The world's future hinges on supporting 10-year-old girls, says UN

The Guardian
Liz Ford

Daline, 10, from Yaoundé, loves learning. Safeguarding her development, and that of 65 million other girls of her age, could shape the world, claims a new study

Daline, from Cameroon, is among 65 million 10-year-old girls identified as key to the world’s future in the UNFPA’s state of the world population report. Photograph: Adrienne Surprenant/Barcroft Media/UNFPA​

Ten-year-old Daline enjoys reading, dancing and using her mother’s make up. And she loves school. Her favourite subject is chemistry.

“When I was at primary school, my favourite subject was history,” she says. “But now that I am at secondary school, my new favourite subject is chemistry because it is easy to understand, because chemicals are easy to make, and because I love science.”

Daline, who will turn 11 next month, lives with her parents and two younger brothers in Cameroon’s capital, Yaoundé.

She does some housework – “I wash plates, clean the floor and the compound, and sometimes I cook food” – but so does her brother, who “helps me to sweep the floor”. She definitely prefers going to school to staying at home.

But on the cusp of adolescence, the support received by Daline – and the 65 million other 10-year-old girls around the world – over the coming years will have a huge bearing not only on her life, but also on the future of her country and the global economy.

According to the UN population fund’s (UNFPA) state of the world population 2016 report, published on Thursday, the future of 10-year-old girls will shape our collective futures. Getting girls through secondary school could reap billions of dollars a year for poorer countries, claims the study.

But the hurdles girls face in reaching adulthood are significant.

Globally, twice as many girls as boys will never start school. Girls are also more likely to be married young than boys. And millions of girls are at risk of FGM.

The report found that 10% of five- to 14-year-old girls do more than 28 hours of household chores a week, twice that of boys. The authors said that more than half of the world’s 10-year-old girls live in the 48 countries with the worst gender inequality records.

Each year of education delivers an additional 11.7% increase in wages in later life for girls (compared with 9.6% for men), added the study, which calculated that if all the 10-year-old girls in poorer countries completed secondary education, a $21bn (£17bn) annual dividend would be triggered. In some countries this could translate to individual earnings increasing by half by 2030.

Governments, NGOs and multilateral organisations must make investments in girls an urgent priority, said the report’s authors, who also urged the dismantling of social systems that confine women to the home and called for a commitment to “increasing the presence, visibility and agency of women and girls in the public spheres of school and work”.

The study said the life trajectory of a 10-year-old girl would be the ultimate test of the success or failure of the 17 sustainable development goals, adopted by the UN general assembly last year. The goals promise to eliminate extreme poverty, get all children through primary and secondary school, end all discrimination against all girls and women and eliminate harmful practices, such as FGM and child marriage.

“This cohort of 10-year-olds … represents both a challenge and an opportunity for the global community, and will have a significant role to play in what the future represents,” said the authors.

“The ability of institutions, both local and global, to help prepare 10-year-olds for their transition through adolescence to adulthood, particularly in terms of safeguarding their emotional and cognitive development, health and rights, will shape the degree to which this generation is able to maximise its potential and become drivers of positive change at the local and global levels.”

‘I love science’: the support children like Daline receive through adolescence could reap huge dividends for poor countries. Photograph: Adrienne Surprenant/Barcroft Media/UNFPA

The UNFPA’s executive director, Babatunde Osotimehin, said impeding a girl’s safe, healthy path through adolescence to a productive and autonomous adulthood was a “violation of her rights”.

“What the world will look like in 15 years will depend on our doing everything in our power to ignite the potential of a 10-year-old girl today. But it also takes a toll on her community and nation. Whenever a girl’s potential goes unrealised, we all lose,” he said.

“How we invest in and support 10-year-old girls today will determine what our world will look like in 2030. With support from family, community and nation, and the full realisation of her rights, a 10-year-old girl can thrive and help bring about the future we all want.”

Daline has just started secondary school. She has yet to decide what job she wants to do when she’s older, but she is certain of the world in which she wants to live.

“I want to work in a society where I may help children who are abandoned or maltreated or homeless, so that they will no longer be alone.”

Read more ➤

Air pollution more deadly in Africa than malnutrition or dirty water, study warns

The Guardian
John Vidal

Annual human and economic cost of tainted air runs to 712,000 lost lives and £364bn, finds Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

Heavy traffic causes gridlock in the Kenyan capital Nairobi. Across Africa, annual deaths from ambient particulate matter pollution increased by 36% between 1990 and 2013. Photograph: Tony Karumba/AFP/Getty Images

Africa’s air pollution is causing more premature deaths than unsafe water or childhood malnutrition, and could develop into a health and climate crisis reminiscent of those seen in China and India, a study by a global policy forum has found.

The first major attempt to calculate both the human and financial cost of the continent’s pollution suggests dirty air could be killing 712,000 people a year prematurely, compared with approximately 542,000 from unsafe water, 275,000 from malnutrition and 391,000 from unsafe sanitation.

While most major environmental hazards have been improving with development gains and industrialisation, outdoor (or “ambient particulate”) air pollution from traffic, power generation and industries is increasing rapidly, especially in fast-developing countries such as Egypt, South Africa, Ethiopia and Nigeria.

“Annual deaths from ambient [outdoor] particulate matter pollution across the African continent increased by 36% from 1990 to 2013. Over the same period, deaths from household air pollution also continued to increase, but only by 18%”, said a researcher at the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development development centre. The OECD is funded by the world’s richest 35 countries.

For Africa as a whole, the estimated economic cost of premature air pollution deaths in 2013 was roughly $215bn (£175bn) a year for outdoor air pollution, and $232bn for household, or indoor, air pollution.

The study’s author, Rana Roy, is concerned by the pace at which outdoor air pollution is growing in Africa, bucking the downward trend in most countries. Used cars and trucks imported from rich countries are adding to urban pollution caused by household cooking on open fires.

“This mega-trend is set to continue to unfold throughout this century. It suggests that current means of transportation and energy generation in African cities are not sustainable,” said Roy. “Alternative models to those imported from industrialised economies, such as dependence on the individual automobile, are necessary.

“It is striking that air pollution costs in Africa are rising in spite of slow industrialisation, and even de-industrialisation in many countries. Should this latter trend successfully be reversed, the air pollution challenge would worsen faster, unless radically new approaches and technologies were put to use.

“The ‘new’ problem of outdoor air pollution is too large to be ignored or deferred to tomorrow’s agenda. At the same time, Africa cannot afford to ignore the ‘old’ problem of household pollution or to consider it largely solved: it is only a few high-income countries – Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritius, Morocco, Seychelles and Tunisia – that can afford to view the problem of air pollution as being a problem of outdoor particulate pollution alone.”

The study stresses that there is not nearly enough knowledge of the sources of air pollution and its impact in much of Africa. It quotes UK scientist Mathew Evans, professor of atmospheric chemistry at York University, who is leading a large-scale investigation of air pollution in west Africa.

“London and Lagos have entirely different air quality problems. In cities such as London, it’s mainly due to the burning of hydrocarbons for transport. African pollution isn’t like that. There is the burning of rubbish, cooking indoors with inefficient fuel stoves, millions of steel diesel electricity generators, cars which have had the catalytic converters removed and petrochemical plants, all pushing pollutants into the air over the cities. Compounds such as sulphur dioxide, benzene and carbon monoxide, that haven’t been issues in western cities for decades, may be a significant problem in African cities. We simply don’t know.”

Whereas China has reached a level of development that has allowed it to concentrate on solving air pollution, most African countries must grapple with several major environmental burdens at the same time, said the report.

“[They] are not in the position of a China, which can today focus on air pollution undistracted by problems such as unsafe water or unsafe sanitation or childhood underweight,” said Roy.

Henri-Bernard Solignac-Lecomte, head of the Europe, Middle east and Africa unit at the OECD development centre, said the paper made a double case for action. “Air pollution in Africa increasingly hurts people and hinders economic development. Reducing it requires urgent action by governments to change the unsustainable course of urbanisation. Indeed, Africa urbanises at a very fast pace: today’s 472 million urban dwellers will be around a billion in 2050. Today’s investment choices will have decade-long impacts on urban infrastructure and the quality of life of urbanites.

“Bold action to improve access to electricity, using clean technologies such as solar power, can contribute to reducing the exposure of the poorer families to indoor smog from coal or dung-fired cooking stoves.

