24 global development organizations to watch in 2024

As 2024 gets underway, Devex is publishing a list of organizations we’ll be watching throughout the year. Some are established global development institutions going through upheavals, others are newer groups hitting their stride, and still others are undergoing strategic shifts. All promise to feature in our reporting. This list, arranged alphabetically, reflects the combined expertise and insights of our newsroom on key global development topics. It is by no means comprehensive, nor did we use a specific methodology. The list includes philanthropic foundations, NGOs, governments, development banks, and more. Tell us which organizations we missed that would be on your list and why via editor@devex.com or tweet to us via @devex. We’ve included data points, new hires, and tidbits that caught our eye, plus analysis from our reporters and editors. To keep up to date with all the must-read global development coverage, make sure to sign up to our free, daily newsletter: Newswire. Jump to: <a rel="noopener" target="_self" href="#part1"><b>1-5</b></a> | <a rel="noopener" target="_self" href="#part2"><b>6-10</b></a> | <a rel="noopener" target="_self" href="#part3"><b>11-15</b></a> | <a rel="noopener" target="_self" href="#part4"><b>16-20</b></a> | <a rel="noopener" target="_self" href="#part5"><b>21-24</b></a> <h2><a id="part1">1. African Medicines Agency</a></h2> 📋 Status: People across Africa eagerly await the launch of the African Medicines Agency — an African Union health body tasked with ensuring countries across the continent have consistent regulations that work to guarantee quality medicines can be produced locally and then sold across the continent and abroad. 👀 Why we’re watching: This made it onto our watchlist two years ago — but it still hasn’t launched. That could happen this year. Or maybe not. ➕ Leadership: A director-general hasn’t yet been appointed. The African Union’s heads of state must sign off on the choice of a leader. 👥 Staff: The AMA team is working to finalize its governing board, and after that, it can recruit a director-general candidate, who will be put before heads of state for approval, and staff will be hired. 🏢 HQ: AMA’s office building in Kigali stands waiting for staff to be hired. Rwanda has become a hub for public health initiatives, including the newly formed African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation and recently launched BioNTech messenger RNA manufacturing facility. 💡 Tidbit: AMA is currently piloting a continental process for evaluating medical products. In early November, it published a call inviting manufacturers planning to register new products in Africa to submit a single application through a continental process instead of separate applications to each national agency. AMA’s latest technical committee to launch is focused on pharmacovigilance and safety surveillance. ✍️ Follow: Sara Jerving. 🔍 Analysis: The African continent imports a large proportion of its pharmaceutical products. While there is a big focus on Africa ramping up its pharmaceutical manufacturing sector, local producers struggle to achieve financial sustainability. They can’t easily sell their products to the entire continent’s population. Companies often must register products individually with the regulators in each of the continent’s nations, which is time-consuming and burdensome. AMA hopes to harmonize the many disjointed national regulatory systems across the continent. Additionally, Africa has an ongoing problem with widespread fake or substandard drugs, which regulators hope can be weeded out by AMA. ➡️ More info on African Medicines Agency. 2. African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation 📋 Status: It’s the first year of operations for the new foundation, which was soft-launched by the African Development Bank in 2022. The staff formally started work last month. 👀 Why we’re watching: There’s largely been a stalemate in the transfer of technology and know-how from international pharmaceutical companies to African manufacturers to enable the latter to make their own products. We’re watching to see if this new foundation can turn this around. ➕ Leadership: Professor Padmashree Gehl Sampath is the CEO of the foundation. She is also the senior adviser to the president of the African Development Bank on pharmaceuticals and health. 👥 Staff: The foundation currently has five staff in addition to Sampath. But she expects the team will “grow considerably” this year. 🏢 HQ: The new office is in Kigali, Rwanda, which has become a hub for public health initiatives. Kigali also hosts the new African Medicines Agency, which once operational, will be a “sister agency” to the foundation, according to Sampath. 💡 Tidbit: The foundation signed its host country agreement with Rwanda in December. In addition to the African Development Bank, key funders of the foundation include Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. The foundation also recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the European Investment Bank to co-finance projects. “We have ongoing discussions with several other funding agencies, which will develop and mature over the course of the next few months,” Sampath told Devex late last year. ✍️ Follow: Sara Jerving. 🔍 Analysis: While African leaders have prioritized building up the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector, there are limitations around the research and development of pharmaceutical products happening in African countries, meaning intellectual property is often held overseas. This makes licensing and technology transfer a crucial part of expanding the manufacturing sector across the continent. But international manufacturers have in many cases refused to transfer the knowledge on how to create their products to African manufacturers. This new foundation aims to change this dynamic and facilitate deals. ➡️ More info on African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation. 3. Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade 📋 Status: Reengaging. 👀 Why we’re watching: Can a major player in the Pacific modernize its aid program? ➕ Leadership: Pat Conroy, minister for international development and the Pacific. 🏢 HQ: Canberra. 💡 Tidbit: Wondering who oversaw the drop in Australia’s aid budget as a proportion of gross national income in recent years? That would be Mathias Cormann, the current secretary-general of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and former Australian finance minister, who can now be found each April calling for wealthy countries to spend more on aid. ✍️ Follow: Vince Chadwick. 