Over 1 million people internally displaced in Somalia, hunger emergency far from over in crisis hit the Horn of Africa and Cyclone Mocha.
Here is what you missed from last week’s headlines in the international development sector.
Somalia: Over 1 million people internally displaced in Somalia in record time
A toxic mix of conflict, severe drought, and devastating floods has forced more than 1 million people in Somalia to flee their homes in just 130 days – a record rate of displacement for the country.
The figures recorded by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), show that conflict was among the main causes of displacement between 1 January and 10 May this year, while over 408,000 people were displaced by floods sweeping across their villages and another 312,000 people were displaced by ravaging drought. Most of them fled to the regions of Hiraan in central Somalia and Gedo, in southern Somalia.
“These are alarming figures of some of the most vulnerable people forced to abandon the little that they had to head for the unknown,” said NRC’s Somalia Country Director Mohamed Abdi. “With 1 million people displaced already in less than five months, we can only fear the worst in the coming months as all the ingredients of this catastrophe are boiling in Somalia.”
Many of those forced to flee are arriving in overcrowded urban areas and sites already hosting internally displaced people placing immense strain on already overstretched resources and exposing vulnerable people to increasing protection risks such as evictions, family separation, and gender-based violence.
Hunger emergency far from over in crisis hit Horn of Africa
Millions of people in the Horn of Africa are trapped in a hunger emergency as the region lurches from crisis to crisis: the longest drought in recorded history has given way to rains and flash flooding, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned. Food and energy prices remain stubbornly high and the impact of the conflict in Sudan reverberates around the region.
“Conflict, climate extremes, and economic shocks: the Horn of Africa region is facing multiple crises simultaneously. After five consecutive failed rainy seasons, flooding has replaced drought, killing livestock, damaging farmland, and further shattering livelihoods,” said Michael Dunford, WFP Regional Director for Eastern Africa. “And now the outbreak of conflict in Sudan is forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes.”
When the region’s long-awaited rains arrived in March, they should have brought some relief. But instead, flash flooding inundated homes and farmland, washed away livestock, and closed schools and health facilities. Yet more people were forced from their homes: 219,000 people in southern Somalia, where 22 people were also killed.
Cyclone Mocha: urgent funding needed as hunger, diseases loom
As a clearer picture emerges of the trail of destruction left by Cyclone Mocha in Myanmar and Bangladesh, humanitarians are continuing to provide life-saving assistance, and the need for an urgent increase in funding. In Myanmar, the UN appealed for $333 million to assist 1.6 million of the most vulnerable people, many of whom have lost their homes as the cyclone hit the west of the country.
The UN’s top aid official in the country, Ramanathan Balakrishnan, told reporters in Geneva that the disaster had left hundreds of thousands without a roof over their heads as the monsoon looms.
Among the priorities is providing people with safe shelter and preventing the outbreak and spread of water-borne diseases.
DevelopmentAid Editorials
China, Ukraine top the agenda of G7 Summit in Hiroshima
From May 19-21, 2023, the Group of Seven (G7) held its annual summit in the city of Hiroshima, Japan, to discuss the war in Ukraine, ways to counteract the presence of China in the Indo-Pacific region and to create a world free from nuclear weapons.
Apart from the heads of state of the seven members (Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States), other invitees included the heads of the European Union, Australia, Brazil, Comoros (as current chair of the African Union), the Cook Islands (as current chair of the Pacific Islands Forum), India (current president of the G20), Indonesia (current chair of ASEAN), South Korea and Vietnam.
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Here’s what else has happened
Rohingya refugees: Just weeks after thousands of Rohingya refugees lost their homes to Cyclone Mocha, they face another blow as funding shortages force the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to cut food vouchers in Cox’s Bazar to just US$ 8, or less than 9 cents per meal. Funding shortfalls already forced WFP to cut its food vouchers from US$ 12 to US$ 10 per person per month, in March this year.
World Bank: The Government of Ghana received $150 million in additional financing for the Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development Project (GARID) from the World Bank to improve flood risk management and solid waste management for over 2.5 million people in the Odaw River Basin of the Greater Accra Region.
