Devex Pro Insider: A $150B giveaway, and USAID’s potential next chief

Who will shape U.S. aid policy under Donald Trump? Much of the development community is on tenterhooks to find out. Whoever holds the keys to USAID, the world’s biggest bilateral aid agency, will have global consequences — but there are other significant positions up for grabs too, and there will be work behind the scenes to remake foreign assistance for the “Make America Great Again, or MAGA, era. Fortunately, my colleague Michael Igoe has been keeping his ear to the ground. Based on months of reporting in the lead-up to the election and ongoing conversations with insiders, he’s put together a guide on who are the runners and riders you need to be watching. Also in today’s edition: Warren Buffett’s plan for his $150 billion wealth, the shock death of WHO Africa’s director-elect, and a look inside Development Initiatives’ demise. Coming up: This is your last call to join us tomorrow for a session on how to win more business with USAID. Then on Dec. 12, in our last Pro event of the year, we’re gathering leaders from across the global development sector to reflect on 2024 and what to expect in 2025. A special request: I’m also pulling together a list of good news stories from the world of global development in 2024. Amid the doom and gloom, has there been a piece of news that gave you hope? Please let me know by replying to this email. Bits and pieces Philanthropic inheritance. Warren Buffett donated more than $1 billion worth of Berkshire Hathaway stock to four of his family foundations last week, as he announced further details of the plan for his fortune and philanthropic legacy after his death. The 94-year-old plans to leave 99.5% of his remaining wealth, which is estimated at around $150 billion, to a charitable trust that will be overseen by his children, who will be tasked with “gradually” distributing it via unanimous decisions. Buffett has previously said he wanted the money to be distributed within 10 years of his death. His three children are all involved in the family’s philanthropic endeavors. Susie, 71, leads the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, which funds reproductive health, and the Sherwood Foundation, which supports Nebraska nonprofits and early childhood education. Howard, 69, heads the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, which works on global hunger, human trafficking, and conflict mitigation (he recently spoke about his approach to philanthropy at Devex World 2024). And Peter, 66, leads the NoVo Foundation, supporting marginalized women and girls and Indigenous communities. However, Buffett noted that all his children are advancing in age and, matter-of-factly, that “the massive wealth I’ve collected may take longer to deploy than my children live.” Thus he has identified three younger successor trustees to take over if needs be, though he did not name them. In memoriam. In news that shocked many, WHO’s incoming regional director for Africa, Dr. Faustine Ndugulile, died last week while receiving medical treatment in India. It was just three months since the Tanzanian politician had been elected to the WHO role, which he was due to start in February. As Tanzania’s deputy health minister during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Ndugulile had advocated for an evidence-led response to the virus outbreak, in the face of political opposition. WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros said on the social media platform X that he was "shocked and deeply saddened" by the news. It also creates an urgent question as to what happens to the role that Dr. Ndugulile was due to take up — a critical one for public health in Africa — and whether African health ministers will need to hold a new election for it. A WHO spokesperson told us: “For now, the entire WHO family is mourning the sudden passing of Dr Faustine Ndugulile. … Next steps will be discussed in due course." Bank boss. Masato Kanda was elected last week to serve as the Asian Development Bank’s next president. Currently special adviser to Japan’s prime minister and minister of finance, he’ll take up the role in late February. The ADB presidency has been held by Japan since the bank was founded in 1966 and while there was speculation that China would field a candidate to challenge that tradition this time around, it didn’t come to pass. There are competing tensions around this: While there is increasing criticism of the monopoly that countries hold over certain leadership roles within the multilateral system, there was also concern about Beijing vying for the top spot at ADB given the political tensions and territorial disputes it has with some of the bank’s recipient countries. The issue has been avoided for now but is likely to resurface in future election rounds. Development demise. A few weeks ago I brought you news on the collapse of Development Initiatives, a group that championed the use of high-quality data to advance development goals and whose research many of you may have used over the years. We've since been handed documents prepared for creditors that show just how precipitous the decline of the organization was. The problems, it seems, began when the International Aid Transparency Initiative re-tendered its main management contract, citing poor value for money. The contract had previously been held by UNOPS, UNDP, and Development Initiatives, but the re-tender produced only one bid — from UNOPS and UNDP. That wasn’t great news for IATI but it was even worse for Development Initiatives, which depended on the contract for a significant proportion of its revenue. At the same time, it also lost another key source of funds from the Global Nutrition Report. Plans to replace this money came to naught, according to the documents, and were compounded by what they called “severe struggles to get accurate and timely financial information” and "unsuccessful attempts to appoint strong financial leadership." And within two years, the organization had nosedived from having £600,000 in the bank, to a £1.4 million deficit. ✉️ Do you have insights into any of this week’s bits and pieces? Let me know by replying to this email. Moving on Another departure amid the presidential transition in the U.S. — Michael McCabe is stepping down as regional director for the Inter-America and Pacific Region at Peace Corps. And UnniKrishnan Divakaran Nair, who previously led on climate change for The Commonwealth, has joined ADB as a senior climate change specialist. Did we miss one? Is there a change on the horizon? Let us know at devexpro@devex.com. Up next IDA 21. The final meeting of the International Development Association’s 21st replenishment is taking place in South Korea. The World Bank’s fund for the lowest-income countries is hoping to raise a record $100 billion. So far, several countries — including the U.K., Spain, Norway, and Poland — have increased their pledges. But with exchange rates negatively impacting the dollar value of some of those pledges, and several funds competing for replenishment simultaneously, reaching the target will be a real struggle. Much also hinges on the U.S., IDA’s single biggest donor. U.S. President Joe Biden has pledged $4 billion, an increase from last time, but Trump cut the U.S. pledge during his first term and could well do the same again. Dec. 5-6. COP16. Yet another COP (the U.N. really needs to come up with some new names) is taking place over in Riyadh. COP16 — aka the 16th UN Convention to Combat Desertification — is aiming to hold the private sector accountable for over-exploiting natural resources. The One Water Summit — which describes itself as an “incubator for solutions” on water governance and extending water and sanitation to all in preparation for the next U.N. Water Conference in 2026 — will take place alongside it. Dec. 2-13. Digital health. two digital health conferences are taking place in Nairobi. First up, the inaugural edition of the Open Digital Health Summit will explore open standards and technologies for digital health and seems very much targeted at a techy audience. That’s immediately followed by the Global Digital Health Forum, which pitches itself as a relationship-building opportunity for those working on the use of technology to improve health care in lower- and middle-income countries. Tracks include “AI for health equity,” “climate-informed data services for health,” and “safeguarding health data.” My colleague Sara Jerving will be attending the Global Digital Health Forum. You can reach her at sara.jerving@devex.com. Dec. 1-3 and 3-6. Local orgs to watch Finally, in case you missed it, I wanted to flag our recent special report on 19 local organizations to watch. We often hear that localization is risky because local organizations don’t have the capacity to take on major donor funding. Perhaps, as my colleagues suggest in the report: “That risk perception sticks around in part because local organizations are anonymous at the global level, so they’re easy to stereotype in the abstract.” So, which are the local organizations doing big work? From Yemen to Sri Lanka to the Democratic Republic of Cong, we’re highlighting 19 of them.