Christopher Hitchens, one of the greatest public intellectuals of the last four decades, famously said 'The only way for any country to get out of poverty is the empowerment of women'. Everyone at ISET would no doubt agree with him – Professor Norberto Pignatti in particular, whose latest publication examines how increasing women's participation in the labor force is important for sustainable economic development in transition countries.

On November 26, the Agricultural and Rural Policy Research Center (APRC) of the ISET Policy Institute conducted a third stakeholder working meeting under the auspices of a project entitled “Information quality standards for the participants and beneficiaries of the Agricultural Knowledge and Information System (AKIS)”.

Since the foundation of the ISET, it has had a strong relationship with the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The ADB and ISET have further strengthened their relationship by signing a Memorandum of Agreement, specifically between the ADB and the ISET Library, under the ADB's Depository Library Program.

The recovery of the Consumer Confidence Index, observed from May to July, has been losing steam in September and the November survey confirms that consumer confidence is struggling to go back to prior pandemic levels.

The CCI has been picking up slightly in October, suggesting that the trend observed since May could be resuming after the dip of last month. It is a bit too early to draw a firm conclusion though, as the CCI remains below the values observed four years ago.