COVID-19 – Social Protection

Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights [to 12 Sep 2020]
https://www.ohchr.org/en/issues/poverty/pages/srextremepovertyindex.aspx
Latest News
COVID-19: UN poverty expert says social protection measures “full of holes”, urges global rethink
GENEVA (11 September 2020) – The UN’s independent expert on extreme poverty said in a report published today that while governments have adopted more than 1,400 social protection measures since the outbreak of COVID-19 they were largely insufficient, and warned the worst impacts on poverty were yet to come.

“The social safety nets put into place are full of holes,” said Olivier De Schutter, calling on world leaders at the UN General Assembly in New York to strengthen measures to help the poor. “These current measures are generally short-term, the funding is insufficient, and many people will inevitably fall between the cracks.”

The economic downturn resulting from the pandemic is unprecedented in times of peace since the Great Depression, he said, adding another 176 million people could fall into poverty when using a poverty baseline of 3.20 USD/day. This is equivalent to an increase in the poverty rate of 2.3 percentage points compared to a no-COVID-19 scenario.

World Bank data covering 113 countries show that US$589bn have been pledged for social protection, representing about 0.4 percent of the world’s GDP. However, the expert’s report says those initiatives will fail to prevent people falling into poverty. Many of the poorest people are excluded from the social protection schemes that are meant to support them.

“Many schemes require forms to be completed online and exclude large groups of the population who have no internet access or who have only weak digital literacy,” De Schutter said.

“Some schemes impose conditions impossible to fulfil for people in precarious forms of employment or without a permanent address. Migrants, especially undocumented migrants, often are not covered. And although some schemes have been designed to cover workers in the informal sector and in precarious forms of employment, many do not.”

There are 1.6 billion informal workers and 0.4 billion precarious workers worldwide, representing 61 percent of the global workforce.

De Schutter said most of the programmes were now being phased out, or can only be renewed through parliamentary processes with uncertain outcomes. “Families in poverty have by now used up whatever reserves they had, and sold their assets,” he said. “The worst impacts of the crisis on poverty are still to come.”

Even where programs are still in place, the allowances often are grossly insufficient to guarantee a decent standard of living.

The independent expert called upon world leaders to seize the moment, by calling for the establishment of strong social protection floors guided by human rights principles, to make them more effective in eradicating poverty and in reducing inequalities.

Mr. Olivier De Schutter was appointed as the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights by the UN Human Rights Council on 1st May 2020.

Featured Journal Content

Lancet Public Health
Sep 2020 Volume 5 Number 9 e460-e511
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/issue/current
Editorial
Will the COVID-19 pandemic threaten the SDGs?
The Lancet Public Health
The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted in 2015, provide an international framework to move by 2030 toward more equitable, peaceful, resilient, and prosperous societies—while living within sustainable planetary boundaries. As the UN celebrates its 75th anniversary and a third of the SDG timeline has passed, The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2020—prepared by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs in collaboration with experts and international agencies— tells a story of tentative but insufficient progress, and warns of the regressive impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the report, COVID-19 threatens to reverse the progress of SDG 3, which aims to ensure healthy lives and wellbeing for all. During the crisis, 70 countries have halted childhood vaccination programmes, and in many places, health services for cancer screening, family planning, or non-COVID-19 infectious diseases have been interrupted or are being neglected. Health service disruptions could reverse decades of improvement, warns the report. Allowing people to slip through these service gaps could affect population health for years to come.

Even before COVID-19 the world was off track to end poverty by 2030 under SDG 1, with projections suggesting that 6% of the global population would still be living in extreme poverty in 2030. Now, an estimated 71 million additional people could be living in extreme poverty due to COVID-19. Although income inequality has been falling in some countries, a global economic recession in the wake of the pandemic could push millions back into poverty and exacerbate inequalities. The most susceptible groups are being hit hardest by the pandemic, threatening SDG 10. Similarly, the ambition under SDG 2 to end hunger was faltering before COVID-19—the population affected by food insecurity had risen between 2014 and 2018—but the COVID-19 crisis has added to pressure on production, supply chains, and household incomes, with the poorest being most affected. Access to water and sanitation (SDG 6) remains a major health issue. 2·2 billion people remain without safe drinking water and the COVID-19 crisis has highlighted lack of access to sanitation for billions.

Tackling global poverty and water and food scarcity is intrinsically linked to mitigating climate and land-use change. However, as the SDGs report shows, the world is off track to meet the goals toward environmental sustainability encompassed by SDGs 7–9 and 11–15. Most countries are not meeting their commitments to limit greenhouse gas emissions. We are in danger of missing targets to improve urban environments by reducing the number of people living in slums, increasing access to public transport, and reducing air pollution. Aims towards sustainable and inclusive economic growth, energy provision, and infrastructure development had all been falling short before COVID-19 and face considerable setbacks in the shadow of an economic recession.

The aim of SDG 4—to achieve inclusive and equitable access to education—also looks likely to be missed, with a projection that more than 200 million children will still be out of education by 2030. Most of the world’s children have been deprived of formal education during the COVID-19 outbreak—a legacy that could threaten the SDGs’ underlying ambition to leave no one behind. The world has made progress on SDG 5’s gender equality goals, with fewer girls being forced into early marriage and more women entering leadership roles. However, women’s wellbeing has suffered during the COVID-19 outbreak, with incidences of domestic violence increasing by 30% in some countries and a greater demand on women for unpaid care work.

Finally, reaching the SDGs will be impossible without international cooperation. The political tensions stoked by COVID-19 and a trend toward hardening of national borders could threaten SDG 16 to promote peace and safety from violence and SDG 17 to strengthen international partnerships.

Achieving the transformative vision of the SDGs by 2030 requires a major realignment of most countries’ national priorities toward long-term, cooperative, and drastically accelerated action. For António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, “Everything we do during and after this crisis must be with a strong focus on building more equal, inclusive and sustainable economies and societies that are more resilient in the face of pandemics, climate change, and the many other global challenges we face.” The intersecting challenges of health and sustainability might never have been clearer: an opportunity not to be missed.

