A two-year negotiation process for a pandemic treaty concluded on Friday without reaching a consensus, as countries remained divided on numerous provisions, including technology transfer and equitable access to medical products. This week, health officials at the 77th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, will need to determine the next steps. Before Friday’s decision, Devex Senior Reporter Jenny Lei Ravelo spoke with K.M. Gopakumar, legal adviser for the Third World Network, an independ...
May 27, 2024•17 min
This week we report on Kenyan President William Ruto’s visit to Washington, D.C., the first by an African leader since 2008. We dig into what the occasion means for the relationship between Kenya and the wider African continent, including whether it will lead to closer economic ties between the United States and Africa as a whole. During the conversation, we also look back at our interview with Sen. Chris Coons about the visit, in which we discussed the African Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGO...
May 23, 2024•35 min
This week marked a significant development in the philanthropic world with Melinda French Gates resigning from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to focus on the "next chapter" of her philanthropy. As part of the separation agreement with her former husband Bill Gates, French Gates will receive an additional $12.5 billion for her work on behalf of women and families, an area which she has been pushing to get involved with. On the topic of philanthropy, we also took a look at where MacKenzie...
May 17, 2024•40 min
The European Parliamentary elections will take place next month, and with anti-aid and anti-migrant parties poised to make big gains, there are fears for the future of the world's second-largest development budget. According to one senior Brussels politician, the controversial swiping of €2 billion from the development pot to fund a crackdown on illegal migration could just be the start of the European Union’s reduced focus on supporting global development initiatives. We explore how Europe’s po...
May 10, 2024•36 min
This week we discuss the establishment of the Africa Club by the African Union, an initiative that the continent’s leaders hope will drive reform of the global financial architecture. With African states currently spending more on debt repayments than they are on health care or climate action, the goal is for the alliance to leverage more funding for global development efforts. On the topic of Africa, we also reported on a gathering of African leaders who outlined their funding priorities for th...
May 02, 2024•33 min
IDA, or International Development Association is the world bank’s fund for the poorest countries. IDA provides grants and low-cost loans that countries can use for a variety of needs from health to education to infrastructure. This year it's up for replenishment and so the bank is going to donors to ask for a new influx of capital. In this episode, we speak to Dirk Reinnerman, the Director of the IDA Resource Mobilization and IBRD Corporate Finance at the World Bank, about his pitch to donors in...
May 02, 2024•25 min
Juan M. Lavista Ferres got his start with AI for good in an unlikely way: He really didn’t want to go hiking. While working at Microsoft running randomized control experiments, Ferres had a colleague who was raising money for research on sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, to which he had lost a child. The campaign involved climbing the Kilimanjaro mountain — decidedly a no-go for Ferres. Ferres didn’t want to climb a mountain, but he did want to contribute to his friend’s cause. So rather th...
Apr 26, 2024•43 min
Last week we were the media partner at the Global Inclusive Growth Summit hosted by the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth. The conference focused on how access to financial services are key to helping drive global development in low- and middle-income countries. During one of the events, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley stressed the importance of debt restructuring in order to help low- and middle-income countries overcome health and climate change challenges. We discuss the value of cas...
Apr 26, 2024•35 min
As finance ministers and central bank governors from the G20 nations concluded their recent meetings, concerns over the pace and stability of global economic recovery took center stage. In an exclusive conversation with Achim Steiner, the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), key insights emerged regarding the discussions surrounding coordination, the global financial architecture, and pressing challenges facing developing economies.
Apr 25, 2024•23 min
The World Bank and International Monetary Fund are trying to evolve and prove they are fit for purpose, but the jury is out on just how far that evolution process has gone. While numerous announcements were made at the World Bank-IMF Spring Meetings last week in Washington D.C., the pace of reform is too slow, according to several experts. “The rhetoric in terms of the important pronouncements that have been made are saying the right things, but they're not giving you the next three things that ...