🔍 Analysis: Australia elected a new center-left government in May 2022, and that, in turn, generated a new aid policy, released in August 2023. The overwhelming priority is climate change, according to Elizabeth Wilde, first assistant secretary at the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s development policy division. But other issues are seeing renewed focus too, from more emphasis on gender-sensitive programming to a new civil society partnership fund targeting the Indo-Pacific. Reflecting the changing face of aid, Australia’s foreign affairs department — which took over the former AusAID agency in 2014 — will also establish a blended finance and investor engagement unit, designed to engage with philanthropic organizations, charitable trusts, and impact investors. As for the money, the new government is planning for year-on-year official development assistance, or ODA, growth of 2.5% per year, but only from 2026-27. The Australian Council for International Development, the peak body for NGOs, points out that the country is still lagging near the bottom of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development donors when it comes to aid as a proportion of GNI, which stands at 0.19% — far from the government’s preelection pledge to hit 0.5%. ➡️ More info on Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. 4. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation 📋 Status: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is one of the largest global health funders in the world. 👀 Why we’re watching: The foundation also made our 2022 watchlist. It had an annual budget of $8.3 billion last year and plans to top that in 2024 by spending $8.6 billion — its biggest annual budget ever. ➕ Leadership: Co-chairs Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates and CEO Mark Suzman. 👥 Staff: 1,818. 🏢 HQ: Seattle, Washington, United States. 💡 Tidbit: The Gates Foundation is expected to soon open a subregional office in Nairobi, Kenya. ✍️ Follow: Stephanie Beasley. 🔍 Analysis: The Gates Foundation is accelerating its spending and plans to spend $8.6 billion this year, a 4% increase from 2023. But the foundation faces a dilemma: Declining official development assistance that stands in contrast to its own increasing resources. The foundation’s strategy has relied on leveraging ODA and directing it to the most impactful areas. However, its efforts to secure support for initiatives such as polio eradication face setbacks due to aid cuts, notably from the United Kingdom. And while the organization’s resources are growing, surpassing $8 billion this year, even the U.K.’s eviscerated aid budget is around $10 billion. This year will also be key because several of the foundation’s core priorities such as health will be trying to raise critical funds. That includes an investment round for the World Health Organization, a replenishment campaign for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and an end-of-year replenishment for the World Bank’s International Development Association, its fund for the lowest-income countries. The foundation has also teamed up with the World Economic Forum to launch the Global Alliance for Women’s Health, which is centered around evidence that investing in women’s health would not only improve billions of lives but also provide an economic boon for societies as a whole. ➡️ More info on Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. 5. BMZ — The German development ministry 📋 Status: It’s the largest of the German funding agencies for development. 👀 Why we’re watching: Germany is the world’s second-largest aid provider and one of the most generous, according to the OECD’s definition of official development assistance. That’s why BMZ also appeared on this list in 2022. But it’s particularly on our radar in 2024 because there are signs that German generosity is reaching its limits, with overseas aid spending seeing recent cuts, in part due to sluggish economic growth at home. ➕ Leadership: Svenja Schulze, federal minister for economic cooperation and development. 👥 Staff: Around 1,300. 🏢 HQ: Berlin, Germany. 💡 Tidbit: In March 2023, the agency adopted a “feminist development policy,” noting that women and girls are the largest disadvantaged group of people in the world. By 2025, more than 90% of BMZ’s newly committed project funds are to be earmarked for projects that advance gender equality. ✍️ Follow: David Ainsworth and Andrew Green. 🔍 Analysis: Germany is one of around half a dozen countries to regularly hit the OECD target of providing 0.7% of gross national income as aid. It’s also the powerhouse that fuels much of the spending from the European Union, one of the world’s biggest donors. Throughout the pandemic, and a war in Ukraine that has cost the country billions in additional fuel costs and seen it take in 1.5 million refugees, Germany seemed to remain committed to aid. But cracks are appearing in the resolve of its ruling coalition, and BMZ saw its budget decrease in 2023. Sharp cuts in 2023 had already led to €1.7 billion in cuts in the development budget at BMZ. And when Parliament in January adopted a revised budget for 2024, nearly €1 billion ($1.08 billion) more was shaved. ➡️ More info on BMZ. <a rel="noopener" target="_self" href="#part1"><b>Back to top ↑</b></a> <h2><a id="part2">6. British International Investment</a></h2> 📋 Status: The United Kingdom’s main development finance institution — and the world’s oldest bilateral DFI. 👀 Why we’re watching: Sure, it was also on our 2022 list. But we’re particularly focused now that BII has been handed an expanded role in the U.K.’s recent international development strategy and will have a new leader. ➕ Leadership: Nick O’Donohoe has been chief executive since 2017 but recently announced he is stepping down. 👥 Staff: Over 600 staffers in 11 office locations across Africa and Asia. 🏢 HQ: London. 💡 Tidbit: The organization was created after World War II to stimulate investment in the lowest-income parts of the British Empire. Then called the Colonial Development Corporation, it has been renamed several times, becoming BII in 2022. ✍️ Follow: Rob Merrick. 