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	World needs to prepare for next crisis by setting up Global Fund for Social Protection by Olivier De Schutter UN special rapporteur on poverty   June 2021   Countries must prepare for future crises by setting up a Global Fund for Social Protection, a new international financing mechanism that will help protect their populations from the next pandemic, says a new report presented today by Olivier De Schutter, the UN’s special rapporteur on poverty, before the Human Rights Council.   “Over two years ago, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the World Health Organisation said that governments had to ‘fix the roof before the rain came’. And yet countries were still caught off-guard in 2020.   The world can and must do better next time. Individual countries, particularly low-income ones, cannot prepare on their own. A new mechanism at the international level would provide both the right incentives and the financial sustainability necessary to establish robust social protection systems,” said the UN poverty expert.   According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the majority of the world’s population — 55 percent, or 4 billion people — lacks any form of social protection. Another 16 percent, or 1.2 billion people, enjoy only partial protection. Only 35 percent of children, approximately one in three, benefit from child allowances that would ensure they receive childcare, nutrition, and education.   “The overall picture is clear: in the past, too little was invested in healthcare, unemployment, old-age pensions, or children and disability allowances,” said De Schutter. “And the poor are now paying the high cost of this mistake.”   Investments in such public programs, part of what universal social protection systems are, would have largely prevented the additional 115 million people who were pushed into extreme poverty in 2020 and at least 35 million that are expected for 2021.   “Establishing a Global Fund for Social Protection is doable, and it is affordable, but it requires political will,” De Schutter said. “The ILO estimates that less than $78 billion would be needed for low-income countries to establish social protection floors, including healthcare, covering their population of 711 million. While that might sound like a high figure, it is actually less than half of what developed countries are already providing in development aid. The question is therefore not about affordability, but about setting the right political priorities.”   “Moreover, social protection is not just a cost weighing on public budgets,” he added. “It is an investment that benefits societies over generations, helping increase education levels, improving food security and health, and yielding economic benefits for local economies. It is a steppingstone towards more equal and resilient societies.”   The Global Fund for Social Protection will allow recipient countries to gradually increase their own levels of funding devoted to social protection. Rather than creating a new form of dependency, the Fund will both help identify new sources of domestic revenue and ensure sustainable levels of support to countries committed to these programs.   “In fact, the Global Fund should gradually make international support redundant, and it can be phased out once countries have enhanced their capacity to raise taxes progressively and to redistribute them equitably in the form of universal social protection,” the expert said.   “Last week, on June 19th, the International Labour Conference voted to bring the Global fund for social protection to the work table of the ILO, a historical breakthrough. We should now set as our collective goal to put in place this new solidarity mechanism by June 2022, 10 years after the initial ILO Recommendation on social protection floors was adopted,” said De Schutter.   “The world can’t wait for the next pandemic to happen before we get ready. We need to act now, and a Global Fund of Social Protection is our best bet.”   * Access the report: http://undocs.org/A/HRC/47/36   http://www.srpoverty.org/2021/06/28/press-release-world-needs-to-prepare-for-next-crisis-by-setting-up-global-fund-for-social-protection-now/ http://www.srpoverty.org/ http://www.unicef-irc.org/article/2147-social-protection-for-children-not-adequate-according-to-new-world-social-protection-report.html Visit the related web page
