COUNTERPART FUNDS AND DEVELOPMENT

Summary Counterpart funds play an important, growing and often controversial role in developing countries. The Bulletin reviews the issues and connects counterpart funds to wider themes in development: poverty targeting, aid conditionality, the management of the budgetary process — and many others. New guidelines are presented. The first priority is to narrow the gap between best and usual practice. Résumé Les fonds de contrepartie et le développement Les fonds de contrepartie jouent un rôle crucial, croissant et de plus en plus souvent, controversé dans les pays en voie de développement. Le Bulletin réexamine les questions de base et tente d'associer les fonds de contrepartie à des thèmes plus larges au sein du développement: comment cibler la pauvreté; la conditionnante de l'aide; la gestion du procédé budgétaire; et ainsi de suite. L'article présente de nouvelles lignes directrices, la priorité absolue étant de réduire l'écart entre la pratique optimale et la pratique d'usage. Resumen Los fondos de contrapartida y el desarrollo Los fondos de contrapartida juegan un rol creciente, importante y a menudo contencioso en los países en vías de desarrollo. El presente Boletín analiza esta cuestión y conecta los fondos de contrapartida con temas de desarrollo más amplios: enfoque anti?pobreza, condicionalidad de ayuda, manejo del proceso presupuestario y muchos otros, para los cuales se presentan nuevas pautas. La prioridad más absoluta es reducir la brecha entre las prácticas en uso y las mejores posibles

Climate & Food Security Monitoring Bulletin

Wet conditions prevailed during December 2020 and January 2021 over the country, however, dry conditions were also experienced from February to April 2021 in many parts of the country. A considerable amount of rainfall was received across the country during the North-East monsoon (December 2020 to February 2021), however, it was less in the central areas compared to the long-term average. The DMC, NDRSC, Military, and Public Administrative agencies implemented a special preparedness programme which was supported by WFP and other agencies during October and November to prepare for the North-East monsoon, however only minor flooding was experienced in addition to the havoc created by cyclone “Burevi” in the northern region. Meanwhile, an above-normal rainfall was observed in North-central, North-western and Northern regions (Figure 01 & 02) during December and January, accumulating good water storage in tanks in the Dry & Intermediate zones. These favourable rainfall regimes during the “Maha” season helped to enhance the cultivation of paddy, vegeta bles, fruits and other cash crops, despite the COVID-19 outbreak. The 2020/21 "Maha" season harvest was above the 10-year average despite the delayed start of the season due to weak second inter-monsoon rains during Octo ber and November 2020. The movement restrictions imposed to contain the COVID-19 outbreak during October and November, impacted the household economy and food security in the country. The consequent return to functioning markets and sup ply chain helped to stabilize the demand and supply of food and other essentials. The Government also com menced an island-wide home gardening campaign to increase domestic production, which helped to provide stable income options for vulnerable communities while ensuring household food security. The current storage levels of major and medium reservoirs in the country are above average, which is conducive for a good Yala cropping season in 2021. For the next three months, near-normal rains are forecasted, associated with the conditions created by a mild La-Nina event currently observed in the equatorial Pacific Ocean and neutral IOD in the Indian Ocean, which may not negatively influence the water storage and cultivation in the 2021 Yala season

Climate & Food Security Monitoring Bulletin Maha Season 2019 - 2020

A successful Maha Season 2019-2020 means paddy production is estimated to be sufficient to meet domestic demand until September 2020. Floods, mainly along the East and North coast, caused an estimated production loss of 57,065 Mt. This however, should not have an impact on short- to medium-term food security. Limitation of vegetables and onions were observed in early 2020

Impact of the shift from NCHS growth reference to WHO(2006) growth standards in a therapeutic feeding programme in Niger.

