It’s been very much a mixed bag in the world of development this past week, with two major events — the COP29 climate conference and the G20 summit — and a series of high-profile announcements affecting funding, some of which have been kind of encouraging, some rather discouraging, and at least one downright awful.
Meanwhile, we’ve got our regular data analysis to offer some unique insight, this time into spending at the Inter-American Development Bank.
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South American gold
The Inter-American Development Bank awarded contracts worth a total of $2.6 billion in 2023, according to figures published on its data portal — an increase from $2.5 billion awarded the year before.
The majority of the money went on public works — specifically roads and other transport infrastructure. Brazil got the most funding, followed by Argentina.
But which contractors picked up the most business? Read on to find out.
Read: IDB's top 10 contractors of 2023 (Pro)
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Funding activity
We publish tenders, grants, and other funding announcements on our Funding Platform. Here are some of the ones that have been viewed the most in the past 10 days.
The Gates Foundation has allocated $55 million to strengthen polio eradication efforts in Pakistan.
The African Development Fund has approved $99.16 million to boost rice production and food security in West Africa.
USAID is providing $22 million to improve food security and build resilience for vulnerable communities in Madagascar.
The Inter-American Development Bank joined the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, committing $25 billion to support member countries in eradicating hunger and poverty.
The Asian Development Bank has approved a $200 million loan to support Sri Lanka's financial sector reforms, focusing on strengthening the central bank’s regulatory oversight and promoting financial stability.
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A fair COP?
As usual, negotiations at COP29 went right down to the wire, but the conference ended with an eleventh-hour deal that will yield $300 billion a year of climate finance.
It sounds like a lot, but it’s nothing close to what low- and middle-income countries had asked for, and it comes with all the usual caveats. Wealthy countries have given themselves a decade to get to that figure so it will have been heavily eroded by inflation.
The likelihood is that much of the money will not be new cash; it will be diverted from other development projects. There’s no agreement on how much of the cash will come from private vs. public sources. And who knows if donors will even hit the target — they were years late in hitting the last one, and the new president of the United States might very well disavow the whole thing.
Our reporters have been at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, these past two weeks, so check out their complete guide to what happened. And look out for a special newsletter tomorrow bringing you further details. If you haven’t, sign up for our daily Newswire to get the special newsletter in your inbox.
Read the reporter’s notebook: Behind the scenes at COP29
Meanwhile, we have some bonus content for anyone interested in working in the field of climate. My colleagues on Devex’s careers team took a look at some of the biggest and best-paying employers in the field.
Read: What were the highest-paid climate jobs in 2024? (Career)
Recently, the team has also produced a series of extremely interesting and insightful guides to the career market, looking at different sectors, geographies, and employers — worth checking out for anyone interested in a career move.
A Klever decision?
It’s been a tough year for aid, with budget cuts right across the European Union. The Netherlands is the latest place where the axe has fallen, after the government imposed a series of cuts that could take €1 billion from the budgets of civil society organizations.
The current Dutch aid minister is Reinette Klever, a member of the far-right PVV party, which won the largest share of the vote in the last election — although not enough to install its eccentric leader, Geert Wilders, as prime minister. Klever has argued for an end to aid, and her government has plans to make further cuts to the budget by 2027.
Read: ‘Unprecedented’ cuts leave Dutch civil society organizations reeling (Pro)
G20 goals
Last week at the G20 summit, leaders agreed on a host of measures with the potential to impact development funding, from a new alliance on hunger to a plan to tax the rich. However, they struggled with the subject of emerging market debt — one of the most difficult and important challenges in development.
The summit effectively concludes Brazil’s presidency of the G20, which now moves on to South Africa. So what happens next?
Read: What will the first African G20 presidency look like? (Pro)
More reading on the G20 summit:
• Did the G20 move the needle on debt? (Pro)
• G20 leaders have agreed: It’s time to tax the rich. What does that mean?
• Brazil launches a G20 plan to slash hunger across the world.
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About the author
David Ainsworth@daveainsworth4
David Ainsworth is business editor at Devex, where he writes about finance and funding issues for development institutions. He was previously a senior writer and editor for magazines specializing in nonprofits in the U.K. and worked as a policy and communications specialist in the nonprofit sector for a number of years. His team specializes in understanding reports and data and what it teaches us about how development functions.