Apr 23, 2024•28 min
How can the World Bank play a role in attracting more private capital to address development and climate needs? That is a challenge that World Bank President Ajay Banga has prioritized and was a key discussion in Washington, D.C., last week at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings. From a Private Sector Investment Lab charged with helping the bank identify and scale what already works to a new loan guarantee platform and plans to bundle and sell some International Financ...
Apr 22, 2024•28 min
This week we are closely following the World Bank and International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings taking place in Washington, D.C. From having a capital increase to provide funding for the world's low-income countries to how the financial institution can support the fight against climate change, we dig into the key conversations we’re following at the conference. In addition to increasing risk appetite to encourage private capital mobilization, we argue that multilateral development banks, as we...
Apr 19, 2024•43 min
The World Bank is about 18 months into its efforts to reform the institution in response to shareholder demands and changing global needs. From stretching its existing funding to attracting more private capital, the bank has laid a laundry list of proposals on the table. So what has been accomplished thus far and what more is needed? That’s what we tackle in the first episode of a special edition podcast during this year’s World Bank and International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings, which take pl...
Apr 16, 2024•25 min
As the war in Gaza stretches past the six-month mark, this week we had an exclusive story on Israel’s efforts to disrupt and dismantle UNRWA, the United Nations agency leading the humanitarian response for Palestinians. The agency — caught in a political war — was forced to ground its fleet of trucks, cars, and security specialists used by other U.N. agencies delivering support to those affected by the conflict. We have also been closely following the conversations around localization. A few mon...
Apr 11, 2024•36 min
Last week, we launched Roots of Change, a Devex series on locally led development, which explores how the localization agenda can be elevated from rhetoric to reality. We have been following the discussions around localization for the past couple of years and the progress made toward empowering local communities in shaping global development initiatives. As part of the series, we published an article that outlines five key takeaways we learned about the current state of the debate based on our c...
Apr 04, 2024•32 min
Doing meaningful work doesn't have to come at the expense of your whole life. In fact, Alex Amouyel argues that anyone can create a life full of impact. In this episode of the Devex Book Club, Alex takes us through her own winding career trajectory, from her time as a scientist to her current role as President and CEO of Newman's Own Foundation, and shares that with enough will and determination, everyone has what it takes to make a difference. For more information on upcoming episodes and to si...
Mar 29, 2024•40 min
This week, we reported that at the Employees at the International Foundation for Electoral Systems — a 37-year-old pro-democracy organization based outside Washington, D.C. — employees formed a new staff union to confront their organization’s president and CEO over labor rights. The issue is entangled within the wider debates of localization. While employees most certainly want to provide technical support to local partners, they do not believe that the process should undervalue the employees wh...
Mar 28, 2024•34 min
Reframing six centuries of world history in a single book is no easy feat. Doing it in lively, engaging prose that keeps you hooked the whole way through is even harder. But such is the talent of Howard French, longtime foreign correspondent and author of Born in Blackness, our Devex Book Club selection for this month. For more information on upcoming episodes and to sign up for our mailing list, visit the Devex Book Club here: https://pages.devex.com/devex-book-club.html
Mar 25, 2024•53 min
This week, Devex is at the South by Southwest, or SXSW, conference and festival exploring innovations in food systems and agriculture, but we’ve also got stories on food as a weapon of war, the accusation that USAID meddled with Zimbabwe’s democratic process, and the utility of the Pandemic Fund. Hunger and starvation have become a standard weapon in combatants’ war arsenal everywhere from Afghanistan to Gaza to Syria, Sudan, and Ukraine, writes Senior Global Reporter Colum Lynch. But recently, ...
Mar 25, 2024•37 min
Last week, USAID unveiled its latest $5 billion global health supply contract, part of its NextGen suite of contracts. Worth $17 billion in total, it’s the largest suite of foreign aid contracts ever issued, to be delivered over the course of 10 years. But despite all the talk around localization, it’s highly likely the contracts will end up going to the usual industry players. “Most of the low- or middle-income countries, they can do without those USAID-funded contractors coming to do things fo...
