News Selection – Finance for Sustainable Development

26/4/2019: The chief executive at Oxfam GB argues that, at a time when aid spending is falling globally, it’s more important than ever that the UK and a few other countries are keeping their promises to support those in need around the world.

Source: Devex

26/4/2019: The UN has announced the creation of a Global Investors for Sustainable Development Alliance, as part of its efforts to more closely align the international financial system with the 2030 agenda.

Source: Devex

23/4/2019: The international community is not acting fast enough to mobilize finance for the Sustainable Development Goals, according to experts gathered at the Financing for Development Forum. Source: Devex

11/4/2018: Preliminary data for 2018 paints a worrying picture in which bilateral assistance to least-developed countries fell 3% from 2017, aid to Africa was down 4%, and humanitarian aid dropped 8%. Source: Devex

3/4/2019: Figures released by the Jubilee Debt Campaign, based on IMF and World Bank databases, show that developing country debt payments increased by 85% between 2010 and 2018.

Source: Jubilee Debt Campaign

19/3/2019: Development finance institutions have gained prominence, as the role of the private sector has been accepted, and because their work can be put in direct service of meeting the Sustainable Development Goals. Source: Devex

13/12/2018: The US Agency for International Development has launched a new private sector engagement policy designed to change the culture and operations of the organization as it works to help countries develop. Source: Devex

11/12/2018: The UN has increasingly embraced the corporate sector, most recently to raise finance needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Does this engagement compromise the Goals? Source: Inter Press Service

21/11/2018: Two recent assessments of aid donors used radically different approaches – a top down technical assessment of aid quality, and a bottom up survey of aid recipients. The differences between their findings are interesting.

Source: From Poverty to Power

2/11/2018: Germany and the Netherlands have pledged to fund special forces in Niger to control its border and prevent illegal migration. Niger is a transit country for thousands of migrants trying to reach Europe. Source: News24

Tread Softly Comment: This is the trending goal of contemporary foreign aid. Less poverty reduction, infrastructure or governance in the fragile state; more border police to protect Europe. Relevant Briefing: Aid Politics