MONTHLY NEWSLETTER: JULY, 2026 by TAI Collaborative

Welcome to the latest Future of Development Roundtable newsletter. This issue introduces Funder Intelligence, a new feature that draws on our mapping of “future of development” initiatives. Alternating with our Deep Dives—guest reflections from leaders shaping the future of development—this series aims to help funders navigate a rapidly changing landscape and inform strategy, partnerships, and action. To kick things off, we examine the growing ecosystem of initiatives reimagining the future of U.S. foreign assistance.

Looking ahead, preparations are well underway for UN General Assembly (UNGA) and New York Climate Week (NYCW). We’ve included a sneak peek at our upcoming sessions further down. Let us know if you are aware of other relevant events and we can circulate details.

As always, we hope this newsletter helps you stay connected to the ideas, people, and initiatives driving change across the development sector. If you would like to share an event, suggest a collaboration opportunity, or contribute a Deep Dive for a future edition, we'd love to hear from you.

Warmly,Roundtable Team

Roundtable Latest

Capitalizing on UNGA and NYCW running in parallel, we are looking forward to lots of relevant conversations in September. The next Funders Roundtable Leadership Meeting is confirmed for 22 September including discussion of Global South-led development frameworks and how philanthropy can best be supportive. 

We will also be hosting a multi-stakeholder strategy session to explore practical pathways for scaling solutions and position our network to leverage upcoming political opportunities. Plus, we are exploring potential for a targeted dialogue between climate and development finance funders, seeking ways to bridge those tracks.

What’s Emerging Across the Field: Insights on the Four Shifts

Shift 1: Building a New Era of Development Cooperation

What comes after the SDGs? With just four years left until 2030, attention is shifting from implementing the Sustainable Development Goals to shaping what comes next. Research conducted by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) shows a growing debate around how the post-2030 agenda should move beyond targets and place greater emphasis on resilience, equity, planetary boundaries, and genuine international partnership.

Nzau Musau writes for the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, building on a recent Nairobi dialogue and arguing that future development cooperation should focus on creating functioning markets and shared prosperity, rather than sustaining long-term aid relationships.

At the Repairing International Development Conference in Accra, leaders from across the Global South argued that reparatory justice should become a guiding principle for future global cooperation. In her reporting for Graphic Online, Augustina Tawiah calls to move beyond extractive development models by centring indigenous knowledge and community leadership.

In a new CIDOB Notes Internacionals, José Antonio Alonso argues that today's development cooperation crisis is not just about shrinking aid budgets; it reflects a governance model that no longer matches a multipolar world. He proposes moving beyond the OECD's donor-centred architecture towards a more inclusive governance framework anchored in the United Nations.

Shift 2: Remodeling Development Finance Flows

In a Devex opinion piece, Dan Peters (Interim Director of Development Policy and Finance at the Gates Foundation) argues that the OECD's ongoing Development Assistance Committee (DAC) Review is about far more than updating aid rules—it is a test of the DAC's relevance. He calls for a clearer framework that distinguishes between financing for poverty reduction, humanitarian action, and global public goods, helping the DAC evolve from defining aid to guiding how scarce concessional finance is used most effectively.

Watch the webinar Rethinking Development Finance: African Agency and the Future of Multilateral Development Co-operation after ODA Retrenchment from OECD Multilateral Development Finance Week 2026. The discussion explored how African countries can respond to a shifting global development finance landscape towards greater self-reliance, strategic autonomy and local agency.

In a Center for Global Development Podcast, Samantha Attridge and Nancy Lee speak with Leslie Maasdorp, CEO of British International Investment, about the future of development finance in an era of fiscal constraints. Maasdorp argues that development finance institutions must become more catalytic—mobilising significantly greater private investment while balancing development impact with national interests and setting more realistic expectations for what public finance can achieve.

