Asian Development Bank [to 5 March 2016]
http://www.adb.org/news

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04 Mar 2016 | News Release
ADB Signs $1 Billion Cofinancing Agreement with Eurasian Development Bank
MANILA, PHILIPPINES – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has signed a $1 billion framework agreement with the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) to expand their cofinancing activities in Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, and Tajikistan.
Under the agreement, EDB will provide $1 billion in cofinancing of ADB projects from 2016 to 2021…

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29 Feb 2016 | News Release
ADB Backs First Climate Bond in Asia in Landmark $225 Million Philippines Deal.

Amref Health Africa [to 5 March 2016]
http://amref.org/news/news/

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Published: 02 March 2016 Denis
Amref Health Africa to Train Health Workers for First Lady’s Mobile Clinics
Amref Health Africa will train over 400 health workers for mobile clinics donated by First Lady Margaret Kenyatta to counties across Kenya.

BRAC [to 5 March 2016]
http://www.brac.net/#news

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BRAC USA Newsletter – February 2016
Using tablets to learn: Bangladesh schools go digital
This month, the Bangladesh Prime Minister launched a new digital primary school curriculum for students to use in the classroom. Designed by BRAC and Save the Children, the curriculum is already being used in more than five thousand schools.

Partnering for global prosperity
On Feb. 4th, Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, BRAC Founder and Chairperson, Chelsea Clinton, and Carolyn Miles, President and CEO of Save the Children, discussed dynamic partnerships that have spurred multi-sector action worldwide at the Clinton Global Initiative 2016 Winter Meeting.
Watch the session…

CARE International [to 5 March 2016]
http://www.care-international.org/news/press-releases

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2nd Mar 2016
Band-Aid solutions to Cyclone Winston not enough, focus must be on building resilience
Fiji
As communities in Fiji start to pick up the pieces after the destruction left by Cyclone Winston, attention must also focus on improving people’s resilience to climate shocks.

Danish Refugee Council [to 5 March 2016]
https://www.drc.dk/news

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02.03.2016
A mine free world is possible
It is possible to fully implement the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, but it requires political will, commitment and sufficient resources, the Danish Demining Group (DDG) said in a statement today ahead of the High-level Panel on the Ottawa Convention held on March 2nd in Geneva.

Ahead of today’s Pledging Conference in Geneva, leading global personalities who can generate a debate on the most efficient way to achieve a mine-free world are attending a High-level Panel. The Danish Demining Group is represented as the only operator in the panel and the message is clear.

“Back in the 1990s people spoke about years and not decades, for a complete ban on anti-personnel mines. This was perhaps a bit over the top, but now we once again have the momentum, and we’re aiming at addressing State Party obligations under the Convention by 2025, before another decade goes by. We are reaching the last stretch and what is now needed is a credible commitment and enough resources to be channeled towards demining –-then we can make it happen,” says Tammy Hall, Head of the Danish Demining Group, who will be speaking at the panel – including, among others, former UN Secretary General, Mr. Kofi Annan, and the chair, Chile’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Heraldo Muñoz…

ICRC [to 5 March 2016]
https://www.icrc.org/en/whats-new
Selected News Releases and Articles

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Israel and the occupied territories: Facts and figures from 2015
In 2015, our work in Israel and the occupied territories focused on the protection of civilians, the welfare of detainees held in Israeli and Palestinian jails, and providing help for the most needy.
02-03-2016 | Article

Mauritius ratifies Arms Trade Treaty and Convention on Cluster Munitions
International humanitarian law. Mauritius ratifies the Arms Trade Treaty and the Convention on Cluster Munitions
01-03-2016 | Article

Speech given by ICRC president at Human Rights Council
Speech given by Peter Maurer, president of the ICRC, at the 31st session of the Human Rights Council.
01-03-2016 | Article

Philippines: Fighting causes new displacements in Mindanao
Clashes between government security forces and armed groups in the Maguindanao province of Mindanao have continued into their fourth week, causing displacement and casualties.
01-03-2016 | News release

MSF/Médecins Sans Frontières [to 5 March 2016]
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news-stories/press/press-releases

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Press Releases
MSF Response to Possible UN Action on Hospital Attacks
March 04, 2016
“A resolution is a welcome step but only if it shows an unwavering commitment to ensuring that health workers, facilities, and patients never come under attack. Several permanent members of the United Nations Security Council have over recent months been engaged in, or have supported, military activities resulting in destruction of health facilities. Therefore, any new resolution will require states in the security council, notably the permanent members, to lead by example.

