What role should donors play in a post-aid world?

ODI | Think Change

Our new Donors in a Post-Aid World (DPAW) dialogue series provides an informal space for reimagining the functions of Northern bilateral donors in an evolving global landscape. Last month, our first dialogue focused on creating a new narrative for Northern ‘donorship,’ identifying opportunities for a refreshed approach to development cooperation.
This episode discusses key takeaways from the first dialogue. Guests examine the challenges Northern donor institutions face in a post-aid world, and how they might redefine their roles for the future.

Why does this matter? Today, Official Development Assistance (ODA) is expected to address a growing array of complex agendas: countering China, managing migration, tackling the climate crisis, and more.

As demands grow for concessional public finance, donors lack the scaffolding of a single 'story' that they once had. What’s more, as the lines between ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ countries blur, and the donor-recipient model of aid as charity is increasingly rejected, the traditional rationale for aid has reached its limits.

In this episode, guests discuss how to navigate these challenges and build momentum for reforms that could influence key global policy processes.

Guests

• Sara Pantuliano (host), Chief Executive, ODI Global
• Nilima Gulrajani, Principal Research Fellow, ODI Global
• Heba Aly, former CEO of The New Humanitarian
• Fadhel Kaboub, Senior Advisor, Power Shift Africa
• Omar Bargawi, Deputy Director and Head of the Development Policy & Partnerships Department, FCDO

Engage with us

We want to hear from voices that do not get heard yet have deep insights and knowledge to reimagine donorship for the 21st century. Please do reach out to
Nilima Gulrajani if you have any ideas or would like to write for us.
The second dialogue will take place early in 2025, with four to take place over the next 18 months. Sign up to our Donors in a Post-Aid World newsletter to get updates about the dialogue series.

Related resources

• Donors in a Post-Aid World (Project, ODI Global)
  
• Dialogue #1: Crafting a new rationale for northern donorship (Summary note, ODI Global)
  
• Should a Northern donor exist in the 21st century? Introducing a new dialogue series (Insight, ODI Global)
  
• Donors In A Post-Aid World – January 2024 update (Insight, ODI Global)
  
• Crafting development power: evolving European approaches in an age of polycrisis (Report, ODI Global)
  
• Boosting gender equality with finance and fiscal policy (Project, ODI Global)
  

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