Governance –Digital Identity

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ID2020 Alliance announces new additions to Board of Directors
The ID2020 Alliance has named four new members to its Board of Directors: Dr. Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; Kim Cameron, Architect of Identity at Microsoft; Blythe Masters, CEO of Digital Asset; and David Treat, Managing Director and Global Head of Accenture’s Blockchain Practice.

ID2020 is a growing global alliance of international NGOs, private companies, and UN agencies working together to address the lack of recognized identity that affects more than one billion people around the world. Alliance partners are committed to using technology to accelerate access to digital identity for those living without a recognized form of identity. We set global technical standards and finance projects to implement digital identity solutions that are personal, private, portable, and persistent. Partners include Accenture, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, Hyperledger, iRespond, Kiva, Mercy Corps, Microsoft, and UN-ICC.

“We are thrilled to have such an inspirational group of individuals — all cutting-edge in their respective fields — join our board,” said Dakota Gruener, Executive Director of the Alliance. “ID2020 has always been governed by strong leaders who are dedicated to our mission of providing a decentralized, privacy-ensuring, user-controlled digital identity. Our new board members all embody this ethos.”

Berkley, Cameron, Masters, and Treat join ID2020’s expanded Executive Board, composed of individuals from the banking, technology, public, and international sectors. Other Board Members include: John Edge, Co-Founder and Chairman of ID2020; Chip Dempsey, Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer at the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC); Elana Broitman, Director of New America NYC; and Oliver Bussmann, Founder of Bussmann Advisory…

About the ID2020 Alliance
The ID2020 Alliance is an innovative public-private partnership committed to improving lives through digital identity. The Alliance brings together multinational institutions, nonprofits, philanthropy, business, and governments to set the technical standards for a safe, secure, and interoperable digital identity that is owned and controlled by the user. It funds high-impact pilot projects that bring digital identity to vulnerable populations, and uses the data generated to find scalable solutions and inform public policy. Partners include Accenture, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, Hyperledger, iRespond, Kiva, Mercy Corps, Microsoft, and United Nations International Computing Centre.

Governance and Literature

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The Year in Trump Novel Pitches: An Agent’s Lament
The Truly Resonant Novels of the Trump Era Won’t Be About Trump
Literary Hub, March 30, 2018 By Erik Hane
[Excerpts; Editor’s text bolding]

Working as a literary agent means being privy to a full canon’s worth of submitted novels that the world will never see. Naturally, a good many of these pitches will always be chasing the news. Writers want their stories to seem timely, so if there’s a debate happening in real-world headlines that somehow mirrors the conflict in their book, I’ll hear about it in the query letter…

But if you want a window into the collective state of our writing lives, it’s not the successes that do the revealing—it’s the far larger, unseen body of attempts, false starts, and misshapen Trump novels that reveals that something inside us has been knocked off its axis…

So, what to make of an inbox full of novels promising fascist regimes, stolen elections, unhinged presidents, and the looming threat of nuclear war? Many of these manuscripts envisioned a post-apocalyptic America set in a future as near to us as 2025, and in more than one a reality-television host put the fate of the world up to a game show. In each story the country was in peril, waiting to be pulled back from the brink by the unlikely heroes uniquely capable of setting us back on stable ground.

I do not expect or want fiction to be an “escape” from real life, but the proliferation of these literal story elements cribbed from a CNN chyron still feels troubling. Clearly, writers are having the same problem everyone else is: an inability to look away, even during carefully carved-out Writing Time. These authors are not writing the political moment so much as the moment is writing them.

It is one of fascism’s goals to monopolize our attention. It would like to shrink our imagination; it would like for us to peer wide-eyed at its harsh restrictions and be able to think of nothing else. And it is tempting to stare like this, because fascism and its precursors are rife with contradictions that seem to beg to be pointed out by Reasonable People. But that’s one of its tricks. Fascism welcomes our attempts to play logical “gotcha” with its inconsistencies because it knows we will lose—not because we won’t find a fallacy but because the fallacy won’t matter.

Herein lies the problem with the shadow canon of novels meant only as cathartic takedowns of the right, the stories that exist for the sole purpose of showing the bad guys get hauled off in chains: the mere fact of writing it was an obstacle to writing something else. You didn’t write your story. You wrote fascism’s, and it was happy to receive your attention for so long.

