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Food as Prevention – Rising to Nutritional Challenges

Wed, 11/25/2020 - 09:50

Mothers and their children gather at a community nutrition centre in the little village of Rantolava, Madagascar, to learn more about a healthy diet. Credit: Alain Rakotondravony/IPS

By Gabriele Riccardi
NAPLES, Italy, Nov 25 2020 (IPS)

The risks factors contributing to the dramatic rise in non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in recent decades have been known for a long time but the Covid-19 pandemic has brutally exposed our collective failure to deal with them.

Reporting on the findings of the latest Global Burden of Disease Study, The Lancet warns of a “perfect storm” created by the interaction of the highly infectious Covid-19 virus with the continued rise in chronic illness and associated risk factors, such as obesity and high blood sugar.

The mounting dangers posed by NCDs are highlighted in Good Health and Well-Being, the third of the 17 interlinked Sustainable Development Goals, which targets the reduction of premature mortality from NCDs through prevention and treatment by one third by 2030.

Yet NCDs are projected to account for 52 million deaths in 2030, representing some 75% of all deaths, up from 63% in 2013 and 71% in 2016. Worldwide life expectancy gains could be reaching a turning point.

Cardiovascular diseases account for most deaths from NCDs, followed by cancers. Diabetes is also a major killer. Deaths from Alzheimer’s disease and dementia are also seen to be rising dramatically – partly because people in richer countries are living longer but also because of improved diagnosis and reporting on death certificates, as seen in the UK where it is now the leading cause of death for women, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Gabriele Riccardi

Many — but not all — of the risk factors leading to these NCDs are preventable and treatable through changes in unhealthy behaviours. Tackling them will bring us enormous social and economic benefits.

Good nutrition is the common key in reducing the risk of NCDs, even Alzheimer’s for which there is no cure. Recent studies cited by the World Health Organisation indicate that people can lower the risk of dementia by eating a healthy diet, as well as by taking regular exercise, not smoking and avoiding harmful use of alcohol.

Obesity has become a global epidemic, not just in wealthier countries. It is on the rise in low and middle income countries, coexisting with undernutrition and stunting. One in nine people worldwide are hungry or undernourished. One in three people are overweight or obese, according to the Global Nutrition Report 2020.

Over 650 million people across the world were classified obese in 2016, exposing themselves to a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, hypertension, stroke, diabetes and at least 12 types of cancer.

But as noted by Agnes Kalibata, Special Envoy for the UN 2021 Food Systems Summit, addressing the challenges of nutrition are more complicated than those of hunger or food security because they go beyond food to cover issues of quality, access and affordability.

And so it is with obesity, a highly complex aspect of malnutrition. Policies and best practices range from the development of eating guidelines and new educational programmes to the imposition of taxes that discourage unhealthy consumption patterns.

Studies have shown that taxes increase prices, decrease purchases and reduce consumption of unhealthy food and drink. Tax policies can also influence positive change by leading to the reformulation of products to remove some of the sugar, salt, fat or calories. Norway has had a tax on added sugar since 1922.

Research into NCDs must touch many bases. The Food Sustainability Index, developed by the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition (BCFN) in partnership with the Economist Intelligence Unit, ranks 67 countries across three categories. The US comes 34th out of 35 high-income countries in the nutritional challenges pillar, characterized by diets high in sugar, meat, saturated fat and sodium. Japan tops the nutritional ranking, while Greece and India perform best in their income categories for the quality of their policy responses to dietary patterns.

In the European Union, around 550,000 people of working age die prematurely from NCDs. As the leading cause of mortality, they are estimated to cost EU economies 115 billion euros a year, or 0.8% of GDP. More than 20% of people are obese, while about 10% of those aged 25 years and over have diabetes.

Inequities in food systems, from production to consumption, must be confronted to deal with the surge in diet-related NCDs. The vast majority of people cannot access or afford a healthy diet. Sales of cheap but highly processed foods are soaring in rich countries but also growing fast in the developing world.

The importance of nutrition and the role of food as prevention will be key themes of Resetting the Food System from Farm to Fork, a conference hosted by BCFN in partnership with Food Tank on December 1 to formulate recommendations for the 2021 Food Systems Summit.

Just as there is no single silver bullet to prevent or treat obesity, so we have to deal with an array of social inequalities — including poverty, race and housing — that interact with NCDs to increase the risk of serious illness and death from Covid-19.

NCDs have been critical in driving the death toll from the virus, which has killed more than 1.2 million people so far. And in a vicious circle, Covid-19-related lockdowns are exacerbating poverty, forcing more people to resort to food banks and aid deliveries to feed their families. The need to address nutritional challenges through food systems has never been so critical.

Gabriele Riccardi is Professor of Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases, University of Naples “Federico II”; former President, Italian Society of Diabetology – SID; member, Board of the Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition Advisory, Italy

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Categories: Africa

CARE Offers Policies That Engender Success for Young People in Agribusiness

Wed, 11/25/2020 - 08:46

By Victor Manyong and Kanayo F. Nwanze
IBADAN, Nigeria, Nov 25 2020 (IPS)

Often cited as Africa’s greatest asset, its youth are also among the most vulnerable and volatile.

A large and growing population of talented young people has the potential to drive economic growth and well-being of societies across the continent but, as the African Development Bank warns, current conditions of severe unemployment are translating into poorer living conditions, higher flows of migration, and greater risks of conflict – in short, a social disaster in the making.

Victor Manyong

Africa’s population of 420 million or so young people aged 15 to 35 is expected to nearly double by 2050. But while 10 to 12 million more enter the workforce each year, only just over 3 million new jobs are being created.

At present two-thirds of non-student youth are defined as unemployed, underemployed, discouraged, or marginally employed. Moreover, unemployment cuts across different social categories: educated and less so, female and male, rural and urban.

The COVID-19 pandemic is also fuelling unemployment in the hardest hit sectors such as tourism and hospitality, retail and trade and agriculture, particularly in Southern Africa, the region with the highest jobless rates.

Under the Bank’s Jobs for Youth in Africa investment plan launched in 2016, agriculture – including on-farm production and off-farm processing – is targeted to create 41 million jobs over 10 years. Even taking into account that smallholder farmers make up more than 60 percent of the population in sub-Saharan Africa, this is an ambitious target that calls for effective and comprehensive policies in contrast to the piecemeal measures of the past.

While young people commonly bring their enthusiasm, energy, and ambition as well as greater capacity and knowledge in IT systems than the older generation, they however, face enormous obstacles in starting careers in agribusiness, lacking resources of land, capital, assets and access to financial opportunities. Young women are often more disadvantaged than young men.

Kanayo F. Nwanze

In the months before the coronavirus surfaced, the non-profit International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) launched a three-year project in sub-Saharan Africa that aims to build our understanding of poverty reduction, employment impact, and factors influencing youth engagement in agribusiness, and rural farm and non-farm economies.

Known as CARE (Enhancing Capacity to Apply Research Evidence), and funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), IITA launched 80 research fellowships for young African scholars, with an emphasis on young female professionals and students aiming to acquire a master’s or doctoral degree. Grantees are offered training on research methodology, data management, science communication and scientific writing, and the production of research evidence for policymaking in line with IITA’s mandate to generate agricultural innovations to meet Africa’s most pressing challenges.

Through CARE, young and authoritative voices are being brought to the policy-making table. Unafraid to challenge assumptions, youth-on-youth research is highlighting ways forward to break the vicious circle in which youths are trapped.

Dadirai P. Mkombe, a female researcher in Malawi, investigated the role direct investment plays on youth employment in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, concluding that macroeconomic policies to encourage long-term growth, even leveraged by external debt, are necessary. Foreign direct investment is essential for job creation, she says, while cautioning that more greenfield investments are needed than mergers and acquisitions.

From Benin, Rodrigue Kaki investigated what motivates agribusiness entrepreneurship among graduates from faculties and universities of agriculture. Finding that few students can opt for self-employment in agribusiness, he recommends start-them-early programs (STEP) in post-secondary education with actions that incentivize students towards self-employment, such as setting up agribusiness entrepreneurship clubs in agricultural faculties and universities.

Motivation was also a theme for Cynthia Mkong researching university students who choose agriculture in Cameroon. Among her findings is the need for a change in mindsets, starting at school where educators and mentors should highlight positive trends and emerging opportunities in the sector. In addition, building and implementing effective policies to improve education levels for girls and household income at all levels would help revamp declining youth interest in agriculture. Her findings indicate that agriculture will rise in stature both as a field of study and occupation.

Also in Cameroon, Djomo Choumbou Raoul Fani focused his research on the contributions and competitiveness of young female grain farmers, and on rural un- and underemployment, especially among young women. Among his recommendations are the need for gender-blind policies and gender-positive information to ensure that public investment in agricultural credit, food marketing, roads, and schools be put to constructive use for young female farmers.

These few examples of policy briefs among many others produced to date illustrate how the researchers, with young female professionals well represented, are ready to challenge assumptions and stereotypes to show the way forward. In its report IFAD (https://www.ifad.org/en/youth) also emphasized that shaping the rural economies of tomorrow should involve the youths to succeed.

With the youngest and fastest-growing population in the world, Africa’s still overwhelmingly rural communities will continue to grow, even as cities do. IITA’s drive to enhance the perception of agribusiness will enable young people to see a future there. The CARE project is already yielding the evidence-based research needed by African communities to build food security and resilience. Policymakers cannot operate in a vacuum. Youth engagement is key.

Victor Manyong, Agricultural Economist, R4D Director for Eastern Africa, and Leader of the social science research group, IITA

Kanayo F. Nwanze, CGIAR Special Representative to the UN Food Systems Summit and former IFAD President

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Categories: Africa

It’s Time for Results as Sudan Enters Second Year of NDC Partnership

Tue, 11/24/2020 - 12:00

Sudan, the largest country in Africa, is most vulnerable to climate variability and change with drought and flooding being the biggest climate challenges. This dated photo show displaced children fetching water following 2008 floods in Sudan. Courtesy: UN Photo/Tim McKulka

By Reem Abbas
KHARTOUM, Nov 24 2020 (IPS)

Earlier this year, when heavy rains caused massive flooding in Sudan, a three-month state of emergency was declared in September. The floods which began in July, were the worst the country experienced in the last three decades and affected some 830,000 people, including 125,000 refugees and internally displaced people.

According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, the Nile had reached a level of over 17 metres, bursting it banks and leaving thousands “homeless and in desperate need of humanitarian support”.

Sudan, the largest country in Africa, is most vulnerable to climate variability and change.

“Drought and flooding are the biggest climate challenges in Sudan and we have seen this recently,” Rehab Abdelmajeed Osman, a researcher and the National Determined Contributions (NDCs) coordinator at Sudan’s Higher Council for Environment and Natural Resources (HCENR), told IPS, referring to the recent floods.

NDCs outline the plans by countries to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change. As agreed by the 2015 Paris Agreement, countries review these plans every 5 years.

Support to submit enhanced NDCs

With support from the Climate Action Enhancement Package (CAEP), an initiative of the NDC Partnership, Sudan is one of 63 countries that have been given financial and technical assistance to submit enhanced NDCs and fast track their implementation. CAEP has brought together member countries and 40 partners that include International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the World Resources Institute, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the U.N and the Nature Conservancy. In Sudan, the support is being implemented through the HCENR.

Abdelmajeed Osman and Areeg Gafaar, the coordinator for the NDC Partnership, are rushing to finish the plan by next year.

Sudan’s NDCs prioritise mitigation and adaptation as strategies.

“By looking at mitigation, we look at the problems we have in Sudan through this lens. Sudan is facing increasing floods and droughts and this will affect food security and also in some places, rainfall is decreasing and people have to adapt accordingly,” Gafaar told IPS.

Food security also remains among the key issues of concern for people. An assessment after the floods noted that more than 2 million hectares of farmland had been affected.

And in August, the U.N. World Food Programme noted that 1.4 million people in Khartoum alone “are experiencing high levels of food insecurity through September due to economic decline, inflation and food price hikes exacerbated by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic”.

“In agriculture, we have to adapt to climate vulnerabilities and in this regard, our adaptation projects are critical and they provide services such as improved seeds and working on improving our micro-forecast systems,” added Gafaar.

The environment takes a backseat to conflict

The challenges Sudan faces to develop and implement the NDCs are not only linked to external factors, such as access to funding, but also to internal ones, which include the chaotic structure in which Sudan’s environmental entities operate, as well as conflict.

“Conflict is the biggest threat to the environment because it is a result of, as well as a source of, competition over scarce resources. Peace makes sure that conflict over resources is lessened,” said Abdelmajeed Osman.

In April 2019, Sudan’s president Omar al-Bashir, who had ruled for 30 years, was ousted from power after four months of sustained protests. A war between the transitional government and rebel groups from the western region of Darfur and the southern states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile, ended in October after an historic peace agreement between the transitional government and armed groups was signed.

Over the past 15 years, Sudan developed two national communications as part of its obligations to the climate convention and now a third communication is underway.

“The communication is just a communication but not a strategy. Sudan had a national action plan and it was developed as per the commitments to the convention to help countries pursue a climate friendly system. But due to political issues, Sudan couldn’t access many funding pools and as a result, a few pilot projects were implemented, but they were not mainstreamed,” said Gafaar.

