Independent Research and Practical Ideas for Global Prosperity: A Short Video Overview of the Center for Global Development

Watch the video (running time 15:33)

In this brief video CGD board chairman Edward W. Scott, Jr. and president Nancy Birdsall explain the mission and approach of the Center. Four examples of the Center's work in its first five years are presented:

An Advance Market Commitment for Vaccines. Malaria, AIDS, diarrheal disease and respiratory infections kill millions of people each year. Vaccines could be an extremely cost-effective way to prevent these diseases. But firms are unwilling to invest in vaccine research and development (R&D) because they do not see a market. CGD senior fellow and director of programs Ruth Levine and others tell how a CGD working group devised a solution to this problem that has been endorsed by the G-8.

Commitment to Development Index. Which rich countries' policies are more friendly to development? CGD research fellow David Roodman explains how the Commitment to Development Index answers this question by ranking 21 wealthy countries across seven policy areas. Moisés Naím, editor-in-chief of Foreign Policy magazine, and Eveline Herfkens, executive coordinator of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals Campaign, tell how the Index is sparking debates and changing minds.

Nigerian Debt Relief. CGD analysis was instrumental in achieving debt relief for Nigeria, Africa's most populous country and home to 100 million people who live on less than a dollar a day. CGD senior fellow Todd Moss and former Nigerian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala describe the process that led to Nigeria and the Paris Club reaching agreement on debt relief worth $18 billion and a debt stock reduction of $30 billion.

Independent Monitoring of Aid Programs: the MCA Monitor. As donors have sought to do business in new ways, CGD has provided insights from a careful look at the evidence. CGD senior fellow Steve Radelet describes how the Center contributed to the design of the U.S. Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) and has since provided just-in-time rigorous analysis through the MCA Monitor. Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-AZ), offers a Congressional perspective on CGD's contributions.