This Week in Global Development

While the abrupt cuts to official development assistance and closure of the U.S. Agency for International Development [https://www.devex.com/organizations/united-states-agency-for-international-development-usaid-45096] have upended the existing global development landscape and multilateral framework, they also represent an opportunity to reimagine a more just and equitable international system, said Open Society Foundations [https://www.devex.com/organizations/open-society-foundations-45109] President Binaifer Nowrojee. In a podcast recording with Devex President and Editor-in-Chief Raj Kumar at Casa Devex during the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development [https://www.devex.com/focus/ffd] in Sevilla, Spain, Nowrojee emphasized the shifting power dynamics that are emerging and the need to focus on building strong domestic institutions and national capacity. “What we have is national architecture that’s completely underused. National development banks could play a role and build a different set of economic opportunities inside countries,” Nowrojee said. The conversation also emphasized the urgent need to mobilize domestic resources to close the development finance gap — including through better international tax cooperation to help counter the $200 billion lost annually through corporate tax avoidance — and a fairer approach to debt. Today, 3.3 billion people [https://unctad.org/news/debt-crisis-developing-countries-external-debt-hits-record-114-trillion] live in countries that spend more on debt repayments than on health or education. “The global north actually gives pennies in aid compared to the dollars flowing out of the global south,” Nowrojee said. This special episode of This week in global development [https://www.devex.com/news/this-week-in-global-development-106893] podcast was sponsored by the Open Society Foundations.

With the U.S. Agency for International Development [https://www.devex.com/organizations/united-states-agency-for-international-development-usaid-45096] officially dismantled and its remnants folded into the State Department, the landscape of global aid is at a turning point [https://www.devex.com/news/how-do-we-fix-aid-110454]. We delve into expert perspectives on what the future of foreign assistance might entail, exploring proposed transformations from widening the donor base beyond traditional Western nations to building new institutions and streamlining existing ones, such as the United Nations [https://www.devex.com/organizations/united-nations-un-41567]. This reimagining of aid aims to create a more effective and equitable system for a world grappling with evolving challenges and shifting geopolitical dynamics. With France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States all cutting their aid budgets at the same time for the first time in decades, many low- and middle-income countries are facing steep declines in support. While African leaders have called the cuts “brutal [https://www.devex.com/news/from-aid-trap-to-brutal-cuts-african-leaders-confront-a-new-reality-110307],” they have also maintained that the slashing of foreign aid may act as the wake-up call needed to break their dependency on traditional donors.  We also analyze President Trump's "big, beautiful bill" [https://www.devex.com/news/what-does-trump-s-big-beautiful-bill-mean-for-global-development-110480] and its potential implications for the global development sector. To dig into these stories and others, Devex Business Editor David Ainsworth sits down with Managing Editor Anna Gawel and global development expert Nasra Ismail for the latest episode of This Week in Global Development.  Sign up [https://www.devex.com/account/newsletters] to the Devex Newswire and our other newsletters.

As development budgets tighten, donors, NGOs, and implementing partners alike are all grappling with an increasingly urgent question: How do you move money efficiently and securely to people who need it most — especially in complex or hard-to-reach environments, where traditional banking fails? One technology that’s gaining traction in this space is blockchain. “The speed, the efficiency, the transparency, and the ability to pay people very directly … [blockchain] is this very powerful technology in a crisis area,” said Candace Kelly, chief legal and policy officer at Stellar Development Foundation, whose mission is to create equitable access to the global financial system. Kelly joined Devex Executive Editor Kate Warren for a podcast recording at Casa Devex, Devex’s events hub during the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development [https://www.devex.com/focus/ffd] in Sevilla, Spain. This podcast episode is sponsored by Stellar Development Foundation.

As the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development [https://www.devex.com/focus/ffd] wraps up, Devex reporters Jesse Chase-Lubitz and Elissa Miolene join Associate Editor Thomas Cserép for a podcast episode reflecting on what transpired this week in Sevilla — beyond the sweltering 115 degrees Celsius heat. The big takeaway from FfD4 is the Compromiso de Sevilla, a document that participants view as both a commitment and a compromise. "Multilateralism lives" became the conference's unofficial motto as countries adapted to the United States’ absence.  “It's more of a pickup moment after six months of global upheaval, and now moving forward and seeing what's next, and perhaps there'll be other actors that fill that gap, and maybe that might come from the global south itself,” Miolene said. Key outcomes include establishing a borrowers' group to amplify the voices of low- and middle-income countries, and creating a global debt registry aimed at promoting transparency. While climate language was significantly watered down due to the United States’ proposed amendments prior to their withdrawal, tax reform gained momentum, with renewed calls for a U.N. convention on international tax cooperation. However, civil society groups expressed frustration over access restrictions at the conference, while journalists faced rigorous checkpoints entering areas where negotiations were actually taking place.  At the conference’s side events, private sector engagement was notably high, suggesting that despite falling aid budgets, there's a genuine appetite for partnerships — with the overall mood remaining cautiously optimistic about what comes next.

With aid budgets under pressure globally, delegates at the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development [https://www.devex.com/focus/ffd] in Sevilla, Spain, are urgently exploring innovative ways to fund global development. But as the spotlight shifts toward private capital, there’s a growing concern that essential interventions without immediate financial returns — such as health investments — could be overlooked. “We’re very clear that the cheapest money — concessional money, grant financing, and very concessional loans — should be allocated to those investments that give you this massive societal return, but not necessarily a financial return,” said Kalpana Kochhar [https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=1bb1fa673ebee0697e65411d71967a32b1559d9df0737bf1b345e4ee3ba038a9JmltdHM9MTc1MTE1NTIwMA&ptn=3&ver=2&hsh=4&fclid=1f9f318a-158a-637b-24ae-25571498621c&psq=kapana+kochlear+Gates+foundation&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ2F0ZXNmb3VuZGF0aW9uLm9yZy9hYm91dC9sZWFkZXJzaGlwL2thbHBhbmEta29jaGhhcg&ntb=1], director of development policy and finance at the Gates Foundation [https://www.devex.com/organizations/bill-melinda-gates-foundation-b-mgf-44525], in an onstage conversation with Devex President and Editor-in-Chief Raj Kumar. Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, demonstrates how strategic health investments can pay off over time. “Gavi has graduated a number of countries who originally needed that subsidy to bring in vaccines and help purchase them at a lower price, but now [those countries] are doing it on their own,” Kumar said. However at the recent Gavi replenishment round, pledges fell short by about $2.9 billion [https://www.devex.com/news/gavi-pledges-fall-short-about-2-9b-as-us-pulls-out-110345] of its total budget request. The discussion also highlighted new opportunities to attract private investment in health manufacturing — from vaccine production to locally made bed nets — and reflected on the progress made since the last Financing for Development conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, about a decade ago. This special episode of This week in global development [https://www.devex.com/news/this-week-in-global-development-106893] was sponsored by the Gates Foundation.