Development cooperation in/post-COVID 19 era

Welcome to the Community and welcome to the discussion on Development cooperation in/post COVID!

Do you have any burning questions to the speakers and your peers ahead of the two webinars? Please post them here!

Dear Saran, just some of my thoughts/notes/lessons learnt to the Q you raised above ...

Regarding challenges - actually since we, in our projects dealimg with public finance management (PFM), we even more realized the importance of strong PFM. Number of activities requested in relation to COVID, were already a part of our TA, eg spending reviews pf national budgets. All countries will have to sooner or later revised their national budgets. Hope we, UNDP and its partners, will be able to support. 
Sure we had to face and still are facing some management issues. However, if the projects are enough flexible, than we could react fast. Timimg, in this situatiin, is crutial. 
 

ODA has the potential to play a crutial role in recovery. However, systematic changes should be stressed. And it does not matter in what area of support. 

One more comment to the agenda - would be nice to hear some examoles of other Donors what “new” tools they introduced to suport SMEs during this crisis. 

Thank you for sharing your insights and questions for the webinars!

Just 1 week to go until the launch of the ODA Learning Series 2020! 

What questions have we received so far? 

Are the webinars cost-free? - Yes!

Is there a limit on the number of participants per country? - No, the virtual meeting format allows us to have much more participants compared to our previous in person workshops.

Do you need to send the name of participants in advance as in previous years? - No, you can directly register for the webinars following the link in the invitation and here on SparkBlue.

Got more questions? 

Post them below! 

Thanks. This is helpful. I recieved same question. Saran, after the WS will we have the list of participants/registered? That would be useful for future communication.  

Hello! I would like to ask the speakers, if they see the ongoing crisis as a challenge to the traditional role of the donor and recipient. Is the crisis accelerating this trend? And if yes, what could be the consequences? Interesting article to the topic could be found under this link: https://www.odi.org/blogs/16794-how-coronavirus-accelerating-new-approa…

Hello! I have a question to one of our speakers representing OECD, Ms. Ana Fernandes.

The economic impact of COVID-19 may lead to further substantial declines in ODA and reallocations of budgets to domestic spendings in 2021 and beyond. How can we, international development community, convince key decision makers to continue spending on ODA? How to shape their approach, especially under the scenario of a longer-lasting coronavirus outbreak? I have in mind especially the case of relatively new development assistance donors from CEE region, with limited aid budgets.

Thank you!

Thank you for these questions!

They have been shared with the speakers, looking forward to their (and other participants') view on this :)

Please find the flyer for tomorrow's webinar, including speaker bio. Unfortunately, Ms. Ana Fernandes will not be able to join us anymore, but her colleague Sidney Leclercq has kindly agreed to jump in. 

Looking forward to inspiring ideas and lively discussions tomorrow!

Thank you for joining our first webinar of the ODA Learning Series today! 

We'll share the recording of the webinar shortly, meanwhile, please take a moment to fill out this (very) short survey to help us improve the next editions of the webinars. 

Thank you!

 

Thank you participants, for joining our yesterday's webinar. Now the recording is available here and we are on our procedure to make our ODA series youtube channel :) Stay tuned. Thank you! 

Hello everyone and welcome to the new members of the Community of ODA providers in the ECA region! 

Please find attached the flyer for the second webinar of the ODA Learning Series 2020 which will take place this Thursday, same time, same place :)

Please feel free to post your questions to the speakers ahead of the webinar here in the discussion room.

Thank you and looking forward to see you all on Thursday!

Hello colleagues, I have a question relevant to the wider context of development debates, to all of our speakers. It regards blending standards, especially important in times of COVID-19: how to make sure we select relevant private sector actors that we engage in development cooperation? What kind of rules/regulations are needed to make sure we make reliable and long-lasting partnerships and provide effectiveness of solutions? Thank you!

Hello, I have a question to Karen Smith. Are there any programmes and poclicies, which we could taken as proven and highly effective in the SME recover from the impacts of COVID-19?

Thank you for these questions! The other members of the community, please feel free to share your opinion on these, as well as share resources that you think are relevant. Thanks!

The UN Secretary-General's policy brief on COVID-19 and Transforming Tourism may be of interest to some of you, as it highlights the enormous impact COVID-19 is having on the sector, threatening as many as 100 million jobs, and the massive drop in revenues could reduce global GDP by as much as 2.8 percent. In addition to the immediate economic impact, the policy brief also highlights risks to conservation efforts for biodiversity and cultural heritage, and highlights opportunities to transform the sector.  

Good afternoon everyone, looking forward to tomorrow's session!

My dissertation has actually focused on the efficiency of various development financial mechanism as drivers of GDP, so I find tomorrow's topic of private sector's engagement in battling the impact of COVID and recession very interesting. 

World Bank has recently published conditions positively affecting the effectiveness of stimulus packages:

• A fixed exchange rate; 
• Less open economy; 
• Low levels of public debt; 
• More accommodating monetary regime; 
• Debt-financed investment mechanism over tax-financed investment;
• Suitable infrastructure conditions are: shovel-ready projects, project appraisal process based on good governance and a coordinated policy making (rather than a multi-level one).  More: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/opinion/2020/08/20/addressing-crisis-through-infrastructure 

My question to participants is a) whether they have encountered changes in state policies since COVID-19 that would be in line with above guidelines and b) The response to the pandemic seems to be very reactory since most of the state response does not stem from deep institutional changes but short-term plaster-like help. I'm wondering what accommodations would be needed especially in Turkish context for the private sector to help overcome the next recession? 

