Decades of progress on poverty at risk, warns UN poverty expert
25/6/2025: The UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights has warned that unprecedented cuts to global aid and intensifying attacks on multilateralism are undermining decades of progress. Official development assistance fell in 2024 for the first time in six years, with predictions estimating a drop of almost 20% for 2025.
Source: UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
Development is the first line of defence against conflict
19/6/2025: The UN Security Council has discussed the correlation between global conflicts and poor progress towards targets under the Sustainable Development Goals, as aid budgets are being slashed and military spending soars. Of the 700 million people worldwide living in extreme poverty, 40 per cent live in conflict-affected or fragile settings.
Source: UN News
UNDP leverages $60 for sustainable development from every aid dollar
28/5/2025: A new report released today by the UN Development Programme reveals that the agency has mobilised $870 billion for sustainable development in emerging economies between 2022 and 2024. UNDP collaborates with governments, financial institutions, and private-sector partners to reduce investment risks, strengthen public financial systems, and unlock capital.
Source: UN Development Programme
Human Development progress slows to a 35-year low
6/5/2025: Apart from the Covid years, human development has advanced at its lowest rate since 1990, according to the annual report of the UN Development Programme. For the fourth year in a row inequality between low and very high income countries continues to increase.
Source: UN Development Programme
UN concerns mount for Sustainable Development Goals
6/5/2025: In preparation for the June Conference on Financing for Development, the UN Secretary-General has warned that the Sustainable Development Goals are dramatically off track, exacerbated by a massive financing gap. More worrying still is that global collaboration is being actively questioned.
Source: Third World Network
How Zambia seeks to cash in on the global drive for EVs
18/2/2025: Intense Chinese and Western interest in Zambia’s copper resources brings the potential to lift people out of poverty, free the country from debt and meet its development goals. Ensuring local people benefit requires the nation to address its large informal mining economy.
Source: Climate Home News
How Africa can benefit from its mineral wealth
3/2/2025: The African Green Minerals Strategy is a blueprint for the continent’s role in the global scramble for minerals. A more equitable future will however depend on the member states of the African Union uniting under a shared vision.
Source: African Arguments
African countries called upon to improve data collection
30/1/2025: The recent Forum on Statistical Development in Africa has highlighted the continent's lack of robust evidence-based data, essential to effective development policies. This comes at a time when many African governments are struggling to adequately fund their national statistical agencies, resulting in unreliable data in vital areas such as population.
Source: Inter Press Service
Oxfam International urges Spain to lead the global fight against inequality
27/1/2025: The Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development will be held in Seville in June. Oxfam International is encouraging Spain to lead an international commitment to address the inequalities between the Global North and South.
Source: Oxfam International
Billionaire wealth surges by $2 trillion in 2024
20/1/2025: As business elites gather in Davos for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, Oxfam has released data showing that the wealth of the world’s ten richest men grew on average by almost $100 million a day during 2024. Meanwhile, the number of people living in poverty has barely changed since 1990.
Source: Oxfam International