🔍 Analysis: The U.K.’s new development blueprint sets ambitious targets for BII to “make over half of its investments in the lowest-income and most fragile countries by 2030” — up from just 37% currently — and to become “the most transparent” bilateral DFI; it is ranked 12th out of 21 at present. It must also take “an enhanced approach to responsibly exiting assets” — after criticism of a slow pull-out from fossil fuel investments, which made up 9.9% of its 2021 portfolio value. The Conservative government boasts that BII already invests more in private businesses in fragile and conflict-affected countries than any other European DFI and “uniquely, is willing to create companies from scratch to generate long-lasting, transformative impact for millions of people.” Andrew Mitchell, the international development minister, calls it “the world’s best.” But the U.K. general election will loom large in 2024 — and it remains to be seen whether Labour, the expected winners, will adopt the same strategy, or set BII on a different path. ➡️ More info on the British International Investment. 7. CIVICUS 📋 Status: Preparing for electoral crunch time. 👀 Why we’re watching: 2024 has been called the “ultimate election” year, and yet civic space is shrinking more than ever: Almost a third of the world’s population now lives in countries with closed civic space, the worst numbers recorded since 2018, according to the CIVICUS Monitor. ➕ Leadership: Lysa John Berna is secretary-general of the CIVICUS alliance. 👥 Staff: 70 staff at the secretariat — half based in South Africa and the other half based in more than 20 countries — and 15,656 members of the CIVICUS global alliance. In 2023, 77% of CIVICUS Secretariat leadership positions were held by women, meaning it ranked first on the global Fair Share of Women Leaders’ monitor, which measures the participation of women in board and senior leadership roles in civil society. 🏢 HQ: Johannesburg, South Africa, with U.N. liaison hubs in New York and Geneva. 💡 Tidbit: The CIVICUS secretariat has expanded its senior leadership team, naming Jessica Corredor Villamil to the new position of chief of advocacy and solidarity, and Tamryn-Lee Fourie to the new position of chief of innovation and sustainability, alongside Mandeep Tiwana, who is now chief officer of evidence and engagement, in addition to Chief Operating Officer Claire Nylander. ✍️ Follow: David Ainsworth. 🔍 Analysis: CIVICUS conducts annual, in-depth research on civic space which shows that space is consistently shrinking — at a time of unprecedented crises, including the climate emergency and a raft of ongoing and emerging conflicts. Yet the global governance system embodied by the United Nations, which is paralyzed by geopolitical tensions, appears unable to find a path to peace. September’s U.N. Summit of the Future is an attempt to chart a way forward, and CIVICUS is working to ensure civil society is at the table to hold governments accountable. This includes pushing U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres to create a civil society envoy at the summit, as part of the Unmute Civil Society initiative. And with artificial intelligence being the topic of 2024, and the European Union in the final stages of drafting an AI Act that would serve as a pioneering framework, civil society is warning that human rights safeguards are insufficient. As part of the Digital Democracy Initiative, CIVICUS, along with Global Focus and other partners, is boosting financial and technical support for digital civic action by local, global south civil society groups. This includes grants to local organizations through the Digital Action Lab, with the first of three rounds of applications now underway. CIVICUS, with its partners, is also setting up a global digital democracy knowledge hub to share tools and best practices this year. Finally, as a media organization, Devex is watching the Stand As My Witness campaign to free arbitrarily imprisoned journalists, activists, dissidents, and human rights defenders. In sub-Saharan Africa for example, the detention of journalists was the top civic space violation over the past year. So far, 25 people featured in the campaign have been released, and CIVICUS is significantly expanding the campaign in 2024. ➡️ More info on CIVICUS. 8. Deloitte 📋 Status: Taking the reins. 👀 Why we’re watching: Deloitte has been awarded the first of USAID’s NextGen global health supply chain awards. We’re eager to see what they plan to do differently. ➕ Leadership: Kathleen O’Dell is the head of Deloitte’s international development practice. 👥 Staff: More than 450,000 across over 150 countries. Fluctuates between approximately 400-600 professionals working on international development at Deloitte US, depending on client needs. 🏢 HQ: United Kingdom. 💡 Tidbit: Deloitte’s chief strategy officer for international development is Wade Warren, a former USAID leader who was closely involved in designing the global health supply chain project that is currently winding down. ✍️ Follow: Michael Igoe and David Ainsworth. 🔍 Analysis: USAID watchers have been waiting — and waiting — to find out which organizations will be selected to implement the agency’s all-time largest set of contracts. This, as Devex readers should know, is the next iteration of the global health supply chain, which delivers lifesaving health commodities all over the world. In May, USAID announced the first of an expected nine different contracts, collectively known as “NextGen,” valued at up to $17 billion. The 10-year, $106 million “control tower” contract went to powerhouse consulting firm Deloitte, and as the name suggests, this is a critical piece of the project intended to coordinate all of the others. That means delivering a sophisticated information management system and wrangling a collection of other contractors to feed into it. As we’ve seen from the current global health supply chain project, none of this is easy, and it will no doubt come under close scrutiny. ➡️ More info on Deloitte. 9. Europe’s Directorate-General for International Partnerships 📋 Status: The section of the European Commission that handles international development, it’s responsible for disbursing almost half the ODA provided by the European Union. 👀 Why we’re watching: A new European Commission will be appointed in 2024, including to the development portfolio, following elections to the European Parliament in June. ➕ Leadership: Jutta Urpilainen, the current European commissioner for international partnerships — responsible for the organization’s development brief — has been on unpaid leave since December while running for president of Finland, though that has come to an end as she finished sixth in the elections on Jan. 28. Filling in for her has been European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas, normally responsible for the portfolio known as “Promoting our European Way of Life.” 