• News
    • Latest news
    • News search
    • Health
    • Finance
    • Food
    • Career news
    • Content series
    • Try Devex Pro
  • Jobs
    • Job search
    • Post a job
    • Employer search
    • CV Writing
    • Upcoming career events
    • Try Career Account
  • Funding
    • Funding search
    • Funding news
  • Talent
    • Candidate search
    • Devex Talent Solutions
  • Events
    • Upcoming and past events
    • Partner on an event
  • Post a job
  • About
      • About us
      • Membership
      • Newsletters
      • Advertising partnerships
      • Devex Talent Solutions
      • Contact us
Join DevexSign in
Join DevexSign in

News

  • Latest news
  • News search
  • Health
  • Finance
  • Food
  • Career news
  • Content series
  • Try Devex Pro

Jobs

  • Job search
  • Post a job
  • Employer search
  • CV Writing
  • Upcoming career events
  • Try Career Account

Funding

  • Funding search
  • Funding news

Talent

  • Candidate search
  • Devex Talent Solutions

Events

  • Upcoming and past events
  • Partner on an event
Post a job

About

  • About us
  • Membership
  • Newsletters
  • Advertising partnerships
  • Devex Talent Solutions
  • Contact us
  • My Devex
  • Update my profile % complete
  • Account & privacy settings
  • My saved jobs
  • Manage newsletters
  • Support
  • Sign out
Latest newsNews searchHealthFinanceFoodCareer newsContent seriesTry Devex Pro
    • News
    • News: World Economic Forum

    Going to Davos? Our top 5 development topics

    Scores of development professionals are attending the World Economic Forum this week in Davos, Switzerland. What will they be talking about? Aid officials give us an insight on the main issues to be discussed.

    By Jenny Lei Ravelo // 21 January 2014
    World leaders, corporate CEOs, aid officials and celebrities will descend on Davos, Switzerland for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum held from Jan. 22 to 25. Photo by: Moritz Hager / World Economic Forum / CC BY-NC-SA

    It’s that time of the year again when world leaders, high-level aid officials, philanthropists, corporate CEOs and celebrities gather in Davos, Switzerland to attend the annual World Economic Forum.

    The event, in 2014 under the theme “Reshaping the World,” will feature apart from heads of state and government big names — from billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates and former U.S. Vice President and climate change advocate Al Gore, to Hollywood actor and Water.org co-founder Matt Damon.

    What will they be talking about? A lot, considering the over 250 planned sessions for four days. We asked several development officials attending the meeting where they are headed and what they expect to be the buzz. Here’s what they told us:

    1. Youth unemployment

    Remember the Arab Spring? It’s been three years, but unemployment remains a huge crisis across the region, and beyond. The topic will be featured in several discussions, from lessons learned from the crisis to exploring ways on how the public and private sector can help address youth unemployment. But that’s not all. Bam Aquino, a prominent Philippine senator, shared he will be participating in numerous sessions on entrepreneurship, impact investment and the benefits of social enterprise — issues that the young politician and Devex Manila 40 under 40 development leader is and will be pushing for in his legislative agenda this year.

    2. Microfinance

    The issue has spurred mixed reactions from the development community, but the fact is that financial inclusion remains elusive for most people in remote areas or those that are “too poor or too young,” according to Plan International CEO Nigel Chapman. Chapman will be concentrating on this at Davos, particularly the role that nonprofits can play in filling the gap left by most microfinance institutions — the focus of a commissioned report coming out on Wednesday by Yale economist Dean Karlan. John Schiller, Plan’s savings group advisor, said: “The formal microfinance institutions focus on credit and savings products. They’re making increasing use of technology to help them reach out to the poor and eventually they’ll probably be successful in expanding their customer base. But that’s going to take time. The question is, what do we as an NGO with a presence in tens of thousands of poor communities do in the meantime?”

    3. Inequality

    Inequality will figure prominently in the discussions at WEF — but Oxfam will not just be focusing on gaps in income, but also on policies that a new report notes is increasingly favoring the rich. The organization will be asking world leaders to ignite efforts to crack down on tax dodging, end financial secrecy and provide all of its citizens equal social benefits, from universal health care, education to social protection. Winnie Byanyima, Oxfam executive director, noted in a statement: “We cannot hope to win the fight against poverty without tackling inequality … Without a concerted effort to tackle inequality, the cascade of privilege and of disadvantage will continue down the generations.”

