Archives for September 2018

How Better Data Can Fight Global Hunger

Every year during UN Week there are a number of substantive and important issues discussed, new initiatives launched and new partnerships formed, typically around some big important global issues. It is a week in the diplomatic calendar in which a lot of problem solving gets done. The problem is, this aspect of UN Week rarely gets covered by the mainstream media, which so often chases the big headlines in general–and Donald Trump in particular.

But there is so much happening beyond Trump, so today I wanted shine a spotlight one particular initiative launched this week to help the international community and countries of the developing world collect better data around agricultural productivity.  The initiative is called 50×2030, the 50 refers to 50 countries from the developing world which will participate in this data collection initiative and 2030 refers to the end date in which the Sustainable Development Goals are due.

Key partners on the initiative include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, United States Agency or International Development (USAID), Government of Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Government of Germany’s Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and International Fund for Agricultural Development.  It was launched at the United Nations this week.

I attended the launch and it included something very different. In advance of a panel discussion, two individuals told powerful personal stories that helped make this discussion very real. These individual were trained by the Moth Global Community Program. So to kick off this episode, we are going to hear a seven minute personal story from Edward Mabaya, a development economist from Zimbabwe who told his story from the floor of the Trusteeship Council of the United Nations.

That story provides important grounding for my longer conversation about strengthening the quality if data around agricultural productivity with Claire Melamed, who is the CEO of the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data.

Download this episode to listen later. You can subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify

 

When UN Peacekeeping Works: The Story of the United Nations Mission in Liberia

In this special episode of Global Dispatches Podcast we are bringing you the story of how UN Peacekeepers partnered with the people and government of Liberia to help transform the country from one of the bleakest places on the planet, to one of the more hopeful today.

When peacekeepers were first deployed to Liberia in 2003, the west African country had just experienced a devastating civil war. Fifteen years later, the last Blue Helmets left the country.

Through interviews and archival audio, you will hear from Liberians, UN officials and experts who explain how the UN Mission in Liberia, known as UNMIL, was able to work itself out of a job.

This episode is produced in partnership with the United Nations Foundation as part of the special series that examines success stories of multilateral engagement. When the world works together, powerful and lasting change can take place.

UNMIL is a success of UN Peacekeeping. This episode tells its story.

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Unmasking the “Elite Charade to Change the World”

Anand Giridharadas is the author of the new book Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World. The book is a piercing examination of how the global elite have co-opted our mechanisms of social change. This trend manifests itself in many ways, including the belief that market forces are more important than government in affecting change.

The book is an extremely challenging, and at times discomfiting, critique of a trend that I’ve witnessed and certainly been on the periphery of.  The book argues that conferences like the World Economic Forum, Aspen Ideas Fest, or the Clinton Global Initiative, exemplify an approach to social change that ends up entrenching a highly inequitable status quo.

The book has a chapter dedicated to UN Week when heads of state come to New York for the opening of the UN General Assembly and also attend all manner of side events. We kick off discussing the significance of many of these events to his overall  thesis.

This book has definitely struck a nerve. At time of publication it’s number 6 on the New York times best seller list– and I think this conversation will help you understand why we expect this book to be so impactful.

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The World is Experiencing a Dam Building Boom

The world is experiencing a dam building boom. According to research by my guest today, David Hulme, there are plans underway around for the construction of over 3,700 new dams around the world. This explosion in dam building comes after a period in which there was a lull in the construction of new dam projects.

So what accounts for this new interest in dams? Where are these new dams being built?  Do dams contribute to sustainable development or do they detract from it?

We discuss these questions and more in the episode you are about to hear.

David Hulme is an academic who leads the FutureDAMS consortium at the University of Manchester’s Global Development Institute.  In this capacity he helps policy makers make better informed decisions about dam projects, and we discuss at length what academic research can teach us about what makes dam projects succeed or fail in their stated goals.

 This episode is part of a new content partnership between the podcast and the Global Development Institute at the University of Manchester. For the next several months we will be featuring from, time to time, experts from the Global Development Institute who will discuss their research and also the pressing news of the day as it relates to global inequalities and development. If you’d like to learn more about the Global Development Institute you can go to GDI.Manchester.ac.uk or click on the add on globaldispatchespodcast.com   

 

PODCAST: The Return of Syrian Refugees Has Begun. And it is Becoming a Tactic of War

1.5 million Syrian refugees are in Lebanon today. But as the fighting quells in areas of Syria, some of these refugees are considering returning home.

Who gets to return, the places to which they will return, and the circumstances under which refugees move back to Syria are intensely political decisions. As journalist Charlotte Alfred explains, the return of refugees, albeit in small numbers, has begun. And it is becoming a tactic of the civil war.

Charlotte Alfred is the managing director of the news website Refugees Deeply. Her recent longform article Dangerous Exit: Who Decides How Syrians in Lebanon Go Home explains the geopolitical calculations and the tactical military considerations behind these refugee returns; and on an individual level she explores the deeply personal dilemmas facing individual refugees as they make this decision.

The UN Refugee Agency is not aiding in the return of refugees to Syria. They have concluded that the situation in Syria is not safe enough to guarantee the security of returning refugees, and in fact, they have warned countries against returning refugees. But Lebanese and Syrian forces are working together to facilitate some returns.

The return of refugees and the politics around may define the next phase of this civil war and Charlotte Alfred has written the most important explanation of what that means.

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