The world's major multilateral development banks (MDBs) committed a record US$163 billion in climate finance in 2025, including US$103 billion for low- and middle-income countries—a 21% increase from the previous year. The 2025 Joint Summary Report on MDB Climate Finance reveals that MDBs remain on track to meet their COP29 commitments for 2030, while highlighting the growing role of adaptation finance, which rose 31% to US$35 billion. 

Shift 3: Strengthening Locally-Led Development

Who should redesign foreign aid? Ask those closest to it. In a new Oxfam America blog, Scott Morris argues that the current disruption to the aid system presents a rare opportunity, not simply to restore existing institutions, but to redesign them. His central message is that reform should be shaped by the people and organisations who have long experienced the shortcomings of the current model. 

In Reimagining Civil Society Collaborations in Development: Starting from the South, editors Margit van Wessel, Tiina Kontinen, and Justice Nyigmah Bawole challenge conventional North–South partnership models by arguing that reform should begin with the priorities, leadership, and agency of Southern civil society organisations. The open-access volume offers practical ideas for rethinking power, roles, and collaboration beyond localisation rhetoric.

Writing for the Centre for International Relations and Sustainable Development, Ababu T. Woldemariam argues that today's global governance institutions need to become more flexible, regionally anchored, and politically inclusive. Rather than relying on one-size-fits-all international solutions, he highlights the importance of empowering regional organisations and locally led diplomacy to address increasingly complex global challenges.

In a new CIVICUS blog, Tania Cheung argues that the debate on locally led development must move beyond principles to practical action. Building on the newly launched OECD Practical Guidelines for Supporting Locally Led Development, she highlights concrete steps funders can take to shift power—including simplifying funding processes, increasing flexible funding, sharing decision-making, and rethinking the role of international intermediaries. The message is clear: locally led development will only succeed if institutions change how they operate, not just what they promise.

Shift 4: Improving Philanthropic Collaboration

The World Bank Group and private foundations have launched Water Forward, a new global platform that reframes water security as a driver of jobs, productivity, and economic growth, not just a basic service. The initiative aims to improve water security for 1 billion people by 2030 by aligning policy reforms, financing, and partnerships. 

The Bridgespan Group, in partnership with the Gates Foundation, has launched an updated Philanthropic Collaborations Database featuring more than 300 collaborative funds working across issues and regions. Designed to increase the visibility of pooled funding vehicles, the searchable resource provides information on each collaborative's focus, governance, grantmaking model, and funding scale—making it a valuable tool for funders looking to identify partners, avoid duplication, and invest through collaborative platforms.

Also from The Bridgespan Group, new research highlights how funders can build more effective partnerships in India to achieve impact at scale. Rather than focusing only on why collaboration matters, the report provides practical guidance across the full partnership lifecycle—from identifying entry points and co-designing solutions to embedding successful initiatives within public systems.

Co-Impact and Bukhman Philanthropies have announced a new US$1 million global partnership to strengthen early childhood development in low- and middle-income countries. By aligning around a shared agenda, the two organisations aim to accelerate evidence-based solutions and demonstrate how collaborative funding can deliver greater scale and long-term impact than individual grants alone.

Funder Intelligence: What is Emerging Around the Future of U.S. Foreign Assistance

Over the past few months, we have been mapping the evolving landscape of initiatives exploring the future of development. Our live inventory now tracks more than 100 initiatives spanning the four shifts framing adopted by Roundtable members. The mapping is designed as a living resource to help members spot emerging trends, identify potential partners, and avoid duplication. You can explore the full interactive inventory here.

One clear strand of activity is the evolving ecosystem of initiatives exploring what comes next for U.S. foreign assistance.

By the numbers

  • 158 initiatives mapped

  • 67 have been launched since 2025

  • 11 regions of origin represented

  • 15 focused more specifically on the future of U.S. foreign assistance

  • 10 related initiatives exploring aid transition, localisation, and new models of development cooperation.

