ODI live events: Recent Episodes
Overseas Development Institute
Live recordings of events from the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), an independent, global think tank, working for a sustainable and peaceful world in which every person thrives.
Our events cover everything from climate change and migration to gender and the Sustainable Development Goals. Join the global discussion of international development and humanitarian issues.
Find out more about ODI events: www.odi.org/events
Gender in the EU’s foreign policies- expectations for the next European Commission by ODI Global
Revolution and rupture- humanitarianism and human rights in Syria and Myanmar - ENGLISH by ODI Global
Driving inclusive and sustainable economic transformation- a roadmap for low- and middle-income countries by ODI Global
Revolution and rupture- humanitarianism and human rights in Syria and Myanmar - ARABIC by ODI Global
A new vision for leadership- Collective action to tackle the crises of today and tomorrow by ODI Global
Harm and need in armed conflict- what to expect from law, policy and practice in 2025? by ODI Global
Victims or resistors? Lessons from the Ukraine response on how narratives impact humanitarian action - ENGLISH by ODI Global
Victims or resistors? Lessons from the Ukraine response on how narratives impact humanitarian action - POLISH by ODI Global
Victims or resistors? Lessons from the Ukraine response on how narratives impact humanitarian action - UKRAINIAN by ODI Global
Victims or resistors? Lessons from the Ukraine response on how narratives impact humanitarian action - UKRAINIAN by ODI Global
Upholding humanitarian principles in contexts of impunity with Francesca Albanese, Dr Agnès Callamard and Dr Nimer Sultany - ARABIC by ODI Global
Upholding humanitarian principles in contexts of impunity with Francesca Albanese, Dr Agnès Callamard and Dr Nimer Sultany - ENGLISH 2 by ODI Global
Upholding humanitarian principles in contexts of impunity with Francesca Albanese, Dr Agnès Callamard and Dr Nimer Sultany - FRENCH by ODI Global
Rising violence against LGBTQI+ people- lessons on backlash and resistance by ODI Global
School feeding, food system reform, and the Sustainable Development Goals by ODI Global
Advancing a just transition and securing new opportunities ahead of COP29 - ENGLISH by ODI Global
Advancing a just transition and securing new opportunities ahead of COP29- FRENCH by ODI Global
For a gender just transition- advancing gender-responsive climate action at COP29 by ODI Global
Transforming The Small Business Landscape- Digital Payments For Micro And Small Enterprises by ODI Global
Investing For Resilience: A Panel Discussion With Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank by Overseas Development Institute
Migration decision-making: beyond political rhetoric and guesswork by Overseas Development Institute
Changing The Dynamics And Advancing A Just Green Trade And Industrial Transition by Overseas Development Institute
The 2024 Elections In Sri Lanka- Political And Economic Prospects by Overseas Development Institute
Women At The Forefront- The Transformative Impact Of The UNSCR 1325 On Women, Peace And Security by Overseas Development Institute
In this event, three inspirational speakers join ODI’s Director of Global Advisory Sasha Kapadia to discuss what decolonising leadership means for the humanitarian and development sector. We hear about the obstacles leaders face in practicing decolonisation and get plenty of tips for how leaders can move from talk to action. The event recording is brought to you by Tandem – ODI’s Global Executive Leadership Programme. Tandem is building a community of humanitarian and development leaders around the world, equipping them with the skills and connections needed to tackle today’s most pressing global challenges. The first group of Tandem leaders have just graduated, completing a transformative six month learning journey. This conversation took place at their closing retreat in Bangkok, back in June.Speakers - Sasha Kapadia, Director of Global Advisory, ODI - Heba Aly (journalist, former CEO of The New Humanitarian) - Carlos Mejia (organisational development and leadership consultant) - Alice Ruhweza (Senior Director, Policy Influence and Engagement, WWF) Resources Tandem Leadership LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/tandem-leadership-programme Tandem website: https://www.tandemleadership.org/ Think Change podcast: navigating today’s crises – what makes a great leader? https://odi.org/en/insights/think-change-episode-53-navigating-todays-crises-what-makes-a-great-leader/
Trillions or billions? The Future of European Institutional Investment in Emerging Markets by Overseas Development Institute
Challenging Neo - Protectionism- Effectively Navigating New Green Trade Measures by Overseas Development Institute
Social Cohesion In Displacement- Toward Evidence - Based Practice by Overseas Development Institute
AfDBAM2024- Building Resilient African Economies In The Face Of Global Shocks - FR by Overseas Development Institute
AfDBAM2024- Building Resilient African Economies In The Face Of Global Shocks - EN by Overseas Development Institute
Bring In The Bondholders- Inside The Argentinian Debt Crisis With Greg Makoff by Overseas Development Institute
Charting A Path To Prosperity- Sri Lankas Journey From Debt To Growth by Overseas Development Institute
BudgetByte #4 – Can Innovative EMIS Platforms Improve Education Spending? by Overseas Development Institute
Confronting Disparities In Humanitarian Responses: Lessons From Nigeria by Overseas Development Institute
Reconstructing Accountability Narratives; Centre The Interests & Priorities Of Affected Communities by Overseas Development Institute
Navigating Green Trade Measures: avoiding a green squeeze by Overseas Development Institute
Beyond Survival Displacement, Rights And Wellbeing - ARABIC by Overseas Development Institute
The Role Of Development Finance Institutions In Addressing Food Security In Fragile Economies by Overseas Development Institute
A Model, Modern Treasury? Evaluating Spending Controls In The UK From 1992 - 2015 by Overseas Development Institute
The EU - Africa Migration Agenda – Realising A New Partnership by Overseas Development Institute
Beyond Survival- Displacement, Rights And Wellbeing - ENGLISH by Overseas Development Institute
The Role Of Development Finance Institutions In Addressing Food Security In Fragile Economies by Overseas Development Institute
Maximising The Developmental Value Of MDB Callable Capital: Project Findings And Policy Options by Overseas Development Institute
Ahead Of CSW68- Which Policies Can Unlock Women's Economic Rights & Empowerment? by Overseas Development Institute
Engagement With Armed Actors- Implications For Proactive Protection And Violence Reduction FRE by Overseas Development Institute
Community Engagement With Armed Actors- Implications For Proactive Protection And Violence Reduction by Overseas Development Institute
Living under the Taliban: gender, insecurity and child marriage in Afghanistan by Overseas Development Institute
Lessons From Civic Campaigns For Tax Reform And Their Role In Creating Fairer Societies by Overseas Development Institute
L’exploitation de l’économie bleue pour les États côtiers africains dans le cadre de la ZLECAf by Overseas Development Institute
Harnessing The Blue Economy For African Coastal States Through The AfCFTA - ENG by Overseas Development Institute
Overcoming inertia: Myanmar, Syria, Somalia and neglected crises by Overseas Development Institute
From Evidence To Action- Understanding Climate Mobility by Overseas Development Institute
Breaking down barriers to women's political power: an era-defining election year by Overseas Development Institute
BudgetByte #3- Can Governments Make Digital Payments To Citizens 'smarter'? by Overseas Development Institute
Middle Corridor- What Are The Economic Opportunities And Challenges? ENG by Overseas Development Institute
Middle Corridor- What Are The Economic Opportunities And Challenges? RUS by Overseas Development Institute
Building Capacities To Tackle Climate Related Risks And Opportunities In India’s Financial Sectors by Overseas Development Institute
The humanitarian implications of a backlash on rights - Spanish by Overseas Development Institute
The Humanitarian Implications Of A Backlash On Rights - French by Overseas Development Institute
The Humanitarian Implications Of A Backlash On Rights - Arabic by Overseas Development Institute
The Humanitarian Implications Of A Backlash On Rights - English by Overseas Development Institute
Social Protection In The Gulf Countries- What Rights Can Migrant Workers Access? EN by Overseas Development Institute
Social protection in the Gulf countries: what rights can migrant workers access? AR by Overseas Development Institute
Africa’s Green Trade Opportunities- Policy Insights For Aligning Trade And Climate Action by Overseas Development Institute
Avoiding A “green Squeeze” And Advancing New Trade Opportunities For LDCs by Overseas Development Institute
BudgetByte #2- Can Agile Procurement And Digital Transformation Improve Spending Outcomes? by Overseas Development Institute
Resilience - Building In Africa- Navigating Shocks And Policy Implications by Overseas Development Institute
Looking Back, Looking Forward- Global South Perspectives On The BRI by Overseas Development Institute
The Unintended Effects Of Foreign Aid- Should Donors Avoid, Accept Or Act On Them? by Overseas Development Institute
Partnerships For Sustainable Industrialisation In Africa by Overseas Development Institute
Green Trade Measures And Their Development Implications by Overseas Development Institute
Session 7- Reform Of The International Financial Architecture? by Overseas Development Institute
Unveiling The Untold Story Of Women’s Mental Health In Post - Conflict Environments by Overseas Development Institute
BudgetByte #1: can standards for fiscal data exchange support better service delivery? by Overseas Development Institute
Income Inequality, Gender And The Role Of Tax And Transfers Session 2 by Overseas Development Institute
Income Inequality, Gender And The Role Of Tax And Transfers Session 1 by Overseas Development Institute
Extending Social Protection To Migrant Workers In Gulf Countries by Overseas Development Institute
Nature - Based Green Infrastructure- African Experience And Potential by Overseas Development Institute
MDB as catalysts for private sector mobilisation with EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso by Overseas Development Institute
Putting The Glasgow Climate Pact Into Action- Accounting For Vulnerability by Overseas Development Institute
From El - Fasher To Khartoum- The Fallout From 20 Years Of Conflict In Darfur - ARABIC by Overseas Development Institute
From El - Fasher To Khartoum- The Fallout From 20 Years Of Conflict In Darfur - ENGLISH by Overseas Development Institute
Beyond States- The Story Behind The Global Compact For Migration by Overseas Development Institute
Can Social Media Reshape Gender Norms Around Women's Economic Rights? by Overseas Development Institute
Navigating Fiscal Reform For Economic, Social And Environmental Transformation by Overseas Development Institute
Ripe for reckoning? White saviourism in international development by Overseas Development Institute
Sustainable Economic Recovery In Mongolia- Challenges And Opportunities by Overseas Development Institute
Budgets And Bytes- Session 3 Breakout 1 Social Protection by Overseas Development Institute
Budgets And Bytes- Session 3 Breakout 3 Data Governance by Overseas Development Institute
Budgets And Bytes- Session 1 The View From The Finance Ministry by Overseas Development Institute
Budgets And Bytes- Session 2 The View From Beyond The Finance Ministry by Overseas Development Institute
Budgets and Bytes - Session 4 The Digital Infrastructure For The Future Of Public Finance by Overseas Development Institute
Will The Conflict In Ukraine Reset The Narrative On Refugees In Europe? - ENGLISH by Overseas Development Institute
Will The Conflict In Ukraine Reset The Narrative On Refugees In Europe? - POLISH by Overseas Development Institute
Priorities And Challenges For Latin America And The Caribbean - With IDB President Ilan Goldfajn by Overseas Development Institute
Climate Justice And The Role Of International Law - ES by Overseas Development Institute
Climate Justice And The Role Of International Law - EN by Overseas Development Institute
Inside The All-Africa Vision For Trade Investment And Growth by Overseas Development Institute
Beyond Neutrality Alternative Forms Of Humanitarian Action - ARABIC by Overseas Development Institute
Beyond Neutrality: Alternative Forms Of Humanitarian Action - ENGLISH by Overseas Development Institute
From Allyship To Action- How Men Can Step Up To End Violence Against Women - 01 by Overseas Development Institute
Trends And Disruptors In Multilateral Finance- Looking Ahead With The Asian Infrastructure by Overseas Development Institute
Multilateral Development Banks’ Capital Adequacy Frameworks: options for reform? by Overseas Development Institute
Progress and Next Steps: Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in humanitarian response by Overseas Development Institute
Aid vs. solidarity: the role of humanitarian aid in national responses to Ukrainian refugees - R by Overseas Development Institute
Aid vs. solidarity: the role of humanitarian aid in national responses to Ukrainian refugees - E by Overseas Development Institute
Aid vs. solidarity: the role of humanitarian aid in national responses to Ukrainian refugees - U by Overseas Development Institute
How can "country platforms" drive bold climate action? Emerging ideas and early lessons by Overseas Development Institute
Digital Dissidence- Russian Online Censorship And Possibilities For Opposition - ENGLISH by Overseas Development Institute
Digital Dissidence: Russian Online Censorship And Possibilities For Opposition - RUSSIAN by Overseas Development Institute
Financing Primary Health Care- Putting People At The Centre by Overseas Development Institute
Private-sector impact in fragile contexts - some do's (and a few don'ts) by Overseas Development Institute
Financing And Operations Of Multilateral Development Banks: A Clients' Perspective by Overseas Development Institute
Migration For Climate Action: How Labour Mobility Can Help The Green Transition by Overseas Development Institute
Leaving No One Behind: Recommendations For Inclusive And Impartial Humanitarian Action by Overseas Development Institute
Venezuelan Migrants In Colombia: An Inclusive Humanitarian Response? ENGLISH by Overseas Development Institute