Reasons for this include Sudan’s inclusion on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list for 27 years (Sudan was removed from the list this month by United States President Donald Trump) and the U.S. having imposed sanctions on the country since 1998.

Another reason is the chaotic department structure created by Sudan’s previous government.

“There were many different institutions such as the [HCENR] where we work, but also a national council for the environment as well as the national council on deforestation and the new government created a law that merged those councils and put us under the Council of Ministers,” said Abdelmajeed Osman.

Under Al-Bashir’s government, the same entities found themselves under the former presidency as well the short-lived Ministry for the Environment. The ministry essentially had the same departments as the HCENR, which resulted in a duplication of efforts and a lack of coordination that led to antagonism towards the HCENR.

A new structure in place

“Now because we are under the Council of Minister, our budget will increase and the decisions are made quicker because of the direct channel,” said Abdelmajeed Osman.

Sudan’s constitutional declaration for the transitional period prioritises environment protection as a mandate of the government, stating the government will “work on maintaining a clean environment and biodiversity in the country and protecting and developing it in a manner that guarantees the future of generations”.

This commitment from the top-tiers of the government is essential as the NDCs are described by the higher council as a government paper that requires implementation by it.

Gafaar, who has years of experience working in this field, told IPS that some of the mitigation options that the government can focus on include renewable energy, forest management and waste management.

“This process gave us access to partners. We will have access to mitigation options by an international expert company and we will work on power and nature with IRENA,” said Gafaar.

The post It’s Time for Results as Sudan Enters Second Year of NDC Partnership appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

Does WFP Deserve the Nobel Peace Prize?

Tue, 11/24/2020 - 11:16

By Jan Lundius
STOCKHOLM / ROME, Nov 24 2020 (IPS)

On 10 December, representatives for the World Food Programme (WFP) will in Norway receive the Nobel Peace Prize at the Oslo City Hall. This is taking place while the COVID-19 pandemic is causing lock-downs and suffering all over world, limiting agricultural production and disrupting supply chains.

The World Food Programme focuses on hunger and food security. It supports 100 million people in approximately 90 countries. Two-thirds of WFP´s activities are carried out in conflict zones, where the organization provides food assistance to people who otherwise would have been fatally affected by undernutrition and starvation.

It is in particular the world´s poorest households that suffer from acute hunger, and their situation is worsening. In 2019, 135 million people were categorized as ”critically food-insecure” and the numbers are constantly increasing. This is not only due to the ravages of COVID-19, the current food crisis is furthermore aggravated by weather extremes, economic shocks, sociopolitical crises, lack of employment, increasing food prices, as well an endemic lack of adequate nutrition and food diversity, safe water, sanitation and health care. In several areas, protracted armed conflicts are adding to the suffering. An estimated 79 million people are currently displaced – 44 million internally, while 20 million refugees are under UNHCR´s mandate. Being deprived of their livelihoods a vast amount of these desolate individuals are constantly threatened by starvation.

Considering the above, you could assume that most people reckon that WFP´s Nobel Prize is well-deserved. Nevertheless, the World Food Programme and its mandate have often been questioned. Some have even demanded the organisation´s demise, referring to a general debate about the net effectiveness of aid. Among other arguments it has been stated that some nations have become overly reliant on foreign aid and it thus has to cease. Politicians, journalists and even some aid workers have pointed out that food support to starving people may worsen an already catastrophic situation by prolonging conflicts, creating and stimulating corruption, strengthening predatory regimes, supporting warring fractions and fostering black markets. Furthermore, it has been indicated that an apparent inefficiency of huge, UN supported and global organizations like WFP, motivates their defunding.

During assignments as consultant to WFP´s Headquarters in Rome I have listened to people telling me about their experiences from being confronted with thousands of starving people, especially undernourished, sick and dying children. This while they were putting their own lives at risk, being surrounded by murderous armies, bandits and militias. I was also told about their discomfort at being forced to cooperate with politicians who used starving people as pawns in their cynical power games. When asked if they believed in WFP´s mandate and right to exist, they answered that if you have been confronted with the suffering of severely undernourished fellow human beings, you could not even imagine a justification for not trying to help them. “To witness someone dying due to undernourishment is horrible. How can your conscience endure the knowledge that you did nothing about it, while realizing that you could have saved the one who died.”

The people I talked to were well aware that the organisation they served had its shortcomings, but they were also eager to amend them. They told me they felt privileged for having been provided with a possibility to ease the suffering of others. While passing through the foyer of WFP, I could not avoid a glance at a wall covered with bronze plaques paying homage to WFP staff who had been killed in the field while trying to help starving people. Last time I saw the wall, sometime in 2018, there were 98 names.

Like any other UN organisation, WFP is not a self-sufficient entity, it depends on voluntary donations, principally from governments. Accordingly, WFP consists of its member states and criticizing WFP means that you actually need to question your own government´s engagement in the running of the organization. Amending WFP´s flaws does not mean cutting off its financial support, it would be far better if more people became informed about the organization´s impressive achievements and tried to rectify assumed deficiencies by working through their own representatives within WFP.

Why should we terminate an experienced, global organization, which keeps track on human suffering around the world, while trying to amend it? Why allow suffering, when it can be mitigated? We all depend on each other. The suffering of others is a warning to you and me, as Hillel stated in the quote above – if I chose not to help someone, how can I then demand help from others when I find myself in peril?

Many of us live within an absurd paradise of reckless consumption, depleting the resources of our planet, destroying the very prerequisites for our existence and well-being. Just the packaging of everything we consume threatens to asphyxiate the Earth. The cost of supporting WFP and it efforts to amend world hunger is a minuscule fraction of what is spent on luxurious, unnecessary and even harmful luxury production – not talking about the arms industry. To accord a Nobel Peace Prize to an organization like WFP constitutes an acknowledgment of the responsibility we all have for each other.

In times when every inhabitant on Planet Earth is overshadowed by COVID-19, a Nobel Peace Prize to WFP reminds us how precious we are to each other. When people are confronted with a disease that so far cannot be controlled by drugs and efficient health care it makes us realize the importance of ignoring petty chauvinism, narcissism, power games and egoism. It is high time to increase international cooperation and realizing that the Earth is an enclosed, biological sphere, where we for our own survival have to join forces to save both our planet and humanity. No nation can single-handedly combat a pandemic, neither can starvation and pollution be amended without international organisations.

So let us rejoice in WFP´s Peace Prize and hope the world´s wealthy nations realize the urgency of supporting the organisation and replenish its funds. Their contributions have so far been insufficient for covering the identified needs of food-insecure populations and WFP´s funding gap is currently USD 4.1 billion and steadily increasing.

Source: Global Network Against Food Crisis (2020) 2020 Global Report on Food Crises: Joint analysis for better decisions. Rome: WFP

Jan Lundius holds a PhD. on History of Religion from Lund University and has served as a development expert, researcher and advisor at SIDA, UNESCO, FAO and other international organisations.

The post Does WFP Deserve the Nobel Peace Prize? appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

”If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, who am I? And if not now, when? That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow [...] go and learn.”
Hillel the Elder, active during the first century BCE

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Categories: Africa

How UN Helped Benin Become World’s Fastest Place to Start a Business via a Mobile Phone

Tue, 11/24/2020 - 06:28

Credit: UN Conference on Trade Development (UNCTAD), Geneva

By Ian Richards
GENEVA, Nov 24 2020 (IPS)

Until recently, Benin was best known for its cotton exports and its vibrant clothing designs. Since this year it is also the fastest place in the world to start a company. By providing a full online service, the government helped entrepreneurs create businesses and jobs during the pandemic. A third of Benin’s new entrepreneurs are women.

Earlier this year Sandra Idossou, a Beninese entrepreneur who had earlier run a media business, decided she wanted to open a handicrafts shop in the country’s bustling commercial capital, Cotonou. Having found a shop space, her next step was to obtain a permit to operate the business.

With Covid restrictions in place and enforced by the authorities, she logged into monentreprise.bj (in English, mybusiness), Benin’s new business registration website. Within ten minutes on her smartphone she had entered her information, photographed and uploaded her identity documents and paid by credit card. Two hours later, an email arrived with her certificates of incorporation, and her business was officially created.

Sandra benefited from a UN digital government platform, called eRegistrations, which now places Benin, jointly with Estonia, as the fastest in the world in which to start a company, jumping ahead of New Zealand, Georgia and Hong Kong, China. The EU average is three days, in New York it is seven days.

ERegistrations operates in seven other developing countries (Argentina, Cameroon, El Salvador, Guatemala, Iraq, Lesotho and Mali) with installation underway in two more (Bhutan and Cuba). The aim of the UN’s platform is not to beat world records, but to make official procedures more accessible and transparent, particularly for small businesses.

Laurent Gangbes, who runs Benin’s investment and export Promotion agency (APIEx), which operates monentreprise.bj, implemented with the help of Dutch funding, is proud of what it has achieved.

“Entrepreneurs and foreign investors told me they wanted to set up a business from their mobile phone so as to avoid unnecessary travel. We brought together several government services and worked to simplify forms and cut procedures to the strict minimum required.”

“This shows that when it comes to digital government, African countries are leapfrogging ahead of the rest of the world to be the best,” he added.

Paper-based administrative procedures are characterized around the world by long queues outside government offices, rude staff, frustrated users and the thump of rubber stamps.

But the reality can be worse, with the need to visit many different government departments, a bewildering array of forms mostly asking the same information, repeated demands for certified copies of identity documents, long waits for procedures that could be automatic, and occasionally requests for bribes.

Credit: UNCTAD, Geneva

The time taken and the cost to pay an agent to deal with the paperwork can at best deter and at worst put creating a legal business out of reach. This results in many developing country SMEs and workers left in the informal economy, unable to access loans or insurance, lacking legal protections, and contributing neither taxes nor social security.

But it can also lead to political instability. A World Bank study after the Tunisian revolution, which was in part driven by youth unemployment, found that one-third of young entrepreneurs in the country had had difficulties accessing finance because of the administrative burdens associated with company creation.

Administrative barriers are not limited to developing countries. A report by the US Office of Management and Budget calculated that in 2015, Americans spent 9.78 billion hours on federal paperwork.

And when a global pandemic hits, closing government offices and sending staff home, reliance on paper forms can also prevent marriages, land sales and passport renewals.

In Benin, the online platform was launched just before the Covid crisis. But the investment proved its worth. The number of companies created through the platform tripled between February and July, reaching 3,600 applications a month.

One-third of entrepreneurs were women, half were under 30 and half were based outside Cotonou. Government officials were able to check documents and approve company applications from their home, keeping to the two-hour benchmark.

Mr. Gangbes of APIEx is pleased with the results so far.

“During the pandemic the platform also helped those who had lost other sources of family income, as well as vulnerable rural populations, to set up their own business. I am confident this will contribute to Benin’s post-covid economic recovery.” He also thinks the platform is changing the way government works.

“My staff now spend more time advising clients and less time pushing paper. They are happier and more productive. And we are collecting a lot of data on the private sector that will help shape our economic policy.” The next step for the platform is to add new procedures, such as renewing business and trading licenses.

Frank Grozel, who leads the eRegistration programme at UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) thinks the possibilities for the digital government platform are limitless.

“The platform can also be used for land registries, civil registries, social security systems, immigration services. In El Salvador we are using it to help the government fight crime.”

He added that the pandemic had forced governments to accelerate the migration of their services online. “We are seeing huge interest in this area. As with business, the future for governments is digital.”

The post How UN Helped Benin Become World’s Fastest Place to Start a Business via a Mobile Phone appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Ian Richards is an economist at the UN working on development finance and digital government.

The post How UN Helped Benin Become World’s Fastest Place to Start a Business via a Mobile Phone appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

World Bank Urges Governments to Guarantee Private Profits

Tue, 11/24/2020 - 06:24

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Anis Chowdhury
KUALA LUMPUR and SYDNEY, Nov 24 2020 (IPS)

The World Bank has been leading other multilateral development banks (MDBs) and international financial institutions to press developing country governments to ‘de-risk’ infrastructure and other private, especially foreign investments.

They promote public-private partnerships (PPPs) supposedly to mobilize more private finance to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. PPP advocacy has been stepped up after developing countries’ pleas for better international tax cooperation were blocked at the third United Nations’ Financing for Development conference (FfD3) in Addis Ababa in mid-2015.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

Official support for infrastructure PPPs seems stronger than ever. The Bank’s Global Infrastructure Facility (GIF) was set up to coordinate MDBs, private investors and governments promoting PPPs. Meanwhile, the G20 has been trying to modify the mandates of national and international development banks to enable them to initiate infrastructure PPPs with the private sector.

De-risking?
The World Bank’s latest Guidance on PPP Contractual Provisions measures progress in terms of “successfully procured PPP transactions”. The Bank explicitly recommends ‘de-risking’ PPPs, effectively involving ‘socializing’ risks and privatizing profits.

But the term ‘de-risking’ is misleading as some risk is inherent in all project investments. After all, projects may encounter problems due to planning mistakes, poor implementation or unexpected developments. Hence, Bank advice does not really seek to reduce, let alone eliminate risk, but simply to make governments bear and absorb it.

Thus, ‘de-risking’ really means shifting risk from private investors to governments for more contingencies, including design, planning or implementation failures by private partners. This ignores the Bank’s Growth Commission’s concern that “In too many cases, the division of labor has put profits in private hands, and risks in the public lap”.

