| Dec. 14, 2017 | | THIS WEEK'S MUST-READ DEVELOPMENT STORIES | | |  | By Michael Igoe | | | | | | A deadly attack on peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the World Bank's fossil fuel pledge, and UNICEF's digital technology concerns. This week in development.
World Bank President Jim Yong Kim announced this week that his institution will no longer finance upstream oil and gas projects after 2019. Kim unveiled the new policy at the One Planet climate summit in Paris, which the French government hosted to signal commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement two years after it was forged — and in the wake of the Trump administration's opposition to that pact. The bank's new policy is aimed at aligning the institution's lending practices with the Paris Agreement's goals, Kim said, and it was widely lauded by environmental and energy access advocates who want to see the World Bank help lead a global economic pivot away from fossil fuel-based energy. The Trump administration does not share that goal, and Kim's announcement sets up a potential showdown between the World Bank and the United States, its largest shareholder. Earlier this year the Trump administration issued new guidance through the Treasury Department, encouraging multilateral development banks to consider coal power projects in developing countries. Last month, at the international climate talks in Bonn, Germany, Trump administration officials and energy industry representatives joined forces to denounce the "anti-fossil bias" that they perceive among development finance institutions.
With the One Planet summit underway, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the European Commission announced that they will spend $600 million on research to help smallholder farmers adapt to the impacts of climate change.
The growth of digital technology offers young people many new educational opportunities, but it also presents safety risks, and exposes access gaps, the United Nations Children's Fund shared this week in its annual State of the World's Children report. Youth — aged 15 to 24 — are the most connected age group, with 71 percent online worldwide, meaning one in three internet users is a child. But one-third of the world's youth — or 346 million — are not online, pointing to the inequities that the internet may be exacerbating. The report argues that governments and the private sector should keep up with the pace of change, with policies and efforts to provide all children with affordable access to online resources and digital literacy, while also protecting their online identities and safeguarding them from abuse, cyberbullying, and exploitation. This marks the first time that UNICEF has addressed digital technology in its annual state of the world report.
An attack on U.N. peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo left at least 14 dead and 53 wounded. Secretary-General António Guterres called this the worst attack in the organization's recent history. The peacekeepers, who were from Tanzania, were tasked with protecting civilians in the province of North Kivu when an armed militia group called the Allied Democratic Forces mounted the attack that also killed five members of the DRC's armed forces. The DRC is currently experiencing the largest displacement crisis in Africa and the U.N. has only received $390 million of its $812 million funding target for 2017.
In a plea to governments to increase pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, U.K. Department for International Development Minister Alistair Burt warned that regime forces in East Ghouta, Syria, are making "aid a weapon of war by restricting humanitarian access to the besieged population," putting more than 400,000 Syrians at risk of starvation. Reports from UNICEF added that in the past three months the ostensible "de-escalation zone" has seen the worst shelling and most humanitarian need than any other time in the seven-year conflict. Turkey, Russia, and Iran, along with forces fighting on behalf of the Assad regime agreed to a ceasefire in the region in September, with Turkey, Russia, and Iran acting as guarantors on the ground. Yet, regime forces closed all commercial entry points into East Ghouta on Oct. 3, and continue to reject even deliveries of food and medical aid that had already received clearance. | | | | | | | | | The current suite of ad hoc communications strategies in Cox's Bazar reflects an aid community unprepared for the rapid growth of a city-sized refugee camp. But communication challenges have also been compounded by the low literacy rate of the refugee population, the complexities of the Rohingya language, and a surge of aid groups unfamiliar with the local context. | | | | | | | | | | Amid soaring humanitarian needs, dwindling international financing for aid, and increasing attacks on aid workers, the former U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Gayle Smith is calling on humanitarians to launch an activist movement to persuade politicians to step up. Speaking at the Overseas Development Institute in London, Smith offered five key pieces of strategic advice for the movement. | | | | | | | | | | While aid is meant to be conditional, rarely is it suspended for rights abuses or governance failings — and the Cambodian government knows that. Amid brazen rights violations, rights groups have urged Cambodia's donors "to act," a flurry of strongly worded statements has appeared, and senior diplomats have stressed the need for Cambodia to return to democratic norms. But at the end of the day, the latest situation highlights how relatively little sway donors can have. | | | | | | | | | | Rep. Ted Yoho, a Republican from Florida, the co-chair for the Congressional Caucus for Effective Foreign Assistance, who has helped introduce several pieces of legislation aimed at tackling aid effectiveness, spoke to the development community Wednesday about the need for foreign aid reform. | | | | | | | | | | Media. Entertainment. Politics. It's time to talk about aid, too. Last week Devex hosted a conversation on Twitter that both explored how development organizations should respond to sexual violence — and highlighted the policies that can prevent it from happening in the first place. | | | | | | | | | SPONSORED ANNOUNCEMENT | | | New uses of technology — including cloud, mobile, and artificial intelligence — are fundamental to achieving universal health coverage in emerging economies. Good news: Without an established health care infrastructure and entrenched practices built up over many decades, developing countries can innovate more nimbly, and consequently bring health care to some of the world's most marginalized populations. Want to learn how? Read the full article now. And to see a demonstration of how the BroadReach Vantage intelligent operating system optimizes health system effectiveness and accessibility, please contact Peter Graves. | | | | | | | | | SPECIAL NOTICE | | | And you can experience it at Devex World. Next year, 1,000 leading thinkers and doers in our community converge in Washington, D.C., for Devex World 2018. Join the movement on June 12 for an action-packed day filled with interactive sessions, unique speakers, and opportunities to roll up your sleeves and turn ideas into action. The best thing attendees at last year's Devex World said was that even people with decades of global development experience met other leaders and changemakers they had never heard of before. The global development landscape is dynamic and changing, and Devex World is the only event that brings it all together. You'll hear from speakers such as Miguel McKelvey, co-founder of WeWork; Malcolm Gladwell, celebrated author and New Yorker veteran; Rula Ghani, the first lady of Afghanistan; actor Forest Whitaker; and Jaha Dukureh, founder of Safe Hands for Girls; and many more. Limited tickets at 2017 prices remain, claim yours now. | | | | | | | |
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