Featured Journal Content

COVID-19 Vaccines – Development Standards/Regulatory Review/Commitments

Press Release
Biopharma Leaders Unite to Stand with Science
Nine CEOs sign historic pledge to continue to make the safety and well-being of vaccinated individuals the top priority in development of the first COVID-19 vaccines

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Sep. 8, 2020 The CEOs of AstraZeneca, BioNTech, GlaxoSmithKline plc), Johnson & Johnson, Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, Moderna, Inc., Novavax, Inc., Pfizer Inc., and Sanofi today announced a historic pledge, outlining a united commitment to uphold the integrity of the scientific process as they work towards potential global regulatory filings and approvals of the first COVID-19 vaccines. All nine CEOs signed the following pledge:

“We, the undersigned biopharmaceutical companies, want to make clear our on-going commitment to developing and testing potential vaccines for COVID-19 in accordance with high ethical standards and sound scientific principles.

“The safety and efficacy of vaccines, including any potential vaccine for COVID-19, is reviewed and determined by expert regulatory agencies around the world, such as the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). FDA has established clear guidance for the development of COVID-19 vaccines and clear criteria for their potential authorization or approval in the US. FDA’s guidance and criteria are based on the scientific and medical principles necessary to clearly demonstrate the safety and efficacy of potential COVID-19 vaccines. More specifically, the agency requires that scientific evidence for regulatory approval must come from large, high quality clinical trials that are randomized and observer-blinded, with an expectation of appropriately designed studies with significant numbers of participants across diverse populations.

“ Following guidance from expert regulatory authorities such as FDA regarding the development of COVID-19 vaccines, consistent with existing standards and practices, and in the interest of public health, we pledge to:
:: Always make the safety and well-being of vaccinated individuals our top priority.
:: Continue to adhere to high scientific and ethical standards regarding the conduct of clinical trials and the rigor of manufacturing processes.
:: Only submit for approval or emergency use authorization after demonstrating safety and efficacy through a Phase 3 clinical study that is designed and conducted to meet requirements of expert regulatory authorities such as FDA.
:: Work to ensure a sufficient supply and range of vaccine options, including those suitable for global access.

“We believe this pledge will help ensure public confidence in the rigorous scientific and regulatory process by which COVID-19 vaccines are evaluated and may ultimately be approved.”

Together, these nine companies have collectively developed more than 70 novel vaccines that have helped to eradicate some of the world’s most complex and deadly public health threats, underscoring their experience in clinical development and regulatory rigor, as well as their longstanding commitments to patient safety and public health.

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FDA Voices 09/11/2020
The FDA’s Scientific and Regulatory Oversight of Vaccines is Vital to Public Health
By: Stephen M. Hahn, M.D., Commissioner of Food and Drugs and Peter Marks, M.D., Ph.D., Director, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research
[Excerpt]
…The FDA’s career scientists and physicians are helping to facilitate the development and evaluation of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines. These professionals have globally recognized expertise in the complexity of vaccine development and in evaluating the safety and effectiveness of vaccines intended to prevent infectious diseases. They are experts in clinical trial design and analysis and synthesizing and evaluating tremendous amounts of data to determine whether a vaccine has been shown to be safe and effective. These experts are responsible for assessing the adequacy of manufacturing and the facilities where vaccines are made, which are critical to producing high-quality vaccines, and for post-marketing safety surveillance, using a wide variety of surveillance systems and data mining to continually review safety after a vaccine is approved.

The FDA is often held up as the “gold standard” of regulatory agencies around the globe. What’s at the core of these standards are the agency’s regulatory independence and science-based decision-making.  As with all products we regulate, we will follow the science and data in our decision making regarding COVID-19 vaccines. It is because the FDA is a science-based agency that we say this with the clarity of conviction. The dedicated career public health professionals who will be involved in evaluating the data submitted to the FDA in requests for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) and in Biologics License Applications (BLAs) for COVID-19 vaccines are committed to decision making based on science and data. They are fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, grandparents and more – and they (and their families) are directly impacted by the work they do. They are exactly who you want making decisions regarding vaccine safety and effectiveness.

No time in recent memory has shone as bright a light on the work of FDA review staff as the COVID-19 pandemic. We understand that a lot of people may not have information about vaccine development or how the FDA determines whether or not to approve a vaccine – and may not have given it much thought – at least until now.

With so much at stake, we understand the importance of being as transparent as possible about the work we do, including how we will make decisions regarding COVID-19 vaccines. The publication of our guidance was an important step – we firmly believe that transparency regarding the FDA’s thinking about the scientific data needed to support approval of safe and effective vaccines will help build public confidence in the FDA’s evaluation process, which will be critical in ensuring the use of COVID-19 vaccines once available.

An upcoming key milestone is the meeting of our Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee on October 22, at which the committee will discuss publicly the general development of COVID-19 vaccines. While this meeting is not intended to discuss any particular vaccine candidates, the agency is also prepared to rapidly schedule additional meetings of this Committee upon submission of any BLAs or requests for EUAs to further ensure transparency.

The FDA has been asked what regulatory path will be used to make COVID-19 vaccines available (i.e., will there be an EUA, or will the FDA approve a BLA?). The short answer is, taking into consideration input from the FDA, manufacturers decide whether and when to submit an EUA request or BLA to the FDA. The agency will review EUA requests and BLAs received and make appropriate determinations by looking at the totality of the available scientific evidence. For a vaccine for which there is adequate manufacturing information, issuance of an EUA may be appropriate once studies have demonstrated the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine, but before the manufacturer has submitted all of the various data elements normally required and/or the FDA has completed its formal review of the BLA.

As we have said, these decisions will be firmly rooted in science. We are committed to expediting the development of COVID-19 vaccines, but not at the expense of sound science and decision making. We will not jeopardize the public’s trust in our science-based, independent review of these or any vaccines. There’s too much at stake….