    4. Climate change

    There will be a lot of seminars and meetings on climate change, particularly on Thursday and Friday. Aid groups will be interested to see what the private sector — the big corporations — will put on the table to tackle deforestation, green energy and other climate-related issues.

    U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon “is basically putting a lot of pressure on the participants in Davos to come up with some really clear, innovative thinking on how we can tackle climate change,” said Oxfam spokesperson Matt Grainger. It’s unclear whether the Green Climate Fund will come up in the discussions, as the spokesman predicted the focus would most likely be on what can businesses do to move toward a low carbon future, although there’s a chance the 2030 climate targets will figure in the discussion. After all, noted Grainger, “business need politics behind it to move.”

    5. Syria

    On Wednesday, while world leaders gather in Montreux, Switzerland, for the second round of peace talks aimed at ending the Syrian crisis, the eight heads of some of the biggest humanitarian organizations — among them Save the Children, CARE, World Vision and Oxfam — will be calling on them from Davos to “amplify efforts” on humanitarian access, involving more women on peace negotiations, arms embargo, and more aid. “Basically, how we need to amplify the need for a diplomatic, political solution to the crisis as well as aid to the most affected, and some kind of push for localized ceasirefore and ensure populations aren’t being affected by the tactics of war,” explained Grainger.

    How about you? What are you looking forward to at Davos? Share with us your thoughts below, or tweet us @devex.

    Read more development aid news online, and subscribe to The Development Newswire to receive top international development headlines from the world’s leading donors, news sources and opinion leaders — emailed to you FREE every business day.

      Printing articles to share with others is a breach of our terms and conditions and copyright policy. Please use the sharing options on the left side of the article. Devex Pro members may share up to 10 articles per month using the Pro share tool ( ).

      About the author

      • Jenny Lei Ravelo

        Jenny Lei Ravelo@JennyLeiRavelo

        Jenny Lei Ravelo is a Devex Senior Reporter based in Manila. She covers global health, with a particular focus on the World Health Organization, and other development and humanitarian aid trends in Asia Pacific. Prior to Devex, she wrote for ABS-CBN, one of the largest broadcasting networks in the Philippines, and was a copy editor for various international scientific journals. She received her journalism degree from the University of Santo Tomas.

      Search for articles

      Related Jobs

      • New Business Consultant
        Banyan Global
        Washington, DC, District of Columbia, United States
      • Team Leader
        The Asia Foundation
        Bangkok, Thailand
      • Global Public Health Consultants
        Global Health Technical Assistance and Mission Support Project
        Worldwide
      • See more

      Most Read

      • 1
        Opinion: Mobile credit, savings, and insurance can drive financial health
      • 2
        FCDO's top development contractors in 2024/25
      • 3
        Strengthening health systems by measuring what really matters
      • 4
        Opinion: India’s bold leadership in turning the tide for TB
      • 5
        How AI-powered citizen science can be a catalyst for the SDGs

      Trending

      Financing for Development Conference

      The Trump Effect

      Newsletters

      Related Stories

      Devex NewswireDevex Davos Dispatch: Day 1

      Devex Davos Dispatch: Day 1

      Davos 2025Development at Davos: Here’s what to watch

      Development at Davos: Here’s what to watch

      Devex NewswireDevex Davos Dispatch: And the mountains go quiet

      Devex Davos Dispatch: And the mountains go quiet

      Devex NewswireDevex Davos Dispatch: Halfway there, though Trump is in full swing

      Devex Davos Dispatch: Halfway there, though Trump is in full swing

      • News
      • Jobs
      • Funding
      • Talent
      • Events

      Devex is the media platform for the global development community.

      A social enterprise, we connect and inform over 1.3 million development, health, humanitarian, and sustainability professionals through news, business intelligence, and funding & career opportunities so you can do more good for more people. We invite you to join us.

      • About us
      • Membership
      • Newsletters
      • Advertising partnerships
      • Devex Talent Solutions
      • Post a job
      • Careers at Devex
      • Contact us
      © Copyright 2000 - 2025 Devex|User Agreement|Privacy Statement