👥 Staff: According to its current strategic plan, this directorate-general is the largest of all the commission’s directorates-general, with 3,600 staff members. 🏢 HQ: Brussels, Belgium. 💡 Tidbit: Schinas recently grabbed headlines by suggesting that singer Taylor Swift could help bring out the youth vote in this summer’s European elections. “I very much hope that someone from her media team follows this press conference and relays our request to her,” POLITICO reported him saying. ✍️ Follow: Rob Merrick. 🔍 Analysis: Following the elections, the new commissioners will be nominated by national governments, in agreement with the nominated European Commission president, and put to an approval vote in the EU Parliament. The development brief has, in recent years, been held by a smaller EU state — Latvia, Croatia, and, currently, Finland — in an indication of its relative importance, or lack thereof. It has also undergone a series of name changes from its pre-2010 days when it was called Development and Humanitarian Aid — first losing the humanitarian aid part, before becoming International Cooperation and Development in 2014 and then International Partnerships in 2019, when a new mission statement required it to “adapt bilateral funding to achieve our objectives on migration management.” A key issue will be the composition of the new Parliament that will exercise this check-and-balance power before the new commission starts work in November. The shock victory of the far-right Party for Freedom in November’s Dutch election — on a platform of a “complete stop on development aid” — has enhanced fears that anti-aid, anti-migrant parties will repeat that success in June. ➡️ More info on DG - INTPA. 10. European Investment Bank 📋 Status: Changing from the top down. 👀 Why we’re watching: The bank could be right on the verge of a major shift: After a decade under the leadership of Werner Hoyer, it has a new president in 2024 — Nadia Calviño, the former deputy prime minister and economy minister of Spain. 👥 Staff: EIB has been rolling out various hubs around the world in recent years (Nairobi, Abidjan, Fiji, Kyiv) as part of its response to a bruising expert report — the “Weiser report” — in October 2019 that found it had insufficient presence in the field. Will these spots be significantly staffed up or remain relative outposts? And how will that benefit development? ⭐ Notable hire: One question mark in development circles will be what Calviño does to finally appoint a full-time head of EIB Global, the bank’s external lending branch. “Glo,” as some insiders call it, was another response to the Weiser report, though the acting managing director, Markus Berndt, has been acting boss for two years now. 🏢 HQ: Luxembourg. 💡 Tidbit: Crucially, Calviño knows Brussels, having been in charge of the European Commission’s powerful budget department from 2014 to 2018. London-based EIB and its frenemy, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, have enjoyed smooth relations with the commission under fellow Brussels alumni Odile Renaud-Basso and EIB will be hoping Calviño can work similar magic. ✍️ Follow: Vince Chadwick. 🔍 Analysis: Hoyer defended to the end the idea that EIB Global should be not just a branch but a separate subsidiary, meaning its lending outside the European Union would be taken off its main balance sheet to take more risk. The bank’s EU member state shareholders have never really embraced that idea, however, so it will be interesting to see whether Calviño doubles down on that push or reads the room and stops talking about it. Sadly, Calviño skipped a recent series of interviews by the Center for Global Development about the EIB presidential candidates’ vision for the bank abroad — worth €12.4 billion ($13.6 billion) in project approvals in 2022. So for now, we know nada. ➡️ More info on European Investment Bank. <a rel="noopener" target="_self" href="#part1"><b>Back to top ↑</b></a> <h2><a id="part3">11. Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance</a></h2> 📋 Status: Smack in the middle of key transitions in leadership, strategy, funding, and major programs. 👀 Why we’re watching: A new CEO will take the helm of the organization, which will announce its replenishment ask this year. ➕ Leadership: Dr. Sania Nishtar, Pakistan’s first female cardiologist who has led myriad international health initiatives and currently serves as a senator in her home country, will officially become head of Gavi on March 18. Last June, the board appointed David Marlow as interim chief executive officer following Dr. Muhammad Pate's decision to turn down the offer to become the next CEO. 👥 Staff: Gavi has 429 full-time employees. Its partners include 57 implementing countries, over 450 member civil society organizations from across the globe, and the World Health Organization, UNICEF, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the World Bank, among others. 🏢 HQ: Secretariats in Washington, D.C., and Geneva, Switzerland. 💡 Tidbit: The alliance launched a historic vaccination campaign in Cameroon in January. It was the first country to roll out the RTS,S vaccine, which was the first malaria vaccine to be recommended by the World Health Organization. Twenty African countries plan to introduce malaria vaccines this year, which will also include the second malaria vaccine that WHO recommended late last year, R21. ✍️ Follow: Sara Jerving, Andrew Green, and Jenny Lei Ravelo. 🔍 Analysis: It’s a moment of transition for Gavi, as it deals with new leadership, the retirement of a major program, and the launch of another. At the end of last year, Gavi and its partners retired the COVAX facility, which was an unprecedented collaboration with a mixed legacy. In December, the board approved the creation of the new African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator, which will be formally launched this coming June. It’s a financing instrument that will provide up to $1 billion in order to help build up the continent’s vaccine manufacturing sector. The organization will also seek board approval for its 2026-2030 strategy and launch its replenishment campaign in June. ➡️ More info on Gavi. 12. The Giving Pledge 📋 Status: Founded more than a decade ago by billionaires Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates, and Warren Buffett to encourage the ultrawealthy to commit to giving away the majority of their fortunes within their lifetimes or upon their deaths. 👀 Why we’re watching: The Giving Pledge continues to gain signatories but yields minimal results — despite record wealth accumulation. ➕ Leadership: Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates, Warren Buffett. 