After the whirling dervish that was 2025, predicting what will happen in 2026 isn’t for the faint of heart. Devex President and Editor-in-Chief Raj Kumar still takes a stab at it each year (did I just give my boss a backhanded compliment?). His annual predictions piece will be out later this week, so keep an eye out for that. I took my own stab at it as well during the latest episode of our podcast, This week in global development, which you can check out here.
OK, self-promotion aside, the “what to expect in [choose your year]” analyses are an annual rite of passage for media outfits, but this year, the crystal ball is muddier than ever thanks to an unpredictable U.S. president who thrives on that very unpredictability.
So it’s important to at least have some semblance of preparation for what lies ahead. It’s especially important for the development community because throughout 2025, it was a frequent and visible target for this administration. After all, USAID remains the only agency in the entire U.S. government that was completely eliminated.