NextGenerationEU, investing in climate-resilient water and sanitation in Africa and G7 summit’s decisions for developing world. Here is what you missed from last week’s headlines in the international development sector:
NextGenerationEU: European Commission raises €20 billion in first transaction to support Europe’s recovery
The European Commission has, in its first NextGenerationEU transaction, raised €20 billion via a ten-year bond due on 4 July 2031 to finance Europe’s recovery from the coronavirus crisis and its consequences. This is the largest-ever institutional bond issuance in Europe, the largest-ever institutional single tranche transaction and the largest amount the EU has raised in a single transaction.
The band has attracted very strong interest from investors across Europe and the world, thanks to which the Commission has obtained very favourable pricing conditions, similarly to the repeatedly successful issuances under the SURE programme.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: ”Is a truly historic day for our European Union. We successfully conducted the first funding operation for NextGenerationEU. As a strong Union, we are raising money at the markets together and investing in a common recovery from this crisis. It is an investment in our single market. And even more importantly, it is an investment in the future of Europe’s next generations as they face the challenges of digitisation and climate change. Money can now start flowing to help to reshape our continent, to build a greener, more digital and more resilient Europe. I will now visit every Member State, to see NextGenerationEU impact on the ground.”
Commissioner in charge of Budget and Administration, Johannes Hahn, said: ”We have reached a key milestone in implementing NextGenerationEU. After laying all the foundation at record speed, we have today successfully conducted the first borrowing operation under the Recovery Plan. This is just a very first step of a long journey, bringing over €800 billion in current prices into the EU economy. NextGenerationEU has now become a reality and is set to drive our collective recovery from the pandemic, setting Europe on a green, digital and resilient path.”
The funds will be used for the first payments under NextGenerationEU, under the Recovery and Resilience Facility and various EU budget programmes.
Investing in climate resilient water and sanitation in Africa cannot wait
More than 220 million children and their families in Africa are water insecure. The impact is staggering: 58 percent of children in Eastern and Southern Africa and 31 percent of children in West and Central Africa live in areas of high, or extremely high, water vulnerability.
The children are more likely to miss school to fetch water. They are more likely to suffer malnutrition and stunting when droughts and floods impact agricultural food production. And they are more likely to get sick when communicable diseases and infections spread due to lack of sanitation and contaminated water quality.
In addition to its impact on children’s health and well-being, water insecurity also limits economic growth and forces people to migrate.
As climate change leads to unpredictable and extreme weather patterns, and as population growth increases stress on water resources due to increased water demand and competition, the situation will only get worse.
G7 summit’s decisions for developing world meet both praise and criticism
The leaders of the world’s seven largest economies discussed the most pressing global challenges at the G7 Summit held in Cornwall, UK on 11-13 June. The summit’s packed agenda also allowed a focus on the developing world with the world’s economic powers pledging support to help those countries fight the pandemic and handle climate change as well as cope with economic and financial issues. Nevertheless, with pre-summit expectations having been rather high, many of the G7 decisions were slammed as a “failure”.
Almost one billion doses of vaccine
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect the poorest nations that have not been able to build herd immunity due to insufficient vaccines, the G7 leaders pledged to donate 870 million COVID-19 vaccines by the end of 2022, mostly via the UN-led COVAX platform. At the same time, they stressed that since the beginning of the pandemic, they had committed US$8.6 billion for vaccine procurement, sufficient for another more than one billion doses.
Climate change
In terms of curbing climate changes in developing countries, the G7 leaders promised to move away from coal plants unless they are equipped with carbon capture technology. It was pledged at the G7 summit that new coal plants in developing countries would not be financed and US$2.8 billion would be allocated to help to stop this fuel being used.
Development funding
The G7 leaders also considered providing financial support to “the most fragile countries” in the form of debt relief, development finance and support through the International Monetary Fund. The participants at the summit placed the emphasis on Africa, announcing that multilateral partners were set to invest at least US$80 billion into the country’s private sector over the next five years to back its economic recovery and growth.