Venezuelan Migrants In Colombia: An Inclusive Humanitarian Response? SPANISH by Overseas Development Institute
Advancing An Equitable G20 Health Response To Covid-19 by Overseas Development Institute
Engaging With Politics: Towards Smarter International Support To Revitalise Democracy by Overseas Development Institute
Inspiring Feminist Humanitarian Action Through Lessons From Covid - 19 - ARABIC by Overseas Development Institute
Inspiring Feminist Humanitarian Action Through Lessons From Covid - 19 - FRENCH by Overseas Development Institute
Inspiring Feminist Humanitarian Action Through Lessons Lessons From Covid - 19 - SPANISH by Overseas Development Institute
Evolution And Revolution In Gender - Responsive Humanitarianism by Overseas Development Institute
Gendering The Green City In An Era Of Climate Breakdown by Overseas Development Institute
Fighting On Two Fronts: Climate Justice And Gender Rights - ENGLISH by Overseas Development Institute
Fighting On Two Fronts: Climate Justice And Gender Rights - SPANISH by Overseas Development Institute
Pre - Agreed Disaster Finance- The Agenda That Womens Advocates Should Be Influencing - ENGLISH by Overseas Development Institute
Pre - Agreed Disaster Finance: The Agenda That Women's Advocates Should Be Influencing ES by Overseas Development Institute
The Challenges Of Inclusive And Impartial Humanitarian Action In Northeast Nigeria by Overseas Development Institute
Building Resilience And Employment Opportunities For Youth Within Rural Economies... - FRENCH by Overseas Development Institute
Building Resilience And Employment Opportunities For Youth Within Rural Economies... - ARABIC by Overseas Development Institute
Building Resilience And Employment Opportunities For Youth Within Rural Economies...- ENGLISH by Overseas Development Institute
Unlocking Feminist Activism - Interactive sessions - English by Overseas Development Institute
Unlocking Feminist Activism - Interactive sessions - ESPAÑOL by Overseas Development Institute
Launching The TaxDev Employment Income Taxes Dataset: New Insights From Africa by Overseas Development Institute
Launch Event- Resilient Caribbean Cities PHOTO COMPETITION 2022 by Overseas Development Institute
High - Level Dialogue On Customary And Informal Justice And SDG16+ by Overseas Development Institute
Humanitarian Action In 2021- Tensions, Trade - Offs And Dilemmas by Overseas Development Institute
Africa’s Economic Transformation Implementing The AfCFTA by Overseas Development Institute
Getting Back On Track To End Extreme Poverty In South Asia by Overseas Development Institute
Where Can Development Finance Institutions Invest To Have The Most Impact by Overseas Development Institute
Does Better Governance Lead To Improved Health And Education? Lessons From Nigeria by Overseas Development Institute
How Does Governance Reform Happen? Lessons From Nigeria by Overseas Development Institute
Managing Climate - Related Risks In India’s Financial Sector- Lessons From Other Countries by Overseas Development Institute
Plaidoyer collaboratif entre acteurs humanitaires et défenseurs des droits de l'homme by Overseas Development Institute
Opportunities And Challenges - Collaborative Advocacy By Humanitarian And Human Rights Actors by Overseas Development Institute
Can broadcast media help change gender norms? Lessons from South Asia by Overseas Development Institute
Securing Climate - Compatible Trade For Vulnerable Economies by Overseas Development Institute
Aligning Climate And Trade Strategies In The Least Developed Countries by Overseas Development Institute
Reviving Economic Opportunities For Women Affected By Conflict, Displacement And COVID - 19 by Overseas Development Institute
‘Under-the-radar’ innovations are happening across sub-Saharan Africa, but different barriers are blocking the region from leapfrogging the innovation gap in the era of the fourth industrial revolution.
We convene experts from across sectors to explore examples of technological and economic innovation in the continent, investigate what is needed to ‘fill the innovation gap’, and what role innovation can play in helping countries economically recover from crises, such as the Covid-19 pandemic.
This webinar is supported by the Development and Economic Growth Research Programme (DEGRP), funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
Sierra Leone has one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in the world, with one in five girls aged between 15 and 19 having children, rising to 29% in rural areas. Research by the Secure Livelihoods Research Consortium (SLRC) shows that most programming focuses on lack of information and access to contraception, emphasising girls as agents of change, with not enough attention paid to the wider context, especially social and gender norms.
To test different strategies to address the problem of teenage pregnancy in Sierra Leone, SLRC implemented an Irish Aid-funded action research programme in partnership with Save the Children, Concern Worldwide and the International Rescue Committee. Born out of traditional research, the transformative programme sought to help the three implementing partners trial adaptive programming approaches to address the underexplored and complex drivers of teenage pregnancy–with a focus on social norms–and support and document their programme implementation.
Drawing on lessons learned from the Sierra Leone project, this event explores the benefits and challenges of transformative programming to consider how implementers can accelerate change and make programming more effective. The discussion shines a light on the social and gender norms that surround the issue of teenage pregnancy, and how an action research approach can help address such norms.
Technology can be a huge force for good, helping young people secure income to support their livelihoods. But equity and inclusivity challenges prevent the online revolution from reaching its full potential. Youth are the current leading users and innovators in tech, and have an instrumental role to play in shaping our digital future.
We bring together a diverse, trailblazing panel to discuss the role of technology for the future of work and youth access to employment, bringing pan-African insights from the experiences of tech hubs and youth-led digital innovation on the continent.
The panellists also explore how youth-focused programmes can work across the digital divide to prepare young people for the future of work, and how their experiences can be harnessed for designing policy to support digital innovation for youth and by youth.
This webinar is supported by the Mastercard Foundation through the Youth Forward Learning Partnership. It is the last event in a series of discussions exploring young people’s engagement with digital technologies in sub-Saharan Africa, continuing conversations started in a youth-focused participatory consultation in July 2020.
While the number of children completing primary school education has increased markedly over the past 50 years, in 2018, the World Bank found that 125 million children lacked the minimum literacy skills to continue their education, even after four years of enrolment. This realisation that schooling is not equivalent to learning has sparked a global debate on how to improve the quality of primary school education in low- and middle-income countries.
This renewed focus is critical now more than ever, as policymakers shift their focus to rebuilding the global economy after the Covid-19 pandemic. How can they ensure that the policies implemented bolster the access to and quality of primary school education? And more importantly, how can they ensure that these policies capture the multiple disadvantages of vulnerable children from left-behind groups?
Ahead of the G20 Education Ministers meeting and informed by ODI’s upcoming publication, ‘Pathways towards quality primary education: improving completion and learning outcomes’, we bring together a group of experts to examine successful reforms that have brought vulnerable children to the forefront of policy implementation and consider what is needed to push the agenda forward.
In the last two decades, Western states have frequently worked with non-state or sub-state armed groups to confront security threats, whether as partners in global counter-terrorism operations or as the de facto security providers in stabilisation and peacebuilding contexts.
In partnership with ODI's Centre for the Study of Armed Groups and GPPi, our webinar aims to explore emerging international practices on due diligence and risk mitigation measures in the context of partnerships with non-state or sub-state armed groups. To explore this emerging practice, we highlight findings from a recently published paper that looks at seven US partnerships with local, substate and non-state forces in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq. This paper, and the lessons learned from the case studies within it, serve as a launching pad for a broader discussion about how states and the international community might try to mitigate some of the human rights, security, or other policy risks that arise with more irregular armed groups.
To provide a broader narrative, our webinar includes perspectives from UN, US and European policymakers who have worked in environments where non-state armed groups are a significant part of the political and security landscape. Panellists address how different states or international actors have tried to address these risks and suggest possible recommendations for the future.
The success of the G7 summit will be judged primarily on whether concrete measures are agreed to accelerate the global response to the pandemic.
While infection rates soar, and vaccine access remains highly unequal, there has perhaps never been a public policy challenge where national and international interests are so closely aligned. We know that no one is safe until everyone is safe, but COVAX will only cover around 30% of eligible populations in low- and middle-income countries with its current financing of $9.6 billion.
In light of recent developments in India, a major vaccine exporter in the midst of a devastating third wave, it is clear that critical barriers remain. What do countries battling the virus and struggling to vaccinate their people need? How should G7 leaders rise to the global vaccine challenge?
We explore these key questions with government and international decision-makers.
Better recognition, funding and support of local humanitarian responders is long overdue. Many humanitarian organisations have not waited for global-level reforms within the Grand Bargain to drive the agenda forward. Instead, individuals, peer networks and organisations large and small have corrected the sector’s imbalances in their own ways. Away from the often technical or policy debates within the Grand Bargain, there are dynamic, new developments and new opportunities for hyper-local initiatives, survivor-led activities, civil society activism and South–South cooperation. These developments and opportunities are shaping the ‘localisation’ agenda beyond the Grand Bargain.
The formal conclusion of the five-year phase of the Grand Bargain this year, raises questions for the humanitarian sector on how best to continue to make progress on localisation. To explore these issues, HPG and HPN convene a conversation exploring the activities and activism on local humanitarian action that are occurring outside of the formal policy processes, and how the landscape is adapting and changing to tackle old problems not being addressed by the wider humanitarian system.
Climate change is a major driver of humanitarian need, alongside conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic. Weather events are becoming more extreme and more frequent – with huge consequences for people already living in humanitarian contexts. Despite the resilience and adaptability of communities living with climate emergencies and related insecurities, they are being hit hard.
Join Mark Lowcock and Fonteh Akum for a discussion hosted by Sorcha O'Callaghan about the impact of climate change in the world’s most vulnerable places, and what needs to be done about it.
A stronger and more equal partnership between Africa and Europe has never felt more critical. With the blow dealt by Covid-19 to both continents and the inequalities it highlighted, we need to find common solutions to global challenges, from pandemics and climate change to migration. New forms of cross-border cooperation are needed – and fast.
ODI hosts a ‘Green Talk’ ahead of the High-level European Union-Africa Green Investment Forum co-organised by the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the European Investment Bank.
We explore how cities can support the green transition and reinvigorate the partnership between Africa and Europe in the lead up to the long-awaited AU-EU Summit. Cities are decisive players to accelerate the shift to low-carbon and climate-resilient economies needed to sustain the green recovery. Their practical approach to cooperation across borders has much to offer policy-makers at the national and regional level.
African and European mayors are already working together to meet these challenges. Our discussion highlights innovative initiatives and city-to-city partnerships, brokered by the Mayors Dialogue on Growth and Solidarity, which harness human mobility within and between Africa and Europe to tackle core shared challenges and find solutions.
A stronger and more equal partnership between Africa and Europe has never felt more critical. With the blow dealt by Covid-19 to both continents and the inequalities it highlighted, we need to find common solutions to global challenges, from pandemics and climate change to migration. New forms of cross-border cooperation are needed – and fast.
ODI hosts a ‘Green Talk’ ahead of the High-level European Union-Africa Green Investment Forum co-organised by the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the European Investment Bank.
We explore how cities can support the green transition and reinvigorate the partnership between Africa and Europe in the lead up to the long-awaited AU-EU Summit. Cities are decisive players to accelerate the shift to low-carbon and climate-resilient economies needed to sustain the green recovery. Their practical approach to cooperation across borders has much to offer policy-makers at the national and regional level.
African and European mayors are already working together to meet these challenges. Our discussion highlights innovative initiatives and city-to-city partnerships, brokered by the Mayors Dialogue on Growth and Solidarity, which harness human mobility within and between Africa and Europe to tackle core shared challenges and find solutions.
