Afghanistan, COVID: 2021 so far...

A warm welcome to our latest edition of Development Directions ➡️- Jonusta’s newsletter on happenings across the international development space.

Jonusta is an early-stage 🚀on-demand work marketplace connecting 🤝 for-purpose organizations and professional talent to project opportunities in the Global 🌍 South.

Our platform launches later this year. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy our newsletter. We’re always keen to improve, so please let us know (on Linkedin & Twitter) what you’d like to see more of!

Until next time! Stay healthy & keep doing great impactful work!

- Team Jonusta

2021 remains gripped by rolling crises in the Global South 🌍 — the ongoing COVID pandemic, the conflict in Ethiopia & the (scarcely believable) return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan. The international development sector faces a changing landscape with ongoing funding cuts, strategic realignments underpinned by rising needs as the Global South continues to deal with the megatrends of climate change, demographic transition, new technologies, urbanization, and shifts in global economic power.

Things fall apart in Afghanistan

The world watched with horror as Taliban forces swept Afghanistan to take power in Kabul on 15 August 2021. The US may have expected a ‘decent interval,’ a period of stability after its withdrawal, but, says AAN’s Kate Clark, its own strategy of recent years has been one factor – although not the only one – facilitating the Taliban takeover - read more here. What happens next is anyone’s guess but the prospects aren’t good. The country has suffered a massive brain drain with educated Afghans departing in droves. A humanitarian crisis is unfolding as scores of Afghans flee to safety in Pakistan, Iran, and other neighboring countries ahead of the Taliban advance. Meanwhile, the country remains gripped by insecurity (in the wake of scores of prisoners released by the Taliban and the threat of civil conflict from Afghan elements hostile to the Taliban), economic collapse (in the wake of the ongoing drought and the sudden cessation of international aid flows into the aid-dependent country) and governance challenges (due to the collapse of the Ghani administration and brain drain of officials). If you want to support assistance and aid to Afghans (especially women and children) affected by this conflict, please give generously to Afghan Aid - link here.

COVID rages on

As COVID restrictions slowly ease in the West, new variants of coronavirus threaten to overwhelm health systems and cost many lives in the Global South. Millions of people in these countries have scant access to vaccines, medical services, or clean water, making them much more vulnerable to new, more contagious variants of coronavirus. Furthermore, in many countries, the economic effects of the pandemic are proving, even more, deadlier than the virus as millions through unemployment and lack of social safety nets experience hunger, famine, and increased poverty due to falling incomes and rising food prices. You can support the COVID aid response by donating to the Disaster Emergency Committee appeal here.

Free ID Events alert

The pandemic has added urgency to the battle against inequality and poverty and shifted communications online. The RESULTS National Conference 2021 on 11-12 Sept will bring great speakers together to explore the challenges and opportunities of campaigning and how we can find and take chances to keep pushing for an end to global poverty and injustice - free registration here. For those interested in agriculture issues in the Global South, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) holds its annual event next week Sept 6-10. This year’s summit will explore: the pathways and actions needed to accelerate Africa’s Green Revolution and you can register here. 

Productivity tip 🐱‍💻

We ❤️ being productive. But when we are swamped by so much content to consume - i.e. the endless march of phone notifications, emails, blogs, reports, social media, print news, etc- it can be hard to bring a deep focus to get work done. Enter Pomofocus.

Pomofocus is a fantastic web app that we use here at Team Jonusta to undertake periods of focused work where all distractions can be ignored in pursuit of deep focus on tasks during your allocated pomo timeslot. Pomofocus can be accessed here.

Till next time👋!

We hope you’ve enjoyed our newsletter round-up and look forward to seeing you next time. In the meantime, don’t forget to visit our landing page to be notified when Jonusta launches!