“I think we’re in trouble.”
That’s what Gayle Smith, the former administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, told a crowded theater at this year’s Devex World — an event that gathered nearly 500 development experts, humanitarians, and others in Washington, D.C., last week.
On one hand, that’s because the number of conflicts, crises, and disasters have exploded in recent years, Smith said. But on the other, it’s because the global development community hasn’t presented itself as the force it really is.