Leaders from across sectors are gathering in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting.
From January 14 to 19, 2024, they’ll focus on “rebuilding trust” in order to confront challenges ranging from artificial intelligence to climate change.
Davos is known for dealmaking, making it a draw for leaders in the global development community, as they seek partnerships to support their work on the Sustainable Development Goals.
Tune into these special editions of This Week in Global Development for conversations with some of the most relevant and interesting voices from the World Economic Forum Meetings in Davos, Switzerland.
Facing a climate breakdown, leaders 'act while we learn'
2023 was the hottest year on record. So it’s no surprise that the climate emergency was a big focus of last week’s World Economic Forum (https://www.devex.com/organizations/world-economic-forum-46616) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
Devex’s Raj Kumar sat down with several leaders to discuss how the climate crisis intersects with their work: Peter Sands, the executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (https://www.devex.com/organizations/the-global-fund-to-fight-aids-tuberculosis-and-malaria-gfatm-30677); Sophie Atiende, CEO of the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery (https://www.devex.com/organizations/global-fund-to-end-modern-slavery-gfems-102346); and Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity (https://www.devex.com/organizations/habitat-for-humanity-international-44569).
Together, they explore the interconnections between climate change and the issues they are focused on, as well as the urgency for action.
Sands describes a visit to northern Nigeria with Muhammad Ali Pate, the country’s minister of health and social welfare, where they saw “a shocking number” of children who were malnourished and severely ill with malaria.
“It’s a good example of how the climate change interaction is sort of multifactorial,” he said, explaining how climate change is harming agricultural productivity, leading to malnutrition, and changing the epidemiology of malaria.
“The combined impact of that is more severely ill children and more deaths of small children,” Sands said. “That's the kind of thing we're still trying to understand. But my view is we need to act while we learn. We can't wait for a perfect answer; we need to be doing more in anticipation of how we see this unfolding.”
Listen to the episode to hear more from Sands, Atiende, and Reckord, who joined Kumar for the Davos Dispatch podcast, recorded from WEF in Davos, Switzerland.
23 Jan 2024
Financing tech solutions in Africa
There are a growing number of social entrepreneurs using technology to address a range of development challenges in Africa, from agriculture healthcare to education. But many of them say that financing is the greatest barrier to scale.
At the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2024, Devex’s Raj Kumar sat down with three social entrepreneurs: Temie Giwa-Tubosun, CEO of LifeBank, a healthcare technology and logistics company delivering critical medical supplies, Gerald Abila, founder of BarefootLaw, a non-profit in Uganda providing access to justice through technology, and Mayur Patel, chief commercial officer at M-Kopa, an asset financing platform in Africa.
Their conversations point to several ways social entrepreneurs are using technology to address social challenges, as well as the crucial role financing must play in scaling their impact.
"The big barriers for growth are not demand,” Patel said. “They're not the scalability of the platform, or the opportunity. The big barriers to growth are figuring out how you solve the working capital cycle.”
Listen to the episode to hear more from Giwa-Tubosun, Abila, and Patel, who joined Kumar for the Davos Dispatch podcast, recorded from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
22 Jan 2024
What's next for the Green Climate Fund?
It’s a big moment for the United Nations Green Climate Fund (https://www.devex.com/organizations/the-green-climate-fund-gcf-53335). Its funding levels hit a record high following the climate conference COP 28, with several countries adding contributions to its second replenishment that sent the fund’s total soaring past its $10 billion goal to $12.8 billion (https://www.greenclimate.fund/news/cop28-green-climate-fund-reaches-record-funding-level).
GCF’s Executive Director Mafalda Duarte oversaw the replenishment after assuming the role only three months prior, having departed her previous job (https://www.devex.com/news/scoop-multibillion-dollar-climate-fund-is-hunting-for-its-new-chief-105542) as the head of the Climate Investment Funds (https://www.devex.com/organizations/climate-investment-funds-63325) in June. Somewhere in there, she was also at the Africa Climate Summit, the U.N. (https://www.devex.com/organizations/united-nations-un-41567) General Assembly, and multiple other global engagements.
“Quite intense,” she acknowledged to Devex President and Editor-in-Chief Raj Kumar in Davos, Switzerland, the latest stop on her whirlwind travel agenda.But if Duarte has been busy, it’s because she’s making huge strides at an organization that was in a notably rocky place (https://www.devex.com/news/q-a-behind-the-breakdown-at-un-s-green-climate-fund-93250) a few years ago. On this episode of Davos Dispatch, a series housed under our regular weekly podcast, This Week in Global Development, Duarte gives us the scoop on what’s next for GCF and its role in climate change mitigation and adaptation.
