The Sentinel

Human Rights Action :: Humanitarian Response :: Health :: Education :: Heritage Stewardship ::
Sustainable Development
__________________________________________________
Week ending 26 May 2018

This weekly digest is intended to aggregate and distill key content from a broad spectrum of practice domains and organization types including key agencies/IGOs, NGOs, governments, academic and research institutions, consortia and collaborations, foundations, and commercial organizations. We also monitor a spectrum of peer-reviewed journals and general media channels. The Sentinel’s geographic scope is global/regional but selected country-level content is included. We recognize that this spectrum/scope yields an indicative and not an exhaustive product. Comments and suggestions should be directed to:

David R. Curry
Editor
GE2P2 Global Foundation – Governance, Evidence, Ethics, Policy, Practice
david.r.curry@ge2p2center.net

pdf version: The Sentinel_ period ending 26 May 2018

Contents
:: Week in Review  [See selected posts just below]
:: Key Agency/IGO/Governments Watch – Selected Updates from 30+ entities
:: INGO/Consortia/Joint Initiatives Watch – Media Releases, Major Initiatives, Research:: Foundation/Major Donor Watch -Selected Updates
:: Journal Watch – Key articles and abstracts from 100+ peer-reviewed journals

Human Rights – Conflicts – Tactics of Warfare – Starvation of Civilians

UN Security Council condemns starvation of civilians as a war tactic
24 May 2018
Denouncing the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare and the unlawful denial of humanitarian access to those need, the United Nations Security Council underscored that all parties to armed conflict must uphold their obligations under international law and protect civilians from harm.

Adopting resolution 2417 (2018), the Security Council also called upon those “with influence over parties to armed conflict, to remind the latter of their obligation to comply with international humanitarian law.”

International humanitarian law explicitly forbids any attacks targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, and requires all warring sides to allow, respect and protect the work of humanitarian actors, in alleviating human suffering.

Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare may constitute a war crime – Security Council
In the resolution, the Council also said that it could consider adopting sanctions, “where appropriate and in line with existing practice, that can be applied to individuals or entities obstructing the delivery of humanitarian assistance, or access to, or distribution of, humanitarian assistance.”

The landmark resolution, adopted unanimously by the 15-member Security Council, also underscored the link between armed conflict and conflict induced food insecurity and the threat of famine.

It also drew attention to the “particular impact” of armed conflict on women, children, as well as other vulnerable groups such as persons with disabilities, older persons, refugees and displaced persons.

The Council also reaffirmed “the important role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts and in peacebuilding, and [stressed] the importance of their equal participation and full involvement in all efforts for the maintenance and promotion of peace and security, and the need to increase their role in decision making with regard to conflict prevention and resolution.”

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S/RES/2417 (2018)
Adopted by the Security Council at its 8267th meeting, on 24 May 2018 :: 4 pages
[Excerpts]
Deeply concerned about the level of global humanitarian needs and the threat of famine presently facing millions of people in armed conflicts, as well as about the number of undernourished people in the world which, after decades of decreasing, increased over the last two years, with the majority of food insecure people and seventy-five percent of all stunted children under the age of five living in countries affected by armed conflict, amounting to 74 million people facing crisis food insecurity or worse in situations of armed conflict…

1. Recalls the link between armed conflict and violence and conflict-induced food insecurity and the threat of famine, and calls on all parties to armed conflict to comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law regarding respecting and protecting civilians and taking constant care to spare civilian objects, including objects necessary for food production and distribution such as farms, markets, water systems, mills, food processing and storage sites, and hubs and means for food transportation, and refraining from attacking, destroying, removing or rendering useless objects that are indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as foodstuffs, crops, livestock, agricultural assets, drinking water installations and supplies, and irrigation works, and respecting and protecting humanitarian personnel and consignments used for humanitarian relief operations;

2. Stresses in this regard that armed conflict, violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, and food insecurity can be drivers of forced displacement, and, conversely, forced displacement in countries in armed conflict can have a devastating impact on agricultural production and livelihoods, recalls the relevant prohibition on the forced displacement of civilians in armed conflict, and stresses the importance of fully complying with international humanitarian law and other applicable international law in this context;

3. Stresses the need for humanitarian assistance to be gender- and age-sensitive, and to remain responsive to the different needs of the population, ensuring that these needs are integrated in the humanitarian response;

4. Calls on all parties to armed conflict to comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law, and underlines the importance of safe and unimpeded access of humanitarian personnel to civilians in armed conflicts, calls upon all parties concerned, including neighbouring States, to cooperate fully with the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator and United Nations agencies in providing such access, invites States and the Secretary-General to bring to its attention information regarding the unlawful denial of such access in violation of international law, where such denial may constitute a threat to international peace and security, and, in this regard, expresses its willingness to consider such information and, when necessary, to adopt appropriate steps;

5. Strongly condemns the use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in a number of conflict situations and prohibited by international humanitarian law;

6. Strongly condemns the unlawful denial of humanitarian access and depriving civilians of objects indispensable to their survival, including wilfully impeding relief supply and access for responses to conflict-induced food insecurity in situations of armed conflict, which may constitute a violation of international humanitarian law;

7. Urges all parties to protect civilian infrastructure which is critical to the delivery of humanitarian aid and to ensure the proper functioning of food systems and markets in situations of armed conflict;

8. Urges those with influence over parties to armed conflict to remind the latter of their obligation to comply with international humanitarian law;

9. Recalls that the Council has adopted and can consider to adopt sanction measures, where appropriate and in line with existing practice, that can be applied to individuals or entities obstructing the delivery of humanitarian assistance, or access to, or distribution of, humanitarian assistance…

Human Rights – Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action [1993]

“Human rights no longer treated as a priority, but as a pariah,” Zeid tells 25th anniversary gathering in Vienna
Vienna (22 May 2018) – In a speech delivered Tuesday at an international conference marking the 25th anniversary of a landmark human rights declaration, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein issued a stark warning that the world in general, including Europe, is back-sliding on human rights.

The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted by consensus on 25 June 1993, and heavily influenced by the atrocities occurring just across Austria’s border with the former Yugoslavia, laid down the blueprint for human rights in the post-Cold-War era. It also set in motion the establishment of the UN Human Rights Office that Zeid now heads…

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Statement by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on the 25th Anniversary of the Vienna Declaration
Minister Kneissl, Excellencies, Colleagues, Friends,
Twenty five years ago, it was here, in this city of confluence and cultural connection that the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action was adopted – and with its crucial description of human rights as “universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated”, cut through the artificial division of civil and political rights from rights that are cultural, economic and social.