Off the books, out of sight
Both World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) research has found many governments using PPPs and other similar arrangements to keep such projects ‘off the books’ of official central government accounts, effectively reducing transparency and accountability, while compromising governance.

Anis Chowdhury

Such project financing typically involves government-guaranteed – rather than direct government – liabilities. Not booked as government development or capital expenditure, it is also not counted as part of sovereign or government debt, e.g., for parliamentary reporting and accountability.

Instead, project costs are supposed to be paid for, over time, by direct user fees or government operational or current expenditure. Hence, most governments do not extend their normal accountability procedures to cover such expenditure and related debt.

The Fund has even warned of likely abuse of such seemingly ‘easy’ or ‘free’ money, emphasising the dangers of taking more government debt and risk ‘off the books’. This is very significant as the IMF rarely criticises Bank recommendations and advice, even indirectly.

Shifting responsibility
PPP financing is typically booked as government-guaranteed liabilities, rather than as sovereign debt per se. Being ‘off the books’, governments face fewer constraints to taking on ever more debt and risk. With such commitments, they also become much more vulnerable to ‘unforeseen’ costs.

Such contractual arrangements, typically set by private partners in most PPPs, do little to improve governance and accountability. To be sure, normal government budgetary accounting and audit procedures for PPPs may not meaningfully improve transparency and accountability.

As such financing arrangements are typically long-term, related government risks are correspondingly long-term, lasting decades in many cases. This tempts ‘short-termist’ governments ‘of the day’ to make long-term commitments they are unlikely to be held personally accountable for in the near to medium-term.

Moral hazard
World Bank guidance is clear that even a private partner who fails to deliver as contracted must be compensated for work done before a government can terminate a contract. Whether private partners actually deliver as promised does not seem to matter to the Bank which provides no guidance for addressing their failures to meet contractual obligations.

The Bank thus contributes to ‘moral hazard’ in PPPs: the less likely the private partner stands to lose from poor performance, the less incentive it has to meet contractual obligations. Guaranteeing cost recovery, revenue and profit erodes the motive to deliver as promised and to consider project risks.

Enthusiastic PPP promotion – by the Bank, other MDBs and donors urging developing country governments to bear more risk – is not only encouraging ‘moral hazard’, but also creating more opportunities for the corruption and abuse they profess to lament.

Instead, private partners have greater incentives to try gouging rents from government partners, e.g., by renegotiating existing contracts to their advantage. Conversely, governments have to choose between bearing the costs of failed projects, and paying even more to save problematic ones in the hope of cutting losses.

Faced with such choices, governments have little choice but to accede to their private partners’ demands. Bank guidance has thus further undermined governments in their dealings with private partners, who are now better able to demand improved contractual conditions for themselves, at the expense of their government partners.

Ignoring evidence
Many governments can undertake large infrastructure projects themselves, or alternatively, make much better procurement arrangements. IMF research has also found, “In many countries, PPPs have not always performed better than public procurement”.

Ironically, Bank research has shown that “well-run public firms tend to match the performance of private firms in regulated sectors”, concluding, “There is no ‘killer’ rationale for public-private partnerships”.

Even the Bank’s Research Observer has published a summary of “some of the most compelling examples of this kind of emerging critique” of infrastructure PPPs in telecoms, transport, water and sanitation, waste management and electricity.

Yet, the Bank continues to promote PPPs as the preferred mode of infrastructure financing, trying to shift more risk to governments, ostensibly to attract more private investment. Meanwhile, Bank guidance typically fails to warn governments of the risks involved and their implications.

Prejudiced guidance
Bank and other PPP advocates dismiss criticisms as ‘ideological’ despite growing empirical evidence. Such damning findings have had little impact on their PPP advocacy. Instead, the new fad is for more ‘blended finance’ to PPPs, using official concessional finance to subsidise and attract more private investment.

However, as The Economist has found, “blended finance has struggled to grow” as MDBs mobilise less than US$1 of private capital for every public dollar. It concluded, “early hopes may simply have been too starry-eyed. A trillion-dollar market seems well out of reach. Even making it to the hundreds of billions a year may be a stretch”.

Unsurprisingly, despite Bank, donor and other efforts, PPPs have only generated 15~20% of developing countries’ infrastructure investments, according to the Bank’s Independent Evaluation Group, while remaining negligible in the poorest countries.

The post World Bank Urges Governments to Guarantee Private Profits appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

Green Recovery in Mexico – A Citizen’s Plea

Mon, 11/23/2020 - 21:20

Residents of the small rural community of Amatlán, in the municipality of Zoquiapan in the state of Puebla, oversee the operation of photovoltaic panels installed by the Mexican cooperative Onergia. CREDIT: Courtesy of Onergia

By Tania Miranda
NEW YORK, Nov 23 2020 (IPS)

The alarms warning against climate inaction have sounded for years. Almost a year into the hardest pandemic and maybe the worst economic recession my generation has seen, expert voices everywhere are claiming this to be the golden opportunity to do something to right our course and even find a silver lining in this unfortunate situation, by funding the economic recovery of COVID-19 with a green stimulus package.

This approach could help move humanity into more sustainable economic growth and towards a slightly more attainable path towards the 1.5°C goal.

As a worried citizen of the world, and more particularly, as a Mexican national who understands climate change and is concerned for my country, I ponder how Mexico should face its own economic recovery.

Most experts today agree that a green stimulus package can boost the economic recovery while tackling climate change. This boost can be attributed to many of those projects being low-hanging fruits of the energy transition, and also to technology

When it comes to Mexico, one argument suggests that given its poverty rate around 40 percent (and about 9 million more citizens possibly pushed into poverty due to the COVID-19 crisis), and the economic collapse estimated at 8-10 percent in 2020, the country cannot afford to think of climate change when drafting its recovery plans; it must worry first about how to get out of the ditch.

Governments can choose to spend recovery package funds in multiple ways and this will depend upon each country’s specific circumstances. Yet, it is fair to say that regardless of those, governments should aim towards packages that spur further economic activity and create jobs, for instance, large infrastructure and mass-transit projects.

Fortunately for humanity, and for our environment, “green energy and infrastructure development can be particularly effective at addressing depressed demand because they can create a relatively high amount of jobs and lay the foundations for sustainable long-term growth”, explains Stéphane Hallegatte, lead economist of the World Bank’s Climate Change Group. In fact, World Bank data shows that green projects like energy efficiency and renewable energy are much more effective at job creation than fossil fuel projects.

Most experts today agree that a green stimulus package can boost the economic recovery while tackling climate change. This boost can be attributed to many of those projects being low-hanging fruits of the energy transition, and also to technology which, contrary to what was true in past recessions, has brought down green energy costs to the point where, an IRENA study found, more than half of the renewable power capacity added in 2019 was cheaper than that produced by fossil-fuel sources.

A Bloomberg paper also found that Photovoltaic Solar power or Onshore Wind energy is now the cheapest source of new bulk electricity generation in countries that make up for two thirds of the world’s population and 85 percent of power demand. It also discovered that the cost of storing electricity is now half of what it was only two years ago. Furthermore, we know today that investing in renewable energy creates around 2.5 times more jobs per dollar than fossil fuel projects.

Therefore, the perceived dilemma of going green vs economic development is, today, a false dichotomy.

Nations around the world have already committed large amounts of their recovery packages toward the energy transition. According to the Energy Policy Tracker, an initiative launched by six leading energy research organizations, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic the G20 group has committed at least $346 billion USD to supporting different energy projects through new or amended policies.

Meanwhile, in Mexico, the government committed at least 3 billion USD to energy projects of which all are in the oil and gas sector. Furthermore, the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (also known as AMLO) is betting on the Mayan Train and the Dos Bocas refinery projects to spur employment and growth as a way out of the economic downturn.

So far, the only green-related unconditional policy was proposed by the Mexico City government, which committed to the expansion of the so-called “ciclo-pistas” (or bike-dedicated lanes). More recently, on October 2020, the government announced an economic recovery plan comprised of 39 infrastructure projects to be developed jointly with the private sector, out of which only 5 are energy-related and not one involves renewables.

In fact, Mexico seems committed to turning back time instead of taking part in the energy revolution when, only a few years back, it was at the forefront of the fight against climate change, both internationally and at home. In late July, AMLO stated in a written memorandum that his government has the goal of increasing crude oil production to 2.2 million barrels per day by 2024; building and revamping electrical plants in Mexico’s southeast, and; increasing hydroelectric power generation while capping the private sector’s participation in electricity generation at 46 percent. Bloomberg described the President’s wishes accurately: “the higher goal of his administration is to recover Mexico’s (the government’s) control over its oil and electricity industries, including state-owned utility Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE)”.

CFE was founded 83 years ago and its generation fleet has an average age of 33 years and 42 percent of its power is generated through high-cost, highly polluting technologies, like fuel-oil and gas.

CFE’s thermoelectric plant in Tula, near Mexico City, and one of the four largest power plants it owns and operates, has violated the allowed limits of sulfur and sulfur dioxide in the fuel-oil it burns during four years straight. These are extremely harmful contaminants for the environment and for human health that are generally regulated by governments, as they can lead to chronic respiratory diseases, cancer and premature death.

Unfortunately, the government shows no intention of reversing its course. To this, chemistry Nobel-winning Mexican José Mario Molina said in an August 2020 Reuters interview not long before he died that, “Mexico is going backwards, back to the previous century or the one before, at a time when all the experts on the planet are in total agreement that we’re in a climate crisis”.

Furthermore, CFE generation plants average a cost per megawatt-hour (MWh) of $1,127 MXN, while independent power producers average $913 pesos per MWh and the ones signed through long-term electricity auctions —mostly wind and solar plants— run at about $423 pesos per MWh, according to data published by the state energy regulator (Comisión Reguladora de Energía, or CRE). In fact, modernizing the state-run utility and its fleet would require investments in the order of $9 billion USD, according to analysts.

Left axis: Number of electricity plants. Right axis: Generation capacity in MW. Source: ITESM, retrieved from Expansión.

Early in his administration, AMLO halted the long-term electricity auctions. Later, in May 2020, the Mexican Official Gazette received a request for publication of a public policy proposal by the Energy Ministry that would effectively bar new renewable projects to be connected to the electric grid, claiming that a higher volume of this type of electricity generation that is considered as “intermittent,” would endangered its reliability.

These measures were met with deep concern from the private sector, as they would endanger thousands of the renewable sector’s jobs and close to $30 billion USD in investments. The measures were immediately challenged in court and in August 2020, the Mexican Center for Environmental Law and Greenpeace obtained a definitive suspension. As a result of this ruling, preapproved renewable energy projects will be allowed to continue construction and operation.

Measures to give back monopolistic power and market-share to CFE have also been rolled-out in benefit of Pemex, such as disappearing strategic alliances with third parties; halting indefinitely oil rounds for private participation in oil and gas exploration and production projects, and; extensive fiscal incentives to weather the tough times brought by the COVID-19 oil price crash.

The government is betting its economic recovery partly on the new U.S.–Mexico–Canada trade agreement, which is a solid bet. Yet it is also relying on two state-owned companies that had their glory days in the middle of the twentieth century and the construction of what are considered white elephant —or at least financially suspect— projects: an oil refinery in AMLO’s home-state and a train that increases connectivity between the Mayan regions in southern Mexico with the rest of the world.

Mexico should pay attention to what multiple other nations are doing in order to kickstart the economy post-COVID-19 and adopt solutions to its needs. A large number of those will likely be related to energy efficiency, renewable power and distributed generation, green infrastructure and climate adaptation projects.

Including these measures in its policy toolkit would benefit Mexico greatly in the short -and medium- term economically, and in the large scheme of things would help us avoid lagging behind the next big global energy revolution.

It should also work on initiatives like the recent issuance of a Sovereign Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Bond by Mexico’s Finance Ministry, in hand with the United Nations Development Programme, which was a first of its kind.

This move should increase Mexico’s earmarked spending for sustainable development programs engulfed by the UN’s 2030 agenda, which includes sustainable development and mitigation of climate-related risks.

More importantly, we need to stop championing the old ways: the fossil fuel economy and state-run inefficient monopolies. We should instead be looking towards the technologies of the future, towards space and the oceans (instead of the ground), and, on our way, put our grain of salt towards that 1.5°C goal, which, by the way, is perhaps one of the few band-wagons it is worth jumping on today.

Tania Miranda is an Economist with a Master’s degree in energy policy, and has worked for over 6 years in the public sector, on trade and investment promotion as well as on public diplomacy and international relations. She was born and raised in Mexico City and strives to promote stronger climate action in her home-country and abroad. She’s based in NYC.

The post Green Recovery in Mexico – A Citizen’s Plea appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

US Presidential Election Part II: A Campaign of Insults and Lies

Mon, 11/23/2020 - 17:42

President Donald Trump at a press conference. Credit: White House

By Farhang Jahanpour
OXFORD, Nov 23 2020 (IPS)

The 2020 election has revealed a deeply divided nation, perhaps at its most divided since the Civil War. Many Americans are still uncertain about how the transition to the new administration will be achieved with a minimum of disruption and perhaps even violence. However, the split between pro and anti-Trump voters is not based on two sets of facts, but on facts and “alternative facts” or falsehoods.