Press release
South Sudan: Looting of Pibor Medical Center Leaves Thousands Without Care
March 04, 2016
JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN/BRUSSELS— Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) strongly condemns the looting of its medical center in Pibor, in South Sudan’s Jonglei State, during and after heavy fighting from February 23 to 25 that also destroyed large sections of the town, leaving thousands of people in need of aid.

Press release
MSF Condemns Attack on Protection of Civilians Site in Malakal, South Sudan
March 02, 2016
Thousands of displaced people need protection and aid after widespread destruction and killings.

Press release
Papua New Guinea: “Return to Abuser” Report Examines Shocking Levels of Family and Sexual Violence
March 01, 2016
PORT MORESBY, PAPUA NEW GUINEA/BERLIN—A new report from Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) examines the shocking levels of family and sexual violence in Papua New Guinea, which are among the highest in the world outside of conflict zones.

Mercy Corps [to 5 March 2016]
http://www.mercycorps.org/press-room/releases

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Syria, March 3, 2016
National Press Club Newsmaker: “Can We Still Save Lives in Syria?”
Remarks of Neal Keny-Guyer, Chief Executive Officer
Full audio from the event can be found here.
[Excerpt]
Washington, DC: Thank you, Tommy. Thank you all for coming today, and thank you to the National Press Club Newsmaker committee for hosting this important conversation.

I am Neal Keny-Guyer, CEO of Mercy Corps. Mercy Corps is a global organization, 5,000 strong, living and working in more than 40 countries around the world. We have been working inside Syria continuously for more than a decade. Since the conflict began, we have built a huge aid operation in Syria, second only to the United Nations, serving 570,000 people each month.

I have two main points I want to make today:
First. The agreement to cease hostilities – while imperfect – represents important progress and we should seize every opportunity to make it work – on all fronts, humanitarian and diplomatic. It has been 110 days since the talks in Vienna, and 748 days – more than two years – since the Geneva II talks. It’s incumbent on all of us to double-down and turn this agreement into a sustainable cease-fire and, ultimately, a lasting peace. For us in the humanitarian community, this means doing everything we can to aggressively push humanitarian assistance into the most besieged and war-affected areas, while reminding everyone that this level of suffering cannot and must not continue.

Second. Unless we in the global community can turn this cessation into a durable cease-fire, we will continue to fail the people of Syria. The fact is, despite diplomatic progress, an end to the misery is still far away…

OXFAM [to 5 March 2016]
http://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressreleases

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3 March 2016
Oxfam pays tribute to land activist, Berta Cáceres, and calls for justice
Oxfam vehemently condemns the brutal assassination of the Honduran Indigenous and environmental leader, Berta Cáceres, in her home.

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2 March 2016
2.5 billion people at risk of hunger and poverty if land rights are not protected
Indigenous Peoples and local communities protect half the world’s land, but formally own just 10 percent, according to a report released today by a global alliance of NGOs.

The report, “Common Ground: Securing Land Rights and Safeguarding the Earth,” is published by the International Land Coalition (ILC), Oxfam, and the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI). Together with more than 300 organizations and communities from around the world, they have launched the Land Rights Now campaign, calling for the amount of land these communities own to double by 2020.