Global poverty increased dramatically in 2020 with the impacts of Covid-19 reversing two decades of progress towards achieving the sustainable development goals. The demand for development finance continues to grow as governments and policy makers work to build back their economies, however, development finance is undergoing extreme pressure and is at risk of decline.
Adopted in 2015, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda provides a multilateral framework for financing sustainable development. It acknowledges the role public and private finance can play in creating new markets, jobs and reducing poverty, and the unique ability to mobilise finance in low-income and middle-income countries. However, five years on, progress has been slow and is at risk of steering further off course.
Informed by ODI’s new report, “ Development Finance Institutions (DFIs): need for bold action to invest better ” we investigate what has and hasn’t worked in mobilising private finance for development. We explore how development finance institutions, multilateral development banks and their shareholders, can re-evaluate their business models, investment approaches and collaborative initiatives to better support the vision of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, and support the global effort to ‘build back better'.
On August 1, 2018, the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) declared a new outbreak of Ebola in North Kivu. By November 2018, it had become DRC’s largest Ebola outbreak, and the second largest in the world after the 2014-2015 West Africa outbreak. Combatting the outbreak in a region that has experienced decades of armed conflict and ongoing acute humanitarian needs proved a major challenge.
The Humanitarian Policy Group’s (HPG) new report finds that international leadership and coordination was slow to adapt to these challenges. Failure of international leadership to analyse risks from the outset, and to plan to adapt to them, contributed to profoundly negative impacts on outcomes related to community engagement, security approaches and sound financial management. This is likely to have lasting negative implications for future responses in the region.
This webinar draws on the lessons learnt and recommendations from HPG’s report, considering the implications for future responses and changes that need to be enacted, to better respond to new outbreaks of Ebola and other public health crises.
On August 1, 2018, the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) declared a new outbreak of Ebola in North Kivu. By November 2018, it had become DRC’s largest Ebola outbreak, and the second largest in the world after the 2014-2015 West Africa outbreak. Combatting the outbreak in a region that has experienced decades of armed conflict and ongoing acute humanitarian needs proved a major challenge.
The Humanitarian Policy Group’s (HPG) new report finds that international leadership and coordination was slow to adapt to these challenges. Failure of international leadership to analyse risks from the outset, and to plan to adapt to them, contributed to profoundly negative impacts on outcomes related to community engagement, security approaches and sound financial management. This is likely to have lasting negative implications for future responses in the region.
This webinar draws on the lessons learnt and recommendations from HPG’s report, considering the implications for future responses and changes that need to be enacted, to better respond to new outbreaks of Ebola and other public health crises.
Chair Nicola Jones @njonesODI – Principal Research Fellow, Gender Equality and Social Inclusion, ODI
Speakers María del Carmen Calle – Executive Secretary, Pan-Andean Health Organisation Prerna Banati @pbanati – Regional Gender and Adolescent Girls Advisor, West and Central Africa, UNICEF Kenan Madi – Programme Manager, UNICEF Jordan Selin Ozunaldim @SOzunaldim – Founder, Girls Who Code Turkey
Closing remarks Arlette Mvondo @ArletteMvondo – Policy Advisor, UN Women
Description As governments roll out Covid-19 response plans, a critical window of opportunity arises to reshape adolescent girls’ programs, anchoring them in girls’ voices, leadership and ambitions. Dedicated strategies to reach and support adolescent girls have been advocated, however challenges to scaling up approaches include sustainable financing, and weak systems with limited integration. Policymakers and community leadership also tend to be resistant and sceptical of meaningful adolescent girls’ engagement.
As part of the broader conversations around the sixty-fifth session of the Commission on the Status of Women and in partnership with ODI’s GAGE and UNICEF, we explore empowering girl-intentional approaches to policy and programming. We also share experiences from promising practices in low- and middle-income countries, including lessons in light of the pandemic.
This webinar is the second in a three-part ODI series on empowering women on their journey from adolescent girls, to young feminists, through to future political and judicial leaders.
Chair Carmen Leon-Himmelstine @C_Himmelstine – Senior Research Fellow, Gender Equality and Social Inclusion, ODI
Opening Remarks Zainab Hawa Bangura @ZainabHawa – Director-General, United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON)
Speakers Erika Yamada @ErikaYamada – States and Projects Coordinator, Equidad de Género Javiera Manzi @JavieraManzi – Sociologist and Researcher, Coordinadora Feminista 8M Yara Hawari @yarahawari – Senior Policy Analyst, Al Shabaka
Description The last five years have been the backdrop to a global renewal of feminist movements. From Mexico, Chile and Argentina, to India and Taiwan, the urgency to mobilise for women’s rights and against violence has gained momentum. Female-led organisations are changing legislation and shaping public discourse on the structural influence of patriarchy, racism, and colonialism in their daily lives. Feminism has become a popular movement for many young women outside of the 'Global North'. These leaders are currently leading efforts to deconstruct relations of inequality and provide an alternative feminist future.
Ahead of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) and as part of broader conversations towards delivering the sustainable development goals during this decade of transformation, we convene a conversation with activist leaders to understand the power of collective action. We hear from key voices that can help guide future strategies for all those working to realise a more equal world.
This webinar is the first in a three-part ODI series on empowering women on their journey from adolescent girls, to young feminists, through to future political and judicial leaders.
Chair Barnaby Willitts-King @barnabywk – Senior Research Fellow, Humanitarian Policy Group, ODI
Contribution Zoe Hamilton – Insights Manager, GSMA
Speakers Mahamud Abdirahman – Director, Business Development and International Relations Division, Telesom Justin Colvard – Country Director, Mercy Corps Haiti Adelina Kamal @AdelinaKamal – Executive Director, ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Centre)
Description Digital tools and approaches are at the forefront of global responses to Covid-19, including in humanitarian contexts. While it’s too early to tell whether the initial hype around the potential of digital tools to solve new challenges has lived up to the reality, several initiatives, such as mobile money to deliver cash assistance, have proven their ability to work at scale in humanitarian responses.
Yet stubborn ‘digital divides’ between people with and without the means to effectively use these new technologies are widening. Digital interventions also come with new risks to affected individuals and communities that aid providers must navigate. With digital tools and systems designed and used now likely to outlast the pandemic, these actions will have a lasting relevance, and makes careful consideration of their uses critical.
Drawing on recently launched reports by ODI HPG and GSMA M4H, we explore the digital trends and risks emerging in the Covid-19 context. We delve into some of the themes from the reports including: successful examples of digital technology in Covid-19, like mobile money for cash assistance; risks exacerbated by the crisis, including the digital divide; and changes to the ecosystem and how humanitarian actors engage with other actors.
The pledge to ‘leave no one behind’ is a fundamental principle underlying Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals. Its emphasis on prioritising the welfare of the most disadvantaged groups and reducing group-based inequalities has the capacity to bring about transformative change. Yet five years on from signing this pledge, there is little agreement on how to adapt it into actionable policies.
Drawing from ODI's upcoming report 'Leave no one behind: five years into Agenda 2030', we examine the core elements of the pledge, how it is affected by Covid-19 and what promising examples of national, regional and international progress are, in turning this pledge into policy. Looking forward, we explore what needs to be done to advance the agenda further.
Covid-19 has laid bare many of the challenges and faultlines holding us back from the goals set out in the 1995 Beijing Declaration. The rise of populism has presented multiple global challenges for the women’s equality agenda. There are also opportunities to build a ‘new normal’, within which young people are both driving and deeply affected by many of the decisions being made today.
Zoey Roy's poem highlights the incredible role of women in society and explores a hopeful future, free of inequalities.
Chair Judith Tyson – Senior Research Fellow, International Economic Development Group, ODI
Speakers Christopher Egerton-Warburton – Co-Chief Executive Officer, Lion's Head Global Partners Nick O’Donohoe – Chief Executive Officer, CDC Group Søren Peter Andreasen – General Manager, Association of European Development Finance Institutions (EDFI) Vera Songwe – Executive Secretary, UN Economic Commission for Africa
Description The Covid-19 pandemic is having a crushing effect on private finance for development. This is resulting in a ‘doubling-down’ on the recessionary pressures in Africa and domestic banks experiencing a classic ‘credit crunch’.
With international finance sharply reduced, these acute problems add to the existing barriers to mobilising private finance for development. Barriers include, a lack of bankable projects, a lack of management tools for political and macroeconomic risk and processes being mismatched to investor needs.
We explore innovations in liquidity provision, infrastructure financing and climate investment. We examine what investment is needed to create a more resilient and sustainable private sector, the prospects for blended finance and co-financing strategies, and the impacts of the rise in foreign currency assets and debt restructuring.
We draw from high-level leaders and their experiences of leading financial institutions, exploring key insights and lessons learnt. Our expert panel share forward-looking innovative solutions for middle-income and low-income countries, as well as approaches that can 'change the game’ on mobilising finance from a range of actors, including multilateral development banks, development and international finance institutions and the private sector.
Chair Sorcha O'Callaghan – Director of the Humanitarian Policy Group, ODI Speakers Ambassador Reuben E. Brigety – Former United States Ambassador to the African Union and Vice Chancellor of University of the South, Tennessee Nasra A. Ismail – Humanitarian Expert, Somalia Ben Ramalingam – Lead Consultant, Innovation for Development, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Hugo Slim – Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict, Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford
Description 2020 has been a momentous year. But will it force a reset, or a rethink, of a humanitarian system highly resistant to change?
As the year has worn on, traditional assumptions about crisis, fragility and solidarity have been overturned. Soaring coronavirus death rates and crisis mismanagement in richer countries have called into question traditional assumptions of a ‘competent global North’ and ‘struggling global South’. The civil unrest in the US in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, and in the run up to the Presidential election have raised questions about what constitutes a fragile state.
The acute crises of 2020 come together with longer-term global challenges including the rise of populist nationalism and the accompanying retreat from multilateralism, the erosion of trust in public institutions, and the sharpening climate emergency. Together, they have created a uniquely unstable moment in which systems and hierarchies previously taken for granted seem suddenly open to question.
Looking forward, how will the combination of a global recession, greater attention to racism in the humanitarian sector and restrictions on international aid actors, shift international humanitarian systems and champion local humanitarian leadership?
Chair Marta Foresti – Director of ODI Europe, ODI
Opening remarks Sandra Breka – Member of the Board of Management, Robert Bosch Stiftung
Speakers Sir Suma Chakrabarti – Chair of the Board, ODI and former President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Obiageli Ezekwesili – Senior Economic Advisor, Africa Economic Development Policy Initiative (AEDPI) and Richard von Weizsäcker Fellow, Robert Bosch Academy
Description 2021 will be an important year for Africa-Europe relations. Covid-19 has dealt a severe blow to the continents, both in human and economic terms, and a strong partnership will be key for recovery. This will need to be a partnership of equals, where states as well as businesses, civil societies and local actors must play a role to strengthen cooperation across borders.
Stronger cooperation will be key ahead of the high-level African-European Union summit that will determine the future relationship between the two continents. Migration remains a highly contentious issue in Africa-Europe relations with the EU member states struggling to find common ground and states in Africa keen to see openings to legal pathways such as visa and access to labour markets.
In collaboration with the Robert Bosch Stiftung, we launch a series of webinars exploring innovative initiatives to strengthen Africa-Europe relations on migration, mobility and beyond. We start by assessing the political landscape, common ground and divisions on migration and mobility, and heading into the AU-EU summit, the opportunities for collaboration and strengthening partnerships in and between the regions.
This event series, co-hosted by the Robert Bosch Stiftung and ODI, is implemented in partnership with the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the Open Society Foundations.
Chair Emma Proud – Head of Learning and Adapting, Brink
Speakers Ena Fernandez – OIC Director, Philippines House of Representatives Sam Sharp – Research Officer, ODI Stacey Young – Agency Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning Officer, USAID Toby Lowe – Visiting Professor, Centre for Public Impact Yuen Yuen Ang – Professor, University of Michigan
Are bureaucracies today fit for purpose to address what are often complex and multidimensional challenges on housing, education, pandemics, international development and beyond?
