Plan International [to 23 April 2016]
http://plan-international.org/about-plan/resources/media-centre

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Press releases
Nepal Earthquake: Urgent Need to Rebuild Schools
19 April 2016
One year after a devastating earthquake hit Nepal, the construction and repair of thousands of damaged and destroyed classrooms is crucial to the country’s recovery, warns Plan International.

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Plan International ready to respond to Ecuador quake
17 April 2016
Plan International is part of national disaster response efforts in Ecuador following Saturday’s massive earthquake and is ready to support children and their families.

Save The Children [to 23 April 2016]
http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.9357111/k.C14B/Press_Releases_2016/apps/nl/newsletter2.asp

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April 20, 2016
One Year After the Nepal Earthquakes: 3 Million People Still Without Permanent Shelter as New Report Reveals Some Marginalized Groups Missed Out On Relief

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Save the Children Partners with the University of Michigan-Flint to Protect Young Children from Lead Poisoning
April 20, 2016

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Children Pulled Alive from the Rubble after Ecuador’s Worst Earthquake In Decades
April 19, 2016

SOS-Kinderdorf International [to 23 April 2016]
http://www.sos-childrensvillages.org/about-sos/press/press-releases

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21.04.2016
Returning to Nepal, a year after the earthquake
Elitsa Dincheva was on holiday in the Himalayas when a powerful earthquake hit central Nepal on 25 April 2015.
“It was like the whole mountain was moving”, recalled Elitsa, who works in marketing at the Hermann-Gmeiner-Fonds Deutschland (HGFD) in Munich, which helps support SOS children and programmes worldwide. While she and the rest of her climbing group were unhurt by the quake, they could hear rockslides in the distance.

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18.04.2016
SOS Children’s Villages to help in Ecuador earthquake recovery
Thousands of people need shelter, blankets, water and food, following 7.8 magnitude quake. SOS Children’s Villages in Ecuador are unharmed and gearing up to help victims.

Tostan [to 23 April 2016]
http://www.tostan.org/latest-news

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April 21, 2016
Fostering partnerships to find sustainable environmental solutions and build resilience
At Tostan, our human-rights based approach to community-led development builds resilience in some of the most remote and vulnerable communities in West Africa who have little access to basic supplies and services. The environment is an important component of Tostan’s holistic approach. Rural and urban communities in developing countries are often the first to feel the effects of neglectful and harmful environmental practices by industries in developed countries—the communities in which we work are no exception.

We have seen the importance of communities learning about environmental best practices. For example, many Tostan communities collectively agree to use solar energy to charge cell phones, to provide light for children to study after sundown, and to cook with as an alternative to coal or firewood.

This year’s theme on Earth Day is ‘Trees for the Earth.’ Planting trees helps combat climate change, allows us to breathe cleaner air, and provides income and livelihood to communities. The very act of individuals or groups coming together to plant trees is a pro-environmental behavior that can have a significant impact on other people’s attitudes and eventually on environmental social norms…

Women for Women International [to 23 April 2016]
http://www.womenforwomen.org/press-releases

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April 14, 2016
Anniversary of Boko Haram Kidnapping Marked by Calls for Investing in Women and Girls
Nigeria – Women for Women International – Nigeria Country Director Ngozi Eze released the following statement on the second anniversary of the abduction of 276 young women and girls from their school in Chibok in Borno State:

“In the two years since 276 girls were kidnapped from their school by Boko Haram, we have seen the world come together to stand with the people of Nigeria and to unite in our call to #BringBackOurGirls. As we continue to call for their safe return, this anniversary underscores the need to invest in women’s and girls’ access to education and opportunity.

Since 2009, girls’ education has come under serious threat in Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa where Boko Haram has continued to attack civilians. More than 900 schools have been destroyed, and more than 600 teachers killed, with thousands of others forced to flee.

