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Add to Preferred SourcesEU budget 2021, SDGs offer the best option to reduce the worst impacts of COVID-19 and Switzerland supports education in emergencies. Here is what you missed from last week’s headlines in the international development sector:
EU budget 2021: An annual budget focused on European recovery
The Commission has proposed an EU budget of €166.7 billion for 2021, to be complemented by €211 billion in grants and approximately €133 billion in loans under Next Generation EU, the temporary recovery instrument aimed at mobilising investments and kick-starting the European economy.
Together, the annual budget and Next Generation EU will mobilise significant investments in 2021 to address the immediate economic and social damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic, kick-start a sustainable recovery, and protect and create jobs. The budget is also fully in line with the commitment to invest in the future in order to achieve a greener, more digital, and resilient Europe.
Once adopted, this will be the first budget under the new 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework and the first annual budget proposed by President von der Leyen’s Commission.
“Commissioner Johannes Hahn responsible for the EU Budget stated: “In these extraordinary times, the European Commission’s proposal mobilises unprecedented support. The annual budget 2021 will help hundreds of thousands of people, companies and regions to overcome the crisis and emerge stronger than before. To make it happen, we need an agreement on the long-term budget and Next Generation EU – a deal that will send a signal of confidence throughout Europe.”
SDGs still offer best option to reduce worst impacts of COVID-19 and to recover better
Countries will be better placed to recover from the human and economic devastation caused by COVID-19 by accelerating efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to a policy brief issued by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA).
While it is still unclear what the ultimate effect of the coronavirus will be, the initial assessments are sobering, with enormous losses of lives and livelihoods. The death toll, at close to half a million, is still climbing.
Initial assessments show that there are immense risks to failing to act swiftly and in a coordinated manner. Global GDP is expected to contract by 5.2 percent in 2020, the largest contraction in economic activity since the Great Depression, and far worse than the 2008-2009 global financial crisis. In 2020 alone, millions of people—estimates range from around 35 to 60 million—could be pushed into extreme poverty, reversing the declining global trend of the last twenty-plus years. Some 1.6 billion people working in the informal sector including the gig economy are estimated to be at risk of losing their livelihoods, many of whom lack access to any form of social protection.
Call for action: Switzerland supports education in emergencies
Switzerland is setting an example: Together with partner organizations, it is calling on the international community to strengthen education in emergencies.
Empty classrooms, maths lessons via video chat, and children practising for music lessons next to their parents as they work from home – the COVID-19 pandemic has not only fundamentally changed the way Swiss families live together, but also the way children learn. While the right to education is a matter of course in Switzerland and digital lessons have become part of our daily lives during the COVID-19 crisis, the pandemic has also highlighted the potential significance of education in emergencies. How should children learn when they cannot attend school, how can we maintain social contact remotely, and how do you coordinate busy family life in a confined space – these are questions that were rarely asked in Switzerland until very recently.
The right to education and learning must continue, even if schools are closed in the interests of public health. Switzerland has the necessary financial resources, the requisite structures and the technical capabilities to switch to a different form of collective learning. But even in countries such as Switzerland, where digital lessons have become the norm in recent weeks, experts say the disruption to the traditional school routine caused by COVID-19 is likely to have a negative impact on learning outcomes. Children from educationally disadvantaged families, in particular, may have missed out and are falling behind. This is a major risk to equality of opportunity and can have academic and social consequences.
DevelopmentAid Editorials
Experts’ Opinions | Trump’s Immigration Ban. Who is the most affected?
At the end of April, the USA president, Donald Trump, signed an executive order suspending immigration into the US to protect American jobs and to prevent the spread of the “invisible enemy” of the coronavirus pandemic. This decision has created many worries among immigrants. Who is most affected by Trump’s US immigration ban and what will the long-term impact be? These are the questions we addressed to several migration experts.
Governments risk facing claims worth millions for damage caused by their anti-corona policies
With millions of people on the edge of poverty and even starvation caused by the coronavirus, some are nevertheless expected to make millions from investment arbitration. As a result of certain drastic anti-corona measures adopted by governments, some foreign investors, guided by law firms, are on the verge of filing significant claims for damages.
Here’s what else has happened
USAID: The United States is providing $356.2 million to support the democratic transition in the Republic of Sudan following a peaceful revolution in 2019. The Acting Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), John Barsa, announced this commitment at the Sudan Partnership Conference, a virtual event co-hosted by the European Union, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Transitional Government of Sudan, and the United Nations.
Cambodia: The coronavirus pandemic is threatening to exacerbate poverty in Cambodia. However, thanks to a database, people are now receiving support quickly. With just 130 cases of COVID-19 and no fatalities, Cambodia might initially appear to have remained largely unscathed by the pandemic. However, the economic impact of the pandemic is all the more evident: the dip in tourism resulted in significant losses, and many major sewing factories have closed because goods can go no longer be exported.
EIB: The European Investment Bank (EIB) and UniCredit Bank Srbija A.D. (UCBS) have signed the first €15 million tranche of an innovative €30 million impact finance loan to help Serbian small, medium and mid-cap companies to improve the social impact of their businesses in areas such as gender equality, youth employment and social inclusion.
Reports
Ageing population, emerging technologies and fiscal sustainability can influence EU’s path to sustainable future
Environmental policies must be better integrated across all government work if Europe is to stay on target toward a sustainable, carbon-neutral future. This will be crucial amid the profound changes which are expected to happen as a result of an ageing European population, a widespread technological change, and the competing allocations of public budgets.
Read the report: The sustainability transition in Europe in an age of demographic and technological change.
Yemeni children face deadly hunger and aid shortages as COVID-19 pandemic spreads
Millions of children in Yemen could be pushed to ‘the brink of starvation’ due to huge shortfalls in humanitarian aid funding amid the COVID-19 pandemic – according to a new UNICEF report marking more than five years since conflict escalated in the country.
Read the report: Yemen five years on: Children, conflict and COVID-19
Events
Virtual event | Financing the SDGs – Can the world avoid failure?
? 29 June 2020 ? 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM (London time)
Virtual event
The world was off-track to deliver the SDGs before the COVID-19 crisis but the savage economic impact of coronavirus has set those long-term objectives back further. The SDGs are more important than ever – how do we re-inject momentum into the Addis Agenda and create a sustainable and resilient world?
Join for a conversation with EBRD President Sir Suma Chakrabarti and UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed, hosted by LSE Director Minouche Shafik.
Webinar | Entrepreneurship in the Time of COVID-19 Crisis
? 09 July 2020
Webinar
The webinar Entrepreneurship in times of the 19th COVID-19 Crisis will be organized to promote entrepreneurship after the Coronavirus crisis and contribute to providing the best conditions for the emergence of prosperous economies that create job opportunities and are integrated in the region.