Public servants and experts alike are increasingly questioning the wisdom of mainstream approaches embodied in new public management, arguing that tackling complex challenges calls for different ways of working. Public organisations need to be able to learn from and adapt to rapidly shifting and uncertain environments, and work iteratively to refine policies. Covid-19 is a prime example: governments have had to rapidly adapt to keep pace with the unpredictable and emergent nature of the pandemic. But can bureaucracies become less bureaucratic and more adaptive?
Building on emerging evidence from the FCDO-funded LearnAdapt programme, this event explores different efforts to incorporate adaptive approaches within public management. The discussion draws from different experiences across a range of sectors and countries to tease out key insights and lessons that are relevant to those aiming to build more adaptive organisations, in international development or beyond.
Among the many failures laid bare by the coronavirus, the failure of ‘club diplomacy’ to adequately respond to the current global pandemic is one of the most damaging to the cause of global prosperity, safety and stability.
Held in the run-up to the G20 Summit in Riyadh over November 21-22, we explore several questions with leading scholars and policy makers relating to the future of the G20 as a pre-eminent institution of global governance. We discuss why there has been a failure of the G20 to respond to Covid-19 and whether this derives from broader institutional failures.
We also discuss what, if anything, could take the G20’s place and what reforms might allow it to become a more robust platform for global policy-setting. This discussion will consider the G20’s role as a financing coalition for global challenges and whether its consensus-based decision-making procedures represent a fatal flaw.
This event is part of the ODI at 60 series, challenging decision-makers to provide more sustainable and equitable pathways for the future.
The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted lives across the world, highlighting the potential of the digital technologies but also exposing the need for more equitable opportunities for young people to use tech and advance their educational capital and skills for work.
With an increasingly connected world ahead, we explore what is needed to help youth be more prepared for life and work. This includes not just the skills needed to amplify youth voices as leaders of tomorrow, but also the skills needed to best prepare young people for an ever-evolving future of work. Bolder, more innovative solutions and collaborations are critical to support youth and should be forged across sectors – government, education stakeholders, tech companies, and future employers – while young voices should be at the heart of these conversations and plans.
We build on key youth-focused discussions from the ODI-led Youth and digital technologies in sub-Saharan Africa consultation supported by the Mastercard Foundation’s Youth Forward initiative.
With over half of internet users under the age of 25, young people are central to any discussion about peace and security in the digital space. Young people are leading the way with using the internet in innovative ways and creating online peacebuilding initiatives where millions of active users are thriving in challenging contexts. Yet, while digital peacebuilding can help shape positive discourses of peace, it comes with challenges too.
We explore how young people are using digital spaces to practice political and civic participation to foster peacebuilding in fragile contexts. We interrogate assumptions about the use of technology for youth-led peacebuilding, including the suggested deepening of inclusivity across age groups and socioeconomic backgrounds, and the widening of participation that technology provides to peacebuilders.
This event is part of the ODI at 60 series, challenging decision-makers to provide more sustainable and equitable pathways for the future.
The search for durable solutions is at the heart of policy debates on internal displacement, but gender is still frequently sidelined from those conversations. Displacement affects all aspects of life – security, access to services, housing, social and political engagement – with implications felt in distinctive ways by people of different genders. With the establishment of the High-Level Panel on Internal Displacement and increased focus on humanitarian development efforts, there is renewed focus on durable solutions. However, this will not be possible without understanding and addressing gendered inequalities.
Our expert panel explores these issues, challenges assumptions about what internal displacement means for men, women and gender minorities, and addresses how humanitarian actors should respond.
A recent analysis by ODI found that a small share of development finance investment is explicitly directed toward the health sector. However new health sector initiatives from the US Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and the UK’s CDC following the onset of the Covid-19 crisis indicate that this may be changing. In response to the crisis, development finance institutions (DFIs) have supported clients that have traditionally been outside the health sector to refocus their operations in support of the global crisis response.
Our research also highlights DFI risk taking and innovative approaches in the health sector; examples which demonstrate the ability of DFIs to mobilise much needed investment into health. The use of pooled investment vehicles, volume guarantees, first loss guarantees and development impact bonds (DIBs), exemplify how DFI investment can act as a catalyst for market development in different areas of health supply chains.
We explore how DFI investment could support and complement public sector investment in the health sectors; both in the short-term and with a view to building long-term resilience. We also discuss which innovative financing approaches could best suit different-sized DFIs and how these entities could partner to maximise their approach.
The past five years have been pivotal for advancing disability inclusion in the humanitarian sector. The World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul in 2016 was a key moment at which it was recognised that while persons with disabilities are disproportionately impacted by conflicts, disasters and other emergencies, they also face barriers to accessing life-saving humanitarian assistance.
The Inter-Agency Standing Committee guidelines on the inclusion of persons with disabilities in humanitarian action, is the latest in a range of commitments, standards and guidance developed in the wake of the Summit to address these barriers. Despite this progress challenges to effective inclusion remain. Chief among these is acknowledging that persons with disabilities and their organisations are not passive beneficiaries but agents of change, rights holders and key actors in humanitarian response. The lack of data about people with disabilities that any efforts to strengthen inclusion depend on is another important gap.
Drawing on the upcoming Humanitarian Exchange on Disability Inclusion and Network Paper on addressing the disability data gap, we discuss disability-inclusive practices and approaches being used; and what more needs to be done to ensure the rhetoric around disability-inclusive humanitarian preparedness and response is being translated into action.
A video introduction is provided by Christian Modino Hok, Humanitarian Director at CBM Disability Inclusion and Co-Chair of the Global Reference Group on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action.
The November 2020 pledging conference in Geneva will provide a vital platform for the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GoIRA) and the international community to demonstrate progress and recommit to a peaceful future for the country. Given the recent deal between the United States of America and the Taliban, and tentative steps forward on an intra-Afghan dialogue including all key domestic actors, the outcomes of the pledging conference will be decisive in determining how Afghanistan grasps the present prospect of a peaceful and stable future.
Ensuring justice for all, in line with Afghan and international commitments to achieving SDG16+, is an essential prerequisite for a durable peace. Today, only 38% of Afghans who experience an everyday justice problem are able to access help; among key state institutions, the courts are the least-trusted by ordinary citizens. Access to justice will enable Afghan women and men to assert and enforce their rights, obtain redress for grievances, and resolve disputes amongst themselves non-violently, within a framework of rule of law.
This event provides a space for consultation and policy discussion on the role of access to justice in securing a peaceful and stable future, and how GoIRA and international stakeholders can incorporate justice commitments in the lead-up to and during the conference. This event aims to contribute to shifting justice to the top of the agenda in Geneva, and present practical recommendations for how to operationalise commitments to justice.
The UK contributes around £181 million a year to the three organisations that make up the African Development Bank Group, representing around 1.3% of the UK’s development budget.
A recent review by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) found that the institution’s reach and deep expertise in Africa meant that contributing to the Bank could be a more effective way for the UK to achieve development impact and economies of scale. But the review also highlighted concerns about the UK government having 'crossed a line' by unilaterally imposing performance measures on the Bank in 2017.
ICAI also expressed concern about the Bank’s critical lack of resources in key areas such as environmental and social safeguards and highlighted the need for greater engagement with civil society. The review also noted that the UK should do more to build the Bank’s capacity to manage trust funds if it is going to continue to invest in them.
This event, co-hosted by ODI and ICAI, explores how the UK can strengthen its strategic engagement with the Bank, how the UK can work with the Bank to ensure maximum impact and value for money, and the role the Bank should play in the 2020s.
In 2018, the ILO estimated that approximately 42% of the global workforce, 1.4 billion people, were in vulnerable employment, for developing countries this proportion was 76%. The 2020 Covid-19 crisis will significantly reduce the number of people in jobs and proportionally increase the number in vulnerable employment. As market demand comes to a sudden halt, developing country firms that are linked into, and supply global value chains face major challenges. Looking forward, lead firms are also likely to shorten their supply chains, potentially cutting high productivity and high-income jobs in manufacturing in poorer countries.
This presents an opportunity for Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) to strengthen firms in their target markets, through strategic, practical and financial means. In the short-term, finance and specialist guidance could be provided to more productive firms at risk of closure to ensure that higher productivity jobs are maintained, as these will act as the engine driving economic recovery. In the medium term, investments could target diversification opportunities that play into regional supply chains, making markets and jobs more resilient to international shocks. Finally, longer term investments could target economic transformation opportunities driving high value employment and economic growth. This involves transitioning of workers form informal to formal sector and making the most of a digital economy.
However, some key issues need to be investigated. For example, how will DFIs balance the need to preserve jobs with increased investment risk? Can they play a role in identifying and developing sectors that will drive the diversification and transformation process? Finally, what can DFIs do to develop the technical capabilities that would be required to sustain such processes?
The negotiations for COP26 were always going to be tough, but the need to secure more ambitious nationally determined commitments now comes at a time of profound economic turmoil within the global economy due to Covid-19.
On the one hand, there are concerns that efforts to address climate change will receive less priority as efforts to reboot economies dominate. On the other hand, efforts to build back better can address both climate and trade-related vulnerabilities. International trade has a powerful role to play. But divergences between the climate, trade and development communities must be bridged.
During Climate Week NYC 2020, we bring together climate and trade negotiators to discuss what’s on the negotiating table at COP26, the trade related implications and how development friendly outcomes can be secured.
2020 was set to be the year when governments upped their ambition for action on climate and biodiversity. Yet, we know the reality – exacerbated by the coronavirus – has been different. The world has only a few years left to deliver drastic greenhouse gas emission reductions and stem the loss in biodiversity, or we lose any realistic chance of addressing the climate crisis successfully. While policy makers wrestle with the challenges of Covid-19 and economic recovery, the climate emergency continues and cannot be put on hold.
While there is recognition of possible trade-offs between the different pathways of recovery, there is little concrete discussion to pin down the level of ambition for a green recovery and the political, social and economic space to achieve that ambition. We discuss the level of ambition we should aim for on climate action while the world recovers from the Covid-19 crisis and the opportunities and barriers to achieving this level of ambition.
This event is part of the ODI at 60 series, challenging decision-makers to provide more sustainable and equitable pathways for the future.
Governments worldwide are relying on cash and tax transfers to households with children in response to the Covid-19 crisis, amid growing calls to strengthen and expand cash transfers and social protection. A recent UN SDG report states: 'It is particularly urgent to rollout or expand social assistance to families, preferably through the use of universal child benefits.'
Universal child benefits (UCBs) can play a critical role in reducing poverty and inequality while promoting social cohesion and public support for social protection. In countries with established UCBs, they constitute a cornerstone of national social policy systems and have proved effective in scaling up social protection in times of crisis.
Drawing on recent country experience and on new policy analysis, this live digital event discusses key issues and emerging lessons concerning the challenges and trade-offs policymakers face when introducing or expanding a child benefit; the administrative and political economy implications of universal versus narrowly targeted approaches; policy financing options; and the effectiveness of alternative child benefits, including in crisis contexts.
The webinar marks the launch of an ODI-UNICEF report on universal child benefits.
Please note this podcast is in Arabic. To listen to the event in English, please visit https://soundcloud.com/odi-live-events/coronavirus-and-local-peacebuilding-efforts-in-north-africa-soundcloud-e.
في مارسوسط جائحة كوفيد19 و بعد أن دعا الأمين العام للأمم المتحدة أنطونيو غوتيريس إلى وقف إطلاق النار في العالم ، رأى العديد من المحللين السياسيين فرصة للسلام. ومع ذلك، فإن الواقع في العديد من مناطق الصراع اليوم يظهر أن هذه الفرصة قد ضاعت. فقد تم تجاهل وقف إطلاق النار - وهو اتجاه له تداعيات إنسانية خطيرة. لكن في شمال إفريقيا، لم يمنع الوباء وما تلاه الجهات الفاعلة المحلية من مواصلة عملها، مع بعض النتائج المثيرة للإعجاب.
انضم إلى USIP و ODI لإجراء مناقشة تضم خبراء وممارسين في بناء السلام من شمال إفريقيا. تبحث المحادثة في تداعيات Covid-19 على بناء السلام على المستوى المحلي في ثلاثة سياقات خاصة بشمال إفريقيا: ليبيا وتونس ومصر.