By all accounts, it is clear that President Trump has lost his bid for re-election, but many of his supporters still continue to claim that he has won. More than two weeks after the election when courts have dismissed claims of vote rigging, and a majority of world leaders have congratulated the incoming President Biden, Trump’s attempts to undo the election result have been a farce.

In recent days, the courts have again dealt a series of deadly blows to Trump’s claims of a stolen election. On November 20th, Georgia finished its statewide audit of the votes, confirming that President-elect Joe Biden had defeated President Trump by 12,284.

Trump introduced a new level of crudeness and vulgarity to US politics and made use of terms that belong in the gutter, not in a serious presidential campaign.

In an unusual move, Trump invited Republican Michigan lawmakers to the White House, presumably to influence the outcome of the certification of votes. On Saturday 21 Nov, the Michigan Republican Party and Republican National Committee sent a letter to the State Board of Canvassers asking them to delay certification for 14 days. But the Michigan Department of State said delays and audits were not permitted by law, and confirmed that Biden had won by more than 154,000 votes in the state.

In Pennsylvania, Trump’s lawyers sought to invalidate millions of mail-in votes where Biden has a margin of more than 81,000 votes in the state, but Federal Judge Matthew Brann of the US District Court in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, a well-known Republican, dismissed the lawsuit saying “like Frankenstein’s Monster” it had been “haphazardly stitched together”. Brann added: “… this Court has been presented with strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations, unpled in the operative complaint and unsupported by evidence.”

In the face of compelling evidence that Trump has lost the election, many experts see his continued refusal to concede as setting a dangerous precedent and posing a threat to democracy. Some have argued that “Trump has never been more dangerous than he is now”.

“On his darkest day, Richard Nixon would never have attacked democracy the way Donald Trump has now done,” John Dean, who served as White House counsel for Nixon, told AP. “At the potential of losing, Trump has shamed himself and soiled the American presidency. God save us when he actually loses.”

The Republican Senator Mit Romney put it best in a tweet: “Having failed to make even a plausible case of widespread fraud or conspiracy before any court of law, the president has now resorted to overt pressure on state and local officials to subvert the will of the people and overturn the election. It is difficult to imagine a worse, more undemocratic action by any sitting American president.”

Before some members of Trump’s base start feeling nostalgic about Trump’s period in office, it is important to remind ourselves of some of the main characteristics of that era and what it represented domestically and internationally.

Trump conducted his 2016 presidential campaign by using very insulting terms in describing his rivals, something which he continued to do after being elected president. In fact, it can be argued that he never stopped campaigning, and his behavior in office was practically a long campaign for re-election.

In the entire US history, no president has ever insulted his opponents, including the leading members of his own party, in the way that Trump has done. These are just some of the terms that he used frequently to refer to some leading US politicians: Sleepy Creepy Joe, Cheating Obama, Crooked Hillary, Nervous Nancy, Wild Bill, Crazy Bernie, Little Rubio, Lying Cruise, Little Bloomberg, Leaking Sneaky Dianne Feinstein, Wacko John Bolton, Low Energy Jeb, Jeff Flakey, Leaking Comey, Al Frankenstein, Pocahontas, Corrupt Kaine, etc.

These were not meant as terms of endearment or jokes, but as deliberate insults to demean, belittle, bully and intimidate his opponents and incite violence against them. During his debates with 2016 Democratic Candidate Hillary Clinton the crowd often chanted “lock her up”, and Trump cheered them on.

I wonder if Trump has ever bothered to think what people in other countries might think of US politicians when a US president describes his colleagues in those unflattering ways. No wonder that the US reputation in the world has plummeted under Trump.

Trump repeated the same disgusting pattern of behavior during the 2020 election campaign towards former Vice-President Joe Biden and his running mate Senator Kamala Harris. Harris is the first black woman and the first South Asian American woman to be chosen as vice-president. She has had a distinguished career as a senator and Attorney General of California, and is highly educated. Yet, Trump insulted Harris’s intelligence by saying that her presidency would be “an insult to our country.”

Not only did he attack her policies, but also used personal, racist and sexist insults against her. Apart from claiming that she would be “a big slasher of funds for our military”, Trump repeatedly accused her of being “disrespectful and nasty”. During an interview on 8 October 2020, Trump falsely said that Harris was a communist and twice referred to her as “a monster”.

He slammed Harris’s treatment of Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing for his nomination to the US Supreme Court, saying “That was a horrible event. I thought it was terrible for her. I thought it was terrible for our nation. I thought she was the meanest, the most horrible, most disrespectful of anybody in the US Senate.” During the election campaign he said of her: “Kamala Harris is really Bernie Sanders with a skirt”, describing her as “shameless” and “clearly willing to do anything for power.” This is reminiscent of the way that Trump often speaks of women and people of color.

At a rally in New Hampshire in late August, the President asserted that Harris wasn’t competent to be a US president in waiting, adding: “You know, I want to see the first woman president also, but I don’t want to see a woman president get into that position the way she’d do it — and she’s not competent. She’s not competent. They’re all saying, ‘We want Ivanka.’ I don’t blame you.”

In fact, shortly after winning the presidency, Trump appointed his daughter and son-in-law to senior political positions without any obvious merit or qualifications on their part. This can only be regarded as an extreme act of nepotism, almost unprecedented under former administrations.

It is remarkable that all his campaign speeches consisted mainly of slogans and insults and were almost totally lacking in any policies or visions for the future.

The language that Trump has adopted to refer to his rivals and even colleagues is not the kind of language that a US president or indeed any decent person should use in reference to distinguished people.

Trump introduced a new level of crudeness and vulgarity to US politics and made use of terms that belong in the gutter, not in a serious presidential campaign. He has demeaned the office of the US president, something that may take a long time to overcome.

Farhang Jahanpour is a former professor and dean of the Faculty of Languages at the University of Isfahan and a former Senior Research Scholar at Harvard. He has also taught at Cambridge and Oxford universities. He also served as Editor for Middle East and North Africa at the BBC Monitoring from 1979-2001.

PART I: The Unprecedented US Presidential Election and its Consequences

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Categories: Africa

From Political Prisoner to Champion of Human Rights – The Wai Wai Nu Story

Mon, 11/23/2020 - 12:42

Wai Wai Nu continues her activism Rohingya, women and human rights.

By Mariya Salim
NEW DELHI, India, Nov 23 2020 (IPS)

Instead of being cowed by her seven-year imprisonment, Wai Wai Nu, emerged stronger and more determined to fight for the rights of all people, including the Rohingya in her native Myanmar.

In an exclusive interview with IPS, Wai Wai says her prison experience made her all the more aware of the need for human rights activism. What kept her going during her prison years was the desire to help other women inmates to ‘have a dream’.

“I feel I was privileged when I compare myself to the other young girls and women that I interacted with while I was in prison,” Wai Wai says.

“Most of them were unaware of how corrupt the political system was. I had a dream, a vision, whether or not I could achieve it because of my imprisonment was secondary. I felt I could help them have a dream.”

The youngest of three siblings, Wai Wai (33), spent seven years as a political prisoner with her family. Imprisoned at only 18, she was forced to give up her education, her everyday life. Still, she came out of prison undeterred and today is an inspiration to many women and activists fighting for human rights and dignity of their communities and beyond.

Her family is Rohingya, a Muslim minority in Myanmar which has been facing continued persecution and marginalisation by state and non-state actors alike.

It was her father’s activism that led to her imprisonment. Her father, who was elected to parliament in 1990, received a 47-year prison sentence, which was politically motivated. The family was released in 2012.

Wai Wai has received many awards for her activism including the N-Peace award in 2014. She was named as one of the Top 100 women by BBC the same year and the Time magazine named her one of the Next Generation Leaders in 2017.

However, she considers her most outstanding achievement to be the ability to emerge as a woman leader from her community and inspire many like her to be changemakers.

“I started my activism when I was 25-years-old. Apart from the many challenges, I was faced with patriarchy from within my community initially as there were close no women in leadership roles. Now I see an acceptance from the same community, and I am proud to have been able to break this stereotype”.

An achievement that Wai Wai sees as imperative though not tangible is being able to bridge the gap between the Rohingya in Myanmar, who are extremely marginalised and isolated from mainstream Myanmar, and the rest of Myanmar and society at large.

“I speak Burmese fluently, I grew up in the city, and I think, through my activism, I have been able to break the stereotypes created in part by the media and address the Islamophobia around my community, which is seen by so many as alien,” Wai Wai says.

“We (Rohingya) have played an important role in Burmese history, in its independence, and I want to remind the world of this too. Today a lot of young people see me as someone who did not give up and tell me how my story inspires them to continue to achieve. I value this more than any achievement or award that I have ever received.”

Wai Wai recalls that she realised she needed to help women prisoners because of the stigma they faced during and after their incarceration.

She says she needed to help these women because they suffered a double burden: they faced the direct consequences of being imprisoned, and beyond the prison walls, their suffering continued.

Once they had finished serving their prison time, most were not accepted back into their families, those married were abandoned by their husbands and had to start their lives all over again.

The fact that most came from impoverished economic backgrounds only worsened their situation.

“I felt I could help fix this.”’

Wai Wai founded the Women’s Peace Network in 2012.

She says her father continues to fight for human rights and draws inspiration from religion despite suffering and facing the consequences of his activism, Wai Wai says he feels “he has the duty towards helping those who need support.” He told her that he would have to face Allah when he dies and wants to walk on the path of justice “I draw inspiration from his strength and beliefs in justice and equality,” she says.

Wai Wai has been an open advocate for democracy and human rights for all.

While referring to Myanmar’s transition to democracy, she says that it concerns her that the world celebrates a flawed democracy like Myanmar for its own geopolitical or economic gains. Here millions of people still live in a Genocide-like situation, and the effect is to legitimise a flawed democracy and help prolong atrocities and crimes against the most marginalised in the country.

“When we talk of democracy, we need to ensure that human rights of all are protected, that there is political participation by all, freedom of expression and assembly are upheld,” Wai Wai says.

“When a state has marginalised an entire community and made them outsiders … Where the military has used this transition to democracy as a means to maintain its power: To accept and celebrate this as a successful transition to democracy is like rewarding a State that has not even met the benchmark of basic democratic criterion.”

Of the many challenges that Wai Wai has faced, one that she has to continue to fight is that of others stereotyping her and manipulating her into limiting her work and her activism.

‘There are many who only want me to talk about the human rights of my community and want to limit my ability to contribute to other issues. Yes, I have the responsibility towards my community and my people, but that does not stop me from advocating for universal principles like democracy, empowerment of youth and justice and peace in society.”

Wai Wai Nu is the founder and director of Women’s Peace Network and is currently serving as a fellow at the centre for the prevention of Genocide, US Holocaust Museum.

Mariya Salim is a fellow at IPS UN Bureau

Rising above the Hate Online – Indian Muslim Women Speak Out

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Categories: Africa

Could the Finance Sector Hold the Key to Ending Deforestation?

Mon, 11/23/2020 - 08:45

Despite global commitments from a growing number of governments, companies and financial institutions, the money and effort being directed towards damaging development far exceeds the efforts being made to support sustainable livelihoods. We have not, as a global community managed to put the brakes on the juggernaut of unsustainable economic development. Credit: United Nations

By Sarah Rogerson
OXFORD, UK, Nov 23 2020 (IPS)

At the beginning of 2020, there were hopes that this would be a ’super year for nature’. It has not turned out that way. Tropical forests, so crucial for biodiversity, the climate and the indigenous communities who live in them, have continued to be destroyed at alarming rates. In fact, despite the shutdown of large parts of the global economy, rates of deforestation globally have increased since last year.

The market forces driving deforestation are baked deep into the system of global trade. Agricultural expansion for commodities such as soy and palm oil accounts for two thirds of the problem worldwide. And forests are also being cleared to make way for mining, and for infrastructure to link once remote areas to the global markets they supply.

Coal mining is estimated to affect 1.74 million hectares of forest in Indonesia alone, with as much as nine percent of the country’s remaining forests at risk from permits for new mines. And the threat to forests from road building is significant, with 25 million kilometres of roads likely to be built by 2050, mainly in developing countries.

Underpinning these industries is over a trillion dollars a year in financing from financial institutions around the world. This investment and lending is the fuel that keeps the deforestation fires alight.

Six years ago, governments, companies and civil society signed the New York Declaration on Forests, setting a goal to end global deforestation by 2030. Each year, an independent civil society network led by Climate Focus and including Global Canopy provides a progress assessment. This year, it focuses on the NYDF goals of reducing deforestation from mining and infrastructure by 2020 (goal 3), and supporting alternatives to deforestation for subsistence needs (goal 4).

The findings are an urgent wake-up call. The threat to forests worldwide from these activities is growing, and indigenous people and local communities continue to bear a devastating cost.

But the report also highlights opportunities for progress. A growing number of governments are facing up to this issue and some companies are waking up to the risks of inaction. The same is true of the finance sector, which could become a driver of transformational change.

The opportunity for finance

Financial institutions do not, it must be recognised, have a great track record on these issues. Global Canopy’s annual Forest 500 assessment of the most influential financial institutions in agricultural and timber forest-risk supply chains has consistently found that the majority do not publicly recognise a need to engage on the issue of deforestation.

Fewer still publish clear information about how they will deal with deforestation risks identified in their portfolios, and none of the 150 financial institutions assessed in 2019 had policies across all relevant human rights issues. As a result, investment and lending has largely continued to flow to companies linked to land grabs and deforestation.

