Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are being actively promoted by donor governments and international financial institutions to finance social services and infrastructure projects around the world.. PPPs are agreements where private sector companies replace the state as providers of traditional public services and infrastructure, such as health and education, transport, energy, and water and sanitation.

A central part of today’s unjust economic system is the disadvantageous position of women compared to men. Women are more likely to live in poverty, and are more strongly impacted by increasing global economic inequality. The difference between men and women in access to decent jobs and equal pay, as well as numerous examples of discrimination regarding ownership and inheritance rules are just some of the factors that maintain and reinforce these inequalities. Severe under-representation of women and girls in economic and wider societal decision-making at all levels adds further to the structural inequalities.

This week the UN Human Rights Council will discuss new Guiding Principles to ensure human rights are integral to economic policy-making.  

The European Commission has released a new Staff Working Document on Policy Coherence for Development (PCD). The Commission’s report covers the first three years of the EU’s attempts to implement the Sustainable Development Goals, an endeavour for which PCD is crucial. The document however unveils that the EU’s PCD framework, as complex as it might already be, continues to have severe omissions – in particular the complete neglect of the EU’s fiscal and monetary policies on sustainable development in and outside the EU. Moreover, while the Communication maps EU policies on taxation and investment, it sells some of those as positive contributions while it neglects the risks and negative impacts that EU policies in these areas have.

First published by Development Finance International 

At the start of the New Year, the number of countries at high risk of debt distress is growing at an alarming rate. With so many crises already ongoing, and more expected to emerge over the next 12 months, it’s no surprise that the topic is high on the agenda of international organisations. But perhaps it’s not as high up as it should be in order to head off a looming crisis…

First in a two-part blog series 

Tuesday January 15 2019

Today, the European Commission kick-started the debate on whether to change EU decision making on tax matters, suggesting a stepwise move towards qualified majority voting, including giving an active role to the European Parliament. At the same time, the Parliament, which currently has an advisory role on EU tax matters, adopted a strong and progressive report calling for the EU to get rid of tax policies that have negative impacts on gender equality.