In March, after UN Secretary-General Antοnio Guterres called for a global cease-fire amid the Covid-19 pandemic, many political analysts saw an opportunity for peace. However, the stark reality in many conflict zones today shows that, so far, that opportunity has been missed. Cease-fires are being ignored, and the politics of the pandemic have enabled violence rather than deterred it – a trend that has serious humanitarian implications. But in North Africa, the pandemic and subsequent surge in violent conflict have not stopped local actors from continuing their work, with some impressive results.
Join USIP and ODI for a discussion featuring peacebuilding experts and practitioners from North Africa. The online conversation looks at the implications of Covid-19 on peacebuilding at the local level in three particular North African contexts: Libya, Tunisia, and Egypt.
Please note this podcast is in English. To listen to the event in Arabic, please visit https://soundcloud.com/odi-live-events/coronavirus-and-local-peacebuilding-efforts-in-north-africa-soundcloud-a.
In March, after UN Secretary-General Antοnio Guterres called for a global cease-fire amid the Covid-19 pandemic, many political analysts saw an opportunity for peace. However, the stark reality in many conflict zones today shows that, so far, that opportunity has been missed. Cease-fires are being ignored, and the politics of the pandemic have enabled violence rather than deterred it – a trend that has serious humanitarian implications. But in North Africa, the pandemic and subsequent surge in violent conflict have not stopped local actors from continuing their work, with some impressive results.
Join USIP and ODI for a discussion featuring peacebuilding experts and practitioners from North Africa. The online conversation looks at the implications of Covid-19 on peacebuilding at the local level in three particular North African contexts: Libya, Tunisia, and Egypt.
في مارسوسط جائحة كوفيد19 و بعد أن دعا الأمين العام للأمم المتحدة أنطونيو غوتيريس إلى وقف إطلاق النار في العالم ، رأى العديد من المحللين السياسيين فرصة للسلام. ومع ذلك، فإن الواقع في العديد من مناطق الصراع اليوم يظهر أن هذه الفرصة قد ضاعت. فقد تم تجاهل وقف إطلاق النار - وهو اتجاه له تداعيات إنسانية خطيرة. لكن في شمال إفريقيا، لم يمنع الوباء وما تلاه الجهات الفاعلة المحلية من مواصلة عملها، مع بعض النتائج المثيرة للإعجاب.
انضم إلى USIP و ODI لإجراء مناقشة تضم خبراء وممارسين في بناء السلام من شمال إفريقيا. تبحث المحادثة في تداعيات Covid-19 على بناء السلام على المستوى المحلي في ثلاثة سياقات خاصة بشمال إفريقيا: ليبيا وتونس ومصر.
As governments wrestle with the trade-offs between continuing their lockdowns in support of public health during the Covid-19 crisis and easing restrictions to boost ailing economies, everyday life is changing. While it is hoped that some aspects of life before Covid-19 will resume, a new ‘normal’ will also likely emerge. And this is also the case with research and data collection.
As this webinar reveals, the pandemic has brought new and existing challenges to the fore, not least in relation to doing research and data collection to inform programming and policy.
Drawn from first-hand practical experience of research in Nigeria, Gaza, Tanzania and Bangladesh, this live interactive event co-hosted with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine explores adaptations and solutions to the challenges of doing research during Covid-19 including the role of digital technology; how researchers are keeping safe and how ethical issues are being addressed; and the need to reconsider potentially extractive practices.
We discuss the recent announcement by the UK government to merge the Department for International Development with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, with perspectives from the Commonwealth, Development Assistance Committee countries and the aid sector.
In these unprecedented times, millions of refugees face lockdown in environments where social distancing or access to essential financial or medical support are limited or non-existent. As families and communities struggle to access resources, schools or opportunities, child-marriage and unsafe underage labour are beginning to take priority over education, and concerns are mounting that adolescent refugees will be left behind during the pandemic response.
Based on real-time virtual interviews with adolescents within refugee contexts, we examine age- and gender- specific vulnerabilities of adolescent refugees. We spotlight adolescent refugee voices from the Palestinian, Rohingya and Syrian refugee crises and identify key priorities for policy and programming, as well as putting forward recommendations to address critical education and protection gaps for adolescents during the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond.
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic is posing unprecedented challenges across the world, putting considerable strains on leadership, the health sector and our way of living. Insurgent groups from the Taliban to Al Shabab, have provided health advice and produced propaganda highlighting their action against Covid-19.
Gangs in Rio have sought to enforce pandemic restrictions and notorious cartel leader El Chapo has produced health kits emblazoned with his likeness, unmasking in some cases state fragility and institutional weaknesses. While some armed groups have used the pandemic as another means of waging their propaganda, armed groups in Mali, Central African Republic and elsewhere, have heeded the UN Secretary General’s call to halt the violence in aid of efforts to combat Covid-19.
As we launch the ODI Centre for the Study of Armed Groups, we discuss how armed groups across the world’s conflict zones have reacted to the pandemic, and the implications this will have for humanitarian responses, peacebuilding efforts and development aid.
'What if some African governments are doing a better job than our own of managing the coronavirus?' (New Yorker, May 2020)
Covid-19 has gripped the world, shaken the multilateral system and caused widespread uncertainty. One thing remains clear, there is no going back and adaptations will need to be made to shift towards a new normal. The key to this will be developing new forms of cooperation between countries and communities around the globe.
Early signs from Africa are that in many countries the response to Covid-19 has been effective – perhaps because they were able learn from how the pandemic unfolded across the world from China to Italy and through Europe. But contrary to commonplace narratives about aiding Africa, recent events highlight opportunities for Europe and elsewhere to learn from Africa. Beyond the immediate response to the pandemic, countries across Africa will face considerable challenges in the recovery, with an urgent need to finance weakened economies and to adapt existing approaches to trade, labour markets and social protection.
This event explores what new approaches and enhanced forms of collaboration will need to be built between Africa, Europe and beyond, as well as delivering on the many commitments being made.
Convened in partnership with the European Think Tanks Group, this event is the first in a series of engagement ahead of the upcoming European Union-African Union Summit and is also part of the ODI at 60 global reset dialogue series, challenging decision-makers to provide more sustainable and equitable pathways for the future.
The spread of the Covid-19 virus is testing the health and economic systems of individual countries and the world as a whole. The standard response ‘toolkit’ initially focussed primarily on containing the spread of the virus, with some adjustment of economic and social policies required to address the needs of people in or near poverty.
Across countries there are growing concerns about the impact that the pandemic and the policy responses will have on the lives of the poorest and most marginalised who may be least able to withstand Covid-19 on top of their existing vulnerabilities and crises. While the impact of the pandemic is still in its initial stages across many low and lower middle-income countries, its peak is expected during the next few months.
This webinar brings together researchers, practitioners and policy makers to discuss the impacts of the virus and short-term policy responses on the world’s poorest, and the adjustments to immediate policy responses needed to prevent impoverishment, hunger and destitution.
The effects of the Covid-19 crisis in sub-Saharan Africa through trade, commodity prices, remittances, tourism and global value chains are likely to be devastating. The World Bank is forecasting a decline in growth in the region from 2.4% in 2019 to between -2.1 and -5.1% this year, estimating African economies could lose between $37 billion and $79 billion in output losses. This will have huge financial impact.
On one level, economies will struggle to achieve financial stability and recover as concerns mount on issues around debt sustainability. On another level, the crisis will impact African countries financial sector development (FSD), which may also have implications for how policies and regulations are formulated and implemented in a post-Covid world.
This webinar convenes finance experts and sector stakeholders to discuss the post-Covid trade-offs between financial stability and economic renewal for African countries and what specific FSD policies, and regulation are important to address the fall out and ensure stability after the pandemic.
This event is part of the ODI at 60 global reset dialogue series, challenging decision-makers to provide more sustainable and equitable pathways for the future.
Decades-long commitments to supporting more ‘local’ responses to crises have not resulted in significant shifts in the traditional humanitarian system. Funding, decision-making and capacity continue to be concentrated in large international aid actors. Experts are now highlighting the critical role that local responders will play in relation to Covid-19 given their ability to act fast, engage communities and maintain delivery in the context of national and international travel restrictions. Will this lead to a reset of the humanitarian system? Or, beyond the rhetoric, will it be business as usual?
This event launches the Humanitarian Policy Group's (HPG) new report, From the ground up: it's about time for local humanitarian action, which brings together two years of research on examining humanitarian action, power imbalances and local capacity. Using report recommendations, we discuss whether Covid-19 is unlocking some of the barriers to more locally-led humanitarian responses in practice.
This event is part of the ODI at 60 global reset dialogue series, challenging decision-makers to provide more sustainable and equitable pathways for the future.
India’s federal government has taken a cautious approach in response to the social and economic impacts of the coronavirus crisis. The initial fiscal support provided was equivalent to just 0.8% of GDP – despite millions of workers losing their jobs since the lockdown has been put in place. More recently, Prime Minister Modi has promised a much larger economic stimulus package, although there seems to be limited direct grants or subsidies available. This stands in contrast to the much larger fiscal support packages being put in place by governments around the world.
Yet is ‘doing whatever it takes’ a realistic option in India? The crisis comes at a time when the economy was already weakening, and the government is unable to rely upon the central banks to refinance debts denominated in foreign currency. How then should the government steer a course between providing relief from the crisis and concerns for the stability of the macroeconomy?
This is a joint event co-hosted by ODI, the National Institute for Public Finance and Policy and the Centre for Policy Research.
The ongoing coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic is posing unprecedented challenges to leadership across the world. The pace at which policymakers, practitioners and researchers react to this emerging and complex crisis will make a profound difference to people’s lives and livelihoods. But how can we ensure effective, collective decision-making based on emerging evidence, changing trends and shifting scientific understanding, all in the face of considerable uncertainty?
Recent experience highlights the need for adaptive leadership in national and global responses to the outbreak. This requires adaptive leadership capacities like being open and transparent about learning, using collective decision-making processes and building trust with communities and individuals.
Using ODI’s research on adaptive leadership during the coronavirus response, we discuss practical applications of adaptive responses during the Covid-19 outbreak, bridging science, policy and practice.
Twenty-five years after the world's leaders committed to transforming women's rights in the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA), girls still remain a missing piece of the roadmap towards gender equality. While tremendous progress has been made, there is still a long way to go and it is more important than ever to make sure girls are not left behind.
We know that during a girl’s lifecycle the years between ages 10 and 19 are increasingly recognised as the critical time to protect and promote their rights. In order to prevent girls from the double burden society places on them for being young and female, their contexts and contributions must be counted. Successful social and political transformation requires better data on girls' experiences, adequate planning, multi-stakeholder engagement and funding to drive norm change and build a world that girls deserve.
This event brings together leading voices in shaping the global political agenda for girls’ rights and shares innovations and initiatives that put them front and centre of current and future planning.
The urgency of the Covid-19 threat is increasing the demand for governments to use existing technologies in new ways and to use untested new technologies on urgent problems. The use of these technologies are part of a rapidly deployed ‘digital safety net’ aimed at saving lives and protecting citizens. Without the usual time available to test new ideas it is more important than ever that best practice is identified and shared.
This event contributes to further thinking about the role of digital technology in providing a safety net in times of crisis, the essential components of the safety net and newly designed technology being used to respond to the Covid-19 crisis.
We bring perspectives from different geographies and address critical lessons covering three aspects of the crisis response: tackling the virus, social protection and public information.
Ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being at all ages is essential to sustainable development. As the Covid-19 crisis illustrates all too vividly, not only is health important in itself, but healthy people are better able to learn, be productive and contribute to their communities. Achieving universal health coverage (UHC) is critical to this and essential to ensuring that no one is ‘left behind’ in accessing quality health services because of who they are, where they live or their socio-economic situation.
Using ODI research on access to health for left-behind groups and contemporary case studies on moves towards UHC in low- and middle-income countries, we discuss the constraints, enabling factors and strategies used in the roll-out of UHC, as well innovative approaches and interventions to reach left-behind groups and achieve UHC in a progressively universal manner. We will also incorporate reflections on how the current Covid-19 outbreak is highlighting the need for universality, and how it might help or hinder progress towards UHC.
Stories of irrelevant aid regularly arise in humanitarian assistance. People affected by disasters or crises receive food they cannot eat, services they do not want or technologies they cannot use. If they are not getting what they really need, something is going wrong.
