Devex Pro Insider: What went wrong in Bonn — and your cheat sheet for FfD4

We’re now just a week away from a major moment in the development calendar — the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, aka FfD4, which takes place in Sevilla, Spain, from June 30 to July 3. It’s only the fourth such conference in a quarter of a century, and — very much not like Ron Burgundy — it’s kind of a big deal. Debt reform is arguably top of the agenda. But also on the list are a collection of issues that were featured 10 years ago at the previous FfD conference, but on which little progress has been made — domestic resource mobilization, growing private sector contributions, increasing ODA, and reforming international tax law. Devex will be in Sevilla in force, led by our editor-in-chief, Raj Kumar. We’ll be hosting at Casa Devex, a beautiful, historic Spanish villa. There, we’ll be interviewing many key players from the conference and bringing you the latest updates on what’s happening. Request an invite to attend in person. If you’re keen to see all our coverage from the conference, bookmark our FfD4 focus page, which contains all the content we’ve published on the confab so far and will have everything we write in the future, as well. If you’d like to know the backstory and why the conference matters, one of my colleagues who’ll be on the ground, Jesse Chase-Lubitz, has an explainer breaking it down. Or check out the latest piece from Elissa Miolene, who’ll also be there, which is a look at how the world has changed since the last conference in Addis Ababa in 2015. We’ll have a more detailed preview of that in the Newswire tomorrow morning. As usual, a lot of the work will take place before the conference starts. This year, things haven’t gotten off to an auspicious start after the United States first put forward more than 400 amendments, and then decided not to take part at all — although that does open things up for the remaining nations to agree on a consensus paper. You can check out our conversation with Shari Spiegel, who’s been at the heart of that work. You can also check out the preview events we’ve held so far. • DFIs and guarantees - Leslie Maasdorp, the CEO of British International Investment, talks about the role of guarantees in growing private finance. • The role of MDBS - A look at the unique things that MDBs bring — and whether their balance sheets can be made to do more. • Catalytic equity - Ahmed Saeed, the CEO of Allied Climate Partners, talks about how risk-taking entities backed by philanthropic capital can often take the first risk on a new fund. • The importance of debt - A panel of experts discusses how debt has become perhaps the biggest issue at FfD4, and what we can do to address that issue. And we’ve got one more event left in our Road to Sevilla series — an interview with Remy Rioux, the head of French aid agency AFD, which takes place on Thursday, June 26, at 9 a.m. ET. Also in this edition: Why nonprofits shouldn’t mean noncomprehensible, and how China is responding to the U.S. withdrawal from Africa. Bits and pieces Bonn chance. Sevilla isn’t the only major conference underway this month. The meeting for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change began this week in Bonn, Germany. It’s a key conference that’s widely seen as a midway point on the journey to COP 30 in Brazil. But the actual discussions kicked off two days late, as delegates sparred over Article 9.1 of the Paris Agreement, which deals with funds funneled from developed to developing countries. The battle was over whether it should be on the agenda at all, and in the end, well, it isn’t. There is a footnote saying that negotiators will have ongoing consultations on this, but as of when this newsletter went to press, delegates told Devex that there are no designated times for these consultations to happen. Other agenda items, such as how to align general finance flows with climate goals and how to measure adaptation, have gone on as scheduled, but with shortened timelines due to the late start. Civil society and think tank experts have told Devex that far too much of the time is being devoted to panels focused on how the private sector can contribute, when the discussion needs to focus on public finance by wealthy countries. And their views are not being heard. “I don’t think the UNFCCC knows what a consultation and a dialogue is,” said one observer. No more gobbledygook. In last week’s newsletter, we asked whether aid had lost the comms war. The conclusion: Maybe it’s not lost, exactly, but, based on recent events in Washington, it certainly looks as if the message isn’t quite getting through the way we’d want it. As a follow-up to that, check out this opinion piece from consultant Matt Watkins, who argues that nonprofits aren’t getting the message through, period — not just in development, but on any issue — because they are speaking a language no one understands. Here’s one of the examples he gives: “A housing-focused grant application I recently reviewed opened with the phrase ‘integrated anti-displacement strategies within mixed-income redevelopment corridors.’ I read it three times before I realized it meant ‘We’re trying to stop long-time residents from being pushed out of their neighborhoods.’ That sentence wasn’t written to connect with the people the nonprofit helps but to pass through a funder’s scoring rubric.” If we want to cut through with politicians and the public, perhaps we need to ditch the sesquipedalian tendencies. Or, as Douglas Adams wrote more than 40 years ago, in “So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish,” perhaps it’s time to get rid of “mode execute ready” and go back to the appallingly stone-aged “off.” China steps in. Some interesting news on global south relations. China has effectively introduced tariff-free trade with 53 African nations — everyone except Eswatini, which is the only African state that recognizes Taiwan as an independent nation. Now we’re asking: How much will Africa begin to depend on China for support, as the U.S. (and Europe, to some extent) turn their faces away? Also, here’s an interesting statistic that shows the power of getting organized. There are roughly the same number of people in China and on the African continent — 1.5 billion — but look at the contrasting fortunes of the two populations. In 1980, all but two African countries were richer than China. By 2016, all but two were poorer. Humanitarian cuts. These are our requirements. If you don’t like them, we have others. That’s the message from the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which last week released a “hyper-prioritized” appeal aiming to help the 114 million people facing lifesaving situations across the globe. Nearly halfway through the year, it has received just $5.6 billion of its $44 billion ask. While officially this new appeal does not supplant the original target, it’s an acknowledgment of how unlikely it is. It’s also a recognition that, without support from the U.S., which has typically contributed more than 40% of all funding to UNOCHA emergency plans, there simply isn’t enough money to address humanitarian needs. Especially since that need has effectively doubled since the start of the decade due to the twin impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, with a side helping of climate change, which have led to rising food prices and political instability. Special edition Staying on the subject of U.S. foreign assistance — or the lack of it — we’ve got a special bonus edition of Devex Pro Insider, which should have dropped into your inbox yesterday. Over the coming weeks and months, my colleague Michael Igoe will be writing a weekly newsletter chronicling the inside story of the collapse of USAID — and the next steps to replace it with a new entity within the Department of State. This week, he’s written about the collapse of the institutional memory of USAID. Here’s a sample: “America’s diplomatic and development corps have suffered the greatest brain drain in history,” Rep. Gregory Meeks, a Democrat from New York, charged in a hearing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio last month. “There are ongoing efforts to fight the elimination of USAID and restore its programs. But for those beginning to think about what the future of U.S. foreign aid or ‘smart power’ might look like when and if it is eventually reconstituted, this rapid diminishment of institutional memory is a big reason to worry. “Simply put: Will the next version of U.S. foreign aid learn from its own failures and successes, or will it be forced to start from scratch?” Moving on The Global Alliance for Livestock Veterinary Medicines, also known as GALVmed, has announced the appointment of Lois Muraguri as its new CEO. Muraguri, who is currently a member of the Scottish NGO’s leadership team, is a Kenyan and British national specializing in intellectual property management. She will take up the position in October. Vivek Trivedi is starting a new position as senior strategic communications officer at the Ford Foundation. David Bryden has been appointed as senior policy officer at Partners In Health. After 16 years in the Canadian Foreign Service, including four years at the Canadian mission to the U.N., Hussein Hirji will join the Gates Foundation as the senior program officer for multilateral issues focused on engagement with the U.N. and member states in New York. Up next UNAIDS board meeting. A big item on the agenda at the next UNAIDS board meeting, from June 24 to 26, is UNAIDS’ financial situation and future. The U.N. joint program is facing a significant funding gap due to donor funding cuts, particularly from the U.S. It will be presenting its new operating model that includes a significantly reduced global footprint. But that’s not all. The board will also discuss proposals on what happens to UNAIDS post-2027, which includes potentially closing down the secretariat by 2030. Gavi replenishment. Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance’s $9 billion replenishment is finally happening on June 25 in Brussels, co-hosted by the European Union and the Gates Foundation, one of Gavi's biggest supporters. A year ago, the Biden administration pledged at least $1.58 billion over the next five years to the organization as part of the replenishment. But whether the U.S. will actually hand over that funding is a major question — and concern. The Trump administration's 2026 budget request excludes funding for the vaccine alliance. The World Conference on Tobacco Control. This is taking place from June 23 to 25 in Dublin, Ireland. One of the big-ticket items on the agenda? The launch of WHO’s latest report on the global tobacco epidemic. We’re also hearing discussion on how to stop tobacco industry tactics, sustainable financing and tobacco control, and the impact of U.S. global health policies. Devex global health reporter Jenny Lei Ravelo will be in Dublin for the conference. If you'll be there too and want to connect, email her at jenny.ravelo@devex.com. Job of the week Your Devex Pro membership includes access to the world’s largest global development job board. Here are some of the latest high-level opportunities: • Director of International Foundations, Organizations and Institutions at Feed the Children. Apply now, or take a look at more high-level opportunities.