CID Weekly: Localisation in Beirut, COVID hunger, key dates
Posted on 03 September 2020
+ Localisation in Beirut response
Local charitieswork constantly to support Lebanese society. It’s time they had a fair share of foreign aid, writes Hayat Mirshad.
"We were among the first to respond to this disaster. We were here before international aid workers arrived, before France hosted an international aid conference for the humanitarian response, and before the dust settled on our now devastated city."
"Yet in every crisis we are excluded from humanitarian funding and decision-making. Local and national organisations have so far directly received less than 0.6% of total humanitarian funding for Lebanon’s Covid-19 response plan."
Donors have pledged nearly $400m (£300m) in response to the Beirut explosion, though primarily to UN agencies and other international NGOs.
+ 2nd referendum in New Caledonia
On 4 October, New Caledonia will hold a referendum on independence from France, the second in a series of three possible referendums agreed to in the Noumea Accord.
In 2018, 56.7% voters answered no to the question “Do you want New Caledonia to achieve full sovereignty and become independent?”. With a record high turnout (81% of voters casted their ballot) the result was closer than expected, as several polls predicted a “No” victory by more than 30 points. Despite a comfortable victory for the loyalist camp, it was the separatists that gave the impression of coming out victorious in the vote," writesAlexandre Dayant of the Lowy Institute.
"It is clear the southwest of Grande Terre was a non-independence bastion. The rest of New Caledonia was predominantly pro-independence, which aligns with the distribution of the Kanak communities in New Caledonia."
+ Sector Survey - Please complete!
The 2019/2020 Membership Survey needs to be completed by September 18.
A reminder to CID member CEOs to prioritise completing the survey. The data is used by MFAT and decision makers to get a snap shot of the sector, where we work, who we work with and how we're tracking.
It will be launched at a public event with media later this year.
All CEOs would have received the link for the survey (sent on 18 August).
Thank you very much to those who have already completed it. To those organisations still yet to complete it, please complete and submit by18 September.
Any questions, please contact Campbell at office@cid.org.nz.
Thank you.
+ COVID risks hunger for refugees in Eastern Africa
As COVID closes borders and aid funding declines, hunger and malnutrition looms for millions of refugees across Eastern Africa who depend on assistance from the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).
WFP has already been forced to reduce food or cash transfers by between 10% to 30% for over 2.7 million refugees in Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, South Sudan, and Djibouti. WFP will be forced to cut deeper in the coming months unless urgent additional funding is received in time.
The most vulnerable women, children and elderly are increasingly at risk of becoming malnourished, which can in turn impact their immune systems and increase their risk of being infected by COVID, a tragic vicious cycle.
COVID restrictions has also meant the closure of schools in refugee camps, resulting in children missing out on vital school meals in Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan, Rwanda, and Uganda.
Extended school closures can lead to increased teenage pregnancies, sexual abuse, early marriage, violence at home, child labour and high school dropouts.
This threatens to erode hard-won gains made over the years to improve access to quality schooling for refugees in camps. Women and girl refugees are also at heightened risk of gender-based violence, sexual exploitation and abuse, in addition to resorting to having sex for payment in order to survive. People with disabilities and unaccompanied or separated children are the most vulnerable.
If WFP is forced to continue cutting rations for refugees, this could prompt refugee communities to move within host countries or even across borders as they become more desperate to meet their basic needs. Such movements could not come at a worse time – with the coronavirus spreading.
Covid could be ‘the straw that breaks the camel’s back’ health workers warn in a recent Uk Guardian article.
Hereis a look inside Somalia's COVID response, and how COVID has created a 'perfect storm' in an already critical humanitarian crisis.
+ Border closures impacting trade for poorest
The World Trade Organization (WTO) has realised new research on how trade in goods and services has been affected by temporary border closures and travel restrictions linked to COVID.
Cross-border mobility of individuals plays an important role in the provision of goods and consumption, of services and in manufacturing value chains.
Initial rudimentary travel barriers introduced in the early stages of COVID have given way to more fine-tuned policies aimed at allowing 'essential' foreign workers to cross borders and creating quarantine-free 'travel bubbles' among partners.
However, mobility barriers have had a particularly heavy impact on tourism and education services, and trade in goods, because on the barriers to transport services, and increased information and transaction costs.
46% reported using new ways to connect with communities (digitally)
40% reported greater collaborations amongst the sector
+ Registrations open for the CID/ACFID/PIANGO conference
Please register now to take part in this historic event, and take advantage of the early bird pricing.
For the first time, the international development networks of New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific are joining together to hold an Oceania Connect Regional Conference. Held from 27-30 October, the conference will focus on fulfilling the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, and how best to respond and rebuild during COVID.
"Social distancing is just not possible. It’s the same for most people here. We have hardly any masks or other protective equipment in the camps. We have no idea how we are surviving."