EMERGENCIES

Coronavirus [COVID-19]
Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)

Weekly Epidemiological and Operational updates
last update: 11 September 2020, 20:00 GMT-4
Confirmed cases :: 28 329 790 [week ago: 26 468 031]
Confirmed deaths :: 911 877 [week ago: 871 166]

Weekly Operational Update
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
9 September 2020

Weekly Epidemiological Update 
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
7 September 2020

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Emergencies

POLIO
Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)

Polio this week as of 09 September 2020

Summary of new WPV and cVDPV viruses this week (AFP cases and environmental samples):
:: Afghanistan: Four WPV1 cases
:: Pakistan: Three WPV1 cases and 17 WPV1 positive environmental samples
:: Chad: three cVDPV2 cases
:: Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo): 15 cVDPV2 cases
:: Sudan: eight cVDPV2 case

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Statement
Polio programme accelerates efforts to respond to new polio outbreaks in Sudan and Yemen
Joint statement by WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Region Dr Ahmed Al Mandhari and UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa Region Ted Chaiban
AMMAN/CAIRO, 11 September 2020 – “The recent vaccine-derived polio outbreaks confirmed in Yemen and Sudan are consequences of increasingly low levels of immunity among children. Each outbreak has paralysed children in areas that have been extremely difficult if not impossible to reach with routine or supplementary polio vaccination for extended periods of time.

“These outbreaks do not come as a total surprise. In Sudan, extensive population movement by nomadic communities, people displaced by conflict, frequent movement between neighbouring countries and restricted access in some areas have made it enormously difficult to reach every child with vaccines. The cases in Yemen are clustered in the Sa’adah Governorate in the war-ravaged country’s north-west, an area that has very low routine immunization levels and has been inaccessible to the polio programme for more than two years. The last house-to-house campaigns in this area were in November 2018…

…The outbreaks in Sudan and Yemen are the first new polio outbreaks in the COVID-19 era in our region. WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Region is also responding to circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus outbreaks in Somalia, Afghanistan and Pakistan. We know that when national authorities, communities and polio programme partners pull together, we can end outbreaks – just as we did in Syria in 2018. But if we cannot reach every child across these regions with life-saving vaccine, we fear that even more countries will see children tragically and permanently paralysed by a disease that can – and must – be stopped…

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Emergencies

Ebola – DRC+
Last WHO Situation Report published 23 June 2020
Last WHO DON published 3 July 2020

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WHO Grade 3 Emergencies [to 12 Sep 2020]

Democratic Republic of the Congo – No new digest announcements identified
Mozambique floods – No new digest announcements identified
Nigeria – No new digest announcements identified
Somalia – No new digest announcements identified
South Sudan – No new digest announcements identified
Syrian Arab Republic – No new digest announcements identified
Yemen – No new digest announcements identified

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WHO Grade 2 Emergencies [to 12 Sep 2020]
Iraq
:: WHO Iraq frontline workers tackling COVID-19 with community sensitizations and engagements WHO Iraq frontline workers tackling COVID-19 with community sensitizations and engagements 9 September 2020

Niger
:: L’Afrique certifiée libre du poliovirus sauvage : un évènement historique suivi au N…
07 septembre 2020

Afghanistan – No new digest announcements identified
Angola – No new digest announcements identified
Burkina Faso [in French] – No new digest announcements identified
Burundi – No new digest announcements identified
Cameroon – No new digest announcements identified
Central African Republic – No new digest announcements identified
Ethiopia – No new digest announcements identified
Iran floods 2019 – No new digest announcements identified
Libya – No new digest announcements identified
Malawi Floods – No new digest announcements identified
Measles in Europe – No new digest announcements identified
MERS-CoV – No new digest announcements identified
Mozambique – No new digest announcements identified
Myanmar – No new digest announcements identified
occupied Palestinian territory – No new digest announcements identified
HIV in Pakistan – No new digest announcements identified
Sao Tome and Principe Necrotizing Cellulitis (2017) – No new digest announcements identified
Sudan – No new digest announcements identified
Ukraine – No new digest announcements identified
Zimbabwe – No new digest announcements identified

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WHO Grade 1 Emergencies [to 12 Sep 2020]

Chad – No new digest announcements identified
Djibouti – Page not responding at inquiry
Kenya – No new digest announcements identified
Mali – No new digest announcements identified
Namibia – viral hepatitis – No new digest announcements identified
Tanzania – No new digest announcements identified

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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
:: Recent Developments in Northwest Syria – Situation Report No. 20 – As of 9 September 2020

Yemen
:: 09 September 2020 Yemen: COVID-19 Preparedness and Response Monthly Report (August 2020)

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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.
COVID-19
:: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Situation Report 43: occupied Palestinian territory, issued 10 September 2020, information for period: 5 March – 10 September 2020

East Africa Locust Infestation
– No new digest announcements identified

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The Sentinel

Human Rights Action :: Humanitarian Response :: Health :: Education :: Heritage Stewardship ::
Sustainable Development
__________________________________________________
Week ending 5 September 2020 :: Number 332

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– The Sentinel_ period ending 5 Sep 2020

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

Global Governance

After Disruption: Historical Perspectives on the Future of International Order
CSIS Report
Seth Center, Emma Bates
September 2, 2020 :: 70 pages
Open Access PDF: https://csis-website-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/publication/200901_Bates_History_FullReport_v1.pdf

The Covid-19 pandemic has intensified the debate about whether world order is undergoing a fundamental change. Cornerstones of the post-1945 system—economic globalization, democratic governance, and U.S. leadership—face headwinds. At home, some Americans question whether international institutions and the order they underpin still serve the national interest.

In this critical moment, the Project on History and Strategy asked seven leading international historians to offer their insights about the relationship between disorder and order. How is order remade after pandemics, wars, and revolutions? How do different visions of order get resolved? Who contributes to the making of new orders? Can a faltering order be rehabilitated? Does “might” always make order, or can smaller actors shape the game? Does order emerge from ad hoc responses to specific problems, or can a master blueprint become reality? Collectively the historians produced insightful essays spanning four centuries of upheaval. They recapture the interplay of personality, power, and the forgotten contingency at the core of order-building efforts.

Looking to the future, the essays serve as a potent reminder that the appeal of democracy, free markets, and the broader international architecture designed to extend those ideas across the globe hinge on whether the American people, their government, and their allies prove worthy of emulation and capable of adaptation. If they fail, others will be waiting with the vision and programs to construct a new order in their own likeness.