“As for outdoor pollution, African economies would be well advised to learn from the experience of industrialised countries, for example by developing mass public transportation systems – like Rabat or Addis-Ababa are doing with their tramways.”

Roy warned that the human and economic costs of air pollution might “explode” without bold policy changes in Africa’s urbanisation policies.

He concluded with a call for urgent international action: “If Africa’s local air pollution is contributing to climate change today, at a time when its population stands at 1.2 billion, or 16% of the world’s population, it is safe to suppose that … it is likely to contribute considerably more when its population increases to around 2.5 billion, or 25% of the world’s population in 2050, and thence to around 4.4 billion, or 40% of the world’s population in 2100.”

Read more ➤

World Bank Raises 2017 Oil Price Forecast

The World Bank



WASHINGTON, October 20, 2016— The World Bank is raising its 2017 forecast for crude oil prices to $55 per barrel from $53 per barrel as members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) prepare to limit production after a long period of unrestrained output.

Energy prices, which include oil, natural gas and coal, are projected to jump almost 25 percent overall next year, a larger increase than anticipated in July. The revised forecast appears in the World Bank’s latest Commodity Markets Outlook. Oil prices are expected to average $43 per barrel in 2016, unchanged from the July report.

“We expect a solid rise in energy prices, led by oil, next year,” said John Baffes, Senior Economist and lead author of the Commodity Markets Outlook. “However, there is considerable uncertainty around the outlook as we await the details and the implementation of the OPEC agreement, which, if carried through, will undoubtedly impact oil markets.”

A modest recovery is projected for most commodities in 2017 as demand strengthens and supplies tighten.

Metals and minerals prices are expected to rise 4.1 percent next year, a 0.5 percentage point upward revision due to increasing supply tightness. Zinc prices are forecast to rise more than 20 percent following the closure of some large zinc mines and production cuts in earlier years. Gold is projected to decline slightly next year to $1,219 per ounce as interest rates are likely to rise and safe haven buying ebbs.

Agriculture prices are expected to increase 1.4 percent in 2017, slightly less than expected in July, as food prices are projected to climb more gradually than anticipated (1.5 percent) and beverage prices are seen dropping by a greater extent (0.6 percent) on expectation of a large coffee output. Among food prices, grains prices are forecast to rise a steeper-than-anticipated 2.9 percent next year, while oils and meals prices are anticipated to rise a slower-than-expected 2 percent.

“Low commodity prices hit commodity-exporting emerging and developing economies hard but now appear to have bottomed out,” said Ayhan Kose, Director of the World Bank’s Development Prospects Group. “Growth in this group of economies is expected to be near zero for the year. Where feasible, policymakers should pursue growth-enhancing strategies, such as investments in infrastructure, health and education, in the context of a credible medium-term fiscal plan.”

This edition of the Commodity Markets Outlook contains a Special Focus analyzing OPEC’s recent announcement of plans to limit production. Historically, agreements aimed at influencing the prices of commodities such as tin and coffee have succeeded in swaying markets for a time but eventually lost that ability and collapsed. OPEC’s ability to affect oil prices is likely to be tested by the expansion of oil supply from unconventional sources, including shale producers.

The World Bank’s Commodity Markets Outlook is published quarterly, in January, April, July and October. The report provides detailed market analysis for major commodity groups, including energy, metals, agriculture, precious metals and fertilizers. Price forecasts to 2025 for 46 commodities are presented along with historical price data.

Read more ➤

Habitat III: Multilateral Development Banks From Around the World Collaborate to Support ‘New Urban Agenda’

ADB

Makati skyline in Manila, Philippines.

QUITO, ECUADOR – In support of the ‘New Urban Agenda’ adopted this week during the UN-sponsored global Habitat III conference, eight Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) are putting the agenda’s words into action by issuing a “joint statement” expressing their commitment to promote equitable, sustainable, and productive urbanization and urban communities.

On the occasion of the The New Urban Agenda and the role of the Multilateral Development Banks session at Habitat III, the eight MDBs—the Asian Development Bank (ADB), African Development Bank (AfDB), the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), the Islamic Development Bank (ISDB), and the World Bank–presented their plans to work “together to ensure that the programs we support promote a model of urban development that encourages equitable, sustainable, inclusive and productive settlements, including small rural communities, villages, market towns, intermediate cities, and metropolises.”

‘‘Strained transport systems, rising water insecurity, and climate change will be the three biggest urban challenges in Asia and the Pacific in the next 15 years,” said Vijay Padmanabhan, ADB’s Technical Advisor on urban issues. “ADB and Habitat 3's New Urban Agenda aim to fill the huge gaps in infrastructure, services, and institutional effectiveness and lay the foundations for resilient, equitable, and prosperous cities in our region.”

In line with their respective institutional mandates and governance structures, the organizations committed to foster coordination between urban, regional and national development plans, strengthening planning institutions capabilities, and access to finance at all levels of government and in the private sector.

In their joint statement, guided by their institutional mandates and their member countries’ own development goals, they committed to supporting the implementation of the UN New Urban Agenda through direct financing, catalyzing other resources, as well as domestic resource mobilization. As such, they are determined to continue working to strengthen domestic financial markets, deepen financial inclusion, and attract sources of cofinancing to enable innovative and concessional funding to address the challenges of the poor and most vulnerable urban residents.

For more details, please see the full joint statement.

ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. Established in 1966, ADB in December 2016 will mark 50 years of development partnership in the region. It is owned by 67 members – 48 from the region. In 2015, ADB assistance totaled $27.2 billion, including cofinancing of $10.7 billion.

Read more ➤

New Approaches Needed to Address Rise of Poor Urban Villages in the Pacific

ADB

Suva, Fiji is one of the Pacific cities with the largest numbers of urban villages.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES – New approaches are needed to address the challenge of rising urban dwellers in the Pacific who live in poor-quality housing with inadequate provision for basic services in settlements known as ‘urban villages,’ a new Asian Development Bank (ADB) report says.

“There has been a rapid rise of urban villages in recent years due to increased poverty and the negative impacts of climate change,” said Robert Jauncey, head of ADB’s Pacific Subregional Office in Suva, Fiji. “These informal or unplanned settlements are often neglected and excluded from the government’s planning system, so we need to rethink approaches to urban management and development to include urban villages in the mainstream policies, strategies, projects, and programs.”

The report, entitled The Emergence of Pacific Urban Villages–Urbanization Trends in the Pacific Islands, defines urban villages as native and traditional communities and village‑like settlements in urban areas that display common characteristics: association with certain ethnic groups, strong socio-cultural ties, land tenure based on custom, heavy reliance on the informal economy, and persistence of subsistence activities. Urban village dwellers often live in hardship and poverty, and are stereotyped with negative traits.

It is estimated that approximately one million people in the Pacific live in urban villages. All Pacific towns and cities have urban villages to varying degrees, and the largest numbers are in the Melanesian Pacific capitals—Honiara, Port Moresby, Port Vila, and Suva—and smaller towns of Micronesia such as South Tarawa (Kiribati). Over half of the urban population of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, now lives in urban villages.

The publication, launched this week in conjunction with the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Development (Habitat 3) in Quito, Ecuador, argues that the future of the Pacific islands will be increasingly determined by continued patterns of urbanization, especially the ongoing growth of myriad urban village types.

The report says that urban villages should be recognized as meaningful local socio-territorial entities operating as part of wider villages and cities. In this context, there is an opportunity to seriously question current approaches, like asking who really builds Pacific towns and cities, what processes are used, and how they can be best supported and managed in a more equitable manner.

Sustainable Development Goal no. 11 focuses on making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable by ensuring access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services and upgrade slums by 2030. In line with this goal, the report recommends that urban villages be included in an expanded planning jurisdiction of towns and cities, thus enabling service providers currently constrained by law to provide basic services such as water and sanitization to these settlements. This will promote more inclusive towns and cities, plus acknowledge that water, sanitation and housing are basic human rights that should be available for all. The growth and permanency of urban villages in the Pacific are in fact a form of housing resilience.

ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. Established in 1966, ADB in December 2016 will mark 50 years of development partnership in the region. It is owned by 67 members – 48 from the region. In 2015, ADB assistance totaled $27.2 billion, including cofinancing of $10.7 billion.