Relevance is central to humanitarian principles and standards, however putting it into practice is profoundly difficult and potentially disruptive. Realigning the humanitarian offer with the priorities of affected people opens unique opportunities in identifying dynamic needs, being culturally and contextually relevant and delivering on time and at scale.
On the back of ALNAP’s 32nd Annual Meeting, we explore how those working in humanitarian policy and implementation are tackling these themes and the challenges faced in doing so.
The world’s second largest outbreak of Ebola was declared on 1 August 2018 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. More than 2,200 people have died and over 3,300 have been infected. The response to Ebola has been complicated by conflict between central government, local political actors and armed groups in the affected areas. Rumours about the virus and the response have also been spread and shaped by that conflict.
Attempts have been made to apply key lessons from the 2014-15 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, such as the need for strong surveillance and outbreak control strategies and the importance of understanding the behaviours, practices and perceptions of communities and of engaging them actively in the response. The identification and trial use of effective vaccines during the outbreak has been an important and promising development. Yet, despite these efforts, cases of Ebola continue to be reported.
Drawing on articles from the Humanitarian Exchange, this webinar will discuss to what degree the lessons learned from the West Africa Ebola outbreak have been taken into account in the DRC response and how barriers to containment of the disease could be better addressed.
Chair: Cathal Long, Research Fellow ODI • Binta Zahra Diop, PhD. Candidate, University of Oxford • Khuram Farooq, Chair of IFMIS Community of Practice, World Bank • Jess Gartner, CEO & Founder at Allovue • Jacqueline Musabende, Assistant Professor, Mount Royal University
Chair: Alina Rocha Menocal, Senior Research Fellow ODI • Joe Abah, Country Director DAI, Nigeria and formerly head of public sector reform, Government of Nigeria • Kalipso Chalkidou, Director of Global Health Policy, Centre for Global Development • Adnan Khan, Professor of Practice, London School of Economics • Jodi Wishnia, University of Witswaterand and Public Health Consultant
Session 4: Promoting accountability for results Chair: Tom Hart, Research Fellow, ODI • Seye Abimbola, Lecturer, Public Health, University of Sydney • Ivor Beazley, Senior Public Sector Specialist, World Bank • Loraine Hawkins, Governor, The Health Foundation • Dan Honig, Assistant Professor of International Development, John Hopkins University
Chair : Catherine Dom, Principal Consultant Mokoro • Bernard Gauthier, Professor, Department of Applied Economics, HEC Montreal • Dorcus Kiwanuka Henriksson, Karolinska Institutet • Marcel Mukeshimana, Accountant General, Government of Rwanda • Benjamin Tsofa, Deputy Director, Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI)
Chair: Maia King, Lecturer in Economics, Kings College London and ODI Research Associate • Andrew Blazey, Deputy Head of Division OECD • Fiona Davies, ODI Research Associate • Kenneth Mugambe, Director Budget at the Uganda Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development • Tsegay Tekleselassie, Research Fellow at the Ethiopian Development Research Institute
Chair: Andrew Lawson, Co-Founder and Technical Director of Fiscus Limited • Neil Cole, Executive Secretary, Collaborative African Budget Reform Initiative • Suzanne Flynn, IMF and Centre for Excellence in Finance • Sam Freedman, Chief Executive, Ark’s Education Partnerships Group • Dorjan Marušič, Former Minister of Health, Slovenia
Sara Pantuliano, Chief Executive, ODI – Introductory remarks • Mark Miller, Director, Public Finance and Institutions Programme, ODI – Framing a future international agenda on PFM and service delivery • Rathin Roy, Director, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy – Country perspectives on PFM and service delivery
Over the past years, Universal Basic Income (UBI) has increasingly been discussed in countries across the world. India’s 2019 elections featured UBI in a prominent way; a presidential candidate in the United States 2020 elections has made UBI a core platform of his campaign; a decade-long trial is underway in rural Kenya; and since 2010, an average of a book per month is published on the topic. While such policy research and practice are yielding important lessons and learning, UBI is also subject to a growing volume of critical challenge, notably from advocates of expanding collective services, Universal Basic Services (UBS).
This webinar brings together researchers and practitioners to discuss whether and how UBI and UBS address growing demands for more inclusive social contracts that include universal social protection at their centre, taking into account country settings (such as South Africa and the UK), select policy trade-offs (such as transfers versus services; guaranteed income versus guaranteed jobs), and practical implications for implementation, including financial and delivery considerations. Based on recent publications and operational experience, panellists debate these issues.
The UK is an important investor across Africa. Projected population and economic growth across the continent, as well as a high regard for British products, heighten the prospects of future UK investment.
Against the backdrop of Brexit and growing momentum over the African Continental Free Trade Area, we bring together representatives from government, research and the private sector to consider how the UK and Africa can work together to secure mutually beneficial trade and investment.
Using key findings from ODI and the African Trade Policy Centre country deep dives on Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa, we discuss the opportunities and challenges to boosting UK investment in Africa with the aim of contributing to the development objectives of the continent.
Over the past decade, several developing economies have achieved strong and sustained economic growth, moving them up the income per capita ladder and away from aid. Some of these countries are expected to graduate from official development assistance (ODA).
What can we learn from these countries that have started or completed the transition from aid to ensure that their development outcomes are sustained and expanded? What type of support would countries in transition from aid need from their development partners?
Using key findings and lessons from ODI – in partnership with GIZ – case study research on Botswana, Chile, Mexico and the Republic of Korea, this webinar will seek to address these questions and shed light on the opportunities and challenges for countries managing the transition from aid and for development partners seeking to support them.
Nearly 132 million people worldwide are in need of assistance and protection due to conflict, persecution and disasters. Women and girls are disproportionately affected by crises, and are at higher risk of violence, abuse, neglect and discrimination. The specific humanitarian needs of women and girls are often inadequately identified nor addressed in humanitarian responses by governments and agencies. They are also at far greater risk of losing their livelihoods and are exposed to a heightened risk of gender-based violence.
A targeted response towards the needs of women and girls must go beyond protection and include meaningful inclusion and participation in all stages of decision-making, from the local to the most senior levels. We must actively challenge the humanitarian system to work better and create more spaces and initiatives that allow women and girls to realise their potential and contribute to the solutions they need to prosper. Evidence shows that when women are included in humanitarian action their entire community benefits, with a cascading effect for generations to come.
Delivering the HPG Annual Lecture this year is Her Royal Highness Princess Sarah Zeid of Jordan. Princess Sarah is a UNHCR Patron for Maternal and Newborn Health and member of UNHCR’s Advisory Group on Gender, Forced Displacement, and Protection; Special Advisor to the World Food Programme on Maternal & Child Health and Nutrition; and lead convener of the Roadmap to Accelerate Progress for Every Newborn in Humanitarian Settings 2020–2025. In this lecture, Princess Sarah will make a passionate plea to change the current humanitarian system and put women and girls at the centre of programmes, policies and investments.
By 2050 more than half of Africa’s population will be under 25 years old. The booming population is posing challenges to African countries to meet the educational and employment needs of young people. Governments and organisations need to think creatively if they are to address these challenges. Investing more on gender-sensitive programmes and considering the potential of digital technologies could develop opportunities for youth on the continent.
Drawing on research from the Youth Forward initiative and the Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence programme (GAGE) we address two questions: how can we create better educational and job opportunities for youth – especially young women – in rural and urban Africa? And what role can digital technologies play in this process?
We cannot wait any longer to shift gender norms, reduce inequalities and set the course for good health for generations to come. Addressing gender inequality and restrictive gender norms benefits the health and development of all genders and is essential for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, protecting human rights for all.
With the global health community working to ensure healthy lives and promoting well-being, attention is being turned to the barriers of achieving this goal–namely discriminatory and harmful gender norms embedded in health practices and health systems. In partnership with The Lancet and Stanford University, we discuss research on how gender equality improves overall wellbeing and what we know about best practices for addressing harmful and restrictive gender norms to improve health outcomes.
This event will highlight the recently published, Lancet Series on Gender Equality, Norms and Health and generate recommendations and advice for practitioners, researchers and policy makers working on gender, norms and health.
Chair: Caroline Harper – Head of Gender Equality and Social Inclusion, ODI
Speakers: Richard Horton – Editor-in-Chief, The Lancet
Sarah Hawkes – Director of the Centre for Gender and Global Health and Professor of Global Public Health, University College London (UCL)
Olivia Burns – Customer Experience Lead, Prostate Cancer UK
Veronica Magar – Team leader for Gender, Equity and Human Rights Mainstreaming, World Health Organization (WHO)
Adolescents are a driving force for development. If we are to deliver on the 2030 Agenda and ‘leave no one behind’, young people must be provided with the tools needed to reach their full potential. Particularly those who are disadvantaged and often face high levels of stigma, discrimination and exclusion.
In commemoration of Universal Children’s Day and the 30th Anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, we discuss ways to develop and strengthen the voice and agency of disadvantaged adolescents. We draw on recent Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) participatory research findings on adolescent refugees, adolescents with disabilities and married adolescent girls.
China's investment in the African continent is increasing at a steady rate, with the country announcing the provision of $60 billion in financial support to Africa at the 2018 China–Africa Cooperation Forum.
As China plays an increasingly key role in the continent, we explore the future of Sino–African development relations. In particular looking at the impact and implications of opportunities generated by Chinese investment, such as lending practices by Chinese stakeholders.
We also focus on the Belt and Road Initiative in the East African context, looking at how it is financed by state actors and private investors who seek access to Belt and Road opportunities.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development emphasises the critical role of social protection in achieving the SDGs, including gender equality. If appropriately designed and implemented, social protection policies and systems can transform women’s and girls' lives by addressing lifecycle risks and transitions, increasing access to services and infrastructure and promoting women’s and girls' voice and agency.
Building on the momentum achieved through this year’s Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), we discuss the role of social protection in promoting gender equality and women and girls’ empowerment, identifying opportunities and concrete actions for making progress towards gender equality and social protection for all.
For nearly two decades, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda have all sustained average economic growth of 5 per cent or higher. To maintain and top this performance, while making growth more inclusive for their rapidly expanding populations, governments in the region know that the main drivers of their economic growth need to change.
Economic transformation is crucial for sustained growth and job creation. However our understanding on how to support economic transformation in different contexts is far from complete. Recent research has stimulated thinking around more targeted and joined up support, especially around sectors.
This event discusses approaches and strategies to economic transformation in the region, including high-level coordination among different policy areas and sectoral approaches in the African context.
We live in a globalised world. Just as people, goods and services cross borders, so do the impacts of climate change and our subsequent adaptation responses. A localised drought, occurring more frequently and intensely as a result of climate change, disrupts a global supply chain, which in turn affects consumers many thousands of miles away. An adaptation response, to increase irrigation by tapping a transboundary river, affects a shared ecosystem and shifts sensitive political dynamics across a region. The stakes are high, yet our current adaptation plans often fail to recognise or account for such transboundary risks or our global interdependence.
Ahead of the UN Climate Action Summit 2019, ODI and Wilton Park convene a high-level discussion to present new research on transboundary climate risk. Together with our partners, SEI and IDDRI, we are also launching a new initiative–Adaptation without borders–to harness the international cooperation needed to effectively govern and manage such risks.
We explore how we can raise visibility of transboundary climate risks, gather evidence and analysis, build connections between stakeholders and drive action from both policy-makers and practitioners, to ultimately reposition adaptation as a global public good.
We cannot afford to wait. The last four years were the hottest on record. Winter temperatures in the Arctic have risen by 3°C since 1990. As governments grapple with the adaptation actions required today and tomorrow, we must complement local action with enhanced multilateral cooperation–'adaptation without borders’ is a global imperative.
Over 4.2 billion people currently reside in urban areas. By 2045, it is predicted that the number will increase to six billion, with most growth taking place in Asia and Africa. Against this backdrop, there has been a sharp rise in crises affecting cities over the past decade.
Many aid agencies have started to urbanise their response, taking into considering the dynamism of cities, resilience on markets and intricate logistics, and the diverse range of populations' needs. While the humanitarian sector recognises that the traditional ways of working in rural areas need revising with tools more suited to urban areas. Most practitioners still lack the practical guidance needed to capitalise on what cities have to offer and take the long view to build help build resilience.