+ Tui Dewes to represent New Zealand
Tui Dewes who is well known to many in our sector will be missed as she heads off to the Cook Islands for a new role as thenext High Commissioner.
On behalf of the sector, we wish her the best of luck, and as soon as a Pacific Bubble happens, we'll look forward to celebrating with her in person at Trader Jacks!
Tui has led and supported our partnerships with MFAT with professionalism and dedication over a turbulent time; she's overseen the roll out of the new funding mechanisms (Negotiated Partnerships and Manaaki), introduced a new forum for MFAT and the sector to work more closely together (the Toroa roopu), and then dealt with the extraordinary impact on our collective development mission with COVID.
We wish you all the best Tui.
We're also pleased to welcome Salli Davidson, who will be well known to many of you from her former NZAID roles, as well as her work overseas with UNFPA. It'll be great to work with Salli again.
Finally, as the baton gets passed on to the next New Zealand representative, we acknowledge and remember Tessa Te Mata who had just started her dream job as High Commissioner in the Cook Islands before she passed away so tragically last year.
Kei te maumahara matou ki a koe, me te aroha.
+ Save the Children - increase family incomes in Cambodia
Save the Children, with MFAT support, are focusing on increasing household incomes in agricultural communities in Koh Kong, Cambodia. It's a well-tested livelihoods approach from Save the Children - increase the incomes of families, and outcomes for children will improve.
Signs of child development are indicators that this approach to economic development is sustainable long-term.
It's a systems approach to development, funded out of the Transformative Economic Empowerment and Resilience in Koh Kong, Cambodia (STEER) fund, and has seen significant results in its first year of operations.
Its key to reducing poverty amongst farmers and ultimately improving household incomes and child wellbeing, and has so far undertaken 19 training sessions with 830 farmers selected for the programme.
The primary aim of this programme is to strengthen agricultural market systems, improve agricultural productivity and increase household income.
Future plans for the programme include setting up demonstration farms for cashew nuts and bananas and training farmers in the production of these crops. Small grants for businesses will be implemented and farmer field days are also planned.
In 2017, more than 700,000 Rohingya people fled their home country of Myanmar to escape the horrific ethnic cleansing they faced for being Muslim.They settled in the southeast of Bangladesh, joining 250,000 Rohingya already living there. Now, more than one million Rohingya inhabit the largest refugee camp in the world, with no sign of a return home in the near future.
United Nations Development Programme engaged Tonkin + Taylor International to develop a multi-hazards impact model for the Rohingya refugees and surrounding host communities in Ukhia and Teknaf sub-districts in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.
In this webinar, they will be discussing:
The Methodology behind generating disaster impact models,
The scale of impacts expected from cascading and compound scenarios, and
Supporting humanitarian contingency planning.
+ UN webinar with civil society & Secretary General
Women's civil society organisations have been at the front line of response to the COVID-19 pandemic, promoting life-saving information and public health messaging, building institutional trust and community resilience, and helping inform and engage marginalised communities.
This virtual townhall meeting will provide an opportunity for women’s civil society organisation to engage with the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres,share their experiences of COVID and their recommendations to the UN to address the crisis and rebuild a more sustainable and inclusive future.
You can view the live webcast moderated by UN Women Executive Director, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka at http://webtv.un.org/
The concept note is here and the official invitation here.
+ Save the Date: CID Annual Dinner and AGM - 5 Nov
CID's Annual General Meeting (AGM) and dinner event with keynote speaker, entertainment, awards, photo competition, and debate is planned for 5 November 2020.
Please save the date.
CID's AGM and dinner event will be face to face - COVID permitting! A chance to get together as a sector after a challenging year.
This is the week following CID's annual conference (thisyear held online, in partnership with ACFID in Australia and PIANGO in the Pacific).
Save the date! Book your travel.
+ The CID Weekly is Proudly Sponsored By
Direct Impact Group supports organisations to maximise their social impact, because changing the world isn't easy, and in dynamic times this work is more important than ever.
+Save the Date: Health of the Sector Panel Event - 24 Sept
There will be an early evening panel event (around 5pm) at The Backbencher Gastropub in Wellington to discuss the results of CID's Health of the Sector Study on 24 September.
This event will reveal the health of the sector post COVID-19 and recommendations to weather the storm.
Save this date!
+ CID Strategy Consultation - 3, 17, & 18 Sept
CID's strategy is being revised to ensure direction is clear, purpose is relevant and the organisation can optimise effectiveness throughout the next 3 years, i.e. 2020 - 2023.
We are keen to hear your views as we develop the strategy further.
To facilitate this, we will be hosting three 1-hour zoom sessions for members, the purpose of which is to collate further input and feedback to assist in the revision of CID's strategy. Each session will be run as an online focus group.
The sessions will be held on 3, 17 and 18 September. If you wish to get involved, please sign uphere - please only register for one of the sessions.
