Devex | Global Development
249 episodes listed below
Global development news, traced through power and money.
This Week in Global Development is a measured briefing on the systems behind global aid and development finance. Episodes move from Washington, D.C. meetings and budget documents to humanitarian response, health programs, philanthropy, water, AI, and the politics of who receives support.
PRESS PLAY
This Week in Global Development is a reported, journalist-led guide to the decisions shaping aid, finance, and humanitarian work. It is less interested in slogans than in how systems behave once money, mandates, and politics meet. The show often begins with a concrete news peg. A conversation from Washington, D.C., becomes a broader look at falling official development assistance, World Bank priorities, and the search for a new chapter in development cooperation. The discussion can be technical. It also keeps returning to practical consequences: which countries receive funds, which agencies can keep programs running, and which communities are left carrying risk. U.S. foreign aid strategy, OCHA funding, PEPFAR finances, and the Global Fund sit alongside episodes on philanthropy, water, energy, and health. The result is a newsroom conversation with policy memory. Special editions widen the frame without losing that discipline. A feminist crisis response episode asks why humanitarian neutrality can obscure power, history, and resource allocation. A breast cancer episode reframes diagnosis and treatment as issues of income, household stability, and development infrastructure, especially in low and middle-income countries. The AI episodes are similarly grounded. They ask what standards of evidence should govern new tools, what being AI ready means in practice, and whether emergency cash systems can move faster without increasing harm. Guests and Devex journalists are given room to explain. Follow-up questions pull broad claims back toward budgets, institutions, and implementation. The pacing is measured, sometimes dense, and rarely theatrical. That is part of its value. For listeners who care about global development as a living set of trade-offs, the show offers context that daily headlines usually leave out.
Made for: For policy watchers, aid professionals, global health readers, philanthropy staff, development finance followers, and students who want context beyond headline summaries.
What sets it apart: Its strength is the bridge between newsroom reporting and institutional analysis: budget details, summit chatter, agency mechanics, and expert interviews are tied back to consequences on the ground.
Dive into the week's most critical global development news with the This Week in Global Development podcast. In each episode, hosts Adva Saldinger, David Ainsworth, and Rumbi Chakamba break down major headlines and invite leading experts for insightful analysis. Get up-to-date on news regarding foreign aid, humanitarian crises, the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals, finance, philanthropy, climate, food systems, global health, and stay informed on the latest trends and policy changes shaping global development.Episodes are published every Friday and can also be watched on YouTube.Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@devexSign up to the Devex...
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
It follows global development policy past public commitments, showing how financing, governance, and institutional choices shape practical outcomes.
This Week in Global Development turns institutional policy into pointed conversations about who controls money, infrastructure, and public priorities.
This is where AI's dancing cats meet sovereign finance, and you ask who owns the infrastructure.
Press play if you want
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A grounded look at shrinking aid, World Bank priorities, and the shifting language of development finance.
This conversation captures a development policy world that feels in motion. Official development assistance fell sharply last year, and the discussion keeps returning to the same question: what replaces the old model of cooperation.
AI moves from lab promise to delivery questions, and the stakes get practical fast.
Artificial intelligence is treated here less as a model breakthrough than as a delivery problem. Katherine Chaney stays focused on what changes when AI labs build partnerships, grant-making arms, and training programs, and on the push from NGOs and social enterprises to ask what…
A sharp look at how CSW has become a fight over funding, conditionality, and women-led growth.
CSW lands as a useful look at how a postwar forum for human rights now sits inside current disputes over U.S. funding, U.N. conditionality, and the economics of women-led entrepreneurship.
A clear, measured look at why AI for good keeps stalling at the pilot stage.
Katherine Chaney's conversation with Kanika Ball stays with the hard part of AI for development: turning promising pilots into tools that actually reach people, instead of leaving them to fade into donor-funded dead ends.
AI is framed as infrastructure finance, with governance and maintenance treated as part of the bill.
The episode treats AI less like a product pitch and more like an infrastructure-finance problem, with low- and middle-income countries placed near the center of the stakes.
Sam Harris interviews scientists and journalists on AI risk, religion, and US politics.
WSJ reporters unpack the Epstein files, surrogacy industry abuses, and true-crime court battles.
Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway argue through tech, media, and Trump-era politics twice weekly.
Dan Carlin's solo essays connecting executive power, historical collapse, and American democracy.
Sharp political debate with policy detail and real disagreement.
Demetri Kofinas interviews specialists on geopolitics, energy markets, AI, and finance at length.
Recorded live in Washington, D.C., the hosts meet in person during a week packed with meetings and conversations.
This episode explores how grassroots feminist movements challenge the notion of neutral humanitarian aid by advocating for a political approach to crisis response that addresses underlying power structures and promotes transformation.
This episode analyzes the United States' new $2 billion foreign aid strategy through OCHA, discussing funding allocations, recipient countries, and stakeholder concerns.
This episode explores breast cancer as a global development challenge, examining its economic and social impacts in low and middle-income countries through expert insights from the Pfizer Foundation and healthcare professionals in Kenya.
This episode discusses the OECD's new report on philanthropy's role in global development, exploring how philanthropic funding can help fill gaps as official development assistance declines.
This episode explores how AI can accelerate global progress in health, education, and agriculture while avoiding deepening inequality, featuring experts on evidence and scaling.
This episode discusses whether PEPFAR is running out of money, analyzing the gap between congressional allocation and State Department appropriation.
This episode explores how AI is transforming humanitarian aid, featuring an interview with GiveDirectly's CEO about using AI for emergency cash delivery and disaster prediction.
This episode examines the growing HIV epidemic in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, focusing on factors like stigma, restrictive laws, and the war in Ukraine, and discusses community-led solutions through the Radian partnership.
This episode covers the latest global development news, including highlights from the IDP meetings in Paraguay and the impact of geopolitical changes on Africa.
Katherine Chaney opens by framing AI as a force reshaping development.
This episode turns to the Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations.
Katherine Chaney frames artificial intelligence as a defining force reshaping money, services, and power.
Devex reporters Jessie and Michael cover two stories: the European Investment Bank's annual meetings in Luxembourg and the closeout of USAID.
DevEx frames AI first as a financing question.
Hosts discuss U.S.
Hosts discuss the US and UN budgets for foreign assistance, analyzing the bipartisan compromise and its implications for global development.
Hosts and editors discuss major global development trends and predictions for 2026, focusing on changes in foreign aid and policy.
A weekly roundup of global development news, discussing State Department changes and aid strategy.
Kenya was the first country to sign a bilateral health agreement under the US America First global health strategy, with $1.6 billion from the US and $850 million from Kenya over five years.
This episode covers the impact of global aid cuts on HIV-AIDS progress, featuring expert analysis on prevention service declines.
This episode covers key issues from the G20 summit in South Africa, focusing on debt, cost of capital, and African development priorities.
This episode covers the U.S.'s new health strategy and updates from COP30, focusing on bilateral agreements and shifts in foreign aid implementation.
Guest host Kate Warren discusses COP30 in Belém with reporters, covering the climate conference's controversies and extreme heat impacts.
A special episode on women's health as a foundation for power and opportunity, featuring experts from Pivotal Ventures and Lever for Change.
This episode discusses the impact of the Trump administration on global development institutions, including UN reforms and outcomes from the UN General Assembly and World Bank meetings.
This episode features an interview with Darren Cormack, CEO of the Mines Advisory Group, discussing their work in landmine clearance and their recent win of the Conrad N.
This episode covers President Trump's speech at the UN General Assembly, analyzing its aggressive tone, focus on migration, and impact on global development.
A live podcast episode discussing the week's top global development news, focusing on UN funding cuts by the Trump administration.
A preview of key issues at the UN General Assembly, including US financial cuts, Gaza, and Trump's impact.
This episode covers the African Climate Summit, legal challenges to U.S.
This episode analyzes the U.S.
This special episode explores Africa's shift to integrated mosquito management strategies to combat diseases like malaria, dengue, and Zika, featuring experts discussing climate change impacts, public health solutions, and cross-sector collaboration.
This episode discusses the leadership transition at the African Development Bank from Akimumi Adesina to Sidi Oltah and examines Trump's pocket rescission package and its implications for global development.
This episode discusses UN80 reforms, the changing aid landscape with emerging donors, and China's role, focusing on efficiency, U.S.