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April 16, 2024 | UK, Family Planning, Global Health, WASH & Sanitation, Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health, Nutritious Food Systems, Climate | Share this update
On April 16, 2024, UK Deputy Foreign Minister Andrew Mitchell announced an additional GBP100 million (US$119 million) in humanitarian assistance to Ethiopia.
The funding is slated to be used to support Ethiopia’s access to primary healthcare services, support communities in becoming more climate resilient, and provide help for people displaced due to drought and extreme weather.
The pledge was made at the UK co-hosted Ethiopia pledging conference with OCHA. Ethiopia is facing one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with over 21 million requiring assistance, 15 million people facing food insecurity, and 4 million people internally displaced.
April 14, 2024 | Italy, UK, France, Canada, Japan, US, Germany, EUI, Agriculture, Nutritious Food Systems | Share this update
On April 14, 2024, the C7 published a statement ahead of the G7 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Capri from April 17-19, 2024, where the group called on the foreign ministers to take concrete action to promote human rights as well as the common interests of humanity and the planet.
The C7 advocated that the G7 ministers reaffirm their commitment to developing long-term peace-building strategies that address persistent structural challenges at the basis of conflicts, ensure food security even in fragile settings, and address a profound transformation of food systems.
The group also called upon their governmental counterparts to ensure safe and regular migration channels and commit to protecting migrant rights.
March 28, 2024 | UK, Gender Equality, Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health, WASH & Sanitation, Global Health, Nutritious Food Systems | Share this update
On March 28, 2024, UK Minister for Development and Africa Andrew Mitchell committed to increasing humanitarian ODA to Sudan to GBP89 million (US$106 million) in 2024/25 in the face of growing humanitarian need in the region.
The commitment was made by Mitchell while on a trip to Chad, where he acknowledged the growing number of refugees from Sudan arriving in the country.
Some of the funding is slated to go to UNICEF for emergency and life-saving food assistance and nutrition, water and hygiene services for 500,000 children and to support survivors of gender-based violence. The funding will also support the WFP to provide assorted food commodities, including cereals, pulses, oils, and salt for thousands of people.
March 25, 2024 | UK, Canada, US, EUI, WASH & Sanitation, Nutritious Food Systems, Global Health | Share this update
On March 25, 2024, amid a growing humanitarian crisis in Sudan, Open Canada is criticized the government of Canada for its inaction to address the public health and nutrition crisis, as well as the government’s lack of focus on the African continent as a whole.
The humanitarian crisis in Sudan followed the outbreak of war in April 2023, with 8 million people displaced, roughly half the population (approximately 25 million people) in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, a cholera outbreak, and a widespread famine predicted by June 2024.
Open Canada criticized the government for its passivity in the crisis, with neither Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau nor Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly having spoken publicly about Sudan since shortly after the outbreak of war. While Canada evacuated its Sudanese embassy in April 2023, it did not follow other donor countries in maintaining the presence of a senior official in the region to assist in conflict resolution or support key international humanitarian and development organizations. Open Canada also noted that, unlike the EU, UK, and US, Canada has not imposed sanctions on Sudan.
The group also criticized Canada's apathetic approach to the region more broadly. Canada announced a new Foreign Policy Engagement Plan for Africa in 2022, however, the strategy has since been transitioned into a “framework” with the Canadian government yet to release any details of the plan. Open Canada called on the Canadian government to implement a proper engagement strategy in Africa, particularly amid the growing humanitarian, development, and security crisis in Sudan.
March 24, 2024 | UK, Education, Agriculture, Gender Equality, Agricultural R&D, Nutritious Food Systems, Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health, Family Planning, WASH & Sanitation, Climate, Global Health, Security policy | Share this update
On March 24, 2024, BOND published a new manifesto setting out the steps the next UK government should take to help deliver on the SDGs and work in solidarity with its partners.
The manifesto is based around seven key asks:
January 19, 2024 | UK, Agriculture, Nutritious Food Systems, Climate | Share this update
On January 19, 2024, the UK government announced that it has accepted all the recommendations made by the ICAI's review of the Blue Planet Fund, which included GBP500 million (US$599 million) in ODA for a DEFRA-managed fund aimed at protecting the marine environment and reducing poverty in low- and middle-income countries.
The review also recommended:
December 27, 2023 | UK, Agriculture, Nutritious Food Systems, Climate | Share this update
On December 27, 2023, the UK government announced that it would commit GBP67 million (US$80 million) to the 2025-2027 replenishment of the IFAD.
IFAD is a UN agency dedicated to supporting those living in extreme poverty in rural areas. Nearly half of the world’s population lives in rural areas, and smallholder farmers produce 70% of the food in low- and middle-income countries.
