Devex

Here are some of the top stories published on Devex over the past few days: #1 🏦Scoop: World Bank climate plan faces last-minute push to drop its 45% climate finance target under U.S. pressure as the Climate Change Action Plan nears expiration. #2 📜The Foreign Service Modernization Act, which just advanced through the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, updates legislation from 1980 and would change how the nation’s 14,000-person diplomatic corps is recruited and trained. #3 💉Africa's vaccine manufacturers have long argued that building factories is only half the battle — they also need buyers. Gavi's proposed AVMA+ initiative aims to tackle that problem by guaranteeing purchases of Africa-made vaccines. #4 💪The ONE Campaign’s Mark Green and other experts talked about the resurgence of domestic resource mobilization as a key pillar of foreign aid self-reliance at a congressional event hosted by the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network and Consensus for Development Reform.

Start your week with a recap of some of the top stories published on Devex over the past few days: #1 The Trump administration has finally nominated someone to serve as the U.S. State Department’s ambassador-at-large for global health security and diplomacy, and coordinator of U.S. activities to combat HIV/AIDS globally: Johnny Figueroa. #2 USDA’s Michelle Bekkering signaled that the agency will be providing more information about the Resilience Food Security Activities program awards soon. #3 Early drafts of a new HIV political declaration show U.N. member states attempting to strike a balance between regaining momentum toward ending the epidemic by 2030, while also acknowledging the challenges posed by shifts in global funding to combat the disease. #4 As the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development expands into sub-Saharan Africa, entrepreneurs and investors say the bank must adapt to local realities — from informal markets to the need for more patient, risk-tolerant capital.

Curious what made the headlines? Dive into our top stories for a captivating weekend read: #1 For years, local peacebuilders in Central Africa relied on a radio network to warn communities about attacks, locate abducted children, and share information across remote border regions. But U.S. funding cuts are making it harder to keep the system running. #2 Seth Cochran founded Operation Fistula to tackle one of global health’s most neglected conditions. Now, through The Sidebar, he’s focused on another challenge: helping overlooked people find their way into the conversations, relationships, and networks that shape global development. #3 Can Africa connect 300 million people to electricity by 2030? African Development Bank’s Kevin Kariuki weighs in on Mission 300, DREs, and where nuclear fits in. #4 From Ukraine to Gaza, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is stress-testing what it means to finance economies under fire and starting to sketch a playbook for crisis-era development banking.

Here are some of the top stories published on Devex over the past few days 👇 #1 💭We asked various aid experts to get a more nuanced take on Secretary of State Marco Rubio's U.S. foreign assistance claims. #2 💸The World Health Organization and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention are seeking $518 million in response to the fast-moving Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, where cases and deaths continue to climb. #3 📉The Clinton Health Access Initiative released new data revealing steep declines in HIV services across countries in Africa and Asia in 2025 — the year U.S. funding cuts and pauses hit programs. #4 💰Pivotal, a group of organizations Melinda French Gates founded, announced a new $215 million commitment last week focused not just on contraception and maternal health, but also on midlife health, menopause, and women’s mental health — areas that have long sat on the margins of global health funding.

Start your week with a recap of some of the top stories published on Devex over the past few days: #1 🇪🇺The EU is rewriting how it funds the world. Inside the battle over its next external budget, development aid, humanitarian spending, and geopolitical priorities are all in play. #2 🗣Secretary of State Marco Rubio spent Wednesday trying to convince lawmakers that the United States has not abandoned foreign aid — even as Democrats alleged that dead children, slashed food aid, and vacant ambassadorships were evidence to the contrary. #3 🇺🇸The U.S. State Department has announced more than $240 million in humanitarian assistance to Catholic Relief Services, the first in a series of awards expected to be provided to organizations viewed as “trusted and vetted” by the U.S. government. #4 🩺Experts say that a rapid point-of-care test that can produce results in minutes could help transform the Ebola response, but no such approved tests exist for the Bundibugyo species circulating.