Myanmar and Bangladesh: Following Cyclone Mocha in Myanmar and Bangladesh, the Commission has released €2.5 million in emergency humanitarian aid to address the most urgent needs of the affected population. The full magnitude of the damage is not yet known as access to the affected areas is limited. However, early reports suggest humanitarian needs are extensive and include shelter, water, sanitation, and food.
Canada: The Horn of Africa is facing a climate emergency that shows no sign of ending. Having had below-average rainfall for more than 2 years, the region is experiencing its worst drought ever recorded. Even in areas where rain has recently fallen, the ground is too dry to absorb it, leading to devastating flash floods.
European Green Deal: The EU and the Republic of Korea have established a Green Partnership with the aim of strengthening bilateral cooperation and exchanging best practices on climate action, clean and fair energy transition, protection of the environment, and other fields of the green transition. The Green Partnership was launched in Seoul during the EU-Korea Summit by Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, and Korean President, Yoon Suk Yeol.
The Global Fund: At the World Resilience Summit, IQVIA and (RED) joined the Abbott Fund, The Rockefeller Foundation, and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria in a US$54 million catalytic fund. The Laboratory Systems Integration Fund aims to advance laboratory systems’ readiness and capability ratings in over a dozen low- and middle-income countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America to detect and respond to potential local health threats before they become global pandemics.
Reports
African Development Bank Group Report 2023: Africa remains resilient to new shocks, but progress and financing must be accelerated
In its latest annual report released on 25 May 2023, the African Development Bank Group highlights its critical contributions to the continent’s development and the well-being of its people in 2022.
The Annual Development Effectiveness Review published yearly since 2011, assesses the Bank’s support for the sustainable development of African countries. It specifically monitors contributions to the Bank’s High 5 strategic priority areas driving Africa’s transformation: Light Up and Power Africa, Feed Africa, Industrialise Africa, Integrate Africa, and Improve the Quality of Life for the People of Africa.
Unprecedented joint call to shield children on the move from violence
With more than 42 million children displaced worldwide and increasing exposure to multiple forms of violence, the Office of the Special Representative on Violence against Children co-launched a new brief, Protecting the Rights of Children on the Move in Times of Crisis, which draws on past lessons and outlines key principles to boost child protection.
Clean energy investment is extending its lead over fossil fuels, boosted by energy security strengths
About USD 2.8 trillion is set to be invested globally in energy in 2023, of which more than USD 1.7 trillion is expected to go to clean technologies – including renewables, electric vehicles, nuclear power, grids, storage, low-emissions fuels, efficiency improvements, and heat pumps – according to the IEA’s latest World Energy Investment report. The remainder, slightly more than USD 1 trillion, is going to coal, gas, and oil.
FAO Investment Centre’s 2022 Annual Review looks at achievements and priorities
Investment and finance solutions play a critical role in transforming the agrifood systems, especially at a time when multiple shocks keep pushing more people into hunger and poverty. This is an area where “the FAO Investment Centre is leading that charge,” QU Dongyu, the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), wrote in the foreword of the 2022 Annual Review of the Centre, which for nearly 60 years has been helping countries and financing partners make more and better agri-food investments to reduce poverty, hunger and malnutrition, improve rural livelihoods and protect the environment.
Events
Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics 2023: Growth and Resilience
📅 5-6 June 2023
Washington, DC, USA & Virtual
The 2023 Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics (ABCDE) will focus on “Growth and Resilience” and will be held June 5–6, 2023, in Washington, D.C. Participants may join either in person or online.
The ABCDE is organized by the World Bank‘s Development Economics (DEC) Vice Presidency, and it is one of the world’s best-known conferences for the presentation and discussion of new knowledge on social and economic development. The conference aims to promote the exchange of cutting-edge knowledge among researchers, policymakers, and development practitioners.
EU Green Week 2023 Conference
📅 03 – 11 June 2023
Brussels, Belgium & Online
The EU Green Week conference will take place from June 6 to 7 in Brussels. Throughout the week, side events to raise awareness about environmental protection and sustainable lifestyles will be organized by all types of actors in Europe and beyond.
EU Green Week is a forum for debate on European environmental policy that brings together decision-makers, leading environmentalists, and stakeholders from across Europe every year.