Meeting of Experts on International Development Cooperation: Taking Forward the Sevilla Commitment

Background

The international development cooperation system is currently facing a profound crisis – marked by declining ODA, rising demands, an increasingly complex landscape, and a contested purpose. Against this backdrop, at the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD4), Member States agreed to reinvigorate the international development cooperation architecture as basis for more effective, inclusive, coherent and efficient cooperation and partnership that honours existing commitments and meets and adapts to emerging needs. The aim of the meeting is to build on the momentum created in Sevilla, as well as on expert engagements in the lead up to FFD4, and create a space for dialogue on the fundamental questions that need to be addressed to rebuild trust, restore legitimacy and enhance effectiveness of development cooperation. 

International Development Cooperation In 2025, Common Ground, Emerging Tensions & Ways Forward

This paper looks at the changing landscape of international development cooperation (IDC) and offers a set of questions to guide future deliberation without prescribing answers. It groups the inquiry into five interrelated areas – purpose, beneficiaries, financing, governance, and effectiveness – and sketches for each a shared starting point where one appears to be emerging, then surfaces the tensions and trade-offs that remain unresolved. The aim is to support an inclusive debate on how IDC should evolve amid deep interdependence, widening inequalities, fiscal constraints, and contested legitimacy, and to offer a structured agenda for collective inquiry across governments, multilaterals, civil society, and other actors. 

Improving Access To Concessional Financing From MDBs

There is widespread dissatisfaction among all stakeholders with how the global financial system channels finance to developing countries, largely due to difficulties in accessing concessional finance from Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs). Concessional finance is vital for funding long-term development projects in countries with limited domestic savings, as market-rate borrowing is often too costly and risky. MDBs are the main providers of such finance, using different eligibility and allocation criteria based on income, creditworthiness, and performance. However, growing competition for concessional resources has strained support for the poorest nations, creating a “missing middle” in financing. The rise of donor-led trust funds and special-purpose vehicles has also fragmented aid. To address these issues, the paper explores how MDBs could harmonize allocation systems, direct more support to vulnerable countries, and blend concessional and near-market funds to fill financing gaps.

Summary Of Expert Engagements On International Development Cooperation: Takeaways And Emerging Recommendations (Fall 2024-Spring 2025)

At a time of crisis for international development cooperation, ideas for resetting the system are not lacking. In the face of dwindling resources and increasing demands, and in an increasingly complex landscape, many experts, in both the Global South and the Global North, are advancing efforts to reshape a narrative for international development cooperation, rebuild trust, revitalise the effectiveness agenda, and rethink criteria that guide access to increasingly scarce resources. This document summarises the key takeaways and recommendations emerging from discussions with such experts, which were facilitated by the Financing for Sustainable Development Office of UNDESA, in the lead up to the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD4).

Contact

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Cecilia Caio

cecilia.caio@un.org