Zero Carbon Act, Local Resources in Humanitarian Crises, Africa's Development Dynamics, and more

+ Cross-party support for Zero Carbon Act 

All parties (except ACT) voted to enact the bill designed to make New Zealand net carbon zero by 2050.

"Some think the bill imperfectly soft. Others – including the largest party in parliament, the opposition National Party – think it imperfectly harsh. But its cross-party passing is, whichever way you cut it, massive in terms of New Zealand’s efforts in confronting the climate crisis, writes The Spinoff.

Here's a link to the speeches in parliament (with an abridged version in The Spinoff story).

Reactions from CID members include Oxfam.

Here are more stories from Newsroom (Don't Kick Climate to Touch); RNZ; and TVNZ has a piece with Jacinda Ardern hailing this 'historic moment for New Zealand'.

 

+ M&E Workshop - Register now to secure a place!

CID, in consultation with MFAT and M&E experts, will deliver a 1-day Monitoring & Evaluation Workshop - Wellington on 11 December and Auckland on 12 December. The workshop is informed by MFAT's new approach to MERL (Monitoring, Evaluation, Research & Learning)  presented during the MFAT-NGO Annual Hui recently, and will be facilitated by Liz Smith or Sandar Duckworth from LITMUS, a leading social research, evaluation and design firm. MFAT will be doing a presentation at the workshop. The workshop will focus on evaluative thinking and on how to manage and measure outcomes and will have a practical, hands-on approach aimed at strengthening member organisations’ outcomes management capacity. The training will draw on case studies using multi-year, multi-country and multi-sector arrangements, and smaller activities.   Register here to the Wellington workshop Register here to the Auckland workshop

 

+ UK Election and Civil Society Manifesto
 

CID's sister organisation in the UK, Bond have produced a manifesto calling on all parties in the UK election to:

1. Strengthen the UK’s voice and influence on international development by targeting poverty and inequality.
2. Make global economic, financial and other rules work for the public interest in all countries.
3. Tackle the climate and environmental degradation crisis with a coherent, consistent, cross-government approach.
4. Be at the forefront of promoting peacebuilding and humanitarian principles in response to conflict and global crises.
5. Strengthen democratic and public accountability at all levels of international development.

You can read the whole manifesto here.
 

+ South Sudan's Unity Government Delayed
 

"The second deadline for forming a unity government in South Sudan—part of the second peace agreement in the last four years—has been pushed back by 100 days," writes John Temin in Foreign Policy.

The power-sharing deal signed more than a year ago, aims to end the country's five-year civil war that has killed nearly 400,000 people. 

Fighting has largely subsided across the country, but key elements of the agreement have yet to be implemented, including security arrangements and defining the number of states. 

The humanitarian situation remains dire, with more than 7 million people in need of aid, writes Sam Mednick of Devex.

As the deadline looms, humanitarian groups caution the international community not to mistake a period of calm for lasting peace.

The challenge for aid agencies is to avoid complacency by staying alert to contextual developments and the potential humanitarian impact. Organizations should retain sufficient programming flexibility and capacity to respond to any sudden changes in context, 

+ The Gambia files Genocide case against Myanmar

The Gambia, a member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, has taken the legal lead in drafting the claim accusing Myanmar of genocide at the UN's highest court over its treatment of Rohingya Muslims. The 46-page application has been submitted to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for an initial hearing expected in December, and is supported by other Muslim states. 

Under the rules of the ICJ, the application argues, member states can bring actions against other member states over disputes alleging breaches of international law – in this case the 1948 convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide.

If the ICJ takes up the case, it will be the first time the court in The Hague has investigated genocide claims on its own without relying on the findings of other tribunals, such as the international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, which it engaged with for claims against Serbia and Croatia. 

+ Local Resources in Humanitarian Crises

New research by the Humanitarian Policy Group on the resources that households use to cope with crisis has revealed the narrow way that humanitarian agencies look at emergency resource flows. Locally led response start in affected communities and the resources they mobilise are not always easily measured or tracked.

