How a Former USAID Staffer Returned to Entrepreneurship
After USAID’s 2025 workforce reductions, senior digital adviser Siobhan Green re‑entered entrepreneurship, co‑founding Fenix Digital with ten former colleagues. The consultancy, structured as an equity‑based LLC, blends cash contributions and labor tracked by time cards, allowing members to share risk and reward. Leveraging extensive government and NGO networks, the firm has already secured contracts on digital public‑infrastructure research. Operating remotely and using AI tools, Fenix Digital emphasizes bootstrapped growth and ruthless prioritization to generate revenue quickly.
Devex Pro Insider: What Happened to Aid Jobs in 2025?
Devex’s latest reports reveal a sharp 27% drop in advertised aid jobs in 2025, with UN agencies—especially UNICEF—seeing postings halve from over 7,000 to 3,484. Multilateral development banks were the only major employer segment that stayed robust, led by the...
How to Deliver Results at Scale for People and Planet
Five years after its launch, Finance in Common (FiCS) now coordinates over 540 public development banks (PDBs) managing roughly $23 trillion, demonstrating that collective financing can support Sustainable Development Goals. The International Development Finance Club (IDFC) deepens this effort by aligning...
Legal Opinion Warns Development Banks May Violate Climate Law
An independent legal opinion warns that major multilateral development banks and their shareholder governments could be violating international climate law by financing fossil‑fuel projects. The analysis, authored by scholars Johanna Aleria P. Lorenzo and Jolene Lin, builds on the International...
Inside EIB’s Critical Meetings, and USAID’s Controversial Shutdown
The European Investment Bank (EIB) held its annual meetings in Luxembourg, where President Nadia Calviño announced a $1 billion pledge for electrification projects across Africa and introduced a third Gender Action Plan, underscoring a renewed focus on health and gender equity....
A Year without USAID: In Kenya, the Shock Reaches Herders and Hospitals
A year after the Trump administration’s stop‑work orders halted U.S. development assistance, Kenya is feeling the loss of roughly $470 million per year that USAID had funneled into its economy, 80 % of it earmarked for health. The abrupt funding gap coincides...
Is Anthropic Building Rwanda’s AI Future — or Its Dependence?
Anthropic signed a three‑year memorandum of understanding with Rwanda to deploy its Claude AI tools in health and education, offering developer access and training for public‑sector coders. Rwanda’s ICT minister touts the deal as a boost for national AI capacity,...
Trust Collateral: The Missing Variable in Climate Finance Mobilization
Development finance in 2026 faces a structural squeeze: official development assistance dropped 9 % in 2024 and continues to tighten while climate‑related funding needs soar into the trillions. The gap is most acute for emerging markets, which bear the highest capital...
US Senator: ‘Much More Money than You Would Think’ in US Development
U.S. Senator Chris Coons told Devex at the Munich Security Conference that the United States allocates far more development assistance than most people realize. He warned that soaring defense budgets among the U.S. and its European allies could crowd out...
World Bank Chief's Role on Trump-Led Board of Peace Prompts Questions
World Bank President Ajay Banga joined President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace for Gaza reconstruction, igniting debate over the lender’s political neutrality. Critics warn his involvement could blur the Bank’s traditionally apolitical stance, while supporters argue his presence may temper...
Should the Defense Spending Ramp-Up Also Tackle Climate Change?
At the Munich Security Conference, defense leaders focused on tanks, ammunition and troop deployments, while climate change was relegated to the sidelines. Delegations from the Global South, especially small‑island states, warned that climate acts as a strategic risk multiplier that...
What We Learned at the African Union Summit and Munich Security Conference
The latest Devex podcast recapped the African Union Summit and the Munich Security Conference, highlighting the African Continental Free Trade Area’s ongoing tariff reductions to boost intra‑African trade. Discussions emphasized the creation of strategic mineral corridors, with U.S. officials promising...