Read more ➤

Climate change could drive 122m more people into extreme poverty by 2030

The Guardian
Claire Provost

UN report warns that without measures to halt and reverse climate change, food production could become impossible in large areas of the world

A food distribution briefing in Malikopo, Chikwawa, one of the areas of Malawi most affected by this year’s severe drought. Photograph: Andrew Renneisen/Getty Images

Up to 122 million more people worldwide could be living in extreme poverty by 2030 as a result of climate change and its impacts on small-scale farmers’ incomes, a major UN report warned on Monday.

Climate change is “a major and growing threat to global food security”, said the report, warning that it could increase the global population living in extreme poverty by between 35 and 122 million by 2030, with farming communities in sub-Saharan Africa among the hardest hit.

The 2016 State of Food and Agriculture report, published by the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), calls for “deep transformations in agriculture and food systems” and for the world’s half-billion small-scale farms to receive particular support.

The report warns that without “widespread adoption of sustainable land, water, fisheries and forestry practices, global poverty cannot be eradicated”.

It adds that action must also be taken to reduce farming’s own contributions to greenhouse gas emissions and global warming.

The 194-page report looks at the future of farming and food security under different climate change scenarios. It also looks at possible responses to what it calls “an unprecedented double challenge” to eradicate hunger and poverty and stabilise the global climate.

There is, it says, “no doubt that climate change will affect the agriculture sectors and food security and that its negative impact will become more severe as it accelerates. In some particularly vulnerable places, such as small islands or in areas affected by large-scale extreme weather and climate events, the impact could be catastrophic.”

In a best-case scenario, slow-moving climate change would allow farming to adapt through relatively simple techniques, at least in the near future. But it warns that more abrupt changes would make adequate adaptation almost impossible.

Possible consequences include major declines in crop yields and increasingly high and volatile food prices, it says. “In the longer run, unless measures are put in place to halt and reverse climate change, food production could become impossible in large areas of the world.”

The report cites diversifying crop production, better integration of farming with the natural habitat, agroecology and “sustainable intensification” as strategies to help small-scale farmers adapt to a warming world.

It says some current policies, including subsidies for inputs such as synthetic fertilisers and pesticides, could hinder the adoption of more sustainable techniques.

“Social protection programmes will need to play an important role – in helping smallholders better manage risk, reducing vulnerability to food price volatility, and enhancing the employment prospects of rural people who leave the land,” it adds.

The report comes as delegates arrive in Rome for the 43rd Committee on World Food Security meetings.

On Friday, the FAO’s director general, José Graziano da Silva, warned: “Higher temperatures and erratic weather patterns are already undermining the health of soils, forests and oceans on which agricultural sectors and food security depend. We have seen an increase of pest and disease outbreaks everywhere.”

In a special message on Friday, Pope Francis said the world should draw on “the wisdom of rural communities” and “a style of life that can help defend us from the logic of consumerism and production at any cost, a logic that … [is] aimed solely at the increase in profit”.

Technologies including genetic modification “may give excellent results in the laboratory, may be advantageous for some, but have ruinous effects for others”, he argued.

Ertharin Cousin, executive director of the World Food Programme, said: “Climate change is already stretching the international humanitarian system … more than 80% of the world’s hungry live in areas prone to natural disasters and environmental degradation. Climate change is not waiting – neither can we.”

Until 2030, says the FAO report, climate change impacts will produce both gains and losses, with crop yields increasing in colder places, for example. After 2030, negative impacts could threaten farming and food systems in every region of the world.

In September 2015, UN member states agreed to eradicate extreme poverty and end hunger by 2030 as part of the sustainable development goals.

In December, world leaders signed the Paris agreement, which sets a framework for national action and international cooperation on climate change.

Monday’s report argues that now is the time for these political commitments to be put into action.

It notes that agriculture and related land use alone accounts for at least one-fifth of global greenhouse-gas emissions – and that this must also be addressed.

Globally, about one-third of all food produced is also lost or wasted. Reducing this figure could limit farming’s impact on natural resources and emissions, it says.

“‘Business as usual’ is not an option,” stressed Graziano da Silva in a foreword to the report. “Agriculture has always been the interface between natural resources and human activity. Today it holds the key to solving the two greatest challenges facing humanity: eradicating poverty, and maintaining the stable climatic corridor in which civilisation can thrive.”

Read more ➤

Global Cooperation through Carbon Markets Could Cut Climate Mitigation Costs Dramatically: New World Bank Report

The World Bank



101 Countries Consider Carbon Pricing as Part of their Paris Agreement Commitments

HANOI, Vietnam, October 18—Greater cooperation through carbon trading could reduce the cost of climate change mitigation by 32 percent by 2030, according to a new World Bank report released today at an international carbon event in Vietnam.

New modelling analysis undertaken for the State and Trends of Carbon Pricing 2016 report shows that increased international carbon trading could enable large-scale emissions reductions at much lower cost than at present, based on the carbon mitigation goals spelled out in countries’ national climate plans under the Paris Agreement -- the Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs. By the middle of the century, an international market has the potential to reduce global mitigation costs by more than 50 percent.

The goal of limiting emission reductions to meet a 2°C or lower target will be difficult to achieve cost-efficiently without more carbon trading, according to the report, prepared by the World Bank and launched at the 15th Assembly of the Partnership for Market Readiness.

“The more we cooperate through carbon trading, the larger the savings and the greater the potential to increase ambition by countries in the short term,” said John Roome, Senior Director for Climate Change at the World Bank. “To be effective, carbon pricing policies must be coordinated with other energy and environmental policies –this will require collaboration within and between countries.”

The Paris Agreement, reached at COP21 in late 2015, sets up a framework for global cooperation through carbon markets. Over 100 countries consider carbon pricing initiatives as part of their NDCs, through emissions trading within or across borders, international crediting, carbon taxation and other measures.

Under this new cooperative framework, one country can benefit from mitigation activities resulting in emission reductions in another country to fulfill its NDC. The report indicates that financial flows of 2–5 percent of gross domestic product in countries with lower-cost mitigation activities could be realized for investments that will reduce emissions by 2050.

The report also shows that momentum on carbon pricing has continued to grow. In 2016, 40 national jurisdictions and over 20 cities, states, and regions are putting a price on carbon, including seven out of 10 of the world’s largest economies. The coverage of carbon pricing initiatives on global emissions has increased threefold over the past decade, translating to the equivalent of around 7 gigatons of carbon dioxide (GtCO2e), or about 13 percent of global GHG emissions. In addition, governments raised about US$26 billion in revenues from carbon pricing initiatives in 2015. This represents a 60 percent increase compared to the revenues raised in 2014.

This year saw the launch of two new carbon pricing initiatives: British Columbia put a price on emissions from liquefied natural gas plants alongside its carbon tax, and Australia implemented a safeguard mechanism to the Emissions Reduction Fund, requiring large emitters that exceed their set limit to offset excess emissions.

Looking ahead, next year could see the largest ever increase in the share of global emissions covered by carbon pricing initiatives in a single year. If the Chinese national Emissions Trading System (ETS) is implemented in 2017 as planned, it would become the largest carbon pricing initiative in the world, surpassing the EU ETS. Initial estimates show that emissions covered by carbon pricing initiatives could increase from 13 percent to between 20 and 25 percent of global GHG emissions.

In April, the High Level Panel on Carbon Pricing called upon the international community to double the percentage of global emissions covered by explicit carbon prices to 25% by 2020 and to double it again to 50% within a decade. Heads of State from Canada, Chile, Ethiopia, France, Germany and Mexico are among the leaders calling for this increased commitment.

The report was prepared with the technical support of Ecofys and Vivid Economics.

To download the full report, visit https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/25160

Read more ➤

Habitat III: Multilateral Development Banks from Around the World Collaborate to Support "New Urban Agenda"

The World Bank



QUITO, ECUADOR, October 18, 2016 – In support of the "New Urban Agenda" adopted this week during the UN-sponsored global Habitat III conference, eight Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) are putting the Agenda’s words into action by issuing a “Joint Statement” expressing their commitment to promote equitable, sustainable, and productive urbanization and urban communities.

