AP: Aid groups ‘alarmed’ by little U.S. coronavirus assistance
“More than two dozen international aid organizations have told the U.S. government they are ‘increasingly alarmed’ that ‘little to no U.S. humanitarian assistance has reached those on the front lines’ of the coronavirus pandemic, as the number of new cases picks up speed in some of the world’s most fragile regions. The letter obtained by the Associated Press and signed by groups including Save the Children, Mercy Corps, World Vision, and others says that ‘in spite of months of promising conversations with USAID field staff, few organizations have received an executed award for COVID-19 humanitarian assistance’…” (Anna, 6/12).

Devex: E.U. pushes COVID-19 marker to track donor spending
“The European Union wants a common metric for donors’ contributions to the global fight against COVID-19, the bloc’s top development civil servant said Wednesday. ‘We have brought the idea to the [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development], which is precisely the institution which has a very solid track record on developing markers,’ Koen Doens, director-general of DEVCO, the European Commission’s development department, said in a virtual panel discussion Wednesday. … The OECD-DAC working party on development finance statistics is due to discuss ways of tracking COVID-19 related expenditures at a meeting on June 22…” (Chadwick, 6/12).

U.S. News: Experts: Global Development Decline Offers Opportunities for Improvement
“…A report released in May by the United Nations Development Programme predicted that global human development — a combination of the world’s education, health, and living standards, according to an announcement news release — is on pace this year to decline for the first time in 30 years. A more recent report released Monday by the World Bank had a similarly dire outlook — the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to plunge most countries into a recession in 2020. Developing economies are forecast to contract by 2.5%, while more advanced economies are projected to contract by 7%. … But out of this crisis comes both near- and long-term opportunities for improvement in the education, health, and technology sectors, experts say…” (Davis, 6/11).