Thank you in advance!

 

Good afternoon everyone! I also look forward to tomorrow's discussion.

Following on last week's discussion and the impact of COVID on ODA budgets, you can find here the OECD analysis I mentioned on the three scenarios (increase, steady, decline). There are also a few preliminary findings from a survey conducted among DAC members in April on their development co-operation response to the pandemic, which highlight some interesting points that i reproduce here:

• Short-term responses focused on virus management, mostly through support for health systems, humanitarian aid and food security, as well as supporting developing countries to prepare for and respond to the pandemic.

• Medium-term activities prioritise making diagnostics and vaccines available for the poorest countries with weak health systems as well as other support to help developing countries tackle the economic, social and political effects of the crisis.

• Development co-operation programmes in the pipeline for 2020 were often reoriented or reprogrammed. The impact of the crisis on field-level operations led members to assess major issues affecting operations. Many are embracing a flexible approach to ensure continuity of activities. The purpose of reprogramming was to adapt and contribute quickly to support the global response at bilateral and multilateral levels.

• New resources mobilised as official development assistance (ODA), sovereign loans and private sector support. In addition to ODA grants and sovereign loans, a few members indicated they would provide loans to the private sector, and guarantees in order to mobilise additional funds from private investors.

• Agreed moratorium on repayments and rescheduling loans. Some loans to developing countries are being rescheduled to free up additional budgetary resources.

• National and international mechanisms were key for co-ordination. Existing national level co-ordination mechanisms (between ministries, civil society organisations, the private sector and other relevant stakeholders) played an important role in preparing a COVID-19 response. Respondents stressed that supporting an integrated and coherent response from the multilateral system (particularly the United Nations) was also crucial.

• Information-sharing mechanisms and co-ordination with civil society were stepped up. Some members reported that they were enabling civil society organisations (CSOs) to reorient their programmes to pandemic-related activities. They also gave more flexibility to CSOs to manage the effects and redirection of ongoing co-operation with local civil society actors.

• Potential delays in implementation of ongoing development programmes and monitoring and evaluation. There could be some delays or postponement in evaluations, especially with regards to larger projects.

 

 

Webinar #2 starting now!

Hello everyone,

These events on nature and green recovery and more, could be of interest to some of you. 

Wish you all a great start of the week!

Nature for Life Hub

When: 24-25 and 28-29 September 2020

To see the full agenda of the event, you can visit Learning for Nature website here. 

Overview

To coincide with the 75th UN General Assembly, and in the run-up to the UN Biodiversity Summit, UNDP and partners are creating a four-day Nature for Life Hub - a virtual space where global leaders will share their perspectives, experience, and vision for charting pathways to putting nature at the heart of sustainable development and green recovery. Running a total of eighteen sessions, the virtual hub will take audiences on various thematic journeys, delving deep into specialist topics, practical solutions, and ambitious actions across the four days:

24 September: SDG DAY – Celebrating the value of nature in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Recognizing the intrinsic link between nature and the SDGs, this first day of the Hub will explore how we can leverage nature-based solutions to catalyze climate action and resilience; improve health; reduce risks of pandemics and natural disasters; increase food and water security, and ensure prosperity for all.

25 September: BUSINESS AND FINANCE DAY – Greening our wallets in development, finance and business

This second day of the Hub will call upon the financial and business sector to disrupt business-as-usual finance practices by placing nature at the center of decision-making. The sessions will chart the way forward towards transforming the economy for a better future.

28 September: GLOBAL AMBITION DAY – A planetary response to our planetary emergency

The third day of the Hub will convene global leaders and stakeholders across sectors to commit to urgent and transformational actions to promote nature-based safety nets and foster green recovery plans that can jumpstart a Decade of Action.

29 September: LOCAL ACTION DAY – Celebrating the power of local action, and the role of local communities in our planetary response

The fourth day of the Hub will spotlight local initiatives on nature-based solutions for sustainable development and will explore how to scale these initiatives up for global impact. The session will also raise awareness of the urgency to protect and enhance the rights of environmental defenders at the frontlines of biodiversity loss.

Join us as we engage political and corporate leaders, the world’s youth, indigenous and community leaders, local activists, and cutting-edge thinkers to reflect on the essential systemic transformations we must see to bend the curve on nature loss. Each day will culminate in key messages to be fed into the negotiation processes for the CBD COP 15 post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework and Climate COP 26.

Hi everybody, our webinar recordings are now also available on Youtube channel. Click to watch it again!  

Webinar #1  

Agenda

• Emerging trends on the future of development co-operation in light of the COVID-19 pandemic;
• International development cooperation post COVID-19 – A new way of interaction?
• Development cooperation during COVID-19: Republic of Korea’s experience.

 

Webinar #2 

Agenda

• COVID-19 and the commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals;
• How to help SMEs recover from the impacts of COVID-19?
• How to engage the private sector in responding to crises?