OBJECTIVES: To describe the implementation of the WHO(2006) growth standards in a therapeutic feeding programme. METHODS: Using programme monitoring data from 21,769 children 6-59 months admitted to the Médecins Sans Frontières therapeutic feeding programme during 2007, we compared characteristics at admission, type of care and outcomes for children admitted before and after the shift to the WHO(2006) standards. Admission criteria were bipedal oedema, MUAC <110 mm, or weight-for-height (WFH) of <-70% of the median (NCHS) before mid-May 2007, and WFH <-3 z score (WHO(2006)) after mid-May 2007. RESULTS: Children admitted with the WHO(2006) standards were more likely to be younger, with a higher proportion of males, and less malnourished (mean WFH -3.6 z score vs. mean WFH -4.6 z score). They were less likely to require hospitalization or intensive care (28.4%vs. 77%; 12.8%vs. 36.5%) and more likely to be treated exclusively on an outpatient basis (71.6%vs. 23%). Finally, they experienced better outcomes (cure rate: 89%vs. 71.7%, death rate: 2.7%vs. 6.4%, default rate: 6.7%vs. 12.3%). CONCLUSIONS: In this programme, the WHO(2006) standards identify a larger number of malnourished children at an earlier stage of disease facilitating their treatment success

Guidelines for measuring gender transformative change in the context of food security, nutrition and sustainable agriculture

These Guidelines include step-by-step guidance to formulate qualitative and quantitative indicators of gender transformative change to help gender experts and food security, agriculture and nutrition programme specialists in their efforts to design, implement, monitor and evaluate gender transformative interventions. These indicators should be distinctive from and a complement to other reach, benefit and empower indicators intended to contribute to gender equality outcomes in food security, nutrition and sustainable agriculture. The Guidelines also present an overarching framework for measuring gender transformative change in the context of food and nutrition security and sustainable agriculture, including key dimensions and a socio-ecological model for identifying spheres of influence within which gender transformative change can be measured. Additionally, the Guidelines bring attention to other important issues to consider when to implement the framework and when to develop context-specific indicators of gender transformative change, such as the incorporation of insider perspectives and consideration to intersectional forms of discrimination

FOOD, FOOD SECURITY AND UN REFORM

SUMMARY The article addresses the question of UN reform from the perspective of food security. It offers a balance sheet of UN strengths and weaknesses, praising the UN role in advocacy, technical coordination and resource mobilization, but identifying serious politico?bureaucratic problems, and new challenges to the UN mandate caused by the coexistence of hunger and conflict. In understanding why the weaknesses occur, there are useful connections to be made in the debates on public administration, good government and the sociology of international politics, as well as those more directly on UN reform. These lead the article to identify four general principles for UN reform in the food security area, and to explore two options for change, one to improve the status quo and one to introduce more radical change. The latter is preferred: the UN mandate needs review, particularly in the area of conflict; there are too many agencies; and there are too many independent budgets. The article argues for a focal point in the UN system for policy determination and resource allocation for food security

Benthic habitat modelling and mapping as a conservation tool for marine protected areas: A seamount in the western Mediterranean

1. An ecologically representative, well‐connected, and effectively managed system of marine protected areas (MPAs) has positive ecological and environmental effects as well as social and economic benefits. Although progress in expanding the coverage of MPAs has been made, the application of management tools has not yet been implemented in most of these areas. 2. In this work, distribution models were applied to nine benthic habitats on a Mediterranean seamount within an MPA for conservation purposes. Benthic habitat occurrences were identified from 55 remotely operated vehicle (ROV) transects, at depths from 76 to 700 m, and data derived from multibeam bathymetry. Generalized additive models (GAMs) were applied to link the presence of each benthic habitat to local environmental proxies (depth, slope, backscatter, aspect, and bathymetric position index, BPI). 3. The main environmental drivers of habitat distribution were depth, slope, and BPI. Based on this result, five different geomorphological areas were distinguished. A full coverage map indicating the potential benthic habitat distribution on the seamount was obtained to inform spatial management. 4. The distribution of those habitats identified as vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) was used to make recommendations on zonation for developing the management plan of the MPA. This process reveals itself as an appropriate methodological approach that can be developed in other areas of the Natura 2000 marine networkEn prensa1,92

