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We're the world’s leading independent news organization covering global development.
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This week, we take a look at the details of the latest United Nations reform, the UN80 Initiative, which is designed to make the organization more efficient. Unofficially, it’s also a move to convince the Trump administration not to cut U.N. funding even further. However, the initiative is unlikely to satisfy anyone.
Meanwhile, China, the U.N.’s largest financial contributor, is pushing for a greater role at the organization, painting the U.S. as a threat to multilateralism. The country has been stepping up demands for more jobs at the institution for Chinese nationals.
We also discuss how emerging donors are reshaping the aid landscape, blending commercial aims with development goals in ways that look different from traditional partners. As Western aid recedes, their rise brings new resources, priorities, and trade-offs.
To analyze these stories, and others, Senior Reporter Adva Saldinger sits down with Business Editor David Ainsworth and Senior Global Reporter Colum Lynch for the latest episode of our weekly podcast series.
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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.
We also discuss the dire humanitarian situation of refugees in Malawi, who are facing slashed food rations and shrinking health and protection services due to U.S. aid cuts. This crisis, particularly severe in the overcrowded Dzaleka refugee camp, is pushing a vulnerable population to the brink. With food assistance drastically reduced, many are resorting to desperate survival tactics, including sex work and child labor, to feed their families.
To dig into these stories and others, Senior Editor Rumbi Chakamba sits down with Managing Editor Anna Gawel and Global Development Reporter Ayenat Mersie for the latest episode of our podcast series.
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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 by Congress, or find legal justification for not spending it, as seen in earlier rescission efforts that returned $9 billion to the U.S. Treasury.
Meanwhile, USAID Deputy Administrator for Management and Resources Ken Jackson's recent tour of nine countries — including Belgium, Kenya, and the Philippines — to oversee mission closures, has drawn criticism from displaced staff who view the visits as poorly timed during their difficult transitions.
With many NGOs forced to restructure or face closure, some organizations are exploring mergers and partnerships to survive, with a new initiative led by Accountability Lab helping them pivot.
Devex Business Editor David Ainsworth discusses the latest developments in these stories with reporters Michael Igoe and Elissa Miolene.
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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 the organization before the Oct. 6 deadline if any of these plans are to come to fruition.
On the other hand, the Millennium Challenge Corporation is set to face a different future. While the organization survived the Trump administration’s foreign assistance review, more than half of its programs are slated for cancellation.
To discuss these stories, and others, Senior Editor Rumbi Chakamba sits down with Managing Editor Anna Gawel and Senior Reporter Adva Saldinger for the latest episode of our weekly podcast series.
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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 changing geopolitical landscape, we also discuss the role played by multilateral development banks and the private sector in achieving global development goals.
This week we reported that the U.S. is clawing back more than $1 billion in funding to the United Nations. We take a look at how it will affect the organization’s initiatives, including peacekeeping operations and human rights promotion.
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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 down with reporters Michael Igoe and Elissa Miolene for the latest episode of our weekly podcast series.
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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 streamlining existing ones, such as the United Nations. 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,” 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" 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.
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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 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.
Special episode: How blockchain is powering crisis-to-cash infrastructure by Devex
Special episode: Reimagining a more just and equitable global system by Devex
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 trillions” rhetoric — the idea that limited public funds could catalyze massive private investment to tackle global challenges such as climate change.
Today’s backdrop includes the pandemic fallout, inflation, the war in Ukraine, and sweeping aid cuts. The U.S. participated in outcome document negotiations until the final stages, reportedly proposing 400 amendments to soften the language on climate and gender before withdrawing entirely, citing too many “red lines.”
In this special live podcast episode recorded at Casa Devex, Devex’s events hub for the next few days, reporters Elissa Miolene and Jesse Chase-Lubitz sit down with Executive Editor Kate Warren to discuss what’s at stake and why this “once-in-a-decade” forum has taken on heightened significance.
Special episode: Can health survive the development finance revolution? by Devex
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 support for the organization, with U.S. health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stating that the country will not fund Gavi until it works to “re-earn the public trust.”
On the topic of the U.S., our discussion also covers the Trump administration's decision to withdraw support for various U.N. Sustainable Development Goal commitments, alongside its absence from the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development.
To discuss these stories and others, Business Editor David Ainsworth sits down with Sara Jerving and Colum Lynch for the latest episode of our podcast series.
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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 agricultural producers.
