First Election Debate, NZ Covid Aid Campaign, Global Aid Patterns.
Posted on 30 July 2020
+ Election 2020 debate launch. Key sponsors on board
"Foreign policy was rarely an election issue in the past, but Covid-19 makes this contest different," writes Professor Rob Patman, professor of International Relations at Otago University in today NZ Herald.
"Voters need options to decide how New Zealand can best protect its core values and interests in a world where these are directly threatened."
This election debate on'Trade, Aid and New Zealand's Place in the World post Covid' will be the first big election debate of the season.
Come and see this extraordinary election 2020 launched.
Moderated by Newshub's (TV3's) Tova O’Brien with:
David Parker (Labour)
Simon Bridges (National)
Fletcher Tabuteau (NZ First)
Golriz Ghahraman (Greens)
David Seymour (ACT)
Co-hosted by CID and NZIIA (The New Zealand Institute of International Affairs).
CID members pay only $10 per ticket.
Thursday 6 August 2020 5.30-7.30pm
Location: The Ballroom, Intercontinental Hotel, 2 Grey Street, Wellington.
Please register at Eventbrite (registration is required and a small fee applies to cover our costs)
+ CID Talk on 30 July, 1pm - A Deep Dive Into the Impact of COVID on Bangladesh
Join us virtually for an exciting talk!
Ally Bayfield – Social Inclusion Specialist working on COVID crisis response in Bangladesh talks about the implications for health, economy, corruption, environment, Rohingya, and more.
Ally is a social inclusion specialist who has worked in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors since 2009, and works to engage and support vulnerable and marginalised people. This has included work in India, Rwanda and (currently) Bangladesh. Ally is a Social Development Advisor for the UK's Department for International Development. She advises on a broad portfolio covering health, education, environmental disaster response, the Rohingya refugee crisis, disability inclusion and safeguarding. Since March 2020, Ally has been in the UK's COVID crisis response team for Bangladesh.
Ally will discuss the impact of COVID on Bangladesh, including:
The progression and trajectory of COVID in the country and health sector response,
Changing poverty dynamics and secondary impacts,
Issues facing Rohingya refugees, and
The current cyclone/monsoon season.
Ally's presentation will be followed by a Q&A session.
Please register to receive any updates and the Zoom link to join on the 30th July.
+ 'Big Hearts, Connected World' launch
The campaign by CID members to raise New Zealand's aid levels during the COVID response was successfully launched on TVNZ Breakfast with Oxfam's Executive Director Rachael Le Mesurier and World Vision's CEO, Grant Bayldon.
"The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the world's poorest nations is immense. Decades of progress in the fight against poverty is immense being unravelled by #covid19 and international aid agencies are banding together to call on New Zealand to increase our aid funding for developing nations," reported TVNZ.
You can find out more about the campaign here, and sign the petition to implement a Collective Resilience Plan in Budget 2021 that provides:
a 20% boost to the overseas aid budget, focused on healthcare, social support and resilience, plus;
a doubling of finance for climate action overseas from new and additional sources, and;
a target for getting aid spending to 0.7% of gross national income by 2030
For any more information contact CID or campaign coordinator, Jo Spratt joanna.spratt@oxfam.org.nz
Get in touch with Jo if you'd like to join Oxfam, World Vision and CWS and other supporters in the campaign, even if just to help to circulate the petition.
There'll be more events during the election campaign, including activities on World Humanitarian Day, August 19.
Watch this space!
+ Regional COVID funding insights from DFAT data
Devex has reported on analysis undertaken by International Aid Transparency Initiativeof data published by Australian Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade. This showed how the Australian aid program is shifting programs towards a focus on COVID response - which includes changing the the sectoral focus of existing programs.
Previously, DFAT had stated that funds for COVID programs are not new and have come from canceled or adjusted programming. Pandemic control has emerged as a development assistance sectoral focus in the DFAT data, with a number of existing programs reclassified to include a proportion of spending in this space — including for some disbursements dating as far back as June 2014, demonstrating issues that will emerge in Australian funding data as donors shift program objectives.
The diversity of programs covered in the data shows the topical challenges that are emerging in trying to hold back COVID in the Asia Pacific regions. Program funding includes AU$1 million for the Mekong subregion to strengthen checks and immigration borders in the hope of limiting the spread of the virus.
What is clear in the data is the importance of NGO partnerships in delivering the Australian aid response to the pandemic regionally.
+ ICVA Webinar - How Civil Society adapts its humanitarian work in the 'new normal'
International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA), in partnership with a number of humanitarian organisations, is launching a series of 5 webinars between now and the end of 2020. The aim of these webinar is to serve as a platform for civil-society organisations across Asia-Pacific to discuss critical humanitarian themes in the adaption to the COVID context and needs. This Series is a result of close collaboration between national, regional and international organisations.
The first Webinar of this series “How CSO Adapts Its Humanitarian Work towards the New Normal Age” is taking place on Wednesday, 29th July at 6:00pm NZT.