Mike Taylor, ILC’s Director, said: “Billions of people around the world depend on their land to live; if we do not fight to secure this essential human right, we are turning our backs on them, their cultures, and the environment. The lives of those who depend on community-owned land for their homes and livelihoods are at stake.”
The report and the Land Rights Now campaign highlight the experiences of people who depend on land for their livelihoods as well as their cultural identity…

Partners In Health [to 5 March 2016]
http://www.pih.org/blog

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Mar 01, 2016
Protecting Newborns against HIV in Russia
PIH launched a new program in Tomsk, Russia, to help HIV-positive mothers give birth to healthy babies free of the disease.

PATH [to 5 March 2016]
http://www.path.org/news/index.php

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Press release | March 03, 2016
Woman’s Condom achieves WHO/UNFPA prequalification
An important step toward increasing global access to next-generation female condom
February 2016

Press release | February 26, 2016
Leading health innovator PATH partners with Johnson & Johnson Vietnam to reduce childhood tuberculosis
New initiative builds on PATH’s longstanding commitment to support Vietnam’s tuberculosis control efforts

Global Fund [to 5 March 2016]
http://www.theglobalfund.org/en/news/

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News
Major Pledge by European Commission Signals Strong Replenishment for the Global Fund
03 March 2016
BRUSSELS – The European Commission announced a pledge of €470 million for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria for the three-year period beginning in 2017, an increase of €100 million, or 27 percent, over their previous contribution.

The pledge signals the European Commission’s strong leadership in global health, and marked the first pledge for the Global Fund’s Fifth Replenishment, a funding cycle covering the years 2017 through 2019.

“One of the lessons of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa is the clear need to strengthen health systems in developing countries, so that infectious diseases can be controlled for good,” said Neven Mimica, EU Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development.

“With €470 million, the EU’s contribution to the Global Fund will contribute to achieve our shared ambition to save 8 million more lives and avert up to 300 million infections,” Commissioner Mimica said. “I call on others to raise their contributions so that more resilient systems can be built, and the special needs of women and girls and those of key affected populations be better served.”…

Hilton Prize Coalition [to 5 March 2016]
http://prizecoalition.charity.org/
An Alliance of Hilton Prize Recipients

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Growing the Next Generation of Leaders: The Hilton Prize Coalition Fellows Program
Posted March 4, 2016
The Hilton Prize Coalition Fellows Program is providing emerging leaders with the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in the humanitarian and development sectors through placements with Coalition member organizations. Individual Organization Fellows work exclusively with one Coalition member, while Collaborative Fellows work alongside multiple Coalition members for collective impact.

CHS Alliance [to 5 March 2016]
http://chsalliance.org/news-events/news

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02/03/2016
World Humanitarian Summit global consultation report recommends applying the Core Humanitarian Standard
The World Humanitarian Summit has published the final report on its Global Consultation which engaged with more than 23,000 people in over 150 countries over 18 months, concluding in Geneva from 14 to 16 October 2015.

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01/03/2016
UNICEF brings a practical approach to quality and accountability at cluster and collective level
Following an invitation from UNICEF in late 2015, the CHS Alliance has joined the steering committee for an OFDA funded project aiming to promote better integration of Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) and more people-centred approaches to humanitarian actions in the work of global and country clusters and other coordination mechanisms.

Center for Global Development [to 5 March 2016]
http://www.cgdev.org/page/press-center
Selected Press Releases, Blog Posts, Publications

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Statement of the Honorable Clay Lowery Before the Task Force to Investigate Terrorism Financing on “Helping the Developing World Fight Terror Finance”
3/3/16
Clay Lowery
On March 1, 2016, CGD visiting fellow Clay Lowery testified before the House Financial Services Committee’s Task Force to Investigate Terrorism Finance at a hearing titled “Helping the Developing World Fight Terror Finance.”

