Development in a Time of Upheaval – WBG President Remarks ahead of Annual Meetings Ahead of the WBG-IMF Annual Meetings, President David Malpass delivered a speech in Khartoum entitled “Development in a Time of Upheaval.” President Malpass is the first WBG President to visit Sudan in nearly 40 years. He commended civil and military authorities for their efforts in working together toward a better future. He recalled that development was dependent on peace and stability. During his speech, President Malpass noted that the world was going through a “troubling time of upheaval,” with a reversal in development and the poor being left behind in a “global tragedy of inequality”. He outlined four priorities to shorten the crisis, boost economic growth and resume development: promoting economic stability, leveraging the digital revolution, making development greener and more sustainable and investing in people. Read the full speech here and panel discussion here. Watch the full replay here: https://live.worldbank.org/david-malpass-speech-september-30

Meeting between IMF Managing Director and UNECA and African Ministers of Finance: On 30/9/21, the IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva met with the African Ministers of Finance and representatives from the UN Economic Commission for Africa to discuss the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She noted that the COVID-19 pandemic caused an unprecedented recession in Africa in 2020. A slow recovery is projected for 2021 due to vaccine supply constraints and limited financial resources. She recalled that Africa will receive $33 billion of the recently approved $650 billion SDRs allocation. African policymakers’ expressed their strong interest in working with the IMF to channel SDR to long-term reforms, including on climate change and the health sector.

UNHCR distributed core relief items to 120 South Sudanese refugees newly relocated to Bele site, Haut-Uele Province.

UNHCR distributed mobile phones to over 3,900 displaced persons and returnees in Kasai Province.

So far, over 2,500 refugees took part in a biometric verification exercise launched by UNHCR and the CNR in Goma and surrounding areas, North Kivu Province.

UNHCR and partners facilitated the voluntary repatriation of 1,449 Burundian and Rwandan refugees to their country of origin.

Refugees, Returnees Affairs Calls on Int’l Community to Step up Support for Refugees in Ethiopia Addis Ababa September 29/2021 (ENA) Agency for Refugees and Returnees Affairs (ARRA) has called upon the international community to step up support for the more than 900,000 refugees in Ethiopia. In his exclusive interview with ENA, ARRA Director-General Tesfahun Gobezay stated that Ethiopia is implementing world’s most progressive refugee proclamation that grants refugees with an array of socio-economic rights. https://www.ena.et/en/?p=28860

L'opération du HCR au Burkina Faso est en conclave ces 27 et 28 septembre 2021 à Ouagadougou pour réfléchir autour de sa nouvelle planification stratégique pluriannuelle 2022-2025.

Jobs Creation Commission, ARRA Sign MoU to Include People of Concern in Labor Market Addis Ababa September 27/2021 (ENA) The Federal Jobs Creation Commission and Agency for Refugees and Returnees Affairs (ARRA) have signed today a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to include People of Concern in the labor market. https://www.ena.et/en/?p=28821

Food Insecurity Persists in the IGAD Region: Immediate scaled-up humanitarian response is required. 21 September 2021, Nairobi, Kenya: An estimated 31.4 million people across the IGAD region were classified in crisis or worse (IPC Phase 3+) levels of acute food insecurity in 2020. This figure represents 20% of the global 155 million people that faced food insecurity and required urgent action in 2020. 2021 projections point to a grimmer situation, where between 36.7 to 37.2 million people will likely face high levels of acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or above), largely due to conflict, weather extremes, and persistent economic shocks (including the socio-economic repercussions of COVID-19)