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The flagship U.S. global HIV/AIDS program PEPFAR appears to have secured a one-year reprieve from legislative limbo. Is that a good first step, or a dangerous precedent?
Also in today’s edition: The humanitarian-development nexus revisited, and some tips for taking “megatrends” into account in your development job search.
Granted a stay
For two decades the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief has been a beacon of bipartisan support in an increasingly hostile U.S. political climate. Seemingly against all odds, the U.S. global AIDS initiative repeatedly managed to marshall high-powered support from both parties and broker delicate compromises that have allowed it to navigate the tricky terrain of sex, drugs, money, and politics upon which the global fight to end HIV is waged.
Then sometime last year it looked like America’s culture wars were poised to claim another victim. Seemingly out of nowhere, a conservative campaign to paint PEPFAR as a progressive slush fund for abortion threw the initiative's reauthorization into jeopardy and turned key supporters into critics.
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Still, my colleague Adva Saldinger reports, as the U.S. Congress’ budget process has ground on in recent months — delayed by debates over aid to Ukraine and Gaza, among many other things — PEPFAR’s advocates appear to have won a short-term victory.
The 2024 foreign affairs budget bill — which could arrive at any moment — is expected to include a 12-month reauthorization for PEPFAR that would extend the program’s legal basis until March 2025.
That’s a good thing, right?
Adva reports that some PEPFAR supporters are happy to see the program — at least temporarily — spared from the damaging political spotlight that has surfaced questions about the durability of America’s commitment to the global fight against AIDS.
For others though, a one-year PEPFAR reauthorization risks inviting that political battle over and over again, starting — it would appear — next March.
Read: PEPFAR gets a one-year reauthorization reprieve
ICYMI: What ‘extremism’ in US politics means for PEPFAR’s future (Pro)
+ The outcome of this year’s U.S. presidential election will have a huge impact on PEPFAR and other U.S. foreign aid efforts. Join me and a panel of experts on April 3 to discuss how a second Biden or Trump administration could shape the U.S. role in global development. Save your spot now.
No thank you, nexus
David Miliband, the International Rescue Committee head and former British politician, is not known to mince words. He lived up to that reputation this week with a broadside against one of the aid community’s favorite catchphrases: the humanitarian-development nexus.
This is the idea that gained prominence around the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016 and holds that humanitarian and development efforts should improve coordination and collaboration to better achieve both short- and long-term goals. The European Union latched onto the concept through its Resilience and Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus, which aims to incorporate long-term development and private finance into its humanitarian relief work.
But my colleague Rob Merrick reports that Miliband, for one, doesn’t think it’s going very well.
“This nexus discussion is becoming a vortex rather than a nexus, and it's not actually doing any good for people in need,” the former British foreign secretary said at the European Humanitarian Forum in Brussels.
Despite — or, perhaps, because of — Miliband’s finger wag, the humanitarian forum closed with €7.7 billion pledged in crisis funding for 2024 from the EU and its member states – reflecting Europe’s “leading role in humanitarian action,” Brussels said.
That total is, ahem, down from €8.4 billion a year ago, but the EU believes the two-day event shone a spotlight on “forgotten and underfunded” crises in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, and Chad, as well as on the impact of growing international humanitarian law breaches, says Rob, who attended the event.
The closing speeches were dominated by the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and a mystery over what has happened to a call for an “urgent review” of Israel’s favorable trade accord with the EU, which was founded on “respect for human rights.”
At the forum, some NGOs questioned the silence since, given it’s been five weeks since Spain and Ireland made the request — yet no reply has been received from the European Commission, it appears.
Caroline Gennez, development minister from Belgium, which holds the EU presidency, said discussions were “launched” this week and backed the move, saying: “It should be under review when we have human rights clauses in the association agreement.”
However, she warned trade sanctions would require the approval of all 27 member states, which seems unlikely. At least six states, led by Germany and Italy, are believed to be opposed.
Read: IRC boss decries 'vortex' of EU's nexus of finance and aid (Pro)
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Let’s get digital, digital
Even if a nexus inevitably collapses into a vortex, it’s not going to stop aid agencies from coming up with ambitious new plans. The United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office recently released a new seven-year strategy to support the development of digital technologies in low- and middle-income countries.
My colleague David Ainsworth reports that FCDO will focus on four practical goals: 1. Ensuring basic “last mile” connectivity in remote, low-income areas; 2. Increasing digital public infrastructure; 3. Creating at least eight AI research labs at African universities; and 4. Supporting 50 million women and girls to become digitally connected.
Read: UK announces strategy to strengthen digital development (Pro)
+ A Devex Pro membership lets you get the most out of our coverage of the U.K. aid sector, including experts' analysis on what a Labour win in the general elections means for the sector.
A sinking feeling
What to make of the African carbon offset market? A $600 billion climate finance opportunity? A false solution that enables greenwashing and neocolonial land grabbing? Something in between?
Carbon offsets — which provide compensation for efforts to sequester carbon through resource management and conservation — at the moment feel a bit like the Wild West of global climate finance.
Devex contributor David Njagi looks into the Right Tree, Right Place: Seed Project — funded by Germany — which aims to finance the restoration of land carbon sinks while also boosting food security in five African countries over the next six years.
David writes: “The high share of Africa’s biodiversity has led to increased interest in the continent’s carbon sinks, with governments counting on climate dollars to rejig their flailing economies. But experts warn that African countries need to develop rules and regulations to fully benefit from global carbon markets.”
Read: Are carbon markets a viable development finance option for Africa?
Stay on trend
Looking for a job? Have you updated your résumé? Have you searched the Devex job board? Have you considered the unyielding forces of the world that make and unmake civilizations? You might want to, writes Bart Édes for Devex.
“Megatrends” transform the landscape of global development, and with it the landscape of global development jobs. That means climate change, digitization, geopolitics and culture are all big-picture factors that development professionals might consider as they build the skills and experiences to unlock new opportunities.
Read: How 'megatrends' will shape the future of global development jobs (Career)
+ Start your 15-day free trial of a Devex Career Account membership today and unlock all our exclusive career resources and the world's largest global development job board.
In other news
Over 1 million girls are barred from access to education as a new academic year begins in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. [NBC News]
Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has announced she will give away $640 million to 361 nonprofit organizations this year. [BBC]
The U.S. on Wednesday announced $47 million for emergency response in Sudan and its neighboring countries. [Reuters]
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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.