👥 Staff: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s philanthropic partnerships team supports the effort by hosting learning sessions and an annual gathering. 🏢 HQ: Hosted at the Gates Foundation in Seattle, Washington, United States. 💡 Tidbit: In total, there are now more than 240 signatories from 29 countries. ✍️ Follow: Stephanie Beasley. 🔍 Analysis: Seven new pledges were added last year — three individuals and four couples. That group included the youngest person ever to sign the pledge: 36-year-old Indian billionaire Nikhil Kamath. But only a tiny handful of pledgers have either given away their assets or publicly announced arrangements to do so in their wills, according to a report from the Institute for Policy Studies. That is despite the 73 living U.S.-based pledgers who were billionaires in 2010 seeing their wealth increase by 224% when adjusted for inflation, the group said. Of the donations made, most have gone to their own foundations or donor-advised funds, where the money can be held indefinitely, rather than directly to charities, IPS said. There have been some notable exceptions. Irish-American businessman Charles Feeney, who died last year at the age of 92, donated nearly all of the $8 billion he made as co-founder of a chain of airport duty-free shops and through tech investments to charity. MacKenzie Scott also gave away more than $2 billion to nonprofits in 2023, bringing her total giving to over $16 billion. Her current net worth is over $35 billion. But by and large, most pledgers aren’t giving at that level. Will 2024 be the year that changes? Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman hopes so. In his most recent annual letter, Suzman issued a call for the world’s wealthiest donors to give more and faster, citing data that shows the collective net worth of the world’s 2,640 billionaires is at least $12.2 trillion. “That kind of money could create so many opportunities for so many people — but only if it gets spent, and spent well,” he said. ➡️ More info on The Giving Pledge. <a rel="noopener" target="_self" href="#part1"><b>Back to top ↑</b></a> 13. Green Climate Fund, Climate Investment Funds, and Global Environment Facility — aka the green funds 📋 Status: Make or break. 👀 Why we’re watching: The climate crisis is here. These three green funds are under pressure to get effective climate finance to projects that can make an impact. ➕ Leadership: Mafalda Duarte, executive director of GCF; Luis Tineo, interim CEO of CIF; and Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, CEO of GEF. 👥 Staff: GCF has 334 staff members and 34 interns, CIF has 39 staff members, and GEF has 78. 🏢 HQ: GCF is headquartered in Incheon City, South Korea, and both CIF and GEF are in Washington, D.C. 💡 Tidbit: These funds will have a new sibling when the fund for loss and damage — initially hosted at the World Bank — gets up and running later this year. ✍️ Follow: Michael Igoe. 🔍 Analysis: It’s a big year for climate finance. Higher-income countries have finally — maybe? — met their commitment to deliver $100 billion a year to lower-income countries. (Why maybe? Click here to find out.) This trio of three-letter acronym institutions — the Green Climate Fund, Climate Investment Funds, and Global Environment Facility — will have to play a critical role in proving that new resources translate into projects that help countries phase out coal, speed the transition to renewables, and leave them better prepared to weather the impacts of climate change. GCF and CIF are under new leadership. All will be under scrutiny from donors and recipients alike to show they can disburse funding quickly for high-quality projects — and to help realize the promise of innovative approaches such as blended finance and Just Energy Transition Partnerships. When these green funds arrived on the scene, climate change was still largely a siloed priority in global development agencies. Now the world’s largest MDBs are putting climate at the center of their missions — and these funds are being called on to step up in new ways. The Group of 20 major economies is also setting up a climate-finance working group to review these climate funds and make recommendations on how they can better work together, create common rules and regulations, and make it easier for countries to directly access those funds. ➡️ More info on Green Climate Fund, Climate Investment Funds, and Global Environment Facility. 14. Inter-American Development Bank 📋 Status: The World Bank is not the only multilateral development bank in D.C. undergoing reforms and hoping for a capital increase. 👀 Why we’re watching: Latin America and the Caribbean could be in for a boost in financing if things go IDB’s way. ➕ Leadership: Ilan Goldfajn, president. 👥 Staff: About 2,000. 🏢 HQ: Washington, D.C. 💡 Tidbit: IDB will assume the presidency of the Multilateral Development Banks and Regional Development Banks Heads Groups in 2024, working closely with Brazil’s G20 presidency to advance the MDB reform agenda. ✍️ Follow: Anna Gawel and Adva Saldinger. 🔍 Analysis: The World Bank gets all the headlines but the Inter-American Development Bank is also trying to pump up its lending portfolio, particularly on climate. The bank — which is home to 48 member countries and is often seen as a counterweight to Chinese investment in Latin America — is planning to triple direct and mobilized climate financing for Latin America and the Caribbean to $150 billion over the next decade. That makes it one of the first multilateral development banks to fulfill the G20’s recommendation to triple climate financing. Key to that vision is the bank’s private sector arm, IDB Invest, which is eyeing a hoped-for capital increase from its shareholders in March. In addition, the head of IDB, Ilan Goldfajn, signed a memorandum of understanding with World Bank President Ajay Banga to tackle three specific priorities: preserving the Amazon rainforest, bolstering Caribbean disaster resilience, and increasing digital access across Latin America. The MOU came after the two presidents traveled together last June to Peru and Jamaica, the first time leaders of the institutions went on a joint trip. ➡️ More info on the Inter-American Development Bank. 15. Millennium Challenge Corporation 📋 Status: A high-stakes growth push. 👀 Why we’re watching: MCC marks its 20th anniversary this year and it’s a key moment for the agency as it grapples with how to expand. ➕ Leadership: CEO Alice Patterson Albright. 👥 Staff: About 300 full-time staff. 🏢 HQ: Washington, D.C. 