18 Jan 2024
Making 'billions to trillions' a reality
The “billions to trillions” narrative — the idea that a relatively small amount of public financing can be used to crowd in trillions of dollars in private capital to solve climate and other development challenges — has been discussed in development finance circles for nearly a decade (https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/602761467999349576/from-billions-to-trillions-mdb-contributions-to-financing-for-development) now. And yet there’s still an annual $4 trillion gap (https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/07/1138352) in financing for energy, water, and other critical development objectives.
Speaking to Devex’s Raj Kumar, Samaila Zubairu, CEO of the Africa Finance Corporation (https://www.devex.com/organizations/africa-finance-corporation-afc-57009) shared how his organization is leveraging public-private partnerships in “risky” countries such as Gabon and Djibouti, and what larger multilateral development banks should be doing to be more effective.
“What is most important is for us to introduce more urgency in our approach to work. We need to really start to focus on outcomes,” Zubairu said. “We should all be accountable. We should be looking at what's the baseline at a certain period of time, and what are we doing to cause improvements to happen.”
Zubairu joined Kumar for the Davos Dispatch podcast, recorded from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
2 Feb 2023
Davos Dispatch — what really went down at WEF '23?
Davos 2023 has wrapped, and Devex was there to experience it all. In this installment of Davos Dispatch, Devex President and Editor-in-Chief Raj Kumar compared notes with reporter Vince Chadwick on what the conference means for development, the private sector and how the two can, and must, work together. And despite their differing Davos experiences—Raj moderated a number of WEF panels while Vince joined a frozen press scrum waiting in vain for Greta Thunberg—they both agree that the conference is quite unlike anything else.
27 May 2022
Episode 9: Davos Dispatch Wrap Up
There wasn’t any snow but there was plenty of schmoozing at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos this past week. But in between the “pre-breakfasts” and the late-night parties were substantial discussions and hopeful ideas.
Devex Editor-in-Chief Raj Kumar and Senior Reporter and author of Devex Invested Adva Saldinger look back on the biggest issues people were talking about — from climate and crypto to the war in Ukraine — while looking ahead to see if all of the lofty talk will actually reach the people on the ground who need to see rhetoric turned into action.
For the latest on business and development finance, sign up to Devex Invested, delivered straight to your inbox every Tuesday.
27 May 2022
Episode 8: Interview with Dante Disparte, Chief Strategy Officer & Head of Global Policy, Circle
Digital currency. Blockchain. Brainwallet. Web 3.0. What do they all actually mean — and what do they mean for the development community?
Adva Saldinger, senior reporter at Devex and author of the Invested newsletter, delves into tech’s next revolution with Dante Disparte, chief strategy officer and head of global policy for Circle, which produces the closest thing we have to a digital dollar backed by the U.S. banking system.
Dante Disparte has two decades of experience as an entrepreneur, business leader and global risk expert, most recently as founder and CEO of Risk Cooperative, a strategic risk advisory and insurance brokerage based in Washington, D.C. He is also a member of the World Economic Forum’s Digital Currency Governance Consortium, helping drive global standards and regulatory harmonization for digital currencies.
For the latest on business and development finance, sign up to Devex Invested, delivered straight to your inbox every Tuesday.
27 May 2022
Episode 7: Interview with Jeremy Farrar, Director, Wellcome Trust
Jeremy Farrar, one of the first people to sound the alarm about the pandemic, warns the global community: Do not let your guard down — for this pandemic, or the next one.
The director of Wellcome Trust talks to Devex Editor-in-Chief Raj Kumar about the uncertainties of long Covid, the successes and failures of the global coronavirus response, the geopolitics of global health, and our collective “blindspots” to the next virus.
Jeremy Farrar is a member of the UK Vaccine Taskforce and the Principles Group of the ACT-Accelerator hosted by the World Health Organization, where he chairs the R&D Blueprint Advisory Group. He advocates for rapid investment in research on Covid-19 testing, treatments and vaccines, and argues that everyone – not only people who live in rich countries – should benefit equally from the discoveries that result.
For the latest on the pandemic and global health, sign up to Devex CheckUp, delivered straight to your inbox every Thursday.
