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The Role of OIC in Global Governance cannot be ignored by considering it a weak organization on the World stage. Globally, the OIC represents more than 1.8 billion people. As soon as the OIC was founded, it began assisting Muslim nations in their conflict resolution. The OIC became successful at mediating various feuds between Muslims, but it rarely served as an influential organization. It is imperative that all OIC organs, standing committees, and agencies do their part to ensure the stability of Muslim world governance at all levels. This paper argues that the role of OIC in the world politics cannot be ignored because it is the second biggest organization which stretched in four continents of the world. A review of the official websites of the OIC, Standing Committees, and agencies of the OIC was conducted to gather primary data. OIC officials and diplomats from the Muslim World were interviewed.

Purpose – This paper aims to review the Shari’ah investment screening methodologies of 34 prominent global Islamic finance users, including index providers, Shari’ah service providers, Islamic banks, a regulator, an association body and fund managers. Design/methodology/approach – A comparative analysis is performed to highlight the variances of the Shari’ah-compliant methods and principles practiced by these renowned institutions with the latest compiled data. Findings – The two sets of business screens and financial screens are profiled separately to clearly examine the similarities and differences between the different methodologies. Some of these practitioners are more specific in their listing of Shari’ah-impermissible activities, while some are more general in allowing more businesses to be included as permissible. The majority of these users practice a two-tier method of screening: qualitative and quantitative. Under quantitative screen, the range of allowable threshold ratios on non-permissible criteria differs slightly between them. Research limitations/implications – With the wide divergence in screening methodologies applied by practitioners, there is a general consensus in the acceptance of compliant assets from various countries and practice. Standardization is, therefore, seen as a need not only to make understanding of Shari’ah investments clear to investors but also to discourage misunderstandings between scholars and investors. Practical implications – The suggestion, therefore, is to set globally acceptable universal Shari’ah standard methodologies which are applicable by the world Islamic financial market. These standards which are relevant and logical to global ethical investing would further stimulate investments in Islamic finance. Social implications – With Shari’ah-compliant asset growing exponentially relative to the world’s financial assets, it is alleged that greater harmonization of the global screening methods would prevent misunderstanding and provide a clearer insight on Shari’ah investing, which could further accelerate growth of the Islamic finance sector worldwide. Originality/value – To provide a more transparent regulatory environment and build local and regional regulatory framework through establishment of standards, there should be more consistency with minimum barriers that prevent the industry from achieving its full potential. The paper also contributes to existing literature by documenting and analyzing the qualitative and quantitative screening procedures as practiced by a comprehensive set of global Islamic finance users. It is, therefore, important to share this knowledge as an effort toward greater understanding and harmonization of the practices at the global level to accelerate growth in the industry.

Islamic banks play a significant role in social and environmental responsibility. It is known that Islamic finance is not merely profit-oriented but also looking at the prosperity of the society, as an ethical financial system Islamic finance give a massive contribution towards social responsibility. This exploratory study examines the relations between corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices of Indonesian Islamic banks and socio-economic development. The evidence presented is based on the published annual reports of 13 Islamic commercial banks in 2017. The findings of this research suggests that CSR is a priority of Indonesian Islamic banks and has correlation to the socio-economic development. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the robust guiding principles on CSR need to be developed and it has potential of Islamic banks credibility and profitability.

Youth employment issues are a major concern for many countries because they have negative effects on the welfare of young people, and may also adversely affect economic performance and social stability. This is the first Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) evaluation of the World Bank Group's support to countries trying to address youth employment issues. The World Bank lending portfolio for youth employment is relatively small, although components of programs appear in 57 countries. Most projects include interventions in skills development and school-to-work transition. Half of the projects include interventions to foster job creation and work opportunities for youth. International Finance Corporation (IFC) has a broad approach to job creation. Between FY01 and FY11 youth employment has not been specifically targeted, except in the Middle East and North Africa region and in a small number of other interventions. IFC invested

Globalization and its relation to poverty reduction and development is not well understood. The book identifies the ways in which globalization can overcome poverty or make it worse. The book defines the big historical trends, identifies main global flows - trade, finance, aid, migration, and ideas - and examines how each can contribute to undermine economic development. By considering what helps and what does not, the book presents policy recommendations to make globalization more effective as a vehicle for shared growth and prosperity. It will be of interest to students, researchers and anyone interested in the effects of globalization in today's economy and in international development issues.

