NZ Philanthropy, SDGs acceleration, Global protests, and more
Posted on 16 June 2020
+ NZ Philanthropy likely to drop by $20m
Philanthropy NZhas surveyed 120 of its members, philanthropist, grant-makers and other funders to find out how COVID-19 is impacting on their ability to give.
The findings are a mix of positive...and not so positive:
65% of funders said they expect to fund at the same level or increase their funding this year while 21% of funders are likely to decrease their funding.
COVID-19 was either a factor or the sole reason given for most of the anticipated funding decreases while increases are generally due for a mix of reasons or unrelated to COVID-19.
With an uncertain economic outlook, indications are that responding funders may distribute around $21 million less in the year ahead.
Many funders responded rapidly to the changing environment and emerging needs. To date, funders have specifically earmarked at least $21 million to tackle COVID-19 impacts.
Other funders are taking a mid to long term approach. They are waiting until the immediate government response is known and community needs further emerge before deciding on their response.
Funders have employed a range of funding approaches to respond to the COVID-19 crisis, with nearly half adapting agreements with grant holders to introduce more flexibility. Around half have taken proactive approaches to fund community organisations working with those in greatest need.
There has been significant collaboration amongst funders during the COVID-19 crisis with a large proportion sharing intelligence about funding needs, and/or working with other funders to identify community organisations in need. There has also been the rise of joint funds to increase efficiency and impact.
COVID-19 has had a far greater economic impact than health impact on Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the Pacific.Chris Hoy, presents the results of ananalysison the macroeconomic effects of lockdown and travel bans, onDevPolicy.
No-one knows for sure how large the negative impact of COVID-19 will be, so the research carried out by Hoy and his colleagues looked at what the effect of a 5%, 10% and 20% fall in household consumption would mean in terms of people living in extreme poverty (less than US$1.90 per day).
Hoy focussed on the four Pacific countries with the highest number of people living in extreme poverty, before COVID: PNG, Timor-Leste and Solomon Islands (that counted about one-fourth of the population living below $1.90), and Vanuatu (about 14% of the population).
The results under the most severe scenario of a 20% contraction are alarming: an additional 1.2 million people in the region would be pushed into extreme poverty, and this would represent an increase of over 40% on pre-COVID-19 levels.
These estimates, says Hoy, point to the fact that there are large shares of the population who live just above the extreme poverty line in the region and that they are vulnerable to falling below it...any shock, such as a natural disaster, could have a similar impact.
+ Billion people could fall into poverty post COVID
A billion people — many in middle-income countries — could fall into poverty as economies flounder, a new report finds.
The paper, published Friday by the United Nations University, predicts “there will likely be a dramatic spike in poverty rates in some of the middle-income countries that have made significant progress [against poverty] in recent years, reports William Worley at Devex.
“Things are much more fragile than they first seem,” co-author Andy Sumner, professor of international development at King's College London, told Devex. “People haven’t jumped from poverty into a secure lifestyle; they are not that far away from poverty, and the current crisis could be that one shock that pushes them into poverty.”
+ Save the date! workshops on Adaptive management
CID in partnership with MFAT will be holding two online training seminars on Adaptive Management, as we all face the challenges of adapting programmes and ways of working during COVID-19.
We'll cover:
Theory - what is adaptive management and how does it work?
Practice - implementation and what it means for work with partners
MFAT's approach, research and practice
Aligning it with monitoring & evaluation, and locally-driven approaches
Latest international research and thinking
Training and seminar sessions will be followed by a keynote speech, and a panel of your peers talking about their experiences.
Midday- 2pm Thursday, June 25 Midday - 2pm Friday, June 26 Via Zoom.
More details and registration details to follow this week.
The Bond survey also highlights a range of needs that NGO programmes can’t currently meet without additional funds. If these programmes are not properly resourced and equipped to respond to the pandemic, the world’s most vulnerable people will continue to be hit the hardest.
+ COVID as an SDGs accelerator
2020 was meant to be the big push for the Sustainable Development Goals'decade of action', and then COVID came, with all its domino's negative and tragic effects.
Dane Moores reflects onDevPolicyon how, instead of representing a setback, the COVID response can actually help to accelerate the global commitment to the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.
COVID-19, as a crisis, has shown how the several aspects of human development are complexly intertwined. The SDGs framework can help us respond to this crisis with an integrated approach.
Despite the UN language that might sound too bureaucratic to some, the SDGs are all about promoting social justice within planetary boundaries.
They are not a panacea, but they are the tool we have and represent an unprecedented effort to promote a model of development that guarantees global equality and is centred on respecting the environmental limits of our planet, rather than assuming that unlimited and uncontrolled economic growth will erase poverty and bring equality.
'The SDGs paint the picture of a world free from poverty by 2030, where there is universal access to healthcare, education, water and sanitation. It is a resilient world which would be in a much stronger position to withstand shocks like COVID-19. Had the international community invested more in the SDGs earlier, we may have been in a better position to manage the current crisis'. says Moores.
+ UN Women/UNANZ Event: Family violence in a time of Pandemic
UN Women Aotearoa New Zealand and the United Nations Association have joined together to being you this event on family violence during a pandemic.
This webinar will focus on family and intimate partner violence, with particular reference to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and will raise funds for Women’s Refuge.