Five panelists from frontline NGOs as well as NGO networks in Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Japan, and the Pacific region (PIANGO) will be exchanging their experiences with all the participants around the following 4 key questions:
What does this new normal mean in their own organisation context?
What are the specific challenges in this new normal in humanitarian work?
What is the role of CSOs and what specific adjustments do CSOs need to make?
What recommendations do you have for colleagues in the region?
ICVA will be sharing the link for this webinar with CID a day prior to the webinar. Pleaseemail Aaronat CID indicating if you are interested in joining the webinar, and he will get the link to you on Wednesday morning.
+ The role of genealogical websites in catching aid worker sex abusers
Technology that has helped US authorities catch sex offenders could be used to track down aid workers who sexually abuse girls and women overseas, according to the team behind agroundbreaking project in the Philippines. In the Philippines pilot project, the team identified several men who had fathered children while visiting or working in the southeast Asian country by using genetic genealogy, which combines DNA analysis with traditional document searches.
Andrew Macleod, a former U.N. worker and lawyer who is spearheading the project, said the technique could be easily transferred to the aid sector, supporting greater safeguarding measures, and potentially leading to criminal prosecutions, compensation for victims and child support orders. The scale of DNA profiling has been made possible by the popularity of commercial genealogy services which now hold DNA data on millions of people keen to explore their ancestry.
However, the increasing popularity of genealogy databases with people wishing to trace their ancestry has raised privacy concerns and questions around how their DNA might be used in the future. The technology also has its limitations as most data on genealogy databases relates to people of European ancestry, making it less useful for tracing peacekeepers or aid workers from Asian and African countries.
+ Pacific launches its own localisation survey
PIANGO (Pacific Islands Association of NGOs, and CID's sister organisations in the Pacific) has launched its own survey into localisation.
Survey details:
What: Humanitarian and development actors across the Pacific region are invited to take part in this localisation mapping survey.
Why: The survey will provide an overview of existing strengths, areas for strengthening in implementation for the Framework for Resilient for the Pacific and explore opportunities for south-south collaboration amongst humanitarian actors in the Pacific
Who: For the Resilience Partnership (PRP) Technical Working Group on Localisation in Humanitarian Action.
This year, for the first time ever, CID will co-host our annual conference as an Oceanic regional effort – together with our partners ACFID in Australia and PIANGO in the Pacific.
The regional on-line part of the conference will be held from 27–30 October 2020. There will also be a face to face dinner event, and the MFAT partnerships day, both in Wellington.
The joint Conference will officially be launched at the end of the month. Stay tuned for the upcoming announcement.
In the meantime, we are looking for expressions of interest from those who would like to host a virtual session during the event. You could do this on our own, in partnership with other CID members, or with your ACFID and Pacific partners.
If you can share insights, expertise, strategies, or partnerships that will help us achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in a COVID world, we want to hear from you. To learn more and apply, details are available here
+ Event for Board Chairs
Comvoices is launching Aotearoa New Zealand's Nonprofit Chairs Forum at the first Chair's Brown Bag Session.
"We want to recognise one of the most demanding voluntary jobs on offer - chairing the not for profit board. Chairs are expected to be a bit of everything - expert on the organisation, group facilitator, supervisor of the manager, organisational advocate & spokesperson, expert on meeting procedure, and do it as a part-time hobby," Comvoices Nicola Sutton.
"Usually little if any training or even support is available. We think its time to change that and for us to have Chairs' Forum to share ideas and dilemmas, find out helpful resources, and get support from our peers."
The theme is "Lessons from the Lockdown - what chairs have learnt for the next big threat".
The virtual session will be held on Zoom, 12 noon to 1:30pm on Thursday 22 July, and be facilitated by two experienced chairs, Garth Nowland-Foreman & Sandy Thompson. BYO lunch.
If you have any ideas or suggestions for this or future events for chairs, email us at chairs@lead.org.nz
+ The CID Weekly is Proudly Sponsored By
Direct Impact Group supports organisations to maximise their social impact, because changing the world isn't easy, and in dynamic times this work is more important than ever.
+ Nominations for Code Committee Member Representatives
CID is looking for two new Member Representative for the Code of Conduct Committee, for a period of two (2) years (renewable) from September 2020 – August 2022.
The aim of the Code of Conduct Committee is to provide assurance to CID members, donors, the public and partners that the CID Code is being implemented effectively. It monitors adherence to the Code and compliance self-assessment and ensures that complaints in relation to the Code are examined promptly and fairly. The next 12 months will also be an exciting time as we continue with the implementation of recommendations from the Code Review.
The Member Representative will be nominated and elected by CID member organisations. The elected Member Representative can be:
current staff or board members of CID organisations
ex-staff and ex-board members of CID organisations
fully elected CID board members but not the Chair of the CID board.
Please contact Aaron Davy if you require further information, including a copy of the Code of Conduct Committee ToR and nomination form.
The closing date for CID to receive nominations for the Member Representative role is Friday, 7th August.