When the circumstances of the world feel so pressing and immediate, it’s difficult to remember the simple truth that all writing is inherently political. Every authorial choice—conscious or not, significant or not, characters, plots, or settings—stems from the worldview of the author, as well as the shape of the world they’re viewing. Even if we wanted to, writers cannot divorce themselves from the politics of their societies, and neither can any invented character from theirs. I suspect that the same people writing these current-event novels know this, or can at least sense it, because my slush pile was absolutely political before the election—the difference was that far more of these writers trusted subtext. They felt comfortable with implication, with leaving things unsaid and letting that silent space do the talking. They knew, for instance, that you do not need to write a demagogue character to say something about demagoguery.

That confidence has eroded right along with our ability to invest ourselves in things other than The Discourse. Remember when we didn’t think about the news all the time? To be clear, I’m not talking here about an active engagement with the lived circumstances of the world—after all, a privileged person’s dismissible news story is a vulnerable person’s imminent danger. I mean specifically the news, as in media: the broadcasts and feeds, the motionless watching, the evisceration of whichever journalists are responsible for takes we hate, this hour…

I believe that the manuscript submissions ripped from the headlines will eventually subside; I’d be a bad agent if I didn’t have that faith. And we are certainly going to need politically infused stories, probably many of them, to survive these coming years. But I also believe that when they arrive, the truly resonant Trump Novels won’t actually be about Trump—they’ll be about characters we haven’t met yet who are just trying to make their way through a fraught world, like we all are. They’ll show us lives other than our own and demand empathy from us as readers, and maybe after enough practice we’ll be better able to give it.

Development – SDG Policy Coherence

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Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development 2018 – Towards Sustainable and Resilient Societies
OECD May 2018 :: 234 pages Read Download print edition
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264301061-en
Overview
The 2030 Agenda is a universal, collective responsibility that covers all levels: global, national and territorial. To address global policy challenges in a complex and interconnected world, policy coherence will be key. A more coherent multilateral system will be essential to reconcile and deliver the economic, social and environmental transformations needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)…
The report suggests eight building blocks for enhancing policy coherence for sustainable development (SDG Target 17.14), and identifies emerging good institutional practices drawing on recent OECD work, country surveys and voluntary national reviews. It includes 19 country profiles and sets out options for tracking progress on policy coherence for sustainable development at the national level….

Executive summary
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 17.14 calls on all countries to enhance policy coherence for sustainable development (PCSD) as a key means of implementation. Governments and stakeholders recognise the relevance of PCSD for identifying, understanding and managing interactions among highly interconnected SDGs, and for addressing the potential transboundary and intergenerational policy effects of domestic and international action. They are also increasingly recognising the need to break out of institutional and policy silos to realise the benefits of synergistic actions and to effectively address unavoidable trade-offs across the SDGs. Most importantly, they recognise the need for coherent approaches to ensure that “no one is left behind”, the underlying principle of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The 2018 edition of Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development shows how integrated and coherent policies, supported by strong institutional mechanisms, can contribute to the “Transformation towards sustainable and resilient societies” – the theme of the 2018 United Nations High-Level Political Forum (HLPF). It applies the institutional, analytical and monitoring elements of the PCSD Framework to identify challenges and opportunities facing governments as they move to implement the SDGs, both at the national level and collectively at the global level…

Featured Journal Content

Trends in Ecology & Evolution (TREE)
Volume 30, Issue 3, p140–145, March 2015
Opinion
Defining biocultural approaches to conservation
Michael C. Gavin1,2, Joe McCarter1, Aroha Mead3, Fikret Berkes4, John Richard Stepp5, Debora Peterson4, and Ruifei Tang2
1Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1480, USA 2 School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand 3 Maori Business, School of Management, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand 4 Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada 5 Ethnobiology Lab, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
Highlights
:: Biocultural conservation addresses loss of biological and cultural diversity.
:: These approaches sustain dynamic and interdependent social-ecological systems.
: Biocultural conservation can lead to just, legal, and effective outcomes.
:: We outline eight principles of successful biocultural conservation initiatives.

