{UAH} FW: Peace Corps Vietnam and the World Humanitarian Summit: This week in development news

fyi

---

Date: Thu, 26 May 2016 16:22:55 -0500
From: info@devex.com
To: georgeokello_8@hotmail.com
Subject: Peace Corps Vietnam and the World Humanitarian Summit: This week in development news

To view this email as a web page, click here

To ensure delivery to your inbox, please add info@devex.com to your address book. May 26, 2016 THIS WEEK'S MUST-READ DEVELOPMENT STORIES Peace Corps Vietnam and the World Humanitarian Summit: This week in development news By Michael Igoe @AlterIgoe U.S. President Barack Obama appeals to Vietnam's future leaders. The humanitarian community asks, "just how grand was the 'grand bargain'?" And more overcrowded fishing boats capsize in the Mediterranean. This week in development news. The World Humanitarian Summit is over, but questions about what it accomplished, and what happens next to reform a broke — or broken? — system still remain. Among the big headliners of the first-ever gathering in Istanbul was a new "grand bargain." This highly touted agreement among over two-dozen donors has received mixed reviews. It advances 51 commitments that aim to cut costs, improve transparency, and increase efficiency in the delivery of humanitarian relief, but some critics say it lacks specificity and benchmarks. That could have something to do with who was at the table — namely, very few heads of state from major donor countries, an absence United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called, "disappointing." The summit saw renewed calls for cash to play a greater role in relief operations — as opposed to supplies and food aid — and a pronounced private sector interest in contributing to a better functioning humanitarian system. Stressing the importance of the summit, on Wednesday video showed a fishing boat carrying over 500 prospective migrants capsize off the coast of Libya. Five were found dead. Obama visited Vietnam this week to further crystallize a "normal" relationship between two countries last at war with each other in 1975. As the Obama administration repeatedly pointed out, two-thirds of the current Vietnamese population was born after the war ended. In recent years the U.S. Agency for International Development has been involved in efforts to make amends for the negative impacts of the military defoliant "Agent Orange." Youth exchange, training and education played a central role in the visit. Obama announced that the Peace Corps will send volunteers to Vietnam for the first time, with a focus on teaching English. He also launched the Fulbright University Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City, the nation's first independent, nonprofit university. And Obama participated in what seems to be one of his favorite activities, a town hall with members of the State Department's Young South East Asian Leaders Initiative — YSEALI — where he told the crowd the renewed partnership includes, "addressing areas where our governments disagree, including on human rights." The World Health Organization's role in protecting against and responding to pandemic threats such as Ebola and Zika dominated discussions at this week's World Health Assembly in Geneva. The WHO is putting in place a new health emergencies program in response to global criticism and calls by the WHO's executive board to strengthen its emergency capabilities, Devex's Jenny Ravelo reports. The WHO's new program arrives at the same time the World Bank has officially announced its new Pandemic Emergency Facility, to provide emergency assistance and insurance in the event of global health emergencies. Both announcements, while still just emerging, stand in contrast to a paralyzed budget battle on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., where lawmakers have so far refused to fund the White House's request for $1.9 billion to combat the Zika outbreak. Cyclone Roanu battered Bangladesh and Sri Lanka this week. Many are praising Bangladesh's improved early warning and response efforts for saving lives. Roughly half a million people were relocated in advance of the storm, many to cyclone shelters — which also double as schools. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka has reported $2 billion worth of damage and has appealed for foreign aid to help it recover. At least 120 people have been reported to be killed in the storm. FROM THE EDITOR Top picks this week By Devex @devex Solutions emerge from this week's high-level gatherings across the world: Acknowledgment of an overstretched global relief system and a "grand bargain" from the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, details of the World Health Organization's new health emergency program from the World Health Assembly in Geneva, and a $80 million commitment to address gender gap courtesy of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation from the Women Deliver Conference in Copenhagen. Top stories on Devex this week include the World Bank's response to Zika and a review of U.S. Agency for International Development's engagement with women-owned contractors. World Humanitarian Summit: What was achieved and what work remains? The World Humanitarian Summit had ambitions to reform an overstretched, underfunded relief system. Devex Associate Editor Elizabeth Dickinson shares the highlights from Istanbul. Can WHO bring speed and predictability to emergency work? In 2015, the World Health Organization committed to a set of reforms in response to requests for it to strengthen its emergency response. Devex takes a look at the result of those conversations: the agency's new Health Emergencies Program, to be rolled out from 2016 to 2019. The buzz from Women Deliver 2016 Nearly 6,000 health experts, women's rights advocates, government and private sector stakeholders from around the world gathered this week in Copenhagen to talk about how the global development community can deliver for women and girls. Devex Associate Editor Kelli Rogers shares the buzz from the fourth Women Deliver conference. Inside the World Bank's Pandemic Emergency Facility The World Bank's new financing mechanism to prevent and respond to global pandemics launched this weekend. Advocates and critics weigh in. USAID's top women-owned contractors USAID counts on dozens of women-owned contractors to help carry out its development work around the world. In this exclusive data analysis, Devex ranks USAID's leading women-owned contractors for fiscal year 2015. SPONSORED ANNOUNCEMENT Earn Your Master's in Emergency and Disaster Management at Georgetown Georgetown University offers three distinct master's degree formats in Emergency and Disaster Management that are designed to shape the next generation of practitioners and leaders in this evolving field. Available in online, on-campus, and executive formats, these programs emphasize the critical skills and leadership strategies that you need to take action and manage response efforts when disaster strikes. Take a closer look at our program formats and see which degree is right for you. Global Development Briefing - Your inside guide to the week's must-read development stories. Copyright 2016 Unauthorized commercial reapplication, reproduction or retransmission, in whole or in part, is prohibited. Manage your newsletter subscriptions | Read the latest Devex News | RSS Feed Connect with us Devex is the media platform for the global development community. Corporate Headquarters: 1341 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20036 USA Main +1.202.249.9222  |  Fax +1.202.318.2456   www.devex.com

To ensure delivery to your inbox, please add info@devex.com to your address book.
Not interested? Unsubscribe now. Manage your subscription to Devex email notifications here.