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Add to Preferred SourcesAfrican Development Bank approves an emergency food production plan, warnings of frequent heatwaves in decades ahead and the Government of South Korea is allocating funds to support UNFPA. Here is what you missed from last week’s headlines in the international development sector.
African Development Bank Group Board approves more than $1 billion for emergency food production plan
The African Development Bank Group’s Board of Directors has approved 24, fast-track programs to help Africa mitigate rising food prices and inflation caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine, climate change, and the Covid-19 pandemic.
The first round of approvals is part of the Bank’s $1.5 billion African Emergency Food Production Facility, established in May to boost food security, nutrition, and resilience across the continent.
The facility will provide 20 million African smallholder farmers with certified seeds and increased access to agricultural fertilizers. It will also support governance and policy reform, which is expected to encourage greater investment in Africa’s agricultural sector. The African Emergency Food Production Facility will enable African farmers to produce 38 million additional tons of food over the next two years. This is food worth an estimated $12 billion.
WMO warns of frequent heatwaves in decades ahead
Extreme heat in western Europe is causing devastating wildfires in France and Spain, unprecedented drought in Italy and Portugal, and the United Kingdom recorded its highest-ever temperature of just over 40 degrees Celsius, at London’s Heathrow airport.
With temperatures expected to remain above normal until the middle of next week, the World Metrological Organization (WMO) warned that heatwaves will occur more and more frequently, into the 2060s.
The pattern is linked to the observed warming of the planet that can be attributed to human activity, raising serious concerns for the planet’s future, the UN weather agency said.
The Government of Korea allocates US$ 2 million for women and girls in Ukraine and Moldova
The Government of the Republic of Korea is allocating US$ 2 million as part of the UN Flash Appeal for Ukraine and the Regional Refugee Response Plan. The funds will support UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, to scale up life-saving maternal and newborn health services and ensure preventative, responsive, and protective services and support are in place for gender-based violence in Ukraine and Moldova.
UNFPA urgently requires flexible resources to meet the needs of women and girls in Ukraine and to safeguard the rights and choices of refugee women, youth, and older persons in Moldova.
DevelopmentAid Editorials
The impact of the EU’s sixth package of sanctions on Russia’s economy and the Union | Experts’ Opinions
After multiple debates and rounds of negotiations, in early June 2022, the European Union adopted the sixth set of sanctions against Russia and is poised to phase out almost 90% of Russian oil imports into the bloc by the end of the year. After the vote, some EU leaders were already brainstorming about a seventh round of sanctions targeting Russian gas but others argue that the EU rushed into an oil embargo. We discussed the impact of the sixth sanctions package against Russia on the country’s economy and the EU with several international experts. Check their insights below.
The best and worst cities to live in according to the Global Liveability Index 2022
Western Europe and Canada are home to the world’s best cities to live in, according to the Global Liveability Index for 2022. Six of Europe’s and three of Canada’s cities made it to the top 10 of the index published by The Economist Intelligence Unit. Meanwhile, other previously leading cities recorded a dramatic drop in their positions. The Index analysed 173 cities worldwide against five general categories: healthcare, stability, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure.
Q&A: International Finance Corporation new country manager on development prospects in the Pacific, Caribbean
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has appointed Judith Green as its new Country Manager for the Pacific Islands, Australia, and New Zealand. Judith will focus on developing new opportunities for private sector investment to drive jobs and growth, helping nations to recover from the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and to tackle climate change.
Here’s what else has happened
ADB: As of 15 July, the Bank Group’s Board of Directors had approved a total of $1.13 billion in mixed financing for Emergency Facility programs targeting 24 countries: eight countries in West Africa; five in East Africa; six in Southern Africa; four in Central Africa and one in North Africa.
IRC: Severe underfunding of humanitarian responses is depriving millions of the assistance they need to survive. While famine alarm bells are ringing, donors have been looking in the rear-view mirror, waiting for data collection and death rates to confirm what IRC is already seeing on the ground. The international community should instead be looking ahead through the windshield: responding now, with a ‘no regrets’ approach, before it’s too late. The new US funding announced this week must be a first step, not a last one.
UN: The erosion of women’s rights has been one of the most notable aspects of the de facto administration to date. Since 15 August, women and girls have progressively had their rights to fully participate in education, the workplace, and other aspects of public and daily life restricted and in many cases completely taken away. The decision not to allow girls to return to secondary school means that a generation of girls will not complete their full 12 years of basic education. At the same time, access to justice for victims of gender-based violence has been limited by the dissolution of dedicated reporting pathways, justice mechanisms, and shelters.
Reports
UN releases report on human rights in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) released a report (Human rights in Afghanistan: 15 August 2021 – 15 June 2022) outlining the human rights situation in Afghanistan over the 10 months since the Taliban takeover.
The report summarises UNAMA’s findings with regards to the protection of civilians, extrajudicial killings, torture and ill-treatment, arbitrary arrests and detentions, the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan, fundamental freedoms, and the situation in places of detention. The report also contains recommendations to both the de facto authorities and the international community.
IRC warns: 3 million face life-threatening hunger without urgent funding as unprecedented famine threatens East Africa
With a catastrophic famine looming on the horizon across East Africa, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) released its first-ever Crisis Alert update to its annual Emergency Watchlist, highlighting that over 3 million people could die without urgent international funding.
IRC’s annual Watchlist identifies the top countries most at risk of deteriorating from a humanitarian perspective over the course of the year. IRC is issuing a Crisis Alert update in light of the fallout from the war in Ukraine, which – combined with the increasingly detrimental impact of climate change, conflict, and COVID-19 – has driven East Africa into a predictable crisis dangerously neglected by the international community and emblematic of the global “System Failure” highlighted in this year’s Watchlist.
Steady progress made in national anti-trafficking efforts, but challenges persist, OSCE report says
While OSCE participating States made steady progress in combating trafficking in human beings, more work needs to be done to scale up their responses both at policy and practice levels, the OSCE 2021 Survey Report says. The main findings were presented at the event organized by the Office of the OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings in Vienna.
In the long term, the Report will serve as a crucial touchpoint for whether countries are progressing in their efforts to eradicate trafficking in human beings.
Events
Global Review of Aid for Trade 2022
📅 27 – 29 July 2022
Virtual
The Eighth Global Review of Aid for Trade will take place from 27 to 29 July, with the theme of “Empowering Connected, Sustainable Trade”. The Review, which will take place both in person at WTO headquarters as well as virtually, will bring to the fore areas where developing and least-developed countries (LDCs) need support to overcome supply-side constraints limiting their participation in international trade. The event will be opened by Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
24th International AIDS Conference
📅 29 July – 2 August 2022
Montreal, Canada
For the first time, the world’s largest conference on HIV and AIDS will be hosted in person in Montreal, Canada, as well as virtually, to make it accessible to as many people as possible. AIDS 2022 will take place from 29 July to 2 August 2022, with pre-conference meetings beginning on 27 and 28 July 2022.