Money Matters: Global health's top bilateral donors

A few days after the 76th World Health Assembly — an annual event that sets the policies, budget, and leadership of the World Health Organization, we had a question — how much exactly do donors spend on global health? The answer to this question informs this week’s data story. + Are there topics you want to read more about in Money Matters? We want your feedback. Good health? Global health has always been among the top priorities of the OECD Development Assistance Committee member countries — the leading source of global aid funding. In the light of last week’s World Health Assembly, our data cruncher-in-chief Miguel Antonio Tamonan went and looked into the most recent data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to find out who were the top bilateral donors in the health sector. He broke down the numbers from the most recent year we have data for, 2021, to see where exactly the money goes. Read: Who were the health sector's top bilateral donors? (Pro) ICYMI: 3 key issues to watch at the 76th World Health Assembly (Pro) + Catch up on our coverage of the 76th World Health Assembly. You can also watch the highlights and full recording of our Devex CheckUp @ WHA 76 panel discussions. Funding activity We publish tenders, grants, and other funding announcements on our Funding Platform. Here are some of the ones that have been viewed the most in the past 10 days. 🌿 AfDB is inviting bids from consultants for a project to map farming communities and to support farmers and businesses to expand the food value chain in Liberia. 🚽 BMZ is seeking consultants to support the development and implementation of strategies, policies, and plans for circular economy practices for waste management in Rwanda. 🧑‍🌾 The Global Green Growth Institute is looking for consultants to analyze climate-smart agriculture projects in Fiji. 💰 The IMF has approved €178 million ($190 million) of finance to strengthen economic policies in Kosovo. 📈 USAID has announced $23 million in additional support for sustainable and equitable economic growth and community resilience in Papua New Guinea. 💸 The World Bank is providing $300 million to expand and extend cash transfer to poor and vulnerable households and strengthen the social safety net delivery system in Lebanon. + Try out Devex Pro Funding today with a free five-day trial, and explore funding opportunities from over 850 sources in addition to our analysis and news content. Power moves It’s been two years since Samantha Power took the reins at USAID, one of the world’s premier aid agencies. My colleague Michael Igoe took a step back and examined Power’s time at USAID, what legacy she is trying to create, and how much impact she has had inside the agency since she took over. “I’ve never seen an administrator so disconnected from the agency,” a current USAID official tells Michael. This disconnect, Michael goes on to say, could make it tougher for her to realize her priorities, which includes pledges to rebuild USAID’s depleted workforce and to shift more funding and decision-making power to local organizations. That disconnect adds up to a troubling irony, Michael writes, adding that at a time when USAID is being led by its strongest administrator ever, the institution itself feels weaker. Read: For USAID, it is the best of times and the worst of times Also read: USAID says solving 'staffing crisis' key to implementing new strategy Plus: USAID has set a 'bold' new A&A strategy. But can it implement it? (Pro) Y B a BD? What does it mean to be a business development leader? What are the challenges and the opportunities? How is the role changing in response to the needs of donors and development organizations? Last week my colleague David Ainsworth caught up with two business development leaders to discuss what it means to do the job. Devex Pro members can read a summary and watch a recording of the event. Read: How is business development changing in the aid sector? (Pro) + Interested in more business coverage? Explore our funding overview page and set up news alerts for funding articles. And if you haven’t, start a 15-day free trial of Devex Pro today to access all our exclusive reporting and analysis. Other people’s mistakes Development organizations consistently make the same mistakes with tech. It happens again and again. A board member reads an article about an interesting new technology and suddenly your NGO is implementing it, even though you don’t have the budget, the capability, or a problem that the tech actually solves. Enter Jim Fruchterman, who’s been advising development organizations on these issues for a long time. He chronicles the five most common mistakes that sector leaders make — and what to do instead. Read: 5 bad tech ideas that development organizations just keep trying (Pro) Bearing witness There is new leadership at Human Rights Watch, one of the world’s most famous rights organizations. Tirana Hassan was named the new executive director in March, succeeding Kenneth Roth who held the job for three decades. Hassan has been working on human rights for 20 years and brings some heft to the role. A trained social worker and law graduate, Hassan worked in Darfur as the Sudanese region descended into civil war. She wrote about militias in Iraq and had to seek shelter from shelling amid the fighting to oust former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. As a senior researcher in Human Rights Watch’s emergencies division, she has carried out dozens of investigations in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. Being on the ground has been at the core of her work, she tells me in an interview. “Bearing witness, presenting the truth, and stitching together evidence has never felt more important,” Hassan says. “We need to put it together in a way that ensures that decision-makers stand up, take notice, and take action — and that's what our on-the-ground presence really delivers.” Read: Human Rights Watch's Hassan on bearing witness and exposing injustice (Pro) + Speaking of career development, join Devex Careers Editor Justin Sablich and Stephanie Mansueto, a social impact job hunting coach, for a digital event on how to negotiate your best job offer tomorrow, May 30, at 5 p.m. CET. Save your spot now. I wrote this week’s Money Matters while listening to pianist Dave Brubeck’s Take Five. Sign up to Money Matters for an inside look at the biggest stories in development funding.