Rather than advocating to simply re-create USAID or defend past institutional structures, individuals, organizations, and philanthropies are asking more fundamental questions about how U.S. cooperation should operate in an era of geopolitical fragmentation, fiscal pressure, and growing calls for locally led development.

Four Key Trends on the Future of U.S. Aid Mapping

As conversations around the future of U.S. foreign assistance gain steam, we see four trends emerging:

  1. Protecting Hard-Won Lessons While Building Something New

The aid sector is trying to do two things at once: save valuable institutional knowledge and be open to more radical redesign for what comes next. Groups like the USAID Knowledge Rescue Initiative, the Aid Transition Alliance, and OneAid are racing to preserve decades of technical data and keep experienced talent connected as the sector shifts. Plus, ideas and pressure are being mobilized to increase the chances that existing Congressional allocations for development are spent and spent well. At the same time, efforts like the new Commission on the Future of Foreign Assistance (led by Gov. David Beasley and Sen. Ben Cardin), the Columbia SIPA / Baker Institute Task Force, and SID-US are taking a fresh look at the system to rethink and modernize it for the years ahead.

  1. Shifting from "Aid" to Economic Partnership

Foreign assistance is framed more explicitly than ever around mutual benefit - aligning to U.S. national security, economic resilience, and strategic competition. Policy hubs and advocacy platforms such as CSIS, CGD, and Aid on the Hill are considering the links to economic statecraft; there is more attention to blended finance, private capital mobilization, and sustainable economic partnerships involving U.S. actors. 

  1. Rebuilding Public and Political Trust

Almost every initiative agrees that foreign assistance cannot survive without strong, bipartisan support back home. Coalitions like the US Global Leadership Coalition and the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network are pushing for radical transparency and clear metrics to show American taxpayers and lawmakers a clear return on investment. Building on some positive polling data on U.S. public attitudes to foreign assistance, there is potential for a mix of leaders across the political spectrum to lay out a vision of U.S. assistance that need not be at the mercy of every election cycle.

  1. Imagining Decision-Making Closer to the Ground

There has been much criticism of a delivery model reliant on large DC-based contractors, even though much remaining assistance still flows through those channels. Initiatives from Harvard Kennedy School CID and Georgetown SFS, alongside networks such as Aid Transition Alliance, are fostering the dialogue around passing real funding and decision-making power directly to local organizations on the ground. The goal is a more flexible, agile system that can respond quickly to local priorities instead of getting stuck in slow, rigid bureaucracy.

The mapping also reveals important gaps and tensions. While this emerging ecosystem is generating valuable ideas, these conversations remain heavily Washington DC-centric—risking blueprints designed for partner nations rather than with them. Moreover, while high-level policy papers offer big-picture vision, equal priority must be given to developing actionable plans that tackle operational bottlenecks, such as overhauling procurement rules and compliance systems so money can reach local partners without multi-year delays. Underpinning all of this is an unresolved ideological tension: can foreign assistance prioritize national security and economic self-interest while remaining value-based and driven by country-led priorities?

Aligning U.S. Reform with Global Shifts

U.S. foreign assistance reform does not and should not happen in a vacuum. Rather than treating it as a standalone agenda, we must connect U.S.-focused initiatives with the larger transformations reshaping international cooperation globally.

By bringing efforts like the Commission on the Future of US Foreign Assistance into direct dialogue with Global South-led agendas, such as the Accra Reset, we might help bridge the gap between Washington policy circles, philanthropic funders, and proximate leaders on the ground. This approach aims to foster alignment where there is currently fragmentation and help philanthropy mobilize flexible capital to test and scale new development models.

Highlight of the Month

The Rockefeller and Packard Foundations have launched a bipartisan Commission on the Future of Foreign Assistance to modernize U.S. foreign aid amid shifting global priorities. The initiative aims to redesign aid architecture around local ownership, accountability, and sustainable economic impact. 

Events of Interest