Another day, another summit. Today the focus is food, as world leaders gather for the first-ever U.N. Food Systems Summit — served with a side order of drama. It is nearly impossible not to make food puns.
+ Tune in to day three of Devex @ UNGA 76. Today we’re joined by Henrietta Fore, Winnie Byanyima, David Miliband, Martin Griffiths, and many more.
This is a preview of Newswire
Sign up to this newsletter for an inside look at the biggest stories in global development, in your inbox daily.
Today’s summit has been described as a landmark moment for food systems transformation. But it has also been described as a victim of “corporate capture” that “has ignored the structural causes of hunger and poverty.”
My colleague Teresa Welsh has been following the back-and-forth for months. In fact, she just launched a whole newsletter dedicated to food systems — called Devex Dish — that you should subscribe to now.
I asked Teresa what needs to happen today at the U.N. Food Systems Summit to prove its critics wrong.
She says: “Vulnerable groups such as smallholder farmers, Indigenous peoples, women, and youth need to be given center stage in an authentic way. We need to see big announcements from governments that include concrete plans for how progress will be monitored and achieved. This can't be another flashy U.N. moment full of speeches about urgency only to see the status quo continue once leaders return home.”
Bread basket
Latin America is the world’s largest food-exporting region — a fact that hasn’t escaped the attention of the Inter-American Development Bank’s private sector arm, IDB Invest. In an interview for Devex Pro subscribers, the organization’s CEO James Scriven explains how they are focusing investments on reducing agriculture’s impact on the environment while scaling production to reduce food insecurity.
Read: IDB says Latin America can lead on sustainable agri-supply chains [Pro]
The room where it happened?
Was U.S. President Biden’s global COVID-19 summit Wednesday a success? Reports from those inside the virtual room suggest a mixed bag, Shabtai Gold reports.
On one hand, the White House sent a badly needed signal that it takes the global pandemic response seriously, putting many of its top officials in charge of the summit’s four sessions. On the other hand, for a closed-door, invite-only summit, opportunities for genuine discussion were limited — largely because many participants sent in pre-recorded videos that played one after another for four hours.
Some leaders’ statements raised contentious issues, such as intellectual property rights waivers, but the summit’s format did not allow for substantial back and forth.
“No rich country actually addressed what those leaders are calling for,” says Robbie Silverman, senior manager of private sector advocacy at Oxfam America.
Read: After Biden's COVID-19 summit, questions on whether world will deliver
Biden’s announcement at the summit Wednesday that the U.S. is buying and donating 500 million Pfizer vaccines grabbed headlines, but it wasn’t the White House’s only pledge.
Adva Saldinger reports that the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation will provide $383 million in political risk insurance to a handful of middle-income countries that need it in order to finance vaccine purchases from COVAX.
Self evaluation
The U.K.’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office quietly released its first annual report Wednesday. It outlines a new set of departmental strategic priorities, including shaping the international order, and ensuring that Britain is a “force for good” in the world.
In the report, FCDO gives itself high marks on performance and impact, and “international, legal, and public transparency commitments.” Some might beg to differ, Will Worley reports.
Read: UK's FCDO outlines new strategic priorities in first annual report
ICYMI: Tracking the UK’s controversial aid cuts
So near and yet PEPFAR
Following reports that Dr. John Nkengasong has been tapped to lead PEPFAR, my colleague Sara Jerving has this look at what his departure from the Africa CDC could mean for health leadership on the continent.
Read: Nkengasong's bittersweet departure from Africa CDC
+ For more content like this, sign up for Devex CheckUp, the must-read weekly newsletter for exclusive global health news and insider insights.
Health in 3-D
When 25 public health academics, advocates, and reps from tech giants spend a year working on the links between data and the myriad factors that influence health, you get the 3-D Commission — the three Ds are for data, social determinants of health, and decision-making. Vince Chadwick speaks with the chair of the commission, Sandro Galea, about why the commission hasn’t yet provided a clear and actionable roadmap for policymakers.
Read: Health commission pushes use of data in health decision making
In other news
A pledging conference for Yemen Wednesday raised $600 million, but still fell short of the amount needed to help 12.9 million people in the country. [France 24]
The U.S. State Department announced yesterday that it will provide $336 million for humanitarian aid and economic development in Venezuela. [Reuters]
More than 40 NGOs have written to the British government calling for the suspension of funding for rainforest protection to Congo following the African country's move to allow industrial logging in the Congo Basin. [Sky News]
Sign up to Newswire for an inside look at the biggest stories in global development.
About the author
Michael Igoe@AlterIgoe
Michael Igoe is a Senior Reporter with Devex, based in Washington, D.C. He covers U.S. foreign aid, global health, climate change, and development finance. Prior to joining Devex, Michael researched water management and climate change adaptation in post-Soviet Central Asia, where he also wrote for EurasiaNet. Michael earned his bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College, where he majored in Russian, and his master’s degree from the University of Montana, where he studied international conservation and development.
