As AI rises and aid declines, can Davos shape a new compact for development?
By Simon O’Connell // 19 January 2026
Heading to Davos from South Sudan, I’m struck by a truth: Official development assistance, or ODA, is in free fall, and the old playbook can’t meet the scale or complexity of today’s challenges.
Like many others, I’ve long argued that the aid sector does important — often vital — work, while in need of extensive reforms, notably around partnerships and more collaborative approaches, with the focus on outcomes over activities and inputs. That agenda now meets a transformative force: artificial intelligence.
The opportunity is not AI for its own sake, but how we turn AI-driven efficiency and quality improvements into shared productivity gains — SPGs — that are measured, reinvested, and fairly distributed. SPGs are the paradigm beyond ODA.
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About the author
Simon O’Connell
Simon O’Connell is the CEO of the global development partner, SNV, leading a team of over 1,600 people and ongoing programs in approximately 25 countries. With overall responsibility for SNV, Simon oversees a global portfolio focused on the agri-food, energy, and water sectors and systems interventions that contribute to sustainable, transformational change.
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