EU elections, PNG president resigns, Warsaw Humanitarian Expo and more

+ EU Elections a mix bag for NGOs

EU elections saw Nigel Farage’s Brexit party win the most support in the UK. Meanwhile a new leader of the ruling Conservative Party looks likely to be more willing to push the ‘no deal’ button, taking the UK, and Northern Ireland out of the EU.

According to analysis from Politico, it appears that centre-right nationalist movements across Europe did well, which doesn’t immediately bode well for international aid organisation. 

But despite the success of the Brexit party in the UK, after 99% of the votes counted, Remain parties collectively reached over 40%  in the UK (final number still to come), arguably making Remain the winner on the night. Also it’s worth noting that turn out in the UK was lower than the last EU election and considerably lower than the Brexit referendum. 

Here’s a reminder of what a no deal could look like for aid and development in the EU. 

The U.K. right now is the continent’s second-largest aid donor overall, and the third-largest contributor to the EU aid budget (delivering £1.5 billion of ODA) of official development assistance.

“One of the big questions has been whether the U.K. could continue channeling aid funds through EU mechanisms after Brexit. It currently contributes to various instruments, with two-thirds of the £1.5 billion going through the official EU budget and a third through the European Development Fund, which sits outside the budget and is dedicated to development cooperation with countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific,” wrote Sophie Edwards at Devex (back when we all thought Brexit would be over by now!

Access to EU funding for British NGOs could be at risk.

”Another key issue is whether U.K. NGOs and contractors can continue to bid on EU aid contracts post-Brexit. The bloc’s humanitarian arm, ECHO, and development arm, DEVCO, collectively spend billions of euros in aid each year; and in 2016, about 25 percent of ECHO funding to civil society groups was granted to U.K.-based organizations, according to a report by international development network Bond.”

Meanwhile, whatever happens to Brexit, the French are still wary of the EU plans for a single mechanism for EU aid.

”France is “reticent” about the European Commission’s idea for a single budget tool to cover the EU’s work outside its borders for the period 2021-2027. Brussels proposed the idea last year to combine the different EU funding streams currently dedicated to issues such as human rights, development cooperation, and supporting countries neighboring the EU,” writes Vince Chadwick at Devex.
 

+  TODAY - ‘How to do Sensitive Investigations in the Humanitarian Sector: CID-IDYP Talk

CID Talk: Tuesday 28 May, 5.30pm at Oxfam, Level 1/14 West St, Eden Terrace, Auckland 1010

Drinks and nibbles served!

Sean Buckley and Jaydene Buckley, founders of OSACO Group, will share case studies to highlight threats and illustrate successful mitigation strategies and protocols particular to the humanitarian sector.
 
OSACO Group Ltd was established in 2013 to support UN Agencies and INGO’s around the globe with their oversight & compliance needs. OSACO’s management and investigation and compliance specialists have worked extensively around the globe in the humanitarian sector often dealing with complex allegations of misconduct in hazardous locations.

Many of the challenges faced by the humanitarian community arise from misconduct by those involved with our organizations, whether it be fraud and corruption or safeguarding issues such as sexual exploitation and abuse and harassment. Human risk factors and mismanagement have caused concrete harm to beneficiaries and their programmes in addition to causing damaging reputational fallout.
 
The event will be co-hosted by CID and IDYP, with thanks to Oxfam for their support.
 

+ PNG Prime Minister Resigns

Peter O’Neill resigns as Prime Minister of PNG after a challenging election result. 

The Lowy Institute examines his controversial legacy.

“O’Neill came into power in 2011 by means found unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. O’Neill effectively ignored the court decision, leading to PNG having two declared Prime Ministers for a period of seven months – one declared by Parliament and the other by the judiciary. Initially, the ousted prime minister, Sir Michael Somare, fought the matter in court, however, he went quiet ahead of the 2012 national elections.

It’s been a leadership marred by scandal.

”...the “illegal” arrest warrant for the Prime Minister himself, allegations surrounding the UBS loan, the buying and selling of the Oilsearch shares, the struggling PNG economy, the neglect of landowner royalties in the PNG LNG project, the Paladin contract saga and the lack of transparency with the Papua-LNG deal,” write Watna Mori at the Lowy Institute.

 

+ High Level meeting - SDGs

Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality: High-Level Political Forum 2019 (HLPF 2019)
 
In New York, 9-18 July 2019, a meeting of the high-level political forum (HLPF) on sustainable development in 2019 will be held, convened under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council, and will include a 3 day ministerial meeting (16-18 July). 47 countries have volunteered to present their national voluntary reviews to the HLPF, including New Zealand.
 
The goals to be reviewed in depth are:

• Goal 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
• Goal 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
• Goal 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
• Goal 13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
• Goal 16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
• Goal 17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development

 
Original source: Sustainable Development Goals

New Zealand’s VNR will be presented at the meeting. It’s not too late to send in your case studies with MFAT to show what your organisation is going to contribute to the SDGs. Go here to share more stories.

