The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20433 USA
9 April 2020
Dear Annette Dixon and Hafez Ghanem
We hope that you and other staff at the World Bank are well at this extremely challenging time.
We write to you as civil society organisations working for human rights, equality and sustainable development in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.
COVID-19 is having a devastating impact on communities and health systems in the SADC region. We welcome the World Bank’s announcement of US$6 billion in financing for health system strengthening and disease surveillance (we understand that this US$6 billion is part of a wider fast-track package worth US$14 billion). We believe that this financing has the potential to assist recipient states to deal with the current crisis and build resilience to future crises. However, we have some questions regarding this financing.
- Will all of the US$6 billion be dedicated to building universal, high-quality public health systems? We believe that this financing should be free of economic policy conditionality promoting privatisation, deregulation and trade liberalisation. Public health must take precedence over private profit if states, including those in the SADC region, are to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and realise economic and social rights enshrined in various legal and policy
- Will all of the US$6 billion take the form of grants? We believe that provision of emergency financial assistance to SADC member states should not create debt. We also believe that all 16 SADC countries should have all of their external public debt payments cancelled for the next 12
- Does all of the US$6 billion represent new financing? We believe that, if any proportion of this figure consists of redeployed resources, then it should be made clear from where these resources have been diverted, and whether or not these funds will be
- On what basis will this financing be allocated? We believe that it is very important that allocations are made in a transparent and fair (i.e. based on need)
- How will it be ensured that this financing is both rapidly disbursed and used for its intended purpose (rather than diverted to other ends)? We believe that speed is of the essence in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, but at the same time we are concerned about the risk of corruption.
- How will it be ensured that this financing prioritises the most marginalised and vulnerable populations? We believe that the response to the COVID-19 pandemic must be rights-based and responsive to intersectional
- Will some of the financing be dedicated to enable states to coordinate different actors in the health sector (and other related sectors)? We believe that this will help to avoid duplication and ensure
- Will some of the financing be dedicated to enable meaningful civil society engagement with the response to the COVID-19 pandemic? We believe that it is critical that civil society organisations are meaningfully involved in the planning, delivery, monitoring and evaluation of the COVID-19
We would be grateful for responses to these questions. Thank you for your time. We look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely
Michael Buraimoh
Director, Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA)
Janet Zhou
Executive Director, Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD) – on behalf of the Southern African People’s Solidarity Network (SAPSN)
Mavis A. Koogotsitse
Executive Secretary, Southern Africa Trade Union Coordination Council (SATUCC)
Contacts:
Sunit Bagree, Senior Campaigns Officer, ACTSA sunit.bagree@actsa.org / +44 7415289712
John Maketo, Programmes Manager, ZIMCODD john@zimcodd.co.zw / +263 772331881
Paliani Chinguwo, Research & Education Policy Officer, SATUCC paliani.chinguwo@satucc.org / +267 74526943