Despite these threats, the support and commitment to equal education for girls and boys has never been greater in Nigeria. Across cultural and religious lines, the people of Nigeria know that the empowerment and education of women and girls are critical for strengthening communities and sustaining long-term peace…

Disasters Emergency Committee [to 23 April 2016]
http://www.dec.org.uk/media-centre
[Action Aid, Age International, British Red Cross, CAFOD, Care International, Christian Aid, Concern Worldwide, Islamic Relief, Oxfam, Plan UK, Save the Children, Tearfund and World Vision]

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UK public helps aid agencies reach more than 1.6 million people in Nepal
22/04/2016
One year on from one of the worst natural disasters in Nepal’s history, the UK public has donated £87 million to the DEC Nepal Earthquake Appeal helping 13 of the UK’s leading aid agencies to reach more than 1.6 million people with relief.

Our member agencies used DEC funds to reach 50 percent more people than originally planned with food, water shelter, cash, medical care and essential supplies, despite the treacherous terrain, adverse weather conditions and a country-wide fuel crisis.

However, while overall 83 percent of affected families have received some sort of shelter support to help repair or rebuild their damaged homes, agencies are concerned that reconstruction of permanent housing is yet to start in earnest and the National Reconstruction Authority has said that homes will not be rebuilt before the monsoon in June.

To help provide a transitional solution, DEC agencies have trained 180 masons and provided 67,000 shelter kits to some of the 893,000 families whose homes were destroyed or damaged in the quake…

The Elders [to 23 April 2016]
http://theelders.org/news-media

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Press release 21 April 2016
The Elders urge UN Security Council to defuse tensions seriously affecting UN mission in Western Sahara
The Elders’ statement on the tensions hampering the UN mission in Western Sahara (MINURSO).

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Guest blog Matthew J Walton 20 April 2016
After Myanmar’s celebrations, the hard work begins
From building relationships with the military and ethnic armed groups, to satisfying political activists hungry for rapid change, Myanmar’s new government faces multiple challenges, argues our senior policy consultant, Matthew J Walton.

Hilton Prize Coalition [to 23 April 2016]
http://prizecoalition.charity.org/
An Alliance of Hilton Prize Recipients

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April 18, 2016:
2016 Ecuador Earthquake: Hilton Prize Laureates Respond

InterAction [to 23 April 2016]
http://www.interaction.org/media-center/press-releases

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Apr 21, 2016
Global Food Security Act Passes by Overwhelming Majorities in Congress
WASHINGTON – On April 20 the U.S. Senate passed the Global Food Security Act by voice vote. The U.S. House of Representatives passed its version of the legislation by a vote of 370 to 33 on April 12.In response to the bill’s Senate passage, InterAction today released a short article by…

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Apr 19, 2016
UPDATE — Award Winning Humanitarian Denied Entry to United States
On the evening of April 18 noted, award-winning humanitarian Raed Saleh — head of Syria Civil Defence (also known as “The White Helmets”) — was denied entry to the United States. Saleh was scheduled to attend InterAction’s Forum — the largest annual gathering of humanitarian, development and sustainability professionals — to receive its 2016 Humanitarian Award…

Center for Global Development [to 23 April 2016]
http://www.cgdev.org/page/press-center

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Selected Press Releases, Blog Posts, Publications
Inside the Portfolio of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation
4/19/16
Benjamin Leo and Todd Moss
The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) is the US government’s development finance institution. Balancing risks, financial needs, and development benefits is riven with numerous tensions, statutory restrictions, and tradeoffs. This raises an important policy question – how well does OPIC’s actual portfolio balance these competing goals? Since much data about the OPIC portfolio is unavailable in an accessible format, we built the OPIC Scraped Portfolio database to address this question.

ODI [to 23 April 2016]
http://www.odi.org/media

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News | 21 April 2016
Manufacturing more than doubles in sub-Saharan Africa, despite fall in share of GDP – new report
New ODI research finds manufacturing production in sub-Saharan Africa has more than doubled between 2005 and 2014

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News | 19 April 2016
China the largest new aid donor in some of the world’s poorer countries – new report
In an analysis of aid flows to nine lower income and lower-middle income countries, China accounted for at least half of all non-traditional development finance

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Developing export-based manufacturing in sub-Saharan Africa
Research reports and studies | April 2016 | Neil Balchin, Stephen Gelb, Jane Kennan, Hope Martin, Dirk Willem te Velde and Carolin Williams
This paper describes how production, employment, trade and investment in the manufacturing sectors in nine sub-Saharan African countries has increased over the last decade.

