🌍 Reimagining Development Cooperation: A Moment We Can’t Waste #FutureOfCooperation

I posted yesterday about ODI’s Donors in a Post-Aid World Dialogue #2, and it contains many thought-provoking points.

Set against the backdrop of shrinking aid budgets, a weakened multilateral system, and political shifts across the North, the Dialogue offered a bold yet grounded exploration of what a new international cooperation model could look like.

Among the many powerful insights, one was especially interesting because it echoed a recent discussion in Germany: Institutional reform.

🇩🇪 In #Germany, discussions around merging development with foreign policy recently gained traction (again), however new government decided to keep an independent Federal ministry. The Dialogue’s call for a rethink of donor institutions is therefore timely.

Highlights included: • Streamlining multilateral agencies to reduce inefficiencies. • Integrating development mandates into broader government ministries. • Investing in localisation and public trust, not just program delivery. Very important - will also post on this one! • And imagining globally pooled systems / improved coordination that reflect today’s interconnected challenges.

This isn’t just about saving „aid“ — it’s about reshaping how we show up in the world.

Germany and others now have a chance, more than ever, to take the lead in building institutions that match our values with today’s realities. Unfortunately, some decisions have already not followed this line, but there is still room to improve these structures. The will to invest some political energy is needed. I hope we see that!

Find a summary of the discussion here, with the discussion on institutional reform on p. 5.

#PostAidWorld #InstitutionalReform #DevelopmentCooperation #Localization