On the occasion of the "The New Urban Agenda and the role of the Multilateral Development Banks" session at Habitat III, the eight MDBs — the Asian Development Bank (ADB), African Development Bank (AfDB), the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), the Islamic Development Bank (ISDB), and the World Bank – presented their plans for working “together to ensure that the programs we support promote a model of urban development that encourages equitable, sustainable, inclusive and productive settlements, including small rural communities, villages, market towns, intermediate cities, and metropolises.”

“The ‘New Urban Agenda’ envisages cities and human settlements that are inclusive, sustainable, and resilient, fostering prosperity and quality of life for all,” said Ede Ijjasz-Vasquez, Senior Director of the World Bank’s Social, Urban, Rural and Resilience Global Practice. “With urban infrastructure financing needs at over $4.5 trillion per year — an amount that cannot be met solely on the basis of existing ODA flows — the urban challenges need innovative financing solutions from all sources: national and local sources, citizens, philanthropies, and MDBs.”

Ijjasz-Vasquez added, “By working together with governments and partners to develop effective and innovative ways to plan, connect, and finance cities, the World Bank believes we can contribute effectively to shaping sustainable long-term urban development. The challenges of urbanization may be immense, but so, too, are the opportunities that come with it. We are ready to embrace this pivotal challenge that will shape the future of our cities and enable us to achieve our goals of eliminating poverty and boosting shared prosperity.”

In line with their respective institutional mandates and governance structures, the organizations committed to foster coordination between urban, regional and national development plans, strengthening planning institutions capabilities, and access to finance at all levels of government and in the private sector.

In their Joint Statement, guided by their institutional mandates and their member countries’ own development goals, they committed to supporting the implementation of the UN "New Urban Agenda" through direct financing, catalyzing other resources, as well as domestic resource mobilization. As such, they are determined to continue working to strengthen domestic financial markets, deepen financial inclusion, and attracting sources of co-financing to enable innovative and concessional funding to address the challenges of the poor and most vulnerable urban residents.

For more details, please see the full Joint Statement.

Read more ➤

World Bank’s Poverty Commission Releases Report on How to Better Measure and Monitor Global Poverty

The World Bank



WASHINGTON, October 18, 2016 – The World Bank’s Commission on Global Poverty has submitted recommendations on how to more comprehensively measure and monitor global poverty in support of the Bank Group’s goals of ending extreme poverty by 2030 and boosting shared prosperity.

“The aim of our Report was to improve the way the World Bank monitors poverty. By focusing on changes over time, we can learn, taking account of the potential margins of error, about the evolution of global poverty. The confidence to be placed in these conclusions can be increased by improvements in the methods of analysis and in the underlying data. Outside the World Bank, it is hoped that this report will be of value to everyone engaged in poverty measurement across the world, and be a highly positive force in encouraging partnerships,” said Sir Anthony Atkinson, Lead Author & Chair of the Commission on Global Poverty.

In its report, the Commission acknowledges the challenges posed by its recommendations, including the limited statistical resources available to poor countries, the need for collaboration across countries and agencies, and different national circumstances among low, and middle-income countries.

The Commission also recommends that the World Bank hold constant the yardstick for measuring extreme poverty – at $1.90 a day in 2011 PPPs - until 2030, the target year for the Bank’s own goal of ending poverty as well as the end-year for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the first and foremost of which is the eradication of extreme poverty everywhere, in all its forms.

In expressing its sincere gratitude to Sir Tony Atkinson and his Commission, the Bank Group said ‘its recommendations would guide the poverty monitoring work of the World Bank Group and other development partners and practitioners for many years to come.’

“Ending poverty is at the core of the World Bank’s development work. As we strive towards ending extreme poverty by 2030, the recommendations of the Commission on Global Poverty will inform how we measure progress in all dimensions of our work,” said World Bank Chief Economist, Paul Romer,” We are extremely thankful to the Commission for taking on this important task and providing its valuable recommendations.”

Romer said that the Bank agreed with the Commission’s call for the extreme poverty line to be cited as “the International Poverty Line (IPL)”, and expressed in each country in terms of its local currency. The Commission had also urged the Bank to “establish its own requirements with regard to the measurement of non-monetary poverty”, and to introduce a “multi-dimensioned poverty indicator based on the counting approach, and covering the overlap of dimensions.”

In response, Romer said the World Bank would now track non-monetary deprivations of poverty in three specific domains, namely: educational outcomes; access to health care; and access to basic services, such as water, sanitation and electricity. He said the Bank was particularly interested in the overlap among these different deprivations, and between them and monetary poverty.

The Commission, set up last year by the World Bank, brought together 24 of the world’s leading poverty experts, under the chairmanship of Sir Anthony Atkinson, a leading authority on inequality, Centennial Professor at the London School of Economics, and a Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford University.

The Commission’s final report includes a set of 21 recommendations. Highlights include recommendations on broadening the conception of poverty to include non-monetary measures of deprivation; a suggestion to introduce a societal headcount measure of global poverty, which combines absolute and relative elements of poverty, and a recommendation to publish a global profile of the poor.

For a more detailed World Bank response to the recommendations of the Atkinson Commission, see the cover note ‘Monitoring Global Poverty: A Cover Note to the Report of the Commission on Global Poverty’

For more information on the Commission on Global Poverty and its Report, please visit: http://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/commission-on-global-poverty

Read more ➤

World Bank Pledges $2 Billion to Bangladesh for Climate Smart Growth

The World Bank



DHAKA, October 18, 2016—World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim, concluding a two-day trip to Bangladesh focused on the country’s successes in reducing extreme poverty, pledged $2 billion over the next three years in new funding to help the country become less vulnerable to climate change.

Kim made the pledge after touring schools that double as cyclone shelters during major storms. He also visited rural communities in more remote locations that are enjoying the benefits of electricity in their homes and shops through solar systems as part of the country’s green-growth agenda. Kim met with rural residents who told him that electricity has helped transformed their lives, improving their livelihoods and building infrastructure for the entire community.

“Bangladesh is among the countries most at risk from the impacts of climate change. We must confront climate change now as it hits the poor the hardest,” said Kim. “Bangladesh has been a forerunner in adaptation and stronger disaster-coping mechanisms and these have reduced the impact of recent storms, cyclones, and floods. And the World Bank Group plans to help Bangladesh become even more resilient to climate change.”

Bangladesh, with active community participation, has improved defensive measures, including early warning systems, cyclone shelters, evacuation plans, coastal embankments, reforestation schemes and increased awareness and communication. These measures have reduced deaths in major storms.

“The dramatic decline in deaths demonstrates that Bangladesh’s adaptation measures do work,” said Kim. “I’m most impressed by the resilience of the people of Bangladesh at a time when climate change puts their lives and livelihoods at risk. Their determination to provide their children with better opportunities underpins Bangladesh’s powerful development story and the country can do even better if it addresses its challenges in climate change, infrastructure, human development, governance, and attracting private sector investments.”

On Kim’s first day in Bangladesh, he marked End Poverty Day to celebrate the country’s achievements in helping millions of people lift themselves out of poverty. The $2 billion pledge in new money for climate change is in addition to $1 billion pledged by Kim on Monday to end childhood stunting in Bangladesh. Both amounts are contingent on a successful replenishment of the International Development Association, the World Bank’s fund for the poorest countries, which should be agreed in December.

Background:
Since Bangladesh’s independence, the World Bank Group has been the country’s largest development partner in terms of volume of financing and provided more than $24 billion. Currently Bangladesh is the largest recipient of funds from the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank Group’s fund for the poorest countries with 38 projects and a total commitment of more than $9.5 billion. Its private sector arm, IFC, has a committed portfolio of $1 billion and MIGA has $305 million in gross exposure in Bangladesh.

Read more ➤

Survey finds 70% of migrants arriving in Europe by boat trafficked or exploited

The Guardian
Annie Kelly

UN survey of people travelling overland through Africa and arriving by boat in Europe also reveals emerging trend in organ and blood trafficking

Migrants rescued off the coast of Libya on 4 October. The International Organisation for Migration’s surveys show that many migrants are trafficked or exploited for profit by criminals. Photograph: Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty

More than 70% of migrants travelling overland through north Africa to Europe have become victims of human trafficking, organ trafficking and exploitation along the way, according to the UN’s International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

The IOM’s surveys of migrants arriving in Europe by boat reveal that nearly three-quarters of those interviewed show strong indicators of having been trafficked or exploited for profit by criminals at some point on their journey.

