Devex Pro Weekender: USAID’s job offers, and a UN leader quits unexpectedly

Which of the U.K.’s political parties is the most bullish on the future of U.K. aid? Which one is the keenest to promise that it will return to spending 0.7% of gross national income on official development assistance — scrapped by the ruling Conservatives in the guise of a cost-saving measure to tackle the costs of COVID-19 — and to reinstate an independent department to oversee the process? Broadly, in ascending order, those which are furthest from office, if an event attended by my colleague David Ainsworth is anything to go by. The U.K. will go to the polls to choose a new government at some point in the next 10 months. We don’t know exactly when. So Bond, the network of U.K. NGOs, last week booked a room in the Houses of Parliament to launch its manifesto for the coming elections, containing a broadly to-be-expected list of things its members would like to see from whoever assumes power later this year. The first speaker at the event, Andrew Mitchell, is the existing development minister, although with support for his party cratering, he won’t be long for the job. He got up and waved his white paper on development, launched earlier this year, which he said had cross-party consensus, and essentially suggested, David reports, that things are going swimmingly just as they are. There was no detectable difference, he said, between his party’s view on a return to 0.7%, and that of the Labour Party, which is widely expected to triumph in the coming election. “Let me speak,” said the next politician to the podium, Lord Ray Collins of Highbury. Collins, a Labour peer, had been sent out in the absence of Lisa Nandy, who is likely to be the next development minister. Nandy, expected to be the star of the show at the event, had been unexpectedly called away at the last moment, and Collins delivered a speech long on sentiment but short on detail in her absence. Actually, he suggested, Labour’s policy was considerably more robust and pro-aid, although he seemed to stop well short of what Bond itself was asking for. Both are too weak, in the view of Lord Jeremy Purvis of Tweed, the spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats — whose chances of seeing government seem extremely remote. His party would restore U.K. aid to its former glory on day one, he promised, secure in the knowledge that he was very unlikely to ever be held to account. Even that was a bit wishy-washy in the eyes of Lord Jack McConnell of Glenscorrodale, the final speaker and spokesperson for the Scottish National Party (chances of achieving power in Westminster: basically zero), who seemed to imply that his party would take aid to never-before-seen heights, although his practical disagreement with Purvis turned out mostly to be around the need to make the case for aid to the public. So while calls from the sector for a return to the 0.7% benchmark and a revival of the Department for International Development are ramping up ahead of the election, it may unfortunately be wishful thinking — unless there’s a very unexpected result. Coming up: We have not one but two brilliant events for our Pro members this week. On Wednesday, we’re hearing from experts on what’s at stake for aid in this year’s United States election. And on Thursday, we have an exclusive conversation with Nisha Biswal, deputy CEO of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation and one of the most influential voices in U.S. development policy, about the future of development finance. You’ll be able to put your questions to the speakers at both events. We’d be thrilled to see you there. Also in today’s edition: The shock resignation of the U.N. relief chief, USAID’s rapid hiring drive, and the nonprofit CEO running for president. Jessica Abrahams Editor, Devex Pro Bits and pieces No relief. The big news last week was that U.N. relief chief Martin Griffiths has decided to step down, saying that he’s suffering from long COVID. “The truth is that my health has been affected by long Covid and this has limited my strength to undertake the breadth of travel essential to my position,” Griffiths wrote in an email to staff seen by my colleague Colum Lynch. “Because I cannot be sure to regain that strength fully, I need to step aside for someone to be selected and to take over.” Griffiths, who will step down in June, has been in the role for around three years. As Colum notes, it’s a big job to be opening up at a time when the U.N. is facing enormous humanitarian challenges from Gaza to Sudan to Haiti. Per U.N. tradition, the job is usually held by a Brit — which Griffiths is — but those sorts of traditions about U.N. appointments are beginning to crack around the edges. Griffiths himself told the New Humanitarian back in 2022: “This is too crucial a job to be left to favouritism.” Griffiths is not the only person in the sector to have struggled with long COVID. For example, Accountability Counsel founder Natalie Bridgeman Fields cited the same reason when she resigned as the organization’s executive director last year. Tens of millions of people globally are believed to be suffering from the condition. From CDC to DC. Meanwhile, Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, who recently quit as acting deputy director-general of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention after being barred from applying for his own job, has popped up at the United