This report is made possible by general support to CSIS.

Featured Journal Content – Democracy

Science
04 September 2020 Vol 369, Issue 6508
http://www.sciencemag.org/current.dtl
Special Issue – Democracy in the Balance
Introduction to special issue
In flux and under threat
By Tage Rai, Brad Wible
Science04 Sep 2020 : 1174-1175
Around the world, democracy is losing ground. Polarization and disinformation have rendered liberals and conservatives unable to agree on basic facts. State violence and suppression of citizens’ rights are resurgent. Free and fair elections are being threatened.

In this special issue, we critically examine the state of democracy and how it must adapt to achieve its ideals in the 21st century. We need to meet the challenges and opportunities of living in increasingly multiethnic societies, of fostering democracy in a weakened international environment, of reducing inequality and elevating the political representation of the poor, and of organizing social movements and combating disinformation tactics in the digital age. Advances in technology are making it easier to distort true voter representation through gerrymandering, and political campaigns continue to struggle with reaching voters and persuading them to participate. Worryingly, state violence, which has always been a core feature of the democratic experience for some, is spreading in democratic societies.

Twenty years ago, it seemed inevitable that democracy would reach every corner of the globe. In this moment, we are reminded that we must fight for democracy and work to improve it. A scientific understanding of the social and behavioral phenomena that underlie its operation will help us enhance democracy and, by doing so, improve human lives and societies globally.

Policy Forum
Racial authoritarianism in U.S. democracy
By Vesla M. Weaver, Gwen Prowse
Science04 Sep 2020 : 1176-1178
One segment of the population experiences different rules and differential citizenship.

Human-centered redistricting automation in the age of AI
By Wendy K. Tam Cho, Bruce E. Cain
Science04 Sep 2020 : 1179-1181
Human-machine collaboration and transparency are key

Perspective
Campaigns influence election outcomes less than you think
By David W. Nickerson, Todd Rogers
Science04 Sep 2020 : 1181-1182
Campaigns have small effects but are built to win close races

Reviews
Diversity and prosocial behavior
By Delia Baldassarri, Maria Abascal
Science04 Sep 2020 : 1183-1187
Abstract
Immigration and globalization have spurred interest in the effects of ethnic diversity in Western societies. Most scholars focus on whether diversity undermines trust, social capital, and collective goods provision. However, the type of prosociality that helps heterogeneous societies function is different from the in-group solidarity that glues homogeneous communities together. Social cohesion in multiethnic societies depends on whether prosocial behavior extends beyond close-knit networks and in-group boundaries. We identify two features of modern societies—social differentiation and economic interdependence—that can set the stage for constructive interactions with dissimilar others. Whether societal adaptations to diversity lead toward integration or division depends on the positions occupied by minorities and immigrants in the social structure and economic system, along with the institutional arrangements that determine their political inclusion.

Can democracy work for the poor?
By Rohini Pande
Science04 Sep 2020 : 1188-1192
Abstract
Millions of the world’s poorest people now live in middle-income democracies that, in theory, could use their resources to end extreme poverty. However, citizens in those countries have not succeeded in using the vote to ensure adequate progressive redistribution. Interventions aiming to provide the economically vulnerable with needed resources must go beyond assisting them directly, they must also improve democratic institutions so that vulnerable populations themselves can push their representatives to implement redistributive policies. Here, I review the literature on such interventions and then consider the “democracy catch-22”: How can the poor secure greater democratic influence when the existing democratic playing field is tilted against them?

Democracy’s backsliding in the international environment
By Susan D. Hyde
Science04 Sep 2020 : 1192-1196
Abstract
If the end of the 20th century was defined by the relatively widespread acceptance of democracy, the second decade of the 21st century is marked by concerns about backsliding in new and established democracies alike and by a notable decline in foreign support for democracy around the world. As democracy’s global tailwinds shift to headwinds, scholars have an opportunity to better understand how experience with even superficial forms of democratic institutions across a diverse set of contexts influences citizen behavior when formal democratic institutions erode or disappear. This shift also provides the opportunity to examine whether citizen movements alone—absent external support—are sufficient to check newly emboldened autocrats.

False equivalencies: Online activism from left to right
By Deen Freelon, Alice Marwick, Daniel Kreiss
Science04 Sep 2020 : 1197-1201
Abstract
Digital media are critical for contemporary activism—even low-effort “clicktivism” is politically consequential and contributes to offline participation. We argue that in the United States and throughout the industrialized West, left- and right-wing activists use digital and legacy media differently to achieve political goals. Although left-wing actors operate primarily through “hashtag activism” and offline protest, right-wing activists manipulate legacy media, migrate to alternative platforms, and work strategically with partisan media to spread their messages. Although scholarship suggests that the right has embraced strategic disinformation and conspiracy theories more than the left, more research is needed to reveal the magnitude and character of left-wing disinformation. Such ideological asymmetries between left- and right-wing activism hold critical implications for democratic practice, social media governance, and the interdisciplinary study of digital politics.

Heritage Stewardship

ArThemis, the open-access cultural property restitution database
UNESCO 01/09/2020
ArThemis is a fully searchable database containing case notes about disputes over the return and restitution of cultural property. The case notes focus on the settlement of disputes through alternative dispute resolution methods (ADR) but also examine judicial decisions. The case notes are accompanied by pertinent documents, including judgments, published agreements, pictures, etc.

With its wish to provide innovative methods and multiple solutions for the restitution of cultural property, UNESCO in association with the University of Geneva, makes the ArThemis database available to all. It contains cases resolved by judicial means or alternative dispute resolution methods, in addition to a wide range of research possibilities such as the type of object sought, the chronological context, or the issue as it pertains to law.

An open access-tool, ArThemis allows everyone involved, from legal practitioners to researchers and academics, to have a point of reference on all dispute resolution methods.

