The Commonwealth

The Commonwealth

The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 56 independent and equal countries. It is home to 2.5 billion people, and includes both advanced economies and developing countries. 33 of our members are small states, including many island nations. Our member governments have agreed to shared goals like development, democracy and peace. Our values and principles are expressed in the Commonwealth Charter.

The Commonwealth Secretariat is the intergovernmental organisation that supports member countries to achieve the Commonwealth’s aims of development, democracy and peace. It publishes authoritative, evidence-based research and knowledge products for policymakers, academics, professionals and wider publics across the world. Our areas of focus and expertise include small and developing states; environment and climate change; democracy, law and government; and social issues concerning young people, gender, health and education.

Due Diligence

David Roodman

The idea that small loans can help poor families build businesses and exit poverty has blossomed into a global movement. The concept has captured the public imagination, drawn in billions of dollars, reached millions of customers, and garnered a Nobel Prize. Radical in its suggestion that the poor are creditworthy and conservative in its insistence on individual accountability, the idea has expanded beyond credit into savings, insurance, and money transfers, earning the name microfinance. But is it the boon so many think it is?Readers of David Roodman's openbook blog will immediately recognize his thorough, straightforward, and trenchant analysis. Due Diligence, written entirely in public with input from readers, probes the truth about microfinance to guide governments, foundations, investors, and private citizens who support financial services for poor people. In particular, it explains the need to deemphasize microcredit in favor of other financial services for the poor.

  • Format: Paperback
  • ISBN: 9781933286488
  • Publication Date: Dec 2011
  • Availability: Temporarily out of stock: Usually despatched in 14-18 days

Emerging Africa

Steven Radelet

Emerging Africa describes the too-often-overlooked positive changes that have taken place in much of Africa since the mid-1990s. In 17 countries, five fundamental and sustained breakthroughs are making old assumptions increasingly untenable:• The rise of democracy brought on by the end of the Cold War and apartheid• Stronger economic management• The end of the debt crisis and a more constructive relationship with the international community• The introduction of new technologies, especially mobile phones and the Internet• The emergence of a new generation of leaders.With these significant changes, the countries of emerging Africa seem poised to lead the continent out of the conflict, stagnation, and dictatorships of the past. The countries discussed in the book are Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Ethiopia, Ghana, Lesotho, Mali Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, São Tomé and Principe, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.

  • Format: Paperback
  • ISBN: 9781933286518
  • Publication Date: Sep 2010
  • Availability: In Stock - Despatched Within 5-7 Working Days

Cash on Delivery

Nancy Birdsall

Foreign aid has no shortage of critics. Some argue that it undermines development and inherently does more harm than good; others insist that aid must be seriously reformed to work properly. Cash on Delivery (COD) Aid proposes serious reform to make aid work well by forcing accountability, aligning the objectives of funders and recipients, and sharing information about what works.Public and private aid can improve lives in poor countries, but the willingness of taxpayers and private funders to finance aid programs depends more than ever on showing results. COD Aid is a funding mechanism that hinges on results. At its core is a contract between funders and recipients that stipulates a fixed payment for each unit of confirmed progress toward an agreed-upon goal. Once the contract is struck, the funder takes a hands-off approach, allowing the recipient the freedom and responsibility to achieve the goal on its own. Payment is made only after progress toward the goal is independently verified by a third party. At all steps, a COD Aid program is remarkably transparent: the contract, the amount of progress made, and the payment are disseminated publicly to highlight the credibility of the arrangement and improve accountability to the public. COD Aid is a new approach to foreign aid, but one that complements other aid programs and would ultimately encourage funders and recipients to use existing resources more efficiently.Cash On Delivery Aid: A New Approach to Foreign Aid explains the approach in detail and investigates its application in one sector: education. More specifically, the authors show how foreign aid agencies could use COD Aid to help developing countries achieve universal primary school education. The example illustrates how to deal with potential challenges of the approach—challenges that are no greater than those of traditional aid—and includes model term sheets for contracts that could be used for any COD Aid agreement.

  • Format: Paperback
  • ISBN: 9781933286600
  • Publication Date: Apr 2011
  • Availability: In Stock - Despatched Within 5-7 Working Days

Greenprint

Arvind Subramanian

Beleaguered by mutual recrimination between rich and poor countries, squeezed by the zero-sum arithmetic of a shrinking global carbon budget, and overtaken by shifts in economic and hence bargaining power between these countries, international cooperation on climate change has floundered. Given these three factors—which Arvind Subramanian and Aaditya Mattoo call the "narrative," "adding up," and "new world" problems—the wonder is not the current impasse; it is, rather, the belief that progress might be possible at all.In this book, the authors argue that any chance of progress must address each of these problems in a radically different way. First, the old narrative of recrimination must cede to a narrative based on recognition of common interests. Second, leaders must shift the focus away from emissions cuts to technology generation. Third, the old "cash-for-cuts" approach must be abandoned for one that requires contributions from all countries calibrated in magnitude and form to their current level of development and future prospects.

