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USAID went through a structural “transformation” a few years ago, but apparently it was more confusing than transformational. So what’s a big bureaucracy to do? Try, try again of course.
Also in today’s edition: As the pandemic evolves, so do the lifesaving global initiatives set up to fight it. We have an inside look at the biggest one.
U.S. government agencies love reorganizing themselves every few years, spending a whole lot of time and money in the name of saving time and money.
The U.S. Agency for International Development is not immune to this bureaucratic ritual.
The last structural shake-up at USAID was in 2018, but Administrator Samantha Power apparently wants to shake things up again.
The reason? A central piece of the last overhaul — the new Bureau for Development, Democracy, and Innovation — is too complicated and doesn’t work, writes my colleague Michael Igoe in a Devex exclusive.
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“Doing a further reorganization was like the last thing I wanted to do,” USAID Chief of Staff Dennis Vega told members of the Society for International Development in a recorded private briefing obtained by Devex. “So we go into this wanting to do it in a very limited way.”
The bureau was created by former USAID chief Mark Green as part of his “transformation” agenda. It was intended to be “a technical hub for the entire agency,” but became “organizationally impossible to manage,” according to Vega, who acknowledged that not everyone is happy about more changes.
In addition, USAID plans to create a new policy office to support Power’s beefed-up role on the White House National Security Council.
What’s next? We’ll see how much of an appetite U.S. lawmakers have to restructure an agency that already has its hands full with other problems — such as feeding the world, for example.
Exclusive: USAID plans to break up a bureau in latest 'readjustment' (Pro)
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For all the headaches of working for a sprawling bureaucracy such as USAID, it remains a coveted career destination. And at the top of USAID-funded projects are chiefs of party.
It’s a rough gig — temporary posts in dangerous places with crazy hours and stresses — but it’s also rewarding for those who know how to do it right. What’s their secret?
Read: How to succeed as a chief of party (Career)
+ The Devex jobs board has over 40 positions with USAID advertised today. A Career Account includes all the valuable tools you need to be successful in your globaldev job hunt. Sign up today and start your 15-day free trial.
The Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator, or ACT-A, doesn’t quite have the same punchy ring as COVAX, the widely known effort to buy vaccines for lower-income countries.
But COVAX actually falls under the umbrella of ACT-A, a landmark global initiative to deliver not only vaccines but also COVID-19 tests and treatments to low- and middle-income countries.
Despite rumors of its demise, ACT-A is not going anywhere — which is only fitting given that the pandemic isn’t going anywhere either.
Our global health gurus Amruta Byatnal and Jenny Lei Ravelo landed interviews with two top ACT-A officials to get the scoop on the next phase of the initiative.
“Nothing is ending because the pandemic has evolved and the virus is evolving,” Dr. Ayoade Alakija, the World Health Organization’s ACT-A envoy, tells Amruta.
“Our goal was to reach equitable access; we haven't reached it yet,” says Alakija, a Nigeria-born medical doctor who is known as a fierce critic of racism in global health.
Dr. Bruce Aylward, who coordinates the work of ACT-A, tells Jenny that in addition to vaccines, much of the world still needs oral antivirals such as Paxlovid and other treatments — which is why ACT-A won’t stop but will instead adapt to the new norm.
“Just as the world is transitioning to accept [that] this is a long-term disease and virus, we have to as well,” he says. “And that's why when people say, ‘Is the ACT-Accelerator ending?’ God, no. The ACT-Accelerator is trying to consolidate for the long term.”
Read more: 'ACT-Accelerator has to change' — WHO's Bruce Aylward lays out plans
ICYMI: ACT-A is not winding down,’ says Dr. Ayoade Alakija
+ Get more of Amruta and Jenny's exclusive reporting by signing up for Devex CheckUp, the free, must-read Thursday newsletter for exclusive global health news and insider insights.
The COVID-19 vaccine was produced at record speed. Could the same messenger RNA technology lead to a vaccine for another, perhaps even more stubborn virus?
The search for a vaccine to prevent HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, has in many ways become the elusive Holy Grail of global health.
Devex contributor Jack Dutton spoke to researchers at the Desmond Tutu Foundation in South Africa — home to the greatest burden of HIV in the world — who say that replicating the successes of the coronavirus vaccine for HIV is not so simple.
The main challenge is knowing the antigen, which is what triggers our immune response to fight a virus. The COVID-19 antigen is “obvious” but HIV is “a master of camouflage,” says Dr. Linda-Gail Bekker, the CEO of the Desmond Tutu Foundation and former president of the International AIDS Society.
Part of the challenge may be biological, but the other is manmade: a lack of investment.
“We got gold within nine months,” Bekker says of the COVID-19 vaccines. “It was extraordinary from beginning to licensure, and here we are, 40 years into the HIV pandemic, we have not seen anywhere near the same kind of investment.”
Read more: Can mRNA technology help scientists produce a viable HIV vaccine?
In a rare move, Cuba has appealed for emergency assistance from the U.S. after Hurricane Ian tore through the island, damaging infrastructure and causing power outages across the country. [Wall Street Journal]
King Charles III will skip this year’s 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Egypt, in accordance with Prime Minister Liz Truss’ advice. [The Guardian]
The reemergence of cholera has killed at least seven people in Haiti, where the disease killed around 10,000 people in 2010. [Reuters]
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