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Aid organizations are being urged to join a project to properly track sexual exploitation in the sector — and give victims the confidence to come forward.
Also in today’s edition: The changing nature of financial flows to the global south, while the IMF is condemned in Kenya’s street revolt.
+ Get our complete, up-to-date breakdown of USAID’s localization efforts and progress in one convenient spot. Download your copy of USAID and localization: A progress report.
Sexual abuse scandals are depressingly common in aid work, from Oxfam’s cover-up of its staff’s exploitation of earthquake victims in Haiti to accusations against World Health Organization workers fighting Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and many more.
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What perhaps has been missing is accurate data to reveal the true scale and nature of the problem, to replace what has been called a “hodgepodge” of information-gathering using different methods.
Now the CHS Alliance, a network of humanitarian aid NGOs, is attempting to plug that gap by offering organizations a standardized and streamlined reporting system, reports my colleague Elissa Miolene, and the early results are “startling.”
They showed 1 in 5 victims of aid workers was under the age of 18, support was only provided to survivors in half of the incidents — and for 1 in 3 cases, no action was taken after an incident was reported.
A quarter of alleged perpetrators were managers, and 13% were international staff — higher than the typical proportion of foreigners working in a humanitarian response, which is 10%.
So far, 24 organizations have signed up to the project, funded by the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, but CHS Alliance is aiming for expansion.
“The more organizations that join, the more representative the data is going to be,” says project leader Mathilde Belli — also expressing hope victims will be encouraged to come forward with the confidence they will not be ignored.
Read: New data reveals sexual abuse remains a 'cancer' in the aid sector (Pro)
+ Listen: WHO's progress in addressing sexual misconduct cases
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Imagine a race to deliver the most finance to low- and middle-income countries, in which official development assistance, aka ODA, foreign direct investment, aka FDI, and remittances chase each other around the track.
For lap after lap, FDI cruised in a comfortable lead, while remittances held a steady but unspectacular pace — and ODA puffed badly, so far back it was barely in the contest.
But this is a marathon, not a sprint. Suddenly, FDI seems to have pulled a hamstring, remittances have stormed past it on the bend and now, incredibly, even ODA, with a surprising second wind, has the longtime leader in its sights.
This paints the rapidly changing picture of assistance to LMICs, as charted by the World Bank in a fresh report published Wednesday — confirming remittances are now a key funding mechanism, delivering an estimated $656 billion in 2023.
In fact, remittances are, for the first time, worth more than ODA and FDI combined, but not — continuing the race analogy — because they are gathering pace, but because FDI is hobbling so badly; at $382 billion, it's only a little more than half the sum that reached LMICs in 2021.
Is this race run? The World Bank suspects it is, forecasting remittances will continue to bump up while FDI struggles. “The gap between remittances and FDI is therefore expected to widen further in the coming years,” it concludes.
ICYMI: How remittances are worth more than all development funding combined (Pro)
The closure of a Médecins Sans Frontières unit to improve access to lifesaving medicines has triggered a warning of “catastrophic and irreparable damage” in the communities the organization serves.
The Access Campaign can count, among its successes, Johnson & Johnson’s decision not to enforce its patent on the tuberculosis drug bedaquiline in the worst-affected countries, and the establishment of key global health bodies such as the Drugs for Neglected Diseases research initiative.
But it is being chopped in an MSF restructuring that will create a new setup — with fewer posts and a broader remit. Existing staff who choose not to apply, or who are not recruited, will lose their jobs.
MSF tells Devex it is “redoubling” its access work, not slashing it — but, as senior global health correspondent Jenny Lei Ravelo reports, that does not wash with more than 100 organizations and 200 individuals who signed a protest letter.
The shake-up is like replacing “a Michelin-star restaurant” with “a fish and chips shop,” says Ellen ‘t Hoen, a former Access Campaign director of policy advocacy.
Read: Hundreds decry closure of MSF unit that advocates for medical access
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The streets of Nairobi erupted in mass protests this week over a controversial finance bill imposing tax hikes on people struggling with the cost of living — with some of that anger directed at the International Monetary Fund.
Kenya’s President William Ruto has now bowed to pressure to withdraw the bill, but only after more than 20 people were killed, more than 300 injured, and more than 20 abducted, after police fired live ammunition and the military was deployed, according to the Police Reforms Working Group Kenya.
Domestic politicians — accused of living lavishly while the country suffers financially —
were the main target of the protests, but one sign read “Kenya is not IMF’s lab rat,” and another, “Ruto is IMF village elder in Kenya.”
The country, saddled with huge debts, agreed to an IMF economic reform program in 2021, which included hiking taxes. One lawmaker, Nyakerario Mayaka, told the National Assembly: “We should not subject ourselves to the pressures that are being implemented by the IMF on funding conditions that they are giving to this country.”
A statement from South Africa's Economic Freedom Fighters political party has fueled the fire, accusing the IMF and the World Bank of “undermining the sovereignty of developing countries through their oppressive loan conditions, and treating African economies like lab rats for neoliberal templates.” It called the institutions “instruments of re-colonization.”
The IMF had not responded to Devex’s request for comment by the time we sent this newsletter.
One might expect a politician fighting for reelection to dread a foul-mouthed endorsement from “a friend” who considers his colleagues “leery shysters” and worse — but this one has cheered up U.K. International Development Minister Andrew Mitchell.
That is because the friend who recorded an expletive-riddled video urging voters to back Mitchell is none other than Bob Geldof, the charismatic anti-poverty campaigner and Live Aid mastermind.
Geldof explained the pair struck up an unlikely alliance working “to help the poor people of the world,” and that Mitchell is not “frankly useless” like so many ministers — but “knows how to do stuff and to get it done” and is, on top of all that, “a laugh.”
He thundered: “What we so desperately need in our parliament, whether again in opposition or in government, is clever, committed, capable people. We have had enough of leery shysters, buffoons and tiresome [*very rude word deleted*].”
Ordinarily, Mitchell would not need to break sweat to win in his leafy Sutton Coldfield constituency, near Birmingham — but these times are not ordinary. His Conservative Party is expected to face a devastating defeat on July 4.
Geldof sports hippy hair most Conservatives would chop off given half a chance, and also accused his friend of “boring” him over dinner, prattling on about Sutton Coldfield’s charms.
Nevertheless, Mitchell posted the video saying: “I am grateful to have received this … colourful … message of support from my good friend Bob Geldof!”
Background reading: After a decade, Andrew Mitchell is back to leading UK development aid
Related: UK election — New development 'consensus' hides big challenges ahead (Pro)
The Democratic Republic of the Congo approved two mpox vaccines to combat a surge in cases and a dangerous new strain amid over 1,000 deaths since 2023. [Reuters]
Nigeria bans single-use plastics in government offices, signaling a nationwide prohibition as the country generates over 2.5 million tons of plastic waste annually. [Africanews]
The IMF approved an immediate disbursement of $569.6 million to Zambia and increased financial support from $1.3 billion to $1.7 billion to aid drought-related humanitarian needs. [Reuters]
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