Max Cuvellier Giacomelli’s Post

Last year, 281 million people around the world required urgent food and livelihood assistance. Here are 5 statistics/trends in particular that I think were particularly shocking after going through the GRFC report: 1️⃣ In 10 countries, this number of people facing high levels of acute food insecurity in 2023 was above 10 million: DRC (26m), Nigeria (25m), Sudan (20m), Afghanistan (20m), Ethiopia (20m), Yemen (18m), Syria (13m), Bangladesh (12m), Pakistan (12m), Myanmar (11m) Pre-pandemic in 2019, only 3 countries made this list: Yemen (16m), DRC (16m) and Afghanistan (14m) 2️⃣ There are 3 main drivers of food insecurity: Conflict/insecurity (48%), Economic shocks (27%) and Weather extremes (26%). Weather extremes seem on track to surpass Economic shocks as the second driver of food insecurity in 2023. As Gemma Connell of UN OCHA pointed out during the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster plenary meeting we at GSMA hosted earlier this week, factors are compounding, with weather extremes making response in conflict/insecurity settings harder in harder (e.g. with the earthquake in Syria and the floods in Libya last year) 3️⃣ 700k lived in 5 countries lived in 'Catastrophe' conditions in 2023, meaning 'starvation, death, destitution and extremely critical acute malnutrition levels are evident'. Back in 2020 this number was 'only' 28k. 82% of those living in 'Catastrophe' conditions in 2023 lived in Palestine. 4️⃣ 10 million children suffered from severe acute malnutrition in 2023, with 27% of them living in Nigeria and Ethiopia (1.6m and 1.1m respectively). An additional 36m+ were acutely malnourished, and 27m more suffered from moderate acute malnutrition. 5️⃣ 90 million of the 281 million people suffering from food insecurity are away from their homes and communities. 26 million of them have left their home countries and are refugees or asylum seekers; the remaining 64 million are internally displaced due to escalating and protracted conflicts, extreme climatic events and/or economic hardship. The 2024 Global Report on Food Crisis published earlier this week is a sobering yet unmissable report for those involved in #foodsecurity or #humanitarian response of course, but really also for anyone who cares about the state of the world.

🌍 In Q1 2024, #Africa (+Jordan) was responsible for 92% of the YoY revenue growth recorded by the Orange group The region recorded +11% YoY growth in revenue, with 9 out of 16 countries showing double-digit growth There was growth in every revenue stream: moderate for voice (+4% YoY), double-digit for data (+16%) and Orange Money (+24%) Orange is now serving more than 153 million customers in the region, 67 million of which are using 4G, and 35m Orange Money

Avert's bold new strategy aims to transition its flagship assets to African-led organisations: After nearly four decades focused on ensuring people have access to information they can trust that supports informed health decisions, the organisation - under Sarah Hand's great leadership, and in close collaboration with the Board of Trustees (on which I've had the privilege to serve since early 2022) - believe the best way to achieve this aim, protect our legacy and be proactive in the #localisation agenda moving forward is to find new homes for our key assets in organisations based in #Africa, for whom these products clearly help achieve their strategy, add value, and offer new opportunity. This approach will not only maximise the impact of Avert’s work and secure a long-term legacy for the products, but also foster true local ownership and leadership. Over the next year, Sarah and the team will continue to provide regular updates as we further develop and implement this strategy. They will also document our journey and the learning we gather along the way, to share across the sector as we know we are not alone as a focused, successful organisation that nevertheless needs to make big decisions in a changing world. You can read Sarah's full blog here: https://lnkd.in/eDp862g9 To deliver on this ambitious strategy, we also need to ensure that the new host organisations will have access to the funding and technical assistance they need to onboard and sustain the assets. If you are active in the HIV prevention or broader health space and think you can support, don't hesitate to get in touch!