A valuable tool, ArThemis provides detailed cases resolved by judicial decision, which demonstrates judges’ awareness in matters of art law and the restitution of cultural property. These files also reveal the limits of judicial decisions and provide an overview of how courts resolve procedural and substantive issues. ArThemis also contains information relating to alternative methods that have enabled the return of goods.

ArThemis prefers a pragmatic approach taking into account the origin of cultural goods and the ethical, historical, cultural, financial and legal interests involved. It brings an innovative angle to the fight against the illicit trafficking of cultural goods.

You can consult the ArThemis database here.
Another relevant database, UNESCO Database of National Cultural Laws, is also available here.

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First Release of Getty’s New Research Collections Viewer Offers Digital Access to Vast Archives
A new online tool invites you to browse thousands of photographs and artists’ letters, with more to come
Getty Conservation Institute Nathaniel Deines | September 2, 2020

Now online in its initial release, the Research Collections Viewer offers a visual way to browse and search Getty’s archival collections. The Viewer aims to make it easier to see what we have in our research collections—rare primary source material such as artists’ papers, prints, and photographs—as well as contextual information such as related works by the same artist.

At Getty we’ve been digitizing archives on a major scale since 1997 (see this guide to early photography of the Mediterranean for one of our first forays), yet digital images and finding aids have always existed in separate systems, connected only through a carefully managed set of links…\In addition to connecting the finding aids with the digitized materials, the Research Collections Viewer connects archival materials themselves together by leveraging Linked Open Data standards. Using the “Related Material” section, you can explore archives intuitively, investigating relationships between people, places, dates, and ideas.
For its initial launch, the Research Collections Viewer features access to information and many images from the correspondence of artist Sylvia Sleigh and critic Lawrence Alloway and from the Los Angeles photographs of artist Ed Ruscha. We chose these archives because they presented unique challenges that will inform how we present other large and complex collections going forward.

COVID-19 Impacts – Education in Humanitarian Contexts

Back to school in humanitarian settings finds $135 million funding gap and increased digital divide – IRC
August 31, 2020
:: New analysis from the International Rescue Committee (IRC) finds widening education and digital access gaps among children in humanitarian settings stemming from COVID-19.
:: Education remains one of the least-funded sectors in humanitarian response, with a current COVID-19 funding gap of $135 million.
:: School closures are impacting refugee girls harder than boys, with more than half not expected to return.

New York, NY, August 31, 2020 — As children in wealthier countries begin to head back to a different model of school or continue remote learning, a new analysis from the IRC finds continued disruptions for children within humanitarian settings, leading to widening gaps in accessing quality education. Prior to COVID-19, 250 million school-aged children were out of school, with the majority of those impacted living in fragile and conflict-affected contexts. COVID-19 has further widened this divide, with 86% of children in developing countries at the primary school level no longer having access to education, compared to 20% in developed countries[1].

As schools in fragile states remain closed, and as the economic impacts of COVID-19 continue to take their toll on families, children are at a higher risk of dropping out of school altogether. The consequences are even more dire for girls, who face additional risks of exploitation, early marriage, pregnancy, and child labor. Estimates suggest more than half of all refugee girls will not return when schools open[2]. Those without access to digital technology are disproportionately affected by COVID-19 as they cannot transition from the classroom to online learning. A recent analysis found less than one-quarter of low-income countries are providing any form of remote instruction[3]. Moreover, remote learning options available to children in wealthier contexts are impossible in humanitarian settings given limited access to the Internet. In the least-developed countries, only two in ten households have access to the Internet[4].

Education remains critically underfunded in humanitarian settings, receiving less than 3% of aid annually, and prior to COVID-19, faced an $8.5 billion annual deficit[5]. Despite increased international attention to the loss of learning stemming from COVID-19, this has yet to change. The Global Humanitarian Response Plan for COVID-19 calls for a mere 4% of the $10.26 billion appeal to go to education. As of August, only $277 million of the $403 million requested has been provided for education programs–a $135 million gap for the rest of this year alone[6].

“While the global scale of this crisis is unprecedented, interruptions to education and threats to children’s learning are commonplace in countries affected by crisis,” said Sarah Smith, senior director, education, International Rescue Committee. “But we know that children and their families are inherently resilient, and we now have an opportunity to work together to transform business as usual and provide quality, innovative learning opportunities in the most challenging contexts on earth. By getting creative in how children access learning and ensuring the most vulnerable children are included in all educational plans that take into account their unique experiences and varying degrees of digital access, we can lessen the disruptions and build better systems that work for all children.”…

Food Security and COVID-19
World Bank Brief
August 31, 2020
Alarmed by a potential rise in food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries and organizations are mounting special efforts to keep agriculture safely running as an essential business, markets well supplied in affordable and nutritious food, and consumers still able to access and purchase food despite movement restrictions and income losses.

This page summarizes the evolving agriculture and food situation and provides links to World Bank and other resources. Updates are frequently posted on this page.

Overview
Global agricultural markets continue to remain stable as food trade has remained more resilient than overall trade. Global production levels for the three most widely consumed staples (rice, wheat and maize) are at or near all-time highs. However, the prices of certain cash crops — an important source of rural income — have been depressed by the slowing of global demand.

Given the status of global food supplies, export restrictions are unwarranted and could hurt food security in importing countries. The World Bank has joined other organizations in calling for collective action to keep food trade flowing between countries.

The primary risks to food security are at the country level: as the coronavirus crisis unfolds, disruptions in domestic food supply chains, other shocks affecting food production, and loss of incomes and remittances are creating strong tensions and food security risks in many countries. Despite stable global food prices, numerous countries are experiencing varying levels of food price inflation due to measures taken to combat the spread of COVID-19.

Food producers also face large losses on perishable and nutritious food as buyers have become limited and consumption patterns shift. Though food insecurity is by and large not driven by food shortages, disruptions to the supply of agricultural inputs such as fertilizers, seeds or labor shortages could diminish next season’s crop. If farmers are experiencing acute hunger, they may also prioritize buying food today over planting seeds for tomorrow, raising the threat of food shortages later on.

