Devex Global Voices 2022: The year’s top opinions
The year 2022 could be described as one where we jumped from the frying pan into the fire. As we rang in the new year, the world was reeling from the spread of COVID-19’s omicron variant, while large swaths of the global population were still unvaccinated.
Then, as we dared to hope that the worst of the pandemic was behind us, Russia invaded Ukraine, fundamentally destabilizing a precarious geopolitical balance and sending food and energy prices soaring.
The backdrop to this? One of the hottest years on record, with the effects of climate change ripping through communities across the globe.
Global development professionals have had their work cut for them. As the media platform for the globaldev community, we have spent the year publishing solutions-focused articles penned by global health practitioners, food systems experts, development finance insiders, humanitarian workers, NGO and development institutions leaders, and more.
Here, in Devex Global Voices 2022, we gather some of our most-read opinion pieces for the year. If you enjoy reading these, don’t forget to sign up to Newswire, our free daily must-read newsletter, and stay up to speed with the latest news in global development.
Global health
Who’s on stage at World Health Summit shows who’s in charge
“There appears to be no interrogation of the influential role of the pharmaceutical industry, its corporate consultants, or philanthropy in engineering global health outcomes.”
Why the Global Fund must take on pandemic preparedness
“The Global Fund — if it adapts to the challenge — could change empty promises on preparedness into a safer world.”
Food crisis
Africa food security solutions must prioritize women and girls
“Some experts predict that as food becomes more scarce, young girls may be increasingly vulnerable to gender-based violence and forced early marriage.”
Development finance
The World Bank should become the ‘IMF of climate’
“Rather than waiting for another desperate warning from the IPCC, the U.N. should entrust the World Bank ... with a clear mandate to monitor countries’ commitment to cut GHGs and accelerate the energy transition of the global economy.”
De-risking is key to closing the global funding gap
“Public sector players must agree to take on more risk in the short term to attract more private capital for the medium-to-long term.”
Humanitarian
‘We were ready’— learning from Ukraine’s locally led response
“What needs to be clear is that Ukrainian communities and civil society need to be in the driver’s seat.”
How NGOs can better protect sensitive data
“There is a simple approach that removes all that hard work identifying the most important data and which strongly protects data no matter where it is stored. The approach is simply to encrypt all data, everywhere.”
Youth and education
Avert the global learning crisis by doing less — but better
“We need to ensure that every child gets to school and that they come out knowledgeable at the other end. And, right now, we can do this best by getting lean and focusing relentlessly on our efficiency of impact.”
Child labor is on the rise; here’s how to prevent it
“Imposing sanctions without addressing the root cause can be destructive for farming families and communities. It does nothing to lift farmers out of poverty or to solve child labor.”
Inclusive development
Decolonizing development is key to avoid path to irrelevance
“The international development model continues to be rooted in a deeply colonial framework going against the professed ethos of development that should be bottom-up and locally rooted.”
Production: Mariane Samson, Janelle Cruz, and Yula Mediavillo
Photos by: The Global Fund, USAID / CC-BY-NC, Engin Akyurt on Unsplash,
Kampus Production from Pexels, Pixabay from Pexels, and Dylan Gillis on Unsplash
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