Interested organizations or trainers are invited to submit their proposals until 03/05/2024, including an outline of the training program’s content and methodology, qualifications, budget, and proposed dates.

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(23.01.2024)

Countries that have contributed the least to global emissions face a critical challenge of addressing climate impacts amid tightening financial constraints. Over 50% of low-income countries are in or on the brink of debt distress. With many lacking adequate resources to adapt to climate impacts, developing nations are increasingly ensnared in the climate debt trap. Escaping this cycle requires more than domestic policy measures; it demands systemic multilateral solutions for global climate justice.

Outside view by Natalia Alayza & Carolyn Neunuebel

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(29.11.2023)

Four residents of the Indonesian island Pari, whose existence is under threat, are taking the Swiss cement company Holcim to court. They are demanding compensation for climate damages they have suffered, a financial contribution to flood–protection measures, as well as the rapid reduction of Holcim’s CO2 emissions.

Outside View by Parid Ridwanuddin & Yvan Maillard-Ardenti

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(13.09.2023)

There is a largely untapped potential of collaborations between social entrepreneurs and big International non-governmental organizations (INGOs) to scale impact and drive systemic change. In Ashoka’s latest report, we argue that social entrepreneurship makes INGOs advance localization and decolonization. And that INGOs will only unleash its promise if they prioritize social innovation and build an organizational culture of innovation.

Outside View by Georg Schön

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(04.10.2022)

The European Investment Bank has launched EIB Global, a new branch to spearhead development investments in the Global South. Yet the bank has a terrible track record of supporting projects which spark human rights violations while providing only negligible benefits to local communities. EIB Global must eradicate these abuses and put people above investor profits.

Outside View by Frank Vanaerschot

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(24.08.2022)

Severe drought in the Horn of Africa; heat waves and drought in Europe; floods in South Korea, India and Australia, flash floods in Colombia and Senegal; record tornadoes/cyclones in the US and Mozambique … and the list goes on. As humanitarians, we see the consequences of the climate crisis in our daily work. The Climate and Environment Charter for Humanitarian Organizations aims to guide and galvanize our collective efforts to address this crisis

A comment by Amir Khouzam & Nishanie Jayamaha

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(20.04.2022)

Recently, the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC) published the annual statistics summarizing how much foreign aid its 30 member states, including Austria, provided in 2021, loudly trumpeting the all-time high levels of ODA achieved

Outside View by Ranil Dissanayake¹

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(23.02.2022)

Changing attitudes towards taxation can only happen if citizens are engaged in shaping tax policy making and if tax systems are seen to be equitable, including appropriate taxation of large corporations as well as linking tax revenues to development outcomes like improved infrastructure, healthcare and education

Outside View by Luckystar Miyandazi & Orria Goni¹

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(21.12.2021)

Olivier De Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, presented a report on the relationship between poverty and inequality at the 76th session of the UN General Assembly

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(07.12.2021)

The Financing for Sustainable Development Report 2021 was released by the United Nations to highlight the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global macroeconomic context and its effects on sustainable development. This report addresses the economic impact that the COVID-19 crisis had on a global scale, especially on developing countries. It provides updates on how the pandemic has affected the financial sector and suggestions for actions that must be taken in response to the current crisis, pandemic, and climate risks.

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(15.11.2021)

There is a growing trend in development finance that you may not have heard about: lending through intermediaries. What are the risks and opportunities?

Outside View by Kate Geary

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(27.10.2021)

The German Development Institute released a report on the climate change and sustainable development to reveal how the two are interconnected. Since the Paris Climate Agreement was ratified in 2016, this report presents the progress made towards achieving the climate goals to maintain an average global temperature below 2°C, and preferably below 1.5°C, with net-zero emissions by 2050. The framework for the Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals is dependent on a stable climate system which is why it is important to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement.

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(19.10.2021)

The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2021 was released by the United Nations through the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. The report provides an overview of the current state of the 17 SDGs and the progress made towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Within the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused adverse effects on the advancements of the SDGs. The pandemic has disproportionately affected the poorest people in the world and continues to hurt those living in the least developed countries by exposing their inequalities.

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(19.10.2021)

With the 7th round of negotiations on the UN binding treaty on its way, we look at the 3rd draft and what it says about the treaty process. With little change from the last version of the treaty, there is no excuse for states not to dig in and start negotiating seriously. Yet shamefully the EU still won’t be at the table. This next year will be decisive for the EU: with a regional law on corporate accountability on its way, they need to step up and get ready to finally engage in negotiations.

Outside View by Jill McArdle

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(16.12.2020)

The COVID-19 crisis is reversing progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). While the virus has impacted everyone, developing countries are the worst affected. The 2030 Agenda is about achieving 17 transformational goals to reduce poverty and inequality globally, but the EUs response to the pandemic seems not to have been designed with this in mind. It is key that COVID-19 recovery plans are aligned with the SDGs. But what are the first steps the EU should take to put the 2030 Agenda at the centre of efforts to recover from the COVID-19 crisis?

Outside View by Alexandra Rosen

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(11.11.2020)

The traditional measure of foreign aid is “official development assistance” (ODA). Figures on ODA have been compiled by the OECD since 1969, based on annual reports from members of its Development Assistance Committee (DAC), a club of aid donor countries. ODA figures have been of fundamental importance in tracking global aid efforts and fulfilment of aid pledges, including against the United Nations target of raising aid to 0.7% of rich countries’ national income.

Outside View by Hedwig Riegler

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(16.09.2020)

The COVID-19-pandemic and its social and economic consequences are hitting developing countries particularly hard. Many of these countries are heavily in debt and lack the financial resources to address the crisis effectively. Nevertheless, the World Bank has so far been reluctant to suspend debt service payments of developing countries, which would free up much-needed resources. While some experts argue that this is justified since suspending debts would jeopardize the World Bank’s financing model, others criticize the Bank for getting priorities wrong. The following Pro & Contra summarizes the most important arguments of both sides.

A Pro & Contra by Scott Morris and Iolanda Fresnillo

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(04.03.2020)

According to the European Environment State and Outlook 2020, European Union Member States are currently facing environmental challenges on a substantially larger scale than ever before. They require immediate action from policy makers, large companies and the public.

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(13.11.2019)

A recent report to the EU proposes the creation of a new European Climate and Sustainable Development Bank. Peter Wolff, researcher at the German Development Institute, and Xavier Sol, director of Counter Balance, comment on the Pros & Cons of adding a new institution to the existing financial architecture for development.

A Pro & Contra by Peter Wolff and Xavier Sol

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(30.04.2019)

Conflicts are becoming more protracted, populations and inequality grows and environmental disasters are on the rise. Needs of humanitarian assistance, both short- and long-term, will be acute and widespread. In the next years policy and the aid sector will need to evolve and adapt.

Considering the discussions of the 5th Humanitarian Congress and taking into account the experience and expertise of the 14 Austrian humanitarian organizations responsible for organising the Humanitarian Congress Vienna we conclude with the following demands for the Future of Humanitarian Aid:

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