Progress update on development goals as 2030 deadline approaches
18/9/2026: Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals is slow and uneven, with only 36% of the targets on track or making moderate progress. Despite a $4 trillion annual financing gap, official development assistance fell by a record 23% in 2025. Even with this shortfall, some governments are translating commitments into beneficial policies.
Source: UN News
What is UNGA, and why does it matter for global development?
17/9/2026: The UN General Assembly is the only UN body with universal representation, granting all 193 member states an equal vote, making it the official policymaking organ of the UN. More about about the General Assembly and why it matters for global development.
Source: Devex
Gender equality woefully off track, new UN report reveals
17/9/2026: Not a single indicator on the Sustainable Development Goal for gender equality is on track to be met by 2030, according to a progress report. Amid broadening cuts to funding for development aid, programmes addressing gender inequality are amongst the hardest hit, with such funding falling to its lowest level since 2021.
Source: UN News
Ebola outbreak in DRC has peaked, say authorities
15/9/2026: For the first time since the epidemic of the ebola was declared in May, the numbers of people becoming infected is slowing down, according to officials in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. No effective treatment for the Bundibugyo variant has been found and almost 3,500 people have died.
Source: The Guardian
US pays the UN $800M in budget dues
15/9/2026: The Trump administration has finally paid the UN more than $800 million to cover the costs of its regular budget dues for 2025, along with a fraction of its peacekeeping obligations. The payments avert the prospect of the US losing its vote in the forthcoming UN General Assembly, but leave Washington with billions in back dues.
Source: Devex
Money sent home by migrants nearly doubles in a decade
14/9/2026: Remittances to families in low and middle-income countries totalled $728.6 billion in 2025, an increase of 94% since 2016, according to a new report. This figure for 2025 exceeds foreign direct investment to those countries and is more than four times global official development assistance.
Source: IFAD
Trump administration nominee chosen to lead World Food Programme
12/9/2026: Luke Lindberg, a senior US Department of Agriculture official, has been chosen to lead the World Food Programme, making him the youngest person to head the agency. The final decision to appoint Lindberg coincided with US assurances to pay more than $700 million in its regular budget dues for 2025. It remains unclear whether the two issues were linked.
Source: Devex
Russian recruitment of foreign nationals to fight in Ukraine amounts to human trafficking
10/9/2026: Research by Amnesty details how individuals have been lured into the Russian Armed Forces under false pretences, including migrants and refugees already present in Russia. This amounts to human rights violation and the crime of human trafficking.
Source: Amnesty International
Millions fail to get humanitarian aid as global system crumbles
10/9/2026: With aid contributions cut by 30% between 2022 and 2025 and thousands of aid workers losing their jobs, action is narrowing to focus only those whose lives are in immediate danger, according to the State of the Humanitarian System 2026 report. Support for longer-term issues and the ability to recover from crises has been drastically scaled back.
Source: The Guardian
Human cost of violence in South Sudan as elections approach
10/9/2026: The UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan has warned that renewed violence and political tensions put the planned transition to democracy at risk. It calls on the authorities to create conditions for inclusive political dialogue ahead of elections scheduled for December. South Sudan is the world’s youngest country having gained independence from Sudan in July 2011.
Source: UN News