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This Week in Global Dev: #153: Uncertainty over UNAIDS’ future and avoiding sexual abuse in Ebola response
2w ago00:33:47Tap to summarizeWith uncertainty lingering over its future, we discuss a new UNAIDS interim report outlining potential pathways forward — including further downsizing the secretariat, turning it into a U.N.-hosted hub, or merging it with another health entity. During the conversation, we explore UNAIDS’ alternative suggestions, as well as how this imminent transition fits into the wider restructuring of the global health architecture. As the Ebola emergency continues across eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, responders are facing a lack of community trust. During the 2018–2020 outbreak of the disease, aid workers subjected the locals to widespread sexual abuse and exploitation. We discuss whether the humanitarian sector is doing enough to prevent history from repeating itself. To dig into these stories and others, Senior Editor Rumbi Chakamba sits down with senior reporters Jenny Lei Ravelo and Sara Jerving for the latest episode of our weekly podcast series. Sign up to Devex CheckUp here: https://www.devex.com/newsletters/devex-checkup
Transcribe →This Week in Global Dev: #152: US aid leadership changes and a controversial UN merger
3w ago00:34:25Tap to summarizeThis week we discuss Jeremy Lewin’s departure from the U.S. State Department’s foreign aid bureau to the White House. His transition to the National Security Council ends a controversial leadership marked by the retreat of the U.S. from its long-held role as the world’s leading bilateral donor. He is expected to be replaced by Andrew Veprek, who has pushed immigration and refugee restrictions at the State Department. As the United Nations continues to face budgetary constraints, we also analyze the potential merger of two major U.N. development agencies: the U.N. Development Programme, or UNDP, and UNOPS. While Secretary-General António Guterres sees this ambitious development reform as a way to overcome a yawning funding gap, UNDP chief Alexander De Croo and UNOPS Executive Director Jorge Moreira da Silva have butted heads over their vastly different visions for the future. During the conversation we also discuss our key takeaways from the Hamburg Sustainability Conference, including a new initiative that is designed to tackle debt, trade, climate finance, and multilateral reform to help reset the terms of global cooperation. To dig into these stories and others, Senior Reporter Adva Saldinger sits down with U.N. correspondent Colum Lynch and reporter Jesse Chase-Lubitz for the latest episode of our weekly podcast series. How can climate and nature investments move from ambition to action? In the sponsored segment of the episode, recorded live at Devex Impact House during London Climate Action Week, Kate Warren, Executive Editor and Executive Vice President at Devex, speaks with Waqas Batley, Senior Director, Conservation and Climate Finance Policy at The Nature Conservancy. Together, they explore how policy advocacy can help countries develop the plans, financial roadmaps, and regulatory systems needed to attract investment in nature and climate. The conversation looks at why nature should be understood as economic infrastructure, what finance ministries can do to send clearer signals to investors, and how approaches such as country platforms can help turn national climate and biodiversity priorities into investable pipelines. Sign up to Devex Invested: https://www.devex.com/newsletters/invested
Transcribe →Special edition: Live from Hamburg: Can governments still invest in the future?
3w ago01:07:59Tap to summarizeThis special two-part edition of This Week in Global Development comes to you from the Hamburg Sustainability Conference, where leaders from across development, government, business and civil society gather to debate the big questions facing the global economy — from climate and debt to security, trade, and the future of international cooperation. In part one, Devex Global Development Reporter Ayenat Mersie speaks with Achim Steiner, chair of the Hamburg Sustainability Conference and former administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, to explore a question at the heart of today’s geopolitical moment: Are governments preparing for the wrong kinds of threats? As defense budgets climb around the world, Steiner tells Ayenat that countries risk neglecting the investments that actually make societies more secure, from climate resilience and affordable clean energy to digital infrastructure. He also explains why sustainability should be seen not as a sacrifice, but as an opportunity to strengthen economies, lower costs, and build resilience. In part two, Ayenat speaks with Sierra Leone Vice President Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh, who talks about “the politics of painful choices” — the difficult trade-offs governments face when debt burdens, aid cuts, and external shocks leave little room for long-term investment. He reflects on balancing immediate needs with climate action, why he believes countries need new tools to absorb global shocks, and what sustainability looks like from the perspective of a government under severe fiscal pressure.
