From the editor-in-chief: 3 ways 2023 may define a new development era

For the global development community, 2022 signaled a change in trajectory. Two decades of rising global solidarity and funding had long since changed what was once depicted as a much smaller, even provincial sector of peaceniks and sandal-wearing civil engineers. Global development had become a juggernaut, written about on the front page, discussed at convenings of world leaders, and a topic for corporate boardrooms.

This didn’t just drive global development to become a sector with annual spending well above $200 billion (around what the world spends on iPhones every year). It also created a heady culture — a sense that anything is possible when the right mix of forward-thinking philanthropists, social entrepreneurs, and government officials come together.

That golden period may be behind us, and we may be on the cusp of a new era — or rather, a reversal to an era we thought we'd left behind.