Blog Contributor:
Nora Coghlan
As a senior policy manager, Nora works with the global policy director to ensure progress towards ONE’s annual policy priorities and provides support on issues outside ONE’s core portfolio. Nora also leads the writing and editing process for the DATA Report. Before joining ONE, Nora worked for Rep. Jan Schakowsky and Dignitas International. She has also worked for the Amy Biehl Foundation in South Africa. Nora graduated with a B.A. in international development and history from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec.
Dec 17th, 2010 1:27 PM UTC
By Nora Coghlan
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As you may have read in our news roundup yesterday morning, the World Bank’s International Development Agency (known as IDA) received an historic boost in funding yesterday. Officials meeting in Brussels agreed to contribute $49.3 billion for IDA over the next three years, representing an 18 percent increase over IDA’s last financing round. Although the specific donor contributions have not yet been publicized, we do know that year’s replenishment included unprecedented increases in resources mobilized from within the World Bank and from former IDA borrowers.
This is great news for the world’s poorest countries, where (as my colleague Lauren noted earlier this week) IDA is one of the biggest donors. The World Bank estimates that this increased funding for IDA will help immunize 200 million more children, extend health services to over 30 million people, give access to improved water sources to 80 million more people, help build 80,000 kilometers of roads and train and recruit over two million teachers. For African countries (which make up 39 of 70 IDA countries) this could be a huge help towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.
Stay tuned for more details.
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Dec 6th, 2010 11:43 AM UTC
By Nora Coghlan
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As 2011 approaches, most Africa observers are buzzing about the highly-anticipated January referendum in Sudan, where the South Sudanese will vote on whether or not Southern Sudan becomes Africa’s first new state in nearly 20 years.
But a second vote is also on the horizon in 2011, in a setting that is equally troubled and just as critical to US interests: the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Presidential elections (the second since the end of the civil war) are tentatively scheduled for November 2011, and local elections are being proposed for 2012 to 2013.
Earlier this week, Ben Affleck and the Center for Strategic International Studies (CSIS) hosted a panel of DRC experts and influentials to draw attention to what they believe is a window of opportunity opening up in DRC. Mr. Affleck and Jennifer Cooke, CSIS’s Africa program director, were joined by Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of African Affairs Johnnie Carson, Senator-elect John Boozman, former USAID mission director for DRC Anthony Gambino and Senator John Kerry for closing remarks.
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Oct 13th, 2010 12:53 PM UTC
By Nora Coghlan
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This past weekend, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) held their annual meetings in Washington, D.C., to discuss their work on a wide range of global economic issues including poverty reduction, economic development and international finance. Coming on the heels of the UN Summit and amid negotiations for replenishing the International Development Association (IDA), these meetings gave the Bank and the IMF a chance to discuss their reform efforts and work to recover countries from the financial crisis.
Here are three of the highlights:
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Oct 7th, 2010 10:24 AM UTC
By Nora Coghlan
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ONE’s policy team played with QuODA — a new tool developed by the Center for Global Development and Brookings — all day yesterday.
For the first time, QuODA lets you measure the effectiveness of aid to developing countries across donors by looking at a wide range of quantifiable indicators on aid quality (such as measurements of aid transparency, the use of country systems and donor coordination). It lets you compare 23 different countries and 150 agencies, which means you can even see how different parts of the U.S. government stack up against each other. Check out the comparison of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, USAID and the Department of the Defense in the screen shot above -– pretty interesting!
QuODA is a critical first step to helping track whether donors are meeting their commitments to improve aid effectiveness and -– most importantly — ensuring that development assistance is being delivered in a way that can achieve maximum results in countries around the world. Check it out and listen to the “Wonkcast.”
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Sep 27th, 2010 11:13 AM UTC
By Nora Coghlan
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As New Yorkers cautiously take back control of the East 40s, and the NGO community struggles with a post-summit hangover, there is no doubt one question on everyone’s mind: Was it all worth it?
In the lead-up to the summit, ONE asked world leaders (PDF) to agree to a comprehensive road map to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 with accountable, measurable commitments from all partners. This included a focus on improving governance, spurring economic growth and increasing investments in programs that are delivering results.
So did we get it? The short answer is no. We have a new plan to tackle maternal and child health and an official “outcomes document” (PDF) that recommits leaders to meeting the MDGs, which has some great language on mutual accountability, national ownership and the role of trade and economic growth in development. But still we don’t have a broad, action-oriented framework that we can hold individual countries accountable to for the next five years.
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Sep 21st, 2010 8:33 PM UTC
By Nora Coghlan
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And one more update to fill you in on today, straight from ONE’s Nora Coghlan.
Canadian Prime Minister Steven Harper just took the stage at the UN. He talked about Canada’s top three development priorities over the next five years – food security, children and youth, and economic development – and highlighted some of Canada’s global development contributions to date, such as its comprehensive food security strategy, the untying of all Canadian food aid and its continued leadership on maternal and child health.
Harper also used his time on the podium to urge leaders at the UN Summit to focus on accountability to existing commitments, rather than making new agreements or “lofty promises.” He highlighted the G8’s G8’s accountability report (which was launched at the Canadian-hosted summit this June) as a critical new tool in helping to ensure donor accountability. He also said that the Canadian-spearheaded Muskoka Initiative would ensure that maternal and child health promises made at this summer’s G8 will be delivered through a rigorous accountability framework.
While the Prime Minister’s focus on accountability is a welcome one, the fact that many of the details on the Muskoka Initiative are still outstanding (read about them here) suggests that we still need clarity on what accountability means or else it will just become the new buzzword at this year’s summit.
Prime Minister Harper also said that Canada would be increasing its pledge to the Global Fund in October, another welcome announcement. But with only two weeks until the Global Fund’s replenishment, the pledge is still too vague to determine whether or not the Fund will have the resources it needs from 2011-2013.
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Sep 20th, 2010 8:09 PM UTC
By Nora Coghlan
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While we wish we could attend all the events happening this week in NYC, it’s just not possible. So here’s a great post from our colleague Nora Coghlan on the MDGs and education.
Earlier this morning, I listened to a powerful panel of speakers –- including former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, UK Secretary of State for International Development Andrew Mitchell, Queen Rania of Jordan and World Bank Managing Director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala –- rally around a single issue: education for all by 2015.
Under the banner of 1 Goal, a global campaign for universal education that recruited 18 million supporters during this summer’s World Cup, the panelists kicked off a week of MDG-related discussions by underscoring the fact that with its links to democracy, family health and economic growth, education is central to meeting all the MDGs and achieving long-term development beyond 2015.
More than one of the panelists cited this new Lancet study, which credits women’s education for half of the reduction in child mortality over the past few decades, as the latest in a growing mountain of evidence that says education leads to progress on multiple fronts.
It wasn’t all talk, though.
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