The Cold War had ended, and the first words of the preamble marked a great hope for a new era, with interdependent countries engaging in a common approach to the causes of human suffering:
“Considering that the promotion and protection of human rights is a matter of priority for the international community.”

It was here that the world unanimously reaffirmed that every refugee from persecution is entitled to asylum, and called for effective protection for all those who are compelled to become migrants.

It was here that States urged immediate and strong measures to combat racism, xenophobia and religious hatred, and to ensure participation by the poorest people in decision-making.

It was here in Vienna that States recommended the creation of the mandate which I am honoured to occupy: the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

But today we seem to be headed in another direction.

Backwards. To a landscape of increasingly strident, zero-sum nationalism, where the jealously guarded short-term interests of individual leaders outweigh the search for solutions to our common ills.

Backwards, to an era of contempt for the rights of people who have been forced to flee their homes, because the threats they face there are more dangerous even than the perils of their voyage.

Backwards, to a time of proxy regional and global warfare — a time when military operations could deliberately target civilians and civilian sites such as hospitals, and chemical gases were openly used for military purposes.

Backwards, to an era when racists and xenophobes deliberately enflamed hatred and discrimination among the public, while carefully cloaking themselves in the guise of democracy and the rule of law.

Backwards, to an era when women were not permitted to control their own choices and their own bodies. An era when criticism was criminalised, and human rights activism brought jail – or worse.

So this anniversary could be the occasion for a polite celebration of the achievements of my Office over the past two and a half decades – and they are many. But today is not a time for soporific complacency. Human rights are sorely under pressure around the world – no longer a priority: a pariah. The legitimacy of human rights principles is attacked. The practise of human rights norms is in retreat. Here in Europe, ethno-populist parties are in the ascendant in many countries – fuelling hatred and scarring their societies with deepening divisions.

Where these parties have achieved power, they have sought to undermine the independence of the judiciary and silence many critical voices in the independent media and civil society. They have propagated distorted and false views of migrants and human rights activists. Almost everywhere, across Europe the hatred they direct at migrants has infiltrated the mainstream parties and skewed the political landscape towards greater violence and suffering.

In this country – which more than most should be aware of the dangers of ethnically divisive rhetoric, given the historical role of Karl Lueger – false and incendiary statements have been recently made which are fundamentally at odds with the Vienna Declaration.

Minister Kneissl, Excellencies,

As Viktor Frankl so often wrote, it is compassion, and contribution to the lives of others, which form the anchor of an honourable life. And the way to honour the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action is to act on it. Human rights are not just words to be nodded at sagely at anniversaries. They are meant, above all, to be put into practice, and anchored especially in the daily experiences of the poorest and most marginalised people — such as those who flee the destruction of their hopes by conflict and deprivation.

There will be no peace for any country until there is respect, and justice. There will be no sustainable prosperity unless all can benefit. Human equality and dignity are the path towards peace in the world: the path of real patriotism, building societies grounded in harmony, not divisiveness and hate.

So it is time to stand up for what the Vienna Declaration truly represents.

We need to use this anniversary to begin to mobilize a much broader community to defend human rights with our fierce, and passionate commitment. We need to make clear the vital, life-saving importance of human rights for the daily lives and global future of our fellow human beings.

Many of us do still have space to voice our concerns. We need to stand by our achievements and the advances which have been made.

We need to push back against the haters, the destroyers, the isolationists and ethno-nationalists.

We need to move forward, defiantly, to ensure that those indivisible, universal, interdependent and interrelated rights are able to build on each other to shape a world of well-being and safety.

There is no time to lose. Let this be a turning point, so that the Vienna Declaration can stand proud – not as a decaying museum piece, but as the flag-bearer for a resurgent movement to build peace and progress.
Thank you

Heritage Stewardship

UN Biodiversity Convention celebrates 25 years: Significant progress made, but more action needed to safeguard life on Earth
23 May 2018
…Entering into force on 29 December 1993, the CBD, or UN Biodiversity Convention, is the global treaty that provides the framework for international action on biodiversity, the variety of life on Earth. For the past 25 years, Parties and a global community of diverse stakeholders and partners have undertaken significant actions to achieve the three objectives of the Convention: to conserve biodiversity, use it sustainably, and equitably share the benefits from the use of genetic resources. The CBD Secretariat is based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Dr. Cristiana Pasca Palmer, UN Assistant Secretary-General and CBD Executive Secretary said: “On the International Day for Biological Diversity we celebrated the excellent progress made by Parties and partners. We have much to celebrate. Significant areas of the world are now being conserved as part of protected areas. We have seen enormous improvements in governance models and sustainable use approaches to manage key natural resources. The value of biodiversity for society, our social and economic needs as well as our own health and well-being, are now widely recognized. Furthermore, biodiversity lies at the heart of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development. ”

“But we need to approach conservation in a more innovative manner, to create new incentive models and to engage with relevant actors to help redirect behavioral choices to mitigate biodiversity losses and generate greater safeguarding values to our natural assets. Biodiversity continues to decline in every region of the world. This destruction of biodiversity and natural capital compounds and accelerates other global challenges – such as climate change, water security, food security and public health.”…

Since the entry into force of the Convention, membership has become near universal with 196 Parties ratifying the agreement. Almost all Parties have created National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans which are the focus of national efforts to implement the Convention…

António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, said: “This year, Parties to the Convention will begin work on a new action plan to ensure that, by 2050, biodiversity is valued, conserved, restored and wisely used for the benefit of all people. The entire world needs to join this effort. On this International Day for Biological Diversity, I urge governments, businesses and people everywhere to act to protect the nature that sustains us. Our collective future depends on it.”

Education – SDGs/Accountability

Report: Accountability in education: Meeting our commitments
Global Education Monitoring Report
UNESCO 2017 :: 509 pages
PDF: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0025/002593/259338e.pdf
Overview
In 2017, the second report in the Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report series continues its assessment of progress towards the Sustainable Development Goal on education (SDG4) and its 10 targets, as well as other related education targets in the SDG agenda.
It also investigates accountability in education, analyzing how all relevant stakeholders can provide education more effectively, efficiently and equitably. The report examines different accountability mechanisms that are used to hold governments, schools, teachers, parents, the international community, and the private sector accountable for inclusive, equitable and quality education.
By analysing which policies make accountability work or fail, and which external factors impact on their success, the 2017/8 GEM Report concludes with concrete recommendations that will help build stronger education systems.

