April 2024 aid news – Devpolicy Blog from the Development Policy Centre

Monthly Update on Aid and International Development

Our monthly update of news and analysis on aid and international development, with a focus on Australian aid.

Australian Aid

• The Albanese government has appointed Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin (Rtd) as its Special Adviser on Israel’s response to Israel Defence Forces strikes which killed Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom and six of her World Central Kitchen (WCK) colleagues. WCK has repeated its call for an independent investigation into the killings. According to yet-to-be-verified statistics collected by the Aid Worker Security Database, between October and December 2023 almost three times as many aid workers were killed in Gaza than has been recorded in any single conflict in a year.
• ACFID has joined global health and faith groups in calling for targeted sanctions against Israeli officials who have publicly endorsed the denial of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza.
• The OECD’s latest preliminary statistics on Official Development Assistance show that in 2023 Australia ranked 26 out of 31 country members of its Development Assistance Committee (DAC) in terms of its aid generosity. Adjusting for other DAC members’ counting of in-donor refugee costs, Australia ranked 24th.
• Australia will attend the annual meetings of the Asian Development Bank in Georgia in early May which will include negotiations for the next replenishment of the Bank’s concessional financing arm, the Asian Development Fund. The Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Pat Conroy, has said that he wants to use Australia’s “leverage” in the Bank to push for reform of its procurement systems and strengthen the focus on bid quality relative to price.
• DFAT has released its inaugural Performance of Development Cooperation report (2022-23) and its first multi-year Development Evaluation Plan (2023-24 to 2025-26) as part of the implementation of the government’s 2023 International Development Policy.
• As DFAT works to develop its own Transparency Portal by the end of the year, New Zealand has recently launched its new “DevData” platform.

Global/Regional Aid

• Large parts of Micronesia, including the Marshall Islands, Palau, and the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), have been designated as under extreme and exceptional drought, conditions which are expected to persist until at least July.
• At their meeting in mid-April, US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida flagged more collaboration with “like-minded partners” to finance new subsea cables in the Pacific region, committing US$16 million towards cable systems for FSM and Tuvalu.
• During a visit to PNG, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi reportedly signed new agreements to advance PNG’s participation in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). China has also promised more BRI cooperation with FSM.
• In his meeting with President Xi Jinping, Indonesia’s President-elect, Prabowo Subianto, cited the China-financed Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail project as a “gold-standard” example of bilateral cooperation. The two countries have agreed to a joint feasibility study on an extension of the project to Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city.
• To respond to the “intertwined challenges” of climate change, food insecurity, debt, and fragility, World Bank President Ajay Banga has called upon donors to the organisation’s concessional financing arm, the International Development Association, to provide US$30 billion in its upcoming replenishment round.
• Four years after the adoption of the G20’s Common Framework for speeding up and simplifying debt restructuring, the World Bank’s chief economist, Indermit Gill, has said the Framework has not provided a single additional dollar in debt relief and needs reform.
• UNICEF estimates that three million children in Haiti are now in need of humanitarian assistance as essential services collapse in many areas due to state collapse and worsening gang violence.
• The UK has been accused of double counting £500 million in existing aid as “climate aid”, including by automatically counting 35% of its contributions to the World Bank and 35% of its humanitarian spending in countries like Yemen, Afghanistan, and Somalia because they are defined as climate vulnerable countries.
• After months of congressional delay, US President Biden has signed into law an appropriations bill that includes US$9.5 billion in additional economic support to Ukraine — notably, at the behest of House Republicans, this has now been converted into a forgivable loan — as well as $US9 billion in additional emergency support for civilians in Gaza and other humanitarian crises.
• A manifesto released by Project 2025 — a consortium of think tanks that want to “deconstruct the administrative state” — provides some insight into the potential directions of US foreign aid under a possible second Trump administration. Among many other proposals, the blueprint calls for the removal of all references to “gender” in USAID and State Department policies, regulations, programs, contracts, public materials, and websites.

