Devex Pro Weekender: Chemonics downsizes, and Eva Longoria wins a $50M grant

Ding, ding, ding! It’s round two in the battle of the philanthropists. Last week I reported on round one, with Elon Musk’s failed swipe at MacKenzie Scott over her divorce, and revelations about the vast disparity in their levels of giving. Since then, there’s been another development. Scott’s ex-husband, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, gave away $50 million each to retired U.S. Navy admiral William “Bill” McRaven, who led the mission to capture Osama bin Laden, and to Hollywood star Eva Longoria. The pair were named as this year’s winners of Bezos’ Courage and Civility Award, which is given to people — often celebrities — doing solutions-oriented work to distribute as they see fit (does this count as trust-based giving?). Longoria is likely to use the money for her foundation, which supports Latino entrepreneurs, while McRaven said he wants to focus on supporting veterans. Just a few days later, Scott — trust-based giving poster woman — announced she was giving away $640 million to more than 300 small nonprofits that responded to an open call for applications. That’s more than double the amount she had originally planned — and, er, six times more than her ex-husband’s donations that week. Looks like it’s 2-0 to Scott. It’s a quiet week ahead, with holidays in many countries, so we’re skipping our usual roundup of events this week and doubling up on insider tidbits instead! Keep reading for all of that. Coming up: Want to land a job with Tetra Tech? Get insider tips at our members-only event on Tuesday, March 26. Also in today’s edition: Chemonics downsizes in Washington, D.C., Gavi’s new CEO jumps in at the deep end, a former British prime minister joins the board of Rockefeller, and a development leader’s brother stumps for Trump. Bits and pieces The other Moreno. Luis Alberto Moreno has a high profile in development circles. Formerly Colombia’s minister of economic development, he spent 15 years as president of the Inter-American Development Bank, until 2020 when he stepped down and was controversially replaced by a Trump administration official. Now, his businessman brother is also entering politics. Bernie Moreno won the Republican Senate primary in Ohio last week as the candidate backed by Donald Trump. Moreno has supported Trump’s claim that the 2020 election “was stolen,” taken hardline positions on abortion and immigration, and says the U.S. should send no further aid to Ukraine. Some believe he could help win over more Latino voters to Trump’s side ahead of the election in November. It’s quite the 180 for Bernie, though. Until just a few years ago he held far more moderate positions, even describing Trump as a “maniac”. + What would a second Trump or Biden presidency mean for U.S. aid? Find out at our next event for Devex Pro members on April 3. Downsizing in DC. Chemonics International is shedding more than half of its vast office space on Washington, D.C.’s Capitol Riverfront. “Post pandemic, our office space needs changed as we transitioned to a hybrid work model,” a spokesperson told real estate publication Bisnow. “This decision has allowed us to be a more globally-minded and flexible community that prioritizes the needs of our staff.” Working habits have of course changed since the pandemic and Chemonics isn’t the only organization to be rethinking its office needs. It had the ill fortune of signing the lease for the 11-story building in 2019, just before COVID-19 changed everything. But it didn’t move in until a couple of years later, so it’s been a pretty swift change of plans (which also happens to coincide with the winding down of a highly criticized $9.5 billion health supply chain contract with USAID). Denied entry. Philippe Lazzarini, head of UNRWA, the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency, accused Israel of blocking him from entering Gaza last week — the first time this had happened in the organization’s history, he said. “My visit today was supposed to coordinate & improve the humanitarian response,” he wrote in a strongly worded post on X, formerly Twitter. “This man-made starvation under our watch is a stain on our collective humanity. Too much time was wasted, all land crossings must open now. Famine can be averted with political will.” Israeli authorities said that Lazzarini had not followed “the necessary coordination processes and channels” when requesting entry into Gaza, and that it was “another attempt by UNRWA to blame Israel for their own mistakes.” But Lazzarini said he was the only member of the delegation to be denied entry. ICYMI: US, UN clash over beleaguered Palestinian refugee agency DFC’s LatAm expansion. The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, or DFC, has opened its first office in Latin America. CEO Scott Nathan was in São Paulo, Brazil, to set up shop in the U.S. Consulate. The office will “help to expand our portfolio of investments in this critical economy,” he said. Chantarella DeBlois, DFC’s new regional managing director, will lead the team, part of a broader plan to open more offices (next up: Dominican Republic) and boost investments in Latin America. What type of investments are on the cards in Brazil? Perhaps we can