KEY FINDINGS
:: Accountability is a process aimed at helping individuals or institutions meet their responsibilities and reach their goals. Actors have an obligation, based on a legal, political, social or moral justification, to provide an account of how they met clearly defined responsibilities.
:: Accountability lacks common definitions across disciplines and may be understood in different ways across languages.
:: Accountability matters enormously for improving education systems but it should be a means to education ends, not an end in itself.
:: People are more likely to deliver if held accountable for decisions. If held accountable for outcomes beyond their control, they will try to avoid risk, minimize their role or adjust their behaviour in unintended ways to protect themselves.
:: Trust is largely absent when actors operate in fear of punishment. A shared purpose, which fosters trust, is central to effective accountability.
:: Education actors are held to account through political processes, laws and regulations, performance evaluations, market competition, social pressure and professional norms.
:: Different approaches to accountability may be effective in some contexts and for some aspects of education and detrimental in and for others. No one approach is universally effective at all times.
:: Accountability needs to emphasize building more inclusive, equitable, good-quality education systems and practices instead of blaming individuals.
:: No approach to accountability will be successful without a strong enabling environment that provides actors with the resources, capacity, motivation and information to fulfil their responsibilities.
:: To accomplish the larger shared aims of education, policy-makers must recognize actors’ interdependence and work towards systems that incorporate mutual accountability approaches.

Health Security

WHO and World Bank Group Join Forces to Strengthen Global Health Security
GENEVA, MAY 24 2018 — WHO and World Bank Group today launched a new mechanism to strengthen global health security through stringent independent monitoring and regular reporting of preparedness to tackle outbreaks, pandemics, and other emergencies with health consequences.

WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and World Bank Group President Dr Jim Yong Kim co-led the creation of the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, launched today on the margins of the 71st Session of the World Health Assembly.

The Board will be co-chaired by Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway and former WHO Director-General, and Mr Elhadj As Sy, Secretary General of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. It will include political leaders, heads of UN agencies and world-class health experts, serving in their individual, independent capacities.

“The ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is a stark reminder that outbreaks can happen anywhere, at any time,” said Dr Tedros.

“Part of being prepared is having a means of assessing progress made at all levels, by all actors, identifying gaps, including in financing, and making sure all actors are working together, pulling in the same direction. I’m proud of the work we’ve done together with the World Bank Group to establish the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, and delighted that it will be led by such exceptional global health leaders,” he added.

“For too long, we have allowed a cycle of panic and neglect when it comes to pandemics: we ramp up efforts when there’s a serious threat, then quickly forget about them when the threat subsides,” Dr. Kim said. “With the GPMB, we’re taking a large step towards breaking that cycle. The GPMB will help save lives, prevent economic damage, and ensure that we keep pandemic preparedness at the top of the global agenda.”

“Pandemic preparedness must be as much local as global, and we must meaningfully engage local communities in preparedness, detection, response and recovery to disease outbreaks. I warmly welcome the launch of this Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, and commit to partner with you all. We all need to be accountable to each other on the promises we make, and the results we achieve,” said Mr Sy.

Board co-chair Dr Brundtland added: “With the current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo reminding all of us of the West African outbreak of 2014-15, the importance of being prepared for and resilient to health crises has never been clearer. Though the last two years of progress in improving capacity to respond to such events is encouraging, gaps remain – and it is time to stop talking about them, and start addressing them. It is in view of this that I welcome the establishment of the new Global Preparedness Monitoring Board and am pleased to be co-chairing it. The Board will monitor preparedness activities on a global scale, and will hold all actors, from private and public sectors, accountable for building essential public health capacities, generating sustainable financing and ensuring that necessary research and development is conducted.”

The Board will monitor emergency preparedness across national governments, UN agencies, civil society and the private sector. It will report annually on adequacy of financing, progress on relevant research and development, and the strength of health crisis preparedness at the global, regional and national levels…

Featured Journal Content

The Lancet
May 26, 2018 Volume 391 Number 10135 p2079-2184 e20
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/issue/current
Editorial
Health care in conflict: war still has rules
The Lancet
Denouncing attacks on health-care facilities and personnel in conflict situations, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 2286 in May, 2016. Addressing the Council, then UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, condemned military actions leading to destruction of health-care facilities as war crimes, and called on Member States to honour their obligations to protect health-care workers and patients in conflict saying “even war has rules”.

But 2 years later, on May 21, a new report from the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition, Violence on the front line: attacks on healthcare in 2017, shows a grim reality of continued attacks on health infrastructures coming from all sides, and which persist with impunity.
In 2017, at least 188 hospitals and clinics were damaged or destroyed, 50 ambulances attacked or stolen, and there were 57 reports of armed groups violently assaulting staff and patients in hospitals—101 health-care workers were killed and 64 kidnapped, 203 patients were killed, and 141 injured. Denial or obstruction of access to health-care facilities was reported 74 times. 57 of these events were in the occupied Palestinian territory. In Turkey, a physician was arrested for providing impartial medical care, and in Afghanistan, female health workers have been threatened for actions deemed inappropriate for a woman. Health facilities in Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Egypt, and Turkey have been forced to close.

When resolution 2286 was adopted, Peter Maurer, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, urged Member States that “after outrage must come action, not complacency”. But the sheer number of attacks in 2017 demonstrates the international community’s catastrophic failure to uphold its commitment to the resolution. The Coalition makes specific recommendations to the UN High Commission for Human Rights, Security Council, and Secretary-General to ensure that the lives and rights of health-care workers and patients are protected in conflict areas. António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, must continue to condemn these attacks, work proactively to stop them, and hold the perpetrators accountable for their war crimes.