The panel will include Dr Ang Jury, Chief Executive of Women’s Refuge, Jan Logie MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the Minister of Justice (Domestic and Sexual Violence Issues) and Mele Wendt, White Ribbon Ambassador. Further speakers will be announced in the coming days
You can register for the eventhere. Following registration, you will be sent a link for the online event.
Learn more about the UN Women Shadow Pandemic Campaignhere.
Important information: If you are worried about your own safety or that of another, in an emergency, call 111. If you are a victim of family violence or in a relationship that makes you fearful about your own or anyone else's safety, seek help as soon as possible. You have the right to be safe. You can find out more about help available here. Women’s Refuge crisis: 0800 733 843 - 24 hours.
+ Global protests shine light on West Papua
The #BlackLivesMatter protests have shone a light on police abuses in West Papua, according to the UK Guardianthis week.
'The #PapuanLivesMatter protests also inspired a team to create an interactive graphic, We Need To Talk About Papua, for progressive teenage art magazine, Kudeta. The graphic, which has been widely shared on social media, including by the singer Isyana Sarasvati, who has 7 million Instagram followers, contains a history of Indonesia’s colonialism in West Papua, links to petitions against police violence and a list of the names of the Papuans allegedly killed by Indonesian security forces.'
“The discussion about Black Lives Matter must also be followed by an awareness that racism still occurs in our country,” says writer Bageur Al Ikhsan, part of the creative team.
Student Eden Armando Bebari, 19, was allegedly shot and killed by Indonesian security forces while fishing in his home town in West Papua in April.
+ UnionAID event: From Crisis to Recovery and Resilience
Join UnionAID on the 17thof June to hear from Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Congress, for the 5th annual Peter Conway Memorial Lecture.
In her lecture 'From Crisis to Recovery and Resilience', Sharan Burrow will explore how we respond to the social and economic crisis we face from Covid-19.
The lecture will be on Zoom and is open to all. Please, registerhere.
+ DRC aid scandal triggers sector-wide concern
A review of fraud and corruption risks in the Democratic Republic of Congo - one of the world's longest-running humanitarian crises - deliversa blistering assessmentthat could spark major changes to aid operations in a country where hundreds of millions of dollars of foreign aid are spent annually.
When four Congolese business owners were caught trying to bribe a Mercy Corps worker with bags of cash in November 2018, staff members at the international NGO were shocked. But the organisation was about to make an even bigger discovery:a multi-layered aid scam that was siphoning off money– aid officials think millions – meant for the Democratic Republic of Congo’s most vulnerable.
639,000 was lost over several months in a multi-layered fraud scheme discovered by Mercy Corps. Around $6 million may have been lost to multiple aid organisations over two years, aid officials say. Staff members allegedly involved in the scheme were let go by Mercy Corps, but some now work at other aid organisations
+ Popular culture tells the real development story
The experience of development is often told most authentically through popular culture, and popular music in particular.
Music has long been a medium of choice for marginalized populations all over the world to convey their views - often critical, while in the Global North music has also long played a prominent (if notorious) role in portraying the plight of the South’s ‘starving millions’ as an emotional pretext for soliciting funds for international aid.
A new working paperfrom LSE Department of Social Policy discusses the overlap between music and development in five areas: the tradition of Western ‘protest’ music; musical resistance in the Global South; music-based development interventions; commodification and appropriation; and, finally, music as a globalised development vernacular.
Their analysis broadens the range - and the different communication modalities - of potential contributions to development debates, making it far more open, authentic and compelling.
+ 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.
+ Online event - health systems between pandemics and the role of the private sector
'The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented challenge facing many of the world's already overstretched health care systems. But it’s likely not the last. Most of us remember the devastating impacts of SARS and Ebola — but what happened between these outbreaks to help build future preparedness?'
Join Devex and PSRT on June 18 as they convene a panel of global health experts to take stock of current efforts to strengthen and prepare health systems by exploring the role of the private sector in leveraging insights, resources, capacity and know-how to help communities and countries address specific health risks. Register here.
Join the online conversation using #BetweenPandemics and #DevexEVENT
+ Family Planning: Contraceptive Use Survey
Family Planning have launched a survey to learn more about the contraception people use, how they get it, and how they might improve access to contraception for all people in New Zealand who want to use it.
+ VSA in Vanuatu for cyclones & COVID - a personal account
"Since VSA's decision to repatriate all volunteers in Vanuatu on 14 March, the events that have unfolded here have been a blur of both chaos and calm. Through the repatriation, closing of international borders and suspending international flights due to the global pandemic, an earthquake and a devastating cyclone, Vanuatu has proven to be a country of remarkable resilience. This is not a value or quality that we can teach NiVan citizens but rather a virtue that we can learn from."
Te Tūao Tāwāhi (VSA) Programme Manager in Vanuatu Trevor Johnson reports back in an article about his time in Vanuatu during COVID-19 and the effects of cyclone Harold, as well as his work and collaboration with the local community. Read the full articlehere.
+ Resources for challenging racism in the aid sector The recent murder of George Floyd and subsequent BlackLivesMatter protests in the US and globally have reinvigorated discussions about racism in all parts of society. The development and humanitarian sector has its own share of issues on racism and discrimination that remains to be addressed. Below are some helpful resources:
