Social

Analysis
Colombia caught in financial turmoil
Santiago Barbosa Naranjo, Sakir Devrim Yilmaz, Antoine Godin, Gustavo Hernández

Covid-19 accelerating education inequalities in Burkina Faso
When the first cases of Covid-19 appeared in March 2020, the Burkina Faso authorities adopted restrictive measures to contain the pandemic. However, these measures may come at the cost of a lasting effect on access to education and compromising the progress made in reducing inequalities.
Analysis
Inequalities and environmental damage: the case of the Mekong River Basin
Étienne Espagne, Thi Phuong Linh Huynh, Alexis Drogoul , Stéphane Lagrée
Opinion
A restrictive framework for eliminating human rights violations in the textile industry
Nayla Ajaltouni
Opinion
Covid-19: how to support the informal sector beyond the crisis
Cecilia Poggi, Irène Salenson
Other news

Interview
Amadou Gallo Fall: “Basketball, a powerful tool for Africa’s development”
The Basketball Africa League, based on the NBA model, will make its debut in March. The launch provides an opportunity for the league’s president, Amadou Gallo Fall, to assert the key role that sports will play in Africa’s development.
Amadou Gallo Fall

Opinion
Unemployment and underemployment in developing countries: tackling preconceived ideas
By 2030, nearly 350 million young people around the world will enter the global job market. Half will be in Africa. Economic growth will not be enough to ensure access to decent jobs for all of them. Governments must therefore adopt ambitious policies.
Ivan Postel-Vinay

Interview
The Rights of Future Generations, A New Legal Humanism
Émilie Gaillard has been working on the rights of future generations for 20 years. She believes this legal concept is an essential tool for bringing about the paradigm shifts required for the long-term preservation of the environment and populations.
Émilie Gaillard

Interview
Textile industry: “Every purchase is a political act!”
In 2013, the collapse of Rana Plaza in Bangladesh shed light on the deplorable working conditions of the textile industry. For Nayla Ajaltouni, consumer mobilization has an impact on working conditions in developing countries.
Nayla Ajaltouni

Interview
Informal employment: “we need to promote homegrown developments in employment practices”
Two billion people work in the informal economy, in circumstances that vary hugely. For many, moving into formal employment is a real challenge in the short term. In the long run, we need to ensure decent working conditions, says Philippe Marcadent.
Philippe Marcadent

Interview
“The key lies in youth employability”
While school enrolment rates are increasing around the world, young people are still among the most affected by unemployment. How can this be addressed? Véronique Sauvat puts forward some solutions to make it easier for young people to enter the labor market.
Véronique Sauvat

Interview
“Capitalism must make social justice one of its goals”
Gilles Dufrénot is a professor at Aix-Marseille School of Economics and the author of several books. He calls for a new social contract based on the redefinition of minimum needs by the many.
Gilles Dufrénot

Opinion
Inequalities in the Arab world: Move from rent to tax
Six years after the Arab Spring movements, inequalities that largely triggered them still pose a problem in the Arab world. Samir Aita, a Franco-Syrian economist, takes a look at their causes, consequences and potential ways of addressing these.
Samir Aita

Development news
Youth, a forgotten driving force of sustainable development?
Many recent initiatives show that the Sustainable Development Goals won’t be met without the participation of the youth. But how could they participate, when so many young people across the world don’t have access to health, education or employment?
ID4D editorial staff

Interview
Microprojects can give rise to larger-scale programs
Cécile Vilnet, coordinator of the Micro Projects Agency, explains what are the microprojects and how these local projects can simply and durably improve the qualité of life of the poorest populations.
Cécile Vilnet

Opinion
Social protection: Universal & poverty targeting approaches are not in contradiction
Rapid expansion of social protection around the world provokes a renewed debate around targeting versus universalism. The recent blog by Stephen Kidd, is calling into question poverty targeting, or determining eligibility to a benefit based on means test. Today’s debate is not about the principle...
Ruslan Yemtsov

Interview
“Innovation is the answer to many development problems”
Philippe Aghion, a renowned French economist, sheds light on the concept of growth and the innovation capacity of BRICS and African countries.
Philippe Aghion

Interview
Philanthropy: "Shareholder foundations combine capitalism and altruism"
How to more effectively combine a company’s social impact and performance and promote synergies between economic efficiency and the common good? This is the area of expertise of Prophil, a strategy consulting firm that works on the convergence of economic and philanthropic models. In a first...
Virginie Seghers

Opinion
Business & Human Rights: Act collectively on Supply Chains
While hundreds of multinational companies have already publicly committed to implementing the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (Guiding Principles) some have also taken significant steps over the last five years to implement the Principles and conduct Human Rights due diligence....
Jean-Baptiste ANDRIEU, Peter NESTOR

Interview
Success of SME incubation in Senegal
The number of business incubators is growing in Africa. One example is CTIC Dakar, the first to be dedicated to information and communication technologies (ICTs) in French-speaking Africa. This association was launched in April 2011 and is the result of a public-private partnership. An interview...
Eva Sow Ebion

Opinion
Social Protection : universal provision is more effective than poverty targeting
One of the most highly charged debates in social security is whether it is preferable to offer schemes to everyone or target them only at the poor. Across both developed and developing countries, we find many examples of both approaches: for example, according to the ILO (2014), 36 countries...
Stephen Kidd

Interview
“We are at year zero for crowdfunding for developing countries”
The website Babyloan.org, which was launched in 2008, has become Europe’s leading website for specialized microcredit crowdfunding. Internet users can lend EUR 10 or more to small entrepreneurs in 15 countries around the world, in Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America. Is crowdfunding an...
Arnaud Poissonnier


Opinion
Free African SMEs!
All sorts of meetings on the topic of Africa’s economic takeoff are constantly being organized. Local transformation, inclusive growth, industrialization, youth unemployment, competitiveness, etc. are discussed at them. Strangely, they often address the role of African SMEs between the lines. Yet...
Didier Acouetey

Conference synthesis
Social Protection Reforms in Latin America: What Role for France?
In recent months, Brazil has been struck by large-scale social movements led by the middle classes. Latin American countries need to address major challenges in order to meet the demands of their populations, such as reducing inequalities in social protection systems. What are the challenges?...
ID4D editorial staff

Interview
“Social protection is a right!”
Social protection allows people to live in dignity. This right, recognized by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is far from being a reality for everyone. Only 27% of the world’s population benefits from adequate social protection. It is for this reason that in 2012 the Member States of...
Helmut Schwarzer, Valérie Schmitt

Interview
Job creation in Africa will increasingly come from the private sector
What most young Africans want above all is a job. With 10 to 12 million young people arriving on the labor market every year, this is a real challenge! Many of them work in the informal sector, but thanks to the efforts of public policies, civil society and the private sector (via social...
Elsie Kanza

Opinion
Mobilizing youth to build more sustainable development
Access to essential services (water, sanitation, waste, energy, mobility) for all is a major challenge for economic and social development in developing countries. Young people, who come with new ideas, expertise and energy, but who are also the leaders of tomorrow, have a crucial role to play....
Julie Aubriot

Opinion
Giving African youth the chance to become “entrepreneurs of their own destiny”
Dakar, Yaoundé, Abidjan, Addis Ababa… the young people do not speak the same language, do not have the same culture, but share the same desire: to become entrepreneurs. This desire to create and empower themselves is widely ignored by both local decision-makers and external partners. Before...
Franck Tognini