CID Weekly: Health of the Sector Report, 0.7%, COVID
Posted on 08 September 2020
+ NZ Aid sector at risk post COVID - new report
The impacts of COVID on aid charities will be 'extremely challenging’, and could mean an ‘existential’ threat to the existence of some agencies, says a new report into New Zealand’s aid sector.
The'Health of the New Zealand International NGO Sector’was written by independent consultants, Craig Fisher specialising in governance and organisational development, and Darren Ward managing partner of Direct Impact Group, a social impact consultancy.
Many of the challenges are not new, but have been accelerated by COVID. There are opportunities to improve the effectiveness of aid for those organisations that can adapt quickly, concludes the report.
Key findings:
46% of aid charities said that COVID is a serious threat to their survival
The most reported challenges include funding and programme continuity
These were expected to peak later this year and remain as moderate threats in 2021
The traditional operating model for aid charities is no longer sustainable
Organisations will need to adapt to a much more uncertain operating environment
COVID has accelerated 10-year’s of change into a 3 to 5 year period, if not sooner
There are fears that the aid sector will fare worse with both the public and government because in tough economic times, ‘charity begins at home…and may now stay at home’.
The authors ‘expect there will be casualties’, but the crisis is a 'perfect opportunity to …implement new structural, operational, and potentially more impactful models of operating.’
Recommendations include:
Identify and articulate each organisation’s unique value
Increase collaborations which will increase impact
Consider shared services and even mergers
Leverage our uniqueness as New Zealanders (practical, innovative and from a small country)
Further leverage our location in the Pacific
Increase the successful local ownership of aid, accelerated by COVID border closures
Agree common measurements of impact and make impact the core focus.
The report is based on desk research, interviews with CEOs, key stakeholders (in New Zealand and across the region), as well as online surveys. It was commissioned by CID.
+ Panel discussion on 'Health of the Aid Sector post COVID'
Join us for a panel discussion on the state of New Zealand's aid and development sector post COVID.
Panellists will include the authors of the recent report'Health of the New Zealand INGO Sector',Craig Fisher and Darren Ward, plus CEOs from the sector, media and others.
CID members, friends, media, MFAT staff, and parliamentary colleagues are all invited.
Please join us for a stimulating and informal discussion on the aid sector post COVID.
Nibbles will be served and drinks are available.
Date: Thursday 24 September Time: 5pm – 6pm Venue: The Backbencher Pub, 34 Molesworth St, Thornton, Wellington
$10 entry fee.
Any question please contact Campbell at office@cid.org.nz
+ UK government to end 0.7% aid commitment?
British ministers are considering scrapping the legal commitment to spend 0.7% of GDP on aid, after pressure from backbenchers in the Conservative party to find a way to pay for the costs of the pandemic without raising taxes, reportsThe Times.
This would mean repealing legislation that enshrines the commitment to 0.7% in law. The United Kingdom is one of six countries to implement the 0.7% target. The others are the Netherlands, Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway and Sweden.
Most countries, including New Zealand, have committed to 0.7% but have yet to implement it.
+ Podcast: The digital revolution and development
Good Will Hunters'sRachel Mason Nunn speaks to the experts leading the World Bank’s work in the Pacific region. In this episode she speaks to Shivnesh Prasad, Digital Development Specialist with the World Bank in Fiji.
+ Call for Nominations CID Humanitarian Network Chair
The current CID Humanitarian Network Chairperson will be stepping down from the role after the next meeting due to new work commitments. This position will therefore need to be filled at the next meeting of the CID Humanitarian Network, taking place in Wellington on Mon, 21stSeptember 2020. In support of this, pleases find attachedhere, the following:
Position description
Procedures for the election
Nomination Form
If you wish to nominate one or more persons for the position of either CID Humanitarian Network Chair or Deputy-Chair please complete and email the respective forms to Aaron Davy at code@cid.org.nz (cc. in office@cid.org.nz) or post to CID, P O Box 24-228, Manners St, Wellington 6142 to be received by: COP Thurs, 17th September 2020.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank Virginia Pycroft for her contribution, energy and personable approach within this role in support of the CID Humanitarian Network over the past year. It has been wonderful having her in the role, particularly as we start to enact the revised network Terms of Reference.
+ CID Webinar: Tonkin + Taylor Rohingya Disaster Impact Assessment
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. The area where the camp is located is particularly prone to natural disasters.
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.
The aim of this model was to understand the number of people that might be affected in a cyclone and what level of damage might occur. The T&T team modelled cyclones for different categories, including a Category 4, and the models included possible cyclone-caused land slips and storm surges from the ocean.