We contend that biocultural approaches to conservation can achieve effective and just conservation outcomes while addressing erosion of both cultural and biological diversity. Here, we propose a set of guidelines for the adoption of biocultural approaches to conservation. First, we draw lessons from work on biocultural diversity and heritage, social–ecological systems theory, integrated conservation and development, co-management, and community-based conservation to define biocultural approaches to conservation. Second, we describe eight principles that characterize such approaches. Third, we discuss reasons for adopting biocultural approaches and challenges. If used well, biocultural approaches to conservation can be a powerful tool for reducing the global loss of both biological and cultural diversity.

Principles of biocultural approaches to conservation
1 Acknowledge that conservation can have multiple objectives and stakeholders
2 Recognize the importance of intergenerational planning and institutions for long-term adaptive governance
3 Recognize that culture is dynamic, and this dynamism shapes resource use and conservation 4 Tailor interventions to the social–ecological context
5 Devise and draw upon novel, diverse, and nested institutional frameworks
6 Prioritize the importance of partnership and relation building for conservation outcomes
7 Incorporate the distinct rights and responsibilities of all parties
8 Respect and incorporate different worldviews

Featured Journal Content – Heritage Stewardship

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PNAS – Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States
of America
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/
[Accessed 2 Jun 2018]
Mapping an ancient city with a century of remotely sensed data
David Stott, Søren Munch Kristiansen, Achim Lichtenberger, and Rubina Raja
PNAS May 29, 2018. 201721509; published ahead of print May 29, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1721509115
Significance
Understanding how people in the past adapted to environmental and economic challenges can help us anticipate and meet these challenges in the present. However, these very processes threaten the physical remains embodying this information worldwide: Urban expansion and resource exploitation mean that the quantity and quality of archaeological information are diminishing daily. In this work, we demonstrate how multitemporal aerial photography and modern airborne laser scanning are invaluable tools for mapping the remaining archaeological features extant in the present and for adding context to them from what has been lost. This knowledge enables cultural heritage administrators and archaeologists to actively monitor, understand, and manage the existing remains to make sure important information is not lost to posterity.
Abstract
The rapidly growing global population places cultural heritage at great risk, and the encroachment of modern settlement on archaeological sites means that valuable information about how past societies worked and interacted with the environment is lost. To manage and mitigate these risks, we require knowledge about what has been lost and what remains, so we can actively decide what should be investigated and what should be preserved for the future. Remote sensing provides archaeologists with some of the tools we need to do this. In this paper we explore the application of multitemporal, multisensor data to map features and chart the impacts of urban encroachment on the ancient city of Jerash (in modern Jordan) by combining archives of aerial photography dating back to 1917 with state-of-the-art airborne laser scanning. The combined results revealed details of the water distribution system and the ancient city plan. This demonstrates that by combining historical images with modern aerial and ground-based data we can successfully detect and contextualize these features and thus achieve a better understanding of life in a city in the past. These methods are essential, given that much of the ancient city has been lost to modern development and the historical imagery is often our only source of information.

Health – Security/Reporting/Transparency

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WADEM Position Statement: Accurate Reporting of Public Health Information
Board of Directors, WADEM – World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine
Prehospital & Disaster Medicine
Volume 33 – Issue 3 – June 2018
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049023X18000420
Published online: 01 June 2018, p. 229

The mission of the World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine (WADEM; Madison, Wisconsin USA) is the global improvement of prehospital and emergency health care, public health, and disaster health and preparedness. Accurate and transparent release of public health information is necessary to inform response and recovery activities associated with disasters.

The resolution to adopt the international health regulations in 2005 recognized the World Health Organization’s (Geneva, Switzerland) leadership in monitoring and responding to public health emergencies. 1

Preservation of global health security is reliant upon timely reporting of emergencies and health threats to enable appropriate preparedness and response. 2

Withholding, suppression, delayed, or deliberate inaccurate reporting of public health information presents a risk to of potential health threats to populations. The restriction of epidemiological health information hampers efforts to respond to events. 3

The transparent and timely release of public health information is logical, ethical, and required to maintain and improve global health.

As such, WADEM endorses that:
1. Global health security is reliant upon timely reporting of emergencies and threats to enable appropriate preparedness and response.

2. Withholding, suppression, delayed, or deliberate inaccurate reporting of public health information presents a risk of potential health threats to populations.

