Casa Alianza :: Covenant House [to 5 December 2015]

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Casa Alianza [to 5 December 2015]
Covenant House [to 5 December 2015]
http://www.casa-alianza.org.uk/news
https://www.covenanthouse.org/

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Joint Press Release – Casa Alianza UK & Surfers not Street Children join forces.
30th Nov 2015
Both Casa Alianza UK and Tom Hewitt MBE have a long-standing commitment and shared vision, empowering and campaigning on behalf of street children in Latin America and Africa.
Effective as of 1st December 2015 Casa Alianza UK and Tom Hewitt (founder of Surfers Not Street Children in Durban, South Africa) will be partnering in order to develop and strengthen their direct project work and advocacy by campaigning together.
On the 1st December 2015 Tom will be hosting His Royal Highness Prince Harry at Surfers Not Street Children in Durban, South Africa to share and demonstrate how sport is being used for social development and to talk about the global phenomenon of street children.

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A Bill of Rights for Foster Children
Kevin M. Ryan Orginally
posted on Huffington Post 12/01/2015 8:11 am EST
When you’ve donated, volunteered, mentored, coached, fundraised and still the world remains full of homeless kids, you have one move: Do more. To that end, I often think about what it would take to turn off the faucets upstream, to work toward reducing the flow of young people to the doors of Covenant House and other youth shelters around the world. And the fastest faucet sending kids our way? Foster care.

Last year, 415,129 children entered foster care, a number that has increased 4.5 percent from 2012.

That’s a disturbing trend. In studying the recent report of kids leaving care, I was pleased to see a decline in the number of kids leaving foster care without a forever family, down almost 25 percent since 2008. But 22,392 kids graduated from foster care in 2014 without a place to call home, or people to live with. Think of how many faces that is!

When states find it necessary to pull children from their homes to protect them from abuse or (far more often) neglect, we owe those children a safe and secure family before they are adults. Languishing in government custody is a dead-end for kids, in large part because government can never love children the way healthy families do. If we neglect that most basic need, people to belong to, people to care about them, aren’t we just neglecting them further?

We know that young people who age out of foster care without being adopted or taken in by relatives who act as their guardians face daunting challenges: 60 percent of the young men who age out of foster care are convicted of a crime by their mid-twenties, and three-quarters of the young women are on public assistance. Forty percent of young people who age out of foster care at eighteen become homeless before their mid-twenties. They fill up the waiting rooms and waiting lists at homeless shelters, because we as a society have failed them.

I am heartened by two legislative efforts that aim to address that neglect, as it plays out in our schools. Young people who move frequently from one foster home to another lose an average of six months of progress per move. As I wrote in Almost Home: Helping Kids Move from Homelessness to Hope, one young man, whom we call Benjamin, arrived at our Houston shelter shortly after his 18th birthday, reading at a second or third grade level, in part because he had endured dozens of foster care placements.

But thanks to a bill passed this fall in California, kids like Benjamin will be given a way to protest if their educational rights are being violated. They have the right to stay in their home school, to transfer credits, and to enroll in a new school immediately if necessary. It’s a travesty that we haven’t been providing these basic services to wards of the state all along. But it’s a step forward.

Likewise, the Every Student Succeeds Act, a bipartisan House-Senate bill, includes similar provisions. Please join me in asking the House and the Senate to pass this bill. It’s what we’d want for our own children. And foster children, in a very clear way, are the children of us all.

IRC International Rescue Committee [to 5 December 2015]

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IRC International Rescue Committee [to 5 December 2015]
http://www.rescue.org/press-release-index

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Statement: International Rescue Committee files brief in opposition to State of Texas’ request for an injunction
04 Dec 2015 –
We have earlier today filed our opposition to the State’s request for an injunction to prevent the IRC from resettling Syrians in Texas. We are confident that the IRC has always acted in accordance with the law when it comes to our work to assist refugees who have been given sanctuary in Texas.

We have had a strong and collaborative relationship with the State for the past 40 years to the benefit of refugees and local communities. We have made clear our commitment to continued dialogue with the state authorities.

We look forward to a swift resolution of this case.