This event launches the Humanitarian Practice Network's Good Practice Review on humanitarian response in urban contexts and addresses the following:
How can the humanitarian sector better balance between responding to the immediate needs but also add value in the long-term?
What are the continual challenges faced when operating in urban areas?
What will the future look like for humanitarians responding to urban crises?
In order to meet SDG 8 and secure ‘decent work and sustainable economic growth for all’, governments and their development partners will need to achieve the right balance between promoting ‘growth from below’ (GfB) and ‘growth from above’ (GfA).
Policy measures to tighten labour markets will need to be coupled with more strategic efforts to empower women, support asset development and productivity in agriculture and support migration and remittance, to facilitate sustained escapes from poverty.
Using the key findings of the Chronic Poverty Advisory Network’s forthcoming Chronic Poverty Report on Growth, this high-level side event at the UN High Level Political Forum (HLPF) discusses the concept of ‘growth from below’ and its policy implications for sustained poverty reduction in the context of the 2030 Agenda.
Education is central to achieving economic and social benefits for migrants of all ages, and their host communities; improving livelihoods and health outcomes, reducing gender inequality and enhancing political participation. Education and skills development are essential for all people on the move, young and old, and especially for women, who are not always able to make the most of the opportunities that migration brings. Too often refugees and other migrants have limited access to education and to opportunities for skills development.
This high-level discussion at the UN High Level Political Forum (HLPF) addresses key questions to move this agenda forward.
What would it take to make quality basic education and learning available to all migrant children and young people?
How do skills development and life-long learning affect global human mobility?
What practical actions can be taken to address the barriers that refugees and other migrants face in?
This event is held in collaboration with UNICEF and UNESCO, and with the support of Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Philippines and Ethiopia.
NGOs have been central to efforts to improve the humanitarian system. Yet international NGOs are often criticised for a lack of coordination, destructive competition and unnecessary duplication – especially in ‘crowded’ and highly fragile contexts. Some have called for consolidation – reducing the number of international NGOs to increase efficiency and empower local and national organisations, particularly in protracted crises. This proposition warrants attention. Yet it is both complex and potentially controversial.
Aid effectiveness: Would consolidation of international NGOs increase efficiency and effectiveness, or would it create larger organisations with the same persistent challenges?
Localisation of aid: Would mergers create space for the localisation of aid and empowerment of smaller organisations, or would it lead to the increased dominance of a few ‘mega-agencies’?
Trust: Would consolidation demonstrate that international NGOs are sincere about increasing value for money and impact, or be seen as an attempt to grow market share?
Relationship with the public: Would mergers threaten the affinity people have with particular organisations and brands, or present an opportunity for a new narrative and new understanding?
This high-level debate on the benefits and risks of consolidating international NGOs is co-hosted by ODI and Mercy Corps.
The power of the media to influence gender norms both towards greater equality and reinforcing discriminatory attitudes and behaviour has long been recognised. Through the representation of men and women on television shows, news, social media and advertising, gender norms are demonstrated, negotiated and challenged. Public policymakers and donors support the potential of mass media to educate, and change attitudes and behaviours, investing particularly in edutainment (soap operas) and interactive media such as phone-ins and chat shows.
This panel debate critically analyses the power of media as a space for positive change to gender norms, exploring the merits and limitations of different types of mass media, focusing on:
- Whether one form of media is more powerful than others for challenging harmful gender norms?
- Examples of media influencing campaigns aimed at gender equality back-firing
- Whether a cross-media approach is always best to tackle the complexity of gender norms?
- Who the power for norm change lies with?
- How norm change through media influence can be monitored?
From droughts in East Africa to floods in Southern India, the impacts of climate change and natural hazards include death and illness, damage to property and infrastructure, disruption to basic services and the loss of livelihood opportunities.
The most marginalised people are among the hardest hit in any crisis, with children and adolescents in poverty often the most affected. Natural hazards can displace children, caregivers and service providers, as well as destroy school buildings, health facilities and transport infrastructure. Parents may also pull their children out of school to support the wider household, through unpaid domestic work and/or paid labour.
Such immediate impacts on a child's wellbeing are well known. But how do natural hazards experienced during childhood affect future life stages into adolescence and beyond? What are the implications of natural hazards for child and adolescent poverty trajectories? With the Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction a few weeks away, there is an opportunity now to examine the true impact climate change and natural hazards have on the systems and services central to child and adolescent well-being.
Drawing on ODI’s recent research on 'Child poverty, disasters and climate change: investigating relationships and implications over a child’s life course', our panellists discuss the effect of natural hazards on the different life stages of children and adolescents living in poverty.
Asia’s economic prospects by 2025 appear strong. Yet despite historic economic success and resilience since the global financial crisis, the continent faces a range of challenges including escalating trade protectionism, graduation from international support measures, external debt and an ageing population.
Asia is diverse with countries of varying population size, geography and economic dynamism. Asia’s giants, China, India and Japan, are experiencing varying growth challenges, while several middle-income countries (MICs) are likely to be vulnerable to trade and income shocks, as well as rising income inequality. Asia’s MICs also offer substantial opportunities for trade and investment.
After Beijing's Belt and Road Forum, this event examines the economic implications of China’s development strategy for other Asian countries and explores macroeconomic prospects for Asian economies and how countries such as the UK could work to seize opportunities and address vulnerabilities.
Without urgent action, the global consequences of climate change will be devastating. Yet despite the environmental impact of rapid economic growth, increasing GDP (Gross Domestic Product) continues to remain the priority for countries around the world.
So what is the future of economic growth? Can we achieve green growth that marries rapid environmental transformation with ever-rising financial returns? Or is it time to create economies that enable us to thrive, rather than grow, in order to stand a real chance at tackling climate change?
Building on ODI’s work on migration and sustainable development, this event considers a series of concrete proposals to address these challenges and make the most of the opportunities that human mobility can bring - to those who move and those who stay.
On International Women's Day, activist Nimco Ali joins ODI for a conversation on tackling female genital mutilation (FGM) and harmful traditional practices towards adolescent girls.
Susanna Moorehead, the new Chair of the OECD's Development Assistance Committee (DAC) joins ODI in conversation on the future of aid.
This event explores the changes needed to achieve the global target of universal access to water, sanitation and hygiene by 2030.
Alex de Waal, Executive Director of the World Peace Foundation, Research Professor at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, delivers the 2018 HPG Annual Lecture, examining the current political and legal developments related to mass starvation and the implications for humanitarian action.
This keynote speech was delivered on the second day of the Africa's rising debt conference by Dr Donald Kaberuka, High Representative of the African Union Peace Fund and CGD Distinguished Visiting Fellow, and former president of the African Development Bank Group.
This keynote speech was delivered on the first day of the Africa's rising debt conference by Razia Khan, Chief Economist for Africa and the Middle East, Standard Chartered.
This keynote speech was delivered on the first day of the Africa's rising debt conference by Dr Antoinette Monsio Sayeh, former Minister of Finance, Liberia, and former director of the African Department at the IMF.
This panel session, the fourth of the Africa's rising debt conference, addresses the following key questions:
- How effective has the implementation of collective action clauses been and what further improvements can be made?
- What challenges does the evolving financing landscape pose to sovereign debt restructuring, particularly the Paris Club and market-based approaches, and what are some possible solutions?
- What incremental steps can be taken to improve the architecture for sovereign debt restructuring to assess legitimacy of debt claims, deal with creditor coordination, address aggressive litigation strategies by 'vulture funds' against sovereign debtors, and link debt restructurings to SDG financing needs and human rights?
This panel session, the third of the Africa's rising debt conference, addresses the following key questions:
- What factors have enabled some sub-Saharan African countries to borrow responsibly following debt relief?
- What challenges does the evolving finance landscape pose to policy-makers in sub-Saharan Africa when it comes to ensuring that the level and rate of growth in their public debt is sustainable?
- How can the providers of technical assistance better suport national authorities to ensure that borrowing is responsible and that risks are better managed in a volatile environment?
This panel session, the second of the Africa's rising debt conference, addresses the following key questions:
- How effective have voluntary guidelines for sustainable and transparent lending been so far and what more can be done as part of the responsible investment agenda?
- What metrics and mechanisms can be applied to monitor whether creditors lend in a sustainable and transparent manner?
- What are the advantages and challenges of state-contingent debt instruments as tools to ensure debt sustainability?
This panel session, the first of the Africa's rising debt conference, addresses the following key questions:
- What are the debt trajectories in sub-Saharan Africa and which countries are most vulnerable to being in debt distress?
- What are the risks for debt sustainability associated with relatively new and less concessional sources of finance?
- How can existing frameworks for monitoring debt vulnerabilities be improved
This event explores how changing gender norms can lead to women's economic empowerment – for women around the world today and for future generations.
This event discusses the drivers of sustainable economic growth in Africa in the context of new global trends.
Drawing on articles in the latest issue of HPN magazine, panellists discuss the opportunities and challenges of working in this protracted Rohingya crisis.
This event, to mark the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, convened leading experts in the fields of growth, social inclusion and climate change to discuss how joining together these key themes can contribute to ending chronic poverty by 2030.
To mark the International Day of Rural Women on 15 October, ODI convened an expert panel to explore this question further. The event includes discussion of new findings from recent research from ODI and the DFID-ESRC Growth Research Programme.
What actions do donors need to take in order to eradicate extreme poverty in the next 12 years?
The panel discusses the trends, drivers and causes of migration and displacement from Darfur as well as the conditions and experience of Darfuris in Europe.
To mark World Humanitarian Day on 19 August, ODI convenes an expert panel to discuss breaking the silence and promoting action on mental health affecting aid workers and volunteers.
Humanitarian aid workers are routinely exposed to traumatic events linked to the cause of mental health issues including depression, burnout and anxiety. But increasingly, work stress including extremely heavy workloads, long hours and limited time for self-care are being highlighted as major causes. Among volunteers, mental health issues can be even higher (Dineson, 2018). Often from affected communities, volunteers experience the same loss and grief as those they are working to support but without the same training, support or structure as professional workers.
At the global level, there is now increasing recognition of the importance of ensuring the well-being and safety of humanitarian workers and volunteers. However, too often the appropriate support and care systems are not in place, especially for national or local staff. A recent study found that only 20% of aid workers surveyed felt adequate psychosocial support was being offered (Dunkley, 2018). The prevailing culture of silence, feelings of guilt and perceived stigma around mental health, leads many to continue working without seeking treatment. To reduce stress, burnout and to promote the well-being of workers and volunteers, simple and cost-effective initiatives can be put in place before, during and after deployment.
What are the opportunities and challenges to providing mental health and psychosocial support in emergencies? This event launches the latest Humanitarian Exchange magazine.
Taliban governance is more coherent than ever before for the tens of millions of Afghans living under its rule. Their control and influence over finance, education, health, justice, taxation and everyday life extends far beyond areas the Taliban is said to control or contest. The provision of public goods, together with systemised violence and coercion, garner a combination of support, complicity and fear.
The scale and extent of Taliban governance is a reality with which few in the international community are willing to engage. This has enabled the Taliban to set the rules and parameters of negotiation.
To better support Afghans living under Taliban control, the question for the international community must shift from whether to engage to how. Drawing from ODI’s new research, based on first-hand interviews with over 160 Taliban fighters, officials and civilians, this expert panel discusses:
- What is the current reality for Afghan’s living under Taliban rule?
- How are Afghan civilians and aid workers navigating these complex realities?
- What lessons can be drawn from past negotiations with the Taliban to inform and shape the international community’s future engagement?
This event brings together researchers and officials to discuss how development agencies should be governed and structured.
This event explores why disaster risk reduction policy, programming and financing have yet to be sufficiently applied to conflict-affected and fragile contexts.
This event discusses the extent to which external financial support to fragile states is working, and reasons why it isn't.
United Nations Development Programme Administrator, Achim Steiner joined ODI in conversation on UN reform, sustaining peace and how to deliver more effective and integrated support to realise the 2030 Agenda.
Panellists discuss the challenges and opportunities for humanitarian agencies in better engaging with affected communities in armed conflicts and violence.
Honourable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh delivers a keynote speech on the country's progress and future development prospects.
The Minister for International Development Senator the Hon. Concetta Fierravanti-Wells sets out Australia's vision for aid cooperation and the Pacific region.
