{UAH} Fwd: AIIB annual meetings, the BUILD Act marches on, and Australia's foreign influence laws: This week in development

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From: Global Development Briefing <info@devex.com>
Date: 28 June 2018 22:59:36 BST
To: georgeokello_8@hotmail.com
Subject: AIIB annual meetings, the BUILD Act marches on, and Australia's foreign influence laws: This week in development
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This week's must-read development stories.

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To ensure delivery to your inbox, please add info@devex.com to your address book. June 28, 2018 THIS WEEK'S MUST-READ DEVELOPMENT STORIES AIIB annual meetings, the BUILD Act marches on, and Australia's foreign influence laws: This week in development By Michael Igoe @AlterIgoe Education leaders search for the intersection of research and policy, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank discusses corporate culture and third-party investments, and Australia's NGOs breathe a sigh of relief. This week in development: A new, U.S. development finance institution is one step closer to becoming reality, after the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on Tuesday briefly discussed — and then quickly passed — the Better Utilization of Investment Leading to Development Act, which would create a new U.S. DFI. In the weeks and months leading up to the committee's consideration of this bill, a number of questions about the proposed institution's structure, its development mandate, and its safeguards policies have come to the fore. U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Mark Green told Devex that his agency's focus during the process has been "to do everything we can to ensure that whatever the final product is, that development and finance are closely linked." The most recent version of the bill requires a "chief development officer" and a "development advisory council," and would direct the new agency to evaluate the proposed and ex-post development impact of its investments. The latest bill also includes a transparent, independent accountability mechanism to "annually evaluate and report to the board and Congress regarding compliance with environmental, social, labor, human rights, and transparency standards, consistent with corporation statutory mandates." One of the bill's sponsors told Devex he hopes it will be voted on before the congressional August recess. The world's leading thinkers on global education debated the role of research in informing concrete policies that can help improve learning outcomes around the world at the RISE annual conference in Oxford last week. The conference saw a distinction drawn between the "nitty-gritty," context-specific findings revealed by randomized controlled trials — or RCTs — and the practical, big picture policy recommendations that can help guide investments. "My plea to you as researchers is to do the messy details, but then also bring out the links [about] what that's telling you about the big systems," said DFID Chief Economist Rachel Glennerster. Devex has learned that RISE — a £35 million ($46.32 million) education research program across six countries — could soon enjoy additional financial support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, aimed at boosting the program's non-research activities to have a larger policy impact. Australia's NGOs expressed relief that they will be exempt from new laws aimed at curbing foreign influence in the country's political system. Two recommendations put forth by a parliamentary inquiry and agreed to by Australia's attorney general aim to amend the pending legislation so that Australian charities will continue to be able to accept overseas support to carry out their work. They had previously feared that "onerous levels of monitoring, managing, and reporting on donations received from foreign entities" would impose prohibitive costs and force some organizations to shut down, Lisa Cornish reported for Devex from Canberra. The recommendations include a provision to exempt organizations from registering as working on behalf of "foreign principles" when those organizations are "making routine representations in accordance with their respective purposes, and where the relationship with the foreign principal is well known or a matter of public record." One NGO representative called the recommendations, which came after months of lobbying, "a victory for common sense." Civil society groups are warning that the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank's $100 million investment in an Indian infrastructure fund could result in the China-based multilateral development bank supporting activities with high social and environmental risks. On Monday, at the AIIB's third annual meeting in Mumbai, the institution announced its first investment in India's National Investment and Infrastructure Fund, a collaborative investment platform for commercially viable infrastructure projects. Just as they have with other development finance institutions, civil society groups have raised concerns that the AIIB's decision to direct funding through "financial intermediaries" — commercial banks or funding platforms such as the NIIF — opens that money up to being used for activities that violate environmental and social standards, and means the AIIB is likely to have limited visibility. AIIB officials told Devex the institution's involvement in these investments