UK Minister for Development and Africa Andrew Mitchell stated that the funding will boost food security, help alleviate poverty and support the environment. The UK has been a strong supporter of IFAD’s Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Program, which enables smallholder farmers to gain access to climate finance to support adaptation efforts and protect biodiversity.
December 19, 2023 | UK, Agricultural R&D, Nutritious Food Systems, Climate | Share this update
On December 19, 2023, the UK government released a new policy paper entitled Global Food Security Summit 2023 Chair's Summary: towards zero hunger and ending malnutrition, which provided a summary of the key outcomes and announcements of the UK-hosted Global Food Security Summit, held in November 2023 in London.
The summit was organized around three key themes:
Thematic Area 1: New approaches to ending preventable deaths of children.
This session highlighted that nutrition is an essential part of UHC and called for the need to integrate nutrition services into primary health care. The session also called for a more coherent approach to addressing early prevention and detection of child wasting and highlighted the need for more sustainable financing to address the issue. Associated announcements at the Summit included:
Thematic Area 2: Anticipating and preventing famine and food security crises.
This session focused on the importance of prevention and anticipation strategies in countries facing the intertwined impacts of climate and conflict and the need to mainstream early warning systems. It also highlighted the need to scale-up disaster risk finance for fragile and conflict-affected states and ensure that flexible social protection systems are in place that can respond to shocks. It recognized the crucial role of civil society in crisis response and women’s empowerment as key to tackling food insecurity. Associated announcements included:
Thematic Area 3: Building a climate-resilient and sustainable agriculture and food system.
This session focused on the need to support the transition to sustainable nutritious food plans, and systems via country, region-led and global initiatives, plans, and platforms. It also noted the need to use evidence-based approaches based on what has worked and called for more climate finance to be mobilized for agriculture, with a particular focus on supporting small-holder farmers. Associated announcements included:
Thematic Area 4: Harnessing science and technology for food security.
This session highlighted the importance of science and innovation in supporting food security and nutrition and called for improved accessibility to the benefits of scientific and technological advancement. It focused on the need to support sustainable scaling up of research and innovation through consistent, stable political and financial support and innovative finance models. Associated announcements included:
December 13, 2023 | UK, Gender Equality, Nutritious Food Systems, Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health, Family Planning, Climate, Global health R&D, Global Health | Share this update
On December 13, 2023, departing Chief Executive of Oxfam Great Britain Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah called on the UK Labour Party to ensure it puts global solidarity at the center of their international development policy.
Sriskandarajah noted the need to target ODA where it is needed and supporting strong public health systems. He advocated against UK ODA being used as a foreign and trade policy instrument and also advocated against the practice of counting in-donor refugee costs as ODA.
Sriskandarajah also called on the Labour Party to stop addressing development, climate, and migration as separate policy areas rather than interlocking issues. He recommended that Labour should work to dismantle vested interests blocking efforts to cut emissions, invest in helping refugees, and find innovative ways of raising funding to tackle big climate issues, including through fair-share pollution taxes and increased wealth taxes.
Sriskandarajah also called on the Labour Party to show leadership on debt relief for poor countries by enforcing private creditor responsibility through changes to UK law, supporting a new convention on tax to reduce tax avoidance, and responding constructively to growing calls for reparations by forging partnerships based on the pursuit of equitable development and racial justice.
November 30, 2023 | UK, Nutritious Food Systems, Agriculture, Climate | Share this update
On November 30, 2023, the UK ICAI released its rapid review of the UK’s Blue Planet Fund, which criticized management that has led to duplicated work in some areas and gaps in delivery in other areas.
In January 2021, the government established the GBP500 million (US$599 million) Blue Planet Fund, to support low- and middle-income countries reduce poverty and protect ocean biodiversity. The fund is managed jointly by the Defra and the FCDO, with Defra in the strategic lead.
The review found that key management processes were missing, including establishing monitoring, evaluation and learning processes, and that there had been inadequate consultation on country and regional needs. It also found that there was a lack of coordination and coherence between Defra and FCDO, which resulted in duplicated work in some areas and gaps in delivery in others. The review also noted that it was not always clear how the fund was contributing to poverty reduction, and raised concern about administrative costs being charged by Defra’s arms-length bodies to deliver parts of the fund, which were higher than the international development norm.
The review recommended that formal core central management functions be put in place and that cross-government oversight of the Fund be strengthened.
US$ amounts are cited directly from sources; in the absence of an official conversion, they are calculated using the previous week's average of the US Federal Reserve's daily exchange rates.
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