The Syrian Refugee Crisis and the IRC
The Syrian crisis has been raging for almost five years, and the IRC is involved in every aspect of the response: in the Syrian region, in Greece, and in the United States where we assist refugees who have been given sanctuary in the country. We have assisted with the resettlement of more than 300 Syrians, including families, of the approximately 2,000 Syrian refugees who’ve resettled to the United States.

More than four million people have been forced to flee violence, terrorism and persecution in Syria and now live in limbo in neighboring countries. Over 500,000 have made the decision to take the treacherous journey across the Aegean Sea in search of safety and a better life.

Refugees are the most security-vetted population who enter the United States. Multiple U.S. Government agencies conduct rigorous security checks, a process that typically takes between 18-24 months. Put simply, entering the United States as a refugee is the most difficult way to gain access to the country.

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30 Nov 2015
Aid failing to respond to family planning realities and needs in crises

ICRC [to 5 December 2015]

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ICRC [to 5 December 2015]
https://www.icrc.org/en/whats-new

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Syria: Humanitarian situation deteriorating as winter approaches
Geneva (ICRC) – The Director for the Near and Middle East at the International Committee of the Red Cross has warned of a deteriorating humanitarian situation in Syria as winter approaches. Hundreds of thousands of people are trying to survive with
03-12-2015 | News release

Democratic Republic of the Congo: The ICRC condemns attack at the Eringeti clinic in North Kivu
02 December 2015
Geneva/Kinshasa (ICRC) – Staff of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have treated three women injured in the deadly attacks of 29 November in the North Kivu town of Eringeti. The women were treated at Ndosho Hospital in Goma.

Philippines: Improved living conditions for inmates affected by Leyte prison fire
Manila (ICRC) – Access to clean water, sanitation and overall health and living conditions have improved for 1,800 inmates affected by the fire that struck Leyte Regional Prison two months ago. On October 8, the prison’s Maximum Security Compound wa
02-12-2015 | News release

Islamic Relief [to 5 December 2015]

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Islamic Relief [to 5 December 2015]
http://www.islamic-relief.org/category/news/

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A Quick & Easy Guide to COP 21 – UN Climate Talks in Paris
December 4, 2015
The media has been talking about leaders from countries around the world who have gathered this week in Paris to discuss climate change and their commitments to helping stabilise the climate by cutting their greenhouse gases.
Climate change is not the easiest topic to understand so we have put together this quick and easy to read guide to explain what COP 21 is all about…

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Hope for peace as Pope Francis visits Central African Republic
November 30, 2015
Islamic Relief and other faith-based organisations have welcomed Pope Francis to the Central African Republic.
Islamic Relief has been responding to the crisis in Central African Republic since early 2014, and, as the country approaches two years of conflict, eight humanitarian organisations have written a letter to Pope Francis to express their gratitude for making such an important visit for peace.
The statement was written by Aegis, Catholic Relief Services, Cordaid, Jesuit Refugee Service, Finn Church Aid, the Lutheran World Federation, World Vision, and Islamic Relief.

MSF/Médecins Sans Frontières [to 5 December 2015]

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MSF/Médecins Sans Frontières [to 5 December 2015]
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news-stories/press/press-releases

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Press release
MSF and Greenpeace Launch Rescue Operations in the Aegean Sea
December 03, 2015
Joint @MSF_Sea @Greenpeace operations have begun in Aegean—Gripping footage of newborn rescued from capsizing boat pic.twitter.com/SUnvhQp7hV
— Doctors w/o Borders (@MSF_USA) December 3, 2015

Press release
Yemen: Nine Wounded in Saudi-Led Coalition Airstrike on MSF Clinic in Taiz
December 03, 2015
AMSTERDAM/TAIZ, YEMEN—Airstrikes carried out yesterday by the Saudi-led coalition hit a clinic in southern Yemen run by the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and wounded nine people, including two MSF staff members.

Press release
Outdated Policies and Practices Contributing to Rise of Drug-Resistant TB Must End
December 02, 2015
GENEVA/CAPE TOWN—Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the Stop TB Partnership today released the second edition of the Out of Step report, a 24-country survey of policies and practices used today to guide the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis (TB).