Nations Foundation. He’s been selected as its next vice president of global health strategy, based in Washington, D.C., a role in which he will “spearhead one of the UN Foundation’s largest portfolios spanning global health policy, advocacy, convening, and grantmaking, in support of the United Nations and its health-related causes,” according to the announcement. It’s a great get for the foundation, which is independent of the U.N. but supports its work through grants, partnerships, and public engagement. Just a few weeks ago, Ouma said he was leaving Africa CDC for “personal” reasons and not because of the issue with his role amid a reorganization. Action man. When Jami Rodgers, the new director of USAID's Office of Acquisitions and Assistance, spoke to my colleague Michael Igoe last month, he said one of his priorities was resolving the agency’s critical shortage of contracting officers. And he wasn’t joking. On March 18, he was part of the Bureau for Management’s first career fair, which touted same-day interviews and on-the-spot offers for some of USAID’s hardest-to-fill roles. The career fair certainly attracted a lot of interest — although it’s unclear if any instant job offers were made; a spokesperson dodged the question when we asked about it, saying only that “USAID continues to review resumes that it received from the hiring fair.” In any case, hiring is just the start. Rodgers told Michael that his biggest priority is “making sure that our contracting officers feel empowered and that they have the resources they need to do their job.” - For Pro members: Can Jami Rodgers fix USAID's contracting crisis? Speaking of jobs at USAID, don’t forget that your Devex Pro membership includes access to the world’s largest global development job board. Here are some of the senior USAID positions currently open on our platform: • Contracting/Agreement Officer, Guinea • Supervisory Program Officer, South Sudan • Executive Officer, Ghana • Senior Evidence and Learning Program Specialist, United States • Senior Safety and Security Advisor, United States Mystery cancellation. The Mo Ibrahim Foundation has taken the unusual step of canceling its flagship event this year due to “insurmountable administrative difficulties.” The 2024 Ibrahim Governance Weekend was due to take place in Lagos, Nigeria, in late April, but last week the foundation sent out a statement saying it would not go ahead. “We acknowledge the cooperation we have received from the Governor of Lagos and the Nigerian government,” it said, perhaps staving off any speculation around that. But administrative difficulties “made it impossible” for the event to go ahead. Asked for more information about those difficulties, a spokesperson more or less repeated the same information. So the exact circumstances around the cancellation remain a mystery. Know more? Let me know by replying to this email. ✉️ Do you have insights into any of this week’s bits and pieces? Let me know by replying to this email. Moving on Halla Tómasdóttir, CEO of The B Team — a U.S.-based nonprofit that works on corporate accountability and sustainable business practices — is running for president of Iceland. Lead campaigner Leah Seligmann is stepping in as interim CEO. Ashling Mulvaney — previously vice president for sustainability and access to health care at AstraZeneca — is starting a new position as senior program officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in London. Ignacio Esteban was promoted to policy manager for pandemic preparedness at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. He was previously a senior analyst for vaccine policy and investment. Did we miss one? Is there a change on the horizon? Let us know at devexpro@devex.com. Devex World Devex World 2024 is coming! Registration is now open for our flagship summit in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 24. Among the leaders we’ll be hearing from are John Nkengasong, the PEPFAR chief who previously helped build Africa CDC from the ground up; Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli, the ONE Campaign’s incoming CEO; and billionaire philanthropist Howard Buffett. Devex Pro members will get reserved seating, meet-and-greets with some speakers, and networking opportunities. If you sign up now, you’ll also get $140 off tickets using the code pro-early-access-discount at checkout. I hope to see you there! Up next Kristalina Georgieva seems to be everywhere in the next couple of weeks. The managing director of the International Monetary Fund has several public engagements lined up, starting with a fireside chat at the Center for Global Development, where she’ll be discussing how the IMF can respond to new challenges, on April 2. The next day she’ll be on home turf at the IMF’s “Rising to the Challenge” event, focused on “policy action in low-income countries and the role of the international community.” Georgieva is co-hosting the event alongside World Bank chief Ajay Banga. With a host of other high-level speakers from countries including Kenya and Angola, they’ll be discussing what low-income countries can do to foster macroeconomic stability and promote sustainable and inclusive growth. April 3. Mark your calendar: It’s been announced that France, the African Union, and Gavi will co-host a high-level event to launch the African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator and Gavi’s investment case for 2026-2030 in Paris on June 20.