Nearly 87% of indigenous territories in the Amazon are recognised in Brazilian law, yet government concessions for mining and oil extraction overlap nearly 24% of recognised territories. This infringement of the communities’ rights is being overlooked by the companies involved, and by the financial institutions that finance them.

Yet there are signs of change. In June this year a group of 29 investors requested meetings with the Brazilian government because of concerns about the fires raging in the Amazon. Some, including BlackRock, have said they will engage with the companies they finance on deforestation risks. And some have gone further, with Citigroup, Standard Chartered, and Rabobank disinvesting from Indonesian food giant Indofood following concerns about deforestation linked to palm oil, and Nordea Asset Management dropped investments in Brazilian meat giant, JBS.

There is also support for the Equator Principles, which provide a framework for banks and investors to assess and manage social and environmental risks in project finance. Companies in the mining and extractive sectors are among the 110 financial institutions to have signed up, although reporting on implementation is voluntary and patchy.

There is also growing recognition that biodiversity loss represents a risk to investments. More than 30 financial institutions have joined an informal working group to develop a Task Force for Nature-related Disclosure (TNFD), intended to help financial institutions shift finance away from destructive activities such as deforestation. Some within the sector are developing new impact investment products designed to support poverty alleviation and sustainable development.

And there are also signs of a shift in development banks – whose finance plays such a critical role in so many development projects in the Global South. Just this month, public development banks from around the world made a joint declaration to “support the transformation of the global economy and societies toward sustainable and resilient development”.

No silver bullets

It is of course one thing to recognise the problem, another to solve it. Transforming the finance sector so that money is moved away from mining or agricultural projects linked to deforestation, and invested in sustainable alternatives that benefit local communities is an enormous challenge – made all the more difficult by the lack of transparency that currently engulfs these sectors.

For while the banks and investors funding deforestation activities are all too often invisible to the local communities and indigenous groups on the ground, those communities, and the impacts of financial investments on their land and livelihoods are similarly invisible or ignored.

But these links are increasingly being brought into the light, and new tools and technologies are bringing a new level of transparency and accountability. The new Trase Finance tool is a great example, it maps the deforestation risks for investors linked to Brazilian soy and beef, and Indonesian palm oil, and aims to extend coverage to include half of major forest-risk commodities by next year. Bringing about a new era of radical transparency could be the key for moving beyond recognition and into real solutions.

Increased transparency brings with it greater accountability, creating an opportunity for local communities to identify the financial institutions involved, and a reputational risk for financial institutions linked to infringements of land rights.

Grassroots movements can play an important role in demanding accountability from the companies and financial institutions involved where land rights are affected. Campaigns can raise awareness with the wider public, creating a reputational risk for the companies involved, and for the financial institutions that finance them. Campaigners have targeted BlackRock for its investments in JBS, for example, pushing for greater action from the investor.

Governments in consumer countries are also increasingly looking at how they can reduce their exposure to deforestation in imported products, with both the European Union and UK proposing mandatory due diligence for companies, requiring far greater transparency from all involved. These measures should be strengthened to include due diligence on human rights.

A global problem

We are all implicated in tropical deforestation – as consumers, as pension-fund holders, as citizens. In the Global North, economies rely on commodities produced in developing and emerging economies, enabled by production practices linked with deforestation.

To meet the NYDF goal of ending deforestation by 2030, as well as climate goals under the Paris Agreement, this must change urgently, and the finance sector is crucial to making this happen.

The post Could the Finance Sector Hold the Key to Ending Deforestation? appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Sarah Rogerson is a researcher at Global Canopy. Prior to Global Canopy, she has worked on corporate environmental transparency with both CDP and the Climate Disclosure Standards Board, and on domestic recycling and engagement with Keep Britain Tidy. She has a degree in Natural Sciences (Zoology) from the University of Cambridge

The post Could the Finance Sector Hold the Key to Ending Deforestation? appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

Farmers Will (Again) Feed the World

Mon, 11/23/2020 - 08:06

Women farmers clearing farmland in Northern Bangladesh. Credit: Naimul Haq/IPS

By Danielle Nierenberg
NEW YORK, Nov 23 2020 (IPS)

Wealthier countries struggling to contain the widening COVID-19 pandemic amid protests over lockdowns and restrictions risk ignoring an even greater danger out there – a looming global food emergency.

Even before the virus surfaced nearly a year ago, an estimated 690 million people around the world were undernourished, 144 million or 21 per cent of children under five-years-old were stunted, and about 57 per cent of people in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia could not afford a healthy diet.

The ranks of the chronically food insecure are rising dramatically in 2020 as the pandemic adds to the miseries of communities already labouring under conflict, the climate crisis, economic slowdowns and, in east Africa, desert locusts. Every percentage drop in global GDP means 700,000 more stunted children, according to UN estimates.

All this means the world is dangerously off track in its efforts to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, with food systems underpinning all 17 of those targets.

Yet we do produce enough food for the world’s 7.8 billion people. It’s our food systems that are broken. Hunger is rising even as the world wastes and loses more than one billion tonnes of food every year.

About one third of all food produced for human consumption goes to waste, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, with consumers in rich countries wasting almost as much food as the entire net production of sub-Saharan Africa.

Danielle Nierenberg

With agriculture and the current food system responsible for around 21 to 37 per cent of total greenhouse gas emissions, our food choices matter not just for health and social justice, but also for their impact on the climate and bio-diversity. The true impact of food production and consumption needs a far better understanding and cost accounting.

Resetting the Food System from Farm to Fork, a virtual event hosted on December 1 by the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition in partnership with Food Tank, will help set the stage for the UN 2021 Food Systems Summit.

Experts will present concrete, practical solutions to re-align food systems with human needs and planetary boundaries to become more resilient, inclusive and sustainable in the aftermath of the pandemic and beyond.

The conference will highlight the important role of smallholders and women who make up a sizeable proportion of the agricultural workforce – 43 percent on average in developing countries, according to FAO, the UN food agency.

Women are tending to bear the brunt of hunger, but as farmers, innovators and decision-makers, they need to be involved for real change to happen. They are the backbone of the rural economy, especially in poorer countries, but receive only a fraction of the land, credit, inputs such as improved seeds and fertilizers, agricultural training and information compared to men.

Africa is a huge net importer of food but 75 per cent of crops grown in sub-Saharan Africa are produced by smallholder farms, with family farms estimated to number over 100 million. Women do the bulk of weeding work while three-quarters of children aged 5 to 14 are forced to leave school and do farm labour at peak times.

Sixty percent of Africa’s total population are below 25 year, yet countries are struggling to keep young people involved in agriculture and agribusiness.

Our challenge is to transform food systems so that people are no longer food insecure and can afford a healthy diet while at the same time ensuring environmental sustainability. There is no one-size-fits-all solution for countries, and policy-makers lack reliable data on the whole spectrum of food production.

The Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition has a 10-point action plan for fixing the global food system, and improving standards, terminology and measurement are among those priorities. Its Food Sustainability Index, developed with the Economist Intelligence Unit, uses the three pillars of nutrition, sustainable agriculture, and food loss and waste to provide a tool that can shed light on the progress countries are making on the path to a more sustainable food system.

The COVID-19 pandemic may add between 83 and 132 million people to the total number of undernourished in the world this year alone, depending on the scale of the economic slowdown, according to preliminary assessments.

Disruptions have raised food costs, made it more difficult for farmers to access seeds, animal feed and fertilisers, and resulted in higher post-harvest losses as food rots uncollected on farms.

In the words of UN Special Envoy Agnes Kalibata: “Countries face an agonizing trade-off between saving lives or livelihoods or, in a worst-case scenario, saving people from COVID-19 to have them die from hunger.”

The problems facing our food systems for years have been highlighted by this crisis, as have the numerous frailties of global supply chains and the state of national health systems.

Let us seize this opportunity presented by the pandemic and shape a resilient food system that is sustainable, fairer, and healthier for all people and the planet.

Podcast: “Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg“ I chat with the most important folks in the food system about the most important food news.

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Excerpt:

Danielle Nierenberg is President and Founder Food Tank: Highlighting stories of hope and success in the food system

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Categories: Africa

Japan Should Lead Charge for Equitable Access to COVID-19 Vaccines

Fri, 11/20/2020 - 19:36

Credit: United Nations

By Cecilia Russell
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Nov 20 2020 (IPS)

Japan should step up and play a role as a global facilitator for equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, Dr Daisaku Higashi said at a recent Japan Parliamentarians Federation for Population (JPFP) study meeting.

The country should use the credibility developed in the post-Second World War era as a country with expertise in peacebuilding to ensure that developing countries are included in the vaccines’ rollout.

Higashi, a renowned commentator from Sophia University, warned that only an international effort could solve the problems caused by COVID-19

“Even if Japan succeeds in containing COVID-19 somehow, as long as the pandemic continues elsewhere in the world, there could always be a resurgence as soon as our border is opened to large numbers of foreign visitors,” he said. “The global economy overall will shrink if the global pandemic were to persist, dealing a major blow to corporate profitability and employment in Japan.”

“As close to half of Japan’s trading partners are developing countries, it is in Japan’s interest to contain the disease globally. Because the COVID-19 pandemic is a global threat that no one country can fend it off on its own – it is a human security issue,” Higashi said.

Dr Daisaku Higashi of Sophia University calls for Japan to play an increasing role in health international politics.

His comments are particularly pertinent because in November Pfizer and a German company, BioNTech, presented presenting preliminary data indicating that their coronavirus vaccine was over 90 percent effective. A week later Moderna reported similar findings that its vaccine was 94.5 percent effective.

Higashi said all countries should be encouraged to join COVAX – a facility for the pooled procurement of safe vaccines.

COVAX which operates under the auspicious of ACT Accelerator, which aims to accelerate the development and manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines and to guarantee fair and equitable access for every country in the world.

Higashi welcomed the Government of Japan’s decision to join the facilities and pledge as much as about $500 million in advance market contributions that will allow developing countries to have access to the vaccines under the COVAX Facility.

“This is truly the moment when Japan should play its role as a “global facilitator” to promote dialogue for the development of global solutions for COVID-19 with Japan as the host country and with ideas coming from participating member states, international organisations, experts, and NGOs,” he said.

Japan should use its influence to persuade the United States, China, and Russia, which are not participating in COVAX to join, Higashi said.

Dr Kayo Takuma of Tokyo Metropolitan University has called for Japanese support of COVAX aimed at ensuring an equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.

International health and politics expert, Dr Kayo Takuma of Tokyo Metropolitan University, addressed the challenges of global health cooperation that were laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Takuma said while several other global health issues had resulted in international cooperation in the fields of health9 and infection control, this has floundered during the COVID-19 pandemic. Serious challenges emerged because the spread of the coronavirus had broad implications not only on health but also on the global economy and growing uncertainty brought about by poverty.

This created “greater room, for good or ill, for the politicisation of the pandemic,” Takuma said.

“The U.S.-China cooperation against SARS, World Health Organisation (WHO)-U.S. cooperation against H1N1 influenza, and U.S. leadership against AIDS and Ebola are some examples of good practices in international cooperation in the field of health, particularly infection control,” he said.

However, Trump against the backdrop of U.S.-China tensions criticised WHO for being China-centric and not fulfilling its basic responsibilities and withdrew from the WHO.

While President-elect Joe Biden has said he would return to the WHO, the continued concern is that the international health body could remain underfunded and in need of reform.

“As the history of the U.S. initiative in founding WHO and its leadership in global health shows, the loss from the U.S. withdrawal will be felt not only in funding. There is also a wide range of other areas (that will be affected), including human talent, medicines, and the U.S.’s standing in the world,” Takuma said. He reminded the audience that U.S. contributions accounted for 12% of WHO’s budget.

He said China played an increasing role in its promotion of global health as part of its Belt and Road Initiative. However, the realities are that “even though China is promoting its vaccine and mask diplomacy, it is not near replacing the U.S. either in terms of funding or ability to supply drugs, as evidenced by lack of trust in the quality of China’s vaccines and masks.”

There were also other calls for WHO reform – with Germany and France wishing to strengthen WHO’s authority in initial responses to health crises.

Takuma, like Higashi, called for Japan to actively promote in COVAX and other frameworks for fair distribution of vaccines around the world.

“The country could strengthen cooperation with the U.S. and China as Japan has good relations with both countries and focusing on cooperation with Asian countries through such initiatives as ASEAN Center for Infectious Diseases,” he concluded.

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Categories: Africa

A Potential Weapon Kills Over 1.5 Million Worldwide –Without a Single Shot Being Fired

Fri, 11/20/2020 - 15:07

Credit: United Nations

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 20 2020 (IPS)

The world’s major military powers exercise their dominance largely because of their massive weapons arsenals, including sophisticated fighter planes, drones, ballistic missiles, warships, battle tanks, heavy artillery—and nuclear weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).

But the sudden surge in the coronavirus pandemic last week, particularly in the US and Europe, has resurrected the lingering question that cries out for an answer: Will overwhelming fire power and WMDs become obsolete if biological weapons, currently banned by a UN convention, are used in wars in a distant future?

According to the latest figures from Cable News Network (CNN), the grim statistics of the coronavirus pandemic include 56.4 million infections and 1.5 million deaths worldwide.

