Germany launch a new global hub for pandemic and epidemic intelligence, almost 5,000 children separated from parents by conflict in Tigray and free press ‘a cornerstone’ of democratic societies. Here is what you missed from last week’s headlines in the international development sector:
WHO, Germany launch new global hub for pandemic and epidemic intelligence
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Federal Republic of Germany will establish a new global hub for pandemic and epidemic intelligence, data, surveillance, and analytics innovation. The Hub, based in Berlin and working with partners around the world, will lead innovations in data analytics across the largest network of global data to predict, prevent, detect prepare for and respond to pandemic and epidemic risks worldwide.
“The current Covid-19 pandemic has taught us that we can only fight pandemics and epidemics together. The new WHO Hub will be a global platform for pandemic prevention, bringing together various governmental, academic and private sector institutions. I am delighted that WHO chose Berlin as its location and invite partners from all around the world to contribute to the WHO hub,” said the H.E. German Federal Chancellor, Dr. Angela Merkel.
The WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence is part of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme and will be a new collaboration of countries and partners worldwide, driving innovations to increase availability and linkage of diverse data; develop tools and predictive models for risk analysis; and monitor disease control measures, community acceptance and infodemics. Critically, the WHO Hub will support the work of public health experts and policy-makers in all countries with insights so they can make rapid decisions to prevent and respond to future public health emergencies.
Almost 5,000 children separated from parents by conflict in Tigray, says Save the Children
Thousands of children are currently separated from their parents as the result of the conflict in Tigray, Ethiopia, with many living in unsafe and dire conditions in informal camps, according to Save the Children.
Six months since the fighting started, at least 917 unaccompanied and 4,056 separated children have been recorded by the UN. Many of them have no adult caregivers and are at risk of neglect and sexual and physical abuse, Save the Children said. Many of these children were separated from their parents while fleeing for their lives during the conflict.
Others have lost their parents to violence. Save the Children is gravely concerned for the mental and physical wellbeing of these children. Separated children face enormous challenges in meeting their basic needs, missing the people in their lives who would usually help them find food, water, and shelter.
Save the Children staff report that some of these children are currently not in safe care arrangements. Many are living in single rooms where more than 50 people sleep, exposing them to further risks of harm, including physical and sexual violence. Since the conflict started, sexual violence against girls and women – even pregnant and elderly women—has grown at an alarming rate.
Free press ‘a cornerstone’ of democratic societies, UN says
The United Nations Secretary-General on May 3 urged governments to do everything in their power to support free, independent, and diverse media, which the UN’s top human rights official highlighted as “a cornerstone of democratic societies”.
In a message on World Press Freedom Day, marked annually on 3 May, Secretary-General António Guterres underscored the importance of reliable, verified, and accessible information.
“During the pandemic, and in other crises including the climate emergency, journalists and media workers help us navigate a fast-changing and often overwhelming landscape of information while addressing dangerous inaccuracies and falsehoods. Free and independent journalism is our greatest ally in combatting misinformation and disinformation,” he said.
Mr. Guterres also noted the personal risks journalists and media workers face, including restrictions, censorship, abuse, harassment, detention, and even death, “simply for doing their jobs”, and that the situation continues to worsen.
DevelopmentAid Editorials
UNESCO reveals women journalists are now more exposed to online violence than ever
A survey titled ‘The Chilling: Global trends in online violence against women journalists’ carried out by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has disclosed that due to routinely deployed disinformation tactics, women journalists are now more exposed to online violence than ever before.
USAID calls for grant applications
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), one of the biggest official aid agencies in the world, has announced a range of grant opportunities. The submission of applications is open to developing countries with the aim of supporting the most vulnerable. The amount of grants varies from over US$1 million to US$17 million, depending on the project.
UK charity suggests establishing an Agroecology Development Bank to escalate agricultural and rural transformation
The transition to regenerative models in agriculture such as agroecology requires a specific approach in financing. In this context, one of the possible solutions to foster the transition is to establish a specialized institution which would respond to the particular needs of the stakeholders who are already engaged or willing to engage in agroecology.
United States provides US$ 8.5 million COVID-19 additional funding to Nepal
The United States has announced an additional US$8.5 million COVID-19 emergency response funding to combat the disease and to support the Nepalese people.
Here’s what else has happened
GAVI: Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance announced on May 6 that it had signed an advance purchase agreement with Novavax for its highly efficacious NVX-CoV2373 vaccine candidate against COVID-19. The agreement is for a commitment to purchase 350 million doses of the Novavax vaccine candidate, secured on behalf of the COVAX Facility.