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Assessing the US Feed the Future Initiative: A New Approach to Food Security?
3/1/16
Kimberly Ann Elliott and Casey Dunning
Data on Feed the Future’s results are just becoming available, and there is strikingly little independent analysis of the program. While we cannot yet assess the impact on poverty alleviation or improved nutrition, we can assess how Feed the Future performs against its stated objective of offering a new, more effective approach to food security. The integrated agriculture and nutrition approach emphasizes increased selectivity in aid allocations along with country ownership and capacity building to increase the effectiveness and sustainability of the initiative’s impacts. We find the initiative has led to an increase in the share of overall US assistance for agriculture and nutrition, and that the Obama administration has increasingly concentrated this aid in selected focus countries.
http://www.cgdev.org/publication/assessing-us-feed-future-initiative-new-approach-food-security

ODI [to 5 March 2016]
http://www.odi.org/media

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Research reports and studies | March 2016
Women’s work: mothers, children and the global childcare crisis
Emma Samman, Elizabeth Presler-Marshall and Nicola Jones with Tanvi Bhatkal, Claire Melamed, Maria Stavropoulou and John Wallace
New ODI research uncovers a hidden childcare crisis, with mothers bearing the burden – and the poorest children paying the price.

World Economic Forum [to 5 March 2016]
https://agenda.weforum.org/news/

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News 2 Mar 2016
Geopolitical conflicts, cybersecurity and changes in energy infrastructure present rising challenges and new opportunities
:: The Global Energy Architecture Performance Index Report 2016, launched today, ranks 126 countries on their ability to deliver secure, affordable and sustainable energy
:: Findings reveal that all countries can improve rankings and that major economies – with the exception of France – struggle to take the lead, as transitions take longer to unfold owing to the to the size and complexity of their energy systems
:: Three key trends are shaping the energy transition: Infrastructure and resilience; digital disruption and a new global energy security order
:: Accelerating changes in technology, energy markets and geopolitics are creating new opportunities and also threats to energy security

Geneva, Switzerland, 2 March 2016 – Today the World Economic Forum released the fourth edition of the Global Energy Architecture Performance Index Report. The 2016 report puts the spotlight on energy security and access. Evolution in this area is being shaped by the fast transition underway in the energy sector, with several elements playing important roles, such as the fast growth of distributed renewable energy and recent developments in digital technology and international security.

The annual index provides a benchmark to help countries address energy transformation challenges and identify opportunities across their energy systems. This year’s study explores the energy architecture of 126 countries based on their ability to provide energy access across three dimensions of the “energy triangle” – affordability, environmental sustainability, security and access…

Explore the full report

Annie E. Casey Foundation [to 5 March 2016]
http://www.aecf.org/contact/newsroom/

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Posted March 1, 2016
Casey Foundation Announces Tenth Class of Children and Family Fellows
Outstanding human service and social change leaders from 13 states will develop results-based leadership skills to build bright futures for children and families.

Kellogg Foundation [to 5 March 2016]
http://www.wkkf.org/news-and-media#pp=10&p=1&f1=news

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March 4, 2016
Executives’ Alliance for Men and Boys of Color leads initiative to “ban the box”
As part of the Executives’ Alliance for Men and Boys of Color, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation joins 41 peer foundations in “banning the box” and adopting fair hiring practices through eliminating questions about criminal convictions on employment applications.

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March 1, 2016
La June Montgomery Tabron discusses the wealth gap for families of color in the Stanford Social Innovation Review
In a recent blog for the Stanford Social Innovation Review, WKKF President and CEO La June Montgomery Tabron addresses the wealth gap for families of color, as well as the steps that need to be taken to close the gap. She writes that “we must align programs and policies to better support the financial strength and security of families of color today, while keeping sight of the long-term benefits for all of creating a truly inclusive economy.”

MacArthur Foundation [to 5 March 2016]
http://www.macfound.org/

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March 5, 2016
Mapping Philanthropy and Impact Investing Opportunities in India
A report assesses the philanthropic and impact investing landscape in India as the country works to continue its progress toward addressing critical development challenges. The report, developed by Intellecap with support from MacArthur, identifies challenges that inhibit funding by corporations, high net worth individuals, diaspora groups, and retail investors, as well as opportunities to address those challenges. Recommended interventions include addressing information gaps, increasing collaboration among funders, and promoting and sharing measurement of impact.