actually ensures they will be used more responsibly than they otherwise might have been. At the same meetings, AIIB President Jin Liqun shared his vision for the bank's emerging corporate culture, which he said he hopes will be "a workplace environment free of corruption and harassment, with a culture of openness and candor underpinned by mutual respect for others." FROM THE EDITOR Top picks this week By Devex @devex Devex World 2018: An interactive wrap up Get an inside look from Devex World 2018. Check out behind-the-scenes photos, videos, and coverage by scrolling through this multimedia story with some of the best insights and conversations from the day. Data shows remittances and development are increasingly linked As the economic and social impact of remittances continue to spread, donor countries are increasingly relying on them to complement aid programs. In this new interactive, Devex shares where remittances are increasing in importance — and the partner countries supporting them. Suffering in silence: The deadly economic burden of NCDs Not only has South Sudan's five-year civil war displaced millions and plunged parts of the country into famine, it has also had a crippling effect on an already fragile health care system. Since the onset of the conflict in 2013, at least 20 percent of the country's medical facilities have closed and only 400 out of 1,900 remain fully operational. Approximately 70 percent of South Sudan's 12 million people lack access to adequate health care — according to a report by Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict — and those who do have access can become financially burdened by out of pocket expenses, driving many families into poverty. Here's a look at crucial steps that need to be taken to improve the situation for patients living with noncommunicable diseases. Read more from our series on NCDs, Taking the Pulse. Gates Foundation and USAID team up to bring design to health USAID and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have joined forces to encourage global health practitioners to build programs around the wants and needs of the people they aim to serve. Leaders from both organizations are convinced approaches such as human-centered design — increasingly applied to complex global challenges — are key to achieving global health outcomes. Scarcity of data protection laws in Africa leaves NGOs exposed The level of data protection regulations varies widely across the African continent. Some countries, such as Senegal, have rushed to adopt and implement regulations. But the majority have no legislation in place. And where regulations efforts exist, experts are concerned that governments are primarily interested in giving themselves more leeway to pursue cybercrimes — or cybercritics — than they are protecting people's data. Read more from our Data Guardians series, exploring issues around protecting beneficiaries' data: ► 7 steps to securing mHealth data in low-resource settings ► Can the UN's Centre for Humanitarian Data stand out? ► Why your NGO needs in-house data security expertise ► Everything you need to know about the EU's new privacy rules ► Help me find my family SPONSORED ANNOUNCEMENT Focus on one global definition for professional farmer organizations This is your chance to voice your views on the core professional capacities needed for farmer organizations to improve business performance for more resilient supply chains and better livelihoods. 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SPONSORED ANNOUNCEMENT Join us at SOCAP18 — the world's largest impact gathering SOCAP (Social Capital Markets) is in the vanguard of the emerging global impact economy — convening ideas and capital to catalyze world change. We are a network of investors, entrepreneurs, and social impact leaders addressing the world's toughest challenges through market-based solutions. After a milestone 10th anniversary celebration, with more than 3,000 attendees representing diverse sectors and over 70 countries, SOCAP18 will mark a new decade for the social capital markets. This year, there will be a fresh approach to programming and networking to meet the evolving interests of this rapidly growing field. Plenary speakers, conference themes, and winners of SOCAP Open and the SOCAP Entrepreneur Scholarship will also be announced in the coming months. SOCAP is currently offering steeply discounted tickets during their Spring Fling Sale, through to June 29. During this sale, members of the Devex community can save a total of $650 using registration code MP_Devex. We hope you can join us for SOCAP18 October 23-26 in San Francisco, California. SPECIAL NOTICE New Devex Funding Report: Emerging Donors 2.0 A new group of funders, including Turkey, China, and the Green Climate Fund, are paving a new "age of choice" in development finance. Implementers must now understand where and how emerging donors are investing. Be the first to get funding insights on today's most influential emerging donors. Download Devex's latest funding report here. Important: This email contains links that automatically log you into your Devex account. Copyright 2018 Unauthorized commercial reapplication, reproduction or retransmission, in whole or in part, is prohibited. Global Development Briefing - Your inside guide to the week's must-read development stories. Manage your newsletter subscriptions |  Read the latest Devex News |  RSS Feed Not interested? 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