“For some years already, with some leaders in Europe we have been convinced that this engagement with Africa needs to be at the heart of our future international relations. Increasingly, we’ve been able to unify the positions of European countries on this issue and now we have convinced our partners to further mobilise funds to secure a win-win strategy for Africa and Europe,” said European Council President Charles Michel.
The G7 leaders also pledged to deliver education to 40 million more girls globally and called upon China to respect human rights in relation to reports concerning abuse against the Uyghur Muslim minority.
DevelopmentAid Editorials
Developing countries need US$1 trillion to reach zero emissions by 2050 – report
Developing countries need to boost their spending on energy transition to over US$1 trillion by 2030 if the world is to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 according to the report, Financing Clean Energy Transitions in Emerging and Developing Countries, issued by the International Energy Agency in cooperation with the World Bank and the World Economic Forum.
Surging internal displacement imperils development, UN warns
The number of internally displaced people has been climbing higher and higher recently, becoming a serious burden for the development aid sector, the report Towards Development Solutions to Internal Displacement: A Political Economy Approach issued by the UN Development Programme has warned.
What is the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)?
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development OECD is an international, intergovernmental organization comprising 38 member countries that works towards building socio-economic policies designed ‘to foster prosperity, equality, opportunity, and well-being for all’. It was established on December 14, 1960, by 18 European nations, joined by the United States and Canada, to reform the previous Organization for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC) which was responsible for administering American and Canadian aid allocated for the reconstruction of Europe following World War II.
Agro-silvo-pastoralism turns land healthy and prevents desertification in Portugal
On 17 June the world commemorates Desertification and Drought Day with the focus on how to turn degraded land into healthy land. For this occasion, DevelopmentAid enjoyed an exclusive conversation with a Portuguese farmer who breeds livestock in a unique agro-silvo-pastoral Mediterranean forest system called Montado. He shared the story of his farm where he had encountered difficulties in land management before, he learned about regenerative agriculture in the agro-silvo-pastoral model and also revealed some insight into how to produce in harmony with nature.
Here’s what else has happened
USAID: The U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) COVID-19 Task Force Executive Director Jeremy Konyndyk announced more than $91 million to provide urgently needed food assistance, health care, water, and psychosocial support for people across Africa, in order to address urgent humanitarian needs caused by the devastating COVID-19 pandemic.
Venezuela: At the International Donors’ Conference in Solidarity with Venezuelan Refugees and Migrants, the European Commission pledged €147 million, in addition to pledges by the EU Member States, for immediate humanitarian assistance, medium and longer-term development assistance, and conflict prevention interventions for Venezuelan refugees, migrants and host communities. This comes in addition to the ongoing aid package of €319 million allocated by the EU to alleviate the crisis since 2018.
UN chief: Land degradation from climate change and the expansion of agriculture, cities, and infrastructure “undermines the well-being of 3.2 billion people”, the UN chief said on Wednesday in his message for World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought.
Canada: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) welcomes a CAD 22.4 million (USD 17.7 million) contribution from Canada to boost the food security and livelihoods of vulnerable communities – especially women, youth, and indigenous peoples – reeling from the impacts of COVID-19 in nine countries across Africa and Latin America.
World Bank: The World Bank Group’s Board of Executive Directors approved a US$500 million Program to catalyze public and private investment in Jordan for a green and inclusive recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The program is expected to help Jordan accelerate its recovery and create more jobs by capitalizing on the economy’s potential, especially its green growth opportunities, and to strengthen the Government’s accountability mechanisms for delivery.
Finland: For the first time, Finland has been ranked number one in an international comparison of sustainable development. The esteemed ranking by the UN and the Bertelsmann Foundation is published annually, and Finland has also been in the top three in earlier years, together with Denmark and Sweden. The comparison assesses countries’ progress on implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals.
