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Who Pays for which Energy? The Social Dimensions of Energy Shocks and Transitions

By Jiayi Wang and Ragdad Cani Miranti 

During a heatwave, temperature is measured in degrees. But the ability to live with that heat is measured in money, housing and choice. Europe’s summer of 2026 made that distinction difficult to ignore. During one severe week in late June, more than 10,000 excess deaths occurred across Europe as extreme temperatures swept the continent. Yet heat is not the same economic experience for everyone. Some households can afford cooling, better insulation or a higher electricity bill. Others cannot. The temperature may be shared; the capacity to respond is not.

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When Funding Defines the Need: Are We Developing Communities or Projects?

By Zuhour Gharaibeh

Funding ends, but needs do not. A project may close successfully: activities were delivered, the budget was spent, and the target number of participants was reached. But did anything actually change in people’s lives? Are they now more able to make choices and influence decisions, or did success remain confined to the project indicators during its implementation?

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From Ideas to Impact: The Missing Links in Financing for Development

By Iliana Olivié, Antonio Sianes, María Santillán O’Shea, Gustavo Cadenas Delascio, Adam Timothy Mayemba and Matthew Winkler / Shaping Sustainable Futures conference series

Development finance is increasingly taking place between worlds. It is expected to reconcile goals that are often in tension: preserving multilateralism while accommodating more flexible coalitions of the willing; responding to shrinking official development assistance (ODA) while mobilising larger volumes of public and private finance; and adapting to a shifting balance of power between North and South while responding to long-standing calls to decolonise international partnerships.

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The “Equitable Partnerships” Conundrum: Reflecting on how Aspirations for Equity in Large Research Consortia Can Lead to Action

By Peter Taylor / Third post in a mini-series on large grant-funded research centres: read the previous ones here and here)

For many years, I have had the opportunity to work in large grant funded initiatives in different forms – projects, programmes and centres – as well as in many smaller collaborations. Often I have been a partner within an initiative, and at times I’ve had the privilege to lead large programmes. There is rarely time to pause and reflect amidst the hectic nature of these collaborations, but a recent initiative with Southern Voice has encouraged me to take the time needed to reflect on my experiences.

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Your Country is Doing Fine on Average

By Albertino Francisco

On 13 December 2024, São Tomé and Príncipe left the list of least developed countries. Its gross national income per head had reached $2,271 against a graduation threshold of $1,306. Its Human Assets Index stood at 91.4 against a threshold of 66. However, its Economic and Environmental Vulnerability Index stood at 40.0, which should have been at 32 or below to pass. Two out of three. Under the rule the Committee for Development Policy applies, two out of three is enough, and so a small island state graduated with exactly the indicator that measures its exposure to shocks sitting eight points on the wrong side of the line.

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