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Impact evaluation for portfolio programmes on policy influence
Working and discussion papers | April 2016 | Jessica Mackenzie, Simon Hearn
What can we learn from the Poverty Reduction Support Facility about evaluating portfolio programmes that aim to influence policy?

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An age of choice for development finance: evidence from country case studies
Research reports and studies | April 2016 | Annalisa Prizzon, Romilly Greenhill, Shakira Mustapha
There are now more development finance providers than ever before. This report explores the perspectives of country governments on this new age of choice.

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Age of choice: Viet Nam in the new development finance landscape
Research reports and studies | April 2016 | Annalisa Prizzon, Maya Schmaljohann
This report examines how Viet Nam manages the new development finance landscape.

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Age of choice: Lao People’s Democratic Republic in the new development finance landscape
Research reports and studies | April 2016 | Romilly Greenhill, Shakira Mustapha
This report explores how Lao PDR manages the new development finance landscape.

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Age of choice: Uganda in the new development finance landscape
Research reports and studies | April 2016 | Cathal Long, Fiona Davies, Martin Wabwire
This report examines how Uganda manages the new development finance landscape.

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Age of choice: Kenya in the new development finance landscape
Research reports and studies | April 2016 | Annalisa Prizzon, Tom Hart
This report examines how Kenya manages the new development finance landscape.

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The AIIB and investment in action on climate change
Working and discussion papers | April 2016 | Darius Nassiry and Smita Nakhooda
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank has a unique opportunity to take a bold approach to the expansion of renewable energy and sustainable infrastructure in Asia.

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Non-state security providers and political formation in South Sudan: the case of Western Equatoria’s Arrow Boys
Research reports and studies | April 2016 | Mareike Schomerus
This paper analyses the impact of the Arrow Boys militia and the Zande King on security and governance formation in South Sudan.

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Food prices: March 2016 update
Research reports and studies | April 2016 | Steve Wiggins and Sharada Keats
Food price updates track international prices of key cereals and comment on events in markets that affect them. This update reports events in the first quarter of 2016.

World Economic Forum [to 23 April 2016]
https://agenda.weforum.org/news/

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News 19 Apr 2016
Banks, Start-Ups, Regulators Urge Common Response to Fintech
:: In a newly released paper, executives from large banks, start-ups and regulators including Western Union, UBS, HSBC, Ripple and Bank of England unite around recommendations to sustain the rise of fintech
:: Their recommendations focus on preservation of financial stability, ethical use of customer data and suitability of existing regulatory standards
:: The paper is part of the World Economic Forum’s ongoing dialogue between policy-makers, industry participants, academics and society at large
:: To view the full paper, click here

:: Foundation/Major Donor Watch [posts below]
We will primarily monitor press/media releases announcing key initiatives and new research from a growing number of global foundations and donors engaged in the human rights, humanitarian response and development spheres of action. This Watch section is not intended to be exhaustive, but indicative.

Clinton Foundation [to 23 April 2016]
https://www.clintonfoundation.org/press-releases-and-statements

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Press Release
Clinton Center Hosts 3rd Annual ‘Bridge to the Future’ Free Community Festival
April 21, 2016
On April 30, 2016, the Clinton Presidential Center, along with partners Hippy Arkansas and Special Olympics Arkansas, will host the “Bridge to the Future” Festival, a free community festival that encourages students to read throughout their summer break and will include fun activities for kids…
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Press Release
Clinton Center Announces Curbside Couture Winners
April 19, 2016
On Sunday, April 17, more than 90 student designers participated in Curbside Couture, Arkansas’s largest “green” fashion show. More than 350 people sat cat-walk side and enjoyed the original designs created with recycled material…

Grameen Foundation [to 23 April 2016]
http://www.grameenfoundation.org/news-events/press-room

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04/21/2016
Grameen Foundation and ideas42 Launch Partnership to Expand Financial Inclusion in the Philippines
New Initiative Aims to Reach Thousands of Low-income People With Newly Designed Products and Networks for Financial Services; Supports Government’s National Strategy for Financial Inclusion
MANILA, PHILIPPINES – April 21, 2016 – Grameen Foundation and ideas42 yesterday launched a new partnership to support financial inclusion in the Philippines using principles from behavioral science and innovations in digital financial services using mobile phones. The initiative, funded by JPMorgan Chase Foundation, aims to reach thousands of people identified in the low-income bracket throughout the country…