Sustainable Agricultural Productivity Growth and Bridging the Gap for Small-Family Farms: Interagency Report to the Mexican G20 Presidency

In 2011, G20 leaders committed to sustainably increase agricultural (production and) productivity (paragraph 43 of the Cannes Declaration). They "agree(d) to further invest in agriculture, in particular in the poorest countries, and bearing in mind the importance of smallholders, through responsible public and private investment," they "decide(d) to invest in research and development of agricultural productivity. Early in 2012 Mexico, as G20 President, invited international organisations to examine practical actions that could be undertaken to sustainably improve agricultural productivity growth, in particular on small family farms. The preparation of this report, co-ordinated by the FAO and the OECD, responds to this request. It is a collaborative undertaking by Bioversity, CGIAR Consortium, FAO, IFAD, IFPRI, IICA, OECD, UNCTAD, Coordination team of UN High Level Task Force on the Food Security Crisis, WFP, World Bank, and WTO. We, the international organisations, are pleased to provide you with this joint report and look forward to continuing collaboration within the G20 framework to further elaborate and, as appropriate, implement the recommendations that it contains

Rangelands Atlas

Rangelands can be described as land on which the vegetation is predominantly grasses, grass-like plants, forbs or shrubs, and often with trees that are grazed or have the potential to be grazed by livestock and wildlife. They are diverse in their vegetation driven by highly fluctuating rainfall, temperature and other climate phenomena, and habitat for a wide range of wildlife, many species of which are found nowhere else. Rangelands store vast amounts of carbon and either originate or serve as freshwater catchment areas for most of the world’s largest rivers and wetlands. Rangelands are home to millions of people, from pastoralists to hunter-gatherers to ranchers to conservationists. Rangelands feed millions of people worldwide. Rangelands have significant cultural and aesthetic value too, and for many, are places of inspiration and beauty. This Rangelands Atlas has been developed to document and raise awareness on the enormous environmental, economic and social value of rangelands as well as their different ecosystems. It highlights many of the changes taking place in rangelands due to climate change, land use and conversion trends, investments and other changes: of most concern is the predicted trends of climate change and biodiversity loss, which will have significant impacts on some rangeland ecosystems. The spatial mapping of rangelands was produced by focusing on seven of the 14 global biomes categorised by WWF in their mapping of terrestrial ecoregions around the world. These seven biomes include different types of mainly dryland grasslands, savannas, shrublands and forests, together with wetter and colder biomes such as tundra. Though this mapping does not take into account actual land use and other changes that have taken place on the ground, it is a useful starting point for identifying, documenting and raising awareness on the overall characteristics of rangelands, their contribution to livestock and other food production, ecosystem services, conservation and the broader trends of change taking place. The Atlas also highlights significant data gaps in rangelands, which have seen proportionately less investment in this regard than other land uses and ecosystems. The spatial map of rangelands is combined with other existing global datasets on different themes, to produce a mapping of that data ‘for rangelands.’ Each entry is presented with a short explanation of the map, some key figures produced from the big data that produced the map, a story from the field adding a taste of a local experience and/or perspective, and some explanation of terminologies used in the map as required. We are reliant on the accuracy of the datasets we have accessed: the data have not been verified at regional, country or local level, and therefore is only an indicator of broad and estimated figures and trends

Just transitions for a Climate-Resilient Development in Africa – Transforming Dialogue into Action

CCDA-X1, hosted by the Government of Namibia, convened on the theme: “Just transitions for a Climate-Resilient Development in Africa – Transforming Dialogue into Action” in collaboration with Africa’s civil society organisations, academia, development partners, regional and international organisations and the private sector. The conference resulted in the following key messages to be taken forward to COP27 by Namibia