This Week in Global Development10 Joulu 2025

A look at Kenya’s new deals with the US, and the latest on food aid cuts

The U.S. State Department has signed a bilateral agreement with Kenya, its first in its ongoing efforts to overhaul how it provides global health assistance. The United States said it will invest up to $1.6 billion over five years in the East African country, with the Kenyan government cofinancing the agreement with $850 million. We take a look at how this controversial new approach could play out in practice, and how it could shape other agreements between the U.S. and other African states.

On the topic of Kenya, we also dig into the Kenyan government’s debt-for-food swap deal with the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, worth $1 billion. The innovative arrangement allows the country to reduce part of its external debt in exchange for redirecting the savings into food security programs.

The State Department has decided to cut funding to organizations implementing programs to build resilience in chronically food-insecure regions, which will affect the budget of the U.S. government’s Food for Peace initiative. We explore the move’s implications, including the impact on U.S. farmers.

For a deep dive into these stories and others, Senior Editor Rumbi Chakamba sits down with Senior Reporter Sara Jerving and Global Development Reporter Ayenat Mersie for the latest episode of our weekly podcast series.

To mark Human Rights Day, Amazon’s director of human rights and social impact talks about Amazon’s human rights work, the systemic challenges facing global supply chains, and the role of responsible innovation in addressing them in the sponsored segment of the discussion.

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The fight over $7.5B in expiring aid and a rejected State Department grant

We recently reported that roughly $7.5 billion in international affairs funding is set to expire by the end of this month. In a letter, more than 100 U.S. lawmakers have urged the State Department to ...

3 Syys 26min

The water sector’s funding challenge and Asia’s philanthropy push

At World Water Week in Stockholm, financing took center stage ahead of the U.N. Water Conference in Abu Dhabi this December. The annual gathering saw around 2,000 participants discuss water governance...

27 Elo 30min

Special edition: Rethinking the housing crisis

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25 Elo 27min

Famine reporting goes dark in 3 crisis zones, and COP31’s critical test

Afghanistan, Somalia, and Yemen, three of the world’s most hunger-prone nations, were removed from the latest reporting by the Famine Early Warning Systems Network — a U.S.-based data and monitoring s...

20 Elo 28min

Inside the State Department’s historic pivot to faith-based organizations

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13 Elo 29min

Special edition: Are jobs for youth development's silver bullet?

In this week’s special edition episode of the This Week in Global Development podcast, sponsored by the International Youth Foundation and the Caterpillar Foundation, we examine how shifting labor mar...

12 Elo 41min

Tracking the real-world impacts of US foreign aid cuts

This week, we discuss The Aid Report, a project supported by a media grant from the Gates Foundation to track the real-world impacts of U.S. foreign aid cuts. Over the past couple of months, the initi...

29 Heinä 36min

The new era of US and European foreign assistance

This week we look back at the last 18 months of U.S. foreign assistance — a period defined by the dismantling of USAID and the absorption of foreign aid strategy into the State Department. We break do...

22 Heinä 30min