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Devex is on the ground at the World Bank annual meetings this week, bringing you all the chatter from day one.
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Also in today’s edition: A chat with the trailblazing Tjada D’Oyen McKenna of Mercy Corps, and a look at a self-made crisis for USAID.
Our man at the meetings
David Malpass and Kristalina Georgieva had a fireside chat to kick off the World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual meetings yesterday — and conceded that what we’re facing is "not a rosy picture," reports my colleague Shabtai Gold. The heads of the two major finance institutions argued that global cooperation was key to tackling the myriad challenges facing the world right now, from inflation to debt to climate.
“I see a chance throughout the meetings for us to demonstrate that together we can better focus policies so they make a difference,” Georgieva said. The two targets of those policies? "Stabilize the world economy and transform it for the future," the IMF chief said.
Malpass — who goes into the meetings amid doubts around his climate credentials — highlighted the "risk and real danger of a world recession next year." He noted that fragility, including arms flows to low-income countries, remains a worsening concern, while debt burdens are hurting many lower-income nations. "We need to be reducing the unsustainable debt," he said. With the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP 27, just a month away, both leaders took extensive time to discuss the need for more climate finance, saying "we are not even close" to the figures needed, even including private capital.
Deep dive: How the debt crisis got so bad and how to make it better
+ Follow Shabtai’s coverage of the annual meetings — and send him tips at shabtai.gold@devex.com.
On her own
Tjada D’Oyen McKenna is the only African American woman to be leading a major U.S. humanitarian organization. The CEO at Mercy Corps sat down with my colleague Sara Jerving on a recent visit to Somalia, where they spoke about McKenna’s heritage and how it inspired her career — and vision for the NGO.
“I also was usually the only Black person in a lot of situations — so always like, not quite fitting in,” McKenna said.
But her race was also what helped bring about McKenna’s sense of obligation to others. “I think that comes from being an African American. My parents are products of segregated schools. I was always raised to believe that it was my job to … provide opportunities for other people,” she said.
Two years into leading Mercy Corps — an organization that was rocked by scandal in the not-too-distant past — she says the NGO is at a “stage where we're really growing up.”
McKenna wants the organization to continue its specialist focus on food security, water access, peacebuilding, conflict prevention, and economic opportunities, and branch into partnerships in areas where it doesn’t have as much of a competitive advantage such as health.
Profile: Mercy Corps' Tjada D’Oyen McKenna on paving the road for others
In memoriam
Lawmakers in the United States have launched ambitious legislation to honor the late global health giant Dr. Paul Farmer, who died in February.
My colleague Michael Igoe reports that the Dr. Paul Farmer Memorial Resolution aims to increase U.S. global health aid to $125 billion a year — tenfold what the U.S. government currently spends — and reform U.S. global health aid to “focus on building national health systems and direct funding to local partners, not the development industry," says Partners In Health's Joia Mukherjee. It also goes as far as calling for systems overhaul, requesting large-scale reforms to “make the global economy more fair, just, and democratic,” Mukherjee says.
The politicians behind it, of course, do not expect it to pass. Rather, the proposal is designed to spark a political discussion about the U.S. role in global health, build a coalition of support, and eventually introduce concrete pieces of legislation that could advance aspects of the strategy outlined in the resolution.
Read: The radical plan to honor Dr. Paul Farmer — by remaking global health
Related: Paul Farmer's lasting legacy is the quest for equity in global health
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Identity crisis
Where blunders and contracts meet, the localization agenda suffers. Small local organizations — exactly those USAID is trying to fund more of — have been the worst hit by reforms to a U.S. government bidding system, reports my colleague David Ainsworth.
The change to a new system of identity numbers for contractors resulted in chaos, having stifled the ability of smaller groups to apply for funding — to the point where some have even given up, missing out on contracts worth millions.
Cue intense lobbying and a new USAID directive, critical of the process and demanding changes that will allow organizations to work with the agency while the problems are resolved.
A technical issue? Yes. But it really matters, according to Cynthia Smith, director of government affairs and advocacy at Humentum. “This has had a serious negative impact on the localization agenda because the entities most at risk and most affected have been those which are new and local and weren’t on the system. … We’ve had many accounts of our members facing negative monetary impacts,” she said.
Read: How identity numbers have caused chaos for USAID overseas partners (Pro)
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In other news
An Oxfam review of 161 national budgets showed that many low-income nations cut health spending during the COVID-19 pandemic to prioritize debt repayments. [The Guardian]
The U.N. Refugee Agency has appealed for urgent funding of $700 million as it addresses “dire refugee crises” around the world. [Al Jazeera]
The World Bank is introducing a new umbrella trust fund for results-based climate initiatives, which includes providing grants to low-income countries that are on target in reducing carbon emissions. [Reuters]
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About the author
William Worley@willrworley
Will Worley is the Climate Correspondent for Devex, covering the intersection of development and climate change. He previously worked as UK Correspondent, reporting on the FCDO and British aid policy during a time of seismic reforms. Will’s extensive reporting on the UK aid cuts saw him shortlisted for ‘Specialist Journalist of the Year’ in 2021 by the British Journalism Awards. He can be reached at william.worley@devex.com.