This policy shift carries severe consequences, potentially undermining the economic stability of U.S. farmers involved in aid supply chains and degrading crucial international mechanisms for disease and pest surveillance that transcend national borders.
In order to dig into these stories, and others, Senior Editor Rumbi Chakamba sits down with Global Development Reporters Ayenat Mersie and Jesse Chase-Lubitz for the latest episode of our weekly podcast series.
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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-income countries and the urgent need for climate finance.
During this episode, we also look back at the key takeaways from the Hamburg Sustainability Conference, where Devex was a media partner.
For this week’s edition, Business Editor David Ainsworth sits down with Devex President and Editor-in-Chief Raj Kumar and Global Development Reporter Elissa Miolene to mark this special occasion.
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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. Congress, seeking to formally cancel previously approved funds, much of it earmarked for foreign assistance. If approved, the move would codify into law cuts already made by the Department of Government Efficiency. The upcoming congressional response will be a critical test of foreign aid advocacy.
We also discuss what happened at last week’s African Development Bank meetings in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, where delegates discussed the need to diversify funding sources in the wake of U.S. aid cuts and focus on more reliable partnerships. The meetings also marked a leadership transition, with Mauritania’s Sidi Ould Tah appointed as the AfDB’s new president, vowing to mobilize private sector investment and deepen partnerships with the Gulf states.
To discuss these stories, Devex Senior Editor Rumbi Chakamba is joined by reporters Michael Igoe and Ayenat Mersie for this episode of This Week in Global Development.
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 is facing internal collapse and accusations of violating humanitarian norms. The organization’s now-former executive director, Jake Wood, resigned on Sunday, just one day before the private humanitarian organization’s food aid distribution plan for Gaza launched, saying that it was “not possible” to implement the initiative “while also strictly adhering to humanitarian principles.”
This week’s episode also looks ahead to the topics we will be following at the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development starting next month in Seville, Spain.
Digging into these stories and others, Devex Business Editor David Ainsworth sits down with Senior Editor Rumbi Chakamba and Global Development Reporter Jesse Chase-Lubitz to bring you This Week in Global Development.
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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 grappling with questions of longevity, opportunity, and continued growth. With this in mind, Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth and Devex convened over 400 practitioners from the fields of tech, policy, and finance last month in Washington, D.C., for the Global Inclusive Growth Summit. The sessions and conversation centered on what it takes to create and lead economic growth, how to future-proof an organization’s mission, and the role of innovative leadership in shaping a better future.
“The key is the shared urgency around how we future-proof inclusive growth … and the importance of cross-sector collaboration at scale,” said Fantini-Porter. “Siloed solutions just aren't enough in this context that we're living through at this point.”
Taking that conversation beyond the summit, Fantini-Porter talks to Raj Kumar, Devex’s president and editor-in-chief, in a special podcast episode about how businesses — especially small businesses in rural areas — can create resilience in their communities and support economic opportunities for all.
This special episode of This week in Global Development was sponsored by the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth.
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 COVID-19 response. We delve into what this means for pandemic preparedness and chart the essential next steps.
During the conversation, we also discuss the funding challenges faced by the World Health Organization and possible solutions that are being explored to ensure its sustainable future.
For this special episode of our podcast series recorded live on the sidelines of the World Health Assembly, Devex Senior Editor Rumbi Chakamba sits down with Helen Clark, the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, and Dr. Ngashi Ngongo, the principal adviser to the director-general on program management and the continental incident manager for mpox at the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
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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 health.
We also discuss U.S. President Donald Trump’s self-described “big, beautiful bill,” which made its way through a key congressional tax-writing committee on Wednesday. The 389-page plan would increase taxes on private foundations, place a 5% tax on remittances for non-U.S. citizens, and allow the government to revoke the tax-exempt status of organizations it says support terrorists.
To analyze these stories, and others, Devex Senior Reporter Adva Saldinger sits down with Managing Editor Anna Gawel and senior global health reporter Jenny Lei Ravelo for the latest episode of our podcast series.
Join our global health reporting team in person or online in Geneva from May 19 to 22 as we host a series of events and roundtables on the sidelines of the 78th World Health Assembly. This journalist-led summit will bring sector leaders to discuss and explore solutions to some of the most pressing issues in global health.
Check out the lineup of programs and register here:
https://pages.devex.com/devex-checkup-at-wha-78.html
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