Development

Its last day of the Better World Campaign's On Day One project and there is still time to vote for the idea you think President-Elect Barak Obama should prioritize on the first day of the next administration for improving the United State's image in the world.  When blogger Mark Goldberg of the UN Foundation came to New America in the spring of 2008 soliciting ideas for policy proposals, I thought it was little more than a fun experiment in the use of new media to express opinions. I had no idea the Campaign would face the ideas off against each other in November, narrowing 81 selected ideas down to 9 for '09 (9 big ideas for the incoming president to consider upon taking office). Or that my idea to reform foreign assistance (to focus the allocation of funds more squarely on the social and economic empowerment of poor people) would win the Global Poverty category. Or that there would be a Round 2 to the contest in which the 9 for '09 would face off yet again.

Last month, I argued that USAID inaptly named a three-day virtual conference on savings as "The Forgotten Half of Microfinance." Instead, I posited:

"As someone working on asset building and financial inclusion for the poor (and/or their cross-fertilization in the development field), I would contend that the hosts got it wrong when chose the title for this event. Indeed, "savings" is not "forgotten" at all. Though perhaps traditionally underemphasized, I would argue that, on the contrary, savings is the in fact the "next big thing" in financial interventions."

Looks like I got this one right.

This week USAID's knowledge sharing website, Microlinks.org and MicroSave are hosting a three-day interactive, web-based discussion on "Savings: the Forgotten Half of Financial Interventions." This discussion is open to the public and a worthwhile seminar for anyone in the global savings and asset development community (see a summary of topics and facilitators below). To begin my participation in this discussion, I would like to contribute not by posing a question to the hosts, but by sharing with them a simple observation: As someone working on asset building and financial inclusion for the poor (and/or their cross-fertilization in the development field), I would contend that the hosts got it wrong when chose the title for this event. Indeed, "savings" is not "forgotten" at all. Though perhaps traditionally underemphasized, I would argue that, on the contrary, savings is the in fact the "next big thing" in financial interventions.

New America Senior Fellows Parag Khanna, Maria Kupcu, and Michael Cohen's article, "The New Colonialists," appears alongside the Failed States Index in the current issue of Foreign Policy Magazine.

The authors suggest that in many states - not only those traditionally considered "failed" -- "a hodgepodge of international charities, aid agencies, philanthropists, and foreign advisers" are increasingly carrying out traditional government functions. Increasingly, people in developing countries depend upon internationally-financed organizations for basic services such as health care and education that their governments cannot provide.

While these groups undoubtedly address urgent development challenges, their presence begs the question of whether the states in which they operate will ever develop the capacity to provide basic services for their populations. And, if not, what does that mean for state sovereignty in the 21st century?

While the authors do not view this phenomenon as purely benign or malign, they do call for a new system of global governance that holds the new colonialists accountable to the citizens of countries in which they operate.

The international microfinance movement - cheered and arguably hyped for its ability to alleviate poverty through access to microcredit - originated based on a social mission to provide financial services such as small loans to the poor and underserved.  However, the recent explosion of profit-seeking providers (in some instances, non-profit MFIs going public, such as the now-infamous Compartamos IPO, in other cases, a surge in predatory micro-lenders) has been met with a mix of applause, skepticism and in some cases, disgust.  Now, some microfinance leaders are speaking out about the risks industry faces if it loses sight of its social mission, fearing the likelihood of an influx of profit-seeking actors offering credit products that are actually more welfare-harming than welfare-enhancing.  My question is: Has anyone else noticed some eerie similarities between these debates over profits from microcredit and the debates within the US over payday lenders?

There is a flood of new ballot measures on local development headed for municipal ballots in California. News of four such measures is below. I'll be moderating a Zocalo LA panel on this phenomenon on May 27 at 7 p.m. at the Autry Museum in Griffith Park in Los Angeles.

Voters in LA county will decide whether to charge themselves a global warming fee.

The Conejo Valley teachers union sides with Home Depot, and opposes a ballot initiative backed by a local chain of hardware stores that would limit big box development in Thousand Oaks.

A classic Santa Monica battle over a proposed ballot measure that would limit the size and imprint of commercial development.

Here's a report on a new local ballot initiative filed in an attempt to limit growth in Grass Valley. (That's in Nevada County, northern California).

And a bonus item from Arizona, cultural colony of California: Paradise Valley can't approve a Ritz without a referendum.

In its first week, this blog has focused on the soaring number of land use questions that end up on the ballot as initiatives in local elections. California has been the center of this trend, but other Western states are experiencing the same thing.

Utah legislators have decided to slow down the train. They've passed a bill, now signed into law by the governor, that would make it all but impossible to submit initiatives or referneda on land use questions to local voters. The governor has signed it. And the Salt Lake Tribune is angry about it. This won't be the last you hear about this law. Look for court challenges -- and for the national property rights movement and direct democracy advocates to make a cause of reversing this.

Lots of items this morning

INITIATIVE SPONSOR TO GAYS: 'JUST SHUT UP': One of the two Oregon legislators sponsoring a ballot initiative that would allows employers to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation shares "my advice to the gay community". That advice? "Shut up, just don't talk about it." He nows says that he was sharing advice he used at his own business, which produces hazelnuts.

RIGHT TO WORK EQUALS NIXON: An interesting Huffington Post item recalls then Vice President Nixon's backing of ballot initiatives to establish "right to work" laws, overturning "closed shop" rules that required workers to join unions as a condition of employment. A battle is brewing now in Colorado over a similar measure. (Click read more to see more items)

BUT YOU CAN STILL GET A GOOD STEAK THERE: Kansas City votes April 8 on a local ballot initiative that will strengthen its relatively weak anti-smoking law. The city council there is trying to beat the initiative by adding its own tweaks to the law.

QUESTION TIME: Last year, San Francisco voted down a ballot initiative that would have required the mayor to submit to "question time" from the board of supervisors, in the same manner that British prime ministers must take questions in the House of Commons. But the board of supes hasn't given up, inviting Mayor Gavin Newsom to show up and take questions. He is declining these invitations. Newsom, who remains popular despite a public confession of adultery with a top aide's wife, has been deflecting requests for information of all kinds as he explores a race for governor in 2010. (Arnold is termed out, so the seat is open).

Now comes news that a second initiative on development in Bayview-Hunters Point has qualified for the city of San Francisco’s June ballot. Check out this story in the Chronicle.

Why should people outside San Francisco care? Because in California and around the country, local ballot measures have become a common instrument of business-on-business warfare. Lennar Corp, a national development company based in Florida, first qualified an initiative that would put in place its Hunters Point development plan, which would include a combination of retail, industrial and residential development along with a new 49ers Stadium. In response, a San Francisco supervisor -- with backing from other developers -- has qualified this second initiative, which would impose a mandate that half of the new homes in the Hunters Point area be sold or rented at below-market rates.

Such battles have come to dominate municipal ballots in California. Look at ballots this June. Wal-Mart takes on local business in Long Beach. A hardware store owner is battling Home Depot in Thousand Oaks. In Anaheim a fight between a developer and Disney produced two ballot measures, though those were recently removed after the developer, facing legal problems and an onslaught from the Mouse, surrendered.