'Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs) first came to prominence in the UK around ten years ago as means of providing loans to people and enterprises excluded from mainstream finance.
The report, Reconsidering UK community development finance, released the 2007 annual conference of the Community Development Finance Association - the umbrella body for CDFIs - finds that the future of CDFIs is uncertain as government and policy-makers have begun to question whether CDFIs have meas more...

This handbook has been written to provide guidelines for developing process of awareness-raising. Theories, principles and techniques are offered in this manual based on the experiences of those who have developed practices that were successful and that met certain expectations. The manual provides guidelines for developing process of awareness-raising focusing on global efforts to promote awareness of Information Literacy. Published by Communication and Information (CI).

This Safety Report provides more detailed information on the methods available for the evaluation of uncertainties in deterministic safety analysis of Nuclear Power Plants and practical guidance in the use of these methods.

'This technical note is the product of a long process of consultation with a wide range of resource persons who have over the years been involved in the Danish support to Community Based Natural Resource Management. It gives a brief introduction to community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) and how this concept may be used as a development strategy. CBNRM has the triple objective of poverty reduction, natural resource conservation and good governance. This note is a contribution to an o more...

The Practice Note on Capacity Assessment explains the basics of capacity assessments-concepts, entry points, and methodological issues. The Practice Note includes a review of selected organizational assessment tools and develops a default UNDP framework and tool to assess the enabling environment/national level capacity.(Full note in pdf format: pages 1 to 34)

This report by the European Centre for Development Policy Management reflects on the different ways to think about capacity development and what works, why, and when. It looks at the different conditions under which capacity development takes place, then at various strategies for change, both internal and external. The report is the result of a study which began in 2003 to provide a new perspective on capacity development issues. The study includes 18 case studies, five workshop reports, a synth more...

'This paper describes a number of financial techniques that can be used by developing country banks to open up new financing possibilities in the commodities sector. The first chapter discusses these various techniques, which can most easily be used in the commodity sector but which can also be adopted by industries servicing the commodity sector, and for financing on the basis of 'commoditized' income streams. The second chapter highlights some of the practical models that developing country ba more...

This report outlines key findings from surveys that explored factors that drive online experience as expressed by the three different subject groups – nonprofit organizations and cities, web designers and firms, and the general public. The survey’s major findings are includes in this report.

'This Practice Note provides UNDP staff and other development practitioners with a concise overview of the capacity challenges involved in local development as well as an easily adaptable five-step approach to address them. The note is not meant to be a comprehensive toolkit or guide but rather a review of different approaches to local development from a capacity development perspective based on best practices and lessons learned. The process of Millennium Development Goal (MDG) localisation, wh more...

Human talent is a key economic resource and a source of creative power in science, technology, business, arts and culture and other activities. Talent has a large economic value and its mobility has increased with globalization, the spread of new information technologies and lower transportation costs. Well educated and/or talented people are often more internationally mobile than unskilled workers and face more favorable immigration policies in receiving countries, typically high per capita inc more...