Dr. Faustine Ndugulile has been chosen to lead WHO Africa during a critical time for the continent. His platform? Enhance political engagement in public health, while focusing on the U.N.’s hard-to-reach Sustainable Development Goals, universal health coverage, and pandemic preparedness.
Also in today’s edition: We look at one development bank think tank’s new drastic climate play, and the latest crisis for Bangladesh.
A job in a billion
Dr. Faustine Ndugulile, a seasoned Tanzanian politician, has been chosen to lead the World Health Organization’s regional office for Africa, taking over from Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, who was in charge there for nearly a decade.
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“I humbly accept this responsibility and pledge to devote my energy, expertise, and experience to deliver to your expectations for better health outcomes for our people,” he told the African health ministers who nominated him on Tuesday.
With a background in Tanzania's parliament, health ministry, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, he brings a unique blend of political savvy and public health experience.
Africa needs “transformational leaders,” he declared during his candidacy, setting the stage for his five-year term, with the possibility of a second.
Regional ministers praised Moeti’s past leadership and urged Ndugulile to approach his new role with humility and a willingness to learn. Sierra Leone’s health minister, Dr. Austin Demby, called it “one of the most difficult jobs in the world,” and told Ndugulile that he now has 1 billion patients — the continent’s population.
Read: A career politician from Tanzania is nominated to WHO Africa’s top job
Background: Meet the candidates for WHO's top job in Africa (Pro)
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Revolting against the revolution
African faith leaders, civil society, and farmer groups have demanded reparations from donors who backed Africa’s Green Revolution, blaming them for harming the continent’s food systems through industrial agriculture. In an open letter, they urge donors to support agroecology — sustainable farming that benefits the environment — as a remedy.
The letter specifically calls on major funders like the Gates Foundation to back Africa’s agroecology movement, promoting a sustainable, inclusive, and equitable food system. “We have a responsibility as custodians of the Earth and of our faith communities to call out injustice and ensure the equitable sharing of resources for all, particularly the most vulnerable.” they write.
The letter, put together by the Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute and the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa, criticized the Green Revolution for failing to reduce hunger and increasing inequality among smallholder farmers, pointing to Zambia’s food crisis as a case for agroecological solutions.
The critique comes ahead of the Africa Food Systems Forum in Kigali, Rwanda, where AGRA, backed by the Gates Foundation and other donors, will focus on accelerating Africa’s food system transformation. Despite AGRA’s recent strategy shift toward sustainability, critics argue it still promotes industrial agriculture that harms small farmers.
AGRA responded, emphasizing a balanced approach that integrates agroecology with advanced crop and soil science, rejecting the idea that it's a choice between the two. It argued that without synthetic inputs, the situation for African farmers would be worse.
This year’s forum aims to transform Africa’s food systems with a focus on women and youth, holding partners accountable for improving local food production, resilience, and livelihoods. “Innovating, accelerating, and scaling are not just words, they are the pillars upon which the future of African food systems will be built,” says forum Managing Director Amath Pathé Sene.
Read: African groups want ‘reparations’ for Green Revolution’s shortcomings
Related opinion: Agroecology must feature boldly in African climate negotiations
Background reading: Faith groups lead call to defund industrial agriculture in Africa
Topping out
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development reached new heights in 2023, financing over 300 projects worth €14.9 billion ($16.5 billion), up from the previous year’s €14.5 billion. Devex data analyst Alecsondra Kieren Si put together the numbers for us.
EBRD's portfolio is primarily focused on Europe and Central Asia, which received €13.3 billion, followed by the Middle East and North Africa with €1.5 billion. The bank financed projects across 13 sectors, with financial institutions taking priority, comprising 133 projects worth €5.6 billion.
Top projects include €805.8 million for climate and environmental sustainability in the EU, €600 million for Turkish banks' post-earthquake recovery, and €400 million for low-carbon strategies in Greece and Romania.
Read: Inside EBRD's €14.9B pipeline in 2023 (Pro)
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A change to climate
The Asian Development Bank Institute, known for its work in low- and middle-income countries, will now focus on becoming a leading “climate think tank” for Asia and the Pacific.
The shift — which aligns it with the Asian Development Bank’s climate priorities to tackle urgent environmental issues in the Asia-Pacific region — aims to push policymakers and researchers to prioritize climate concerns.
ADBI CEO Tetsushi Sonobe emphasized the need to drive action on climate issues, acknowledging that people often procrastinate on these critical matters. The institute’s hope is that their research will have particular influence on ADB, which in turn will use that research to influence government policy on climate.
Read: One of the world’s top development think tanks pivots to climate focus
Compounding the situation
Bangladesh has been in the headlines for a human-made crisis — the deaths of hundreds of civilians amid the ousting of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina — but it has also been engulfed by a natural disaster.
Cyclone Remal and the devastating floods it triggered after making landfall in May have affected more than 8 million people, according to UNICEF, leaving 1.3 million in need of emergency help. The civil unrest has compounded the humanitarian crisis, my colleague Rob Merrick tells me.
ActionAid has now launched an emergency appeal in the United Kingdom, its base, warning that the situation “is reaching catastrophic levels,” with rescue and relief efforts obstructed by blocked roads in submerged rural areas.
“Families, including heavily pregnant and lactating women, are now crammed into flood shelters where essential supplies of drinking water and food are rapidly running out,” says Farah Kabir, ActionAid Bangladesh country director.
“As the floodwaters start to recede and the full scale of the devastation becomes apparent, we are increasingly concerned about the imminent risk of disease outbreaks. With relentless monsoon rains and stagnant floodwaters set to stay, deadly diseases like cholera and dengue fever could spread rapidly.”
ActionAid says its teams have taken to small boats to deliver food, drinking water, and emergency medicine to flood survivors — work it intends to step up.
Related: The rise and fall (and rise?) of Bangladesh as a development darling
In other news
The World Food Programme is pausing staff movement in Gaza after one of its vehicles was fired upon at an Israeli military checkpoint. [Reuters]
Africa's worsening debt crisis, driven by over $1.1 trillion in foreign debt, has led to economic stagnation, social unrest, and governance challenges across the continent. [The New York Times]
Think tank Institute for Fiscal Studies has criticized the U.K. Home Office for overspending £7.6 billion on its budget of £320 million over a three-year period on asylum and border operations. [BBC]
WFP has launched a probe into two of its top officials in Sudan over issues in aid delivery to the country. [The New Humanitarian]
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About the author
Helen Murphy
Helen is an award-winning journalist and Senior Editor at Devex, where she edits coverage on global development in the Americas. Based in Colombia, she previously covered war, politics, financial markets, and general news for Reuters, where she headed the bureau, and for Bloomberg in Colombia and Argentina, where she witnessed the financial meltdown. She started her career in London as a reporter for Euromoney Publications before moving to Hong Kong to work for a daily newspaper.