	COVID-19 pandemic drives global increase in humanitarian food assistance needs by Save the Children, Oxfam, Mercy Corps, agencies   Nov. 2020   Potential risk of famine in Yemen and South Sudan, warns Save the Children.   An estimated 11 million children under five are facing extreme hunger or starvation across eleven countries in Africa, the Caribbean, Middle East and Asia, new analysis by Save the Children reveals, with the potential risk of famine in Yemen and South Sudan. The aid agency is calling for an urgent and large-scale global response to help avert a humanitarian catastrophe.   Save the Children is particularly concerned for children in five ‘hunger hotspot’ countries/regions where the food crisis is extremely serious, made worse by insecurity: Afghanistan, Yemen, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central Sahel (Mali, Niger & Burkina Faso). COVID-19, conflict and climate change could tip millions of families over the edge.   Inger Ashing, CEO of Save the Children, said: “Levels of acute hunger, which were already at record global highs before the pandemic, are continuing to rise. Left unchecked, this puts millions of children’s lives at risk. The global hunger crisis is caused by a persistent lack of access to nutritious food in some of the most vulnerable communities in the world, and threatens to set countries back by years or even decades in their efforts to reduce child mortality and alleviate poverty. The situation is critical. We are looking at the very real possibility that thousands of children could die.   “Ending global hunger and malnutrition will not be easy. The international community must address the root causes of food shortages and malnutrition while at the same time providing immediate support to hungry and undernourished children.   “Only by putting an end to global conflicts, tackling chronic poverty as well as the risks brought by climate change, and building more resilient communities with access to strong nutrition services, will we be able to ensure that every child can grow up healthy. The time to act is now. Millions of children’s lives hang in the balance.”   Save the Children analysed populations facing food insecurity across eleven of the worst-affected countries, using data from the World Food Programme and the Integrated Phase Classification/Cadre Harmonisé – a famine early-warning system. Then, using UN population data, the agency extrapolated the estimated number of children under five considered to be at risk of hunger or starvation across all eleven countries. This is because the first five years of a child’s life are critical.   Without enough nutritious food to eat or the ability to absorb the right nutrients, children under five are at high risk of acute malnutrition which in turn can cause stunting, impede mental and physical development, increase the risk of developing other illnesses and ultimately cause death.   In war-torn Yemen, 10.3 million children are facing food shortages. In just the southern half of the country 587,573 children under five are suffering from acute malnutrition, including nearly 100,000 on the brink of starving to death. The situation in the north is also perilous. A dramatic increase in food prices has affected the ability of families to feed their children, leading to an increase in cases of malnutrition and a potential risk of famine.   Afghanistan is also on the front line of the hunger crisis. A third of the country is facing acute food shortages including more than 1.5 million children under five. COVID-19, movement restrictions, and inability to find work and rising food prices are also pushing this food crisis into urban areas on a scale not previously seen, while increasing insecurity and armed violence are only making things worse.   In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) insecurity and conflict have had a devastating impact on people’s capacity to access food and 21.8 million people across this vast country are facing hunger, including nearly four million children under five. A recent uptick in insecurity in the east is posing yet another challenge to food security in a country considered to be one of the largest and most complex humanitarian crises in the world.   Children in South Sudan remain in serious peril because of the cumulative effects of years of conflict, flooding and a poor economy which have destroyed livelihoods, disrupted food production and markets, wrecked the economy and forced four million people to flee their homes. More than half of the population (6.5 million) have faced food insecurity this year, including nearly one million children under five. Some 300,000 children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition – the most dangerous and deadly form of extreme hunger. The country is facing a potential risk of famine.   The countries of the Central Sahel (Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger) have for years been affected by the impacts of climate change, which has in turn disrupted availability and access to food and created the current nutrition crisis. In the last couple of years growing insecurity across the region has aggravated the problem by disrupting access to social services, food production and the pastoralist economy. Across these three countries more than 650,000 children under five are facing severe hunger.   “Conflict, insecurity, a changing climate, extreme weather events, and recent invasions of desert locusts are all driving up levels of global hunger and malnutrition, leaving entire populations extremely vulnerable to additional shocks like COVID-19 and its secondary impacts, including lockdowns, school closures and economic recession", said Ms Ashing.   “We cannot escape the fact that many of the key drivers of hunger and malnutrition are human-made, and many of the consequences for children are avoidable. This is an indictment of the international community and our collective failure to ensure every child survives and can thrive.   Millions of hungry and malnourished children need urgent support. Not only are people struggling to access healthy food but there is widespread disruption to the life-saving services designed to treat malnutrition as humanitarian access is shrinking at a time when it should be expanding.   Save the Children is calling for the international community to act fast to avoid a potentially devastating loss of life. The aid agency is calling on world leaders to prioritise humanitarian responses that provide urgent assistance to families facing hunger. Providing cash and vouchers directly to families – alongside essential nutrition support – is one of the best ways to address hunger and malnutrition in the short-term, as well as support more long-term community resilience enabling families to better withstand future shocks.   http://www.savethechildren.net/news/11m-children-under-five-risk-extreme-hunger-or-starvation-across-eleven-countries   Aug. 2020   Reaching breaking point: What COVID-19 means for people living in fragile places. (MercyCorps)   As the world continues to grapple with COVID‑19, it is easy to forget that for some people, the pandemic is just one more crisis on top of existing crises. Even before COVID‑19, a myriad of challenges including hunger, extreme weather events, violent conflicts, and poor governance were already holding communities back in some of the fragile places where Mercy Corps works.   Now, those existing challenges are making fragile contexts even more vulnerable to the impacts of the pandemic and are hindering humanitarian assistance, conflict resolution and peacebuilding efforts. For this reason, it is more urgent than ever that international donors prioritise fragile and conflict-affected states.   Mercy Corps’ latest report “COVID‑19 in Fragile Contexts: Reaching Breaking Point” highlights some of the most severe and long-lasting impacts of COVID‑19.A looming hunger pandemic.   Even before COVID‑19 struck, global hunger was on the rise. Now, the pandemic is jeopardizing economies, healthcare, and food systems on a global scale, and is likely to have the most severe impact on vulnerable groups in fragile places.   The UN estimates that the impact of COVID‑19 could push an additional 132 million to the brink of starvation by the end of 2020, with the specter of famine in three dozen countries a dangerous possibility.   A Mercy Corps assessment from June found that in the Somali region of Ethiopia, 75% of households had already reduced their food consumption as a result of COVID‑19. In the longer term, the combined effects of COVID‑19, the measures adopted to control it and the global economic downturn could - without urgent and large-scale action - result in consequences for food security of a severity and scale unseen for more than half a century.   Fewer jobs, more inequality   The longest lasting global impacts from COVID‑19 will likely be economic. Mercy Corps’ COVID‑19 Rapid Market Impact Report showed that small businesses and informal workers are being hit particularly hard, as they lack formal registrations and connections to adapt their businesses and do not benefit from any social safety nets or unemployment services. The impact is greatest on women, young people and displaced groups.   Lebanon, for example - a country which was already facing a growing economic and banking crisis pre‑COVID‑19 - is now facing businesses closures, high unemployment, with nearly one out of three unemployed, and a lack of social safety nets for informal workers, who make up an estimated 55 percent of the workforce.   Violent conflict on the rise?   COVID‑19 is amplifying key causes of conflict such as weak governance, economic inequality and deficits in public trust. The risk of conflict will likely increase as the virus continues to spread, in the short term at a local level, through restricted access to resources, and at multiple levels in the medium and long term as economic impacts unfold and populations become frustrated with government responses.   One recent projection anticipates an increase in violence in fragile states due to the exacerbating effects of the pandemic, with thirteen countries likely to experience new conflicts in the next two years. During COVID‑19, as with other epidemics like Ebola, misinformation has consistently increased in most fragile places.   In Nigeria there are rumours that the virus is not real and that corruption is rife among government and health workers, and in Iraq, community distrust of the government is at an all-time high with 85% of respondents to a recent Mercy Corps survey saying they are unhappy with the government response.   