Global Migration, 1 year after Christchurch mosque shootings, US-Taliban Deal, and more

+ March 15 - one year on

New Zealand is preparing to mark the one year anniversary of the March 15 shootings.

Christchurch Muslims will mark the loss of 51 friends and family in the city's two mosques one year ago at a combined Friday prayer meeting and national remembrance service, reports cate Broughton in Stuff.

CID member, United Nations Association (UNA NZ) has organised an interfaith remembrance event in Wellington Cathedral. Details are here. 

For a full list of events across the country go here.

The growth in violent white supremacism is a global problem, backed by a global network of white nationalist radicalisation and violence.

Late last year the Department of Homeland Security in the US decided to address white supremacist terrorism as a primary security threat for the first time.

More than 175 people have been killed in at least 16 high-profile attacks linked to white nationalism around the world since 2011.

"The escalating global death toll from white nationalist attacks has put a spotlight on the social media companies that have allowed white nationalists to organize on their platforms with little interference," writes the UK Guardian.

"Many of this generation will remember where they were when they first heard a mosque had been fired on in Christchurch," a NZ Herald editorial said recently.

+ Developing countries and Covid-19 

The biggest concern currently is the growth rate of cases and deaths in countries that do not have containment measures in place.

Outside of China the number of confirmed cases doubled every 4 days, according to Max Roser at Our World in Data (for some of the latest stats, go here.)

According to Max Roser, the three groups at greatest risk are countries that do not take it seriously, elderly people [because the case fatality rate for old people is high], and poorer people [because of the lack of resources to care for severe cases].

Reportedly, the good news is that we have been successful in making progress against terrible problems before and we can do it again. The way forward is to take problems seriously, study them, and do what is right, according to Our World in Data. 

"Early in an outbreak, containment is key. Slowing the rate of infection means that the number of people who are sick at the *same time* does not exceed the capacity of the health system. [I wish more people understood the intention of containment.]" 

+ Samoa shifts focus from measles to Covid-19

In the wake of Samoa’s measles outbreak, Samoa is now faced with preparations for Covid-19.

The Health Emergency Operations Committee (HEOC) initially established to manage the measles outbreak response, is now focusing on the prevention and impact mitigation of Covid-19. The HEOC, a 40+ multidisciplinary team chaired by Leausa Dr. Take Naseri, Director General, Ministry of Health, has been monitoring the global and regional spread of Covid-19 and has put in place several prevention measures. As of 6 March 2020, there were no suspected or confirmed cases. 
 
WHO is assisting both Samoa and Tokelau and has provided screening equipment and other health care facilities at ports of entry. Further details are available here. 

+ Nominations for Code Committee 

CID is looking for two new Member Representative for the Code of Conduct Committee, for a period of two (2) years (renewable) from April 2020 – March 2022. 

The aim of the Code of Conduct Committee is to provide assurance to CID members, donors, the public and partners that the CID Code is being implemented effectively. It monitors adherence to the Code and compliance self-assessment and ensures that complaints in relation to the Code are examined promptly and fairly. The next 12 months will also be an exciting time as we continue with the implementation of recommendations from the Code Review.

The Member Representative will be nominated and elected by CID member organisations. The elected Member Representative can be:

• current staff or board members of CID organisations
• ex-staff and ex-board members of CID organisations
• fully elected CID board members but not the Chair of the CID board.

Please contact Aaron Davy if you require further information, including a copy of the Code of Conduct Committee ToR and nomination form. 

The closing date for CID to receive nominations for the Member Representative role is Tuesday 24 March.

+ International Women's Day

Rallies have been organised all over the world to celebrate the symbolic date of 8 March. The streets of Mexico City, Jakarta, and Santiago de Chile were filled with millions of people marching against gender-based violence and impunity for perpetrators.

Last week, in front of a university audience in New York, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres blasted the overwhelming gender injustice and abuse that continues today at unacceptable levels in his view.

“Just as slavery and colonialism were a stain on previous centuries, women’s inequality should shame us all in the twenty-first,” he said.

