Will the new loss and damage fund replicate the same old exclusion of local voices and organisations?

Lyndsay Walsh Climate Change, Events, Power Shifts

How can a community-based organisation with three staff compete with the World Bank or an INGO for resources to address climate damage? Lyndsay Walsh on why this week’s crucial pre-COP meeting on recommendations to establish the loss and damage fund must create more space, money and support for local organisations.

After half a century of misguided policies, here’s how the World Bank and IMF can work for the poor…

Anthony Kamande Debt, Economics, Events

It’s time both the World Bank and IMF abandoned the short-term fixes and austerity that have repeatedly failed people in developing countries, says Anthony Kamande. With their joint annual meetings back on African soil for the first time in five decades, he sets out six ways both institutions can make real and lasting change: from debt restructuring to encouraging social spending and taxes on the wealthiest.

The rush for clean-energy minerals risks fuelling conflict in the Sahel – and that has to be on the climate agenda

Mohamadou Fadel Diop Climate Change, Conflict, Events

Mohamadou Fadel Diop on why climate negotiations such as the upcoming COP28 must pay attention to how the energy transition may drive further conflict and instability in West and Central Africa.

Five things we need for a feminist economic future

Rachel Noble Economics, Events, Gender

Why is debt a feminist issue? And why is it time to advance alternatives to GDP? Rachel Noble reports back from an inspiring gathering of the International Association for Feminist Economics in Cape Town.

We need to talk about inequality in West Africa

Mohamadou Fadel Diop Economics, Events, Inequality

As the African Union and regional economic communities gather to discuss their economies, the gulf between the rich and the rest in West Africa needs to be top of the agenda, says Mohamadou Fadel Diop – and that conversation must give serious attention to inequality-busting policies such as reversing austerity and debt cancellation.

Want to understand the trauma of climate loss and damage? Listen to the voices of Southern Africans who are living it

Juliet Suliwa Kasito Climate Change, Events, Research

With world leaders at COP27 under pressure to act on loss and damage finance, Juliet Suliwa Kasito shares insights from conversations in Malawi and Zimbabwe – and draws out recommendations for policy makers, including to focus more on ‘intangible’ damage, such as psychological distress