Tsunami anniversaries, Growth setbacks, Is the INGO sector broken? and more

+ CID Annual Conference - Registrations Open!

Register now for the CID Conference - ‘Beyond Aid: Partnerships for the Future’.  

21 October 2019
Massey University Wellington.

For more information about the agenda and for registering to the event, click here.

Also, we have extended the deadline for the 2019 CID Photo Competition submissions to 7 October. More information here.
 

+ 10th Anniversary of the South Pacific tsunami 

The 29th September marked the 10th anniversary since the 2009 earthquake and tsunami that impacted Samoa,  Tonga and Tutuila (American Samoa) and killed over 180 people. The final death toll may never be known. Samoa suffered the worst with 149 deaths recorded, while American Samoa and Tonga recorded 34 and nine lives respectively. Over 3500 people lost their homes and livelihoods.

The 8.3-magnitude quake that powered the tsunami was the strongest recorded globally that year. 

Last weekend, Churches across Polynesia were filled with survivors, families and friends who came together to honour those who died in the tragedy. Tangata Pasifika broadcast a memorial special to mark rthe 10th anniversary, with The Coconet TV also providing tribute. The Samoa Observer Op-Ed also took a frank view on the tragedy of the 2009 tsunami, recovery and the lack of basic utilities for some in Samoa.

+ 1st Anniversary of the Central Sulawesi tsunami

On the 28th September 2018, a series of earthquakes powered tsunami waves that damaged homes and communities along the Sulawesi coast. The disaster killed more than 4,800 people, according to government figures, displaced at least 172,000, and damaged or destroyed more than 110,000 homes.

A year later more than 57,000 survivors are still homeless with thousands still awaiting assistance to rebuild.

Critical recovery work is being done by organisation such as World Vision's partner, Wahan Visi Indonesia, who together with government and other agencies are providing non-food supplies, health and nutrition, education, child protection, livelihood, and disaster risk reduction programmes .

Care International is also implementing more programs aimed at strengthening family enterprise and business through the provision of inputs, small grants and vocational training packages. Care has reached nearly 60,500 people through hygiene kits distribution and promotion, clean water rehabilitation and distribution, shelter repair materials and training, latrine rehabilitation and construction, along with cash grants. 

+ Nominate yourself or partner for Collaboration Award

This year at the CID Annual Conference we are introducing a new award – the CID Collaboration Award. Nominate yourself, your organisation or your partners now! There will be a prize with the award.

The award recognises and celebrates the importance of effective relationships and collaborative thinking within and across the sector to tackle difficult development challenges and global issues.

We want to hear from CID Members and Associate Members that have successfully worked together on a project with a mix of organisations and individuals – for example, local entrepreneurs, governments, funders, private sector, consultants, academics or researchers.

A successful collaboration could mean you have overcome particular obstacles, used technology creatively, or found new ways to collaborate across geographical boundaries.

If you think your organisation is deserving of this award please complete and submit an application by 15 October. 

Details of the CID Collaboration Award and application is available here

+ Afghan elections - unclear

"The camps for the top rivals in Afghanistan's election, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah and President Ashraf Ghani, have both claimed victory after the first round of voting on Saturday, even though official counting is still under way," writes Al Jazeera.

Abdullah and Ghani have shared power over the past five years in a so-called unity government formed by the United States after a standoff in the wake of allegations of widespread fraud and corruption in the 2014 polls. 

+ Growth weakens in developing countries 

"Growth has slowed in most developing countries, albeit with considerable variation across regions. The struggle to create good jobs has intensified, with rapid urbanization, premature deindustrialization and rural stagnation accompanying rising inequality and growing political tensions."

This is according to a new report out by UNCTAD (UN Trade and Development). 

They have a grim prognosis on our ability to reach the SDGs.

"With little more than a decade left to achieve Agenda 2030, meeting these goals has already fallen behind schedule and there is broad agreement that what is now required is a coordinated investment push on an unprecedented scale and across the entire global commons. The financing numbers are daunting, from “billons to trillions”, requiring an additional 2.5 trillion dollars a year, just in developing countries," UNCTAD estimates.

