The Monterrey Consensus recognizes that urgent development needs for poverty reduction, job creation, and improved living standards cannot be achieved without significant and sustained investment by the private sector.  To implement the Monterrey Consensus, the Global Clearinghouse Initiative has developed specific Financing for Development Tools.

The Global Clearinghouse “Financing for Development Tools” are Global Public Goods that have been developed over the last six years to implement the Monterrey Consensus objective of mobilizing private sector resources for development, advancing the capacity of developing country governments and aid effectiveness of development agencies. These tools are designed to use simple communication technologies to enable more effective collaboration and catalytic exchange between governments, the private sector, and development agencies needed to breakthrough long-standing impediments to achieve results across all developing countries. Specific deliverables include:

    * Identification of critical investment impediments and possible remedies, and enhanced developing country government capacity to improve the country business environment;
    * Open user-friendly access for investors worldwide to credible, timely, relevant information on all developing countries, including regions, sectors, assessments of risks and opportunities, and risk management services and strategies;
    * Sharing of success stories, best practices, effective crisis prevention policies and development strategies; and
    * Development of innovative and effective financing mechanisms.

As an independent expert initiative, the focus is on bridging costly gaps between investors and governments in areas critical to effectively mobilizing domestic and international private sector capital, and enabling cost-effective collaboration between official and private sector experts. Specific related networking functions of the Clearinghouse that harness expertise from across the private and official sectors include:

    * Easy Open Access to a Development Finance Portal -- enabling investors worldwide to easily access information on all developing countries in one web site;
    * Availability of Cost-Effective Government-Investor Networks -- enhancing government capacity to improve business environments, transparency, and accountability; and
    * Enable Creation of Independent Infrastructure Expert Groups -- providing expertise and recommendations on policy and financing options to policy makers and investors
  
The Global Clearinghouse is committed to employing cost-effective communication and internet technologies to improve communication and the sharing of information between governments, international organizations, investors, and analysts worldwide – in effect improving and streamlining the "information plumbing" and communication capacity of the global financial system, organizations, and governments.

BACKGROUND RESEARCH
The Global Clearinghouse for Development Finance is based upon many years of intensive research and consultations with investors in developing countries funded with the generous support of the United Nations, the Ford Foundation (through the New School University), the Norwegian government, the Swiss government and the Council on Foreign Relations (New York, New York). The project also benefited from the support and input of the other business interlocutors of the United Nations Conference on Financing for Development -- the Business Council of the United Nations, the International Chamber of Commerce, the Money Matters Institute, and the World Economic Forum - all engaged in developing public-private initiatives to mobilize private sector capital for development.

Below are hyperlinks to three research papers that have been instrumental in the development of the concepts underlying the Clearinghouse, representing consultations with over 350 investors in developing countries:

* "Strengthening Information and Analysis in the Global Financial System: A Concrete Set of Proposals" (United Nations DESA Discussion Paper No. 23, June 2002)
* "Roundtable on Country Risk in the Post-Asia Crisis Era: Identifying Risks, Strategies, and Policy Implications -- Key Recommendations from Working Group Discussions 10/99 - 9/00" (Council on Foreign Relations, New York, New York)
* "Roundtable on Country Risk in the Post-Asia Crisis Era: Identifying Risks, Strategies, and Policy Implications: Identifying Risks, Strategies, and Policy Implications -- Key Recommendations from Working Group Discussions 10/98 -9/99" (Council on Foreign Relations, New York, New York)

Other related research and presentations conducted by the Clearinghouse founder, Dr. Barbara C. Samuels II, include the following: (NOTE: NO LINKS)

* "Applying Global Standards and Codes in the Low-Income Country Context," presentation to the United Nations and Friedrich Ebert Foundation Conference on "Mobilizing Capital in the Interest of Development," New York, New York, April 26-27, 2001.
* "The Challenge of Globalization: Problems and Solutions," presentation to The World Policy Institute, New School University, November 2, 2000.
* "Strengthening the Global Financial System: From Architecture to Preemptive Action," presentation to the Second Committee of the General Assembly, United Nations, New York, New York, October 10, 2000.
* "The Global Risks Facing International Investors," presentation to Institutional Investor's Asia-Pacific Forum, Singapore, March 2-3, 2000.
* "Reconsidering Credit Rating Criteria," presentation to the Friedrich Ebert Foundation Conference "The Global Credit Ratings System and Developing Countries; Building Confidence in the Process of Globalization," New York, New York, October 28, 1999.
* "The New Dimensions of International Risk," presentation to the Senior Executives Roundtable, Institutional Investor Institute, Bermuda, November 11-13, 1999.
* "In Search of the Market Failure in the Asian Crisis, " The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, Vol. 23:1. Winter/Spring, 1999, pp. 131 - 144.
* "Assessing the Effectiveness of Existing Country Risk Models," presentation to the AIC Conference on "Country Risk in Emerging Markets," London, February 9-10, 1998.
* "The Changing Nature of Sovereign Risk," presentation to the Investment Roundtable, The European Institute, Oslo, Norway, February 26-27, 1998.
* Chairperson, AIC 1998 Conference "Country Risks in Emerging Markets," London, June 25-27, 1998.
* "How Markets Failed Asia," The International Economy, November/December 1998, pp. 34-37.
* "Implementing Effective Early Warning Signals to Monitor Country Risk," presentation to Emerging Market Investor Conference on "Country Risks in Emerging Markets," New York, July 20-21, 1998.
* "Credit Ratings: The View from the Bridge," presentation to Money Matters Institute Conference for Mexican pension fund managers, Boston, August 26, 1997.
* "Judging the Judges," presentation to the Money Matters Institute Conference "The Promise and Power of Private Pension Funds, " Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico, May 16-17, 1997.
* "Country Risk Analysis," presentation to the 1997 AIMR Annual Conference "On the Delta: The Investment Profession in Transition," New Orleans, Louisiana, May 11-14, 1997.
* "The Changing Nature of Sovereign Risk," presentation to Institutional Investor's Fixed Income
Forum, Chicago, March 13-14, 1997.
* "Emerging Markets: The Overall Outlook and the Risk of Divergence," presentation to the World Times Conference on the "Role of Private Finance in Sustainable Development," the Boston Harbor Hotel, Boston, March 21, 1996.
* "Attractiveness of Emerging Markets," presentation to the 1995 Financial Panel, Europe Research Council Conference, Amsterdam, March 21-22, 1995.
* "Emerging Markets are Here to Stay," Foreign Affairs (November/December 1995).
* Managing Risk in Developing Countries: National Demands and Multinational Response (Princeton University Press, 1990).
* "Country Risk Redefined: Positioning for the '90s," Leaders Magazine, October 1990, volume 13, number 4.
* Chairperson, 1989 Conference of the Association of Political Risk Analysts: "Global Assessments for the 1990's: Leveraging Economic and Political Factors within Strategic Decision-Making."
* "Study of US and USSR Joint Ventures," research paper prepared for the US-USSR Trade and Economic Council, 1989.
* Chase Manhattan Bank: Presentations on countries and assessment methodologies to internal business groups, credit officers, and clients (1983-1994)