Curious what made the headlines? Dive into our top stories for a captivating weekend read: #1 🇺🇳Four candidates for the U.N. secretary-general role spoke last week at a hustings event in London. What did we learn about their plans? #2 🧵In a volatile part of Africa, U.S. foreign assistance helped create a semblance of normalcy throughout an entire city. Now, that progress is unraveling around every corner. #3 🧑‍🌾 In Africa, the war in Iran has exposed the continent’s dependence on imported fertilizers — and some smallholder farmers are turning to organic alternatives. #4 🎓What lies ahead for those entering the global development sector's job market this year?

Here are some of the top stories published on Devex over the past few days: #1 🇺🇸Secretary of State Marco Rubio told U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday that the Trump administration is considering naming a point person for the Ebola outbreak response in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. #2 💰African governments have pledged about 10% of the funding required to contain the latest Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, exposing the difficult gap between the continent’s growing rhetoric around health sovereignty and the financial realities of responding to public health emergencies. #3 📦Operation End Starvation aims to rapidly scale up delivery of ready-to-use therapeutic foods in crisis zones — and it's expected to be up and running this year.

Start your week with a recap of some of the top stories published on Devex over the past few days: #1 💲Amid backlash over Trump administration plans to send Americans exposed to or infected with Ebola to Kenya rather than repatriating them home, the U.S. State Department announced it is committing $13.5 million to the East African country’s preparedness efforts to fight the spread of the virus. #2 💸Just days after announcing nearly $500 million in commitments and pledges to combat the Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa CDC said the figure has fallen by more than half to $219 million. #3 💷The U.K. government has pledged up to £21 million to help contain the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in the DRC and Uganda, with the FCDO stating the money will support surveillance, containment, preparedness, and frontline response. #4 📈African economies are expected to remain among the world’s fastest-growing this year, despite mounting global trade tensions and the fallout from the conflict in the Middle East, with the African Development Bank projecting gross domestic product growth across the continent at 4.2% in 2026.

Curious what made the headlines? Dive into our top stories for a captivating weekend read: #1 🇺🇳Former Ecuadorian minister led global campaign to elect first female leader of the U.N. Now, she is campaigning for the job herself. #2 🍝A bridge between sectors, a visionary leader, and a tireless advocate — this is how Carlo Petrini, founder of the global, grassroots organization Slow Food, is being remembered by many. The 76-year-old Italian died in his hometown of Bra, Italy, on May 21. Admirers credit him with spearheading modern food systems thinking, spotlighting marginalized perspectives, and preserving food culture in a way that has set the world’s path toward progress. #3 💻Remote work is no longer a pandemic-era experiment in global development — it is reshaping how organizations hire, manage crises, and think about talent. #4 🤖Ghanaian technologist and entrepreneur Bright Simons speaks about AI’s frailty: its reliance on human input and ingenuity. “How many times can you train an AI model on its own synthetically generated data before performance starts to drop?” Simons asks.

Here are some of the top stories published on Devex over the past few days: #1 😷The latest Ebola outbreak is unfolding in almost the worst conditions imaginable: a conflict-ridden corner of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo marked by mass displacement, porous borders, dangerous roads, and communities that responders can barely reach. And the virus is moving fast. #2 🧫A rare Bundibugyo species with no licensed vaccines or treatments is driving the Ebola outbreak in eastern DRC. With limited evidence that existing Ebola vaccines could help, WHO, CEPI, and Gavi are racing to test new candidates. #3 💰 We break down German aid spending and aid priorities from the most recent year we have final data for, 2024. #4 💸Developed countries have now exceeded the $100 billion climate finance goal for a third straight year — but with a $300 billion target ahead and adaptation still lagging, the harder test may just be beginning.

