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The anti-poverty charity Global Citizen is known for putting big names on big stages to help save the world. The group says it has mobilized billions in donor funding. But has it?
Global Citizen says that its 1.4 million average monthly website and app users — called “global citizens” — have taken over 28.4 million “actions” since the organization’s founding in 2009. These can include completing a quiz, tweeting, or signing a petition.
“Today, these actions, in combination with high-level advocacy work, have led to more than $35.4 billion being distributed to our partners around the world, impacting 1.09 billion lives in the fight to end extreme poverty,” the charity explained this month.
For a recent example, Global Citizen points to its advocacy efforts on behalf of Gavi’s replenishment last year.
“Thanks to the 140,880 Global Citizens who took more than 351,000 actions for the Defeat Disease Together campaign, Australia, Sweden, the Netherlands, France, the United Kingdom, and the European Commission pledged almost 40% of the $8.8 billion total.”
But, as my colleagues Vince Chadwick and Rebecca Root have found, some of the donors who pledged money to Gavi don’t agree that it was Global Citizen — or its global citizens — that convinced them to do so.
“Our contribution was based on internal considerations," wrote a spokesperson for the Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“No external advocacy efforts had a bearing on this decision," wrote another from Sweden.
A representative of Global Citizen tells my colleagues that the charity’s goal is to put pressure on governments to step up, so it’s no surprise that some of them wouldn’t offer praise.
“That is not why we do what we do,” the representative said.
In September the group will hold Global Citizen Live, a 24-hour, star-studded event broadcast from multiple continents and billed as the next Live Aid.
Read: Donors question Global Citizen's claims to impact
Line items
The Japan International Cooperation Agency is shifting its budget allocations in response to the pandemic, Rebecca reports. Health sector resources will double and water resources will increase by 20% as the organization focuses on the human toll of diseases and natural disasters.
“This is a direct result [of] COVID-19 and a response from JICA to this pandemic,” says Matsumoto Shigeyuki from JICA’s global environment department.
Devex Pro: JICA bumps budget allocation for 'human security' by 20%
Lessons learned
When Seattle-based global health NGO PATH unveiled a new strategy last month, it was heavily informed by the COVID-19 pandemic — and by harsh lessons about what makes health systems fragile.
One of the key messages is a renewed focus on local expertise, Catherine Cheney reports.
Like many international NGOs, PATH often takes the lead on projects while partnering with local organizations as sub-awardees. But the organization is looking for “more opportunities to raise money together with local partners, who would then take the lead on projects, managing funding and implementing activities with PATH playing a supporting role,” Catherine writes.
Read: Why local expertise is key to PATH's new strategy
Energy solutions
With less than 20 years to reach its goal of 80% electricity access by 2040, Uganda has its work cut out. A particular challenge is figuring out how to make electrification financially viable — an ambitious electrification project in Kenya launched in 2014 left the national utility tens of millions of dollars in debt.
Anthony Langat reports on a Rockefeller Foundation pilot that is trying to pull multiple pieces together into profitable minigrids.
“Our business model aims at solving the problem of low incomes making it difficult for people to pay for power or purchase appliances that could help them increase their incomes,” says Aaron Leopold of EnerGrow.
Read: Can minigrids and higher consumption bring energy to all in Uganda?
Remain vigilant
“Reforms instituted in 2020 and early 2021 have given [USAID] the tools to carry out its due diligence more effectively, including a set of policies designed to reduce the chance that U.S. humanitarian assistance could be diverted to terrorist or other criminal enterprises.”
— Max Primorac and William SteigerTwo former senior USAID officials argue that the Biden administration should maintain new policies implemented by former President Donald Trump’s administration to prevent U.S. foreign assistance from ending up in the hands of terror groups, criminal networks, or corrupt actors.
Opinion: USAID must protect the integrity of its humanitarian aid programs
In other news
Saudi Arabia's Muhammed Sulaiman Al Jasser has been elected to helm the Islamic Development Bank. [Xinhua]
The International Planned Parenthood Foundation has launched a legal challenge to the U.K. government's decision to cut aid. [The Independent]
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for faster action against climate change during her visit to Schuld, one of the areas devastated by severe flooding that has killed at least 180 across Western Europe. [AP]
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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.
