July’s top reads: Oxfam's reckoning, MacKenzie Scott's no-strings giving, and USAID's COVID-19 grantees

This month, we launched Devex Book Club, where Devex President and Editor-in-Chief Raj Kumar hosts conversations with authors on the most important yet underreported issues facing our world. Our first book selection is “I Am a Girl from Africa,” a memoir by Elizabeth Nyamayaro, special adviser to the World Food Programme. Sign up to receive future book club events.

For our Pro subscribers, we rounded up the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s top 10 agriculture grant winners and delved deeper into why India’s top-most public health advocates were targeted with the Pegasus spyware. In our Devex Pro Live events, we explored the U.S. and Europe’s controversial efforts on their use of development assistance to deter migration and the opportunities and challenges of cryptocurrency fundraising.

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Here’s a look at our top-read Devex Pro stories for July:

1. Oxfam's reckoning. Grappling with abuse scandals, funding cuts, and calls to decolonize aid, the world's best-known global development organization is at a crossroads that could portend the future of the sector.

2. USAID top 10 grantees in 2020: Who received COVID-19 funding? We rank the top USAID grant implementers. Here's a look at how much COVID-19 funding they received, including the biggest COVID-19-related project each grantee was awarded.

3. So, MacKenzie Scott gave you a grant. Now what? Nonprofits that received grants from billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott over the past year discuss the benefits of unrestricted funding and how they decided to spend the sudden influx of cash.

4. World Bank attaches too many strings to COVID-19 aid, report says. A report from the Center for Global Development is urging the bank to remove its normal policy reform conditions during the global health crisis to get support to governments faster.

5. These are Norwegian aid's top international partners. Most Norwegian aid goes to domestic organizations — but which groups outside the country have managed to build partnerships with one of the world's most generous donors?

+ Explore key funding trends in Norway’s development assistance over the past four years.