This data helps UNDP to look at ways to be better prepared, reducing the impact through different disaster resilience strategies. This project was completed in March 2020.
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.
+ Fred Hollows wins prestigious award
The Fred Hollows Foundation has won the prestigious (Tier 2) Charity Reporting Awardsfor accountability and excellence in financial reporting.
The awards, organised by Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ), recognise best practice among registered charities in adopting financial reporting standards which give greater transparency and consistency among charities.
CID would like to congratulate all the staff atFred Hollows.This is a well deserved recognition in uncertain times, and a tribute to the Board and staff of the organisation, as well as to the leadership of Sharron Orr and Andrew Bell who recently left the organisation after many years leading the team in New Zealand.
The Fred Hollows Foundation NZ works to end avoidable blindness in the Pacific, through the provision of sight-saving surgeries and treatments, and by training local eye health specialists to deliver eye care services in their own communities.
'We transform lives not only by giving sight back but we give people the independence back as well, restoring someone’s sight cannot only change their lives, but also the lives of their family and their community who may have had to look after them.
+ 61% of Australians want COVID funding to increase
A majority of Australians want the government to increase funding to developing nations to help fight coronavirus and avoid a second deadly wave sweeping the world.
There is growing concern that large outbreaks of COVID-19 in developing nations including Indonesia and the Philippines will hamper the ability of the region to recover from the pandemic.
Asurvey of 1056 Australians last monthshows 61% believe the government should increase its humanitarian and development funding to combat COVID-19, while 82% agree life won't return to normal unless the virus is controlled in all parts of the world. Similar results were recorded in Canada, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Australia.
ACFID chief executive Marc Purcell, said Australia had a "pre-COVID development budget for a COVID world ... If we don't step up and invest, others will and they reap the benefit in the medium to long-term...
"We have a leading role to play to help prevent a merry-go-round of lockdowns and suffering. But our response should not depend on running down other development initiatives."
+ The story of fish and chips is a development story
Refugees brought fish and chips to the UK, and then to New Zealand.
In 2019 it was agreed that the CID Code of Conduct would be reviewed more substantively. Almost 100% of the membership had gained compliance with the Code at that time, and with the prominence of topical issues such as localisation and safeguarding, this marked an opportune time to conduct a substantive reflection upon its scope and implementation.
Members shared their views with CID and over the last 10 months, the proposed recommendations outlined in the full 2019 Review of the CID Code of Conduct have been approval by the CID Code of Conduct Committee and the CID Board.
The revised and condensed version of these recommendations are now outlinedhere for socialisation for CID members (prior to being approved at the next AGM 5 November 2020).
+ DEVNET Conference update
The cut off date for DevNet abstracts is 14 September.
There is a special deal for NGOs: you can send 3 people from any one NGO for the price of 2 registrations, or 5 people for the price of 3!
NGO people can submit a practitioner abstract – so presentations don’t have to be research-based like at typical academic conferences.
Here are a few named sessionsstill needing submissions that might especially appeal to practitioners:
Confessions of a Development Practitioner
Climate Mobilities, Mobility Justice and Planned Relocation in the Asia-Pacific
Geopolitics and international development cooperation in a time of coronavirus
Health security
Labour mobility in lockdown
Resource extraction and land grabbing in the Pacific
SDGs: Just another set of goals?
Talking aid: how to communicate for a better world
We are also still accepting abstracts for papers on other themes for General Sessionsthat fit the ‘Development Matters’ focus of the conference.
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.
+ 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.
+ UNICEF report on child poverty disputed by government
For far too many, issues such as poverty, exclusion and pollution threaten their mental well-being, physical health and opportunities to develop skills, the report said.
The report showed that New Zealand is one of the worst places in the developed world to be a child, ranking 35th out of the 41 richest countries surveyed. New Zealand’s youth suicide rate is the second-worst at 14.9 deaths per 100,000 adolescents, just in front of Lithuania, which is the worst in the developed world. This rate is more than twice the average among the 41 OECD countries surveyed.
Vivian Maidaborn, UNICEF CEO said that until inequality was addressed, New Zealand would continue to fail children.
This ranking has since beendisputed by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardernwho claimed that progress has been made since the data was collected. However, Gwyther Rees, co-author of the report, confirmed that it 'gives an accurate reflection of New Zealand today.'
+ 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.
+ 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.
+ 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.
+ CID Strategy Consultation - 17th & 18th 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.
Further consultation sessions will be held on 17th and 18th September. If you wish to get involved, please sign uphere - please only register for one of the sessions.
