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Blog Post
February 03, 2022
Humanitarian problems continue to grow across Africa. Conflict, climate change and COVID-19 are the main causes. This is a problem for Africa, but also for Africa’s friends and neighbours, including the European Union (EU). Humanitarian problems increasingly cross borders, with spill over effec...
Blog Post
January 21, 2022
Aid alone will not resolve the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. Without a functioning financial system, many Afghans will remain unable to buy essential goods, including food and medicine. Humanitarian actors seeking to relieve the effects of these shortages will struggle to move money into and w...
Blog Post
November 23, 2021
Next week the UN will publish its global humanitarian overview (GHO) for 2022: the world’s most comprehensive, authoritative, and evidence-based assessment of need. The GHO has sustained a good track record in recent years in predicting what is ahead, albeit that every year unexpected new challenges...
Blog Post
November 22, 2021
One of my overwhelming preoccupations over the last 10 years as a chief executive of international aid organisations, first as permanent secretary of the UK’s Department for International Development and then as head of the UN’s humanitarian affairs, has been that there was never enough money, even ...
Blog Post
November 08, 2021
In a study of 131 IMF programs, I found that IMF conditionality in general helped to shield education and health spending from budget cuts in the short term, particularly during budget negotiations, but it did not succeed in significantly raising spending in relation to GDP over time. In this light,...
Blog Post
October 25, 2021
As Afghanistan enters its harsh winter season, a massive humanitarian disaster appears increasingly likely. Facing food shortages, rising prices, and a breakdown in public services, millions of ordinary Afghans need immediate assistance as their country veers toward economic collapse.