NADEL Newsletter November 2020

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Dear NADEL friends and alumni,

More often than not, development requires behavioral change. An interesting case unfolds these days in Switzerland that reminds us how difficult behavioral change is. We know that using the SwissCovid tracing app helps interrupt infection chains. Four months after the launch, we are at 1.8 Mio active installations – only 21% of the population. According to surveys, privacy concerns are an important reason, even though the SwissCovid app is fully protecting privacy by design, unlike Whatsapp & Co. Questions abound: Is it lack of solidarity with others? Lack of knowledge? Mistrust in experts? Or simply Covid fatigue? Whatever the mix, it undermines success. The psychological foundations of behavioral change is one of the topics our new batch of MAS students started to learn in September in practice. We were able to start the semester together with them at ETH – keeping distance and wearing masks – but have since had to move online due to rising COVID19 numbers. Our students have adapted remarkably well to these challenges. Regardless of the teaching format, it is wonderful to mentor this group of dedicated young leaders eager to contribute to a more just and sustainable future for all.

Stay safe!
Fritz Brugger and Isabel Günther

Contents

•	Responsible Business Initiative
•	MAS 2022-2024
•	Blockchain and gold supply
•	Corporate taxation
•	Lockdown in South Africa
•	NADEL Podcast

The Responsible Business Initiative and development effectiveness

Together with 14 professors of development economics from six other Swiss universities, Isabel Günther has written about the development impact of adopting the Responsible Business Initiative, which will be put to the vote on 29 November 2020. The initiative aims at obliging companies based in Switzerland to comply with basic human rights and environmental standards in their operations abroad. In their statement, the professors argue that the initiative is a suitable instrument for ensuring that the activities of Swiss companies in developing countries promote rather than impede development. It is also in line with the objectives of Swiss development cooperation and supports the policy coherence of Switzerland’s global engagement. The risk that Swiss corporations withdraw from low-income countries is small, given that most companies already ensure responsible operations abroad and the costs of adhering to basic standards are small.

Read the full statement in English, German, French or Italian

Info sessions MAS 2022-2024

Do you want to put your skills to use around the world? Become part of our MAS in Development and Cooperation, which combines studies at ETH Zurich with on-the-job training at an international organization in a low or middle-income country. The program provides students with the theoretical background and practical experience necessary to successfully pursue a career in international development. MAS graduates are in high demand: Over 80 percent of our alumni have found a job in international cooperation within half a year after graduation.
Learn more about the two-year program at one of our online info sessions on November 16 at 16:00, and November 24 at 18:00.

Join us on ZOOM

Can blockchain lead to transparent gold supply?

To ensure responsible gold sourcing, accredited refiners often obtain gold directly from a few industrial mines, building up trust relationships and visiting these mines frequently. This approach is not feasible for small-scale mines, given their large numbers and the high-risk conditions in which they operate. Are there other options to ensure responsible sourcing from artisanal miners? Can blockchain substitute these trust relationships? In her policy paper, Antoinette van der Merwe explains the possibilities and challenges of using blockchain for a more transparent gold supply chain.

Read the paper in full

Corporate taxation: low-income countries losing out

The taxation of multinational companies places a heavy burden on already strained capacities in low-income countries. Profit-shifting through inter-company transfers leads to millions in lost revenues for governments. Part of the challenge is the complex methods building on the idea that intercompany transactions should mimic free market transactions. Despite its acknowledged weaknesses, attempts to simplify have failed and the rules became even more complex in 2017 under the auspices of the OECD. In the article “Defenders of the status quo”, Fritz Brugger and Rebecca Engebretsen unpack the actors and strategies deployed to fend off simplification that would benefit tax authorities in low-resource jurisdictions.

Read the paper

Blog summarizing the results

«We were stuck»

Antoinette van der Merwe, doctoral student at NADEL and the Development Economics Group, was visiting her family in South Africa when president Cyril Ramaphosa announced the lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus. All of a sudden, Antoinette and her family were stuck, 8600 kilometers away from their home in Zurich. The strict lockdown was a difficult situation, especially for her fellow South Africans living in informal settlements. Hence, Antoinette and the team at NADEL started a new research project to find out how poor families are coping with the current crisis. The results of the study have just been published in the journal World Development.

Results of the study

Watch Antoinette’s lockdown story

Climate, poverty and justice

Is it right to use development cooperation funds to help tackle the climate crisis? In the latest episode of our podcast “1.90 pro Tag”, Fritz Brugger and Jürg Staudenmann, Senior Climate and Development Policy Advisor at Alliance Sud, talk about climate, poverty and justice. In the conversation with the ETH NADEL alumnus ‘03, we find out where emission reduction projects are most effective and what climate justice is all about. We learn more about climate financing and how big our contribution to these international efforts should be. Jürg also reveals why he thinks Switzerland has turned into a developing country and what the most important quality of a successful lobbyist is.

Listen to “1.90 pro Tag”

NADEL in the Social Media

NADEL Podcast

Contact

NADEL - Center for Development and Cooperation
Clausiusstrasse 37
8092 Zurich
Switzerland

+41 44 632 42 40

info@nadel.ethz.ch