This is my alternative version of the official theme for the upcoming International Monetary Fund (IMF)/World Bank Annual Meetings – actually titled ‘Addressing multiple crises in an era of uncertainty’. A planned session on the Middle East and North Africa also sums it up nicely: ‘Managing the urgency of now, while building opportunities for the future.’
The world in 2022 is daunting. We’re no longer living in ‘interesting times’ but ‘uncertain times’. This is certainly how it seems in the UK lately, but even more so for all those caught up in what feel like endless, interlinked crises around the world. The question is what should global leaders gathering in Washington DC do about it, collectively and in their own countries?
Back in April, ahead of the IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings, I set out my ‘to do’ list for global leaders, stressing that it’s not too late for the global reset everyone talked about in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. I stand by that list. So here’s more on what needs to be done, and why.
And why the gum? Because for those who say there isn’t the money to do these things, I would point out that the world spends more on chewing gum every year that it does on humanitarian aid. I can’t take credit for this fact, but I think you’ll agree it’s pretty damning.
Six months on, things are worse not better
Back in April, the world was focused on the escalating conflict in Ukraine and coming to terms with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Six months on, the armed conflict in Ukraine shows no sign of abating, driving continued high energy prices and economic turbulence. We’ve also seen further evidence of the climate crisis with devastating flooding in Pakistan and millions of people on the verge of famine in the Horn of Africa thanks to the worst drought in 40 years. Even in the world’s richest countries like the UK, families are having to make impossible choices between heating their homes or giving their children healthy meals. Governments and donors are pleading poverty, saying they can’t afford to do much more to help those worst affected. I would argue that we can’t afford NOT to act, or things will get a lot worse still.
Covid-19 exacerbated existing structural and systemic inequalities within and between countries.
This inequality is now intersecting with climate and geopolitical emergencies, fuelling conflict, pushing millions of children into poverty and threatening prospects for entire generations. Meanwhile, low- and lower-middle income countries are sinking further into debt. Public debt and associated interest payments are crowding out financing that could otherwise be spent on getting services back on track, or on preparedness for future emergencies and pandemics.
Save the Children recently undertook our biggest-ever global listening exercise with over 54,500 children in 41 countries, to understand how to support their activism on climate and inequality.
Children across the world spoke to us about the impact rising food costs, the climate crisis and inequality are having on their lives and in their communities. Later this year, we will be profiling what we learnt from these conversations in a new global report. But I can say now that the stories that children shared with us of how this period of global crisis is affecting them is a damning criticism of global leadership on these issues to date.
The multiple interlinked crises facing the world today require collective global response.
As global decision makers return to Washington DC for the IMF/ World Bank Annual Meetings this week, this represents a vital opportunity to step up action by unlocking much-needed funds at global and national level.
The World Bank and IMF must work with the G20 and partners to urgently fix existing global funding and debt relief systems so that timely debt relief is provided to countries in need.
This requires making the G20 Common Framework fit for purpose, through improving transparency and certainty around the process, providing immediate debt standstill upon application, expanding eligibility criteria, and compelling private creditors to participate. Other measures for expanding fiscal space in lower-income countries must also be pursued with urgency, including rapid fulfilment of the G20 pledge to recycle $100 billion of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) to countries that need them. Given the urgent need, it is an indictment of the state of the global system of development cooperation that, a year on from this pledge, no single recycled SDR has been received by a lower-income country.
Urgency also needs to be injected into efforts to maximise the concessional lending potential of multilateral development banks, and to see increases in donor financing directed towards the immediate hunger and malnutrition needs for those most impacted by the current crisis, and long-term systems change to prevent this happening again. Such improvements would go some way towards ensuring lower-income and climate-vulnerable countries have the finance and fiscal space they need to protect and invest in children.
Additional action is required to close the global educational financing gap estimated to be as much as $200 billion annually.
The recently concluded Transforming Education Summit shone a spotlight on education financing needs, but we now need clear action from donors and governments to turn rhetoric into action. High-income countries must allocate 0.7% of GNI towards ODA, increase education’s share of the ODA budget to 15%, and prioritise providing country programmable education ODA to empower recipient countries. Low and middle-income governments must prioritize investing in high-quality education for all students, at least 4-6% of GDP and/or 15-20% of public expenditure. This should be supported by donors through technical support to strengthen domestic resource mobilisation and education budgeting efficacy and efficiency.
Further action is also required to fully address the widening rift in countries’ capability to adequately finance their health system.
It is critical that we learn from the lessons of COVID-19 and support countries to invest in strengthening health systems – a core component of pandemic preparedness and response. As we will outline in our forthcoming paper ‘A Blueprint for Success’, such investments must be designed to align with nationally and internationally funded programmes and incrementally strengthen primary care systems. New and equitable financing solutions must be identified to avail highly concessional support for governments during this critical period. Low and middle-income countries should increase their allocation to health and nutrition to enable all children and adolescents to receive the health services they need without suffering financial hardship.
Alongside dedicated investment in health and education, we must together invest in a fairer, greener future for children.
Countries with the highest levels of historic responsibility must address their carbon debt for causing climate damage by contributing their fair share of climate finance flows. Globally the commitment must be met to mobilise at least $100 billion annually in international climate finance by 2023 at the latest. This should be additional to committed ODA, and at least 50% allocated to adaptation, resilience, and disaster risk reduction measures. Social protection is globally recognised as an effective tool for alleviating poverty, enhancing household income security and building resilient societies. The aim should be to move to universal child benefits over time in order to prevent vulnerable groups of children – girls, indigenous children, children with disabilities, refugee, migrant and displaced children – from falling through gaps in the system. These programmes must be shock-responsive, allowing for additional payments to help families cope before, during, or after climate related and other shocks.
Most importantly, all solutions developed and implemented in response to the crises we are facing today must incorporate children’s views and concerns.
It is their future at stake. They are witnessing first-hand the impacts of the climate crisis, conflicts and inequality on their families, friends and communities. They have been let down by the inaction of adults and are telling us they want adults to do more. We need to support them by providing safe and meaningful opportunities for children to collaborate, input and have their voices heard. This will ensure that children are at the heart of solutions.
We owe children this much.
In my experience, children are pretty amazing at coming up with insightful, creative solutions. Given how badly the adults are doing, it’s worth a shot!