Press release
Syria: Series of Deadly Bombings Partially Destroys MSF-Supported Hospital in Homs Region
December 01, 2015
BRUSSELS — Seven people were killed and a hospital supported by the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) was partially destroyed in a series of barrel bomb attacks in Syria’s Homs region on November 28, the organization said today.

Press release
Antiretroviral Drugs Fail to Consistently Reach Patients in Countries Most Affected by HIV/AIDS
November 30, 2015
JOHANNESBURG/HARARE—The international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) today warned that lifesaving antiretroviral medicines (ARVs) are routinely not making their way to patients in sub-Saharan Africa, most often despite sufficient stocks already being present in countries, and called for urgent improvements in ARV supply chains in the region.

Field News
Yemen: Aiding People Affected by Cyclones in Hadhramaut Province
December 01, 2015
Two cyclones hit the southeast coast of Yemen in early November and did major damage, destroying houses, bridges and other infrastructure in the city of Mukalla, Hadhramaut province, and leaving hundreds of families homeless in the region.
To provide access to health care, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) set up a mobile clinic in Mukalla city, where a doctor and nurse have provided more than 300 medical consultations.

Field news
CAR: “The Humanitarian Situation is Still Critical”
December 01, 2015
Thierry Dumont, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) head of mission in Central African Republic (CAR), describes the current humanitarian crises in the country.

Mercy Corps [to 5 December 2015]

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Mercy Corps [to 5 December 2015]
http://www.mercycorps.org/press-room/releases

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Post-Quake Nepal: Mercy Corps Research Identifies Keys to Recovery
Nepal, December 2, 2015
Access to financial services impacts disaster preparedness
Portland, Ore. — Nepal must build a more inclusive society, increase government accountability and build stronger financial support mechanisms in order to improve recovery efforts for future natural disasters, according to research conducted by the global organization Mercy Corps. Drawing upon lessons learned from this year’s deadly earthquake, the organization illuminates key areas in which change will be needed to make Nepal more resilient to future natural disasters.

“Nepal is very vulnerable to all types of natural disasters, including landslides and earthquakes. Mercy Corps sought to understand which factors hold the greatest promise for people to be resilient to similar events in the future, and what we could do to speed recovery,” says Olga Petryniak, Director of Regional Resilience Initiatives for Mercy Corps’ South and East Asia programs. “Each crisis may require a unique solution, but we can identify more specifically what people can do to help nations like Nepal bounce back.”

In its new report What Next For Nepal? Evidence of What Matters for Building Resilience After the Gorkha Earthquake, Mercy Corps recommends changes in several areas that are crucial contributors to resilience:
1. Disaster preparedness and response: Build greater preparedness on a community- and household-level, which will result in better accountability and faster response.
2. Social identity and networks: Because caste and gender strongly influence post-quake welfare, actively contribute to the strengthening of supportive and inclusive networks.
3. Financial services: Seek ways to establish relationships between financial service providers and households that will result in appropriate savings and credit resources.
4. Economic opportunities: Provide cash to those affected by a disaster to quickly restore markets and support livelihoods.
Mercy Corps surveyed nearly 1,200 households in Nepal 10 weeks after April’s 7.8 magnitude earthquake. The quake killed more than 9,000 people, destroyed a half-million homes and displaced some 2.8 million residents.

A nation in transition, Nepal remains one of the poorest countries in the world. Read or download the full report.

OXFAM [to 5 December 2015]

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OXFAM [to 5 December 2015]
http://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressreleases

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Yemen: Oxfam scales up relief programs in war-torn Taiz
3 December 2015
Oxfam is scaling up its operations in Taiz governorate, Yemen, to meet the increasing humanitarian needs in communities affected by the escalating fighting in and around Taiz city. The UN’s Emergency Response Coordinator, Stephen O’Brien, has described Taiz city as a ‘city under virtual siege’, with food, medical supplies, and fuel blocked from entering and humanitarian agencies denied access to the besieged population.

