Advocacy groups are vexed — so we hear — about changes to the U.S. global AIDS initiative PEPFAR’s planning cycle, fearing civil society may get sidelined as people with HIV and AIDS face increasing government crackdowns.
Also in today’s edition: Attacks by pests and pathogens cause havoc in India, Sonali Korde takes the helm at USAID’s humanitarian wing, and an update on OACPS real estate woes.
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Is anyone listening at PEPFAR? Apparently not, according to activists. We got our hands on a recording of a town hall meeting of the U.S. government’s flagship HIV/AIDS program last week and there were some pretty upset attendees.
“I was in a room two days where I was not listened to, and I feel like I'm not being listened to here, and I feel like there's other colleagues here with me who do not feel listened to,” one civil society representative told Dr. John Nkengasong, the U.S. global AIDS coordinator and head of PEPFAR.
Advocacy groups have raised the alarm that changes to PEPFAR’s country operational planning process — COPs for short — could diminish the role of civil society groups, which play a vital part in advocating for support for vulnerable “key populations” as they face down threats of criminalization and stigma from governments in HIV-affected countries. Remember, the disease still kills more than half a million people every year.
One big concern for civil society is timelines, writes Senior Reporter Michael Igoe who heard the audio recording of the meeting. Under Nkengasong, PEPFAR lengthened the COP process from a one-year cycle to two years in an effort to streamline the process and foster more diverse participation.
And while some reckon the upsets are just growing pains and the lengthened cycle is a good idea, others warn against the pendulum swinging too far from intensive, in-person meetings where PEPFAR, national governments, and civil society reps pored over data and hashed out concrete plans, to a more hands-off approach with decisions devolved to the country level.
Nkengasong, a Cameroonian virologist who has led PEPFAR since 2022, said during the call that there would be an “after action review” of the meetings to “discuss all of your concerns.”
Read: HIV advocates say they are 'not being listened to' in PEPFAR review (Pro)
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As though farmers don’t already have enough to contend with — costly fertilizers, parched or sodden earth, damaged or nonexistent infrastructure, inadequate equipment, and poor quality seeds. That should deter all but Jeremy Clarkson from taking up the hoe.
But another devastating natural phenomenon has been added to the mix. While bugs have always been around and caused headaches in the fields, pests are now becoming more and more deadly for farmers and their crops.
Climate change seems to have supercharged insects and pathogens that can wipe out a crop in as little as a few weeks. And they have become increasingly resistant to insecticide, fungicides, and anything else that can be sprayed on them.
Nandkumar Koparde lost his entire soybean crop in southern India’s Karnataka state to whitefly, which left leaves yellow and curled, spreading the yellow mosaic disease. The tiny insect dried out an entire harvest. He lost money, fell into debt, and he and his wife were forced to take second jobs in neighboring fields to make ends meet. The long, back-breaking hours led to health issues.
“I had never seen such an infestation,” says Koparde, whose other crops — sugarcane, chilies, groundnuts, spinach, and fenugreek — also suffered from the pests. “I couldn’t even save one plant,” he tells Devex contributor Sanket Jain.
The numbers are staggering — the Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that 20% to 40% of crop production globally is lost to pest attacks every year, and invasive insect attacks cause a global loss of $70 billion annually, while plant diseases cause a staggering loss of $220 billion.
And it’s only going to get worse as the pests spread to new regions. Research has found that since 1960, crop pests have moved an average of 3 kilometers every year toward the direction of the north and south poles because of global warming.
“Climate change is helping new pathogens enter global commerce and establish themselves in new areas, which is a big problem, especially for emerging economies,” Maria Lodovica Gullino, a professor at Italy’s Turin University and former president of the International Society for Plant Pathology, tells Sanket.
Read: Climate change-driven pests silently devastate Indian farms
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With funding for U.S. humanitarian assistance reaching all-time highs, it’s not an easy time to be the person at USAID responsible for administering those programs. And as of Monday, that person is Sonali Korde.
My colleague Elissa Miolene has the highlights of Korde’s nearly two-decade résumé at USAID — including when she enrolled herself in an experimental Ebola vaccine trial.
Korde most recently served as the number two official at the humanitarian bureau and replaced Sarah Charles, who stepped down from her role as humanitarian chief in January. She takes on the challenge of leading a bureau tasked with responding to unprecedented global crises. Remember, it also faces its own internal workforce crises.
As USAID Administrator Samantha Power put it at Korde’s swearing-in ceremony on Monday, “Leading the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance is one of the toughest jobs at USAID.”
On a related note, in the latest episode of our weekly podcast series, Devex's Raj Kumar and David Ainsworth, and Atlantic Council’s Nicole Goldin discuss what community leaders think of USAID's approach to localization, as well as other top global development stories from this week.
Read: Sonali Korde takes the helm of USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (Pro)
ICYMI: USAID humanitarian chief to step down in January (Pro)
€5.1 million
—That’s how much European taxpayers have wasted on a renovation project that will now never happen for an organization few have heard of.
The Brussels-based Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States, or OACPS, has roughly 50 staff, charged with working on issues such as climate change and private sector development in low-income countries. Essentially broke, as its 79 members fail to pay their dues, it is financed almost entirely by the European Commission.
Still, in July 2020, OACPS temporarily left its longtime headquarters (which it owns) in the Belgian capital city’s well-heeled suburb of Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, so renovations could take place. The commission had agreed to fully fund the works and rent a temporary replacement property in the leafy Châtelain district, to the tune of €17.5 million ($18.8 million).
But then — as we have previously reported — things went pear-shaped. The tender for the construction works at the original HQ was never even issued. The commission blamed COVID-19 and the effect of inflation on construction materials, but in May 2021, OACPS told members that drafts of the tender had contractual and technical shortcomings and failed to comply with EU procurement rules.
With the lease up in Châtelain, and with nothing having changed at the headquarters in Woluwe, OACPS has now moved to a third location at Place Rogier in central Brussels. And, a commission spokesperson tells my colleague Vince Chadwick, OACPS now intends to sell the old HQ and buy a new one somewhere else.
“The OACPS have prepared the sale of their property [in Woluwe] while the process of identifying suitable premises for the Secretariat offices should end with a purchase in the coming months,” the spokesperson says. “The Commission has so far paid EUR 5.1 million (this figure includes the current rental of alternative premises).”
OACPS did not respond to requests for comment.
Background reading: EU sinks €4M into nonexistent renovation for OACPS’ Brussels HQ
A recent U.N. report revealed a significant setback for the Asia-Pacific region, predicting a delay in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals until 2062. [UN News]
The World Bank approved a new approach to engage with Afghanistan's people, potentially providing around $300 million in funds independent of Taliban control. [France 24]
The Venezuelan government has ordered the local U.N. human rights office to close within 72 hours, in response to the agency's call for the immediate release of detained activist Rocío San Miguel. [Al Jazeera]
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