Add us as your preferred source on Google to see more of our content in Search.
Add to Preferred SourcesAirlines and air transport workers call for urgent assistance, building greener, more digital and more resilient Europe and 100 days on from Beirut explosions. Here is what you missed from last week’s headlines in the international development sector:
Airlines and air transport workers call for urgent government assistance to prevent jobs catastrophe
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) issued a joint statement calling for urgent government intervention to prevent an employment catastrophe in the aviation industry.
Estimates from the Air Transport Action Group suggest some 4.8 million aviation workers’ jobs are at risk as a result of air travel demand falling more than 75% (August 2020 compared to August 2019). The impact of COVID-19 related border restrictions and quarantine measures has effectively closed down the aviation industry, grounding planes and leaving infrastructure and aircraft manufacturing capacity idle.
The IATA and the ITF request to governments includes calls to:
- Provide continued financial support for the aviation industry
- Safely re-open borders without quarantine by implementing a globally harmonized system of pre-departure COVID-19 testing.
“Aviation faces an unprecedented employment catastrophe. Airlines have cut costs to the bone, but have just 8.5 months of cash left under current conditions. Tens of thousands of jobs have already been lost, and unless governments provide more financial relief, these are likely to increase to the hundreds of thousands. Aviation plays an essential role connecting nations and carrying essential cargo, and it is in governments’ own interests to offer further financial aid to keep the industry viable. But more importantly, governments need to work together to safely re-open borders. That means putting in place a global scheme for testing passengers for COVID-19. With that in place, quarantine can be removed and passengers can have the confidence to fly again,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO.
European Commission welcomes agreement on €1.8 trillion package to help build greener, more digital and more resilient Europe
The European Commission has welcomed the agreement between the European Parliament and EU Member States in the Council on Europe’s next long-term budget and NextGenerationEU, the temporary recovery instrument. Once adopted, the package of a total of €1.8 trillion will be the largest package ever financed through the EU budget. It will help rebuild a post-COVID-19 Europe, which will be greener, more digital, more resilient, and better fit for the current and forthcoming challenges.
President Ursula von der Leyen said: “I welcome today’s agreement on our Recovery Plan and the next Multiannual Financial Framework. We now need to move forward with finalising the agreement on the next long-term budget and NextGenerationEU by the end of the year. Help is needed for citizens and business badly hit by the coronavirus crisis. Our recovery plan will help us turn the challenge of the pandemic into an opportunity for a recovery led by the green and digital transition”.
100 days on from Beirut explosions, children and families affected remain in need of sustained support
Children and families affected by the explosions that tore through Beirut 100 days ago remain in need of crucial support as they rebuild their lives, UNICEF warned as part of the report “Rising from Destruction. 100 days of UNICEF’s response to the Beirut explosions and the road ahead for children and families.”
The key to that support is providing children and families affected with psychosocial support to allow them to process trauma experienced during and after the explosions. UNICEF has reached more than 33,000 people through a range of interventions, including 7,200 children, parents and primary caregivers through child-friendly spaces in affected areas and peer-to-peer sessions.
“Providing children and parents with psycho-social support is a vital step in helping people rebuild their shattered lives,” said UNICEF Lebanon Representative Yukie Mokuo. “While the immediate scars are starting to heal, thanks to extraordinary efforts on the ground, the deep wounds – both visible and invisible– of children and families in a country experiencing multiple emergencies will require sustained solidarity, commitment and support.”
The sheer number of children, parents, and caregivers who remain in need of support, however, means that increased funding for key programmes, including child protection, is urgently required.
DevelopmentAid Editorials
The US government provides 100 state-of-the-art ventilators to Nepal
At a time when Nepal is struggling hard to ensure a critical healthcare service is available for COVID-19 patients, the United States government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), has today donated 100 state-of-the-art ventilators to Nepal to assist in its fight against the pandemic. This donation builds on the US$28.3 million that USAID has already committed to Nepal for projects in response to the pandemic.
Syrian refugees help to rebuild Beirut when nobody else is prepared to do so
After the shocking explosion that left the Lebanese capital in ruins three months ago, neither the government nor international organizations carried out actions to help out its people who are now becoming desperate but Syrian refugees are trying to contribute to Beirut’s restoration.
Top borrowing countries from multilateral development banks
The last decades have seen an evolving client-base for multilateral development banks (MDBs), given some instances of strong economic growth in several developing countries. The number of developing countries classified as being low-income has halved in the last 15 years – from 63 in 2000 to 31 in 2015. This has also reduced the number of countries eligible for concessional loans from MDBs. This article will look at the lending mechanisms of the largest MDBs and which are the top borrowing countries from MDBs.
Here’s what else has happened
UNICEF and PAHO: UNICEF and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) announced the launch of a tender inviting all COVID-19 vaccine developers to submit a proposal for supply in 2021.
Costa Rica: Costa Rica became the first Central American country to receive non-reimbursable funds from the Green Climate Fund (GCF), due to its successful results in climate matters by reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), associated with deforestation in the 2014-2015 period.
USAID: Recently, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced additional development assistance resources of $136.5 million to continue our support for the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria under a bilateral Development Objective Agreement (DOAG) signed in 2015.
Iceland: The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), in collaboration with the Government of Malawi and the Logistics Cluster, welcomes a contribution of USD 195,000 (ISK 27,000,000) from the Government of Iceland towards humanitarian logistics services in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic in Malawi.
ADB: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $2.5 million grant to assist the Government of Vietnam in providing emergency and humanitarian services to residents affected by the recent floods in the country’s central region.
France: H.E. Mrs. Emmanuelle Blatmann, French Ambassador to Sudan, added her signature to two financing agreements between the French Development Agency (AFD) and the Save the Children Fund (United Kingdom), on one side, and between AFD and the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture on the other side.
The European Union: The European Union has approved an additional €17.2 million through the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF) to support coronavirus preparedness in Somalia, Sudan, and South Sudan.
Reports
Seafarers, heroes of the pandemic as shipping plays vital role in crisis
The global shipping industry has played a vital role in the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and demand for its services has limited the annual decline in maritime trade volumes to around 4.1 percent in 2020, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said in its annual report on the shipping industry.
Read the report: Review of Maritime Transport 2020.
Climate finance neglects small-scale farmers
Only 1.7 percent of climate finance – a fraction of what is needed – goes to small-scale farmers in developing countries despite their disproportionate vulnerability to the impacts of climate change, according to a report released by the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Climate Policy Initiative (CPI).
Read the report: Examining the Climate Finance Gap for Small-Scale Agriculture
Events
ALNAP 33rd Annual Meeting: Facing the Unknown: Managing Uncertainty in Humanitarian Action | Virtual
? 18-19 November 2020
Virtual
This Meeting will explore the challenges posed by uncertainty and what humanitarians can do to better equip themselves to respond within this context.
Making Financial Inclusion Work for Refugees and Host Communities | Course
? 16 – 20 November 2020
Nairobi, Kenya
As displacement has become increasingly protracted, the actors are more and more from the humanitarian-development nexus, and the responses are becoming more focused on durable solutions, to support more dignified, inclusive, and comprehensive programmes for refugees and the communities that host them. Self- reliance, and empowerment need to be facilitated and, financial inclusion is part of the equation.
Race to Zero Dialogues on Energy | Virtual
? 16 November 2020
Virtual
To amplify the climate action that is being undertaken in 2020 and build momentum around the shift to a decarbonized economy ahead of COP26, the High-Level Champions for Global Climate Action are convening the Race to Zero Dialogues in close collaboration with the Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action, as part of the ‘Race to Zero’ campaign.