Pact [to 5 December 2015]

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Pact [to 5 December 2015]
http://www.pactworld.org/press-releases
Selected Press Releases, Blog Posts

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December 1, 2015
On World AIDS Day and every day, Pact is keeping its promise to end HIV
This year’s theme for World AIDS Day is Think Positive: Rethink HIV. At Pact, we see lots of reasons to be positive. In Nigeria’s Bayelsa state, more pregnant women are being tested for HIV and taking steps to protect their babies. In Ethiopia, children are learning the basics of good health and HIV prevention just as they are reading and math…

SOS-Kinderdorf International [to 5 December 2015]

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SOS-Kinderdorf International [to 5 December 2015]
http://www.sos-childrensvillages.org/about-sos/press/press-releases

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Caring for refugee children and restoring their rights
02.12.2015 – SOS Children’s Villages International calls on authorities to fulfil the rights of refugee and migrant children by increasing safe and legal ways for children and their families to come to Europe, ensuring dignified and humane reception facilities, not detaining children, and helping families stay together.

Women for Women International [to 5 December 2015]

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Women for Women International [to 5 December 2015]
http://www.womenforwomen.org/press-releases

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In Afghanistan, Investing in Women Inspires Change
November 30, 2015 | Huffington Post
Fatima, a leader of a women’s association in Kabul, Afghanistan, is helping women in her under-served community connect with opportunities to earn money to support her families. WfWI CEO Jennifer L. Windsor explains how investing in women like Fatima enables them to rebuild their families and communities after decades of war and instability…

ChildFund Alliance [to 5 December 2015]

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ChildFund Alliance [to 5 December 2015]
http://childfundalliance.org/news/

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ChildFund supports Terre des Hommes’s work for child refugees in Europe
[undated]
Author Child Fund Alliance

As winter approaches and the European refugee crisis continues, ChildFund Alliance is supporting a Swiss children’s aid organization, Terre des Hommes-Lausanne, to provide respite to families on the run. Many people escaping violence in Syria and other countries come through the Serbia-Croatia border, TDH has set up tents where families can rest.

…Now on the ground in Serbia and Macedonia, TDH offers families support and protection at all hours of the day or night, greeting them with warm clothes and blankets, personal hygiene supplies, maps, reliable information and help in connecting with families and friends. For mothers, there’s a private place to feed their children; for children, a safe place to play and, perhaps, feel like children again. Distressed families can also receive psychological support as well as health assessments and referrals…

The Elders [to 5 December 2015]

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The Elders [to 5 December 2015]
http://theelders.org/news-media

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News Andrew Whitley 3 December 2015
Palestinian rights are human rights
The Elders’ Policy and Advocacy Director Andrew Whitley considers the link between International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People on 29 November and the Human Rights Day on 10 December and explains why the need to uphold Palestinian rights should matter to us all.

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News 2 December 2015
COP21: hopes are high that Paris will be a turning point for climate change
As the COP21 climate summit approaches its final week, Mary Robinson and Gro Harlem Brundtland spoke to the BBC World Service about their hopes and fears for Paris.

Global Fund [to 5 December 2015]

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Global Fund [to 5 December 2015]
http://www.theglobalfund.org/en/news/

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New Toolkit for Differentiated Care in HIV and TB Programs
04 December 2015
HARARE, Zimbabwe – The Global Fund presented a toolkit to help partners implement differentiated care approaches in HIV and TB investments with the aim of maximizing cost efficiency and better serving the different needs of various communities most affected by diseases.

Unveiled at the International Conference on AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases in Africa (ICASA), the toolkit is intended to support country program managers and managers of health facilities by gathering examples of good practices at health facilities that seek to increase the quality and efficiency of service delivery.

The toolkit includes a section on how to best use data to emphasize the importance of supporting differentiated care with accurate data collection and analysis for planning and modifying approaches. It also provides information and practical steps on how health centres can develop differentiated approaches from testing and counselling to treatment and care to drug delivery.

The tool kit was based on innovative work from health facilities in Senegal, Uganda, Kenya and elsewhere, and also based on models of care pioneered by Médecins Sans Frontières and The AIDS Support Organisation in Uganda. It was developed in collaboration with a wide range of in-country and global partners, including Ministry of Health officials, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, World Health Organization, the President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief, UNAIDS, the StopTB Partnership, and the International AIDS Society…

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Global Fund Embraces Fast-Track Approach on AIDS
30 November 2015
GENEVA – To mark World AIDS Day on 1 December, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria declared its strong support for Fast-Track, the smart approach by UNAIDS to end the epidemic by 2030.