As of last week, the US alone has been setting records: more than 11.5 million pandemic cases and over 250,500 deaths since last March, with more than 193,000 infections every day.

The New York Times quoted unnamed experts as predicting that the US will soon be reporting over 2,000 deaths a day and that 100,000 to 200,000 more Americans could die in the coming months. One forecast predicted a US death toll of 471,000 by next March—in the continued absence of an effective vaccine.

The pandemic has also destabilized the global economy with world poverty and hunger skyrocketing to new highs. And all this, without a single shot being fired in an eight-month long war against a spreading virus.

Dr. Natalie J. Goldring, a Senior Fellow and Adjunct Full Professor with the Security Studies Program in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, told IPS the world faces multiple crises “with the potential to devastate our communities, including the threat of climate change and the risk of nuclear war”

And UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, she said, has warned of another potential crisis, which is that terrorists could use biological weapons to produce disastrous results. He pointed out that this sort of weapon use could be even more harmful than COVID-19.

“If a terrorist group were able to carry out the complex tasks of creating and using biological weapons, an intentional release of a biological weapon could be even more deadly than COVID-19,” said Dr Goldring, who is also Visiting Professor of the Practice in Duke University’s Washington DC program and represents the Acronym Institute at the United Nations on conventional weapons and arms trade issues.

She said Guterres makes the important point that “we need to focus immediately on preventing this type of development. We also need to vastly increase the capacity of our communities to respond to infectious diseases.”

“Countries with large military forces often threaten to use those forces to achieve foreign policy and other goals. One question is whether the use of biological weapons could in effect make these conventional and nuclear forces obsolete?”, she asked.

“I’d argue that nuclear weapons are already obsolete and counterproductive. By continuing to develop and deploy these weapons, States increase the risk of nuclear theft and give other countries incentives to develop nuclear weapons in response,” Dr Goldring declared.

Providing a grim economic scenario of the devastation caused by the pandemic, Guterres warned last month of the possibility of an even worse disaster: the risks of bioterrorist attacks deploying deadly germs.

He said it has already shown some of the ways in which preparedness might fall short, “if a disease were to be deliberately manipulated to be more virulent, or intentionally released in multiple places at once”.

“So, as we consider how to improve our response to future disease threats, we should also devote serious attention to preventing the deliberate use of diseases as weapons,” he declared, speaking at a Security Council meeting on the maintenance of international peace and security— and the implications of COVID-19

Meanwhile, if terrorist groups, as Guterres fears, acquire the knowledge to use biological weapons, suicide bombers and AK-47 assault rifles used in random killings, may also become obsolete in future attacks.

Professor Francis Boyle, professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law, told IPS “It is not the terrorist groups that are the problem here”.

“It is the terrorist governments like the USA, China, Russia, UK, Israel etc. that have the most advanced biological warfare facilities and biological weapons in the world that threaten the very existence of all humanity as Covid-19 is now doing,” said Professor Boyle who has advised numerous international bodies in the areas of human rights, war crimes, genocide, nuclear policy, and bio-warfare.

Dr Filippa Lentzos, Associate Senior Researcher, Armament and Disarmament Programme, at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), told IPS: “I don’t believe bioweapons will become the wave of the future”.

“Many might well pivot away from bombs, guns and other explosive weapons — we’re already seeing hybrid warfare and greater reliance on cyber, disinformation, etc — but adoption will be uneven across the globe”.

She said: “I suspect there would also be differences in uptake between state and non-state actors. The way I view potential future biological weapons is as an extreme niche form of weaponry, only potentially ‘suitable’ under very limited circumstances.”

Asked about the use of biological weapons as part of germ warfare during World War I, she said, in an interview with IPS last March, there was some covert use by Germany during World War I to infect horses with biological agents to block their use by Allied military forces.

“In World War II, there were substantial covert attacks on China by Japan, as well as some clandestine use in Europe against Germany. There has been very limited known use since 1945”, said Dr Lentzos, who is also an Associate Editor of the journal BioSocieties, and the NGO Coordinator for the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention.

According to the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning the development, production and stockpiling of an entire category of weapons of mass destruction, was opened for signature on 10 April 1972 and entered into force on 26 March 1975.

Guterres said last week he could have never imagined that hunger would rise again during his time in office as Secretary-General.

And according to the Rome-based World Food Programme (WFP), 130 million more people risk being pushed to the brink of starvation by the end of the year.

“This is totally unacceptable,” said Guterres. The COVID-19 recovery must address inequalities and fragilities, and the question of food will be central to a sustainable and inclusive recovery

Meanwhile, David Beasley, WFP executive director, said the socio-economic impact of the pandemic is more devastating than the disease itself.

He pointed out that many people in low- and middle-income countries, who a few months ago were poor but just about getting by, now find their livelihoods have been destroyed.

Remittances sent from workers abroad to their families at home have also dried up, causing immense hardship. As a result, hunger rates are sky-rocketing around the world, he said.

Thalif Deen, is a former Director, Foreign Military Markets at Defense Marketing Services; Senior Defense Analyst at Forecast International; and military editor Middle East/Africa at Jane’s Information Group, US. He is also co-author of “How to Survive a Nuclear Disaster” (New Century).

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Categories: Africa

Tobacco Use Places Smokers at an Even Higher Risk of Severe COVID-19 Disease

Fri, 11/20/2020 - 10:49

By Jennie Lyn Reyes
BANGKOK, Thailand, Nov 20 2020 (IPS)

While the COVID-19 pandemic has elevated public health to a top priority in every country in the world, it has left many poorly resourced governments receptive to any and all aid that can provide immediate assistance to help their people.

The pandemic pandemonium has provided unprecedented opportunities for the tobacco industry to boost its corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities to get closer to health and senior government officials.

Using charity to gain access to senior officials, foster good ties, and gain political capital to influence and interfere with public policies is a prominent tobacco industry tactic revealed in the 2020 Asian Tobacco Industry Interference Index.

Because of the deceptive and powerful influence of CSR activities exploited by the tobacco industry, the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) calls on Parties to the treaty to denormalize these activities and even ban them. Nearly all Asian countries are parties to this treaty.

The Index is a civil society report card that ranks 18 Asian governments on their efforts to protect health policies from the influence and interference of commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry in line with Article 5.3 guidelines of the FCTC.

Japan, Indonesia, and China top the report’s list with the highest level of tobacco industry meddling. These countries also have the largest smoking populations in the world. Brunei, Pakistan, and Nepal made the best progress to protect public policies from industry influence.

Banning the tobacco industry at any level or stage of health policy development is one of the key recommendations of the 2020 Asian Tobacco Industry Interference Index. Credit: SEATCA

Key findings:

Health policy is undermined when the tobacco industry is included in the policymaking process

• Tobacco industry buys influence through CSR activities. Industry-sponsored CSR activities remain common even in countries where restrictions are in place. Funding social causes, such as sports and disaster relief, allows the industry to promote itself as a “good corporate citizen” in the eyes of governments as shown in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Pakistan and Vietnam.

• Governments give benefits to the industry. With the exception of Brunei and ignoring the devasting harms of tobacco, many governments have been persuaded by the tobacco industry on its importance for economic growth and grant it preferential treatment such as tax breaks, facilitation of trade agreements, and delayed and weakened implementation of tobacco control measures. These are detrimental to tobacco control and tend to drain national coffers of tax revenues.

• Unnecessary interactions with the industry foster government endorsement. High-level government representatives participate in events organized by the tobacco industry. Activities related to combating smuggling are common where the tobacco industry works side-by-side with governments.

• Lack of transparency in interaction with the tobacco industry. The lack of transparency in government interactions with the tobacco industry remains a problem in almost all countries. Most countries do not have a procedure for public disclosure.

• Protective measures are needed. Only half (nine) of the countries included in the report have adopted policies to prevent tobacco industry interference as part of good housekeeping and governance.

The global tobacco industry is dominated by five tobacco companies all having a foothold in Asia – China National Tobacco Corporation (CNTC), Philip Morris International (PMI), British American Tobacco (BAT), Japan Tobacco Inc. (JTI), and Imperial Tobacco Group (ITG).

These transnational companies have already ventured into e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products that they are misleadingly promoting as safer alternatives to cigarettes.

Tobacco products contribute to the deaths of over eight million people every year, with low-and-middle-income countries bearing the brunt of its toll on public health and the economy. Tobacco use places smokers at an even higher risk of severe COVID-19 disease.

The ASEAN bloc of countries, home to 125 million tobacco users, is targeted by the industry to grow its profits. These countries are moving slowly, and in some instances, even regressing in their efforts to ward off tobacco industry influence.

There is light at the end of the tunnel as countries that have successfully protected their policies, such as Brunei and Thailand, are showing a decline in numbers of smokers, without suffering economic losses, as the industry typically claims.

A whole-of-government-and-society approach is fundamental to address industry interference. Governments and civil society must keep ahead of the many insidious ways the tobacco industry works. Constant vigilance and pro-active countermeasures remain vital.

About SEATCA
SEATCA is a multi-sectoral non-governmental alliance promoting health and saving lives by assisting ASEAN countries to accelerate and effectively implement the tobacco control measures contained in the WHO FCTC. Acknowledged by governments, academic institutions, and civil society for its advancement of tobacco control in Southeast Asia, the WHO bestowed on SEATCA the World No Tobacco Day Award in 2004 and the WHO Director-General’s Special Recognition Award in 2014.

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Excerpt:

Jennie Lyn Reyes is the author of the 2020 Asian Tobacco Industry Interference Index and the Monitoring and Evaluation Manager of SEATCA.

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Categories: Africa

Racial Discrimination Ages Black Americans Faster, According to a 25-Year-Long Study of Families

Fri, 11/20/2020 - 10:30

Black Lives Matter protest in London May 31. Credit: Tara Carey / Equality Now

By External Source
Nov 20 2020 (IPS)

I’m part of a research team that has been following more than 800 Black American families for almost 25 years. We found that people who had reported experiencing high levels of racial discrimination when they were young teenagers had significantly higher levels of depression in their 20s than those who hadn’t. This elevated depression, in turn, showed up in their blood samples, which revealed accelerated aging on a cellular level.

Our research is not the first to show Black Americans live sicker lives and die younger than other racial or ethnic groups. The experience of constant and accumulating stress due to racism throughout an individual’s lifetime can wear and tear down the body – literally “getting under the skin” to affect health.

Black Americans live sicker lives and die younger than other racial or ethnic groups. The experience of constant and accumulating stress due to racism throughout an individual’s lifetime can wear and tear down the body – literally “getting under the skin” to affect health

These findings highlight how stress from racism, particularly experienced early in life, can affect the mental and physical health disparities seen among Black Americans.

Why it matters

As news stories of Black American women, men and children being killed due to racial injustice persist, our research on the effects of racism continue to have significant implications.

COVID-19 has been labeled a “stress pandemic” for Black populations that are disproportionately affected due to factors like poverty, unemployment and lack of access to health care.

In 2019, the American Academy of Pediatrics identified racism as having a profound impact on the health of children, adolescents, emerging adults and their families. Our findings support this conclusion – and show the need for society to truly reflect on the lifelong impact racism can have on a Black child’s ability to prosper in the U.S.

How we do the work

The Family and Community Health Study, established in 1996 at Iowa State University and the University of Georgia, is looking at how stress, neighborhood characteristics and other factors affect Black American parents and their children over a lifetime. Participants were recruited from rural, suburban and metropolitan communities. Funded by the National Institutes of Health, this research is the largest study of African American families in the U.S., with 800 families participating.
Researchers collected data – including self-reported questionnaires on experiences of racial discrimination and depressive symptoms – every two to three years. In 2015, the team started taking blood samples, too, to assess participants’ risks for heart disease and diabetes, as well as test for biomarkers that predict the early onset of these diseases.

We utilized a technique that examines how old a person is at a cellular level compared with their chronological age. We found that some young people were older at a cellular level than would have been expected based on their chronological age. Racial discrimination accounted for much of this variation, suggesting that such experiences were accelerating aging.

Our study shows how vital it is to think about how mental and physical health difficulties are interconnected.

What’s next

Some of the next steps for our work include focusing more closely on the accelerated aging process. We also will look at resiliency and early life interventions that could possibly offset and prevent health decline among Black Americans.

Due to COVID-19, the next scheduled blood sample collection has been delayed until at least spring 2021. The original children from this study will be in their mid- to late 30s and might possibly be experiencing chronic illnesses at this age due, in part, to accelerated aging.

With continued research, my colleagues and I hope to identify ways to interrupt the harmful effects of racism so that Black lives matter and are able to thrive.

Sierra Carter, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Georgia State University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Categories: Africa

My Voice, Our Equal Future! Joining the Chorus of Girls Who Are Speaking up for Change

Fri, 11/20/2020 - 09:33

Sister Udaya, Mahila Shikshan Kendra, India – IDG 2020 South Asia Challenge Winner. Credit: UNICEF/UN061998/Vishwanathan

By Jean Gough and Yasmine Sherif
NEW YORK, Nov 20 2020 (IPS)

Girls are change makers and world shapers! When girls speak up, they are a powerful force to be reckoned with.

This International Day of the Girl 2020 we listened to girl-led and girl-centered organizations from across South Asia and heard about how they have been empowering girls in their communities and at the forefront of advocating for #GenerationEquality on #DayoftheGirl.

