The old aid model is dead. Now comes the fight over what replaces it

Jan 19, 2026

This article is published in collaboration with Devex.

A graphic of a world map: The global development ecosystem is in the process of change

The global development ecosystem is in the process of change Image: Unsplash/Hartono Creative Studio

Raj Kumar

President and Editor-in-Chief, Devex

This article is part of: World Economic Forum Annual Meeting

Official development assistance is falling sharply due to long-term political and fiscal pressures in donor countries, not just short-term shocks.
Development finance institutions, multilateral development banks, private capital, artificial intelligence and billionaire philanthropy are becoming the dominant forces shaping development outcomes.
The World Economic Forum’s 2026 Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, will underscore the growing importance of open, impartial dialogue under the theme, "The Spirit of Dialogue."

With so much high drama in global development last year, it was hard to catch a breath and see the big picture. So let’s try.

Two events that neatly bookended the year best make the point: At the start of the year, the world’s largest development agency, the US Agency for International Development, was unceremoniously obliterated six decades after its founding. And just as 2025 came to a close, its sister organization, a relatively new development finance institution created as the US International Development Finance Corporation during the first Trump administration, was given the tools to one day rival China’s muscular Belt and Road Initiative.

Either of these could have been the global development story of the decade. They both happened in the same year, as did so much else.

This article was first published in Devex; you can read the full text here.

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