…The initiative aligns with the National Strategy for Financial Inclusion launched in 2015 and builds on the success of previous programs designed to address the problems of access to and continued usage of financial products using principles from behavioral science. With research indicating that only 43 percent of adults in the Philippines have formal savings accounts, and even fewer have access to the means necessary to make regular payments, consumers encounter multiple bottlenecks preventing them from successfully following through on their intentions to open and use savings accounts and other beneficial financial services…

IKEA Foundation [to 23 April 2016]
https://www.ikeafoundation.org/category/press-releases/

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April 22, 2016
How businesses and consumers are taking action to address climate change on Earth Day
Global partnership to seize the opportunities of the Paris climate agreement and bring clean energy and prosperity to all.
New York, April 22. Today, as world leaders meet in New York to sign the Paris Agreement, the IKEA Foundation, We Mean Business and Here Now announce a partnership to bring about much needed climate action.

We Mean Business intends to speed up the pace of change by bringing more major companies on-board and advocating for policy changes. It wants to encourage governments to exceed their commitments before the agreement comes into force in 2020.

Here Now creates innovative campaigns to inspire citizens around the world to support climate change solutions. With the IKEA Foundation’s support, it will spearhead a broad range of campaigns. These include a citizen-led campaign fighting carbon emissions and air pollution in India, a programme in the UK to help people switch to clean energy at home, and a rapid-response content production initiative to bring millions more people into the climate change conversation.

The IKEA Foundation’s EUR 12.6 million grant will help to support this work with EUR 9.6 million going to We Mean Business and EUR 3 million going to Here Now…

Kellogg Foundation [to 23 April 2016]
http://www.wkkf.org/news-and-media#pp=10&p=1&f1=news

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April 21, 2016
Statement on moving the Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation Enterprise Summit from North Carolina
La June Montgomery Tabron, president and CEO, W.K. Kellogg Foundation
As part of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s (WKKF) Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation enterprise, we recently invited partners and organizations to a Summit to be held in Asheville, North Carolina in August 2016.

Since then, with the state’s recent passage of an anti-LGBT law, we issued a statement emphasizing our disappointment with North Carolina’s failure to protect all human rights. As a result, we are cancelling this four-day conference which would have brought over 500 people to North Carolina and generated millions of dollars in economic activity for the state’s local economy. The event will now be held in December and in a different state. We will provide additional details about the Summit at a later date.

Furthermore, in accordance to our institutional policies and practices, future WKKF-hosted conferences will only be held in communities where policies and practices are inclusive and protections against discrimination are upheld for all people. That said, as it relates to our named places (Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico and New Orleans), we will continue our work on behalf of children and families in these locations, but will follow that aforementioned policy and practice as it relates to the hosting of external (non-named place related) meetings.

Policies that deny any member of a community equal rights under the law do not reflect the values of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. These actions are counter to our belief that all children deserve to live in families where they and their parents have equal rights and opportunities to thrive.

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April 19, 2016
W.K. Kellogg Foundation announces new director of Mississippi and New Orleans Programs
BATTLE CREEK, Mich. – Dr. Rhea C. Williams-Bishop has been named the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s (WKKF) new director of Mississippi and New Orleans Programs, effective May 16, 2016.

Currently, Williams-Bishop serves as the director of the Center for Education Innovation in Jackson, Mississippi, a nonprofit education intermediary focused on impacting and transforming education through engagement and innovation…

MacArthur Foundation [to 23 April 2016]
http://www.macfound.org/

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Publication
Informing Global Education Strategies
Published April 22, 2016
A report by the Brookings Institution draws on wide-ranging research on scaling and learning, including 14 in-depth case studies from around the globe, to share how low- and middle-income countries are providing quality education. Millions Learning, created with MacArthur support, identifies 14 common ingredients of successful education programs to help countries design, deliver, finance, and enable the scaling of learning globally. A related video makes the case for why developing countries should focus on expanding access to learning.