{UAH} Fwd: FW: The real story behind WHO's approved budget

fyi

Date: Thu, 21 May 2015 16:09:51 -0500
From: info@devex.com
To: georgeokello_8@hotmail.com
Subject: The real story behind WHO's approved budget






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May 21, 2015








QUOTABLE











"USAID is huge.
It's so big now that [Congress] can't do the oversight we need to do."







- Kay Granger, U.S.
congresswoman

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DEVELOPMENT BUZZ












WHO's approved budget: Not a walk in the park


By Jenny Lei Ravelo









There is broad consensus on the need for the World Health Organization
to reform itself so as to remain relevant, be more coherent and more
agile in the face of crises.

This was evident in January during the special session of the
executive board on Ebola, when member states adopted a resolution that
kick-started a series of new - arguably long overdue - reforms at the
organization.

At that meeting, they tasked Director-General Dr.
Margaret Chan with strengthening the organization's emergency
operational capabilities.
This included ensuring an adequate number of dedicated and trained
WHO staff members were in place at headquarters, as well as at
regional and country offices, on standby to take part in emergency
relief programs, including in acute emergencies with health
consequences.

In the same resolution, they recognized the need for "adequate
resources" for the organization's preparedness, surveillance and
response work.

In response, Chan committed to streamlining the organization's systems
and procedures, speed up the organization's emergency response by
creating a single program for health emergencies that would be
directly under her oversight, and putting in place performance
benchmarks to ensure
actions are taken within the shortest possible timeframe.

She also committed to strengthening the skills of her emergency staff
and ensuring the organization has sufficient numbers of logisticians,
anthropologists, risk communication experts and emergency coordinators
readily available and competent to lead field operations.

But these commitments came with a heft price tag.
In her 2016-2017 budget, Chan proposed an 8 percent increase from the
current biennial budget.

Member states welcomed Chan's announcement for reforms, and before the
end of Wednesday's sessions, approved the director-general's proposed
budget of $4.38 billion for the forthcoming two-year period.

The seal of approval has hardly come as a surprise given the clamor
for change among member states, realizing the importance of providing
the agency with the resources it needs to be able to better respond to
future crises.
Indeed, there is common understanding that limited funding,
exacerbated by cuts to the organization's budget in recent years,
significantly diminished WHO's capacity to respond to the Ebola
crisis.

But securing approval wasn't a walk in the park.








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Not a waste







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The other Grade 3 emergencies apart from Ebola







There is wide perception that WHO's initial limited response to the
Ebola outbreak was partly due to the agency
responding to multiple crises, some demanding the same degree of
resources and attention.
But contrary to popular belief, MERS or the bird flu are not among
those crises.




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DEVEX.COM |





















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6 ways to innovate for development in 2015 and beyond









As negotiations on finalizing the new development agenda heat up, one
thing is clear: Delivering on these goals will
require investment in innovation.
Here are some areas identified over the past year where the U.N.
Development Program will seek to innovate in 2015 and beyond.

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VUVUZELA











Sounding off on Europe's migration policy








The European Commission outlined last week a new policy on migration,
proposing to take in and distribute around Europe 20,000 refugees in
2015 and 2016.
The announcement came a few weeks after hundreds of people fleeing
violence and poverty in Africa and the Middle East died while crossing
the Mediterranean Sea.
European leaders pledged to take action in the past month, but the
plans are "more of a face-saving measure for European political
leaders than anything that's going to make a substantive difference,"
Kevin Watkins, executive director of Overseas Development Institute,
told
Devex correspondent Gabriella Jóźwiak.

For Watkins, the issue lies in how migration is perceived - as a
problem, instead of an opportunity.
This, he said, is one area where the international development
community can make a difference, by increasing pressure on political
leaders and opinion formers.

"The development community has got into this unfortunate habit of
treating the movement of people as a development failure," Watkins
said.
"It's a source of growth, innovation and opportunity and in an
interconnected world it can be a fantastic force for reducing
disparities between countries."

Watkins' opinion reflects economic studies on immigration, said one
Devex reader, who also noted the prevailing myths about developments
in Africa, which focus on past and current problems, rather than the
reducing rates of population growth, increasing economic growth and
the decreased
number of long-lasting conflicts.


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