Start your week with a recap of some of the top stories published on Devex over the past few days: #1 😷 As suspected Ebola cases surge in eastern Congo, WHO warns the outbreak may have spread undetected for weeks in conflict-hit provinces where insecurity and mistrust are hampering the response. #2 🧫Global health law expert Lawrence Gostin says the Trump administration's bilateral health agreements leave a gap that infectious diseases can creep through. #3 💸The EU and Singapore pledge nearly $100 million for CEPI, amid the emergence of new viral threats, including the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. #4 🇬🇧Read a recap of the U.K.’s Global Partnerships Conference, whose core aim includes helping the United Kingdom figure out its role in the world of aid.

We have made a list of some of our top stories published over the past few days for your weekend reading: #1 🇺🇳Call it the front-runner’s curse. In the race to be United Nations secretary-general, the competitors out of the gate earliest are often the first to be hobbled by the intense scrutiny that comes with vying for one of the world’s most prestigious, or at least visible, diplomatic jobs. #2 🚀BillionScale Health has launched. It’s on a mission to identify, scale, and support five breakthrough health solutions across the world. The first of those projects is already up and running: a spatial mosquito repellent that, just last week, the State Department and the Global Fund agreed to distribute across 10 countries with a high burden of malaria. #3 🤖Following layoffs, these development professionals set out to improve the use of AI in the sector and discovered a wider appetite for what they had built. #4 🇸🇩The situation in both humanitarian settings and geopolitics in Sudan is a stark reminder of what happens when the United States retreats: Others step in, but not always with the same interests. Read this op-ed by The ONE Campaign’s Elizabeth Hoffman.

Here are some of the top stories published on Devex over the past few days 👇 #1 🇺🇸Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives are demanding answers about the Trump administration’s plans to complete USAID’s dismantling — and accusing the White House of mismanaging the process. #2 🇩🇪Germany adds €25 million to WHO to shore up outbreak surveillance and emergency response as the agency grapples with widening budget pressures. #3 ⚡️Philanthropy is going nuclear. A new coalition led by The Rockefeller Foundation and Temasek Trust aims to help countries build the groundwork for nuclear energy — from financing and governance to public buy-in and institutional capacity. #4 🇮🇩Indonesian health minister Budi Sadikin, one of the rumored candidates in the race for the top job at theWorld Health Organization, has yet to formally announce his candidacy for the post — but told Devex he has discussed it with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto.

Start your week with a recap of some of the top stories published on Devex over the past few days: #1 💸The United States’ flagship global anti-hunger program — Food for Peace — has rolled out its latest funding announcement, opening up millions of dollars in cash for seven countries across the globe. #2 🏈The 79th World Health Assembly kicks off today! Find out what the key talking points are at this year’s assembly. #3 🦟The U.S. State Department launched a new partnership on Wednesday with the Global Fund and SC Johnson to introduce Guardian, a new tool that can help prevent millions of people from contracting malaria. #4 💰A lot of ODA is spent in the global north, and more is channeled through multilateral institutions. So how much is actually delivered in a way where the global south has real influence? Less than half, apparently, according to an analysis of country programmable aid — the OECD’s measure of aid delivered in a way that is “subject to multi-year planning at the country or regional level and over which partner countries could have significant say.”

We have made a list of some of our top stories published over the past few days for your weekend reading: #1 💥Scoop: Leaked letter shows that developing country shareholders are urging the World Bank to extend its climate plan amid U.S. pressure to scale it back. #2 🚸ActionAid and other aid organizations are moving away from child sponsorship. While a major source of income, critics argue that the model can be restrictive, inefficient, and outdated. #3 🏫Abuja-based Nabila Aguele was appointed the Malala Fund’s CEO in March of 2026. “For me, success is about more than access to school,” says Aguele, the first Malala Fund chief to be based on the African continent. “It is about a sustained shift in who holds power — ensuring girls have the rights, resources, and power girls need to learn, lead, and shape their own futures.” #4 🐛A parasitic wasp is the unsung hero that saved papaya crops — and nearly doubled farmers’ yields — in East Africa from the invasive mealybug over the past few years. These wasps act as tiny biocontrol agents that feed on the mealybug, eventually killing it.