26 May 2022
Episode 6: Interview with Sheela Patel, Founding Director, Society for Promotion of Area Resource Centres (SPARC)
Alongside population growth and the expansion of cities, the world has seen a rise in slums and shanty towns, where hundreds of millions people live.
Sheela Patel, founder and director of the Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centres (SPARC) India, offers Devex Editor-in-Chief Raj Kumar her thoughts on whether development leaders are really paying attention to informal settlements. She also reflects on the interrelated issues of climate change, instability and the food crisis.
For the latest on the food crisis, sign up to Devex Dish, delivered straight to your inbox every Wednesday.
26 May 2022
Episode 5: Interview with Patricia Danzi, Director-General, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
Global crises are nothing new. They’re par for the course at Davos. What is new this year is how today’s litany of crises took the world by complete surprise, says Patricia Danzi, director-general of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.
She talks to Devex Editor-in-Chief Raj Kumar about the unprecedented reach of crises that have upended the lives of everyone from farmers to presidents — as well as the unprecedented response by the global community. But is the private sector fully on board?
Patricia Danzi started work as the first female head of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic in May 2020.
The 53-year-old humanitarian is a former elite athlete, who represented Switzerland in the heptathlon at the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996. She also speaks seven languages. Danzi holds Swiss and Nigerian citizenship. She says she inherited her diplomatic skills from her father, who studied law at the University of Fribourg, and her humanitarian commitment from her mother, who was a secondary school teacher.
Want to keep up with how the development community is taking on this new era of crisis and collaboration? Then sign up to Devex Newswire, delivered straight to your inbox every day.
26 May 2022
Episode 4: Interview with Achim Steiner, Administrator, UNDP
No government can finance the kinds of transformations needed for the world to reach the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
That’s the word from Achim Steiner, administrator of the U.N. Development Programme, who argues the private sector is integral to the SDGs, particularly on climate change.
He talks to Devex Senior Reporter Adva Saldinger, who authors the Devex Invested newsletter, about the complexities of fossil fuels and renewable energy — and how we can keep the lights on while transitioning to a cleaner economy.
In addition to serving as administrator of UNDP, Achim Steiner is director of the Oxford Martin School at the University of Oxford. Most recently, he was executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme. He previously served as director-general of the United Nations Office in Nairobi, director-general of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and secretary-general of the World Commission on Dams in South Africa.
26 May 2022
Episode 3: Interview with Peter Sands, Executive Director, Global Fund
A mystery guest, a big announcement and a large pot of money. Devex Editor-in-Chief Raj Kumar talks to Peter Sands, executive director of the Global Fund, which is approaching its three-year replenishment. It’s a critical time under normal circumstances, but it takes on added urgency amid a pandemic that has challenged the Global Fund’s mission, drained public resources and made collaboration with the private sector all the more important.
A former chief executive officer of Standard Chartered PLC, one of the world’s leading international banks, Peter Sands has been a research fellow at Harvard University since 2015, working on a range of research projects in financial markets and regulation, fintech and global health.
For the latest on the pandemic and global health, sign up to Devex CheckUp, delivered straight to your inbox every Thursday.
24 May 2022
Episode 2: Interview with Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS
How has the UN tackled racism internally? What’s being done and where do we still need to go? In this episode, leader Winnie Byanyima discusses the anniversary of the George Floyd murder and racism and sexism in global development and the UN. She outlines what has been done, what needs to be done next, and her message to leaders here at Davos.
Winnie Byanyima is the Executive Director of UNAIDS and an Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations. A passionate and longstanding champion of social justice and gender equality, Ms Byanyima leads the United Nations’ efforts to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030. Ms Byanyima believes that health care is a human right and was an early champion of a People’s Vaccine against the coronavirus that is available and free of charge to everyone, everywhere.
Before joining UNAIDS, Ms Byanyima served as the Executive Director of Oxfam International, a confederation of 20 civil society organizations working in more than 90 countries worldwide, empowering people to create a future that is secure, just and free from poverty.
20 May 2022
Episode 1: Introduction with Raj Kumar and Adva Saldinger
Not only does 2022 mark the third year of a global pandemic, it also marks seven and a half years into the SDGs — the halfway point. This year, the World Economic Forum annual meeting convened in person for the first time in two years. The week-long event drew hundreds of leaders from a multitude of fields and countries to reflect on SDG targets and develop solutions to achieve them in a post-pandemic era. Devex was on the ground in Davos covering the conversations — both at the sessions and behind the scenes — to get the inside scoop on the biggest issues of the day.
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