Finding Hope amidst the Ruins – Building a new Narrative for Development Cooperation

By Peter Taylor

The re-election of President Trump in January 2025 led to an immediate freeze on all international development funding from USAID, the largest international aid donor. As highlighted in this recent publication, this freeze caused rapid and devastating effects on humanitarian and development programs worldwide, including halted efforts to prevent the spread of HIV and Mpox, shutdowns of women’s health providers, and suspension of water and sanitation projects. The sudden withdrawal undermined trust and severed long-standing partnerships critical for equitable global development research and cooperation.

The importance of US persuasion now bringing momentum towards a peace agreement in the Middle East further accentuates what is being lost through US actions that undermine the benefits of Official Development Assistance (ODA) for both recipient and donor countries—such as enhancing soft power and preventing the spread of infectious diseases. The sudden withdrawal of international aid threatens the viability of collaborative efforts, putting at risk progress on poverty reduction, food security, and sanitation. Analysis shows that 26 low- and middle-income countries with a combined population of 1.4 billion are especially vulnerable to these cuts and lack resources to compensate for the shortfall.

In a recent Institute of Development Studies blog, I reflected on whether the Sustainable Development Goals still offer a hopeful pathway. With the urgent need to make progress on so many of the SDGs – which millions of people in the world are relying on for access to clean water, food to feed their families, education and a life free from gender-based violence – it raises a challenging question. What needs to happen in order to galvanise those who still have a genuine desire for accelerating progress on the SDGs in the next five years?

Time for new alliances

One trend worth noting, is the emergence of new alliances coming to the fore. These do offer an opportunity for a new approach to the SDGs and for global development cooperation. Diverse alliances are emerging, most evidently led by China, alongside India and Russia. China, now an established investor in development, through its trillion-dollar infrastructure-based Belt and Road Initiative and the China International Development Cooperation Agency. But this investment varies between countries and is often contentious and is not always in sync with the core vision of the SDGs.

Also, as new alliances emerge, it is important that they are held accountable to ensure that they deliver for justice and equity, and that they incorporate the views and needs of people across the world who are marginalised and underrepresented. Fortunately, there are decades of research and evidence to draw upon which demonstrate the power of participatory decision-making, the power of sharing knowledge, and the key role played by civil societies around the world.  Listening to those who are living with the consequences of not achieving many of the targets and goals in their everyday lives is essential to make maximum progress over the next five years.

So, despite the bleak outlook, there are rays of hope. Four possible pathways may help to foster more constructive global development cooperation:

1. Intentional Learning and Adaptation: with uncertainty now commonplace, it is vital for global development actors to learn collaboratively and adapt quickly. Participatory approaches foster agency and resilience, especially as authoritarian decision-making increases polarization. Effective research on global challenges benefits from partnerships between academic and non-academic groups worldwide, including strengthening lower-income countries’ scientific capabilities.
2. Aligning with Geopolitical Bright Spots: despite a bleak outlook, some aid—-providing countries—like Canada, Australia and Norway —are electing progressive governments and forming alliances to pursue alternative policies. Collaboration in multilateral institutions and at major conferences enhances their impact. Countries such as Brazil, South Africa and Spain exemplify this progressive cooperation, working together at global events focused on development, economics, and climate change.
3. Reimagining Global Institutions: there is certainly ample evidence of a dysfunctional, ineffective and divided global governance system as witnessed by the catastrophic devastation taking place in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and Myanmar, or the current international failure to address climate change. This makes even more pressing the need to reimagine and recreate the institutions that allow more unified, collective and cooperative efforts to address the enormous challenges currently playing out in the world.
4. Re-engaging the Public: those who propagate academic arguments and critique regarding development, important as it is to do this, have perhaps offered those who oppose it the very arguments they need to demolish it. Going forward, a strategy to reconnect with public attitudes will involve communicating transparently and openly the effectiveness and impacts of development efforts, both in terms of successes, but also with honesty and humility over what has worked less well and why.

In a context of geopolitical turbulence, it is critical to develop a compelling narrative for increased global development cooperation. Although the short-term impacts of US policy changes are severe, a long-term vision for a shared, progressive future remains essential. Achieving this, both in what remains of the SDG era, as well as what lies beyond 2030, will require genuine commitments to inclusion, transparency, accountability, and evidence-based approaches to gain broader understanding and support from publics, governments and a range of other actors who together can help to chart out a more hopeful future for us all.

Note: This article gives the views of the author, not the position of the EADI Debating Development Blog or the European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes

Peter Taylor is Professorial Fellow and Director of the Institute of Development Studies, UK.  Previously he was Director, Strategic Development at the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada, and led the Think Tank Initiative. He has research and teaching interests in global development cooperation, organizational development, and facilitation of participatory and social change processes.

Image: HaseebPhotography on Pixabay