Also from last week is the release of UNDP's first gender social norm index that showed that almost 90% of people are biased against women. "Despite progress in closing the equality gap, 91% of men and 86% of women hold at least one bias against women in relation to politics, economics, education, violence or reproductive rights", reports The Guardian. Here is an article on 'Five ways to change gender norms in unpaid care and domestic work', by ODI.

Finally, marking the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action, UN Women published a report on progress, gaps, and challenges related to the advancement of gender equality and women’s rights, framed under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the global commitment of leaving none behind.

 

+ CID Reps Report - DevNet Conference 2020

A brief update from Jo Spratt (Oxfam) and Shona Jennings (ChildFund), our CID reps on the DevNet 2020 Conference Committee.

Kia ora koutou

This year’s Devnet Conference at Massey University is shaping up to be a premium Development event, with a compelling mix of new ideas, stimulating discussions and practice-focussed sessions. As CID representatives on the ​DevNet Conference ​Committee, we’ve been advocating for a strong theoretical, technical and practical focus this year. It looks like we’ll have some excellent international keynote speakers who will contribute contemporary thinking on global issues, but who can also link these ideas back to development practice.

Planning ahead: As the speakers haven’t been finalised, it’s too early to reveal who they are, but we’re angling for at least one of them to run a one-day, practice-focussed pre-conference workshop. So if you’re planning your diary now for December 2020, you might like to pencil-in Tues 1^st Dec, as well as the conference, dates 2^nd – 4^th in the hope we can pull this off!

What to do now: A call for sessions is going out later this month (keep your eyes on the CID newsletter or visit here https://devnet.org.nz/devnet2020/). We encourage CID members to put forward ideas for sessions which could be in a variety of formats, from workshops to debates to short presentations. If there’s an issue you would like to see highlighted or discussed relevant to ‘Why development matters and how’, or a format you’d like to recommend, this is your chance to get it in front of the Conference Committee. The deadline date is 24^th April.

We look forward to keeping you posted as planning for the event progresses. In the meantime, don’t hesitate to let us know if you’ve any ideas you’d like us to propose to the Conference Steering Committee.

Jo and Shona

+ Andrew Bell transforms Fred Hollows  

CEO of Fred Hollows, Andrew Bell has announced he will leave the organisation at the end of March to prioritise health issues, but he will remain active and available for contract work.

CID members will miss Andrew enormously. He has not only overseen the growth of Fred Hollows and increased its ability to deliver eye surgery and services across the Pacific, in challenging funding times, but has also been a strong influence on the sector, prepared to embrace innovation, challenge us, raise difficult issues with officials and ministers, and always with a wry smile and an infectious laugh.

It's that combination that makes him such a popular and influential figure in our sector.

Andrew - we are very sad to see you leave Fred Hollows but reassured that you will remain available to the sector in other capacities.

We look forward to supporting you through this time and continuing to work with you.

If you want to get in touch with Andrew after he leaves, his phone number will remain the same and his email address is zulukiwi4@gmail.com 
 

+ Latest on Governance in the charitable sector

What is the Future for NGO Governance? is a new report on the state of governance in the sector. Produced by The Centre for Social Impact, and with a foreword by lawyer Mai Che, it's an invaluable resource for NGOs.

It calls for an increase in resources towards governance in NGOs.

"The report, which drew on the experiences of fifteen NGO governance experts, identified a number of barriers to good governance including the low value and low profile of NGO governance, the behaviour of individual board members, the complexity of the NGO context and poor processes around decision-making."

Here is an excellent panel discussion on governance too, with Mel Hewitson, Yvonne Powley, Te Aroha Grace, Mai Chen and Caren Rangi.

CID will be hosting workshops on governance in July. More details to follow soon.

+ Australasian Dev Conference

Anthea Mulakala, Senior Director for International Development Cooperation at The Asia Foundation, reports on DevPolicy the highlights of the Australasian AID Conference, hosted by the Development Policy Centre at the Australian National University and The Asia Foundation in February.

'Fifty-eight panels and 220 presenters, many of whom have made submissions to DFAT for the aid policy review, made solid cases for the future of international development cooperation. Participants left stimulated by new insights, armed with new evidence and narratives, and ever committed to aid as a first choice, not a last resort'

Here is her list of the highlights from the Conference, and here are the links to the recorded sessions.