In many other places, the proliferation of misinformation is leading to increased tensions, and could potentially result in more violence.   Gender equality: From bad to worse   Existing gender inequalities are already being further deepened as women and girls bear the brunt of the pandemic: from health to security, employment to social protection. At the same time, women are largely absent from decision-making and leadership roles in responses to the pandemic.   This is especially true in fragile contexts where, on top of discriminatory gender norms, women can face additional barriers to participation, such as personal security.   For example, in Nigeria where levels of female participation in politics were already low, there has been a sharp rise in gender-based violence both inside and outside the home in recent months, posing an increased risk of violence towards women.   As we tackle the immediate health and economic impacts of COVID‑19, the international response must not overlook the opportunity to help prepare and support communities to face the next, inevitable crisis.   Based on our research and experience operating in the most complex crises globally, we see four areas that the global COVID‑19 response must include to break the vicious cycle of fragility:   Support local markets: Market systems play a vital role in helping communities cope with the immediate impacts of the crisis and recovering some form of stability. Immediate support to help people meet basic needs should be paired with financial support to vendors, traders, and micro-lenders, to keep markets functioning, essential businesses running, and food and goods available.   Promote peace and good governance: Investment in conflict prevention and peacebuilding should be increased, particularly given that less than 2% of official development assistance in fragile states is currently devoted to conflict prevention and peacebuilding.   This has increasing importance in a COVID‑19 world, where disinformation, erosion of public trust and broken economies can dramatically heighten the grievances that drive violence against both government and other groups.   Invest in climate adaptation in fragile states: Climate change remains a grave threat yet, a new report shows wealthy countries are leaving the most vulnerable behind when it comes to climate finance. Donors must ensure money reaches fragile states and climate vulnerable countries so they can adapt to the impacts of climate change and build resilience in the long-term.   Put women and girls front and center: Without addressing the specific needs of women and girls and leveraging their expertise, the response to COVID‑19 will be less effective, and progress towards achieving gender equality will be slowed.   Even as COVID‑19 is already beginning to erode some of the progress made in recent years in many of the world’s most fragile places, if we act now and redouble our efforts, we still have an opportunity to reduce the pandemic’s impacts on the most vulnerable.   http://www.mercycorps.org/blog/reaching-breaking-point-COVID-19-people-fragile-places http://bit.ly/2ZKcDFa http://bit.ly/32CN3DZ   July 2020   The Hunger Virus: How Covid-19 is fuelling Hunger, a report from Oxfam International   COVID-19 is deepening the hunger crisis in the world’s hunger hotspots and creating new epicentres of hunger across the globe. By the end of the year 12,000 people per day could die from hunger linked to COVID-19, potentially more than will die from the disease itself.   The pandemic is the final straw for millions of people already struggling with the impacts of conflict, climate change, inequality and a broken food system that has impoverished millions of food producers and workers.   Meanwhile, those at the top are continuing to make a profit: eight of the biggest food and drink companies paid out over $18 billion to shareholders since January even as the pandemic was spreading across the globe - ten times more than has been requested in the UN COVID-19 appeal to stop people going hungry.   While governments must act to contain the spread of this deadly disease, Oxfam is also calling for urgent action to end this hunger crisis and build fairer, more robust, and sustainable food systems.   ‘COVID-19 is causing us a lot of harm. Giving my children something to eat in the morning has become difficult. We are totally dependent on the sale of milk, and with the closure of markets we can’t sell the milk anymore. If we don’t sell milk, we don't eat.’- Kadidia Diallo, a female milk producer in Burkina Faso.   The COVID-19 pandemic has added fuel to the fire of an already growing hunger crisis. Even before the pandemic struck, hunger was on the rise. In 2019, 821 million people were estimated to be food insecure, of which approximately 149 million suffered crisis-level hunger or worse. Now the coronavirus has combined with the impacts of conflict, spiralling inequality and an escalating climate crisis to shake an already broken global food system to its foundations, leaving millions more on the brink of starvation.   