💡 Tidbit: MCC staff are in the process of unionizing to address concerns including a return-to-office policy, salaries, and equity for women and people of color. ✍️ Follow: Adva Saldinger. 🔍 Analysis: MCC is the United States aid agency that awards large grants, called compacts, to improve economic growth in nations with records of good governance. An assessment of key barriers to economic growth and close consultation with governments sets the parameters for the compacts, which are then run by a local entity created for the purpose. The challenge for MCC is that the number of lower-income countries with good governance records that they haven’t worked in is dwindling. In recent years, the U.S. Congress has given them some new authorities, including working on regional compacts, but those have proven hard to get off the ground. Two attempts at regional compacts in West Africa have been upended by coups. The agency is now seeking permission from Congress to expand the number of countries eligible for MCC funding — and while efforts to do so have some bipartisan support, they failed to get across the finish line in 2023. Without an expansion, the agency will run out of places to work and could be faced with an existential crisis. Expect continued conversations this year about how the agency might change and adapt its model to stay relevant. ➡️ More info on the Millennium Challenge Corporation. <a rel="noopener" target="_self" href="#part1"><b>Back to top ↑</b></a> <h2><a id="part4">16. Movement for Community-led Development</a></h2> 📋 Status: A network of NGOs and community organizations from the global south — a term MCLD itself is trying to ditch in favor of the “majority world,” which gives seniority to the portion of the planet where more people live. 👀 Why we’re watching: Localization is the watchword in the development space right now, but ironically, much of the talking at conferences and events has been done (as usual) by those from the global north. MCLD has been outspoken about the need to give community organizations a seat at the table. It’s also trying to find new ways to get funding directly to local organizations. And its voice is being heard, not least within USAID itself, which has worked with MCLD on several local projects. ➕ Leadership: MCLD is a network of networks, so it has a secretariat rather than a leadership. Gunjan Veda is the organization’s executive director for the U.S. and the executive coordinator for the global secretariat. 👥 Staff: There are seven staff members in the organization’s secretariat. 🏢 HQ: MCLD has staff based in Washington, D.C., but it has said its model isn’t based on a “traditional headquarters.” 💡 Tidbit: MCLD caused a stir before Christmas with a passionate call for change in the way conferences are conducted. It was part of a push to end what it called the “abject humiliation” for global south development professionals who were refused a visa to attend a crucial conference. ✍️ Follow: David Ainsworth. 🔍 Analysis: There are many networks of organizations in the communities served by the development space. MCLD is a network of those networks, and it’s a champion of bottom-up development led by communities and civil society. It’s managed to be an outspoken critic of the current system and simultaneously connected and supportive enough to work within that system. How much progress it makes against its goals is, in some ways, a bellwether for the success of the localization movement, which has so far involved a lot more fanfare than funding. One of its core points is that the transfer of money is not enough. For development to be truly local, decisions must be made by local groups. So far, there’s precious little evidence that much change is happening on that front, but MCLD is at least banging the drum. ➡️ More info on Movement for Community-led Development. 17. One Acre Fund 📋 Status: Steadily growing. 👀 Why we’re watching: A leadership transition and an influx of funds. ➕ Leadership: Longtime CEO and co-founder Andrew Youn will transition to a president role in March 2024, making way for new CEO Eric Pohlman. 👥 Staff: About 8,200. 🏢 HQ: Kakamega, Kenya. 💡 Tidbit: Last year, the organization won the Hilton Humanitarian Prize, which came with $2.5 million in unrestricted funding. It also launched an innovative new reinsurance scheme to provide a safety net for smallholder farmers affected by climate change. ✍️ Follow: Tania Karas and Lauren Evans. 🔍 Analysis: Smallholder farmers produce about one-third of the world’s food, and they’re often on the front lines of climate change. One Acre Fund is helping them overcome those challenges and optimize their yields, thus boosting their profits. It has a lofty goal to reach 10 million farming families on the African continent by 2030, and today it reaches at least 4 million. In 2024, the organization wants to rapidly expand its climate-resilient practices across its network of smallholder farmers, and the Hilton prize money will facilitate testing and scaling such strategies. Recently, the organization dipped its toes in crop reinsurance: In December, it launched One Acre Fund Re, which aims to be a safety net for smallholder farmers facing extreme weather events. It will partner with the International Finance Corporation, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, and the African Risk Capacity. ➡️ More info on One Acre Fund. 18. Open Society Foundations 📋 Status: The foundation is a leading global funder of human rights and democracy-focused nonprofits. It’s also a lightning rod of controversy for both conservatives and conspiracy theorists around the world. 👀 Why we’re watching: The organization, which also made it to our watchlist in 2022, is now completely restructuring its grantmaking model and streamlining operations around the world. And it’s spearheading democracy reforms in a year where more than half of the world goes to the polls. ➕ Leadership: Alexander Soros is the board chair, and Mark Malloch-Brown is the president. 👥 Staff: In flux. OSF is in the process of laying off at least 40% of its roughly 800 employees globally. ⭐ Notable hire: Alexander Soros was elected board chair in late 2022. 🏢 HQ: New York, United States. 💡 Tidbit: At 38 years old, Alexander Soros is arguably the most prominent millennial leader of a major family foundation. ✍️ Follow: Stephanie Beasley. 