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Special edition: The blueprint for better lung cancer screening
4w ago00:30:36Tap to summarizeIn a special edition of the This Week in Global Development podcast, Devex cofounder and Executive Vice President Alan Robbins sits down with Brazilian thoracic surgeon Dr. Ricardo Sales do Santos to discuss a revolutionary approach to tackling lung cancer in medically underserved communities in Brazil. As the most lethal form of cancer globally, lung cancer often goes undetected until its final stages, but Dr. Santos and the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation are working to change that narrative through a combination of mobile technology and local capacity building. By bringing advanced CT scanning units directly into high-risk, low-income communities, they are catching tumors when they are small and potentially curable, fundamentally shifting the odds for thousands of patients. The conversation also touches on the logistical and cultural hurdles of delivering specialized oncology care to remote areas. Dr. Santos highlights the importance of “bringing the clinic to the patient,” utilizing mobile CT units and telemedicine to bridge the gap in healthcare access. Beyond the technology, the success of the program relies heavily on empowering local health workers and community members to recognize early cancer warning signs and overcome the stigma associated with a cancer diagnosis. This approach not only improves individual health outcomes but also strengthens the broader healthcare system, offering a scalable model for global health initiatives. To learn more about sustainable improvements in cancer care and get a compelling look at how local solutions can drive global change, listen to this special edition of This Week in Global Development. For more international development news, visit: http://www.devex.com Visit Strengthening Care Systems — a series raising awareness of the scale of the global lung cancer burden and the systems-level changes required to address it: https://pages.devex.com/strengtheningcaresystems.html
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Theory of Change: #5: Why Rachel Kyte doesn’t listen to climate polls
4w ago00:57:25Tap to summarizeRachel Kyte has spent decades shaping global climate change policy — from the World Bank to the United Nations to the United Kingdom. More than a decade since the signing of the Paris climate agreement, Kyte — the U.K. special representative for climate — is both inspired by how much has been done to tackle the climate crisis, and clear-eyed about the fact that it is not enough. "It's joyful, tinged with deep sadness and regret,” she told Devex Senior Reporter Michael Igoe on the latest episode of Theory of Change. Against the backdrop of a sweltering London Climate Action Week, Kyte outlined her vision for “financing climate.” That is a vision that stretches well beyond the narrower realm of “climate finance,” to include bolder transformations of trade, international relations, and public services. "People want affordable electricity, they want clean air, they want clean water, they want protection against extreme heat, and they want flood control,” Kyte said. "We have to be much better at taking the message to people and speaking with optimism and hope about why this is good for them,” she added.
Transcribe →This Week in Global Dev: #151: Live from London Climate Action Week
Jun 2500:29:00Tap to summarizeAs London Climate Action Week gets into full swing, we break down the key talking points from the conference so far. With the city in the midst of a scorching heat wave, the discussion of climate change feels even more urgent than usual. We explore the transactional landscape that developing nations face, where much-needed capital is increasingly tied to the private sector. Beyond the balance sheets, one of the current tensions is the collision between green ambitions and economic survival. From the push for rapid electrification to the rollout of Europe’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, African nations are being forced to thread a near-impossible needle: industrializing their economies while navigating low-carbon mandates. Complicating matters is a growing communications crisis within the sector itself. To secure funding and dodge political blowback, many NGOs are camouflaging their climate work under the banners of health, food, or energy security. However, driving the climate conversation underground risks leaving the communities most vulnerable to extreme weather out of the spotlight when they need it most. To bring you the latest from London Climate Action Week, Devex Business Editor David Ainsworth sits down with global development reporters Ayenat Mersie and Jesse Chase-Lubitz for the latest episode of our weekly podcast series. Against a backdrop of record-breaking heat in Europe and growing political pressure to slow climate ambition, Marcene Mitchell, senior vice president of climate change at WWF USA, joins Devex Executive Editor and Executive Vice President Kate Warren to make the case for staying the course. Marcene challenges the “small drop” argument — the idea that individual countries acting on climate don’t matter — and reframes clean energy and nature-based solutions not as a cost, but as an economic and strategic imperative. She breaks down how electrification and the AI-era’s energy demand can be decoupled from fossil fuels, why energy security is itself a climate argument, and what WWF USA — an organization most people associate with conservation — is quietly doing on climate finance and supply chains around the world. Learn how WWF USA is working globally to turn climate ambition into investable pipelines, and why the solutions to get there already exist. Sign up to the Devex Newswire and our other newsletters: https://www.devex.com/account/newsletters
Transcribe →Theory of Change: #4: William Easterly still believes development is freedom
Jun 2300:59:08Tap to summarizeDevelopment economist William Easterly famously does not mince words about the disappointments of anti-poverty megaprojects and far-fetched foreign aid plans. For much of his career, Easterly has taken aim at experts who export their visions onto other people’s countries and communities — drawing from his own experience as one of those very experts. In his latest book, “Violent Saviors: The West’s Conquest of the Rest,” Easterly unearths the long history of what he calls “the development right of conquest,” a worldview that has sacrificed individual rights and agency at the altar of material gain. He traces the long-standing tension between those who pushed for development at all costs and the dissenting voices who resisted them. In the fourth episode of Theory of Change, Easterly unpacks the implications of that history for contemporary development efforts. He reflects on what alternative approaches to improving human well-being might look like — and what role aid institutions should play in pursuing them. “There’s this technocratic illusion that you can reduce development to just technology and effectiveness of achieving measurable gains and these technical indicators of well-being,” he tells Devex Senior Reporter Michael Igoe. “I think we all realize deep down the fantasy of keeping things purely technocratic is really a fantasy, that there really is a whole other dimension,” Easterly says.