gain some insight from a $470 million loan that DFC announced last week to financial technology company StoneCo Ltd. to increase short-term working capital and help businesses grow. It will focus on women-led businesses and low-income communities. DFC has recently undergone a reorganization, with teams now organized by sector rather than investment type (which not everyone was happy about). One goal of the reorganization is apparently to streamline operations and make it easier for clients to identify a point person to help them navigate the investment process. A life well lived. We don’t cover the Jersey Overseas Aid Commission much around here. The aid agency of the tiny island and British crown dependency has a budget of around £14 million a year. But last week, its executive director Simon Boas — former head of the Gaza office for the Food and Agriculture Organization — wrote a touching piece about his cancer prognosis, which has, as he put it, “developed not necessarily to my advantage.” “I take comfort from the thought that I’ve had a really good – almost charmed – life. (I’ll start this piece with the boasting, in the hope you will have forgiven or forgotten it by the end.),” he wrote. “I have dined with lords and billionaires, and broken bread with the poorest people on earth. … I have allocated and for several years personally delivered at least a hundred million pounds’ worth of overseas aid. I have been a Samaritan and a policeman, and got off an attempted-murder charge in Vietnam (trumped up, to extract a bribe) by singing karaoke in a brothel.” For the simple joy of being alive, he wrote, “We should be dazzled by our good fortune — dancing on the tables every day.” You can read the full piece in the Jersey Evening Post. ✉️ Do you have insights into any of this week’s bits and pieces? Let me know by replying to this email. Moving on Pakistani doctor and politician Sania Nishtar started as CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, last week. “We have a busy year ahead,” the organization said in a welcome post on X. They sure do: Gavi is set to launch its replenishment campaign in June and will need to seek approval for its 2026-2030 strategy, as experts say it needs a “new playbook” to deliver impact. It’ll also be launching a new African Vaccines Manufacturing Accelerator, designed to make up to $1 billion available over the next 10 years to support the sustainable growth of Africa's vaccine manufacturing base. So Nishtar will need to make a running start. ICYMI: My colleagues Sara Jerving and Jenny Lei Ravelo have more on Nishtar’s background. Martin Kimani, Kenya's outgoing U.N. envoy, has been appointed executive director of the Center on International Cooperation at New York University — a nonprofit research center that focuses on multilateralism and international cooperation to prevent crises and promote peace, justice, and inclusion. Kimani has previously served as a permanent representative to the U.N. Environment Programme and UN-Habitat, and as Kenya’s special envoy for countering violent extremism. As I reported last week, he’ll be replaced by Erastus Lokaale, a Kenyan development professional who is currently serving in the Turkana County Assembly. Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has joined The Rockefeller Foundation’s board of trustees. Satu Santala is the new managing director of the Nordic Development Fund, the joint development finance institution of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. She was previously associate vice president for external relations and governance at the International Fund for Agricultural Development. Guevera Yao is the new vice president for Africa at the U.S.-Africa Business Center, where he will oversee programs and policy initiatives to broaden commercial relationships between the U.S. and African markets. Cliff Prior will be standing down from the role of CEO of the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment in six months’ time, after four years at the helm. During his tenure, the budget of the organization — which advocates for and provides guidance on impact investing — has risen from £800,000 to £2.5 million a year. Prior said he would focus on taking up nonexecutive and advisory roles after stepping down. Nicoletta Policek is the new executive director of the European AIDS Treatment Group, which advocates for people affected by HIV/AIDS in the WHO Europe region. Policek is a criminologist specializing in human rights and a veteran HIV activist. Sheena Raikundalia is now chief growth officer at Kuza One, a digital platform that provides training and support to smallholder farmers and agricultural entrepreneurs. She was previously country director at the U.K.-Kenya Tech Hub. Did we miss one? Is there a change on the horizon? Let us know at devexpro@devex.com. Pro must-reads Got a bit more time for reading this Sunday? Catch up on some of the most popular Pro stories of the week: • What the aid sector wants from the next UK government • Watchdog exposes problems with USAID’s 2021 Afghanistan evacuation • White Ribbon Alliance sunsets US operation to shift power locally Are you paying attention? Have you been keeping on top of your development news this month? Find out with our March quiz!