Devex Pro Weekender: ABBA’s development impact, and Pro Week 2024

It’s Pro Week! This is a week dedicated to you, our Pro members, to thank you for being part of the Devex community. Each day we’ll be exploring a key theme in global development: Elections, AI, the future of INGOs, localization, and funding. You’ll get access to exclusive events, special reports, and deep dives around these topics. Make sure you’re signed up to the Newswire to find out what’s happening daily and to register for our Pro events this week: • Monday — The inside view: Former White House official and “Pod Save The World” co-host Ben Rhodes on what the U.S. election means for global development. • Tuesday — A practical guide to AI for global development professionals, complete with demos of tools you can already be using to help with your work. • Thursday — A USAID localization progress report. The other days will bring two special reports, one on the largest INGOs and where they get their funding, and the other on which countries receive the most official development assistance, both in total and relative to their population and income. Also in today’s edition: The Ford Foundation’s run in with Ruto, COP 29 updates, and ABBA’s surprising development impact. Bits and pieces Excuse me? As most of you will know, Kenya has been rocked for the past month by youth-led protests over a proposed tax hike and calls for the resignation of President William Ruto. Confrontations between protesters and law enforcement have turned deadly, with 50 lives lost so far. Amid the chaos, Ruto tried to pass the buck last week, making a totally unfounded claim that the protesters are being funded by the Ford Foundation. The foundation, which has had a Nairobi office since 1963, swiftly denied the allegation. Experts told Al Jazeera that Ruto may have targeted the group because of its association with one of his political adversaries, former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga, who has expressed support for the protests. But some worry it could be the start of a broader targeting of civil society organizations. And with misinformation about the foundation now circulating on social media, it could complicate its work — another example of the challenge that nonprofits and development organizations face in being perceived as neutral in a world of divisive communications. COP priorities. The COP 29 presidency announced its thematic priorities last week, which include finance, energy, science, and food. It comes after WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus joined the COP 29 international advisory committee, whose first meeting took place shortly before the thematic days were announced. Advocates had hoped his inclusion might be an opportunity to focus on the intersections of climate and health, but in the end, health seems to be fairly low down the list of priorities, sharing a day with education, human capital, and children and youth. Still, at least it’s on the list, which it wasn’t at COP 27 two years ago. Tedros also said the COP 29 presidency would be launching several health-related initiatives, including around climate-resilient health systems. In his first letter to parties last week, COP 29 President-designate Mukhtar Babayev also laid out the priorities for negotiated outcomes, which are more or less as expected, including establishing a new climate finance goal, carbon markets, and loss and damage. Are you sure? Carsten Staur, head of the OECD Development Assistance Committee, gave an interview to the German Institute of Development and Sustainability last week. Inevitably, the contentious issue of ODA and migration came up. He acknowledged that a lot of ODA nowadays might aim to stem migration through development efforts, but in his eyes, “that’s not a deviation from the classical goal of ODA.” Fair enough, although not everyone would agree — when I interviewed migration expert Inge Brees about this issue back in 2017, with regard to the EU, she said it had “completely changed the lens for development cooperation from one which looks at vulnerability and where we can best invest to reduce poverty to one which is too closely linked to migration.” But Staur didn’t seem too worried because, he said, “I don’t think that you will find much ODA involved in migration” directly. And there I think a fact-check is needed because according to reporting by my colleague Rob Merrick, the EU — the world’s third-biggest donor — is spending billions of ODA on efforts to curb unauthorized arrivals, and I suspect the EU isn’t the only one. Chiquitita. Here’s a good piece of global development trivia for you: In 1979, ABBA donated the rights to their song “Chiquitita” to UNICEF. In the 45 years since then, the royalties have raised $5 million for its work, the agency recently said. The money is currently being used for protection work in Guatemala, covering the salaries and training for 19 psychologists and 11 social workers. So they might say: Thank you for the music, for giving it to us … ✉️ Do you have insights into any of this week’s bits and pieces? Let me know by replying to this email. In memoriam Simon Boas, executive director of Jersey Overseas Aid, died last week at the age of 47. The lifelong aid worker went viral earlier this year for how he responded to a terminal cancer diagnosis, penning an article in which he expounded on the joys of life, and the good fortune of having lived at all. "Simon was an inspiration and larger-than-life character who impacted thousands of lives here in Jersey, as well as millions around the world," said JOA chair Carolyn Labey. Boas had been a director with JOA for eight years but had previously spent several years working on Palestinian aid and development, including as head of the Gaza office for the Food and Agriculture Organization. His book “A Beginner's Guide to Dying” is due to be published in September. American political scientist Nicolas van de Walle also died last week at the age of 67. The long-time Cornell professor specialized in comparative politics, with a focus on the political economy of development and African democratization. Nic Cheeseman, founder of the Democracy in Africa website, was one of the many to pay tribute to him on social media. “He was one of the most brilliant and insightful comparative scholars I ever met,” he wrote. “He was also one of the kindest and supportive people in our community. Nic will be missed in so many ways, as a prof and as a friend.” Moving on Peter Sands has had his term as executive director of the Global Fund extended until the end of 2026. It should have ended in March that year, but the board said the extension would “provide continuity of leadership through the Eighth Replenishment and allow for a robust selection process for the next Executive Director.” Former White House Senior Director Raj Panjabi has joined the board of the WHO Foundation. For Pro members, my colleague Sara Jerving recently took a look at what the foundation has achieved in its first four years. Eduardo Banzon has been promoted to director of health at the Asian Development Bank. Steve Davis, the former president and CEO of PATH, is starting a new position as senior adviser and interim director of philanthropic partnerships at the Gates Foundation. Douglass Kerr, formerly vice president of the International Fertilizer Development Center, is now chief partnerships officer at development consultancy Pope International. Did we miss one? Is there a change on the horizon? Let us know at devexpro@devex.com. Job of the week Organization: The Asia Foundation Role: Senior Director of Environment and Climate Action Location: U.S. and Asia-Pacific Requirements: Relevant graduate degree, 10 years of professional experience in environment and climate change-related issues, technical expertise and experience in securing funding from a diverse set of donors. Interested? This position is open in Asia and the Pacific and in the U.S. The deadline for both is Sept. 5. Devex Talent Solutions is assisting the Asia Foundation in this recruitment search. Find out more about its services. Up next AIDS 2024. The main event this week is the International AIDS Conference. This year taking place in Munich, Germany, it looks once again to be beset by visa issues — it said on July 17 that, based on a survey of 700 delegates, 77% had obtained their visas, 9% had been denied, and 14% were still pending just days before the opening. AIDS 2022 in Montreal drew widespread attention to the issue of visa inequity at global health conferences after many would-be delegates were unable to attend. The International AIDS Society later said it would rotate the conference between different regions — AIDS 2026 is set to take place in Latin America and the Caribbean. This year, the future of the global HIV response is likely to be a key topic of discussion, particularly in light of the announcement that PEPFAR will see its funding cut in fiscal year 2025. Devex’s Andrew Green will be in the conference to report. July 22-26.