Devex Newswire: Why donors should stop funding orphanages

Orphanages do a tragically important job. But they are not the best place for children by any stretch. Donors may unwittingly be the reason children remain in institutions instead of living with families. Also in today’s edition: The World Health Organization finally releases updated malnutrition guidelines, the IMF examines why sub-Saharan Africa pays so much for its debt, and we look at what a chief of party does. A family affair The word orphanage generally conjures Dickensian images of formidable, high-walled institutions that house hundreds of waif-like children in dormitories crammed with rows of metal-framed beds. Much of the time, though, they are small, woefully underfunded places struggling to help children in pretty dire conditions. The success of such homes is often gauged by the number of children they serve, however, writes Amy Fallon for Devex. It’s an odd barometer, but for donors, it's all about the numbers, Stephen Ucembe from Hope and Homes for Children, who spent 14 years in an orphanage, tells her. The headcount of children housed in an institution is a testament to progress and success when compared to how many are supported by families. The fact that children are grouped together under one roof and visible makes it easy for fundraising, too, he says. About 5.4 million children live in institutions worldwide. But orphanages are often unregulated and lack government oversight, which can lead to poor living conditions and even trafficking. Children in orphanages tend to experience neglect that can lead to toxic stress, which subsequently harms brain development. Ucembe says there has been significant awareness raising on the harm of orphanages but it’s really up to the donors supporting these institutions to change the status quo. “We have heard from many institutions that some donors are a stumbling block and many have the final say,” he says. Still, there’s been some slow-moving change, says Daniel Lauer from GHR Foundation. “I think there's been a mindset shift globally that is much more evident today than it was even five years ago, and for sure much more so than 20 years ago, that children need to be in families and that orphanages aren't necessarily the best place for kids,” he says. Read: Should donors stop funding orphanages? Some NGOs think so Let’s talk shop Next week is Devex Pro Week 2023 and as part of our series of events, we will bring together heads of international NGOs, in conversation with our President and Editor-in-Chief Raj Kumar, to discuss the issues affecting their work, what keeps them up at night, and how they're responding. This is a chance to put your questions to some of the highest-profile leaders in global development and get their take on what the future holds for INGOs and for the sector more broadly. This series of events is exclusively for Pro members, and if you haven’t gone Pro yet, we're offering $100 off an annual Pro membership — sign up with this special rate now to join this event and get access to all our exclusive content for a full year. The fight against starvation Last week WHO updated incredibly important guidance on how to prevent and manage malnutrition in children. My colleague Teresa Welsh trawled through almost 200 pages of technical information to find out what WHO sees as best practices for treating hunger. This will directly impact how many children can be saved from starvation because even as food prices have stabilized somewhat since Russia invaded Ukraine, millions of parents simply don’t know where their children’s next meal will come from. Every year, some 45.4 million children under 5 years old become “wasted,” which means they are so underweight that they could die. And even with unprecedented investment in malnutrition treatment — half a billion dollars was raised last year — the number of affected children keeps going up. The new guidelines include how to deal with growing nutritional challenges, which govern support and interventions for mothers and caregivers; help for infants under six months who have not yet developed wasting but are at risk; managing moderate acute malnutrition through dietary and clinical treatment; programs to prevent wasting in different contexts; and psychosocial factors that affect the care of vulnerable children. The inclusion of moderate acute malnutrition is “a really big step” that acknowledges how high risk those children are, Heather Stobaugh from Action Against Hunger tells Teresa. “There’s a lot more children with moderate wasting, and it can feel overwhelming from a budgetary standpoint. So sometimes national guidelines from ministries of health will just establish guidelines for the severely wasted children,” she says. “But now we just can’t ignore it. Now there will be guidelines from WHO saying ‘these children are malnourished, they’re four times as likely to die than their well nourished counterparts. It needs to be addressed.’” Listen to Teresa discuss the report with our Editor-in-Chief Raj Kumar and Bayer’s Matthias Berninger in the latest edition of our This Week in Global Development podcast series. Read: WHO releases updated malnutrition treatment guidelines Listen: WHO's updated malnutrition guidance and China's plan to cut UN funding + Sign up to Devex Dish — a free, must-read Wednesday newsletter — to keep up to date with the race to remake a more equitable and sustainable global food system. Chief of party, it’s not all fun and games It’s a grand title, but what does a chief of party actually do, and what makes a good one? The role obviously doesn’t involve inflating balloons and ordering finger foods. Chiefs of party are among the most powerful players in development — essentially the chief executives of projects — so hiring the right candidates is key to winning contracts and ensuring projects are successful. First off, they must guide a team that prepares bids and fundraising for a project. Chiefs of party also have to keep multiple stakeholders happy — their clients, their own head offices, the host governments, local suppliers, their teams, and beneficiary populations. They need technical knowledge of the project and design and management skills to find solutions. They need a strategic vision to understand what the project will achieve and how to get there. To top it all off, they do all this in a potentially unstable working environment that could include pandemics, civil unrest, and climate-related challenges. In the most recent edition of our Leader Roundtable series for Pro members, Devex Executive Vice President Kate Warren talked to some past and present chiefs of party about what the job entails. Watch: What makes a great chief of party? (Pro) Unfair play Is sub-Saharan Africa paying unfairly over the odds to borrow on capital markets compared to other regions with similar problems? Some African governments reckon they are. So a group of International Monetary Fund economists got together to answer those questions and they found tangible reasons why investors demand much higher rates there. They suggest a series of reforms that would go a long way toward lowering costs. The IMF team crunched the numbers on more than 1,500 bonds from the region and found that sub-Saharan countries pay a premium 66% higher than the average in other regions and about 2.1 percentage points more than peers, writes Shabtai Gold. They studied the region’s political risk and economic stability, specifically budget transparency, extent of the informal economy, level of financial development, and quality of public institutions. And the conclusion is, yes, investors are logical in their demands, but if governments implement reforms that would improve fiscal transparency and the informal economy, that could help lower their borrowing costs, the IMF economists say. Read: African nations' borrowing costs are high, but reforms offer a fix, says IMF (Pro) In other news The United Nations has reiterated its call for a multinational force to help quell violence in Haiti, where vigilante groups have killed some 264 alleged gang members since April. [France 24] U.S. climate envoy John Kerry will travel to China next week to resume climate discussions following a yearlong pause caused by former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. [New York Times] Human Rights Watch has accused Tunisia of leaving hundreds of migrants and asylum-seekers on its remote border with Libya without food or shelter. [Financial Times] Sign up to Newswire for an inside look at the biggest stories in global development.