The Global Fund: The Global Fund has approved US$75 million in fast-track funding to support India’s response to the COVID-19 crisis that is devastating the country. This new funding will support India in purchasing oxygen concentrators and Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) oxygen plants to help meet the medium-term needs for medical oxygen.
Ukraine: The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved on May 5- a $200 million project to support the Government of Ukraine’s efforts to strengthen efficiency, quality, and transparency of the country’s higher education system. The project – Ukraine Improving Higher Education for Results – will help boost the quality of the higher education sector, as well as its relevance to labor market needs, while also promoting resilience and continuity of learning in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
WHO: WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus welcomed the Government of Sweden’s announcement to share 1 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine with the COVAX Facility to provide life-saving vaccines to people at risk from COVID-19 in low-income countries.
African Development Fund: The Board of Directors of the African Development Fund has approved a grant of $31.2 million to the Government of Ethiopia to increase access to multi-sectoral nutritional services for children under five years, by boosting access to services for improved health, a more diverse and nutritious food, and improving knowledge, attitude, and practices on feeding, care, and hygiene. The Multi-sectoral Approach for Stunting Reduction Project (MASReP) will target forty districts or woredas in the country’s Amhara and Tigray regions.
Reports
Global Assessment: Urgent steps must be taken to reduce methane emissions this decade
A Global Methane Assessment released on May 6 by the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) shows that human-caused methane emissions can be reduced by up to 45 percent this decade. Such reductions would avoid nearly 0.3°C of global warming by 2045 and would be consistent with keeping the Paris Climate Agreement’s goal to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius (1.5˚C) within reach.
Global shortage of 900,000 midwives threatens women’s lives and health, new report shows
The world is facing a shortage of about 900,000 midwives, according to a new report published by UNFPA, the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM), and partners. The COVID-19 crisis has only exacerbated these problems, with the health needs of women and newborns overshadowed by the pandemic response and midwives being deployed to other health services.
Pandemic threatens progress on refugee admissions through family, work, study permits
A new study released on May 5 shows that 1.5 million people from nations driving major refugee movements were admitted by 35 OECD countries and Brazil on family, work and study permits in the decade just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The latest report by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and the OECD, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, titled “Safe Pathways for Refugees II”, examines admissions from 2010 to 2019 of people from seven countries propelling displacement: Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Syria, and Venezuela.
Events
How to Win Contracts Funded by the Multilateral Development Banks – Stories From Real Businesses! | Webinar
? 19 May 2021 ? 4 PM (Brussels Time) /10 AM (Washington DC Time)
Virtual
Join DevelopmentAid for this exciting free webinar on How to Win Contracts funded by the Multilateral Development Banks— stories from real businesses! The PFD Group and its “7/3/1” golden formula—a close to 40% yearly average success rate!
The first speaker at this webinar is Spiros T. Voyadzis, President, Partnership for Finance and Development LLC. Mr. Voyadzis held up various distinguished functions for the World Bank Group in Washington D.C. and abroad as a staff member, manager, and senior manager.
The second speaker is Hokuma Karimova, Business Development Manager who brings over 8 years of experience of working on projects funded by the multilateral development banks such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, African Development Bank, as well as other donor agencies such as the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and the European Union.
The third speaker is Patrick Young, Business Development Manager with 5+ years of experience including community development for USAID, technical and competitive research for Chemonics International, as well as supporting the launch of education development advocacy group NISSEM.
The overall conversation is going to focus on the following topics:
- The MDBs and their USD yearly commitments -The market
- MDBs: Are they complicated to work with – as an example: the World Bank, but all are about similar
- The market in volume and sectors of operation – one MDB as an example
- Contract Awards by country of origin – one MDB as an example: To open the appetite and face reality
- The two ways to win MDB funded contracts
- The PFD Group methodology – the 7/3/1 Formula
- The cost of preparing and submitting proposals – is this market open to all companies, large or small?
- What makes a good expression of interest and tender?
- Are there differences in tendering between Anglo-Saxon and other nationality companies?
- What are the 3 main conclusions/recommendations retained by the participants?
You will have the possibility to ask questions directly at the webinar during our Q&A session.
HOST: Sergiu Casu, Business Development Director, DevelopmentAid
2021 UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15)
? 17 – 30 May 2021
Kunming, China
The 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the tenth Meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (Cartagena Protocol COP/MOP 10), and the fourth Meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing (Nagoya Protocol COP/MOP 4) are expected to address a series of issues related to the implementation of the Convention and its Protocols.
SAMEA Online Capacity Building Workshops | Virtual
? 1-3 June 2021
Virtual
SAMEA’s popular online Capacity Building Workshops are taking place from 1 to 3 June 2021! The theme for this year’s workshops is: “Monitoring and Evaluation in the context of Global Crises”.
