2021 was a punishing year for global development efforts. Using the excuse of the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK Government cut £4.5 billion from the Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget, reducing the funding available for global nutrition programmes by some 70%, polio eradication by 95%, and education by over 25%.
But even with a reduced budget, there is much for campaigners to seek to protect and prioritise in the coming year. International donors such as the UK must show commitment to poverty alleviation and tackling injustice, to ensure that people around the world can access the services they need, especially as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.
There will be much to do in the coming year to continue the fight against poverty and inequality, and we’ll continue campaigning on access to health and education.
On education, we’ll focus on basic literacy and numeracy, to ensure that children not only restart schooling after the pandemic, but learn much needed foundational skills.
And our global health campaigning will continue to call for an equitable global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and renew our focus on the world’s second most deadly infectious disease, tuberculosis (TB), and the replenishment of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.
This month, we’re asking you to reflect on your campaigning in 2021 and plan your campaigning for 2022, familiarising yourself with the issues you’ll be working on. You can catch up on the conference call here.
The Action Sheet contains introductory information on three issues we’ll be campaigning on next year: TB, COVID-19, and Education, with links in the text to further reading.
The Campaign Calendar shows international days and other ‘key moments’ relevant to our campaigns and additional activities you may choose to do.
The Background Sheet has some ideas and activities for running a planning and reflection meeting, including tips for holding a collaborative session online.