In a new report , “On the Fast-Track to end AIDS by 2030: Focus on location and population,” UNAIDS identifies all the most critical factors: the need to front-load investments; to focus on the locations, populations and programs that deliver the greatest impact; to catalyze innovation; engage local leadership; to creates new partnerships, to stand firm on human rights, and to deliver results that leave no one behind.

UNAIDS and the Global Fund work together closely, and are achieving impressive results in partnership. Antiretroviral therapy has grown from 4 percent coverage in 2005 in countries where the Global Fund invests to 21 percent in 2010 and 40 percent in 2014…

InterAction [to 5 December 2015]

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InterAction [to 5 December 2015]
http://www.interaction.org/media-center/press-releases

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InterAction Joins IATI
Nov 30, 2015
After many years of advocating for greater transparency, InterAction has become a member of the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI).
Along with UK NGO alliance Bond, InterAction serves as one of the co-chairs of the IATI CSO Working Group and currently publishes data to IATI, as do several of its members…

InterAction Vice President Laura Frigenti Appointed to lead new Italian Agency for Development Cooperation
Nov 30, 2015
WASHINGTON – On Nov. 23, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi announced the selection of Laura Frigenti, InterAction’s vice president for global development and evaluation, as the director of the new Italian Agency for Development Cooperation. The new agency was created by legislation passed by the Italian parliament in August 2014. Frigenti was selected after a global, public search by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Global Humanitarian Assistance (GHA) [to 5 December 2015]

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Global Humanitarian Assistance (GHA) [to 5 December 2015]
http://www.globalhumanitarianassistance.org/

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Trends in Humanitarian Financing: Middle East and North Africa region
November 2015
Report Synopsis
With a third of the world’s refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) now living in the MENA region, the question of financing the response is critical. Contributions from donor governments in the region, particularly from Gulf donors, are rising significantly. However, whilst the volume of international humanitarian assistance flowing to region has risen over recent years, the shortfall of funding to the appeals has also grown.
This briefing paper expands on data presented in the Global Humanitarian Assistance (GHA) Report 2015. It has been produced as background information for a presentation and panel discussion on humanitarian financing at the 6th Annual Conference for effective partnership and information sharing for better humanitarian action in Kuwait.
:: Briefing paper in English

Center for Global Development [to 5 December 2015]

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Center for Global Development [to 5 December 2015]
http://www.cgdev.org/page/press-center
Selected Press Releases, Blog Posts

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Two World Bank Surveys Provide (Imperfect) Evidence that De-risking Might Be Hurting Developing Countries
12/2/15
Matt Collin
The World Bank recently released the results of two separate surveys aimed at gauging the extent to which de-risking is a problem. The headline result is that banks around the world are closing accounts of money transfer organizations (MTOs) and are severing links with banks in other countries. These careful, timely reports provide crucial evidence that de-risking is a very real phenomenon and that we should be worried about it.

A Social Impact Bond without the Impact? Critics Question Success of Early Childhood Development Program
12/2/15
William Savedoff and Janeen Madan
The most essential feature of a social impact bond (SIB) is measuring impact. But what happens if the impact metric is questioned or unclear? A recent dispute over measuring the impact of a SIB for early childhood development in Utah yields two important practical lessons for this innovative financing tool. First, SIB implementers should be careful not to exaggerate the precision of their success indicators. Second, they need to be clear to everyone about which objectives they are pursuing.

UNAIDS and African AIDS Programs Agree That Effective HIV Prevention Depends on Location, Location, Location
12/1/15
Mead Over
As it does every year at this time, UNAIDS has released its World AIDS Day report. With five out of seven HIV infected people living in Africa, it is appropriate that the report is released here at the International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA) in Harare, Zimbabwe.

World AIDS Day DREAMS Made Real: How Cash Transfers for Girls Can Work
12/1/15
Amanda Glassman