3. That Customary International Humanitarian law recognizes the prohibition of attacks on, destruction of, or render useless any public health infrastructure indispensable to the survival of the civilian population; that the Geneva Convention (Article 55 & 56) requires that any occupying power must restore the public health infrastructure and protections afforded to the civilian population to mitigate and prevent mortality and morbidity after any conflict or war; that this applies equally to post-sudden-onset natural disasters or public health emergencies of international concern necessary to protect the global health.

4. The accurate, transparent, and timely release of official public health information is necessary to identify risks, provide health alerts, and promote and protect global health.
[References available at title link]

Health – EBOLA/EVD

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WHO: Ebola vaccine provides protection and hope for high-risk communities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
30 May 2018
…”Ring vaccination is a new and vital tool in the control of Ebola,” said Dr Michael Ryan, WHO Assistant Director-General, Emergency Preparedness and Response. “I just spent the day out with the vaccination teams in the community, and for the first time in my experience, I saw hope in the face of Ebola and not terror. This is a major milestone for global public health.”
The ring vaccination is led by the National Institute of Biomedical Research and the Ministry of Health of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is working with a wide range of partners, including WHO, Médecins sans Frontières and UNICEF. Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, contributed funds towards the operational costs, and through an agreement with Merck, the vaccine developer, helped ensure that 300 000 investigational doses of the vaccine are available in case of an outbreak. The vaccination is being provided to the contacts of confirmed cases, and the contacts of contacts, as well as healthcare workers, front line responders and other people with potential exposure to Ebola…

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The Africa CDC Deploys Teams to the Province of Equator in the DRC to Support the Response to the Ebola Outbreak
June 01, 2018
Addis Ababa, 01 June 2018- After recruiting and training 18 Congolese volunteers, Arica CDC has just deployed them to Equator province to support the response to Ebola Virus Disease in DR Congo.
The responders, who are former volunteers of the African Union Support to the Ebola Outbreak in West Africa (ASEOWA) in the 2014-16 outbreak, also participated in the post-Ebola enhanced surveillance in the Democratic Republic of Congo in July 2017 in the province of Bas-Uélé.
Distributed in 4 subgroups, Africa CDC volunteers will be based in Mbandaka (Headquarters of the province of Equator), Bikoro, Itipo (Epicenter of the ongoing epidemic) and Iboko. This multi-disciplinary team is composed of epidemiologists, physicians, communication experts, infection prevention and control experts, and a data manager. They will support the efforts of the Congolese government in epidemiological surveillance, case management, laboratory diagnostic, water, hygiene and sanitation as well as communication and social mobilization.
In the meantime, the Africa CDC today held a task force meeting to further plan for the African Union support to the Ebola outbreak in the DRC. The meeting, chaired by the Africa CDC director Dr John Nkengasong received a situation report on the current status and deliberated on the concept of operations.

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DRC: MSF begins Ebola vaccination trial in Bikoro to help curb outbreak
Press release
NEW YORK/KINSHASA, MAY 29, 2018—The international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) started vaccinating Ebola frontline workers yesterday in Bikoro, Equateur Province, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The vaccination, which is being conducted with Epicentre—MSF’s research arm—will also be offered to contacts of patients. The start of the Bikoro trial comes about a week after health care workers in Mbandaka began receiving the vaccine.
The vaccination trial—which is only one element of the larger strategy to control the spread of Ebola—will be administered using a “ring” approach. This involves identifying newly diagnosed and laboratory-confirmed Ebola patients, locating the people they have been in contact with—often family members, neighbors, colleagues, and friends—and vaccinating them. This type of approach aims to help contain and prevent the spread of infection.
This investigational vaccine (rVSVDG-ZEBOV-GP) has not yet been licensed and is being implemented through a study protocol, which has been accepted by national authorities and the Ethical Review Board in Kinshasa, as well as MSF’s Ethical Review Board.
Participation in this vaccine trial is voluntary and free, participants receive information on the vaccine before consenting, and those who choose to be vaccinated are carefully monitored over a period of time. “Given that it has not yet been licensed, we will be closely monitoring the vaccination,” said Micaela Serafini, MSF’s medical director in Geneva…

