By the time the final session of the World Summit for Social Development, or WSSD, in Qatar wrapped Thursday, one thing was clear: The world’s social fabric is fraying. But for most, the will to repair it seemed to remain.
“Social development is not a nice-to-have,” said Annalena Baerbock, the president of 80th the United Nations General Assembly, speaking at the summit’s last press conference on Thursday. “It’s not an act of charity, but in the self-interest of every country, even the strongest economic powers.”
The Doha Political Declaration — which recommitted countries to social development — was adopted by consensus on Day One of the summit. But over the next three days, national ministers, U.N. reps, and civil society tested the declaration’s weight, and wrestled with what a lofty, 18-page promise actually meant in practice. And depending on who you asked, the summit in Doha was a landmark moment — or a conference that fell flat.
“In general, high-income world leaders see the links between household security in lower and middle income countries, and geopolitics in their own regions, as quite distant,” said Essi Lindstedt, a global rights adviser at the Finnish nonprofit network Fingo. “So perhaps, the energy at WSSD could only come from the countries who have most to gain in becoming figureheads and global leaders in the evolving map of power, like Qatar itself.”
The last time leaders gathered for WSSD was in Copenhagen in 1995.
HIV infection rates were at their peak, with over three million people diagnosed with the virus that year. ChatGPT would have seemed like science fiction, and one-third of the global population was living in extreme poverty — compared to just under 10% in 2024.
“The core issue that came forward in Copenhagen was that people must be at the center of development,” said Erik Laursen, Denmark’s deputy permanent representative to the U.N., during a summit side event.
Still, nearly all the delegates in Doha seemed to agree: The world’s progress hadn’t been spread evenly, and in some areas — think climbing debt burdens, staggering displacement numbers, and the ever-mounting climate crisis — social development has begun to backtrack.
A glaringly obvious case-in-point came in the form of the summit’s “family photo” of attending heads of state and most prominent U.N. heads. In 1995, there were three women pictured, all of whom were crowded in the rightmost front corner of the frame. Three decades later, that number had dropped to two, including Baerbock, amid a sea of black and blue suits.
Tune into the side event that was moderated by Devex.
Listen to our interview with UNGA chief Annalena Baerbock.
The summit officially began on Tuesday, Nov. 4. But the day before, there was a “pre-summit” event, largely centered around the Brazil-backed Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty. The alliance was launched at last year’s G20 Leaders Summit and, ever since, it has essentially served as a matchmaking platform for countries, organizations, and funders to link up around hunger-related programming.
On Monday, dozens of countries recounted their new and old initiatives, and four nations — Ethiopia, Haiti, Kenya, and Zambia — unveiled how they’d begun putting their alliance-born implementation plans into action.
Read: One year on, global hunger alliance shifts into execution mode
The Qatar National Convention Centre was sprawling with its airy halls and football-field-sized chambers hosting some 250 side events, plenary sessions, and a vast exhibition hall, where countries were invited to show off their progress on social development.
Delegates joked about losing their way to the cafeteria, and everywhere you turned, there were clusters of diplomats, civil society leaders, and U.N. officials crisscrossing the space. Despite the 90-degree Fahrenheit heat outside, many of the attendees (including your Devex correspondent) could be found wrapping extra scarves around their shoulders, thanks to the blasting air conditioning.
The summit was a big deal for Qatar, which has been increasingly hosting global events. Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani told the summit that hosting WSSD “stems from our firm conviction in the importance of collective action,” and noted that his country “takes pride in its strong strategic partnership with the United Nations, and has never faltered in fulfilling its commitments.”
Was that a dig at the many nations — including the United States and China — that together owe the U.N. $1.87 billion? We’re not sure. But in any case, al-Thani made it clear where Qatar stands.
On Tuesday, the formal endorsement of the Doha Political Declaration recommitted countries to eradicating poverty, expanding employment opportunities, and boosting social inclusion — what the document calls the “three core themes of social development.”
“The Doha Political Declaration represents a booster shot for development,” said U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres as the declaration was endorsed. “At its heart, the declaration is a people’s plan.”
The declaration was agreed upon by consensus in early September. But one country was noticeably absent from the proceedings: the United States, which did not block the declaration but also did not send a delegation to the summit, according to a U.N. spokesperson. That brought the number of presidents, prime ministers, and monarchs at the summit down to 40 — compared to the 117 who attended Copenhagen.
Read: World leaders adopt Doha Political Declaration as US stays silent
Delegates from Panama, Malaysia, and the Dominican Republic, among others, spoke about how their governments had reduced extreme poverty, while Tanzania emphasized its Social Action Fund.