🍕 Africa continues to attract less than 1% of global start-up funding flows, much below its share of global GDP or population, and a missed opportunity for many investors... This week in my latest post for our Africa: The Big Deal, I compare our data for Q1 2024 to CB Insights' data for other continents, to see how #Africa compared to other continents in terms of trends last quarter: 👉 https://lnkd.in/ez6fV44S 👈 --- #startups #startupfunding #vcfunding #africatech #africarising

The GSMA - Mobile for Development's commitment to supporting humanitarianism dates back to 2011, when we initially focused on disaster response and preparedness. Due to the incredible growth of mobile internet and mobile money in low- and middle-income countries, and the concurrent regrettable growth of humanitarian needs, our work in the space has been growing ever since. The catalyst for this has been our strong partnership with the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, their thought-leadership and their financial backing which give us the means to research, test, and advocate for digital humanitarianism. The GSMA Mobile for Humanitarian Innovation programme - under Kimberly's strong leadership - collaborates with many partners to maximise our contribution in the space. As we prepare to gather many of them in our London office later this week, I encourage you to read through their 2023 Annual Report for an overview of our work across innovation, convening, partnerships and research on digital humanitarian action. 📕 https://lnkd.in/eC4HQtcj

According to the OECD, in 2023 🇺🇸 The #USA continued to be the largest contributor of international aid 🇩🇪 Followed again by #Germany 🇯🇵 #Japan took the third spot, up from # 4 in 2022 and # 5 in 2019-2021 🇬🇧 #UK was back on the fourth spot after a drop to # 5 in 2022 🇫🇷 #France completed the top 5, down from # 3 in 2021 and 2022 Official development assistance (#ODA) from member countries of the OECD's Development Assistance Committee (DAC) amounted to $224 billion in total. The US alone represented 30% of this amount; 82% for the top 5 combined. These numbers do not include development assistance from 🇨🇳 #China. Overall, ODA represented 0.37% of the group's combined GNI. Five countries only surpassed the United Nations' target to spend 0.7% of their GNI on ODA: 🇩🇪 #Germany: $37b / .8% 🇸🇪 #Sweden: $5.6b / .9% 🇳🇴 #Norway: $5.6b / 1.1% 🇩🇰 #Denmark: $3.1b / .7% 🇱🇺 #Luxembourg: $0.6b / 1% Source: OECD - OCDE, OECD Development (see link below)

If it were a US city, #Africa would rank just behind Seattle, Chicago or Miami in terms of start-up funding raised last quarter. Despite its $3 trillion of annual GDP and 1.4 billion inhabitants, investors continue to seriously overlook the continent...

I had a great time in Delhi last week with our #India-based team there, meeting partners and discussing how we can further grow the impact of our work in the region on gender and digital inclusion, climate tech and digital utilities, de-risking of local innovation & more... Our GSMA - Mobile for Development team in India is actually growing, so if you want to join this smart, driven and super friendly bunch, check out our open positions in comments below #indiajobs #delhijobs 📷 Left to right: Gagandeep, Senior Market Engagement Manager, Digital Inclusion & Gender | Rahul, APAC Director | Gouri, Insights Manager, Climate Tech | Digvijay, Senior Market Engagement Manager, Digital Utilities | Neha, Subgrant Compliance Manager | Radhika, Women in the Digital Economy Fund Director Thanks to all of you for your hard work and passion, and for your hospitality!

In the past 12 months, start-ups in #Africa have raised $2.4 billion ($200m a month on average) through at least 210 equity and debt deals of $100k or more (4 a week on average). While the amount raised on a 12-month basis continued to decrease, the number of deals however started to pick up after 6 quarters of decline In comparison, at the height of the funding heatwave (Q3 '21 - Q2 '22), start-ups in Africa had raised $6.5b in 12 months ($540m/week on average) through close to 400 deals (more than one a day on average) For more, check out my latest post for our Africa: The Big Deal newsletter: https://lnkd.in/eE4ud_sU --- #startups #startupfunding #vcfunding #africatech #africarising

Congratulations to Samir Ibrahim and the team at SunCulture for securing this new round of funding: $27 million! Back in the days SunCulture was a grantee of our M4D Utilities Innovation Fund - funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office - and it’s always great to see alumni grow from strength to strength, and to think GSMA - Mobile for Development might have played a humble role in supporting them on their path to scale and impact…