This Country Assistance Evaluation was prepared in collaboration with the Islamic Development Bank. Tunisia has successfully shifted from resource-based exports dominated by oil and gas to manufactures and services. Real GDP growth has been consistently rising and Tunisians today enjoy more than two-and-a-half times the real incomes that their parents had thirty years ago. Rapid growth made possible a remarkable improvement in social indicators and a decline in the poverty rate from 40 percent in 1970 to 4 percent in 2000; with the remaining poverty predominately rural. The Bank’s strategy since 1990 has been to support macroeconomic stabilization, pro-market structural reforms to foster growth, and social programs as well as human development. Despite significant development progress and the satisfactory outcome of the Bank’s assistance program, shortfalls in some areas, combined with the more competitive environment that Tunisia will likely face in the future, pose risks to sustaining its remarkable development performance. This evaluation recommends that the Bank should continue to support improving the environment for private sector development and enhancing competitiveness, as the country seeks to integrate more into the global economy. Future Bank programs should also help strengthen rural institutions to support efficient output and input markets (for example, land and rural finance) while maintaining social and political stability through better targeted safety nets. Finally, the Bank should also fill the gaps in core diagnostic economic and sector work by completing a public expenditure review, with the aim to help build capacity to prioritize public spending and provide the basis for measures to efficiently address education expansion.

Effective, efficient and transparent management of public resources is particularly important in a poor country like Niger. This study shows how difficult it is for Niger to significantly change its expenditure composition in a short time span. A narrow and volatile domestic resource base, heavy dependence on aid, and a large share of pre-determined expenditures such as external debt payments are important factors behind this lack of flexibility. There are ways, though, to create space in the budget for increasing public spending on priority sectors. The study identifies a number of measures in this regard, such as increasing domestic revenues, more realistic and conservative budgeting, strengthening cash management, controlling the wage bill, prudent borrowing and attracting higher external financing for recurrent costs in priority sectors. The study also shows that enhancing the efficiency and transparency of public spending is as important as increasing spending for PRS priority sectors. It thoroughly assesses public management systems in Niger and presents an action plan, jointly elaborated by the Government and its main external partners, to address the main challenges in this area. This action plan contains a priority set of measures to improve budget preparation, execution as well as internal and external oversight.

As a historical religion, Islam has been in existence for 1,400 years. Religious principles bind mankind to a way of life that is meant to be pleasing to God. Finance was also an integral part of the Muslim empires of the Ummayads, the Abbasids, the Fatimids, the Mamlukes, the Seljuks, and also of the Ottomans. The modern phase of Islamic finance may have been the brainchild of political ideologists that saw the post‐World War II world economic system built on the principles of interest. Nevertheless, the Muslim world developed institutions to collaborate, the first of its kind being the Islamic development bank, which possibly embodies the aspirations of many Muslims in fulfilling the goals of a Muslim society. The Malaysian government funded research institutions to develop the infrastructure of Islamic banking products. The Islamic banking window had to have a team of shariah advisors to endorse products and processes.

The first law on Islamic finance was adopted by the parliament of Kazakhstan and signed by the president on February 12, 2009. Shari'ah‐compliant asset management in Kazakhstan is in its primary stage because of a lack of the necessary market conditions. The position of the Association for Islamic Finance Development and Al Hilal is to provide to Islamic financiers the same tax exemptions (i.e., neutrality) as for conventional financial institutions, which are legally provided for their deposit as well money‐lending activities. Further strengthening of the sectoral capacity is expected from the sole regulator, the National Bank of Kazakhstan, based on its Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) membership and its recent cooperation with Islamic Development Bank (IDB) to pioneer issuing sovereign sukuk, and from the Ministry of Education to introduce Islamic finance courses into university programs.