Devex Pro Insider: US goes MIA, again, and the world shrugs its collective shoulders

Two hugely consequential events. One hugely Trumpian through line runs between them. I’m talking about Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance’s pledging conference and the upcoming Financing for Development conference, both of which are critical to the global south — and both of which the Trump administration is skipping. To be fair, the administration did make an appearance at Gavi’s replenishment, co-hosted by the European Union and the Gates Foundation in Brussels, in the form of a brief prerecorded video by the country’s health and human services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who promptly squashed any hopes that Gavi would get a dime from the White House. Theoretically, the U.S. Congress has the final say on what gets allocated to Gavi, but I often use the word “theoretically” in describing the current state of U.S. politics because this administration isn’t exactly known for deferring to Congress. If anything, it’s the other way around — and that puts Gavi in jeopardy of losing a hefty chunk of change. As for the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, or FfD4, in Sevilla, Spain, the administration pulled out of that one before it even began — even though it tacked on a whopping 400 amendments to the U.N. outcome document that it ultimately rejected. Devex Senior Global Reporter Colum Lynch says that outcome was inevitable. “This was really an effort to push back on the whole U.N. agenda. … The U.S. would not even agree to the basic language that the U.N. is using — for instance, ‘Sustainable Development Goals.’” Colum spoke with my colleagues Sara Jerving and David Ainsworth for our This week in global development podcast — episode no. 102 everyone! — where they all noticed a pattern: The U.S. bailing and the rest of the world starting to move on. “There’s some parallels in the sense of, the U.S. wants to define the terms of engagement, and puts up their hands if there’s not quite cooperation,” Sara said of FfD4 and Gavi. As for FfD4, “at the end of the day, the negotiators basically ignored the Americans,” Colum said. “I think they reached the conclusion that the U.S. was not going to support this process, that their amendments would undermine decades of work, and so they decided, let’s just go ahead with this.” “Part of the strategy is … let’s not give up [and] abandon basic principles in order to keep the Americans on board. And it’s not even clear at this stage what keeping the Americans on board means,” he added. “I think what’s going on is that they want to be able to sort of maintain basic principles as they’ve been agreed to over the previous years and decades, and see where they can go with it — whether they can pursue these initiatives on a smaller scale and also … to wait out the Americans … see what happens in a post-Trump world.” Coming up: We have no intention of abandoning FfD4 this week. In fact, we’ll have a whole house there — Casa Devex, where you’ll find our team interviewing a slew of influential development figures on what the sector holds (with or without the Americans). Want to come? Request an invitation. Also in today’s edition: Humanitarians are turning to AI in huge numbers, and a startup supported by the World Economic Forum wants to mine asteroids. Anna Gawel Managing Editor Bits and pieces Gone GOPA. GOPA Group, a global consulting firm with more than 900 staffers working in international cooperation and global development, is shuttering its U.S. arm this month. “This step reflects the evolving landscape of US foreign assistance, including the recent move to close the Millennium Challenge Corporation,” it said in a LinkedIn post, noting that as it looks ahead, “there is hope that conditions will one day favor renewed US engagement in global development.” “Inactive doesn’t mean inactive for all times,” said Martin Güldner, CEO of GOPA. “We all hope that the US Administration will come back to use development and ‘soft power’ together with diplomacy as major pillars of international relations.” 80 for 80? There’s no pretty way to lay off people. What factors should it be based on? Performance? Redundant duties? Seniority? Pay? This is the dilemma facing so many organizations that are slashing staff in response to U.S. aid cuts. The United Nations is no exception. Some in UNICEF, for example, have complained that senior management is being spared while lower-level staff are being sacrificed. A blog in the ILO Staff Union magazine is proposing that the International Labour Organization try something different, which could be more fair all around. Instead of “hasty” cuts, it says U.N. staff should temporarily shift to 80% work for 80% pay during the 2026-27 biennium. “The 80/80 model offers a fair and minimally disruptive way to generate immediate cost savings,” it says. But it’s not just about saving money. “It is a way to lower the temperature, reduce the urgency, and create the fiscal breathing room needed for thoughtful, carefully considered, ILO values-based decision-making.” Intelligent move? A survey of more than 2,500 practitioners in the humanitarian sector and allied fields from across more than 140 countries and territories found that 70% respondents used artificial intelligence daily or weekly, though uptake among organizations remains slow. Specifically, the survey — conducted by the Humanitarian Leadership Academy and Data Friendly Space — found that only 7.8% of respondents report AI being widely adopted and integrated across their organization. The final frontier. Asteroid mining? Yes, you heard that right — a U.S. company called AstroForge is working to make critical minerals more accessible to humanity by mining asteroids. It’s one of 100 startups from 28 countries selected by the World Economic Forum to join its Technology Pioneers community, now in its 25th year. AstroForge isn’t the only one reaching for the stars in search of answers back on Earth. Canada’s Ideon Technologies is harnessing the energy from supernova explosions in space to image deep beneath the Earth’s surface, transforming how mining companies recover critical minerals. Other innovations may not sound as stellar, but are just as impactful. France’s