Books, Articles, Reports, Blogs, and Podcasts

• The Devpolicy Talks podcast returns to the airwaves after a two-year hiatus with Helen Clark, former New Zealand Prime Minister and UNDP Administrator, talking to Robin Davies about whether governments and global institutions are ready to change the way they respond to pandemics.
• Delivering the 2024 Pamela Denoon lecture at the ANU, Australia’s Ambassador for Gender Equality, Stephanie Copus Campbell, speaks about her first-hand experience on women’s rights and discrimination in PNG and other countries in the region, as well as threats to gender equality worldwide.
• Examining the massive post-COVID shortfall in global development finance, Adam Tooze uses IMF figures (where data is available — several countries, including Afghanistan and Syria, are not included) to highlight the IDA-eligible countries in which GDP per capita declined the most between 2019 and 2023 (see Figure 1). As well as Sudan (-30%) and Yemen (-16%), three of Australia’s key bilateral aid recipients – PNG (-27%), Timor-Leste (-19%), and Solomon Islands (-14%) – make up the top five.
• A new data snapshot from the Lowy Institute examines the US$50 billion disparity between China’s infrastructure promises in Southeast Asia and what it has delivered.
• The limited-series F! It! podcast from the International Women’s Development Agency is bringing feminist and First Nations perspectives to foreign policy. The latest episode features two development practitioners, Jenna Haw
  

  SDGs, Targets, and Indicators in the Article

  1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

  • SDG 1: No Poverty
  • SDG 2: Zero Hunger
  • SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
  • SDG 5: Gender Equality
  • SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
  • SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
  • SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
  • SDG 13: Climate Action
  • SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions
  • SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

  2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

  • Target 1.1: By 2030, eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere.
  • Target 2.1: By 2030, end hunger and ensure access by all people, in particular the poor and people in vulnerable situations, including infants, to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round.
  • Target 3.1: By 2030, reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births.
  • Target 5.1: End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere.
  • Target 8.7: Take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labor, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labor.
  • Target 10.2: By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status.
  • Target 11.1: By 2030, ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services and upgrade slums.
  • Target 13.1: Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries.
  • Target 16.6: Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels.
  • Target 17.16: Enhance the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development, complemented by multi-stakeholder partnerships that mobilize and share knowledge, expertise, technology and financial resources.

  3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

  • Indicator 1.1.1: Proportion of population below the international poverty line, by sex, age, employment status and geographical location.
  • Indicator 2.1.1: Prevalence of undernourishment.
  • Indicator 3.1.1: Maternal mortality ratio.
  • Indicator 5.1.1: Whether or not legal frameworks are in place to promote, enforce and monitor equality and non-discrimination on the basis of sex.
  • Indicator 8.7.1: Proportion and number of children aged 5-17 years engaged in child labor, by sex and age group.
  • Indicator 10.2.1: Proportion of people living below 50 percent of median income, by sex, age and persons with disabilities.
  • Indicator 11.1.1: Proportion of urban population living in slums, informal settlements or inadequate housing.
  • Indicator 13.1.1: Number of deaths, missing persons and directly affected persons attributed to disasters per 100,000 population.
  • Indicator 16.6.1: Primary government expenditures as a proportion of original approved budget, by sector (or by budget codes or similar).
  • Indicator 17.16.1: Number of countries reporting progress in multi-stakeholder development effectiveness monitoring frameworks that support the achievement of the sustainable development goals.

  Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

  SDGs	Targets	Indicators
  SDG 1: No Poverty	Target 1.1: By 2030, eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere.	Indicator 1.1.1: Proportion of population below the international poverty line, by sex, age, employment status and geographical location.
  SDG 2: Zero Hunger	Target 2.1: By 2030, end hunger and ensure access by all people, in particular the poor and people in vulnerable situations, including infants, to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round.	Indicator 2.1.1: Prevalence of undernourishment.
  SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being	Target 3.1: By 2030, reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births.	Indicator 3.1.1: Maternal mortality ratio.
  SDG 5: Gender Equality	Target 5.1: End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere.	Indicator 5.1.1: Whether or not legal frameworks are in place to promote, enforce and monitor equality and non-discrimination on the basis of sex.
  SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth	Target 8.7: Take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labor, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labor.	Indicator 8.7.1: Proportion and number of children aged 5-17 years engaged in child labor, by sex and age group.
  SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities	Target 10.2: By 203 Copyright: Dive into this article, curated with care by SDG Investors Inc. Our advanced AI technology searches through vast amounts of data to spotlight how we are all moving forward with the Sustainable Development Goals. While we own the rights to this content, we invite you to share it to help spread knowledge and spark action on the SDGs. Fuente: devpolicy.org   Join us, as fellow seekers of change, on a transformative journey at https://sdgtalks.ai/welcome, where you can become a member and actively contribute to shaping a brighter future.