Presented by Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI)
Fighting for human rights is treacherous work. We talk to the people on the front lines to examine the risks and rewards.
Also in today’s edition: The post-war fight to feed people in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, and the World Bank takes on a big new job.
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Indefensible treatment
Defending human rights is not for the faint of heart. The occupational hazards read like a dystopian novel: Torture, murder, imprisonment, state surveillance, forced disappearance, social stigma, trauma from witnessing atrocities — the list goes on. And according to many experts, it’s only getting worse.
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For example, in a search of the Front Line Defenders directory of human rights defenders, or HRDs, the words “sentenced,” “abducted,” and “killed” appear in red above numerous pictures, Devex contributing reporter Rebecca Root writes.
For some, the threat is pervasive even when the immediate danger subsides. Chit Seng, a human rights associate at Fortify Rights’ Myanmar team, always has a getaway bag packed despite now being based in Bangkok. She had to flee Myanmar following the 2021 military coup when she could no longer work as a fixer for investigative journalists.
“As a Myanmar national, not just a HRD in this current climate, the biggest hurdle is security and protection,” she says, noting that even out of the country, she has been surveilled by the Myanmar military.
But for many, the pros outweigh the cons. “I don't have any regrets that I chose the path to human rights advocacy despite the many challenges, the risks entailed, because it's more gratifying,” says Mary Aileen Diez-Bacalso, executive director of FORUM-ASIA, who has worked on human rights in the Philippines since the 1980s. “At the end of your life, you will just assess what you have done, not just for yourself, but for humanity.”
Read: What it's really like to be a human rights defender (Pro)
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Fed up
It's common sense: The hungrier you are, the harder it is to concentrate. Now take that truism, multiply it by 100, and apply it to students in a country scarred by war.
The result? Legions of young people who don’t get enough to eat and thus struggle to absorb their lessons
That’s the bleak scenario many face in the northern Ethiopian region of Tigray, where nearly 60% of the school-age population has dropped out as a result of conflict and drought, according to Tigray’s Education Bureau.
“Even those children who are attending school only have the energy to sit,” said Kiros Guesh, head of the bureau. “They attend one or two classes, then they leave. Some of them sleep in their classrooms.”
On a visit to the region, Devex contributor Gabriella Jóźwiak saw firsthand how school meals serve as an inexpensive, vital lifeline to get kids back into the classroom.
But she also found that while foreign donors such as the World Food Programme acknowledge the benefits of school feeding programs, they are straining to fill the void, often because of limited resources.
So local organizations such as Mary’s Meals International have stepped in. MMI is the largest provider of school meals in the region, reaching 114,600 students every school day.
Abraha Bahlbi, a school feeding contractor for MMI, showed Gabriella an enormous paper ledger laid out over bags of ready-to-eat Famix blended food in the storeroom at Ara Primary School, explaining how cooks measure exactly 100 grams a day of the nutrition-fortified porridge for each student.
Another thing Bahlbi points to is the column showing school attendance. MMI began a school feeding program at Ara in March of this year. By May, enrollment jumped from 380 to 453 children. “The daily attendance rate is about 98%,” he said. “It is a sign of the high need and importance the meal is playing that the children are coming every single day.”
Read: School meals in Tigray are a lifeline. Why are so few offering them?
+ Localization is all the rage in development, but who’s actually doing it on the ground? We’re compiling a list of local organizations to watch and we’d like your help! Send a note to hayley.mundeva@devex.com if you’d like your organization to be considered or if you know of one that deserves to make it onto the list. Stay tuned next month for the results!
A sister’s tough love
Two years of fighting between the Ethiopian federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front led to an estimated 600,000 deaths, 2.9 million internally displaced people, and a de facto humanitarian blockade of the region.
In the midst of the violence, Sister Medhin Tesfay of the Daughters of Charity had a different battle on her hands: feeding people.
With help from Mary’s Meals International, Tesfay and the Daughters of Charity were able to feed 30,000 IDPs in 27 camps for 10 months. “Whenever we go to the camps … people say if it was not for the DOC and if it was not for MMI, you would not have seen us alive,” she told Gabriella.
But the scars of war have been slow to heal.
“At the moment, according to credible sources, we have 4.5 million people who are dependent on food aid,” Tesfay said. “No one deserves what we have gone through.”
Read: Medhin Tesfay fights against hunger in Tigray
It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it
Hunger is soaring around the world, but it’s not the only looming crisis in the global south. In the next 10 years, an unprecedented 1.2 billion people in low- and middle-income countries will reach working age. While that seems like a golden economic opportunity, the job market is only expected to generate 420 million jobs, leaving some 800 million people in the lurch.
So on Monday, the World Bank launched a High-Level Advisory Council to find solutions to the problem, with a focus on youth and female employment. Government, business, civil society, and academia will be represented and charged with coming up with ways to address the immense job gap.
“Creating jobs is the surest way to combat poverty and grow prosperity,” World Bank President Ajay Banga said in a statement. “A job is the most meaningful yardstick of success for any individual: with a job comes dignity, pride, and the ability to provide for yourself and your family.”
The council — chaired by Singaporean President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet — is set to hold its first meeting at the World Bank annual meetings in October.
“The challenge is unprecedented in modern history: we must provide meaningful job opportunities for hundreds of millions of young people and women in the Global South,” said Bachelet in a press release. “Our goal is for all of them to have an opportunity to contribute to and benefit from a more inclusive global economy.”
Peering inside the bank vault
The World Bank itself is a behemoth that supports thousands of jobs in the development sector. In fact, the bank awarded more than 26,000 contracts, worth nearly $15 billion, in 2024, according to Devex data analyst Miguel Antonio Tamonan. In cash terms, this is $600 million more than the previous fiscal year.
As always, we carefully followed the money trail to find out who the top 10 contractors were. China remains the lead supplier country to the World Bank, with $3.3 billion for 283 awards. This represents a $700 million increase in cash terms from what Chinese contractors received the previous fiscal year.
Read: The World Bank's top 10 contractors in 2024 (Pro)
In other news
Sierra Leonean President Julius Maada Bio renewed calls for increased African representation on the U.N. Security Council, including permanent seats with veto power. [AP]
The U.S. special envoy said that Sudan peace talks will advance this week despite the warring parties' reluctance to negotiate as the 16-month conflict continues. [Reuters]
Europe is warming at a faster rate compared to other regions, resulting in increased wildfires, droughts, and health crises, with extreme heat leading to nearly 50,000 deaths on the continent in 2023. [The Guardian]
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About the author
Anna Gawel
Anna Gawel is the Managing Editor of Devex. She previously worked as the managing editor of The Washington Diplomat, the flagship publication of D.C.’s diplomatic community. She’s had hundreds of articles published on world affairs, U.S. foreign policy, politics, security, trade, travel and the arts on topics ranging from the impact of State Department budget cuts to Caribbean efforts to fight climate change. She was also a broadcast producer and digital editor at WTOP News and host of the Global 360 podcast. She holds a journalism degree from the University of Maryland in College Park.
