This Week in Global Development

This week takes a look at an internal email seen by Devex, which outlines the U.S. Department of State ’s priorities for the United Nations General Assembly. In addition to not mentioning the world “development,” the Trump administration is calling for a “fundamental rethink” of the international humanitarian system, and a decreased reliance on the country that was once the world’s largest donor....

With the U.S. Agency for International Development officially ceasing operations as the main U.S. foreign aid agency on July 1, the State Department now faces the daunting task of spending an estimated $20 billion before the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30 — without the 10,000 staff members who previously managed such distributions. The administration is legally required to spend money appropriated b...

This week, we're taking a deep dive into the Trump administration's vision for the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation . The White House’s proposal seeks to expand the number of countries DFC can work in, paving the way for it to invest in high-income countries — a shift from its initial remit to invest in lower-income countries. However, the U.S. Congress still needs to reauthorize...

This week, our conversation features Shari Spiegel, chief of the Financing for Sustainable Development Office at the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs . She joins host Adva Saldinger and Senior Global Reporter Colum Lynch to reflect on the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development , as well as dig into the legacy she hopes the summit will have.  With the c...

After an all-night marathon of amendments, the U.S. Senate voted to advance President Donald Trump’s $9 billion rescissions package this week. While the country’s flagship HIV/AIDS initiative PEPFAR was saved during the process, the package will still claw back nearly $8 billion in previously approved funding for foreign aid.  To dig into this story, and others, Senior Editor Rumbi Chakamba sits d...

While the abrupt cuts to official development assistance and closure of the U.S. Agency for International Development 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 President Binaifer Nowrojee. In a podcast recording with Devex President...

With the U.S. Agency for International Development officially dismantled and its remnants folded into the State Department, the landscape of global aid is at a turning point . 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 str...

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 tran...

As the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development 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 commitme...

With aid budgets under pressure globally, delegates at the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development 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....

Development leaders have converged on Sevilla, Spain, for the  Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development , or FfD4 — the first such gathering in a decade — as shrinking aid budgets and a U.S. retreat from multilateral commitments reshape the sector. At the 2015 conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,  official development assistance was at record levels amid ambitious “billions to...

This week, we have been closely following the Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance ’s high-level replenishment event in Brussels. Gavi, the leading international organization that provides vaccines to lower-income countries, finalized its five-year investment round event with more than $9 billion in pledges — falling short of its total budget request of $11.9 billion.  The United States decided to cut its s...

This week, we are at the Bonn Climate Change Conference . From climate financing to the absence of the United States, we take a look at the major talking points at the summit and contemplate whether the talks will translate into actionable policies.  We also look at how the Trump administration’s plans to cut foreign aid funding could create unexpected domestic repercussions for American agricultu...

In celebration of our 100th podcast episode, we’re revisiting the most impactful global development stories from the past two years, covering the period since our very first recording. From the evolving aid landscape to the critical discussions around localization , we explore some of the key themes in global development that we have been covering. We examine the growing burden of debt in low-inco...

On this week’s podcast episode, we unpack U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2026 budget request, which proposes sweeping cuts to foreign aid and includes the elimination of funding for major global health initiatives such as Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria . The administration has also submitted a $9.4 billion rescission proposal to the U.S. Congr...

This week we reflect on the 78th World Health Assembly , which Devex covered on the ground in Geneva. From the historic agreement of the Pandemic Treaty to the World Health Organization 's strategies for addressing its persistent funding gap, we analyze the key takeaways from the conference.  We also discuss the U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s aid delivery mechanism, which...

Explosive growth in the middle class , rapid urbanization, digitization and automation, the energy transition, and evolving geopolitics — these all present unique challenges for today’s businesses, said Jonathan Fantini-Porter, senior vice president of social impact in the Americas at Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth. It’s against this backdrop that public and private sector leaders are grap...

With the 78th World Health Assembly in full swing, we dig into the main talking point of the conference: the Pandemic Agreement.  The landmark treaty was adopted during this year’s edition of the annual summit . The agreement is designed to create a world better prepared for pandemics, ensuring a more equitable distribution of lifesaving medical interventions — a key challenge highlighted by the C...

Next week, the global health community will convene in Geneva for the World Health Organization 's annual decision-making summit, the World Health Assembly. We preview the pivotal discussions expected to shape the coming year, including the implications of recent leadership changes and cost-saving initiatives at WHO , as well as the evolving role of philanthropic organizations in funding global he...

This week, we learned that billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates will commit most of his fortune to the Gates Foundation , which will close in 2045. Before this date, the foundation will double its philanthropy, spending $200 billion over the next two decades. The announcement comes as the organization, which has given away $100 billion since 2000, marks its 25th anniversary. Meanwhile, at the end...

For this special episode of our weekly podcast series, we sit down with outgoing UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner. He reflects on his two terms, navigating the agency through transitions and current disruptions. Steiner candidly discusses the significant impact of Trump administration program cuts, detailing how they disrupted vital partnerships and supply chains in crisis-hit countries. Hear his...

This week marked the first 100 days of the second Trump presidency. From the cutting of foreign aid programs to the laying off of government staff, we reflect on the second Trump administration's impact on the global development sector .  On the topic of the U.S. government, the Department of Government Efficiency is also planning to shut down the Millennium Challenge Corporation . However, effort...

Conversations about critical raw materials — the natural resources that power  everything from clean energy to smart phones, electric vehicles, and even AI systems  — are not ones you hear about in every development circle, but this is starting to change. Given their critical role in the global economy and sustainable technology, they are now at the center of geopolitical power struggles, supply c...

With the World Bank and International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings in full swing, we are recording live from the conference. From the United States’ approach to the institutions to how to create more jobs in the global workforce, we take a look at the key discussion points at the summit.  On the topic of the U.S., we chew over the possibility that the uncertainty surrounding potential tariffs imp...

This week we published a story in which we spoke with 14 former and current World Central Kitchen staff members and contractors to find out what lay behind the deaths of seven of the nonprofit’s staff members in Gaza . The interviewees described a workplace plagued by risk, inadequate training, and a “build-the-plane-while-flying-it” mentality. With the Spring Meetings of the World Bank and Intern...