The potential of adolescent girls in South Asia is limitless, yet they are one of the most marginalized and under-served groups of children. During emergencies, either girls’ vulnerabilities can be exacerbated, or girls’ agency and opportunities can be promoted. Adolescent girls are a high priority group for Education Cannot Wait (ECW) and UNICEF. By investing, supporting, empowering, and listening to girls, we can build a more equal world.

Here are some of the ways we can take action to address the issues facing girls in South Asia and support girls in harnessing the power of their voices to make a difference.

Leaving no girl behind
Girls in South Asia continue to face barriers to accessing a quality education. The region has some of the highest rates of girls and young women who are not in education, employment or training (NEET). Even before COVID-19, nearly 1 in 3 adolescent girls from the poorest households had never been to school. At the secondary level in crisis-affected contexts in South Asia, there are significant disparities between boys and girl’s enrolment rates, with boys nearly three times more likely to enroll in school than girls.

It is essential we take decisive action, with intent, to reach and engage girls, in both crisis-affected situations and developing contexts where negative gender norms prevail. With strong affirmative action, we can break the status quo, and ensure that girls do not continue to be under-served and marginalized.

“Change is possible. We believe each girl is unique and has the potential to excel. We help girls improve their self-esteem to express their hopes to make decisions about their own lives. We are the voice for every girl, let’s create an equal future.”

Working together to build a more equal future
We cannot do this alone – girl-led and girl-centered cross-sectorial partners are key. When child protection, adolescent development and gender considerations are integrated into education and services they become holistic, safe, relevant and meaningful. Essential cross-sectorial work includes mitigating school safety risks; training all staff on gender responsive practices and gender-based violence; recruiting female teachers; providing unconditional cash transfers; offering life-skills groups tailored to adolescent girls; and, shifting the social norms that cause girls to be kept out of schools, which requires engaging with caregivers and religious and community leaders that have influence.

Building a versatile set of skills
Supporting adolescent girls to bridge the digital divide and gain 21st century skills is critical. This includes building life skills that can help girls to better navigate challenges and gain skills and support for employability. Transferable skills, such as stress reduction, emotional regulation, decision-making, goal setting, critical and creative thinking, conflict resolution and assertive communication help promote self-esteem and self-confidence that will last a lifetime.

In addition, adolescent girls must learn skills that match the demands of potential employers and the reality of the job market. Girls are far less likely to own digital devices, have access to internet or technology, and in turn have fewer opportunities to gain digital literacy skills. This also has significant implications for their employment prospects. For example, in the burgeoning ICT sector, which especially in South Asia is still dominated by men. In South Asia, young boys and men are five times more likely to access mobile technology than young girls and women.

Credit: UNICEF/UNI309817// Frank Dejongh

“The representation of women in technology is less, while there is a need for more professionals in the industry. Through some of our community education programmes such as career guidance, we received more support than expected which means there are interested young girls, who want to learn and build a career in this industry, and what they need is guidance and support.” Niuma, Women in Tech Maldives – IDG 2020 South Asia Challenge Winner

As we have seen during COVID-19 school closures, access to digital devices is crucial for accessing technology-based learning and online support services. While expanding access to low tech learning materials, more must be done to ensure that all children have access to the tools required to continue learning,

While getting girls online and ensuring access to technology is one goal, the work does not end there. We must ensure the technology they use is safe and the messages girls see online are enhancing and not harming their self-esteem or reinforcing negative gender stereotypes. We must ensure that adolescent girls have real life female mentors who can guide them through this.

We must make sure that while adolescent girls are learning skills, we are sending the message that they have the unlimited potential to do and be anything they want!

“72 per cent of girls [in our programme] have gotten their first jobs and are now earning more than the father and the brother of the family, combined. Now she has a say in the decisions, not just in her own life, but those of her entire family. This increase in self-worth and self-respect is what truly contributes to her healing.” Sonal, Protsahan Girls Champions, India – IDG 2020 South Asia Challenge Winner

Credit: UNICEF/UN0215358/Vishwanathan

Paving the way for a brighter future
Adolescent girls should be at the lead in making social change on efforts in returning to school post-COVID-19. To ensure their engagements are genuine and not tokenistic, they must be at the forefront of the design and monitoring of return to school efforts.

“Gender discrimination is embedded in my country, especially in terms of income, employment and politics. Though it is not highly prevalent, it does exist in a certain manner, where boys somehow take the lead by getting a social advantage. This is why, I am pitching my idea as a voice and representation of all Bhutanese women.” Pema, Cracking the code, Bhutan – IDG 2020 South Asia Challenge Winner

We must engage them in decision making and ask them questions: What do they want education to look like? What changes do they want to see in society? What do they want to learn — and how? We have the opportunity to build back more resilient education systems, and girls should be a part of the planning process.

COVID-19 has taught us that we must be flexible and offer alternative learning programmes that are tailored to the unique needs of marginalized and under-served groups. We must think outside of the box and use innovative tools and solutions to ensure that traditionally unreached children are offered new ways to engage in education.

Our commitment to listening and taking action!
Girls everywhere are breaking boundaries and challenging stereotypes. Whether she is leading the path as an entrepreneur or an innovator for a girls’ rights movement, girls are using the power of their voices to create a world that is unrestricted and inclusive for them and their future generations.

“We believe that every girl-led advocacy begins with listening. We believe that not only the future, but the present belongs to girls and they can take action now. This IDG 2020, let’s give girls a platform to share the causes that they are most passionate about, that they want to change, and to create a world and reimagine a future which is truly shaped by girls and for girls.” Riju, Nepal Scouts – IDG 2020 South Asia Challenge Winner

Adolescent girls should be at the lead in social change and COVID-19 return to school efforts. The International Day of the Girl 2020 South Asia Challenge provided inspiring examples of role models who are pioneering girl-led and girl-centered programming to change attitudes and stereotypes which prevent girls from achieving their dreams. It is time we listen and increase our actions by amplifying girls’ voices. We want you to know that at UNICEF and Education Cannot Wait we hear you and we are listening!

Joint opinion piece by UNICEF ROSA Regional Director Jean Gough and Education Cannot Wait Director Yasmine Sherif

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Categories: Africa

Youth Demand a ‘Fair Share’ from World Leaders Ahead of G20 Summit

Thu, 11/19/2020 - 09:23

Ahead of a G20 that promises to address the pandemic’s impact on developing countries, Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi is calling on the nations which are spearheading the global response to be just in their treatment of the most at-risk communities, including the world’s poorest and most marginalised children. Credit: Mahmuddun Rashed Manik/IPS

By Alison Kentish
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 19 2020 (IPS)

Heads of youth movements and student unions are challenging the world’s richest nations to correct an ‘incredibly unequal’ global response to COVID-19, by considering the plight of the world’s most vulnerable children and young people.

The youth leaders gathered for a global forum ahead of the 2020 G20 Summit, which Saudi Arabia is hosting virtually from Nov. 21 to 22. The online youth event, ‘A Fair Share for our Future’, was organised by the 100 Million Campaign, an initiative of Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi, which empowers young people and tackles issues such as child labour, poverty, access to education and violence against children.

Satyarthi, a longtime child rights advocate, has been pleading with world leaders to be particularly attentive to the needs of children during the COVID-19 pandemic. In September, he urged governments to hold large corporations to account for child labour. Ahead of a G20 that promises to address the pandemic’s impact on developing countries, Satyarthi is calling on the nations which are spearheading the global response to be just in their treatment of the most at-risk communities.

“The richest governments have focused heavily on bailing out businesses and economies as part of the global COVID relief. While this must be done, it cannot be done at the expense of the world’s poorest and most marginalised children,” Satyarthi said. “Ensuring a Fair Share for Children by allocating 20 percent of the global COVID relief to the 20 percent most marginalised children and their families, along with the immediate release of $1 trillion (just a fraction of the global response), can save over 70 million lives. I call upon the G20 members to prioritise the most marginalised children this year and save losing an entire generation.”

According to the official agenda, G20 leaders will focus on three main areas; empowering people, safeguarding the planet and shaping new frontiers. Leandra Phiri, a youth activist from Malawi, urged young people to hold the leaders accountable to their promise of opportunities for all.

“Provide solutions and prepare the future generations not to face the things that we are facing right now. We are facing insecurities, imbalances and exclusions. On behalf of my fellow youth, if they won’t let us dream – we won’t let them sleep,” she said.

Ankit Tripathi, an Indian international student in Canada, addressed the detrimental impact of COVID-19 on inherently vulnerable migrant populations. His comments follow a recent landmark joint global report by the International Organisation for Migration and the World Food Programme, which warned that COVID-19 and measures taken to contain its spread have disrupted human mobility patterns, the consequences of which could been seen for years to come. Tripathi said leaders must ensure migrant access to health and social services.

“Migrants are often the exception to many public services in countries. Living everyday lives that are the same or harder than others, yet access to public services is severely diminished. Some of the wealthiest nations in the world are competing to increase international student populations in their countries for both financial and social capital, but when it comes to providing support, we don’t even receive lip service let alone any real policy support,” he said.

Another area of concern for the youth involves domestic violence made worse by the economic blow of COVID-19 including unemployment. Johannah Reyes of Trinidad and Tobago’s feminist organisation WOMANTRA issued a passionate plea to leaders to protect women and children from abuse. She reminded the summit that women and youth are bearing the brunt of COVID-19 related job losses in the Americas and need help.

“This unemployment disparity means that there is a decrease in the capacity of women and young people to protect themselves from abuse and also decreases their ability to participate in political processes and organise,” she said. “My organisation WOMANTRA has documented 20 femicides for the year thus far in Trinidad and Tobago. This heart wrenching list includes Trinidadian women, Venezuelan migrant women and a child born with a disability,” Reyes said.

The young activists say the pandemic has severely derailed the education of at-risk children. In many parts of the world, COVID-19 restrictions have resulted in a transition to online instruction, but millions of students with no access to the required technology are falling behind. Brazilian student union leader Rozana Barroso said for many students in her country, as the digital divide widens, hunger increases.

“[Brazilian President Jair] Bolsonaro ignores the digital exclusion of young people who don’t have access to the internet,” she said. “It has now been 7 months since some students have been able to attend school. Democracy means having access to internet and the fight against hunger. Many students have also been suffering from more hunger because some of them were only able to have their daily meal at school.”

In Malawi, grassroots activists are worried about the toll that COVID-19 disruption in classroom instruction is taking on young girls, particularly in rural areas. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund and the U.N. Population Fund, the reality of life in pre-COVID Malawi included high rates of child marriage, teenage pregnancy and maternal mortality. The Malawi National Students Union has been tracking the numbers and the union’s president Japhet Nthala said they have been rising since COVID lockdowns.

“From the closure of school which happened on Mar. 28 this year up to around June we have witnessed rampant cases of teenage pregnancies and child marriages. In the eastern region of the country we have witnessed about 7,274 teenage pregnancies and this came into effect because of students being idle and schools being closed,” Nthala said.

The youth leaders say from hunger and abuse to unemployment and lack of access to health services, the problems faced by the world’s most marginalised continue to be exacerbated by COVID-19. They are demanding that world leaders deliver an equal, moral and fair internationalist response to COVID‐19, that national governments uphold the fundamental human rights of their citizens and that they give special protection for the most vulnerable children and young people during the pandemic.

They say the G20 leaders have assumed the reins of the COVID-response and now must also take the charge for responding to the needs of the world’s most vulnerable people.

The post Youth Demand a ‘Fair Share’ from World Leaders Ahead of G20 Summit appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Over 100 youth activists from around the globe met virtually ahead of the Nov. 21 summit of some of the world’s wealthiest nations. They called on the leaders to restructure the global response to COVID-19 and ensure aid reaches the world’s most marginalised people.

The post Youth Demand a ‘Fair Share’ from World Leaders Ahead of G20 Summit appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

Vietnam and Cambodia: Leveraging Support to Enhance Climate Ambition

Thu, 11/19/2020 - 09:11

By Say Samal and Trần Hồng Hà
WASHINGTON DC, Nov 19 2020 (IPS)

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted nearly every facet of our lives and delayed what was slated to be a landmark Conference of the Parties (COP26). This pivotal year marks the first due date for countries to submit revised national climate plans per the five-year cycle required by the Paris Agreement. Remarkably, countries are still moving forward with renewed urgency. And many countries are integrating green recovery into their COVID-19 responses, further contributing to climate action. While many countries have positive stories to tell, both of our nations, Vietnam and Cambodia, are sterling examples of nations taking strong, decisive action, particularly with support through the NDC Partnership. Just last month, the people of Vietnam submitted their updated national climate plan and, in short order, the people of Cambodia will do likewise.

Our success is a testament to our deep national commitment to climate action, which has been bolstered by support through the NDC Partnership and its Climate Action Enhancement Package (CAEP). CAEP is an enabling initiative that has helped to quickly match our climate ambitions to much needed support, at an especially difficult time for all countries and the global climate agenda. CAEP builds on and complements support from other development partners by delivering targeted, fast-track support to our countries, which enables us to enhance the quality, increase the ambition, and more effectively implement our nationally determined contributions (NDCs). Much like the current pandemic, CAEP’s strength is underpinned by its collaborative spirit and the need for multilateral cooperation. Through the technical and financial support of 46 partners, CAEP is currently supporting both our nations—and 61 others—to enhance NDCs in the lead up to COP26.

