On this edition of the Wonkcast, I am joined by senior fellow Liliana Rojas-Suarez, who discusses her work as co-chair of the CGD Task Force on Access to Financial Services. Financial regulation—and access—is a hot topic right now, as countries try to reduce the chance of future financial crises, while also ensuring access to financial services. The US House and Senate are currently wrestling with exactly what a revamped US regulatory system should look like. Liliana explains that the balance between financial stability and increased access to finance is at the root of these debates, and in fact was central to the financial collapse itself. "Even in the United States," she explains, "many people did not have sufficient access to finance, and, well, nobody wanted to stop the provision of financial services. And that was creating a bubble that ended up in the largest crisis that we have seen in recent history." However, shifting too far the other way-- trying to ensure stability through strict banking regulation-- could deny billions of people around the world access to basic financial services (see David Roodman’s recent blog post examining recent estimates of the number of people who are financially un-served). Liliana and her task force came up with a set of ten principles that can help policymakers address that dilemma. "The unique thing about the principles is that it takes the forest, not just the trees," Liliana tells me. "It doesn't focus on one part of regulation, it basically looks at the entire forest of financial regulation and says, 'OK we want the system to be stable, but we also want the system to provide financial access.'" The principles fall into three general categories-- financial infrastructure, financial regulation, and other government policies. Listen to the podcast to hear Liliana explain them, and go read the Task Force's full report introducing the principles here. Have something to add to our discussion? Ideas for future interviews? Post a comment below. If you use iTunes, you can subscribe to get new episodes delivered straight to your computer every week.

What are the benefits of focusing specifically on girls when we invest in development? My guest this week is Ruth Levine, an expert on health and education who for the past two years has focused much of her work on adolescent girls. She's the co-author of a recently released CGD report titled, "Start With A Girl: A New Agenda for Global Health." In our Wonkcast, she outlines the agenda and explains why it's so critical.

"Women and girls in many senses really hold the key not only for their own health but for the health of their children and their broader communities," Ruth tells me. Recognizing that fact and directing our investments accordingly, she says, can lead to better solutions for a wide range of problems-- everything from economic development to HIV/AIDS.

"In high [AIDS] burden countries, if you look at who is getting infected, three quarters of HIV infected young people are girls."

Bringing those numbers and overall AIDS infection rates down, Ruth explains, will require identifying and addressing the social dynamics that make girls more vulnerable in the first place.

The 'Start With a Girl' agenda explains what a comprehensive girl-focused public health policy might look like. Among its eight agenda items, it recommends working to eliminate child marriage, focusing HIV prevention efforts on adolescent girls, and fostering national commitments in selected developing countries to providing healthcare to girls. The full agenda as well as a video of the report's well-attended launch are available here.

Start with a Girl is the second report in the ongoing Girls Count series, following on Girls Count: A Global Investment and Action Agenda, which Ruth co-authored with experts from three other organizations.

Listen to the Wonkcast to hear our full conversation. Have something to add? Ideas for future interviews? Post a comment below. If you use iTunes, you can subscribe to get new episodes delivered straight to your computer every week. Ruth is beginning to Tweet -- sign on to follow her on Twitter!

My guest this week is Sheila Herrling, director of CGD’s Rethinking U.S. Foreign Assistance Program. With November upon us and still no USAID administrator, Sheila introduces us to some possible candidates who have already been vetted for other jobs (learn more and pick your favorite here).

In the Wonkcast, Sheila explains the poll land offers a quick run-down on three development-related initiatives underway in Washington: Obama’s Presidential Study Directive, the State Department's first-ever Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, and a new effort to re-write the badly out-dated U.S. Foreign assistance Act (a short video we produced last year remains relevant!)

During our interview, Sheila argues that President Obama's foreign policy process is sorely lacking the strong development-focused voice that a USAID administrator would provide. "[Given] the fact that he is struggling with Afghanistan in a very public way right now," she tells me, "really having a voice 24/7 on the development perspective of that strategy is more critical than ever." While Secretary of State Clinton cares about development, "she has a full-time job on a purely foreign policy dimension, on the diplomacy side."

She explains that there is virtually no way a USAID administrator could be in office by the administration's 1-year mark unless he or she is nominated by next week.

"The only way I see getting a candidate this year is if they took someone who's already through the vetting process," she explained in the interview.

What’s Sheila’s preference between selecting among those already vetted for other jobs or enduring the wait for a nominee with greater name recognition? And who would Sheila like to see in the job? Find out on the Global Prosperity Wonkcast!

Like the Wonkcast? Hate it? Comments or suggestions? Ideas for future interviews? Leave a comment below. If you use iTunes, you can subscribe here to get new episodes delivered straight to your computer every week.

For the first time since the Commitment to Development Index was created in 2003, Sweden ranks first in the annual assessment of wealthy countries' policies that boost prosperity in the developing world. Index architect David Roodman released the 2009 rankings at the European Development Days in Stockholm, on October 22. Learn why Sweden tops the list and how other countries perform by exploring the souped-up multilingual CDI web site, listening to the second episode of CGD’s new Global Prosperity Wonkcast, or reading the brief and press release.

CDI Web Site | Brief | Podcast | Inside the Index

Over half a dozen African countries are either already producing oil or on the brink of producing oil. Lawrence MacDonald interviews Africa expert Todd Moss about his proposal for managing Ghana's newly found oil.

For more information visit http://www.cgdev.org/