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Report: Impunity Reigns as Medical Personnel and Facilities across 23 Conflict-Torn Countries Remain Under Attack
Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition
5/21/2018
In its fifth annual report released today, the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition warns that attacks on health care in conflict zones around the world are continuing with impunity and may in fact be increasing. The report entitled “Violence on the Front Lines: Attacks on Health Care in 2017” documents more than 700 separate attacks on hospitals, health workers, patients, and ambulances in 23 countries in conflict across the globe. And, as shocking as these numbers are, they are merely a fraction of the real figures: due to under-reporting of attacks and the use of aggregate data by some agencies, the true numbers are undoubtedly higher.

The report was released on the eve of the United Nations Security Council’s review of actions since it adopted resolution 2286 two years ago. The resolution condemned attacks on health facilities and health workers and demanded that governments take concrete actions toward protecting health facilities and medical workers from attack in armed conflict. But since its adoption governments have taken few of the steps needed, such as to reform military practice, investigate and prosecute those responsible for attacks, and stop arms sales to perpetrators. Without such action, the additional decimation of medical infrastructure continues to rob civilians already suffering in war of life-saving treatment.

The report documents more than 700 separate attacks on hospitals, health workers, patients and ambulances in 23 countries in conflict across the globe.
“The world knows about atrocities against health care in Syria – and the report reveals more than 25 acts of violence against health facilities, transport, and personnel there, the most in the world – but Syria is hardly alone: governments and armed groups inflict violence against health care with impunity in conflicts across the globe,” said Leonard Rubenstein, chair of the coalition and senior scientist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

“Numbers don’t tell the full story of the violence inflicted on patients and the doctors, nurses, lab technicians, and ambulance drivers who have made it their life’s mission to provide crucial care services to people in need,” said Rubenstein. “In one incident in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a militia allied with the Congolese army attacked a hospital in the town of Cinq in the Kasai region near the Angola border, killing at least 90 medical staff and patients, including pregnant women and other civilians. During the attack, the militia set fire to the operating theater with approximately 35 patients trapped inside. Yet the world pays little attention.”

The report reveals that the ten countries which experienced the most attacks on health in 2017 are Afghanistan, the Central African Republic (CAR), The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Iraq, Nigeria, the occupied Palestinian territory, Pakistan, South Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. Syria continues to experience the highest number, with 252 documented acts of violence against health facilities, transport, and personnel in 2017, amid sustained airstrikes and shelling on hospitals there.

The report defines an attack on health care as any act of verbal or physical violence, obstruction or threat of violence that interferes with the availability, access, and delivery of curative and/or preventive health services in countries experiencing conflict or in situations of severe political volatility. This includes attacks that kill patients, health workers, or others or destroy health facilities, and also includes the looting of medications and other humanitarian supplies.

In 15 countries, some 56 health programs were forced to shut down due to insecurity, leaving citizens without essential services. In Burkina Faso, where three health centers were closed following a terrorist attack, some 38,000 people were deprived of access to crucial treatment. In the occupied Palestinian territory, the Palestine Red Crescent Society reported 33 incidents where Israeli security forces restricted the passage of ambulances.

In 15 countries, some 56 health programs were forced to shut down due to insecurity, leaving citizens without essential services…

The Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition, of which IntraHealth is the communications secretariat and a member, consists of more than 35 organizations working to protect health workers and services threatened by war or civil unrest. The coalition raises awareness of global attacks on health and presses governments and United Nations agencies for greater global action to protect the security of health care.

Emergencies
 
POLIO
Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)
Polio this week as of 22 May 2018 [GPEI]
This week, the World Health Assembly is meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, and will be presented with a Strategic Action Plan on Polio Transition (including the Post-Certification Strategy), a status report on polio eradication, and a proposed resolution on containment of polioviruses.

Summary of newly-reported viruses this week:
Pakistan: Three new WPV1 positive environmental samples have been reported, Two in Sindh province, and one in Balochistan province.
Nigeria: One new case of cVDPV2 has been reported, in Jigawa state. Somalia: One new cVDPV3 positive environmental sample has been reported, in Banadir province. Two new cVDPV2 positive environmental samples have been reported, also in Banadir province.

[See WHA above for Polio action summary]

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WHO Grade 3 Emergencies  [to 26 May 2018]
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WHO Grade 2 Emergencies  [to 26 May 2018]
[Several emergency pages were not available at inquiry]

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UN OCHA – L3 Emergencies
The UN and its humanitarian partners are currently responding to three ‘L3’ emergencies. This is the global humanitarian system’s classification for the response to the most severe, large-scale humanitarian crises. 
Yemen 
:: Yemen Humanitarian Update Covering 15 – 21 May 2018 | Issue 16

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UN OCHA – Corporate Emergencies
When the USG/ERC declares a Corporate Emergency Response, all OCHA offices, branches and sections provide their full support to response activities both at HQ and in the field.
Somalia
:: OCHA Somalia Flash Update #6 – Humanitarian impact of heavy rains | 25 May 2018
:: OCHA Flash Update #3 – Tropical Cyclone Sagar | 23 May 2018

Ethiopia
:: Ethiopia Humanitarian Bulletin Issue 53 | 07-20 May 2018
 

The Sentinel

Human Rights Action :: Humanitarian Response :: Health :: Education :: Heritage Stewardship ::
Sustainable Development
__________________________________________________
Week ending 19 May 2018

This weekly digest is intended to aggregate and distill key content from a broad spectrum of practice domains and organization types including key agencies/IGOs, NGOs, governments, academic and research institutions, consortia and collaborations, foundations, and commercial organizations. We also monitor a spectrum of peer-reviewed journals and general media channels. The Sentinel’s geographic scope is global/regional but selected country-level content is included. We recognize that this spectrum/scope yields an indicative and not an exhaustive product. Comments and suggestions should be directed to:

David R. Curry
Editor
GE2P2 Global Foundation – Governance, Evidence, Ethics, Policy, Practice
david.r.curry@ge2p2center.net

pdf version: The Sentinel_ period ending 19 May 2018

Contents
:: Week in Review  [See selected posts just below]
:: Key Agency/IGO/Governments Watch – Selected Updates from 30+ entities
:: INGO/Consortia/Joint Initiatives Watch – Media Releases, Major Initiatives, Research:: Foundation/Major Donor Watch -Selected Updates
:: Journal Watch – Key articles and abstracts from 100+ peer-reviewed journals

Governance: Democracy/Truth/Freedom

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Commencement address at the Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Virginia, USA
Rex Tillerson. Former U.S. Secretary of State
May 17, 2018
[Excerpt; full video recording of speech at link above]
…As I reflect upon the state of our American democracy, I observe a growing crisis in ethics and integrity. Above the entrance to the main building on the campus of my alma mater in Austin, Texas are inscribed the words “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” Comes from the Book of John. Chapter Eight, Verse 32. “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” The founders of our American democracy were, I believe many agree, were crafting the structure and foundational documents guided by divine inspiration if not divine intervention. And the central tenant of a free society, a free people is access to the truth.