Nearly half of all those questioned (49%) reported being held in a location against their will, often for ransom. The majority of these cases occurred in Libya.

Half of migrants said they had worked without pay, with many being threatened with weapons by an employer or labour broker. Others said that forced labour was the only way of being freed from captivity or securing a place on a boat to Europe.

The surveys also revealed an emerging trend of organ and blood trafficking: 6% of all respondents reported that they had experience of someone being forced to give blood against their will or while captive, or of organs being used as payment for parts of the journey.

According to the surveys, men are more likely to have fallen victim to human trafficking than women, although the IOM did not ask specific questions about forced prostitution or trafficking for sexual exploitation.

The surveys also show that the longer someone is in transit, the more vulnerable they are to being exploited or trafficked, with migrants who spent six months or more journeying to Europe three times more likely to have fallen prey to criminal exploitation than those who were in transit countries for less than two weeks.

The IOM spent 10 months gathering data from more than 9,000 migrants (pdf – NB, this shows data for just three months) on the central and eastern Mediterranean routes. As well as collecting information on the prevalence of forced labour and organ trafficking, the surveys also asked about marriage, and forced marriage, while in transit. Fewer than 1.5% of respondents said they had received an offer of marriage in exchange for money along the route.

On the eastern Mediterranean route – where migrants travel overland via Turkey and Greece – 14% of migrants reported signs of human trafficking and exploitation. About 6% reported being held against their will, 7% said they worked without pay. As many as 4% said they were forced into work against their will, most of these instances occurring in Turkey. Incidents of organ and blood trafficking were reported in Turkey, Greece, Albania, Macedonia and Serbia.

The IOM said its surveys are the first attempt to quantify the prevalence, scale and frequency of labour and other forms of human trafficking on the major migrant routes.

“What these surveys show is that human trafficking networks are becoming brutal and efficient at exploiting and making profit from the vulnerability of migrants,” says Simona Moscarelli, anti-trafficking expert at the IOM.

“There is still very little real recognition of the scale of this business or just how much money is being made from the misery and labour of people fleeing war or poverty.”

Kevin Hyland, the UK’s independent anti-slavery commissioner, said that the surveys provide further evidence that the migration crisis is being used by human trafficking networks to target and exploit the most vulnerable.

“There is a need for urgent action to protect these people,” he says. “I believe that a key focus for the UK and other governments must include collaborating with partners to prioritise safeguarding against the risks of modern slavery as part of the response to the migration and refugee crisis.”

Read more ➤

Appointment of new UN Secretary General encouraging but he has a long road ahead

World Vision



FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14, NEW YORK – World Vision congratulates Mr António Guterres on his appointment, confirmed yesterday, as the next United Nations Secretary-General.

Mr Guterres’ focus on tackling inequality and exclusion resonates strongly with World Vision’s approach to development, and we will cheer him on as he uses the UN’s resources to “connect the dots” between peace, development and human rights.

We hope, once he takes up his post on January 1, 2017, Mr Guterres will deliver his pledge to help the world’s most vulnerable people – those who are furthest behind, the uncounted, those for whom the Millennium Development Goals were just unmet promises. Children are the highest number among these, due to violence, poverty, inequality, malnutrition, discrimination and lack of health and education. The Sustainable Development Goals represent an opportunity for the life they deserve to live in full and healthy, and Agenda 2030 must invest in and deliver for children.

World Vision is encouraged that Mr Guterres recognises the particular and urgent needs of the most vulnerable disadvantaged. We hope that he will further recognise the need for action for the more than one billion children affected by violence every year, by establishing a specific initiative dedicated to ending all forms of violence against them.

Read more ➤

Staying Cool Without Heating Up

The World Bank

Photo credit: Peter Morgan

Demand is hot for cool air. In certain urban areas of China, where air conditioners were practically unknown 20 years ago, almost every household now has one. Sales in countries like India are growing at over 10 percent a year. Altogether, the world is expected to add 700 million air conditioning units to global stocks by 2030.

All this cooling has health and development benefits – preserving food, increasing productivity, and improving the quality of life for hundreds of millions of people.

But it also comes at a steep cost to the climate. Air conditioning increases electricity use, especially at peak times, and cooling will soon outstrip heating as the primary driver of consumer power demand. Cooling technology also depends on hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) - potent greenhouse gases that can have several thousand times the warming effect of CO2.

Until now.

On October 15, at a meeting in Kigali, Rwanda, the 197 parties to the Montreal Protocol agreed to an amendment that would phase down the use of HFCs around the world. This single decision could reduce the rise in the global mean temperature by 0.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century – one of the most significant steps in the fight against climate change, and a major contribution to the goals of the Paris Agreement, which will go into force on November 4.

As an implementing agency of the Montreal Protocol since 1991, the World Bank Group has channeled more than $1 billion in grants so far to phase out the consumption and production of ozone-depleting substances. And as President Jim Yong Kim made clear at this year’s Annual Meetings, the Bank Group plans to continue this work – supporting countries as they phase down HFCs and improve energy efficiency.

“We have developed a support plan that includes ramping up our lending for energy efficiency to accompany the HFC phase-down,” said Anna Bjerde, Acting Senior Director of Energy at the World Bank. “As part of our Climate Change Action Plan, we expect to do $1 billion in lending by 2020 for energy efficiency in urban areas. This could help support the development of high-efficiency cooling technologies that also use climate-friendly refrigerants.”

This work is already underway. In Thailand, for example, the World Bank has helped a local manufacturer launch a new line of air conditioners that uses a refrigerant that does not deplete the ozone layer and reduces greenhouse gas emissions by a third.

" Going forward, we will target opportunities that deliver a triple win: projects that increase the efficiency of cooling technology, decrease energy consumption, and do away with chemicals that are dangerous to the climate. And we will increase our financing and technical assistance for this work. "
John Roome
Senior Director, Climate Change Group

Efforts to phase down HFCs will build on the Bank Group’s successful engagements with countries to end consumption and production of ozone-depleting substances under the Montreal Protocol.

In April 2013, the Government of China and the Bank Group started working with Chinese enterprises to phase out the production of ozone-destroying hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs). Five production facilities have been closed down so far – accounting for 16 percent of the country’s total HCFC production. As part of this effort, China has also put in place incentives to destroy HFC-23, a greenhouse gas more than 10,000 times more potent than CO2, with a goal of total phase-out by 2020.

“Going forward, we will target opportunities that deliver a triple win: projects that increase the efficiency of cooling technology, decrease energy consumption, and do away with chemicals that are dangerous to the climate,” said John Roome, Senior Director for Climate Change at the World Bank. “And we will increase our financing and technical assistance for this work.”

Beyond committing its own financing, the Bank Group will take four other steps to expand its work in this area:

• Undertake studies to identify where impacts could be the greatest. (For example, one study in Pakistan estimated that a transition to new refrigerants could cut power consumption from air conditioning by 40 percent and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 8 million tons).
• Integrate technical assistance and policy work with concessional financing
• Deploy new Montreal Protocol financing to help countries
• Share knowledge and practices across countries to accelerate action

Reaching the Kigali agreement took over half a decade of work, focusing on issues like technology safety and availability, intellectual property rights, and additional financial support. Throughout this process the World Bank worked with both developed and developing countries on key issues, including work to clarify patent expiry dates.

Since 1991, the Bank Group has supported more than 700 projects under the Montreal Protocol to phase out ozone-depleting substances in refrigeration, air-conditioning and the manufacture of foam products. These projects have phased out more than 300,000 tons of ozone depleting substances, the equivalent of avoiding more than 1.2 billion tons in CO2 emissions.

Read more ➤

World Bank to Increase Support to End Stunting in Bangladesh

The World Bank



President Kim announces financing to help increase commitments up to $1 billion

DHAKA, October 17, 2016—World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim today said he hopes financial support to Bangladesh to end stunting among its children could increase up to $1 billion over the next three years as he marked End Poverty Day in the country to learn lessons from its attempts to become more prosperous and end extreme poverty by 2030.

Praising Bangladesh’s record in reducing poverty in a meeting with Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, Kim said the world could learn much from how Bangladesh had improved the livelihoods of tens of millions and empowered women despite facing persistent challenges, including those related to governance and climate change.

