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The 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly kicks into high gear this week with a virtual COVID-19 summit, U.S. President Joe Biden’s first speech to the United Nations, and a landmark moment for food.
From Sept. 21 to 23, Tuesday to Thursday, Devex is hosting a series of events that span the UNGA76 agenda — and feature many of the people responsible for delivering that agenda.
We have reporters in New York and around the world who will be tracking this critical and tenuous moment for the global pandemic response, food systems transformation, the future of development engagement with Afghanistan, and the lead-up to COP 26. Participants include Patricia Espinosa, Winnie Byanyima, Achim Steiner, Henrietta Fore, Ertharin Cousin, Gilbert Houngbo, and many more. Register now.
The COVID-19 pandemic remains front and center — though the White House waited until Friday to publicly announce a virtual summit that many hope will offer a reset moment for a global response that has broadly failed lower-income countries.
The summit, happening Wednesday, aims to make progress in four areas: “vaccinate the world,” “save lives now,” “build back better,” and “calling the world to account,” which relates to preparedness and transparency in reporting. Here’s a draft agenda with “shared targets” that the Washington Post obtained.
The Biden administration is trying to get the ambition ball rolling with another major vaccine donation announcement — reportedly negotiating another 500 million dose purchase from Pfizer.
+ Save your spot: Devex @ UNGA 76, 8 a.m. ET (2 p.m CET), daily on Sept. 21-23.
My colleague Will Worley reports that the U.K. government is sending less than reassuring messages on the vaccine sharing front.
While 65% of the United Kingdom’s population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 — compared to less than 4% across Africa — Will reports that the government has not ruled out procuring more vaccines for domestic booster shots through COVAX.
“Will these booster jabs be from our own stocks, or drawn down from #COVAX? Given supply issues & massive vaccine inequality around the [world] ... it’s crucial that the limited doses that #COVAX do have go to those countries that desperately need them, not [the United Kingdom],” tweeted Elizabeth Sugg, the former Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office minister who resigned over the country’s aid budget cuts.
Read: UK took 500,000 vaccines from COVAX. Experts worry it could take more
The World Bank warns that Yemen’s health care system could collapse as international funding falls short, Shabtai Gold reports.
Shabtai writes: “Donor support to the country ramped up significantly as the conflict broke out in 2014 and leading up to 2019, but then it saw a sharp contraction. Arab countries have dropped off some of their support in recent years, and the United Kingdom cut funding. The World Bank noted that starting in early 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic and global economic decline, funding from other sources also took hits. External financing for health peaked at $605 million in 2018. It then fell to $370 million the next year and has continued its precipitous fall.”
Read: Yemen health system faces collapse as funding declines: World Bank
USAID finds itself in a much more limited and uncertain role in Afghanistan than before U.S. military withdrawal. The agency has told its Afghanistan implementing partners to maintain “readiness” by continuing to pay staff salaries and encouraging remote work, and that its programs in the country will change in the wake of the Taliban’s rapid seizure of control.
For the time being, USAID has been reduced to supporting other organizations’ humanitarian efforts from an undisclosed location outside the country.
Some lawmakers want answers about the long-term plan. Earlier this month, Texas Rep. Michael McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, sent a list of 19 questions to USAID chief Samantha Power about the agency’s role in the evacuation and future plans.
Read: USAID maintaining ‘readiness’ in Afghanistan, but unclear for what
ICYMI: Aid groups must navigate sanctions and Taliban to help Afghanistan
“I was reporting to people who lacked integrity. It was intolerable.”
— Paul Romer, Nobel Prize-winning economistAs the scandal involving the World Bank’s Doing Business report continues to send shockwaves, the bank’s former chief economist is shedding more light on his messy departure. Romer quit his post as chief economist in 2018 after publicly criticizing the Doing Business project.
ICYMI: World Bank scraps Doing Business rankings due to data irregularities
+ Devex Pro subscribers can access our funding insights on the World Bank. Not yet a Pro subscriber? Sign up now and start your 15-day free trial.
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has admitted it would be “tough” to get donors to meet their $100 billion annual climate aid pledge for low-income countries ahead of COP 26. [BBC]
Prince William announced Friday the 15 finalists of the first Earthshot Prize, a global award launched last year to recognize solutions to various environmental challenges. [The Guardian]
Almost 2 million people around the world died from preventable work-related diseases and injuries in 2016, according to the first report by WHO and ILO on the issue. [The Telegraph]
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