A government structure and a societal understanding that the freedom to seek the truth is the very essence of freedom itself. You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. It is only by a fierce defense of the truth and a common set of facts that we create the conditions for a democratic free society, comprised of richly diverse peoples that those free people can explore and find solutions to the very challenges confronting a complex society of free people.

If our leaders seek to conceal the truth or we as people become accepting of alternative realities that are no longer grounded in facts, then we as American citizens are on a pathway to relinquishing our freedom. This is the life of nondemocratic societies comprised of people who are not free to seek the truth. We know them well. Societies in Russia, China, Iran, North Korea. You can complete the list. A responsibility of every American citizen to each other is to preserve and protect our freedom by recognizing what truth is and is not. What a fact is and is not. And begin by holding ourselves accountable through truthfulness and demand our pursuit of America’s future be fact-based, not based on wishful thinking. Not hoped for outcomes made in shallow promises but with a clear-eyed view of the facts as they are and guided by the truth that will set us free to seek solutions to our most daunting challenges. This is also that foundational commitment to truth and facts that binds us to other like-minded democratic nations that we Americans will always deal with them from the same set of truths and facts.

And it is truth that says to our adversaries we say what we mean and we mean what we say.

When we as a people, a free people, go wobbly on the truth even on what may seem to be the most trivial of matters, we go wobbly on America. If we do not as Americans confront the crisis of ethics and integrity in our society and among our leaders in both public and private sector. And regrettably even at times in the nonprofit sector, then American democracy as we know it is entering its twilight years…

Governance – Oxfam Impacts

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Oxfam chief steps down after charity’s sexual abuse scandal
Chief executive Mark Goldring points to Oxfam’s ‘past failings’ as he announces departure at end of year
Kevin Rawlinson
The Guardian, Wed 16 May 2018
…Announcing his decision to depart, he said: “Following the very public exposure of Oxfam’s past failings, we have redoubled our efforts to ensure that Oxfam is a safe and respectful place for all who have contact with us. We are now laying strong foundations for recovery. I am personally totally committed to seeing this phase through.

“However, what is important in 2019 and beyond is that Oxfam rebuilds and renews in a way that is most relevant for the future and so continues to help as many people as possible around the world build better lives. I think that this journey will best be led by someone bringing fresh vision and energy and making a long-term commitment to see it through.”

Oxfam said Goldring had presided over “the biggest annual humanitarian response in its history, encompassing the refugee crisis as well as conflicts including Yemen, Syria and South Sudan”. His time at the head of the charity, it said, was characterised by an increasing focus on tackling global poverty and its causes.

It noted that he “faced the test of a lifetime” when that time was punctuated by the emergence into the public eye of the allegations of abuse and cover-up at Oxfam; a period he called the “most intense and challenging of my life”…

Education

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The Learning Generation: Investing in education for a changing world
The Education Commission
May 2018 :: 176 pages
The Commission is co-convened by Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway, President Michelle Bachelet of Chile, President Joko Widodo of Indonesia, President Peter Mutharika of Malawi and the Director-General of UNESCO Irina Bokova. The UN Special Envoy for Global Education, Gordon Brown, serves as the Chair of the Commission. The Commission comprises the following high-level individuals representing diverse geographical and disciplinary backgrounds
PDF: http://report.educationcommission.org/download/891

Overview
Education and skills are essential for the realization of individual potential, national economic growth, social development and the fostering of global citizenship. In the coming decades, as technology, demographic change and globalization reshape the world we live in, they will become ever more important.

Economies will rise or fall depending more on their intellectual resources than their physical resources. The valuation of companies will depend more on human capital than physical capital. The pathway to growth for developing economies will depend less on traditional forms of export-led growth and more on education-led growth.

And yet the world today is facing a global learning crisis. If current trends continue, by 2030 – the date the international community has set for attaining quality secondary education for all – less than 10 percent of young people in low-income countries will be on track to gain basic secondary level skills. The costs of this learning crisis – unemployment, poverty, inequality and instability – could undermine the very fabric of our economies and societies.

But there is a better vision for the future of global education and young people. Indeed, it is possible to ensure that all children and youth are in school and learning the skills they need to be successful in work and life. Based on research from the Education Commission, this vision is achievable within a generation if all countries accelerate their progress to that of the world’s top 25 percent fastest improvers in education. This report proposes the largest expansion of educational opportunity in history and outlines the reforms and increased financial investment required to achieve it…

The global investment mechanism
The Commission envisions a Financing Compact for the Learning Generation where one country’s pledge to invest in education will trigger the support of the international community. Mobilizing new finance will require innovative approaches to financing and new ways to leverage existing resources. In today’s world of economic insecurity and cynicism about the potential impact of international spending, making the smart and evidence-driven case for more funds — louder and more effectively — is vital.

But it simply won’t be enough. We need to find new and creative ways to shake up the
global financing of education.

The Commission makes bold recommendations to bring together the one set of institutions that can make the biggest difference today — the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) that have the power to leverage up to $20 billion of extra funding for education annually. Our proposal for a groundbreaking Multilateral Development Bank Investment Mechanism for Education combines the unique opportunity to leverage substantial additional MDB financing and scale financing for education with key strengths of earlier proposals for a global fund for education. Raising international funding levels for education to match those already achieved by the health community is not just a moral imperative. In an inter-connected global economy, it is a smart and vital investment.

The Commission’s work builds upon the vision agreed to by world leaders in 2015 with the Sustainable Development Goal for education: To ensure inclusive and equitable quality education by 2030 and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. The aims and actions
set out in this report are in line with, and intended to help to deliver this goal.