🔍 Analysis: OSF is undergoing a massive reorganization that has, so far, resulted in hundreds of layoffs and the closure of offices around the world. Now under the leadership of founder George Soros’ son Alexander, the foundation wants to adopt a grantmaking model that would allow it to more quickly respond to global crises and provide larger, more narrowly focused, multiyear grants. However, the organization has been vague about the details of this new model and how it will be implemented (much to the chagrin of grantees and OSF staffers). We expect more details to be revealed soon after the organization shifts the remaining employees to new roles and lifts a self-imposed freeze on grantmaking. This is also a critical year for OSF as a leading pro-democracy funder, with at least 64 countries and the European Union — representing 450 million — heading to the polls. Alex Soros has talked about expanding his father’s goals in areas such as voting and abortion rights. In recent months, OSF has pledged $50 million to support civic engagement among women and young people in the United States and another $25 million to start a fund to advance women’s political leadership globally. ➡️ More info on Open Society Foundations. 19. S4S Technologies 📋 Status: Waste not, want not. 👀 Why we’re watching: A global south Earthshot Prize winner sets its sights on a major expansion to eliminate food waste. ➕ Leadership: Seven co-founders — Nidhi Pant, Vaibhav Tidke, Swapnil Kokte, Ganesh Bhere, Shital Somani, Tushar Gaware, and Ashwin Pawade. 👥 Staff: 120 full-time staffers and 80 contract employees. 🏢 HQ: Aurangabad, India. 💡 Tidbit: In addition to supporting women farmers, S4S also supports women entrepreneurs by using preserved waste to produce and sell valuable food products, such as ketchup. ✍️ Follow: Tania Karas. 🔍 Analysis: When we think of food issues in the global south, hunger often comes to mind. But food waste is also a big problem. In India for example, about 30% of agricultural produce every year is wasted before it leaves the farm. This is because bumper crops and price fluctuations often force farmers to leave unsellable crops rotting in the fields. These wasted crops squander the energy and water used to grow them, demand additional resources for their disposal, and cause income losses for small farmers. S4S — short for Science For Society — aims to preserve and market surplus produce while supporting women farmers and cutting greenhouse gas emissions. It does this by providing rural communities with cheaper solar-powered conduction dryers and food processing equipment to prepare crops onsite, rather than using cold storage or other more expensive methods of conventional industrial food preservation. Their work got the attention of Prince William’s Earthshot Prize competition, which seeks out environmental solutions that show the greatest potential to scale. S4S was among the five winners of the 2023 competition, which earned them an award of £1 million. That money will help S4S with its long-term goals, which include extending its reach of 300,000 smallholder women farmers to 3 million smallholder farmers across India by 2025. By 2026, they predict they will have reduced food waste by 1.2 million metric tons and removed the equivalent of 10 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere. ➡️ More info on S4S Technologies. 20. United Nations Relief and Works Agency — the UN agency for Palestinian refugees 📋 Status: Under pressure. 👀 Why we’re watching: UNRWA, which has lost more than 130 staffers in Gaza, is on the front line of responding to the humanitarian crisis there. ➕ Leadership: Philippe Lazzarini. 👥 Staff: 30,000. 🏢 HQ: Amman, Jordan, and Gaza. 💡 Tidbit: The Palestinian relief agency has been the target of intense criticism from Israeli political leaders and U.S. Republican lawmakers for its alleged anti-Israel agenda. The Trump administration cut hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to the U.N. agency. ✍️ Follow: Colum Lynch. 🔍 Analysis: The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA, was established by the U.N. General Assembly in December 1949 to care for the more than 700,000 Palestinians displaced by the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It began its operations in May 1950. Today, UNRWA provides education, health care, and other services to more than 5.9 million Palestinians, mostly descendants of the original Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza. UNRWA has been at the center of the crisis in Gaza, where its staff of more than 13,000 workers — most of them school teachers — have endured extreme privations and the death of more than 150 of their colleagues, the largest loss of life for the U.N. since its founding after World War II. If Israel succeeds in its goal of defeating Hamas, UNRWA is likely to emerge as the institution most capable of delivering basic lifesaving assistance in Gaza. But Israeli allegations that at least a dozen UNRWA employees participated in Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre in Israel have placed the organization's future into question. The U.S. and several other Western nations have suspended aid pending a U.N. investigation into the matter. The U.N., which has fired those linked to the Hamas attack, has pleaded with donors to reconsider, noting that UNRWA is on the front lines of efforts to beat back famine. ➡️ More info on UNRWA. <a rel="noopener" target="_self" href="#part1"><b>Back to top ↑</b></a> <h2><a id="part5">21. US House Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations</a></h2> 📋 Status: Ground zero for foreign aid. 👀 Why we’re watching: Lots of money is tied up in the hotly contested fiscal 2024 budget. ➕ Leadership: Subcommittee Chair Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, a Republican from Florida; and Ranking Member Rep. Barbara Lee, a Democrat from California. 👥 Staff: Six Republicans and four Democrats on the subcommittee. 🏢 HQ: Washington, D.C. 💡 Tidbit: Last year, the committee got caught up in the culture wars with debates about whether foreign aid was paying for drag queen workshops and conservative opposition to critical race theory. What will the boogeymen be for 2024? ✍️ Follow: Adva Saldinger and Elissa Miolene. 🔍 Analysis: The U.S. Congress controls the purse strings of the world’s wealthiest economy — so by extension, it dictates how much of that money is given out in foreign aid. For all of the gripes about U.S. generosity, the country is still the biggest donor in the world. But politics always threatens to get in the way, with many Republicans — especially on the U.S. House of Representatives side — pushing for steep cuts to foreign aid spending. This year is no different. Disputes over the fiscal 2024 budget could result in a government shutdown (and remember, fiscal 2025 is right around the corner as well). Billions for USAID and foreign aid programs are tied up in that budget. In addition, America’s culture war schisms have jeopardized its flagship HIV/AIDS initiative, as conservatives accuse PEPFAR of relying on groups that fund abortions to carry out the program’s work — accusations that have derailed a clean, five-year reauthorization of the bill. Also keep an eye on the stalled farm bill, which governs important food security programs, several decisive reauthorizations for the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, and a major U.S.