Drawing on articles in the latest Humanitarian Exchange and their own research and experience, our panellists discuss what is different about providing humanitarian assistance in urban areas and which tools and approaches can help to make responding to crises in urban environments more effective.
The event explores the latest evidence on discriminatory and harmful gender norms and highlights the work of NGOs and programmes trying to change them.
Panelists address four key questions at this event on Somalia's future:
- How should we address the conflict drivers in Somalia?
- What should the Government of Somalia do to mitigate the risk of uncertainty with the pending withdrawal of Mission (AMISOM)?
- Should the African Union play a bigger role in containing and defusing conflicts caused by al-Shabaab?
- How can the international community support Somalia to foster peace and national reconciliation?
Despite promising signs of economic growth, many African countries are struggling to develop the strong industrial sector required for economic transformation and job creation. Fresh thinking is needed on how to achieve Africa’s industrialisation objectives, with trade and trade policy increasingly being looked to as key tools for the task.
Much recent research has explored this idea by analysing the extent to which current trade policies and tariff structures are positively contributing to the content’s industrialisation policy, and providing assessments of what African economies can do to industrialise ‘smartly’ through trade.
This event sees an expert panel debate these issues and seeks to put forward concrete policy recommendations for African economies looking to realise their industrialisation ambitions.
Mark Green, Administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development and Penny Mordaunt, Secretary of State for International Development of the United Kingdom launch the Humanitarian Grand Challenge at ODI.
Why do some countries enjoy steady and sustained growth, others, periods of boom and bust, while others hardly experience growth at all? The answer to this question affects the rise and fall of nations and the life chances of billions of people—yet until recently economists have failed to answer it.
This event brings together ground-breaking researchers providing new approaches to this important conundrum. Among them are Kunal Sen and Yuen Yuen Ang, whose recent work offer radical explanations for how some states have achieved transformative growth, as well as innovative ideas for how others might emulate them.
Building on a combination of their findings plus landmark research from other distinguished economists, the event will kick-start a discussion on the politics of growth. In so doing, it seeks to provide actionable levers and policy recommendations for countries seeking to grow, transform, and escape the poverty trap.
Supporting so called ‘fragile states’ to build capacity and exit fragility is one of the most pressing challenges for the world today. Soon most of the world’s poorest people will be left behind in countries affected by conflict. In response, the share of aid to fragile states is growing. But is more aid the right answer?
This event explores the case of Afghanistan. While western economies built states and the social contract around tax, modern Afghanistan has been built around aid. Although intended to support effective state-building, the way aid has been delivered has arguably distorted the state and stunted the longer-term development of a social contract: a ‘paradoxical outcome’.
This event, which forms part of a series of discussions on ‘new directions in public finance’, explores how external actors can effectively support state-building in fragile states. Drawing on Dr Nematullah Bizhan’s personal experience and extensive research, it discusses how future progress in conflict or post-conflict states requires a fundamental re-think of the way aid can support rather than hinder state building, and considers the crucial role of revenue and taxation.
The event provides the latest evidence on policies and programmes that can assist in achieving positive poverty outcomes.
The event provides the latest evidence on policies and programmes that can assist in achieving positive poverty outcomes.
The event provides the latest evidence on policies and programmes that can assist in achieving positive poverty outcomes.
Panellists discuss the impact of bank-derisking on local Yemenis, humanitarian operations and the private sector.
Contributing chair: Nawal Al-maghafi @BBCNawalMaghafi - Journalist and producer, BBC News
Speakers: Dr Noel Brehony CMG - Author for Yemen Divided, and Former Chair of British-Yemeni Society
Imran Madden @imranmadden - Director, Islamic Relief UK
Sherine El Taraboulsi-McCarthy @staraboulsi - Research Fellow, Humanitarian Policy Group, ODI
Baraa Shiban @BShtwtr - Yemeni activist and caseworker, Reprieve UK
Expert panellists take stock of the current state of CTP, analyse the fast-moving successes and obstacles and discuss ways to accelerate impact.
This event discusses the policies and innovations needed to 'build back better' in the Caribbean post-hurricane Irma & Maria.
The President of Mauritius leads discussions on providing decent jobs for all, women and the informal economy.
In partnership with CARE International, our expert panel leads an interactive session on ‘how to measure the hard to measure’ in development. The event explores and compares learning from three projects tackling these challenges, based on four dimensions of ‘hard to measure’ aspects of development interventions.
What is it like to travel to Europe over land and sea in order to secure a future for yourself and your family? Why are so many people willing to risk their lives crossing the Mediterranean? What are their hopes and fears? And how is Europe responding?
Our expert panel unpacks these questions, drawing on interviews with hundreds of refugees and migrants who have reached Europe in recent years.
The event explores the messy reality of refugee and migrant journeys, and delves into the decisions people make along the way, challenging the assumption that ‘everyone wants to come to Europe’.
Gayle Smith discusses the future of humanitarian aid and multilateralism in an era of populist politics and global volatility.
This event explores the opportunities and challenges of improving accountability through working with non-state actors.
UN Special Representative for International Migration Louise Arbour delivers the keynote speech at this #GlobalChallenges debate.
This event explores how the digital revolution in public finance can work for developing countries.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank, joins ODI in conversation to share insights from his new book, A world of Three Zeros.
Former UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg delivers a keynote speech on UK’s role in a changing Europe and the world.
Kate Osamor MP, Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, delivers a keynote speech on Labour’s vision for the UK’s international development policy. The speech is followed by a question-and-answer session moderated by ODI’s Executive Director Alex Thier, and a networking reception.
This event, co-hosted by UNESCO and ODI, reflects on the role and responsibilities of governments to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education.
The panel discusses the current humanitarian and development challenges in the Lake Chad region, the Boko Haram crisis and state-level coordination.
As humanitarians we spend a lot of time debating what needs to change in our sector and why. But do we look enough at how that change happens?
Our panellists reflect on the root causes of the Rohingya crisis and what needs to happen next to solve the immediate and long term situation.
Former secretaries of state reflect on the history and future of the UK's Department for International Development.
This event presents a new narrative to broaden the debate around economic development, and the ways in which traditional aid delivery helps or hinders it.
This event, drawing on the World Food Programme's (WFP) 2017 global stocktake of food assistance, brings together voices from across academic, NGO and donor communities. Our experts debate and discuss what we are already doing and, critically, what we need to do as a community to meet the global demand for food assistance and realise food security for all.
President of the Rockefeller Foundation and former Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, Rajiv Shah, joins ODI in conversation on the major global challenges of our time – and his vision of how we can tackle them.
What are the risks health workers face when responding to crises? What needs to be done in the future to better protect them? Ahead of World Humanitarian Day and the memorial event for humanitarian aid workers at Westminster Abbey, join us to discuss how we can better address this issue.
This event features the launch of Future Fragmentation, a major publication from the Commonwealth Secretariat with contributions from ODI, that explores the changing nature of global trade in global value chains and the relative position of Commonwealth small states.
At this event the Canadian Minister of International Development and La Francophonie, Marie-Claude Bibeau delivers a keynote speech, offering her reflections on Canada’s new Feminist International Assistance Policy to promote gender equality and help empower all women and girls.
At this event hosted by CDKN and ODI, experts discuss progress in planning for NDC implementation across seven countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Critically, the discussion focuses on how the NDCs are being mainstreamed into national development processes – so that climate change is not an isolated concern of environment ministries but owned across governments and beyond.
This event, co-hosted by ODI and the United States Institute of Peace, launches a new roadmap for political stability in Afghanistan.
Find out more at www.odi.org
At this event co-hosted by CDC and ODI, representatives from both organisations as well as DFID and other leading experts discuss the role of development finance and the private sector in supporting economic transformation and achieving the UN Global Goals.
An expert panel discusses how to strengthen entrepreneurship and successfully develop market-based sectors that can help to industrialise and transform economies, generating returns for the whole of society, not just those at the top.
This event explores the latest debates, evidence and practice on social accountability, civil society advocacy and local government service delivery. It considers how current policy and assumptions could be revised to more effectively address critical blockages in public service delivery.
This event considers the implications of new research on the nature, scale and distribution of risk in sub-Saharan Africa for urban policies and governance.
International experts on refugee policy and livelihoods explore ways to better support refugees in long-term displacement and respond to their needs – from access to employment, to better education and healthcare services, to expanded social networks.
In the aftermath of the G7 Summit in Italy, and the US decision to withdraw from the accord, ODI convenes a global panel of experts to assess the future of the Paris climate agreement.
In the run-up to the 2017 UK general election, ODI and Bond convene a debate between the main parliamentary parties to explore their vision and priorities for international development and the UK’s role in the world.
How can we improve refugees’ ability to access decent work – without shifting the focus away from protecting those fleeing conflict and persecution?
Experts supporting both sides of the debate explore whether now is the time to introduce a universal basic income.
Drawing on perspectives from the United States, the UK, and beyond, this event explores the implications for international support to democracy and human rights in this new era of disillusionment.
ODI’s new research discussed at the event integrated all these different elements – data systems, policies, financing, service delivery and broader political economy issues – in a ‘stock take’ of the health sectors in Kenya and Nepal.
At this event Tom Fletcher, former British Ambassador to Lebanon, and author of The Naked Diplomat: Understanding Power and Politics in the Digital Age reflects on recent political events in the US and elsewhere.
This panel event brings together key figures driving forward the transformation agenda to discuss: what is economic transformation, what does it mean for the world’s poorest, and how it can be supported in practice?
On International Women’s Day, ODI convened a debate with women from around the world exploring how to fight the backlash against women.
This panel debate event asks a diverse panel of donor, academic and non-governmental organisations: how do you navigate this tension to inform your day-to-day decision-making?
At this event UK Minister of State for International Development, Rory Stewart MP, delivers a keynote speech, offering his reflections on the World Bank’s 2017 World Development Report and how they link to the latest approaches of the Department for International Development.
The event explores how public policy can help create and shape a different economic future that is more inclusive, innovative and sustainable – and in doing so, address many of today’s contemporary concerns.
What should be the priorities for the new Secretary-General? How will the Guterres era differ from that of his long-serving predecessor? What are the expectations from the developing nations? And what changes must he make within the UN system in order to achieve results – or is it broken beyond repair?
This event explores the current humanitarian and development challenges in South Sudan, drawing on the latest issue of the Humanitarian Exchange Magazine. Why did the country fail to avoid this escalation of violence and instability? What options are available to the international community? And what must be done in the short term to protect those affected by the conflict?
This event, hosted in partnership with the Centre for International Economic Law, Trade, and Development, will seek to examine issues surrounding post-Brexit international trade by bringing together internationally-renowned economists and trade law experts to discuss: what are the options for new UK and EU trade policies after Brexit? How might these affect the development of African economies, and what are the legal implications? And for the UK, how can the delivery of development results abroad be reconciled with protection of neglected regions and sectors at home?
Following the US 2016 election result, ODI convened an expert international panel to explore the major global challenges facing the incoming administration and what action it should take.
Winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in economics, Sir Angus Deaton, joins ODI in conversation on global poverty, inequality and aid.
What does Brexit mean for developing nations and their economies? ODI brought together economists and experts in trade and development to explore how the UK's decision to leave the European Union might affect developing countries.
This event brought together leading economic experts, academics, trade union leaders, business, civil society and government representatives, to discuss the most promising workable and practical solutions to fast-track women’s economic empowerment.
Featuring The Rt. Hon. Justine Greening MP, Fiza Farhan, CEO of the Buksh Foundation, Managing Director of Citi Research Tina Fordham, and economist Alicia Girón.
This event co-hosted by ODI and The Elders explores the rights and responsibilities of actors in the Middle East and beyond. What would force political leaders in the region and elsewhere to tackle the root causes of conflict, and set aside national interests for the greater good?
Featuring Nobel Peace Laureate Kofi Annan, Algerian freedom fighter Lakhdar Brahimi ,and UN Diplomat Joost Hiltermann.
With around one billion people still living in extreme poverty, we need better data on the poor and marginalised to achieve these goals.
Data visionary Hans Rosling, co-founder of Gapminder spoke about how we can use data to challenge our perspective on global trends.
In this event Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Director of The Earth Institute debates the critical role of international public finance as a driver for poverty eradication and sustainable development.