Here are some of the top stories published on Devex over the past few days: #1 🗣Tom Fletcher, the top humanitarian official at the U.N., openly declared that he would walk away from U.S. money rather than accept it if it’s tied to the Trump administration’s expanded Mexico City Policy — which restricts organizations from going near programs related to abortion, gender identity, and DEI. #2 🗓Negotiators were meant to have reached an agreement on the pathogen access and benefit sharing component of the pandemic treaty ahead of this month’s World Health Assembly. But the word out of Geneva is that multiple divergences remain, and that discussions over PABS will continue in July. #3 💭The World Health Summit regional meeting recently concluded in Nairobi, with leaders debating a familiar but increasingly urgent idea: shoring up domestic financing to reset Africa’s health systems as donor aid retreats. But a key question remains: What will those domestically financed systems actually look like? #4 🤖How is the global development sector using AI in grantmaking?

Start your week with a recap of some of the top stories published on Devex over the past few days: #1 💥Exclusive: The U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to reorient Food for Peace to benefit U.S. farmers and agricultural interests. #2 🇺🇦Ukraine isn’t waiting for peace to rebuild. Donors and financiers are testing how to sustain an economy — and attract investment — while war still rages. #3 💸A bipartisan group of U.S. senators is urging Secretary of State Marco Rubio to “quickly provide” Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance the $600 million that Congress appropriated for 2025 and 2026. #4 🇸🇦Saudi Arabia is now one of the World Health Organization’s top 10 donors, contributing $92 million to its program budget in 2025.

We have made a list of some of our top stories published over the past few days for your weekend reading: #1 💭How did $60 million vanish from the U.N.? Dive into our investigation into the UNOPS scandal that uncovers secret deals, luxury cars, and a spectacular fall from grace. #2 🇳🇵 In Nepal, half-acre plots underpin many family livelihoods. Women farmers once supported by the U.S. flagship Feed the Future program now navigate crop production without reliable seeds, markets, or guidance. #3 🗣In an exit interview, Rémy Rioux reflects on his tenure leading the French Development Agency AFD and the unfinished business of scaling climate finance. #4 💲At a Devex Pro Briefing, experts discussed the opportunities and risks of the Trump administration’s increasingly transactional approach to foreign aid — and whether commercial diplomacy can deliver for the world's development challenges.

Here are some of the top stories published on Devex over the past few days: #1 💼Mark Green, who served as administrator of USAID under the first Trump administration, is the ONE Campaign’s new president and CEO. He starts May 25. #2 ✂️Germany is still the world’s largest aid donor — but only just. A €500 million cut and a shift toward loans over grants signal a quieter retreat from traditional development leadership. #3 📜Last week, the U.S. House Appropriations Committee slogged through a marathon markup of the measure that funds foreign affairs, ending up with a party-line vote to push the bill forward. The proposal now heads to the full House and will need to pass several additional steps, including reconciliation with a Senate version. As drafted, it would provide $47.32 billion to foreign affairs programs, roughly 6% below fiscal year 2026 levels. #4 🪓For years, a critical U.S. food assistance program has been helping to feed millions of Ethiopians. But it looks like the program will soon fall victim to the larger purge of U.S. foreign aid that started last year, with sources telling Devex it could be cut off by the end of June.

Start your week with a recap of some of the top stories published on Devex over the past few days: #1 📜 The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Farm Bill on Thursday, codifying the temporary transfer of Food for Peace — the country’s $1.2 billion flagship global hunger program — from the USAID to USDA. #2 🪦Every year, the American Foreign Service Association gathers to honor those who died in service to their country. But this year, the ceremony was different: It was the first time the event was held outside the State Department since 1933. #3 🏦Five years after its launch, Finance in Common is pivoting from ambition to efficiency — as public banks face shrinking aid, rising debt distress, and mounting pressure to mobilize private capital at scale. #4 🇬🇧A new report from the U.K. Parliament’s International Development Committee calls into question the lack of detail in the national aid strategy — a critique that follows the government’s recent rejection of most of the committee’s previous recommendations.