-Africa trade program. ➡️ More info on U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations. 22. World Bank 📋 Status: New leadership, new direction. 👀 Why we’re watching: Ajay Banga is expanding the bank’s remit, but will he get the resources to get the job done? ➕ Leadership: Ajay Banga, president. 👥 Staff: Nearly 19,000 employees. 🏢 HQ: Washington, D.C. 💡 Tidbit: Born in Pune, India, to a military family, Banga began his career at Nestlé in his home country, shifting jobs and eventually working his way over to financial services. He also went to high school with Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, and Shantanu Narayen, the CEO of Adobe. ✍️ Follow: Adva Saldinger, Sophie Edwards, and Anna Gawel. 🔍 Analysis: Ajay Banga has been on the job for more than half a year now but all eyes are still on him and the bank he leads to be the world’s savior in a time of chronic crisis. While those expectations may be unrealistic — Banga himself has said he doesn’t have a magic wand — the former Mastercard chief is already leaving an indelible mark. He’s changed the motto of the bank to “create a world free of poverty on a liveable planet,” a reflection of the priority placed on climate change alongside poverty alleviation. He’s vowed to unlock an additional $150 billion in lending capacity over the next 10 years by making the most of existing resources and squeezing the balance sheet. And after he builds a “better” bank, he hopes to build a “bigger” one with shareholders kicking in a capital increase. Also key to watch — given Banga’s own business background — is the Private Sector Lab, announced in June. It brings together 15 chief executives, including financiers and asset managers, to identify ways to accelerate private finance in low- and middle-income countries. Banga — who grew MasterCard’s size tenfold during his just over a decade in charge, turning it into the 21st largest company in the world — has made it a priority to push the bank to play a larger role in mobilizing additional capital. When the lab was announced, Banga said business leaders are a “crucial piece of the puzzle” when it comes to tackling development challenges, and that while “results won’t come overnight,” the group “has the potential to unlock significant investment that will deliver jobs and better quality of life for people living throughout the Global South.” ➡️ More info on the World Bank. 23. World Food Programme 📋 Status: Internal and external strife. 👀 Why we’re watching: Cindy McCain is feeling the squeeze of tight budgets and not enough food to go around, while also coming under fire from her staff over Gaza. 👥 Staff: 23,000. 🏢 HQ: Rome, Italy. 💡 Tidbit: The U.N. food agency provided assistance to some 160 million people in 120 countries in 2022. And yet, some 783 million people — one in every 10 people on the planet — still face chronic hunger. ✍️ Follow: Colum Lynch. 🔍 Analysis: The World Food Programme has recently confronted a perfect storm of disasters, including shrinking donations, food diversion scandals in Ethiopia and Somalia, and an internal staff uprising over the agency's cautious response to the Israeli bombardment of Gaza. WFP’s executive director, Cindy McCain, faced an extraordinarily raw and impassioned rebuke from Middle East staff, who upbraided her in an internal meeting for failing to deliver more robust calls for a cease-fire in Gaza, and questioned her neutrality after she attended the John McCain Public Service Prize ceremony for an active reserve Israel Defense Forces officer on behalf of the Israeli people. The challenge for McCain is whether she can repair the damage in relations with the rank and file, particularly at a time when she will have to oversee painful staff layoffs. ➡️ More info on the World Food Programme. 24. World Health Organization 📋 Status: It’s a big year in efforts to change global health architecture. 👀 Why we’re watching: Two big negotiations to prevent and better prepare the world for future health emergencies are expected to conclude in May at the World Health Assembly, including a potential pandemic treaty that’s facing pushback in many countries out of a false belief that it will sign over countries’ sovereignty to WHO. The U.N. agency has already refuted this, but it remains a contentious issue. ➕ Leadership: Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general. 👥 Staff: Over 8,000. 🏢 HQ: Geneva, Switzerland. 💡 Tidbit: In 2022, member states agreed to improve the financial sustainability of WHO. That included a gradual increase in assessed contributions until 2030-2031. But the increases are tied to WHO reforms, which include the process for handling and investigating future potential allegations against WHO directors-general. Member states have had numerous discussions on the topic, but they are yet to reach consensus on issues such as the selection of an external entity to handle potential cases. ✍️ Follow: Jenny Lei Ravelo and Sara Jerving. 🔍 Analysis: Countries set a deadline of May 2024 for the World Health Assembly to consider a draft of a pandemic agreement. But there are concerns that this deadline may not be met, given the slow pace of negotiations. In the U.S., Republicans are still distrustful of WHO and are adamant that any agreement in Geneva must go through Congress for approval. That distrust could play out in other avenues as well. But there are other implications too. Several initiatives are awaiting the results of the pandemic agreement to inform their work, including the WHO-led interim platform for medical countermeasures. This year could see WHO receiving more predictable, flexible funding in the form of an investment round, after the executive board agreed to its proposed plan in late January. But U.S. funding to WHO — and any number of U.N. agencies for that matter — could be in jeopardy if a Republican, in particular Donald Trump, wins November’s U.S. presidential election. ➡️ More info on the World Health Organization. <a rel="noopener" target="_self" href="#part1"><b>Back to top ↑</b></a>