The Commission now proposes what would be the largest expansion of educational opportunity in modern history. Its success depends upon implementing the agenda for action set out in this report…

Development – SDGs/2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

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UN-World Bank Group Joint Statement on Signing of a Strategic Partnership Framework for the 2030 Agenda
WASHINGTON, May 18, 2018 – The United Nations and the World Bank Group today signed a Strategic Partnership Framework (SPF), which consolidates their joint commitment to cooperate in helping countries implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Signed by UN Secretary-General António Guterres and World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim, the SPF includes four key areas of cooperation: finance and implementation support to help countries reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); decisive global action on climate change; joint work in post-crisis and humanitarian settings; and harnessing data to improve development outcomes.

Building on successful past and ongoing collaborations between the UN and the World Bank Group, the SPF commits the two institutions to work together to help countries achieve measurable results at scale to transform their economies and societies. SPF initiatives will focus on, but will not be limited to:
:: Mobilizing increased and better finance from all sources — including through domestic resources, and helping countries attract and manage private capital;
:: Improving implementation capacity to achieve the SDGs, particularly at the national and local levels;
:: Promoting joint action and investments to improve infrastructure and build human capital (including education and health);
:: Convening governments, financial institutions, private investors, and development banks to mobilize, coordinate, and deliver financing to help countries make the transition to a low-carbon, resilient future;
:: Strengthening collaboration and joint action in post-crisis and humanitarian settings to build resilience for the most vulnerable people — including women and girls, reduce poverty and inequality, enhance food security, prevent conflict, and sustain peace;
:: Improving national statistical systems and enhancing countries’ digital data capacities to improve implementation and maximize positive development impacts, and;
:: Expanding and deepening partnerships in policy development and advocacy, joint analysis and assessments, and program design and delivery.

The Strategic Partnership Framework recognises the existing mandates, strategies, and programs that each institution has in place, and their distinct capabilities and expertise to deliver on their responsibilities to Member States and shareholders. Technical teams of the United Nations and the World Bank Group will work together to ensure effective implementation of commitments assumed under the SPF. The leadership of the United Nations system and the World Bank Group will meet annually to review the partnership and take stock of results achieved.

Development: Technologies – Blockchain

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Reassessing Expectations for Blockchain and Development
Center for Global Development CGD Note – May 2018 – 9 pages
Michael Pisa, Policy Fellow, Center for Global Development
Overview
Growing interest in whether and how blockchain technology can help address a variety of social and economic challenges has given rise to a community of thinkers, innovators, and policymakers working to explore the technology’s implications for social impact and development.

On one level, things are happening quickly in this space. Over the last two years, the largest development organizations have begun to examine how using the technology might help them meet their goals. This includes the World Bank, which established a Blockchain Lab in 2017; the United Nations, which reports that 15 UN entities are carrying out blockchain initiatives; the Inter-American Development Bank, which is exploring the use of blockchain as a platform for asset registries; and USAID, which recently a published a primer on the topic.1 Several humanitarian non-profit organizations (NPOs) are also evaluating blockchain as a potential platform for aid distribution and developing their own proofs-of-concept. This is all happening as the number of start-ups pitching ideas continues to grow and distributed ledger models continue to evolve.

Despite these advances, however, the number of pilot projects underway remains quite small. While this could be just a matter of timing—many of the organizations mentioned above are now reviewing project proposals—it may also reflect hurdles to implementation that have received insufficient attention to date.

Given that blockchain technology is still in an early stage of development, it makes sense that most discussions about its use have focused on its potential rather than obstacles. Too often, however, boosters of the technology have overstated its capabilities and failed to consider obstacles to adoption. This imbalance has led to unrealistic expectations about what blockchain solutions can do, how easy they will be to implement, and how quickly they can scale, if at all. The result has been a widening gap between expectations and reality that has naturally led to growing skepticism.

The best way to address these doubts is to take them head on and to rebalance the conversation away from starry-eyed accounts of the technology’s promise and towards the obstacles that are likely to slow implementation and the steps that must be taken to overcome them.

This brief essay explores a key but often overlooked hurdle to using blockchain solutions, which is the complexity that decentralized solutions necessarily introduce. At times, the benefits of such solutions appear to exceed the added cost of complexity but often they do not. With this tradeoff in mind, the paper considers two use cases, digital ID and health supply chain management. Finally, the paper offers recommendations about how the development community can shift the conversation in a more useful direction.

Humanitarian Response

Missing millions: How older people with disabilities are excluded from humanitarian response
HelpAge International
2018 :: 60 pages
Authors: Phillip Sheppard and Sarah Polack, International Centre for Evidence in Disability at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Madeleine McGivern, HelpAge International
Key findings
We found that older people with disabilities fared worse than older people without disabilities.
We identified a number of barriers that made it harder for them to escape from danger and exercise their right to humanitarian assistance and participation.

Older people with disabilities faced physical barriers such as having to travel long distances to distribution points, lack of accessible transport, and inaccessible houses, toilets and public buildings. It was clear that low-cost adaptations such as wheelchair ramps could make a big difference. Older people with disabilities also faced attitudinal barriers, and at times were
made to feel humiliated trying to access their rights in humanitarian settings. Thirdly, they faced institutional barriers, such as a requirement to collect food aid and social protection payments in person. These combined to threaten their right to independence, dignity and participation.

We also identified factors that enabled older people to exercise their rights. Families, neighbours and socialstructures were particularly important. Transport, proximity to services and home visits by health staff, community workers and “incentive workers” in camps (providing information to older people) also madea significant difference.

Interviews with staff from international organisations highlighted a disconnect between age-focused organisations and disability-focused organisations, from local to global level, and concerns about collecting data on disability and ageing, meaning that older people are at risk of being missed out of efforts towards disability inclusion and vice versa…

Conclusions
Our research identified a number of factors that promote the right of older people with disabilities to safe and dignified access to humanitarian assistance. These included the provision of rehabilitation and assistive devices, ensuring proximity to services and aid distribution or provision of transport to these services, as well as assistance from family members, and home visits by community, health, and social workers which promoted independence, inclusion and participation.

However, the research also identified physical barriers (such as distance, lack of transport and inaccessible houses and public buildings), attitudinal barriers (such as being told to go away) and institutional barriers (such as requiring people to be physically present to claim social protection and humanitarian assistance) that are likely to disproportionately affect older people with disabilities. This is particularly so, taking into account their greater risk of poverty and
higher healthcare and rehabilitation needs.

Considering that disability is most common among older people, and that numbers of older people are rising globally due to population ageing, there is a need to increase the visibility of older people with disabilities in humanitarian action and promote their meaningful inclusion. This involves not just addressing their needs for assistance and protection, but also enabling them to participate in decision-making on issues that affect them, so that they can exercise their rights in full.