But outside the plenary hall, many were advocating for approaches to drive poverty down further. The U.N. Development Programme, for example, pushed for what they called “prosperity floors,” a minimum income level that would bring people above the poverty line and buffer against illness, natural disaster, or job loss.
“The whole idea is that you provide a cushion above the poverty line,” UNDP’s Acting Administrator Haoliang Xu told me. “That is probably a lower cost to the government than if you don’t take this measure, because other measures to support this person or family through a humanitarian approach could be high.”
Each prosperity floor, UNDP argues, should be context-specific and linked to a country’s exposure to shocks — from climate-related disasters to AI-induced job displacement. UNDP argues that applying these floors, which are calculated through a series of math problems in a 30-page policy brief, could lift 411 million people out of poverty.
Of course, there is perhaps no bigger shock to the system than conflict — and today, the Global Peace Index reported there are now 59 active state-based conflicts across the world.
Throughout the week, the summit tangled with the link between social development and peace, and the fact that in many countries, active warfare can make conversations about poverty, inclusion, and employment feel either meaningless — or, positioned another way, essential.
Read: In Doha, conflict tests the promise of social development
The summit’s second pillar — employment — popped up in different ways across the summit. But perhaps most important for the Qatari context was a standing-room-only event on strengthening social protection for migrant workers, a group that comprises 94% of the country’s entire workforce, according to the International Labor Organization.
The country’s hosting of the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup left a painful legacy for migrant workers, with Human Rights Watch noting “thousands of unexplained deaths,” “widespread migrant labor abuses,” and “rampant wage theft.” In the lead-up to the event, the country introduced labor reforms to make it easier for migrant workers to change or quit their jobs and set a minimum wage, but for the Human Rights Watch, neither of those policies has gone far enough.
Luca Pellerano, the manager of ILO’s STREAM program, described the initiative’s work: Since 2021, it has launched policy dialogues and supported reforms to boost social protection systems in the Gulf. In the years since, ministers from both ends of the migration spectrum described how they’ve pushed policies to expand social protection, education, and insurance schemes, with varying levels of success.
Last but not least, there was inclusion — and the many ways in which people are being excluded from progress across the world. In some communities, people are barred because of their gender; in others, it’s due to disability, age, geography, or connectivity.
Kenyan President William Ruto — who was also speaking for the African Group, the 54 member states of the African Union at the U.N. — urged the world body to expand its Security Council to include two permanent and nonpermanent seats for Africa.
Ruto also spoke about the growing digital divide, stating that the gap between those online and off of it has become “one of the greatest barriers of our time.” It was an issue expanded on by the Digital Cooperation Organization, a multilateral agency headquartered in Saudi Arabia. Soon after, the agency officially launched its Digital Economy Navigator to assess the maturity of nations’ digital infrastructure, business capacity, and innovation. Today, the DCO found that more than 4 in 5 people have access to the internet, and lower- and middle-income nations recorded the greatest progress from this year to last.
For the DCO, those findings were cause for “cautious optimism.” Even so, the organization noted that people living in rural areas, those from lower-income countries, women, and older generations are still less likely to participate in the digital economy.
Related: How digital public infrastructure has become a vital tool for development (Pro)
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While financing was not the focus of Doha, the summit provided an — admittedly light — pulse-check on the topic. In one side event, national delegates and U.N. heads reiterated their commitment to the 2025 Compromiso de Sevilla, with many speaking about how boosting domestic resources, especially through taxation, was the key to paying for social development.
“At the heart of Zambia’s national efforts lies a firm conviction that harnessing domestic resources is essential, not only for future growth but for immediate and tangible improvements for the welfare of our citizens,” said Mulambo Haimbe, the country's foreign affairs minister.
Haimbe described the reforms his government is undertaking to do that, from automating revenue collection systems to providing taxpayer education initiatives. But for many at the conference, side events like these provided barely a nod to what felt like the biggest elephant in the room: how to pay for development in a world of dwindling cash.
“It feels like we’re walking around with wool on our eyes,” one summit attendee told me, adding that the lack of discussion around financing made it feel like the conference was happening last year — before the development world was rocked by the hollowing out of USAID.
Background reading: The key takeaways from four days in Sevilla
For many of the summit’s attendees, Doha was just the latest in a string of global events. U.N. chief Guterres — and many other delegates, U.N. reps, and advocates — departed Doha not for home, but for Belém, where Brazil is hosting this year’s COP30 on Nov. 10. Soon after, the world will turn its eyes to South Africa for the G20 Leaders Summit (and just before, the G20 Social Summit, a gathering of civil society just before the presidents, royalty, and prime ministers get to town).
“This is not an ending,” said UNGA President Baerbock. “This is the beginning of delivering on the last mile to achieve the SDGs by 2030.”
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