“Competing in today’s digital economy requires a workforce with well-developed intelligence, which is why the World Bank Group wants to increase its investments to end stunting in Bangladesh as soon as possible,” said Kim on the first day of his first visit to Bangladesh. “Failing to invest in a skilled and healthy workforce is ultimately harming future economic growth and that’s why we commend Bangladesh’s commitment to end childhood stunting.”

Kim joined a public event today to mark the United Nations’ International Day for the Eradication of Poverty to celebrate Bangladesh’s achievements in lifting millions of people out of poverty despite the formidable challenges it faced at the time of independence and its vulnerability to natural disasters. He announced the World Bank Group will establish a multi-donor trust fund for other countries to learn from Bangladesh’s experience.

Despite Bangladesh’s success in reducing maternal and child mortality, and improving child nutritional status, the number of stunted children are among the highest in the world. Among children under five, about 5.5 million are stunted, out of whom poorer children bear a disproportionate burden of stunted growth.

The Banks’ investments in children’s early years in Bangladesh will support nutrition services and include a conditional cash transfer program targeted to 600,000 poor families in 43 sub-districts.

“The World Bank Group wants to increase its investment in Bangladesh to improve nutrition and cognitive development of children in their early years. Ensuring adequate nutrition prenatally and in the first two years after birth can prevent devastating permanent effects on cognitive and brain development, thereby improving the long run earnings potential of children. Rapid brain and physical development, social relationships, and environments work together to create phenomenal advances in children’s capabilities during this time frame,” Kim said. “Investing in the socio-economic environments of particularly poor children during their early childhood years can help increase their earnings ability and lift their households out of poverty.”

The World Bank’s stepped up support to early childhood development announced by Kim represents almost a 100 percent increase in investment compared to the previous three–year period. The amount is contingent on a successful replenishment of the International Development Association, the World Bank’s fund for the poorest countries, which should be agreed in December.

Earlier in the day, Kim met the finance minister, planning minister, and other senior government officials, civil society representatives, and private sector leaders.

Background:
Since Bangladesh’s independence, the World Bank Group has been the country’s largest development partner in terms of volume of financing and provided more than $24 billion. Currently Bangladesh is the largest recipient of funds from the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank Group’s fund for the poorest countries with 38 projects and a total commitment of more than $9.5 billion. Its private sector arm, IFC, has a committed portfolio of $1 billion and MIGA has $305 million in gross exposure in Bangladesh.

Read more ➤

Conflicts of interest mar scheme to help poor countries curb tax loss, claim NGOs

The Guardian
Kate Hodal

Study claims finance experts working for Tax Inspectors Without Borders initiative often hail from rich states that have business ties to host countries

Senegalese finance minister Amadou Ba, second left, talks tax at the 2015 IMF/World Bank meeting in Peru. A Eurodad study has raised questions about the OECD’s Tax Inspectors Without Borders scheme. Photograph: Reuters

A highly-anticipated initiative to limit tax loss in developing nations, launched by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development – known as the “rich countries’ club” – has been undermined by serious conflicts of interest, claims a study published on Thursday.

The report by the European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad), a group of 47 civil society organisations, analysed the pilot phase of the Tax Inspectors Without Borders programme, under which foreign financial experts are deployed to work on tax administration in poor countries. The authors found that the scheme, which was not always solicited by the countries where it was introduced, resulted in wealthy donor countries engaging in the tax systems of countries where they had clear business interests. The report also identified a failure to meet international principles on how the process should be led.

The programme, which began in 2013, was intended to help stem the $240bn (£197bn) lost annually in tax revenues through avoidance schemes. The issue has a disproportionate effect on developing countries, where about 10% of government revenues are generated by tax on multinational corporations, so boosting tax income would build self-reliance and lessen reliance on foreign aid.

Tax Inspectors Without Borders works on the premise that tax audit experts from OECD countries transfer their knowledge and skills to auditors in developing countries, using guidelines laid down in a dedicated guide – or “toolkit” (pdf) – to provide a framework on auditing issues including confidentiality, conflict of interest and indemnity.

Crucially, according to official OECD guidelines, the host country must request the intervention. However, Tove Maria Ryding, tax coordinator at Eurodad and co-author of the report, said research suggested that was not the case.

“There is little publicly available information about Tax Inspectors Without Borders, but the little information that we have found – particularly within internal OECD documents that have not been published before – is very worrying,” Ryding said.

Those documents indicated that developing countries failed to either understand or engage with the pilot projects, Ryding added.

The Eurodad report focused on three pilot schemes involving the UK and Rwanda, France and Senegal, and the Netherlands and Ghana.

“In all three cases, the developing country was not leading the project,” said Ryding. “There was a certain scepticism towards the idea and a low-level understanding about what was happening.

“In all three cases, we also saw that the donor country, which was sending the expert, had very substantial corporate interests in the developing country. In other words, many of the multinational corporations that were being taxed by the developing country’s tax administration, were from the [same] countries that were funding these projects and sending these experts.”

The report found that in the case of the 2014 UK-Rwanda pilot, led by the Department for International Development (DfID), PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) played a “central management role” despite the global accountancy firm’s commitment to “lobbying for tax changes with governments and revenue authorities on behalf of our clients”.

The UK government’s “business guide” to Rwanda clearly states that about 150 British companies are registered in the African nation, with bilateral trade worth £21m in 2014. PwC is also listed as one of the British companies “leading the growth” of Rwanda’s financial services sector.

Engaging the private sector – which has clear conflicts of interest – in tax-management issues or advice is “inappropriate in every way”, said director John Christensen of the Tax Justice Network.

Christensen, who sits on the governing board of Tax Inspectors Without Borders, said: “This was definitely a UK government initiative through DfID, and by and large I would prefer not to see this being handled bilaterally country to country. This kind of [tax] support … has to be triggered and led by the country that wants it.”

Tax headquarters in Guédiawaye, in Senegal’s Dakar region, are seen following a 2011 raid by demonstrators protesting against power cuts. Photograph: Seyllou/AFP/Getty Images

DfID did not respond to requests for comment on the UK-Rwanda pilot.

PwC said in statement: “PwC was engaged by DfID to carry out an administrative role in supporting government departments, including HMRC, in supporting post-conflict countries, with investment climate short-term projects. This included Rwanda. We managed the coordination, administration and logistics of these assignments. We did not at any time give tax advice and there was no conflict of interest. We were only contracted to provide logistical support.”

Tax Inspectors Without Borders was relaunched in 2015 and is now jointly managed by the OECD and the UN Development Programme. The programme is currently active in 15 countries and has so far helped participating nations recover more than $300m in additional tax revenue, according to James Karanja, who heads the scheme’s secretariat.

Karanja said conflicts of interest are taken “extremely seriously”.

“TIWB does not use private sector auditors to undertake audit assignments under any of its programmes. The TIWB toolkit contains extensive advice and provides host administrations with detailed guidance on how conflicts of interest can arise, as well as how they should be avoided.”

With a worldwide deployment of at least 100 tax experts expected by 2019 Christensen said the international community must shift its thinking on tax and sustainable development.

“We need to move away from the idea that poorer countries need tax breaks – the sweetheart deals, the lower tax rates – to attract investment. Investments attract because of the market, a good labour force, good infrastructure, and all of that takes tax dollars,” said Christensen.

“If we want to look beyond aid dependency – because no one wants to have aid be such an important part of government revenue – then tax has got to be that support. It boosts capacity and provides a passport to greater economic independence.”

Read more ➤

Polio vaccine drive targets 41 million African children as Nigeria fights virus

The Guardian
Anna MacSwan

Unicef launches emergency immunisation campaign across northern Nigeria and neighbouring African countries in bid to stop polio virus taking hold

Health officials administer the polio vaccine at a camp in Maiduguri, 28 August 2016. Large parts of Borno state have been inaccessible for some years due to the Boko Haram insurgency. Photograph: Sunday Alamba/AP

Nigeria is racing to contain a polio outbreak in its north-east state of Borno, amid fears the virus could spread to neighbouring countries and set back global efforts towards eradication.

This week, the UN children’s fund, Unicef, launched an emergency vaccination drive in 18 states in northern Nigeria and neighbouring Chad, Niger, Cameroon and Central African Republic, to immunise more than 41 million children.