Food security “hot spots” include:
:: fragile and conflict-affected states, where logistics and distribution are difficult even without morbidity and social distancing.
:: countries affected by multiple crises resulting from more frequent extreme weather events (floods, droughts) and pests such as the current locusts plague – the worst in decades— impacting food production in 23 countries.
:: the poor and vulnerable, including the 690 million people who were already chronically food insecure before the COVID-19 crisis impacted movement and incomes.
:: countries with significant currency depreciation, (driving up the cost of food imports) and countries seeing other commodity prices collapse (reducing their capacity to import food)…

COVID-19 Impacts – Global Manufacturing

World Manufacturing Production – Statistics for Quarter II 2020
Global manufacturing has collapsed, but China’s manufacturing is showing early signs of recovery
UNIDO United Nations Industrial Development Organization
September 2020 :: 19 pages

Media Release
World manufacturing set for biggest collapse in decades but impacts uneven – UNIDO report
During the second quarter of 2020, manufacturing production fell sharply in most countries around the world, with the notable exception of China where output had already returned to moderate growth. On current estimates, UNIDO expects a decline in global manufacturing value added of 8.4 per cent for the year as a whole, which would make 2020 the worst year on official records for the sector.

In the second quarter of 2020 (April-June), global manufacturing output fell by 11.2 per cent compared with the same quarter in the previous year, according to official figures from the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). The dramatic drop reflects the economic impact of measures imposed to halt the spread of COVID-19, which overshadowed all other negative influences on the sector, including higher trade barriers and the impact of Brexit.

UNIDO anticipates ongoing disruptions to manufacturing over the coming months as the world continues to grapple with the impacts of the pandemic. “Based on this scenario, and on developments in manufacturing linked to other economic variables, UNIDO is forecasting a fall in global manufacturing value added of 8.4 per cent in 2020, which would mark the biggest collapse in output since official records began,” UNIDO Chief Statistician Fernando Cantu said.

Some countries are likely to be harder hit than others, with China expected to record a more modest drop of 1.6 per cent compared with the United States and Europe’s industrialized economies where value added in 2020 is forecast to plummet by 15 per cent and 14.3 per cent, respectively.

Cantu noted, however, that more time was needed to assess the full impact of containment measures on households, businesses and government balance sheets. In addition, he cautioned that “recent developments in several countries point to a possible second wave of the pandemic, which could require the return of harsher economic restrictions, with knock-on effects on supply and demand”.

Figures for the second quarter show a wide divergence between China and the rest of the world, as well as between and within developing and industrialized economies. China was one of the first countries to impose a lockdown and most of the impact was felt during the first three months of the year. By the second quarter, China’s manufacturing output had already returned to growth, increasing by 2.8 per cent year-on-year, led by industries such as computer electronics (11.2 per cent), electrical equipment (6.8 per cent) and machinery (6.3 per cent)…

Featured Media Content

The Tragedy of Vaccine Nationalism
Only Cooperation Can End the Pandemic
Foreign Affairs September/October 2020
By Thomas J. Bollyky and Chad P. Bown
[Open Access]
Trump administration officials have compared the global allocation of vaccines against the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 to oxygen masks dropping inside a depressurizing airplane. “You put on your own first, and then we want to help others as quickly as possible,” Peter Marks, a senior official at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration who oversaw the initial phases of vaccine development for the U.S. government, said during a panel discussion in June. The major difference, of course, is that airplane oxygen masks do not drop only in first class—which is the equivalent of what will happen when vaccines eventually become available if governments delay providing access to them to people in other countries…

…THE POWER OF FOMO
When the oxygen masks drop in a depressurizing plane, they drop at the same time in every part of the plane because time is of the essence and because that is the best way to ensure the safety of all onboard. The same is true of the global, equitable allocation of safe and effective vaccines against COVID-19.

Vaccine nationalism is not just morally and ethically reprehensible: it is contrary to every country’s economic, strategic, and health interests. If rich, powerful countries choose that path, there will be no winners—ultimately, every country will be a loser. The world is not doomed to learn this the hard way, however. All the necessary tools exist to forge an agreement that would encourage cooperation and limit the appeal of shortsighted “my country first” approaches.

But time is running out: the closer the world gets to the day when the first proven vaccines emerge, the less time there is to set up an equitable, enforceable system for allocating them. As a first step, a coalition of political leaders from countries representing at least 50 percent of global vaccine-manufacturing capacity must get together and instruct their public health officials and trade ministers to get out of their silos and work together. Combining forces, they should hammer out a short-term agreement that articulates the conditions for sharing, including with the legions of poorer, nonmanufacturing countries, and makes clear what would happen to participants who subsequently reneged and undertook vaccine nationalism. Such a step would get the ball rolling and convince even more of the manufacturing countries to sign on. The fear of missing out on vaccine access, in the event their countries’ own vaccine candidates fail, may be what it takes to pressure even today’s most reluctant leaders to cooperate.

EMERGENCIES

Coronavirus [COVID-19]
Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)

Weekly Epidemiological and Operational updates August 2020
Confirmed cases :: 26 468 031 [week ago: 24 587 513]
Confirmed deaths :: 871 166 [week ago: 833 556]

Weekly Epidemiological Update 
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
4 September 2020

WHO response in countries
3 September 2020
A live digital Platform behind the scenes for more effective and transparent country response

2 September 2020
WHO updates clinical care guidance with corticosteroid recommendations

31 August 2020
Athens protects vulnerable communities during COVID-19

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Emergencies

POLIO
Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)

Polio this week as of 03 September 2020
:: The Polio Oversight Board (POB) released a statement [see below] after holding a meeting on 18 August 2020 where they reviewed progress on resumption of vaccination campaigns after the Covid-19 induced pause, programme transformation in Pakistan, the increase in circulating Vaccine Derived Polio Virus (cVDPV) outbreaks, and the financial situation.
:: Professor Rose Leke, an infectious disease specialist, has been the chairperson of the ARCC since it was set up in 1998. A trailblazer for women in global health, Leke has fought throughout her career to improve women’s representation in science and global health leadership. Take a look at her journey in polio eradication and her views on gender and women in science.