Featured Journal Content

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BMC Medical Ethics
http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcmedethics/content
(Accessed 19 May 2018)
Research article
15 May 2018
A scoping review of reporting ‘Ethical Research Practices’ in research conducted among refugees and war-affected populations in the Arab world
Authors: Jihad Makhoul, Rana F. Chehab, Zahraa Shaito and Abla M. Sibai
Abstract
Background
Ethical research conduct is a cornerstone of research practice particularly when research participants include vulnerable populations. This study mapped the extent of reporting ethical research practices in studies conducted among refugees and war-affected populations in the Arab World, and assessed variations by time, country of study, and study characteristics.
Methods
An electronic search of eight databases resulted in 5668 unique records published between 2000 and 2013. Scoping review yielded 164 eligible articles for analyses.
Results
Ethical research practices, including obtaining institutional approval, access to the community/research site, and informed consent/assent from the research participants, were reported in 48.2, 54.9, and 53.7% of the publications, respectively. Institutional approval was significantly more likely to be reported when the research was biomedical in nature compared to public health and social (91.7% vs. 54.4 and 32.4%), when the study employed quantitative compared to qualitative or mixed methodologies (61.7% vs. 26.8 and 42.9%), and when the journal required a statement on ethical declarations (57.4% vs. 27.1%). Institutional approval was least likely to be reported in papers that were sole-authored (9.5%), when these did not mention a funding source (29.6%), or when published in national journals (0%). Similar results were obtained for access to the community site and for seeking informed consent/assent from study participants.
Conclusions
The responsibility of inadequacies in adherence to ethical research conduct in crisis settings is born by a multitude of stakeholders including funding agencies, institutional research boards, researchers and international relief organizations involved in research, as well as journal editors, all of whom need to play a more proactive role for enhancing the practice of ethical research conduct in conflict settings.

DRC – Ebola

WHO concerned as one Ebola case confirmed in urban area of Democratic Republic of the Congo
17 May 2018 News Release
One new case of Ebola virus disease (EVD) has been confirmed in Wangata, one of the three health zones of Mbandaka, a city of nearly 1.2 million people in Equateur Province in northwestern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Ministry of Health of the Democratic Republic of the Congo announced the finding, after laboratory tests conducted by the Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale (INRB) confirmed one specimen as positive for EVD.

Until now, all the confirmed Ebola cases were reported from Bikoro health zone, which is also in Equateur Province but at a distance of nearly 150 km from Mbandaka. The health facilities in Bikoro have very limited functionality and the affected areas are difficult to reach, particularly during the current rainy season, as the roads are often impassable.

“This is a concerning development, but we now have better tools than ever before to combat Ebola,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “WHO and our partners are taking decisive action to stop further spread of the virus.”

WHO is deploying around 30 experts to conduct surveillance in the city and is working with the Ministry of Health and partners to engage with communities on prevention and treatment and the reporting of new cases.

“The arrival of Ebola in an urban area is very concerning and WHO and partners are working together to rapidly scale up the search for all contacts of the confirmed case in the Mbandaka area,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa.
WHO is also working with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and other partners to strengthen the capacity of health facilities to treat Ebola patients in special isolation wards.

As of 15 May, a total of 44 Ebola virus disease cases have been reported: 3 confirmed, 20 probable, and 21 suspected.

WHO partners in the DRC Ebola response include:
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the Congolese Red Cross (Congo ICRC), the Red Cross of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC ICRC), Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF), the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa-CDC), the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US-CDC), the World Food Programme (WFP), UNICEF, UNOCHA, MONUSCO, International Organization for Migration (IOM), the FAO Emergency Management Centre – Animal Health (EMC-AH), the International Humanitarian Partnership (IHP), Gavi – the Vaccine Alliance, the African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET), the UK Public Health Rapid Support team, the EPIET Alumni Network (EAN), and the International Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the Emerging Diseases Clinical Assessment and Response Network (EDCARN). Additional coordination and technical support is forthcoming through the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) and Emergency Medical Teams (EMT).

WHO Grade 3 Emergencies  [to 12 May 2018]
Yemen 
:: Fighting the world’s largest cholera outbreak: oral cholera vaccination campaign begins in Yemen   Aden, 10 May 2018
[See Milestones above for more detail]

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WHO Grade 2 Emergencies  [to 12 May 2018]
[Several emergency pages were not available at inquiry]
Myanmar
:: One million Rohingya refugees, host communities being vaccinated against cholera
SEAR/PR/1689
Cox’s Bazar, 6 May 2018: A massive cholera vaccination campaign began today to protect nearly one million Rohingyas and their host communities living in and around the refugee camps in Bangladesh, to prevent any potential outbreak during the ongoing monsoon season.
This is a second cholera vaccination campaign being held for the Rohingyas and their host communities. Earlier 900,000 doses of oral cholera vaccine were administered to the vulnerable population in two phases in October – November last year.
“Considering the water and sanitation conditions in the overcrowded camps and the increased risk of disease outbreaks in the monsoon season, the health sector is taking all possible measures to prevent cholera and other water and vector borne diseases,” says Dr. Bardan Jung Rana, WHO Representative to Bangladesh…

Looming monsoons and little funding threaten health gains in Cox’s Bazar
8 May 2018   News Release  Geneva
With monsoon hitting Bangladesh, WHO warns that life-saving health services for 1.3 million people—Rohingya refugees and host communities— living in Cox’s Bazar are under serious threat, unless urgent funding is secured.
Scaling up health operations since September 2017, WHO and health partners have supported the Government of Bangladesh in saving thousands of lives of refugees who crossed over from Myanmar in large numbers in a very short span of time. Given the high risk of outbreaks among the refugees in overcrowded, unsanitary camps, WHO prioritized disease control from the outset.
WHO rapidly set up a vital disease early warning system, and together with government and partners administered over 3 million doses of life- saving vaccines against deadly diseases such as cholera, measles, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus and polio. When an outbreak of diphtheria was detected, WHO responded rapidly, bringing in international experts, emergency medical teams and medicines and medical supplies.
To protect communities from a potential cholera outbreak during monsoon season, WHO and partners began a massive oral cholera vaccination campaign on 6 May. Nearly one million Rohingyas and their host community will be targeted. This is the third oral cholera vaccination campaign that builds on two rounds of vaccination last year that reached around 900,000 people…