Nearly 39,000 health workers will be deployed across the Lake Chad basin, where ongoing conflict with the insurgent group Boko Haram has forced 2.6 million people to flee their homes (pdf), leading to fears the virus could spread across borders.

The four-day campaign will be the third of five vaccination drives to contain the wild strain of the polio virus. Two further campaigns are scheduled for November and December in Nigeria and neighbouring countries.

Global efforts to eradicate polio suffered a setback in August when, after two years free of transmission, two cases of polio were detected in Borno state, followed by another in September. Nigeria is the last country in Africa and one of only three in the world where polio remains. Afghanistan and Pakistan are the other two.

A country cannot be declared polio-free until three years have passed with no new cases. Earlier this year, the World Health Organisation said it believed transmission of the virus could be stopped within 12 months.

Doune Porter, Unicef Nigeria’s chief of communication, said: “We have to respond, and we are indeed responding, with a massive show of force to make sure that it does not get out of control. We can’t afford to have polio come back to the area, to Nigeria or Africa.”

Although the polio vaccine is relatively simple to administer, large parts of Borno state have, for some years, been inaccessible to humanitarian organisations due to the Boko Haram insurgency. This has meant large numbers of children have never been immunised against life-threatening diseases.

This drive, which will involve door-to-door visits from health workers, will include 750,000 people in territory taken back by Nigerian government forces earlier this year. However, large areas of north-east Nigeria still cannot be reached with any kind of humanitarian assistance.

Porter said immunisations were crucial in keeping the re-emergence of polio in Nigeria under control, saying the new cases earlier this year were a “huge disappointment”.

“We need to start the clock again and of course there is the question of accessing more children with immunisation. However, it’s important to remember that it’s not going back to having huge numbers of polio cases. It doesn’t undo the great progress that has been made. It’s important to remember we’ve come a long way.”

The vaccination teams will also conduct malnutrition screenings among children under five. According to Unicef, 400,000 children in the three Nigerian states worst affected by the conflict will suffer from severe acute malnutrition this year.

Read more ➤

World Vision to support 50,000 families in Haiti after Hurricane Matthew

World Vision



In the week since Hurricane Matthew hit, World Vision has already provided assistance to 942 families.

• The international NGO plans distribute emergency food aid to 15,000 families for the next two months.

• Health prevention efforts will focus on reducing vulnerable children’s exposure to Zika, Dengue, Malaria and Cholera

Port-au-Prince, Haiti— Christian International relief and development organisation focused on child protection, World Vision began preparing for the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew before the storm hit by prepositioning supplies. The prepositioned supplies enabled the organisation to respond to the needs of those affected just hours after the storm had ceased. In the days since, and in light of the significant damages (especially in the southwest part of the country), World Vision has initiated an intense operation to distribute and ensure access to clean water and food as well as to assist in the prevention of diseases.

The organisation aim to reach 50,000 families (250,000 people) affected by Hurricane Matthew—a Category 4 hurricane that left more than 1,000 people dead and displaced 1.4 million.

The organisation plans to allocate approximately $14.4 million (USD) to help 250,000 people after the disaster. Authorities estimate that more than 1.4 million people have been displaced by the storm. World Vision urges those who have been moved and are able to contribute to the organisation’s ongoing efforts to protect children and their families in Haiti.

World Vision is concentrating its response in the areas of Nippes, Port-au-Prince and the Island of La Gonave in the southwest of the country, where the storm’s devastation was the greatest. Preliminary reports indicated between 80 and 90 per cent of the houses in the southwest were significantly damaged or destroyed. As a humanitarian organisation, World Vision has already initiated the distribution of supplies to those affected. The aid includes: restoration kits for roofing (15,000 units), baby kits (15,000 units), and kitchen kits for food preparation (15,000 units) among other supplies.

"We always want help come quicker in an emergency. But, we appreciate that the distribution is flowing swiftly. Food insecurity is a situation that will also affect Haiti [in the coming weeks and months], especially because of the massive destruction of crops in some areas," said John Hasse, National Director of World Vision in Haiti.

In the coming weeks, World Vision will intensify its efforts and in addition to the distribution of aid will be setting-up 27 Child Friendly Spaces to help children recover psychologically and to protect those who are at risk to be separated from their parents. World Vision is also planning to provide food aid for 15,000 families for two months and will distribute water filters to 10,000 households in order to help prevent a cholera epidemic.

In coordination with other aid agencies such as Caritas, CARE and the Red Cross, World Vision will prioritise its efforts and response where vulnerable children and their families were most exposed to the effects of the hurricane.

Precisely because Haiti is particularly vulnerable to unexpected weather conditions, World Vision had prepositioned emergency supplies and resources in different parts of the country to enable an immediate response. This helped the organization be in a position to help more than 900 families in the first hours after Matthew had passed.

Through its emergency relief efforts following Hurricane Matthew, World Vision is expecting to reach up to 250,000 people.

World Vision has been working in Haiti for 38 years. Before the hurricane hit, World Vision already had programmes in 200 rural and urban communities in Haiti that serve more than 900,000 people across the country, including 58,000 sponsored children..

Read more ➤

Bangladesh: Challenges and Opportunities in Moving to Upper Middle Income Status

ADB

Bangladesh wants to be an upper middle-income country by 2021.

After decades of strong growth, Bangladesh is seeking to move to the next level of prosperity. The garment industry, other exports, and overseas labor all offer challenges and opportunities in reaching this goal.

Bangladesh has been extraordinarily successful in growing its economy and spreading the benefits of that growth across society. Since the 1980s, the country has averaged 5%–6% annual gross domestic product growth.

This growth was accompanied by a significant decline in poverty, an increase in employment, greater access to health and education, and improved basic infrastructure. As a result, the once poor country is now considered middle income.

The next goal is to reach upper-middle-income country status by 2021. This ambitious initiative will require annual GDP growth of 7.5%–8% and will entail overcoming significant obstacles and seizing on new opportunities brought about by changing global circumstances.

Boosting exports

To reach the next level, Bangladesh needs to improve the country’s reliable energy supply, revise business policies that stunt the development of non-garment exports, and improve property and land rights registry systems to protect investments, according to the recent publication, Bangladesh: Consolidating Export-led Growth.

To overcome these obstacles, strategies should be developed to decrease the economy’s reliance on low-cost exports, such as garments. This includes focusing on higher education and technical and vocational skills training, the publication noted. Bangladesh also needs to more fully embrace technology, including increasing access to the internet, cell phone banking, digital property registries, and other innovations.

Not just jobs, better jobs

Another challenge faced by the country is the problem of underemployment. The proportion of workers employed in the informal sector—where high underemployment, low earnings, and poor working conditions are common—rose to 87% in 2013. Women continue to get paid less for the same work and have fewer labor opportunities.

Beyond the garment industry

Bangladesh needs to move more rapidly toward industrialization and shift workers into formal jobs, with more social protections, that are created as a result, according to the publication Bangladesh: Looking Beyond Garments.

As the country grows and diversifies its manufacturing sector, it can looks to the garment industry for some lessons, according to the report, Employment and the Labor Market in Bangladesh: Overview of Trends and Challenges. For example, instituting a minimum wage and enforcing improved safety regulations have not had a negative impact on employment opportunities in the garment industry.

Role of remittances

While the country’s economy is strong, and employment opportunities are increasing, the pull to work overseas remains strong in Bangladesh, according to the publication Overseas Employment of Bangladeshi Workers: Trends, Prospects, and Challenges.

Remittances flowing into Bangladesh from overseas employment rose to over $15 billion in 2015 or about 8% of gross domestic product, up from less than $2 billion in 2000. This has become a major driver of the economy, comparable to the importance of the dominant garment industry. About half a million people in Bangladesh find jobs abroad each year.

But the economic impact of working overseas is not being spread evenly. High costs of migration due to recruitment fees and charges by intermediaries make opportunities highly skewed in favor of people in higher-income groups. Continued government oversight of the overseas recruitment process is needed, according to the publication.

Read more ➤

US ranks lower than Kazakhstan and Algeria on gender equality

The Guardian
Anna MacSwan

Study to mark International Day of the Girl shows poorest countries offer fewest opportunities for girls, but world’s richest nation also disappoints

People queue at a free medical clinic in Wise, Virginia. Fourteen women died per 100,000 live births in the US in 2015 – a similar number to Uruguay and Lebanon. Photograph: Pete Marovich/Bloomberg/Getty Images

The US, the world’s biggest economy, ranks below Kazakhstan and Algeria for gender equality, according to a report showing the countries that offer the most opportunities for girls.