Summary of new WPV and cVDPV viruses this week (AFP cases and environmental samples):
:: Afghanistan: Three WPV1 cases, one WPV1 positive environmental sample and 13 cVDPV2 cases
:: Pakistan: Five WPV1 positive environmental samples and three cVDPV2 positive environmental samples
:: Cameroon: one cVDPV2 positive environmental sample
:: Chad: three cVDPV2 cases
:: Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo): one cVDPV2 case

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Statement: POLIO OVERSIGHT BOARD – 24 August 2020
Meeting of 18 August 2020
On August 18, the Polio Oversight Board (POB) of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) convened to assess the status of polio eradication. The Board reviewed progress on resumption of vaccination campaigns after the Covid-19 induced pause, programme transformation in Pakistan, the increase in circulating Vaccine Derived Polio Virus (cVDPV) outbreaks, and the financial situation. The discussion was informed by the recent reports of the Independent Monitoring Board, the Pakistan and Afghanistan Technical Advisory Groups and the participation of major donors.

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the polio eradication programme with paused campaigns, disruption of essential immunization and a decline in surveillance quality. The Board was humbled by the commitment of front-line polio staff to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and who also recognized the importance of safely restarting campaigns to deliver polio accines in communities while the COVID virus circulates.

The pandemic demonstrates the critical role of GPEI funded staff for global health security and underlined the importance of integrating functions into the broader immunization and emergencies infrastructure to ensure the critical public health workforce remains a global asset even after the world has eradicated polio.

Agility, innovation and discipline, driven by a focus on activities on the critical path to polio eradication, are needed to offset the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. GPEI will re-establish high-quality surveillance, intensify access negotiations in Afghanistan, accelerate the transformation of the Pakistan programme, and facilitate the resumption of immunization campaigns emphasizing the delivery of additional interventions when and where possible.

In view of the dynamic challenges faced, the POB approved a process to revise the 2019-2023 Polio Eradication Strategy and related budget, including the establishment of an external advisory group to advise on its content. To ensure that GPEI is best positioned to implement the revised strategy, the Board requested quick action on the Governance Review and complementary management review.

The Board reviewed with great concern the financial status of the Polio programme. Appreciating the generous pledges of support announced in Abu Dhabi in November 2019,
programmatic developments have put acute pressure on available resources. These developments include the setbacks in interrupting wild poliovirus in the two remaining polio endemic countries, a marked increase of cVDPV outbreaks, additional costs of infection prevention in the context of COVID-19 and the need to catch up on paused campaigns. This is compounded by economic impacts of the pandemic globally, which constrain financial resources and political attention in both programme and donor countries, leading to an anticipated substantial shortfall between resources required and resources available in 2021.

The Polio Oversight Board reviewed a plan to optimize the use of available and projected resources in 2021 and agreed that efficiencies can be realized. Board members also expressed concern that the level of risk associated with some of the proposed programmatic reductions could jeopardize both the gains and investments of the last 30 years and impede success. As an immediate step, GPEI will implement low risk-high return efficiency savings and strive to integrate efforts with other health interventions. The Board committed to advocating to increase national ownership and commitment, to raise the additional resources needed to meet urgent programme requirements and to intensify the response to the extraordinary challenges that have arisen, including exploring the use of COVID-19 resources where appropriate.

The POB reaffirmed the unequivocal commitment of GPEI partners to achieving global polio eradication.

The Board thanks all stakeholders for their commitment and support that has brought polio so close to eradication. We urge all partners and countries to continue to invest both human and financial resources in polio eradication and essential immunization so that no child needs suffer paralysis from this preventable disease.

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Emergencies

Ebola – DRC+
Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)

Last WHO Situation Report published 23 June 2020

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WHO Grade 3 Emergencies [to 5 Sep 2020]

Democratic Republic of the Congo – No new digest announcements identified
Mozambique floods – No new digest announcements identified
Nigeria – No new digest announcements identified
Somalia – No new digest announcements identified
South Sudan – No new digest announcements identified
Syrian Arab Republic – No new digest announcements identified
Yemen – No new digest announcements identified

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WHO Grade 2 Emergencies [to 5 Sep 2020]
Measles in Europe
:: Unleashing the potential of vaccines for a healthier Europe 02-09-2020

Afghanistan – No new digest announcements identified
Angola – No new digest announcements identified
Burkina Faso [in French] – No new digest announcements identified
Burundi – No new digest announcements identified
Cameroon – No new digest announcements identified
Central African Republic – No new digest announcements identified
Ethiopia – No new digest announcements identified
Iran floods 2019 – No new digest announcements identified
Iraq – No new digest announcements identified
Libya – No new digest announcements identified
Malawi – No new digest announcements identified
MERS-CoV – No new digest announcements identified
Myanmar – No new digest announcements identified
Niger – No new digest announcements identified
occupied Palestinian territory – No new digest announcements identified
HIV in Pakistan – No new digest announcements identified
Sao Tome and Principe Necrotizing Cellulitis (2017) – No new digest announcements identified
Sudan – No new digest announcements identified
Ukraine – No new digest announcements identified
Zimbabwe – No new digest announcements identified

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WHO Grade 1 Emergencies [to 5 Sep 2020]

Chad – No new digest announcements identified
Djibouti – Page not responding at inquiry
Kenya – No new digest announcements identified
Mali – No new digest announcements identified
Namibia – viral hepatitis – No new digest announcements identified
Tanzania – No new digest announcements identified

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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
:: Syrian Arab Republic: COVID-19 Humanitarian Update No. 17 As of 1 September 2020

Yemen
:: 03 September 2020 Yemen Situation Report, 3 Sep 2020
– Torrential rains cause devastation across Yemen for the third time this year
– COVID-19 response to be pivoted
– Fuel crisis seriously holds back the humanitarian response in northern governorates
– Stranded migrants in Yemen in desperate need of humanitarian assistance
– Locust infestations threaten to exacerbate food insecurity in Yemen

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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.
COVID-19
::  Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Situation Report 42: occupied Palestinian territory, issued 3 September 2020, information for period: 5 March – 3 September 2020

East Africa Locust Infestation
:: Desert Locust situation update – 2 September 2020

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The Sentinel

Human Rights Action :: Humanitarian Response :: Health :: Education :: Heritage Stewardship ::
Sustainable Development
__________________________________________________
Week ending 29 August 2020 :: Number 331

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– The Sentinel_ period ending 29 Aug 2020

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

Financial Times
Opinion –  Globalisation
Covid-19 proves globalisation is not dead
As the pandemic pushes more activities online, national borders seem less relevant than ever
Ian Goldin
The writer is a professor of globalisation and development at Oxford university

Covid-19 will not kill globalisation. Rather, it will accelerate underlying trends, compressing into 2020 a transformation in flows across national borders that would have taken years to emerge.