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UN OCHA – L3 Emergencies
The UN and its humanitarian partners are currently responding to three ‘L3’ emergencies. This is the global humanitarian system’s classification for the response to the most severe, large-scale humanitarian crises. 
Syrian Arab Republic  
:: Turkey | Syria: Situation in North-western Syria – Situation Report No.4 (as of 8 May 2018)

Yemen 
:: Yemen Humanitarian Update Covering 1 – 7 May 2018 | Issue 14

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UN OCHA – Corporate Emergencies
When the USG/ERC declares a Corporate Emergency Response, all OCHA offices, branches and sections provide their full support to response activities both at HQ and in the field.
Somalia
:: OCHA Somalia Flash Update #4 – Humanitarian impact of heavy rains | 8 May 2018

Ethiopia
:: Ethiopia – Floods Flash Update #2, 10 May 2018

The Sentinel

Human Rights Action :: Humanitarian Response :: Health :: Education :: Heritage Stewardship ::
Sustainable Development
__________________________________________________
Week ending 12 May 2018

This weekly digest is intended to aggregate and distill key content from a broad spectrum of practice domains and organization types including key agencies/IGOs, NGOs, governments, academic and research institutions, consortia and collaborations, foundations, and commercial organizations. We also monitor a spectrum of peer-reviewed journals and general media channels. The Sentinel’s geographic scope is global/regional but selected country-level content is included. We recognize that this spectrum/scope yields an indicative and not an exhaustive product. Comments and suggestions should be directed to:

David R. Curry
Editor
GE2P2 Global Foundation – Governance, Evidence, Ethics, Policy, Practice
david.r.curry@ge2p2center.net

pdf version: The Sentinel_ period ending 12 May 2018.docx

Contents
:: Week in Review  [See selected posts just below]
:: Key Agency/IGO/Governments Watch – Selected Updates from 30+ entities
:: INGO/Consortia/Joint Initiatives Watch – Media Releases, Major Initiatives, Research
:: Foundation/Major Donor Watch -Selected Updates
:: Journal Watch – Key articles and abstracts from 100+ peer-reviewed journals

Development – IGM [Intergenerational Mobility]

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Economic Mobility in Developing Countries Has Stalled for the Last 30 Years: WBG Report
Press Release
WASHINGTON, May 9, 2018 – Generations of poor people in developing countries are trapped
in a cycle of poverty determined by their circumstance at birth and unable to ascend the economic ladder due to inequality of opportunity, says the World Bank Group’s ‘Fair Progress? Economic Mobility across Generations Around the World’ report, released today.

Mobility has stalled for the last 30 years, says the report, which tracks economic mobility between parents and their children through the prism of education, a critical asset that influences an individual’s lifetime earnings. It looks at people born between 1940 and 1980, and finds that 46 out of 50 countries with the lowest rates of mobility from the bottom to the top are in the developing world.

Gender gaps, however, are closing with girls in high-income countries now out-performing boys in tertiary education and catching up in the developing world. In the not too distant future, the share of girls with more education than their parents will exceed the equivalent share for boys globally.

The ability to move up the economic ladder, irrespective of the socioeconomic background of one’s parents, contributes to reducing poverty and inequality, and may help boost economic growth by giving everyone a chance to use their talents, the report notes. People living in more mobile societies are more optimistic about their children’s future, which is likely to lead to a more aspirational and cohesive society…

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Fair Progress? Economic Mobility across Generations Around the World
World Bank Group 2018 :: 311 pages
Ambar Narayan, Roy Van der Weide, Alexandru Cojocaru, Christoph Lakner, Silvia Redaelli, Daniel Gerszon Mahler, Rakesh Gupta N. Ramasubbaiah, and Stefan Thewissen
ISBN (electronic): 978-1-4648-1279-8
DOI: 10.1596/978-1-4648-1210-1
Overview [Excerpt]
… This study measures the extent of IGM in economies across the world, how it has evolved over time and across generations, and the factors that might be associated with higher mobility, to draw implications for policy. By reporting findings on a global scale, it fills an important gap in the empirical evidence on IGM. For its global analysis, this study focuses primarily on mobility in education, which is important in its own right and is an essential element of economic mobility.
A newly created database—the Global Database of Intergenerational Mobility (GDIM)— covering more than 95 percent of the global population—forms the basis for most of the primary data analysis. To complement the global story of educational mobility, IGM in income is measured or compiled from existing studies for a smaller set of economies to shed some light on the patterns and drivers of income mobility and its relationship with educational mobility….

Two concepts of intergenerational mobility
Socioeconomic mobility has been interpreted in several ways in the economic and sociological
literature, including as mobility within and between generations and as mobility in incomes, educational attainment, and occupation.
This report focuses on mobility between generations. To illustrate the two concepts of IGM used here, it is helpful to imagine two generations of adults standing on different rungs of the same economic ladder, where the rungs indicate one’s economic success relative to everyone else based on, for example, lifetime income. Absolute upward IGM measures the extent to which the current generation has managed to climb up the ladder relative to the previous generation or the extent to which the rungs occupied by the current generation are higher than the rungs occupied by the previous generation, that is, the parents of the current generation.
Relative IGM is the extent to which every individual’s position on the economic ladder is independent of the position of the individual’s parents. If an individual reaches a rung of the ladder among peers that is different from what the individual’s parents occupied among parents of the peers, then there has been relative mobility.

Conclusion: A Few Principles for IGM-Enhancing Policies
For sustainable and inclusive growth, public policy must support a social contract that addresses people’s aspirations. Such a contract, in most countries, is likely to be one where all parents can expect their children to have better lives than themselves (absolute upward IGM) and where an individual’s position on the income scale is less tied to the status of his or her parents (relative IGM). Policies that achieve success on both these fronts can create a positive feedback loop, because citizens’ perceptions of higher mobility can, in turn, lead to a social consensus that improves the environment for policies of the future…

To break the cycle of high inequality and low mobility, a government would need to prioritize policies that raise opportunities for the least advantaged groups at various stages of life, as appropriate for a country’s own context. In most developing economies, where relative mobility in education tends to be low, investments and policies aimed at the initial stages of an individual’s life cycle are necessary for promoting IGM in education as well as income…