+ ONE's 'Better Aid Scorecards' launched

ONE is a global movement campaigning to end extreme poverty and preventable disease by 2030, and have recently launched the Better Aid Scorecards, as leaders were gathering at the UN to take-stock of progress on the SDGs and the plan to finance this agenda.

The Better Aid Scorecards rank the 20 largest bilateral OECD DAC donors, plus the European Institutions, on how much and how well they spend development assistance in the fight against extreme poverty. Donors are assessed and compared on three categories: aid quantity, aid targeting (to the people and places most in need), and aid quality. Individual Scorecards for eight major donors give a detailed overview of their performance.
 
You can dive deeper into the findings, methodology and data at www.one.org/scorecards. You can also read their Opinion piece in Devex, and on the ONE blog.
 
Snapshot of key findings:

• Had all governments met the target of spending 0.7% of national income in ODA, an additional $196 billion in aid – an increase of 228% - would have been available in 2018.
• Only 36% of global aid is ‘gender-responsive’, despite gender inequality being a major barrier to overcoming extreme poverty.
• The majority of donors provide less than a third of their aid to the poorest countries. In 2017, least developed countries received $43 billion (29%) of total DAC aid.
• In 2017 alone, at least $17.7 billion of ODA never left donor countries – that is $4 billion more than the total aid invested in the world’s 10 poorest countries ($13.5 billion).
• Donors are not delivering high enough levels of aid quality, with low levels of transparency.
• Donors are not focusing enough on human capital, investing in key areas such as education, social protection and health, with only 32% of their aid going to these three sectors combined.

 
"Now, almost one-third of the way through the SDG period, it is clear that global action has not matched the ambition of the goals and that a large number of people are being left behind. We hope this tool will highlight the need to act with urgency", ONE writes. 
 
On a similar note, this updated index by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) reviews 159 countries and finds only 81 are ‘ready’ to meet the commitment to ‘leave no one behind’, which lies at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

+ Prioritise SDGs or risk failure, say experts

An Expert Panel including two Nobel Laureates from the Copenhagen Consensus has reviewed all the available research and identified 19 SDG targets that represent the best value-for-money in development over the period 2016 to 2030.

Without prioritisation, these development economists argue, we will be less effective overall and the SDGs will fail.

"Focusing on what is smartest, rather than what feels best, could be the single best thing we can do these next 15 years," says Bjorn Lomborg.

Here are the top 19:

Air Pollution, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conflict & Violence, Data for Development, Education, Energy, Food Security, Gender Equality, Governance & Institutions, Health: Chronic Diseases, Health: Health Systems, Health: Infant Mortality & Maternal Health, Health: Infectious Diseases, Infrastructure, Illicit Financial Flows, Nutrition, Population & Demography, Poverty, Science & Technology, Trade, and Water & Sanitation. 

 

+ Is the INGO system broken? Podcast

Everyone's talking about localisation these days. But transformation (because that what the localisation agenda calls for) is so far missing.

"Only 1% of official aid and humanitarian assistance goes directly to local organisations in developing countries or the “global south”. Despite a commitment to sustainable and locally-led development, international NGOs have still not redressed the imbalance of power, resources and funds that exists between northern NGOs and southern civil society organisations," writes 

Listen to the podcast here with Bond's Zoe Abrahamson talking to Danny Sriskandarajah, chief executive of Oxfam GB, Bolor Legjeem, programs director at Mongolian Women’s Fund, and Jennie Richmond, social impact strategy consultant and former head of international grants at Comic Relief.

+ CID members strong showing at Select Committee 

Many CID members made submission  - written and oral - to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Select Committee this week.

The Select Committee announced a review of New Zealand's aid in the Pacific in June.

You read all the submissions here.

Key themes:

+ Welcome CARE

+ JBWere Event: Governance for Social Impact