THE Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has offered new lending facilities to the region. The Bank has announced the approval of a Flexible Financing Facility (FFF) which will become fully operational on January 1, 2012 and will replace the current platform for approval of sovereign guaranteed loans from the Ordinary Capital, the IDB’s principal source of lending. According to IDB Finance Department Manager, Edward Bartholomew: “Countries’ financial needs frequently change during the life of our loans. These flexible financing solutions will allow our sovereign borrowers to better manage risks, whether at a project level, in their broader lending programmes or as part of comprehensive asset and liability management strategies,”
Under the FFF, borrowers will be able to divide loans into tranches or sub-loans with different characteristics, such as repayment schedules, currencies or interest rate bases. The flexibility to choose different amortisation profiles will enable borrowers to select structures to best match project cash flows, such as uneven amortization schedules, and extended grace periods.
Borrowers will also have the flexibility to manage interest rate and currency risk exposures of their IDB loans to facilitate asset liability management strategies. These options will be available at loan signature or throughout the life of loans, on part or full outstanding balances that will enable Latin American and Caribbean countries to tailor loan terms and conditions to suit their individual needs, as well as to use hedges to manage interest rate and currency risks associated with their IDB debt.
The adoption of the Flexible Financing Facility is part of a broader agenda of reforms the IDB is carrying out to better meet the needs and expectations of its member countries, which last year agreed to the largest capital increase in the institution’s history.
The United Nations Secretary-General Mr. Ban Ki-Moon has said that his challenge is breaking the ‘Glass Ceiling’ in United Nations Middle Management. At the time he was speaking to the delegates at the recent Global Summit of Women, in Istanbul on 7 May, 2011.
Mr. Ban-Ki-Moon said that unfortunately, despite the important gains in women’s advancement and empowerment, in too many societies women still remain second-class citizens and has pointed to three areas which he is currently working to improve. He said that on his agenda is helping the world’s poorest women and girls, the gender gap in women’s political participation and closing the gender gap in the business world. On the issue of closing the gender gap in the business world, he stressed that in every organisation in the world there is an invisible barrier that stops women’s advancement. 
Mr. Ban-Ki-Moon said that he is currently working hard to break down barriers for the advancement of women, by tearing down this glass ceiling at the United Nations. He noted that holding top positions within the United Nations are the top humanitarian official, the top development official, the head of management, to name a few that are all women.
The theme for this year’s summit is “Bridging Solutions to the 21st Century”.
Meanwhile, the IDB has called for proposals about impact assessment methodologies in Latin America and the Caribbean and will afford eight winners the opportunity to work with IDB specialists in developing their methodologies, which will help provide them with recognition as leaders in issues of institutional capacity building and impact assessment and is open until June 13, 2011. 
Selected projects are to receive up to $50,000 in grants. The winners will receive up to an additional $25,000 to replicate their methodologies in Latin America and the Caribbean. The competition aims at Measuring Institutional Impact in the Regions of the Americas (MIRA).
The MIRA competition is open to public institutions, nonprofit or for-profit organizations, academic institutions, research centres, or bilateral development agencies. The proposals should be designed for interventions implemented in the public sector, whether executed by the governmental entity itself or through a different organisation.
A committee of experts will evaluate the proposals according to the clarity of their objectives, their capacity to provide empirical documentation on the impact of capacity strengthening initiatives, their ability to demonstrate causal relationships based on the results, and their incorporation of elements of cost-efficiency.