Niger was named the worst country in the Girls’ Opportunity Index, compiled by Save the Children to mark International Day of the Girl.

The US came 32nd in the index due to its low representation of women in parliament, high teenage pregnancy rates and and its record on maternal deaths. Fourteen women died per 100,000 live births in the US in 2015, a similar number to Uruguay and Lebanon.

Save the Children’s head of inclusive development, Lisa Wise, one of the report’s authors, said that the low ranking of the US was surprising. “It’s one of those cases where it should be performing better.” For Wise, it highlighted that the issue of gender equality isn’t unique to developing countries. “Girls in relation to boys are denied their opportunities in high-income countries too.”

Chad, Central African Republic, Mali and Somalia were among the five states with the lowest rankings in the index of 144 countries.

Wise said that it was no coincidence that the bottom 20 countries were among the world’s poorest states. The index showed an intersection between household income and girls’ rights, she said. “These countries have a high proportion of girls who are extremely poor. You have households forced to make extremely difficult decisions. There is a toxic mix between income poverty and those indicators across the board.”

Niger, which is the least developed country in the UN’s human development index, is plagued by drought, insurgency and an influx of refugees from conflict in surrounding states. The country has the highest rate of child marriage in the world, with 76% of women now aged 20 to 24 married before they were 18. The majority of the 25 countries with the highest rates of child marriage globally are considered fragile states or at high risk of natural disaster.

However, some low-income countries defied trends by performing relatively well. Rwanda has the highest proportion of female MPs in the world. With 64% of parliamentary seats held by women, the country came 49th in the index – well ahead of its neighbours Burundi and Tanzania, at 107 and 118 respectively, and Brazil, an upper-middle income country at 102.

Globally, only 23% of parliamentary seats are held by women. Qatar and Vanuatu have no female MPs.

Nepal scored higher than other low-income countries, due to its relatively strong lower-secondary school completion rate for girls, which, at 86%, is similar to Spain’s.

Wise said that such exceptions show “change is possible, even if you have a relatively low level of government resources to do so”, and that governments should put gender equality and girls at the forefront of their planning and budgeting.

In Nepal, for example, there is a mandatory minimum local budget allocation for women, children and so-called lower castes, and affirmative action to increase the number of female teachers. In March, the country launched a strategy to end child marriage.

“It’s not an inevitability that low income equals gender inequality,” Wise added.

Sweden was named the best country in the world to be a girl, followed by Finland, Norway, the Netherlands and Belgium. The UK was ranked 15th.

Danny Vannucchi, international campaigns manager at Plan International UK, which lobbied for the creation of International Day of the Girl, said girls all too often bear the brunt of poverty. “Girls are often the first to be taken out of school during times of economic uncertainty and forced into work or early marriage.

“Many child brides give birth before their bodies are ready, facing health complications, and are often subjected to a life of violence and abuse.”

Read more ➤

Private sector provides opportunity to improve Myanmar's health outcomes

DEVEX
Sophie Cousins

A patient looks on at the North Dagon Township Hospital in Yangon, Myanmar. Photo by: Aye Zaw Myo / World Bank / CC BY-NC-ND

Myanmar has undergone sweeping economic and political reforms since it transitioned to a civilian government in 2011, and then opened up to foreign investment two years later. But the health care system is still reeling from over 50 years of neglect.

While neighboring countries have made huge progress in combating communicable diseases, in Myanmar malaria and tuberculosis continue to be the leading causes of morbidity and mortality.

But the opening of the country’s economy has created new opportunities for both the public and private health sectors to provide better services to the population as it moves toward the goal of universal health coverage — one of the key targets of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Health care system challenges

Dr. Phone Myint Win, Myanmar country representative for the Burnet Institute, a nongovernmental organization that works to improve the health of poor communities through research and public health, said there were myriad challenges for the health care system moving forward. These include the coordination and integration of subsystems, such as the ministry of defense and industry, workforce capacity and leadership challenges.

In addition, there are deep-rooted inequities including huge out-of-pocket spending and access to care in rural areas where over 65 percent of the population live, according to the World Bank.

“The previous government used health as an instrument for political purposes rather than health as a basic end, Win told Devex. “There are very positive expectations for changes.”

He said the government was “very serious” about alternative health care financing to make UHC a reality through increased taxation, but no specifics have been confirmed.

Private sector opportunity

As state spending on health continues to increase — the 2015-16 fiscal year alone it increased by 7 percent — demand for private and specialist services are also expected to increase as the middle-class grows.

With this comes an opportunity for the private sector to work with the public sector, NGOs and the government to improve the situation across the country.

Dr. Gershu Paul, executive chairman at Siloam Hospitals Group, which provides health care to 2 million people in Indonesia through a network of private hospitals which are continuing to grow. In partnership with Lippo Group, a real estate company in Indonesia, and Serge Pun & Associates, a hospital developer, their network has now expanded to Myanmar where it runs a 175-bed hospital in Yangon.

“We saw the opportunity in Myanmar and knew that people were looking out for trusted health care where they get good quality and value for what they seek,” he said. “Recognizing that, we put in place a strategy.”

That strategy — similar to the model deployed in Indonesia — is to open 10 new hospitals in the next seven years and provide affordable health care based on tiered pricing; the next one will open in March in Mandalay, a city in the north.

“The government knows there’s an opportunity and it understands it can’t do it alone. It’s learning from mistakes from other emerging economies that it’s best to invest money in prevention and education,” Paul said, adding that building synergy between the private and public sectors and the community was critical to the success of health care in Myanmar.

“I really hope and pray that all these verticals work in a convergent way, rather than working in silos.”

Workforce capacity

The World Health Organization also recognizes that the work of private health care providers needs to be streamlined and aligned to national health policies and objectives.

“The economic results that drive private sector engagement shall need to be contextualized with regards to the social values and results that underline the objective of achieving UHC in Myanmar,” a spokesperson for the WHO told Devex.

But again, Paul’s model of private health care is not without major challenges, primarily the health workforce capacity and its ability.

“We’re coming out of a very dark period where there’s minimal exposure of rank and file of physiotherapists, radiographers, pharmacists, middle management and executives,” he said. “These people have never been exposed to international best practice and standards — that is one of the biggest burdens.”

However, the tide appears to be shifting as thousands of highly skilled Burmese who had previously emigrated to countries such as Singapore and Australia return, Paul added.

Community trust

There’s still a massive health force shortage, particularly in rural parts of the country. While the doctor population ratio and the health worker ratio has improved since 2011, those gains have been largely felt in urban areas.

But this is also where the private sector can play a part — by opening nursing and allied health care schools, which helped boost Indonesia’s workforce while simultaneously boosting university places.

However, Win said that if the private sector’s full potential was to be realized and the trend of the middle and upper class seeking health care in Thailand and India reversed, trust had to be improved.

“Trust level is still low for in-country private hospitals,” he said, adding there were cost and accountability issues with regards to privacy and respect.

In addition, he said there were many unregistered private facilities operating without checking the quality of the doctors or whether they had passed the Myanmar Medical Council exam.

Despite this, the Burnet Institute’s Win predicts that as the private sector expands, so will its demand.

“More middle-class people will go [to private hospitals] whether they like it or not.” he said. “But people are now more aware of their patient and consumer rights and, as a result, the check and balance sector is increasing.”

Seeking care abroad

In the same vein, Paul used the example of Indonesia where Siloam Hospitals had been accredited by the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards, which had helped to instill trust among the community and reduce the desire to seek care overseas.

He explained that the number of Indonesians seeking care predominantly in Singapore and Malaysia over the last decade had dropped but the trend was still continuing, largely because of cost and proximity.

“I believe there will be a significant change once private infrastructure grows in the country — there will be a significant reversal of the trend of people leaving for care. The key is to create a level of trust. How do we create trust? I say I’m good but anyone can say that.”

With Yangon’s Pun Hlaing Siloam Hospital due to receive international recognition next year, this could give a cue to the community to stay local, said Paul.

“If a world organization can accredit a hospital as safe, then why go to Bangkok and pay double the price?”

Read more ➤