender gap can release a wealth of human talent, ingenuity, and creativity, important resources for developing countries seeking to transform their societies through trade. As much as US$28 trillion, or 26%, could be added to global annual growth domestic product (GDP) by 2025 by advancing to full parity between men and women, according to a McKinsey Global Institute report.
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Including SMEs and women in public procurement in Chile
Author: TRINIDAD INOSTROZAPublic procurement faces a number of challenges ranging from transparency to ensuring due diligence and fairness. In response to such issues, Chile has developed a public procurement system regarded by many as among the world’s most open. A huge effort has been made to ensure that it is also inclusive for small companies.
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Global awards recognize excellence in innovative export initiatives
Author: Susanna PakTrade and investment are two sides of the same coin. ‘For countries to break out of the traditional basket of export products, there must be synergies between policies on investment and trade promotion,’ according to Mukhisa Kituyi, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
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