Transcribe →This Week in Global Dev: #150: Fact-checking US aid claims as the State Department continues to hire
Jun 1800:29:16Tap to summarizeIn our landmark 150th episode, we discuss a common theme in global development over the past 18 months: the state of U.S. foreign aid. We’re seeing the State Department steadily replenish its workforce, with dozens of open roles across the agency’s global health, international aid, and disaster response bureaus. On the topic of U.S. foreign assistance, last week Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed the U.S. remains the world's top aid provider "by far" despite the closure of the U.S. Agency for International Development. While provisional figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development indicate that Germany has officially overtaken the U.S. for the top spot, we find that the reality is more complex as the validity of the claim hinges entirely on how "aid" is defined. We break down the data and the nuance behind the figures. To discuss these stories, and others, Senior Editor Rumbi Chakamba sits down with Business Editor David Ainsworth and Global Development Reporter Elissa Miolene for episode number 150 of our weekly podcast series. Register for Devex Impact House @ London Climate Action Week here.: https://pages.devex.com/devex-at-london-climate-action-week.html
Transcribe →Theory of Change: #3: Gayle Smith on the next fight for foreign aid
Jun 1601:06:12Tap to summarizeU.S. foreign aid is undergoing one of the most tumultuous transformations in its history. The Department of Government Efficiency’s dismantling of USAID and transfer of its remaining programs to the State Department upended the U.S. global development industry. But it’s much more than a question of organizational charts and institutional responsibilities. At stake are fundamental questions about America’s national interests, how the well-being of people in other countries should influence economic and trade policy, and the nature of public support for a long-term vision of development investment. Gayle Smith has faced those questions from a variety of vantage points — senior director for development and democracy on the White House National Security Council, USAID administrator, CEO of the ONE Campaign. In this episode of Theory of Change, she shares a candid assessment of where the fight for U.S. leadership in global development should go from here — and who should lead the charge.
Transcribe →This Week in Global Dev: #149: Development banks pivot strategies as global volatility deepens
Jun 1100:30:03Tap to summarizeAt this year’s annual meeting of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in Riga, Latvia, discussions centered on a critical structural shift: what development finance should look like in an age of persistent volatility. Ukraine is increasingly shaping the answer, as the bank’s sustained financing during the war emerges as a potential blueprint for future conflicts. We were also on the ground for the World Bank Fragility Forum, an event uniting global stakeholders to address the challenges of operating in areas experiencing fragility, conflict, and violence. The deteriorating situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo emerged as a central discussion point. Highlighting the complexity of aid delivery in active conflict zones, the governor of the DRC’s South Kivu province issued a stark call to withhold funding for development projects until baseline peace and stability are secured. Examining the Trump administration’s “America First” foreign policy, we also contemplate how to ensure that domestic resource mobilization becomes an effective way to increase development finance. To dig into these stories and others, Senior Editor Rumbi Chakamba sits down with Managing Editor Anna Gawel and Global Development Reporter Jesse Chase-Lubitz for the latest episode of our weekly podcast series. Sign up to Devex Invested, our free, semiweekly newsletter bringing you the insider brief on business, finance, and the SDGs: https://www.devex.com/newsletters/invested
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