Nabla is reducing clinician burnout by automating clinical documentation using AI, while China’s KaiOS provides affordable internet and access to financial services to unserved populations, primarily in South Asia and Africa. Cash infusion. Organizations left and right have been toning down references to the perils of climate change in the face of a stridently anti-climate U.S. president. But not all institutions are shying away from the term. British International Investment, the U.K.’s development finance institution, last year invested over $900 million in companies “leading the fight against the climate emergency in emerging markets,” the group announced in a release. Over the last three years, BII has invested over $2 billion in climate finance. Cities and states. Speaking of climate, ahead of the 30th U.N. Climate Change Conference in Brazil, the COP 30 presidency and Bloomberg Philanthropies just announced the COP 30 Local Leaders Forum, a three-day gathering to be held in Rio de Janeiro from Nov. 3 to 5.The goal? Bring together hundreds of mayors, governors, and subnational leaders to spotlight local climate solutions. Why does it matter? It’s the local entities — not national governments — that are getting things done on the climate front. A forgotten lesson. A group of philanthropic heavyweights is speaking up not for climate, health, or humanitarian causes. “We are concerned that education is increasingly being overlooked in global policy and financing debates,” according to a joint statement by the International Education Funders Group, whose members include the Gates Foundation, Jacobs Foundation, UBS Optimus Foundation, Mastercard Foundation, the LEGO Foundation, and others. The statement was issued in the lead-up to FfD4 to present a “united voice of philanthropy for education.” “In media and academic commentary, [education] is too often cited as a case study in aid inefficiency, rather than as a proven engine of human development. Major bilateral funders are stepping back, reflecting a deeper shift in development priorities,” the group says, noting that “mentions of education are absent from or sparse in the dominant narratives shaping the future of aid.” “We are raising our voice now to offer partnership and the full suite of philanthropic levers we bring,” it adds. “We do so in the firm and data-backed belief that our investment in education … will be essential to unlocking progress on health, climate resilience, gender equity, economic growth, and more in the years to come.” First draft of history. The New York Times detailed USAID’s breakdown in a compelling piece last week. One part that struck me revolved around Peter Marocco — the point person for USAID’s dismantling — and an alleged pattern whereby he “would try to cancel contracts or freeze payments, then accuse U.S.A.I.D. employees of insubordination when they would complain.” But others were struck by the piece for different reasons. Michele DiCaprio, a USAID foreign service officer, wrote a rebuttal of claims in the piece on LinkedIn that has so far generated over 2,600 likes. Among the beefs she had: NYT wrote that USAID’s goals sometimes clashed with the State Department. “Fact Check: Please name two large federal agencies working towards similar goals that never disagree? In fact USAID and State coordinated constantly, and Ambassadors reviewed and cleared hundreds of pages of reporting before USAID could receive annual budgets to continue our work year after year,” she wrote. “Let’s not forget that legally USAID still exists. Regardless of what the courts say, I will be forever indebted to those that advanced the Agency’s work around the globe.” Moving on Sebastien Cazenave will become the new director of humanitarian supply chain for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. During his more than 25 years in the field and headquarters, he has worked in various roles with organizations including International Medical Corps, Premiere Urgence Internationale, Solidarités international, Catholic Relief Services, and Mines Advisory Group. GHF also recently received $30 million from the U.S. State Department to continue its operations, which it says has delivered more than 46 million meals in one month — but which many aid groups say is not nearly enough to feed Gaza’s population, who must traverse dangerous Israeli-controlled territory to secure the food. Medicines for Malaria Ventures has appointed David Humphries as executive vice president of external affairs, effective June 1. He brings more than 20 years of experience in global health and development and has held senior leadership roles at international organizations, most recently as chief communications and external affairs officer at Management Sciences for Health. Sylvia Monthe will be the coverage director for francophone West and Central Africa for British International Investment. She joins BII from Proparco, where she served as head of financial institutions for Central Africa. She oversaw the financial sector portfolio and developed the French DFI’s investment strategy across the financial sector in Central Africa. Her experience also includes a tenure at the French Development Agency in Cameroon, where she supported several private sector projects. Daniel Runde is leaving the Center for Strategic and International Studies to join BGR Group, though he will remain a senior adviser at CSIS. “I think our second Cold War with China and the Axis of Bad Guys plays out in 3 theaters: the ‘kinetic’ theater, the tech theater and the Global South. The through line of my work has been America, the Global South and our competition with China and Russia,” he wrote on LinkedIn. “I believe that America is a special country with a special mission. We are the good guys. One of our super powers is making and keeping friends. I think making and keeping friends still matters.” Jobs of the week Your Devex Pro membership includes access to the world’s largest global development job board. Here are some of the latest opportunities: • Senior Treasury Officer, Asian Development Bank • Underwriter (Sovereign Risks), Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit • Compensation Specialist, Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean Search for more opportunities now.