Reports
700,000 Rohingya children are denied basic rights across Asia
More than 700,000 Rohingya children across Asia face severe discrimination and denial of their most basic rights, Save the Children said. According to a new report to mark World Refugee Day, No Safe Haven, Rohingya children across Myanmar, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia are prevented from accessing quality education and legal protection, which can expose them to abuse, child labor, child marriage, trafficking, and detention.
Floods and Droughts: An EPIC response to these hazards in the era of climate change
A new report titled An EPIC Response: Innovative Governance for Flood and Drought Risk Management offers guidance on these critical matters. Launched on World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought (June 17), the report presents a framework to manage the growing risks of floods and droughts in a changing climate. The framework is known as the EPIC Response, a mnemonic for its key elements:
- E: an enabling environment of policies, laws, agencies, strategic plans, and information
- P: planning at all levels to prioritize risk mitigation
- I: investing in watersheds and water resources infrastructure
- C: controlling the use of land and water resources to reduce exposure and vulnerability
- Response: monitoring, responding, and recovering from floods and droughts
New report on single-use plastic products aims to advance sustainability in travel and tourism
The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), launch a major new report, addressing the complex issue of single-use plastic products within Travel & Tourism.
‘Rethinking Single-Use Plastic Products in Travel & Tourism’ launches as countries around the world begin to reopen, and the Travel & Tourism sector starts to show signs of recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic which has been devastating.
Events
How to Write a Technical Proposal: The Only Guide You’ll Ever Need | Webinar
📅 24 June 2021🕐 4 PM (Brussels Time) /10 AM (Washington DC Time)
Virtual
Join DevelopmentAid for this free webinar on How to Write a Technical Proposal: the only guide you’ll ever need.
The main speaker at this webinar is Cynthia Zurita with more than 8 years of experience as Tendering Project Manager, with a strong academic and professional background in the energy and natural resources sectors projects. She has managed successfully tenders for infrastructure (EPC projects included) as well as consultancy services, for multilateral funds such as IDB, CAF, World Bank, among others, as well as public projects with national budgets or private clients of the industrial sector.
You will have the possibility to ask questions directly at the webinar during our Q&A session.
HOST: Sergiu Casu, Business Development Director, DevelopmentAid
Speaker: Cynthia Zurita, consultant at S317 Consulting
Other speakers:
Rita Andrade, Teresa Cordeiro, Ana Gonçalves and Denisse Escalante, consultants at S317 Consulting.
Doing Business with USAID. Procurement Guidelines and Best Practices | Webinar
📅 01 July 2021 🕒 3 PM (Brussels Time) /9 AM (Washington DC Time)
Virtual
Join DevelopmentAid for this exciting free webinar on Doing Business with USAID. Procurement Guidelines and Best Practices.
The speakers at this webinar are communication specialists from the Office of Acquisition and Assistance of USAID. The conversation is going to focus on procurement procedures and best practices in proposal preparation.
You will have the possibility to ask questions directly and to learn how COVID-19 has affected the offers prepared by contractors.
HOST: Sergiu Casu, Business Development Director, DevelopmentAid.
Speaker: Matthew Johnson, Communications Director, Office of Acquisition and Assistance (M/OAA)
Women, Tech and the Global Good | Virtual
📅 03 July 2021 🕒 15:00 – 18:30 (BST)
Virtual
Join for ‘Women, Tech and the Global Good’, a virtual conference brought by The Women in International Affairs Network in collaboration with IBM and Seidea.
Generation Equality Forum: A Once in a Generation Opportunity
📅 30 June- 2 July 2021
Paris, France
The Generation Equality Forum is a global movement for gender equality, convened by UN Women and co-hosted by the governments of Mexico and France.
The Forum brings together governments, corporations, NGOs, youth-led groups, and Foundations to secure the concrete, ambitious, and transformative commitments for gender equality. These are shaped by the Action Coalitions. They are the world’s roadmap for gender equality.
COVID-19 has exposed and accelerated existing gender inequalities. The impact on women and girls has been severe and disproportionate. As we begin to recover from the pandemic, we must put gender equality at the heart of that process.
