Ethiopian Airline crash, safeguarding, humanitarian efforts in Venezuela, and World Bank must reject US candidate

+ Nearly a third killed in crash, aid workers

2 days ago Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302 crashed six minutes after takeoff on its way to Nairobi, Kenya from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It crashed into a field outside the town of Bishoftu, some 60km southeast of the Ethiopian capital. The CEO of Ethiopian Airlines said the captain of the crashed plane had told controllers at Addis Ababa's Bole airport that he was having difficulty and wanted to return, and that he had been given clearance.

The flight route from Addis Ababa is sometimes referred to as the "U.N. shuttle" because of how often UN staff members take it. Among the 157 casualties were a number of staff from NGOs and humanitarian organisations, including 19 members from the UN (7 from WFP and UNHCR), and other well-recognised organisations such as the Norwegian Red Cross, Save The Children, Catholic Relief Services, and the Norwegian Refugee Council. In addition a number of lesser-known humanitarian organisations, such as Africa Tremila, and International Committee for the Development of Peoples (CISP). The 4th session of the UN Environment Assembly is taking place in Nairobi from 11th - 15th March and started with a moment of silence for the many who did not make it to the conference.

A fuller scope of humanitarian and development organisations that have been impacted by the crash will be better known over the next days and weeks, particularly as the manifest is confirmed. The route from Somaliland and Juba is often the preferred safe route, and it is possible that staff within our own network have travelled on this flight path.

Our thoughts go out to the families, friends and organisations that have been impacted by this tragedy.

+ Amnesty International UK's 'State of Emergency'

The 7-member leadership team from the UK arm of the human rights charity Amnesty International has offered to resign after an investigation found the organisation had a ‘toxic’ work culture. The leadership team based in the London office said they shared responsibility for the “climate of tension and mistrust” across the organisation, and acknowledged that “mistakes had been made”.

Although this is not a story about the New Zealand sector, it has sparked some healthy self-reflection in both the Australian social sector and leadership power misuse in New Zealand. It takes courage at the senior leadership level to both acknowledge and address cultures of bullying and harassment, and Amnesty International should be commended for their willingness to act and to shine a light on issues that affect many sectors, including our own.

The New Zealand NGO sector has zero tolerance for harassment of any kind. But no organisation can guarantee zero incidences. Having the right professional processes in place to deal with incidents when they do happen is as important as prevention.

"Why is this happening? Many people working in the voluntary sector for organisations which might be described as doing noble work describe the difficulties in running such bodies. Staff and managers employed in them may pride themselves more on their commitment than on their professionalism," the Times.

Today, MFAT and CID will jointly host a second workshop on 'Safeguarding' and how to prevent and deal with incidents, both in the workplace in New Zealand and in the vulnerable communities where we work.

+ Nominations/ Expressions of Interest for CID Code of Conduct Committee (CCC) 

The aim of the CCC is to provide assurance to CID members, donors, the public and partners that the CID Code is being implemented effectively. It monitors adherence to the Code and compliance self-assessment and ensures that complaints in relation to the Code are examined promptly and fairly.

Both of the roles of the CCC Independent Chair and the CCC Special Expert are recommended by the CID Director for decision and confirmation by the CID Board. The CCC Member Representative will be nominated and elected by CID member organisations.  The elected CCC Member Representatives can be:

• current staff or board members of CID organisations
• ex-staff and ex-board members of CID organisations
• fully elected CID board members but not the Chair of the CID board.

Please contact Aaron Davy if you require further information, including a copy of the CCC ToR or position description. 

The closing date for CID to receive expressions of interest (for the CCC Independent Chair, and Special Expert) and nominations (for the CCC Member Representative) is 22nd March.

+ CID Conference and MFAT Partnership Day 2019

Our conference website is live - http://www.cidconference2019.com/

Further information on the event will be added during the year, with updates announced through the CID weekly.  So watch this space!

+ Humanitarian efforts strained in Venezuela 

The border closure between Colombia and Venezuela is straining humanitarian response efforts as organizations on the Colombian side work to meet the needs of migrants and refugees who can no longer move freely between the two countries, white Teresa Welsh in Devex this week.

"An estimated 1 million Venezuelan migrants and refugees have arrived in Colombia so far, and another 1 million are expected to cross the border just this year."

+ 'World Bank must reject US candidate', says Podesta

The World Bank Board must reject Trump's candidate to lead the Bank, says John Podesta, the chair of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.

John was visiting New Zealand this week. He served as counsellor to President Barack Obama and chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, and it was his emails that the Russians stole!

"As a candidate and as president, Donald Trump has delighted in undermining tradition in damaging ways, from refusing to release his tax returns to lambasting America’s NATO allies. But there’s one tradition that deserves to be destroyed in the Trump era: The long-standing gentlemen’s agreement that the United States should choose the president of the World Bank, one of the most vital global institutions in the fight against extreme poverty," wrote John Podesta in the Washington Post last week.

+ Akina Foundation participating in Asia-Pacific social enterprise incubator

Akina Foundation is delighted to announce that it will be helping to build the capability of a number of social enterprise incubators and accelerators in the Asia-Pacific region. This support is being provided via the #FrontierIncubators programme funded by the Innovation Xchange of the @Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT).

Akina will be supporting Instellar ID in Indonesia, RISE IMPACT in Thailand, the Small Business Enterprise Centre in Samoa and Social Innovation Lab in Pakistan. The capacity building support to Instellar and RISE Impact is being delivered in partnership with Spring Activator.

In addition, Akina is leading on the delivery of a series of webinars on how accelerators and incubators can support social enterprises to manage and measure their impact.

+ UN Women celebrated International Women's Day 

Organisations such as Zonta, corporates, government agencies, workplaces, community groups and individuals throughout New Zealand collaborated with UN Women National Committee Aotearoa New Zealand to host events to celebrate International Women's Day on 8 March. 

Many gathered to participate in the live streaming breakfast at Parliament hosted by Hon Jule-Anne Genter, Minister for Women, with guest speakers Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister and Steph Dyhrberg, Wellingtonian of the Year. 

The Parliamentary event can be viewed on YouTube.

The press release from UN Women New York and messages from the Governor General, Her Excellency Dame Patsy Reddy and the President of UN Women NCANZ Suzanne McNabb can be viewed on UN Women's website.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump reportedly allocated $US100 million in the 2020 budget for his daughter’s Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative to empower “50 million women in developing countries”.

But Ivanka Trump, "the usually vocal women’s advocate, who pushed Mr Trump for a paid parental leave scheme, was far from the limelight at the IWD Women of Courage event in Washington DC this week," writes Farrah Plummer of the New Daily.

"Australia’s parliamentary inquiry into the Sustainable Development Goals has come under scrutiny, with a dissenting report from two members of the government casting doubt on the ability of the review to make a serious impact on Australia’s implementation of the SDGs," writes Lisa Cornish of Devex.

"The final report found that full implementation of the SDGs, both as part of national and international policy, would provide benefit to Australia. But the lack of awareness and visibility of the goals among government communications and policy is creating barriers in achieving this potential."

"While the report found that implementation through Australia’s aid program has been done well, leveraging off the work previously done to implement the Millennium Development Goals into the aid program, there are significant gaps in domestic awareness and implementation. This is caused by the lack of a national implementation plan."

New Zealand will report on its efforts to implement the SDGs this year.