Emergencies
 
POLIO
Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)
Polio this week as of 29 May 2018 [GPEI]
:: At last week’s World Health Assembly (WHA), ministers of health and delegates reviewed progress being achieved through national emergency action plans in remaining endemic countries. Delegates noted that wild poliovirus transmission is now at the lowest ever levels in history.
:: To prepare for a polio-free world, Member States adopted a landmark resolution on poliovirus containment, and endorsed the 5-year strategic action plan on polio transition, which outlines how essential polio functions such as surveillance, laboratory networks and core infrastructure can support the implementation of the Post-Certification Strategy (PCS) to sustain a polio-free world, and can be integrated into the immunization or health emergencies’ programme, or mainstreamed into national health systems.
:: Member States expressed overwhelming commitment to fully implement and finance all strategies to secure a lasting polio-free world in the very near term.  Rotary International, speaking on behalf of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), offered an impassioned plea to the global community to eradicate a human disease for only the second time in history, and ensure that no child will ever again be paralysed by any form of poliovirus anywhere.

Summary of newly-reported viruses this week:
Pakistan: Four new WPV1-positive environmental samples reported.
Afghanistan : One new wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) case and two new WPV1-positive environmental samples reported.

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WHO Grade 3 Emergencies  [to 2 Jun 2018]

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WHO Grade 2 Emergencies  [to 2 Jun 2018]
[Several emergency pages were not available at inquiry]
Myanmar  
:: Preventive, contingency measures reinforced as monsoon sets in Cox’s Bazar
SEAR/PR/1690
Cox’s Bazar, 1 June 2018: With rains starting to intermittently flood the Rohingya refugee camps, the World Health Organization and other health sector partners are further strengthening preventive and contingency measures to minimize the health impact of monsoons for the nearly 1.3 million vulnerable populations in Cox’s Bazar.
WHO and health sector partners are working with Bangladesh government to maintain life-saving primary and secondary health services for Rohingya refugees and their host communities in the ongoing rainy season. Heavy rains, floods and cyclone are expected to further deteriorate the already suboptimal water and sanitation conditions in the overcrowded refugee camps, increasing the risk of infectious disease such as acute watery diarrhea, cholera, hepatitis, dengue fever and malaria, among others,” Dr Bardan Jung Rana, WHO Representative to Bangladesh, said.
   As a preventive measure, a massive cholera vaccination campaign was conducted in May targeting one million people – the refugees, their host communities and people residing in close vicinity to the camps. This was the second massive cholera vaccination campaign for the Rohingyas, with 900,000 doses administered in November-December last year.
As part of the contingency measures, 22 diarrhea treatment centers (DTC) with a total bed capacity of 597, and hundreds of oral rehydration points (ORPs), have been set up across the various camps.
Sixteen mobile medical teams (MMTs) have been constituted, trained and kept ready for immediate deployment in the event of outbreak of infectious diseases, floods and landslide. Each MMT constitutes of a doctor, paramedic/nurse, midwife, dispenser, and protection officer, and has been trained to deliver immediate life-saving first line of services, and facilitate referrals.
WHO has prepositioned 75 metric tons of cholera treatment supplies. WHO’s stockpile for monsoons also includes 20 basic Inter-Agency Emergency Health Kits (IEHKs) with drugs, medical devices and equipment to meet the health needs of 200 000 people for three months. All medical equipment and supplies have been stocked-up at locations identified as secure during the mapping of health facilities. The supplies are for use by health sector partners and MMTs…

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UN OCHA – L3 Emergencies
The UN and its humanitarian partners are currently responding to three ‘L3’ emergencies. This is the global humanitarian system’s classification for the response to the most severe, large-scale humanitarian crises. 
Yemen 
:: Yemen Humanitarian Update Covering 22 – 28 May 2018 | Issue 17 [EN/AR]

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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.

The Sentinel

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

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

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

pdf version: The Sentinel_ period ending 26 May 2018

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But today we seem to be headed in another direction.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Minister Kneissl, Excellencies,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Heritage Stewardship

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

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

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

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

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

Education – SDGs/Accountability

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

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

Health Security

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Featured Journal Content

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[See WHA above for Polio action summary]

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

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

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

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

The Sentinel

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

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

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

pdf version: The Sentinel_ period ending 19 May 2018

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

Governance: Democracy/Truth/Freedom

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

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

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

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

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

Governance – Oxfam Impacts

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

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

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

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

Education

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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