Contains framework for analysing the gender impacts of foreign investment in agriculture; gender analysis of the certification criteria of voluntary sustainability standards and responsible investment frameworks; do voluntary sustainability standards improve gender equality?; lessons for responsible investment frameworks and recommendations.

This report draws lessons from experience of using legal processes to secure local resource rights within the context of foreign investment projects in Africa. Security of local resource rights is a major challenge in many parts of Africa. The analysis of relevant law reveals that resource rights associated with more powerful interests (foreign investment) tend to enjoy greater legal protection compared to those held by local resource users.

This report is part of the Bertelsmann Stiftung’s Transformation Index (BTI) 2020. It covers the period from February 1, 2017 to January 31, 2019. The BTI assesses the transformation toward democracy and a market economy as well as the quality of governance in 137 countries. More on the BTI at https://www.bti-project.org.

Between 2017 and 2019, the quality of democracy in Indonesia continued to slowly but noticeably decline. While President Jokowi was able to de-escalate the conflict between the government and Islamist groups to some extent, he only managed to do so by integrating some Islamist themes and actors into the government structure. This, in turn, moved Indonesia ideologically and politically to the (religious) right. Religious, social and political minorities were the biggest losers of this shift.

Malaysia’s democratic transformation took a historical turn between 2017 and 2019. The opposition coalition, the Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope, PH) won the May 9, 2018, general elections, setting the stage for Mahathir Mohamad, the chairman of the coalition, to become the 7th prime minister of Malaysia (he had previously served as the 4th prime minister). This was the first victory by an opposition coalition after 61 years of rule by the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition led by the United Malays National Organization (UMNO).

A guide to tenure and foreign ownership to support property investment

The extractive industry can be an important source of human development, economic growth, government revenues and foreign investments. When well-managed, the sector provides possibility to create employment, build human capital, advance peoples mobility by improving infrastructure, and ultimately enhance the overall human development with a positive impact on poverty reduction efforts.

China’s influence in neighboring Central Asian states is growing at a fast pace. Since the launch of the One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative to accelerate China’s engagement in Central Asia and beyond, nearly all Chinese activity in this region has been gathered under OBOR. OBOR now seems to cover a plethora of spatially and temporally expanding state and privately driven projects. In this paper, I discuss large- and small-scale Chinese farm enterprises in Tajikistan, in which discussions around China’s “global land investments” and OBOR intersect.

textabstractChina tends to be a dominant figure in the literature on global land grabbing. It is either cast as a major land grabber in distant places such as Africa, or as a key player in crop booms elsewhere because it provides for massive market demand, such as for soya from South America. These are all important issues and are well covered in the literature. However, the crop booms inside China that involve transnational capital and investors – and have provoked conflict around land politics – have been overlooked.

This report assesses the costs and effectiveness of responsible investment practices in emerging market contexts. Its results make the business case for investments in social risk mitigation and avoidance practices. Such practices include community engagement efforts, impact assessments and the establishment of grievance resolution mechanisms. Implemented correctly, responsible investment practices engender confidence and trust between investors and local communities, which secures social buy-in and mitigates the financial risks associated with disputes.

Chapter in a book;“Rethinking land reform in Africa;opportunities and challenges” by the African Natural Resources Centre;edited by Cosmas Milton Obote Ochieng for the African Development Bank. A think piece reflecting on changing commercial pressures on land in low and middle-income countries; the role of law in shaping the ways those pressures manifest themselves; the limits of business standards in driving systemic change; and the case for comprehensive law reform to secure rural land rights.

After the fall of the Soviet Union and regaining its independence, Armenia has begun a process of systemic transformation. The level and pace of socio-economic development has been influenced by internal situation as well as by country’s geopolitical position and its relations with foreign partners. The purpose of this article is to present general characteristics of foreign direct investment that has been present in Armenia since the 1990s. The author describes several key factors shaping the volume, geographical, proprietary and sectoral structure of the FDI inflows.