This Week in Global Development11 Apr 2024

Israel's attempt to dismantle UNRWA, and USAID's localization spending

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 months ago, a rural Sierra Leone-based nonprofit leader was unable to get a visa to a conference in Denmark — which led to an open letter demanding change in how convening spaces on locally led development should be organized. Four months later, it appears that some foundations, international organizations, and networks have committed to listening, including the U.S. Agency for International Development. We explore how localization can be more effectively carried out, including the need to move the headquarters of institutions closer to the communities they aim to serve, as well as having greater representation from the developing world in academia.

Also on the topic of localization, we dug into the analysis of how much of USAID’s money went to local grantees in 2023. We found that the agency allocated around $1.3 billion to local partners via grants and cooperative agreements in 2023, which is the same amount as the previous fiscal year.

To discuss these stories, Devex President and Editor-in-Chief Raj Kumar sits down with Aude Darnal of the Stimson Center and Devex’s U.N. correspondent Colum Lynch for this week’s episode of the podcast series.

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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 Sep 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 Aug 30min

Special edition: Rethinking the housing crisis

What if housing finance could help solve today's biggest challenges? In this special episode, Habitat for Humanity’s Jacqueline Innocent reveals why housing is an upstream catalyst for health, educati...

25 Aug 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 Aug 28min

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

In this episode of This Week in Global Development, Business Editor David Ainsworth sits down with Senior Reporters Michael Igoe and Sara Jerving to discuss the U.S. State Department’s announcement to...

13 Aug 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 Aug 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 Juli 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 Juli 30min