If you want to find out more about the New Zealand civil society’s VNR, please get in touch with Ronja.Ievers@huie.org.nz or joanna.spratt@oxfam.org.nz

+ Business and NGOs - Warsaw Humanitarian Expo

In Warsaw, in preparation for the Warsaw Humanitarian Expo 2019 (11-13 June), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland is inviting the private sector interested in developing relations with the humanitarian and development sectors to present.

Maciej Lang, Undersecretary of State for Economic Diplomacy, Development Cooperation, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East Policy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland, believes private sector engagement can ‘fill the gaps’ where traditional donors, international organizations and NGOs lack expertise.

”For example, companies can enhance our capacity in terms of service delivery, transportation of relief supplies, civil protection, providing innovative solutions, and many others. In some aspects business organizations – especially small and mid-sized companies – are more flexible and fast-reacting in comparison with the public sector and NGOs. It is obvious that reaction time is crucial in providing humanitarian aid. The private sector is often associated with cost-effectiveness and innovations, factors which cannot be overestimated.”


 

+ Training module - Getting Real on Collaboration
 
FREE ONLINE TRAINING from Leadership for Humanitarians
 
Registration deadline: 31 May 2019
Training date: 05 Jun 2019
“The secret is to gang up on the problem, rather than each other.” - Thomas T. Stallkamp
This is a hands-on, inspirational webinar about interagency collaboration, why we need to work together and how to do it.

Participation is at no charge but a link is sent, so it is necessary to sign up at leadershipforhumanitarians.org
 
HOW TO REGISTER:
https://leadershipforhumanitarians.org/events/collaboration
 

+ ‘The Business of Changing the World’

Seeing as we link to so many excellent Devex articles, we’re returning the favour and promoting this must-read book by Devex editor, Raj Kumar - The Business of Changing the World’.

Drawing on two decades covering global development as the founding President & Editor-in-Chief of Devex, Raj Kumar explores how nontraditional models of philanthropy and aid are empowering the world's poorest people to make progress.

“Old aid was driven by good intentions and relied on big-budget projects from a few government aid agencies, like the World Bank and USAID. Today, corporations, Silicon Valley start-ups, and billionaire philanthropists are a disrupting force pushing global aid to be data driven and results oriented.”

+ Tools for ethical communications

How can you ensure your next Facebook post is ‘ethical’? And why is being ethical so important? Communications consultant, Jill Farrar, lends a hand to the tricky ethical dilemmas which come across NGO desks.

Here are five resources from ACFID, for ethical communications..

 

+ Support Report preview - JB Were

John McLeod, author JB Were’s latest report on the state of the charitable sector in New Zealand, gave a CID talk recently to high light the main points.

Hear the full CID Talk here. The final report will be released shortly.

Highlights include the following:

Donations from the public and philanthropists continuing to trend down, but still make up the biggest chunk of funding for most charities:

• There are fewer donors, but those donating are being more generous – so your existing donors are gold – look after them!

Tax incentives make the biggest difference:

• A Capital Gains Tax would do more to increase donations to charities than any other tax change (as people seek to off-set tax on gains)
• Australia has introduced a ‘living contract’ where donors get a tax deduction now for promising their house to a charity after they die
• You can innovate and take risks with the philanthropic dollar (as against funding from government), which makes it a more important source of funding for the future

Too many charities in New Zealand means lower impact:

• Most donations go to organisations with name recognition. No-one ever gave to an organisation they hadn’t heard of. Most of the philanthropic dollar is going to the well known organisations
• That means 91% of charities are competing over only 9% of the available philanthropic dollar
• So there are still too many charities in New Zealand. Bigger chunks of funding going to fewer charities would have more impact

Philanthropy is more important to the international aid sector than any other sector (eg sports, health, animals, religion), making up over 70% of total income

• The ‘good news’ is that more of us are dieing, as baby boomers move! In the next decade over $150 billion will change hands as bequests 
• Causes supported by mass market donations, are dominated by religion (ie directly to churches rather than religious NGOs)
• This changes as incomes increase. Those on lower incomes give more to religious organisations. Giving to health, educations and the arts increases with income

As volunteering declines, so too do the number of people donating 

• Volunteering is by far the biggest ‘donation’ made to NZ charities (if you put a money value on it)
• But volunteering is in decline, especially with young people. This is partly to do with time pressures and also high regulatory thresholds (eg health and safety, police checks etc)
• Think about using a smaller number of volunteers more strategically

Business giving is on the increase. But it’s an untapped source in New Zealand.

• NGOs are still not good at ’talking to business’, and identifying the shared value of partnership
• Businesses still give predominantly to universities, where the shared value is clear (skilled graduates and R&D benefit business)

Donations to churches, although still high are falling. 

• Environmental causes are attracting more support globally, although in New Zealand, social welfare causes are growing the most.

+ Introducing Peter Glensor, new CID Code of Conduct Committee Chair