Globally, this study estimates that international humanitarian assistance comprises as little as 1% of resource flows to countries affected by humanitarian crises.

Remittances are one clear example of a major resource flow that is potentially significant in crises but insufficiently understood or factored in; others include faith-based flows and local community resources.

Why does this matter? If international aid is only 1–2% of what people receive, then it needs to be managed in a much more complementary way and in better alignment with other resource flows to address the real needs faced by people in crisis.

These findings are also complemented by the Humanitarian Policy Groups research report on rethinking capacity and complementarity in local humanitarian action.

+ 10 ways to make your staff happier 
 

The international development sector is particularly susceptible to unique forms of workplace stress.

Bond in the UK have come up with ideas for employers, managers and colleagues to recognise stress in the workplace and promote wellbeing.

You can find out more about a 'workplace wellbeing index' here, from Mind, a UK based organisation dedicated to supporting good mental health initiatives in the workplace. 

+ IPS Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Reportage

Human traffickers generate billions of dollars by exploiting and trafficking millions of people from around the globe. Violence, deception, debt traps and manipulation are common tactics to force people into labour or sex services they do not walk into willingly.

The International Labour Organization estimates that there are 40.3 million victims of human trafficking globally.

• 81% of them are trapped in forced labor.
• 25% of them are children.
• 75% are women and girls.

The International Labor Organization also estimates that forced labor and human trafficking is a $150 billion industry worldwide.

IPS Inter Press Service has issued a second Special Report highlighting how people are treated as commodity, bought and sold, controlled and dehumanized.

A set of articles analyses the realities of human trafficking in Central America, Nigeria, Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Uganda.

The first Special Report is available here.

+ Africa's Development report launched

The African Union Commission (AUC) in collaboration with the OECD Development Centre has released Africa's Development Dynamics 2019, the second edition of the economic report that analyses the continent’s development policies. 

African firms are key to the economic transformation of the continent, but they need governments to create better conditions for them to thrive, say the authors of the report. Without bold policy changes, most African businesses may not be ready to reap the benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Area Africa (AfCFTA) which is projected to offer African firms access to 1.2 billion consumers across the continent.
 
Africa's Development Dynamics (AfDD) 2019, just released, shows that Africa recorded 4.6% annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth between 2000 and 2018; with domestic demand accounting for 69% of it. The continent’s growth should remain robust at 3.9% between 2020 and 2023. The regional demand for processed food has been growing 1.5 times faster than the global average. Large Pan-African firms and some dynamic start-ups are seizing these opportunities to grow.
 
However, the report finds that Africa needs more dynamic enterprises to turn these opportunities into higher profits, more investment and new, decent jobs. This is especially true of small and medium enterprises in employment-intensive sectors.

“Accelerating the development of Africa’s productive sectors is critical to meeting the objectives of the African Union’s Agenda 2063. We must shake the structure of our economies to create strong, robust and inclusive growth, with new jobs and opportunities for all”, said  Professor Victor Harison, Commissioner for Economic Affairs of the AUC.

Progress in quality job creation is too slow: in some countries, almost 91% of the workforce outside of the agricultural sector remains in informal and vulnerable employment.

“The entry into force of the African Continental Free Trade Area in 2019 marks a strong commitment by African leaders towards productive transformation. But it will work if African firms are strong enough to compete in this new, enlarged market. They need bolder and smarter government policies to support them”, stated Mario Pezzini, Director of the OECD Development Centre and Special Advisor to the OECD Secretary-General on Development.
 
The report provides detailed analysis and recommendations for each of the five African regions.
 

You can register now to receive a copy of a review into 'Corporate Volunteering, Giving and Grants Technology'.

It covers 51 known technology solution providers headquartered across 13 countries and 5 continents; Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, UK, and the USA.

The review will be officially released on November 14th during a half-day seminar at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle, WA. 

The report provides Corporate Social Responsibility practitioners with a comprehensive overview of platforms used around the world to manage employee volunteering, giving and grant programs.

Find out more here at the RW Institute

 

+ FisherPrint Photo Competition