The World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that the number of people experiencing crisis-level hunger will rise to 270 million before the end of the year as a result of the pandemic, an 82% increase since 2019. This means between 6,000 and 12,000 people per day could die from hunger linked to the social and economic impacts of the pandemic before the end of the year, perhaps more than will die each day from the disease by that point.   This brief explores how the COVID-19 pandemic is fuelling hunger in an already hungry world. It highlights the 10 extreme hunger hotspots where the food crisis is most severe and getting worse as a result of the pandemic: Yemen, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Afghanistan, Venezuela, the West African Sahel, Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria and Haiti. Together these countries and regions account for 65% of people facing crisis level hunger globally.   But the story does not end there. New hunger hotspots are also emerging. Middle-income countries such as India, South Africa, and Brazil are experiencing rapidly rising levels of hunger as millions of people that were just about managing have been tipped over the edge by the pandemic. Even the world’s richest countries are not immune.   Data from the UK government shows that during the first few weeks of the lockdown as many as 7.7 million adults reduced their meal portion sizes or missed meals, and up to 3.7 million adults sought charity food or used a food bank.   This brief also explores why so many people are going hungry and why so many more are so vulnerable to hunger. It shines a light on a food system that has trapped millions of people in hunger on a planet that produces more than enough food for everyone.   A system that has enabled eight of the biggest food and beverage companies in the world to pay out over $18bn to their shareholders since the start of 2020, even as the COVID-19 crisis unfolded across the globe. This is over 10 times the amount of food and agriculture assistance funds requested in the UN's COVID-19 humanitarian appeal.   Oxfam recognizes the need for governments to take urgent action to contain the spread of the coronavirus but is also calling on them to act now to end this hunger crisis.   To save lives now and in the future, governments must: (1) fully fund the UN's humanitarian appeal, (2) build fairer, more resilient, and more sustainable food systems, beginning with a high-level Global Food Crisis Summit when the Committee on World Food Security meets in October, (3) promote women’s participation and leadership in decisions on how to fix the broken food system, (4) cancel debt to allow lower-income countries to put social protection measures in place, (5) support the UN’s call for a global ceasefire, and (6) take urgent action to tackle the climate crisis.   http://www.oxfam.org/en/research/hunger-virus-how-covid-19-fuelling-hunger-hungry-world http://www.wfp.org/news/world-food-programme-assist-largest-number-hungry-people-ever-coronavirus-devastates-poor http://bit.ly/31dU7WO http://www.actionagainsthunger.org/story/statement-state-food-security-and-nutrition-world-2020 http://www.actionagainsthunger.org/publication/2020/07/covid-19-impact-seeds-future-hunger-pandemic   July 2020   FEWS NET estimates 100 million people are in need of humanitarian food assistance in 2020 across its 29 monitored countries, roughly a quarter of whom are in urban and peri-urban areas. These totals represent a sizable increase and notable shift in the population in need of humanitarian food assistance relative to assessed 2020 needs prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, when total food assistance needs were estimated to be roughly 25 percent lower, and one-tenth of needs were in urban and peri-urban areas.   Across the globe, governments continue to enact measures to suppress the progression of the COVID-19 pandemic. These measures consist largely of movement restrictions and social distancing that help limit the spread of the virus, though they also limit access to income-earning opportunities for many populations and slow trade activities.   For example, poor urban households rely heavily on daily wage labor and self-employment to earn the income necessary to purchase food to meet their basic needs. However, COVID-19-related restrictions have led to a significant decline in income and food access among poor urban households.   http://fews.net/global/alert/july-31-2020 http://fews.net/covid-19-pandemic-impacts-food-security http://www.ipcinfo.org/ http://www.wfp.org/publications/covid-19-situation-reports   * FAO/WFP Analysis - Acute Food Insecurity Hotspots (July 2020): http://bit.ly/30XbgnH   * Religious leaders and faith-based organizations call for support for vulnerable communities: http://bit.ly/353x0Pq http://bit.ly/37defM8 http://bit.ly/3pZM0Ys Visit the related web page
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