While this support came at a critical time, we’re mindful of the need for even greater support to effectively act on our robust climate commitments. Both our nations, like many others, live with climate impacts on a daily basis. The real and projected impacts on our populations and economies underpins the urgency with which we have acted and continue to act.

Vietnam

Vietnam’s potential climate hazards are expected to increase significantly under the impacts of climate change, such as sea level rise and saltwater intrusion. In fact, the Mekong Delta is one of the most vulnerable to sea level rise among the world’s deltas. In addition, agriculture, natural ecosystems, biodiversity, water resources, public health, and infrastructure are all at-risk sectors. The most vulnerable groups of people are the poor, ethnic minorities, the elderly, women, children, and people with disabilities. All these factors make addressing climate change a priority of critical national importance.

To meet our current and future challenges, Vietnam’s updated NDC identifies economy-wide mitigation measures for the period 2021-2030, spanning the energy, agriculture, waste, land use, land use change and forestry, and industrial sectors. The plan is distinct because it tackles greenhouse gas emissions by optimizing industrial processes and increasing our unconditional emission reduction target to nine percent below by 2030, combined with a change in baseline, this results in a 34 percent drop in emissions compared to our previous target. Moreover, Vietnam’s conditional emissions reduction target is now 27 percent (250.8 million tCO2e)—52.6 million tons of CO2e more than the emissions target in our first NDC submitted in 2015.

Vietnam’s updated NDC also includes robust adaptation components, directly linking to the National Adaptation Plan, and issues such as loss and damage, health, gender equality, and child protection. Alongside these strengthened mitigation and adaptation components, the updated NDC features new elements and significantly improves the means of implementation. As a people deeply committed to climate action, Vietnam is working to mainstream its national climate plan with socioeconomic development plans and strategies and draws overarching and discrete linkages with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Our climate achievements to-date were also strengthened by longstanding partners such as the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), primarily on mitigation and adaptation, respectively. Although the updated NDC takes effect next year, it is already informing our actions. By leveraging support through the NDC Partnership’s CAEP, delivered by the World Bank, the World Resources Institute (WRI), and the SNV Dutch Development Organisation, Vietnam is translating its NDC at provincial levels by mainstreaming targets in socioeconomic development plans. As part of these efforts, SNV is developing model approaches and a gender-sensitive framework for mainstreaming NDC targets and actions in these provincial plans.

This broad support is welcomed, and we’re banking on the support of all our government agencies, the private sector, and Vietnamese across communities to deliver on our commitments. This includes our 2021 target for incorporating the long-term, low greenhouse gas (GHG) emission requirements encouraged under Article 4 of the Paris Agreement.

Cambodia

Like Vietnam, its neighbor to the east, Cambodia is highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Our most affected sectors are agriculture, infrastructure, forestry, human health, and coastal zones. Rising temperatures are leading to increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events in an already fragile socioeconomic context.

While registering only a very small fraction of global GHG emissions, Cambodia’s emissions have been trending upwards in tandem with its development progress. At the same time, the impacts of climate change are expected to reduce Cambodia’s average GDP growth by 2.5 percent in 2030 and by 9.8% in 2050.

Cambodia is responding to this challenge. We have committed to lowering emissions and our updated NDC will reflect improved mitigation targets and adaptation actions. Our commitments will focus on a wide array of sectors, including agriculture, forestry and other land uses, transport and health, among others. Cross-cutting issues such as gender, youth engagement, and private sector involvement will be hallmarks of our strategy. Finally, an analysis on how the NDC can impact SDG achievement is also being undertaken.

CAEP support delivered through the Partnership by UNDP and the World Bank has ensured that Cambodia’s NDC update is robust and consistent with prevailing commitments. Our climate plan is now informed by progress made on current NDC targets, and reflect commitments made in national and sectoral strategies adopted since the approval of our initial NDC in 2015. We will also conduct additional analyses, including with the latest emissions data, and prepare cost estimates for proposed sectoral NDC targets and actions.

This truly Cambodian approach will also strengthen technical capacity for the Ministry of Environment, the National Council for Sustainable Development and other relevant ministries. This will provide critical support throughout the NDC updating process and help improve ministries’ understanding of how climate change can be better integrated into their work over the longer term.

The Cambodian people and government are proud to own this process, which helps secure our development goals. We will strengthen measurement, reporting, and verification arrangements to improve monitoring and reporting on NDC implementation, including by establishing an online portal. The online NDC tracking system spotlights information on mitigation, adaptation, GHG inventory, support received and needed, as well as baselines, targets, and indicators received from ministries. A similar online NDC portal is being set up by our neighbors, Vietnam.

As a unique country-driven initiative, the NDC Partnership’s work empowers countries like ours to meet our climate ambitions, which drives forward collective action. CAEP is one of our strongest sources of support to achieve our climate and development goals, and as we are seeing in both Vietnam and Cambodia, the program is producing strong impacts in helping our societies enhance climate ambition, going further than would otherwise be possible.

The post Vietnam and Cambodia: Leveraging Support to Enhance Climate Ambition appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Say Samal, Minister of Environment, Cambodia

Trần Hồng Hà, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Vietnam

The post Vietnam and Cambodia: Leveraging Support to Enhance Climate Ambition appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

Gordon Brown – Education Cannot Wait

Thu, 11/19/2020 - 08:07

By Education Cannot Wait
Nov 19 2020 (IPS-Partners)

“For 75M children & young people trapped in conflict zones, #EducationCannotWait. A lost generation is one where hope dies in those who live. It is our responsibility to rekindle hope.” ~ Gordon Brown.

The post Gordon Brown – Education Cannot Wait appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

The Importance of Investing in Volunteerism

Thu, 11/19/2020 - 07:52

International Volunteers Day (IVD) December 5, is an international observance that was mandated by the UN General Assembly in 1985. The Day is an opportunity to promote volunteerism, encourage governments to support volunteer efforts and recognize volunteer contributions to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at local, national and international levels. Credit: UN Volunteers (UNV)

By Simone Galimberti
KATHMANDU, Nepal, Nov 19 2020 (IPS)

The International Volunteer Day will approach soon and the 5th of December will become a day to celebrate the actions of millions of volunteers from all over the world, in the south as well in the north of the world.

Paradoxically but also tragically there has never been a greater time for volunteerism than in the last six months of the pandemic.

In Canada, as elsewhere in the world, volunteers have been on the frontlines, providing essential services from health care in hospitals and nursing homes to support for the most marginalized members of the society, offering an indispensable contribution when the country needed it the most.

As highlighted by the UN Deputy Secretary General Amina J. Mohammed during the Global Technical Meeting on Volunteering, organized in July by the United Nations Volunteers, UNV and International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, “the efforts of 1 billion volunteers is an important foundation at a pivotal moment for development to enable us to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic”.

Interestingly, like nowhere else volunteerism in Canada has been under the spotlight recently but unfortunately it was all for the wrong reasons.

A scandal involving a now disbanded high profile not-for-profit called “WE” that was very closely connected to the Government of Prime Minister Trudeau hijacked the entire public debate, overlooking the many essential contributions provided by volunteers during the pandemic.

The ongoing controversy centered on an aborted attempt by the Government to set up a national volunteering scheme called the Canada Student Service Grant, CSSG that would have helped students earn some money to navigate throughout the pandemic.

UN Volunteers celebrating International Volunteer Day in South Sudan where they serve the United Nations in peace-keeping, midwifery and human rights. Credit: UNV, 2018

The ongoing inquiry risks not only to overshadow the essential contributions played by volunteers during the pandemic but could also jeopardize the future of the sector for generations to come.

That would be a shame not only for those nearly 13 million Canadians that, as per data of Volunteer Centers, the real backbones of civic engagement and solidarity in the country, have been contributing their time and energies every single year but also because of the economic contributions the sector provides to the national economy.

According to a paper prepared by Robin Wisener for Volunteer Canada, “the economic value of volunteering contribution are at around $14 billion dollars, equivalent to 1.4% of Canada’s GDP”.

With the Liberal Government hard pressed on resetting its agenda, it is paramount not to lose the focus on the importance of investing on volunteerism in Canada.

The concept of “building back batter” that has been espoused by the Liberal administration is central in rethinking the role volunteerism plays in the society, not only as a means to help disadvantaged groups but also as a platform to reinvigorate grassroots levels of community engagement,

Volunteerism, if properly promoted and supported could be so instrumental in cementing local civic engagement, breaking down the chain of disenchantment many citizens are experiencing with the system not only in Canada but also elsewhere.

This is the reason why the government should include provisions to leverage on the great work being delivered by the volunteerism sector across the country, helping local communities particularly hit by the pandemic and its economic fallout, to re-start functioning with the vibrancy and the dynamism that only volunteers can unleash.

To start with, the Canada Service Corps that initially Prime Minister Trudeau wanted to entrust with the administration of CSSG program should be greatly expanded and turned into a national flagship program with commensurate resources and adequate levels of accountability and transparency.

Because it is essentially based on partnerships with not-for-profit organizations across Canada, strengthening their work on the ground, the program has the potential to be a truly game changer in the way people perceive volunteerism, helping more citizens from all the age groups, rather than just only youth, to embrace service according to the diverse circumstances locally in place.

Expanding the Canada Service Corps will require broad consultations and this should happen as a part of a broader discussion aimed at re-launching and re-energizing volunteerism in Canada.

Surely any effort to build a stronger volunteering infrastructure across the nation should build on the existing endeavors, especially on the work being tirelessly carried out by the Volunteer Centers.

Indeed, one stronger centrally funded and locally delivered program should not come at the expenses of smaller initiatives that are already on the ground that, if provided with the right financial and technical support could expand their outreach and improve their effectiveness.

Partnering with and investing in Volunteer Canada, the not-for-profit national peak body of the sector, would be crucial not only in order to rebuild trust but also to draw on the invaluable expertise of those delivering volunteering programs since decades.

For example, an expanded Canada Service Corps could also thrive if aligned to a better equipped and much more visible and attractive Pan-Canadian Volunteer Management Platform currently managed by Volunteer Canada in partnership with the Volunteer Centers.

Importantly, as also indicated by the Global Technical Meeting on Volunteering, volunteerism should be promoted also in its more informal and part time forms where the vast majority of volunteers serve across the world without any organizational affiliation.

Therefore, the time is ripe for the Government of Canada to embark on a comprehensive, long term strategy formulation of the sector, an exercise that will engage not only the small and big not for profits but the Provinces and Territories as well as the Municipalities.

Very crucially, the representatives of the First Nations should have voice and resources to design locally suitable service programs that build on their ancient traditions of self-help.

In such strategy, schools and universities should be fully involved because they also have a key responsibility in helping creating the foundations of a more engaged society where volunteering, besides being a propeller for personal and professional development, becomes a habit, a truly Canadian way to foster locally owned development solutions and democracy at the same time.

Inclusion and flexible arrangements to fit a diverse constituency should be an essential feature of any new strategy.

For example, a “National Volunteering Mission” translated on the ground through a mix of interventions funded federally, full time as well as part time, could help many disadvantaged and disenfranchised youth, including many First Nations, to find a new meaning at life while learning new skills applicable to the job market.

Certainly, there is a great need.

A recent report released by UNICEF on the 3rd of September, as reported by The Philanthropist, confirms the urgency for the Federal Government to invest on youth wellbeing especially in view of the high number of suicides and the worrying mental health status experienced by many of them.

Easier and more accessible volunteering opportunities even through intergenerational partnerships with retirees could be one of the ingredients that could be offered to all Canadian youth so that they could be better prepared to deal with their emotions and their personal growth.

As a part of a national conversation on volunteerism, the Federal Government could even think of creating a body mandated to promote volunteerism similar to the Corporation for National and Community Service in the USA that works in partnerships with state levels volunteering commissions.

Options to reinvigorate the volunteering sector in Canada are as endless as are the opportunities provided by the transformative power of volunteering to regenerate interest in community engagement while helping solving local problems.

Moreover, Canadian organizations promoting volunteerism overseas like CECI and WUSC that for years have been successfully running the UNITERRA volunteering program in developing nations with federal money and others like CUSO could also contribute to the debate, bringing the expertise and know-how, sharing what they have learned from their local partners.

While volunteering is certainly not a panacea and should not be seen as a cheap alternative to other indispensable public policies interventions, there is more evidence, globally that it can be an effective tool for, as Secretary General of the United Nations António Guterres said, “making the world more inclusive for people left farthest behind.”

In Canada, the government and the opposition and civil society should unite in a new common cause that can bring Canadians closer towards a better, fairer and more sustainable future, one that puts the Agenda 2030 and the SDGs at the center of policy making.

The upcoming International Volunteer Day that will be celebrated under the banner “Together We Can through Volunteering” should be a day for some big announcement in Ottawa.

*The author can be contacted at: simone_engage@yahoo.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simone-galimberti-4b899a3/

The post The Importance of Investing in Volunteerism appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Simone Galimberti* is Co-Founder of ENGAGE, Inclusive Change Through Volunteering, a not- for-profit NGO based in Nepal. A close observer of Canadian affairs, he writes on volunteerism, social inclusion, youth development and regional integration as an engine to improve people’s lives.

The post The Importance of Investing in Volunteerism appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

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