Today, we reported: Is G8 offering a ‘shrinking response’ to the growing food problem? A first: Former DfID official takes EBRD’s top post EBRD shareholders OK $1.3B fund for Arab states Australia in it for the long haul in Afghanistan UNDP gears up to normalize ties with Myanmar   Other must reads: Australia will contribute additional $15.7M food, medical assistance to Sahel, South Sudan FAO conference supports regional trust fund, calls on UN bo...

Full Story

Suma Chakrabarti, the dark horse in the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s presidential race, has beaten four other contenders for the position.   The bank’s board of governors made the surprise decision May 18, when they chose Chakrabarti to head EBRD in the next four years. Chakrabarti, permanent secretary at the British Ministry of Justice, was not expected to win given an unwritten rule excluding Britons from heading the bank, which m...

Full Story

The group of eight major industrialized nations has announced a new food security alliance and new pledges to the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program, but failed to address an issue close to nongovernmental organizations: Will they continue their L’Aquila funding beyond 2012?   Under the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, more than 45 companies have pledged to invest at least $3 billion in agriculture across Africa in a span of 10 years. These investments...

Full Story

A new field office of the United Nations Development Program may rise in Myanmar. The agency is proposing that it be built in the country’s capital city, Naypyidaw.   The proposal is part of a broader plan to normalize relations between UNDP and Myanmar, which appears to be back in good graces with Western donors following commitments by the government to pursue political reforms, including the historic by-election in April.   The plan was presented May 17 during...

Full Story