As individuals and companies move online, national borders become less relevant. Virtual meetings are substituting for travel and physical meetings, with their greater efficiency leading to higher levels of engagement.

This increased digital connectivity facilitates the rapid flow of ideas, the most influential dimension of globalisation. The scientific race to stop Covid-19 and find a vaccine has encouraged unprecedented collaboration. Greater global awareness is evident in the intense interest in the march of Covid-19 and spread of the Black Lives Matter protests to five continents. Not all flows are good, and the spread of bad and fake ideas is also accelerating, from meddling by foreign powers to anti-vax fears that undermine the fight against the pandemic.

Covid-19 will also accelerate and transform financial flows. With more than 100 countries requesting emergency financing, those from the IMF and other multilateral groups will far exceed any previous era of cross-border capital flows. Holdings of overseas currencies are also rising. The pandemic is also likely to precipitate a new wave of cross border mergers and acquisitions, including higher rates of investment in and from the growth markets of east Asia.

Travel has been curtailed by the pandemic, but personal travel will rebound sharply, as soon as a vaccine or medicine allow, thanks to pent up demand in China, the world’s largest source of international tourism. Business travel growth is likely to be permanently lower, since the pandemic has revealed the advantages of remote meetings.

Trade was already declining for reasons that preceded and are unrelated to the pandemic. Overseas supply chains were built on outsourcing repetitive tasks to lower labour-cost countries.

But artificial intelligence, robotics and 3D printing are changing the model: automated processes require machines and skilled labour, which are more abundant in richer countries. Demand for individual customisation and rapid delivery encourages manufacturers to return home. For services, banks, insurers and law firms are putting their back-office functions on servers or in the cloud, rather than relying on far-flung, labour-intensive call or data processing centres. The politics of protectionism and nationalism reinforce these trends.

The transformation of work is being accelerated by the pandemic. Machines do not get sick or spread viruses. Now that office workers are logging in from home, it begs the question as to why they need to be anywhere specific. Increasingly we will see the globalisation of professional services. Many essential services cannot be done in another country. But banking, law and design can, often at a far lower cost.

East Asia has been the principal beneficiary of globalisation and remains an enthusiastic supporter. The region’s assiduous containment measures have allowed its economies to rebound toward pre-pandemic levels of growth. Meanwhile, US protectionism and its disastrous handling of the pandemic is accelerating its relative decline. The UK is less significant than it has been in centuries, with similar self-inflicted wounds hastening its slide. Covid-19 has accelerated the rise of east Asia as the centre of gravity of globalisation.

Covid-19 also has crystallised our understanding of the threats globalisation poses. The superspreaders of the good — airport hubs, fibre-optic cables, global financial centres — are also the superspreaders of the bad, from physical and digital viruses to stock market panic. Only co-ordinated actions can address this “butterfly defect” of globalisation, as no one country can stop the threat. A more globalised world combined with fragmented political systems has left us more vulnerable to the next crisis.

The previous model of globalisation was not sustainable and escalated systemic risks, including financial crises, climate change, rising inequality, and pandemics. Deglobalisation may be an attractive political slogan but it would make matters worse. The world, especially the countries devastated by Covid-19, need cross-border flows of vaccines, clean technologies and investments and trade that create decent jobs. Business as usual is not an option. We need to redouble our efforts to create a healthier, greener, better regulated and more inclusive globalisation.

DFID/Foreign Office “Merger”

Foreign Secretary commits to more effective and accountable aid spending under new Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) will continue to scrutinise aid spending following the Foreign Office and the Department for International Development merger next week
Updated: 29 August 2020

Taxpayers will see more value from aid spending following reforms to the independent body that scrutinises UK aid, the Foreign Secretary announced today (29th August). Following the merger of the Foreign Office and the Department for International Development, the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) will be told to prioritise producing tangible, evidence-based recommendations to ministers to drive effective overseas development spending.

Dominic Raab has commissioned a review of ICAI to begin this autumn, almost ten years after the body was first established. The review will make sure ICAI’s remit, focus and methods are effectively scrutinising the impact of UK aid spend, in line with the aims of the new Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), which launches this Wednesday (2nd September).

The merger of the UK’s diplomacy and development offices was announced in June as an opportunity for the UK to have even greater impact and influence on the world stage as we recover from the coronavirus pandemic, and prepare to hold the G7 presidency and host COP26 next year.

The Prime Minister has committed to giving UK aid new prominence within our international policy under the new department. Following the merger, the Foreign Secretary will be empowered to make decisions on aid spending in line with the UK’s priorities overseas, harnessing the skills, expertise and evidence that have earned our reputation as a leader in the international development community.

The Foreign Secretary said he wants ICAI to become “a committee for what works” in development. The FCDO will use the rigorous evaluation conducted by ICAI to determine how UK aid can be better spent, based on what the evidence shows is most effective for tackling poverty and global challenges like diseases, climate changes and humanitarian disasters.

The review will also look at how ministers can engage more with ICAI, to make sure the watchdog’s independent recommendations lead to better decision-making and significant, lasting change at every level of the new department.

ICAI’s remit will continue to include UK aid spent by other government departments, such as the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and the Department of Health and Social Care.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said: “We are integrating our aid budget with our diplomatic clout in the new FCDO to maximise the impact of our foreign policy.

“That’s why I want to reinforce the role of ICAI, to strengthen further transparency and accountability in the use of taxpayers’ money and relentlessly focus our Global Britain strategy on policies and in areas that deliver the most value.”….