Devex Newswire: Exclusive look at Macron’s (somewhat) big plans

We get a sneak peek inside French President Emmanuel Macron’s big plans for his global financial compact summit — and discover they’re not so big, at least not yet. Also in today’s edition: We talk to the woman recruited to clean house after a series of sex scandals at the World Health Organization. Macron’s big compact Macron rarely misses an opportunity to elbow his way onto the world stage. So it’s only apropos that he’s spearheading a summit whose aim is nothing less than to forge a global compact between wealthy nations and the global south on climate change and the world’s thorniest development challenges. You’ve got to give it to Macron — when he goes big, he goes “Vive la France!” big. But so far, the Paris summit — now less than three weeks out — only seems to be big on lofty promises and light on actual commitments, according to a possible declaration outline seen by my colleague Vince Chadwick. The draft declaration was intended as a basis for internal discussions, an Elysée official tells Vince, adding that the final format and conclusions of the summit are still “up for debate.” The document is peppered with mind-numbing diplo-speak — “differentiated pathways of transition according to national circumstances and priorities, defined nationally” — and predictable development pledges on issues such as climate finance commitments, debt relief, multilateral bank reform, private sector investment, etc. There’s been some movement. Invites have gone out to world leaders, and a website is live — but some wonder whether the event will live up to the hype. “How many road maps do we need?” an EU source familiar with the deliberations tells Vince. “France is all over the place.” Scoop: First look at draft text for Macron's global financing summit (Pro) + Not yet a Devex Pro member? Start a 15-day free trial today to unlock the piece and all our exclusive reporting and analysis. Scandal problem solver WHO has been reeling from sexual misconduct scandals ever since the media revealed explosive allegations in the Democratic Republic of Congo of sex-for-pay schemes, rape, and forced abortions involving aid workers, including WHO staff. Dr. Gaya Gamhewage was brought in to clean house as WHO’s director for prevention and response to sexual misconduct. She’s not only a 22-year veteran of the agency, but she’s also experienced sexual harassment herself. “Some people may feel something was so minor, and some of the things I experienced were like that, that we don't want to talk about it.” In her new role, Gamhewage has done the opposite, making the media rounds — including an in-depth interview with my colleague Jenny Lei Ravelo — in which she’s occasionally trotted out well-worn sound bites, including the refrain that sexual misconduct cases will go up, but that’s a good sign because it shows increased confidence in WHO’s justice system. At the same time, she seems genuinely passionate about revamping WHO’s culture — and she’s made tangible changes already, from reducing the time it takes to investigate cases to closing loopholes that restricted who counted as a victim. And while she believes in changing the establishment, she says that doesn’t mean “destroying an establishment.” “It means looking critically and … addressing points that are no longer working for it. And always keeping in mind the workforce, in this case, always keeping in mind the survivors and victims.” Read: WHO cleans house after sexual misconduct scandals, but questions linger + Check out the highlights and video playlist of our sessions at the Devex CheckUp @ WHA 76 event. Pay for what you get Most development donors and organizations want to do good. But how do you link the organizations doing the most good with the donors eager to reward them? OutcomesX is a nascent effort to connect donors and development organizations in a cheaper, less complex, and more efficient way. Organizations can use the exchange to publish details of their work alongside evidence of its effectiveness. Then funders can back the ones delivering the results they want to see. “Social impact is a huge market, but it's the most inefficient market,” Phyllis Costanza, OutcomesX co-founder, says. “If you try to look at what we spend versus what we've achieved, there's absolutely no correlation.” Fellow OutcomesX co-founder Jason Saul acknowledges that getting funders to ditch their traditional way of doing business won’t be easy. “A market without liquidity, as they call it — which is a fancy word for having a bunch of buyers — isn’t a market,” he says. “I'm fully cognizant that that is a major challenge,” he adds. “I think we have a task ahead of us. But this is the fight I want to fight.” Read more: The exchange offering a new way to do payment by results (Pro) Bonn voyage The U.N. Bonn Climate Change Conference opens today amid rising pressure on COP 28 President Sultan al-Jaber of the United Arab Emirates to outline a plan that satisfies the world — and not just fossil fuel interests, such as the oil company he also heads up. The Bonn gathering is viewed as the halfway point to the U.N. climate summit in Dubai, but it’s smaller and more technical, and with no political decisions in sight, fewer bigwigs are likely to show up, our Climate Correspondent William Worley tells me. But it is a chance for policymakers to find some common pathways to the main event in November. Meanwhile, Amnesty International just released a warning that “UAE’s record of suppressing free speech and conducting digital espionage pose a serious threat to conference,” which Will says reminds him of the fun secret police roaming Egypt at last year’s COP. A case of neglect Will also served as a panelist on a recent discussion hosted by the Norwegian Refugee Council on its latest report detailing the world’s 10 most neglected crises — a discussion dominated by one of the world’s least-neglected crises: Ukraine. That’s because Ukraine has captured the humanitarian limelight, leaving those 10 other crises in the shadows, including Burkina Faso, which had the dubious distinction of topping NRC’s list for the first time. “It’s a drama beyond belief. It’s ticking toward catastrophe,” Jan Egeland, NRC’s secretary general, said of Burkina Faso’s humanitarian descent, criticizing the media for essentially ignoring the story. “More media would lead to more action.” In fact, NRC estimates that over five times more articles were written about the Ukrainian displacement crisis last year than about all of the world’s 10 most neglected crises in total. Read: Ukraine sucks up donor, media bandwidth from 10 most neglected crises Banga (not) on Twitter Speaking of busy colleagues, Shabtai Gold and Adva Saldinger held a Twitter Spaces on Friday just after Ajay Banga entered the World Bank building for his first day at the helm of the anti-poverty lender. They discussed the raft of challenges and competing demands that will greet him, especially with a slow-moving board that is divided on issues such as climate and poverty. Adva and Shabtai said the big things to watch are where Banga takes the ongoing reforms, including over at the International Finance Corporation, the bank’s private-sector wing, given his own decadeslong career in the private sector as chief executive of Mastercard. It's notable that David Malpass leaves him with pretty high staff morale and a doubling of climate spending over the last four years. As journalists, we hope the bank continues its path toward more transparency with the public. After all, a critical job will be explaining why what happens in lower-income countries matters to people in higher-income nations, which are still the primary source of development funds. The messaging may also entail Banga setting up a Twitter account, which he currently doesn’t have, so be wary of the fakes out there. Listen: Big expectations, big challenges for Ajay Banga Background reading: Great expectations as Ajay Banga takes over the World Bank In other news Oxfam’s report on climate finance reveals only $21 billion to $24.5 billion of the $88 billion provided to help low-income countries counts as pure climate finance with no strings attached. [The Guardian] Discussions over a global plastic treaty faced resistance from oil-rich countries, but the meeting wrapped up Friday with an agreement to produce a draft treaty before the next round of talks in November in Kenya. [PBS] A refugee center that houses some 300 people in eastern Germany caught fire Sunday, killing one and injuring 10. [AP News] Sign up to Newswire for an inside look at the biggest stories in global development.