Mar 22, 2024•40 min
Vitala Global Foundation is a nonprofit organization that works with girls and women to develop digital solutions for stigmatized sexual and reproductive health issues, including abortions. Last week, Aya Contigo, its digital companion for abortion and contraception support that launched in Venezuela and has since expanded to the United States, was a winner of South by Southwest’s Innovation Showcase. Dr. Roopan Gill, co-founder and CEO of Vitala Global Foundation, was in Austin, Texas, to talk ...
Mar 21, 2024•25 min
There’s no question that artificial intelligence will have a massive impact on the future of food systems, but it remains to be seen whether it will address or perpetuate inequities. “I think the question is, how's it going to be used in our food system in a way that actually promotes all of the objectives that we want?” said Roy Steiner, senior vice president for the Food Initiative at The Rockefeller Foundation. “Technology tends to be a fairly neutral tool. It multiplies whatever is underneat...
Mar 20, 2024•41 min
The world needs new approaches, not just more funding, as it faces a financing gap of an estimated $4 trillion annually to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs. “We’re either going to find this money somewhere under the cushions … or we’re going to make it cheaper,” said Hala Hanna, executive director of Solve, an initiative of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that launches open calls and backs innovators working to solve global problems. “So we really believe that innovat...
Mar 19, 2024•38 min
It’s no surprise that Anne Marie Burgoyne, managing director of Emerson Collective, had a long line of people forming to meet with her following her session at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas Wednesday. Burgoyne leads philanthropy for this social change organization started by Laurene Powell Jobs. Devex's Kate Warren spoke with Burgoyne about Emerson Collective’s unique approach, its growing work on climate through the Waverley Street Foundation, and how Emerson Collective looks at the role ...
Mar 14, 2024•26 min
Next year marks 30 years since the start of the International Crisis Group, which conducts research and analysis to prevent and resolve global conflict. Comfort Ero, president and CEO of Crisis Group, says the organization was “made for this moment,” as crises continue to unfold from Gaza to Haiti to Ukraine. She spoke with Devex on the sidelines of South by Southwest, an annual conference in Austin, Texas, about America's role in the world, ahead of a high stakes U.S. presidential election, as ...
Mar 12, 2024•31 min
This week we published an article on how USAID spent its money last year. We noted that the agency spent $38.1 billion through its assistance and acquisition mechanism in the fiscal year that ended in September 2023. From the data it is evident that USAID has increased its spending for humanitarian crises, including the war in Ukraine. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention released their wishlist for the pandemic treaty. However, with countries in the global north — including the...
Mar 08, 2024•38 min
This week Devex published an exclusive story on how Ghana-based NGO Youth Opportunity & Transformation in Africa, or YOTA, is embroiled in a dispute with CARE Ghana over a decision to raise staff salaries during an economic crisis where inflation was spiraling and staffers found it difficult to make ends meet. YOTA, which is one of two implementing partners, is accusing grant holder CARE Ghana of “bullying.” The story highlights some of the challenges that global development organizations ar...
Mar 01, 2024•29 min
Last weekend we attended the Munich Security Conference, a summit which is not as solely centered around security as its name suggests. We look back at the highlights and lowlights of the conference, which touched upon many issues linked to global development, including food security and climate change. We also have an update on the future of UNRWA, the United Nations Palestinian relief agency, which is facing calls to be disbanded. The United States is pushing other U.N. relief agencies to take...
Feb 22, 2024•33 min
Recently, the U.S. Agency for International Development published 14 "good practices" to define what a locally led program looks like as part of its push for half its projects to be locally led by 2030. We spoke to local community leaders to find out what they think. While many are optimistic, some have argued that they haven’t seen much change just yet and expressed concern about whether these indicators will translate into action. For one thing, USAID’s localization guidelines do not specify w...
Feb 15, 2024•33 min
This week we published an article on the development finance issues to watch in 2024. From fresh climate finance targets to the role that private capital mobilization can play in overcoming global development challenges, we discuss what we expect from the upcoming year and whether the ideas proposed will lead to tangible change in low-income countries. On the topic of capital increase, at an event on Monday, World Bank President Ajay Banga discussed his plans to reform the way the institution ru...
Feb 09, 2024•43 min