  • Format: Paperback
  • ISBN: 9781933286679
  • Publication Date: Feb 2013
  • Availability: Temporarily out of stock: Usually despatched in 14-18 days

Oil to Cash

Todd Moss

What should a country do if it suddenly discovers oil and gas? How should it spend the subsequent cash windfall? How can it protect against corruption? How can citizens truly benefit from national wealth? With many of the world's poorest and most fragile states suddenly joining the ranks of oil and gas producers, these are pressing policy questions. Oil to Cash explores one option that may help avoid the so-called resource curse: just give the money directly to citizens. A universal, transparent, and regular cash transfer would not only provide a concrete benefit to regular people, but would also create powerful incentives for citizens to hold their government accountable. Oil to Cash details how and where this idea could work and how policymakers can learn from the experiences with cash transfers in places like Mexico, Mongolia, and Alaska.

  • Format: Paperback
  • ISBN: 9781933286693
  • Publication Date: Jun 2015
  • Availability: In Stock - Despatched Within 5-7 Working Days

Surgery for Pelvic Malignancies

Evgenia Halkia

  • Format: Hardback
  • ISBN: 9789963716586
  • Publication Date: Apr 2014
  • Availability: In Stock - Despatched Within 5-7 Working Days

Emergency Cardiology

Loukianos S. Rallidis

  • Format: Paperback
  • ISBN: 9789963716814
  • Publication Date: Jan 2017
  • Availability: Temporarily out of stock: Usually despatched in 14-18 days

Identification Revolution

Alan Gelb

  • Format: Paperback
  • ISBN: 9781944691035
  • Publication Date: Jan 2018
  • Availability: In Stock - Despatched Within 5-7 Working Days

Energy & Transportation in the Atlantic Basin

Paul Isbell

  • Imprint: Center for Transatlantic Relations SAIS
  • Format: Paperback
  • ISBN: 9781947661011
  • Publication Date: Nov 2017
  • Availability: In Stock - Despatched Within 5-7 Working Days

Domestic Determinants of Foreign Policy in the European Union and the United States

Daniel S. Hamilton

  • Imprint: Center for Transatlantic Relations SAIS
  • Format: Paperback
  • ISBN: 9781947661028
  • Publication Date: Apr 2018
  • Availability: In Stock - Despatched Within 5-7 Working Days

Fighting Corruption, Promoting Good Governance

This book presents A Framework for Commonwealth Principles for Promoting Good Governance and Combating Corruption, endorsed by Heads of Government in Durban in 1999. It presents the expert group's findings, examining the nature of corruption and proposing actions at national and international level.

  • Imprint: Commonwealth Secretariat
  • Format: Paperback
  • ISBN: 9780850926446
  • Publication Date: Jan 2000
  • Availability: Temporarily out of stock: Usually despatched in 14-18 days

Gender Mainstreaming in the Health Sector

This is the consensus built up in a series of workshops in different regions of the Commonwealth on what is the most effective way of applying Gender Management System principles and methodology to the health sector. This manual should assist other countries in adapting mainstreaming.

  • Imprint: Commonwealth Secretariat
  • Format: Paperback
  • ISBN: 9780850927337
  • Publication Date: Jan 2002
  • Availability: Temporarily out of stock: Usually despatched in 14-18 days

Gender Mainstreaming in Poverty Eradication and the Millennium Development Goals

Naila Kabeer

This book explores the issue of gender inequality through the lens of the Millennium Development Goals, and highlights women's critical role in both economic growth and human development.

  • Imprint: Commonwealth Secretariat
  • Format: Paperback
  • ISBN: 9780850927528
  • Publication Date: Jan 2003
  • Availability: Temporarily out of stock: Usually despatched in 14-18 days

Eyes of Democracy

Manoah Esipisu

Offers journalists and other media professionals an overview of the issues, testimonies from journalists on the ground. This book provides guidelines for good practice, along with reports from Commonwealth Observer Groups on election reporting in a number of Commonwealth countries.

  • Imprint: Commonwealth Secretariat
  • Format: Paperback
  • ISBN: 9780850928983
  • Publication Date: May 2009
  • Availability: Temporarily out of stock: Usually despatched in 14-18 days