+ Save the date - Workshop on Public Engagement  

There will be a CID workshop on April 16 in Auckland on Public Engagement and how to tell the development story more effectively.

More details to follow soon. In the meantime, save the date.

Also, if you want to sign up to workshops on campaigns and communications, have a look at what The Workshop is offering across the country in March and April.

 

+ The US - Taliban Peace Deal: The Risk of Militarized Foreign Policy

Months of intense negotiation has led to the United States and the Taliban signing a long-awaited agreement which Washington describes as a 'path to peace' in Afghanistan.

The  US-Taliban deal is seen by Washington as a reasonable way to disengage from America’s longest war, referring to the signing of the accord as its most dignified way out of the conflict (it allows the US to avoid the perception of defeat). However critics also stated that it highlights a very specific U.S. failure within Afghanistan; the country will likely be brought back under the control of the Taliban.

Three parts of the 29th February deal can be read here, but critiques of the deal refer to additional classified annexes attached to the pact that only Taliban authorities and selected senior US authorities have reviewed, restricted even to many elected representatives. 

The agreement outlines Washington's commitment to withdraw its troops in a little over a year, remove U.S. and U.N. sanctions on the Taliban, help in the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners in return for only 1,000 regime prisoners of war, to have normal relations with the Taliban, and to assist in Afghanistan’s reconstruction. Again some critics state that the Taliban’s only substantial concession within the agreement is to commit not to host elements hostile to the U.S. The author presumes refers to al-Qaeda.

+ Global Migration and the EU - Turkey Deal

Brussels has held talks with President Erdogan over Turkey's decision to open their borders to migrants travelling to Europe. The presidents of the European commission are seeking a way to save the current migration deal with Turkey. Some have described the EU-Turkey migration deal at best no longer effective, and at worst dead.

About 35,000 migrants have massed at Turkey’s borders with the EU in the last week since Turkey’s president broke a 2016 pact under which Brussels promised to pay €6 billion in return for Turkey curbing migration flows. The unprecedented overcrowding in Greek camps for asylum seekers is putting women and girls at heightened risk in particular, as deteriorating conditions in Greek camps led to an agreement to rehouse up to 1,500 child migrant.

More people are on the move globally than at any time for several decades. Nearly 71 million people are currently displaced by persecution or conflict, including 26 million people who have crossed an international border and become refugees. The New Humanitarian is providing comprehensive coverage of the issues that impact migrants, asylum seeks, refugees and internally displaced people, and these are helpfully grouped as below.

• Triggers: Why people move – Conflicts, crises, and long-term trends that drive migration and displacement.
• Routes: Risky journeys – How stricter border policies push people to take new – often riskier – routes.
• Policy: Shifting responses – Changing policies on migration, including the rise of anti-immigration politics.
• Host countries: Life in limbo – Challenges in providing aid as people spend longer and longer in exile.
• Returns: Going home – What happens when people return to their homelands and try to reintegrate.

+ *Don't forget  - The Localisation Survey*

The new year started with a call to combine our passion for global development with a solid evidence-based approach and an open attitude to learn from each other and from our own mistakes.

Assessing the current status of NZ INGOs' understanding of localisation is crucial to identify the obstacles, what good practice looks like, and what could be the catalysts for change.

The survey link was sent to all CID members' CEOs. Please complete the survey by 20 March. Thank you. 
 

+ United Nations Association NZ - Public Speaking Award

The United Nations Association of New Zealand (UNA NZ) has launched the 2020 Public Speaking Award for secondary school students. UNA NZ has held regional secondary school speech awards for over 30 years. 

Regional events will be held in late March/April and branch winners will be funded to attend the National Conference on 8 May, 2020 in Wellington to compete on a national level.

The 2020 competition topic is “Are the reasons for establishing the United Nations in 1945 still relevant today?”, and speeches are to be 6 to 8 minutes. Students must make a particular reference to the aims, work and aspirations of the United Nations.

Register directly at http://bit.ly/UNAofNZSpeechAward2020  

For more information contact office@unanz.org.nz