Africa: Experts Sound Alarm on Looming Funding Crisis for International System

October 16, 2024 3

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Washington — Donors on track to fall short on support for major international funds, new analysis suggests

Donor commitments to some of the world’s largest development, health, and climate funds are at risk of falling short, experts at the Center for Global Development warned today, drawing on a newly released report analyzing upcoming pledges and past contributions to 13 major international funds.

Over the next six months, four funds, including some of the world’s largest like the World Bank’s International Development Association and Gavi, are seeking to raise almost $50 billion in what the experts called a “traffic jam” of replenishments. But fundraising prospects look increasingly grim, they say, with competing demands for shrinking resources as donors increasingly have different priorities for their aid spending.

“All the warning signs are flashing red, and we’re already seeing strong signs that current fundraising could fall short. Some funds are already talking about financial engineering to stretch their budgets,” said Janeen Madan Keller, one of the authors of the report and a policy fellow at the Center for Global Development.

Part of the problem is a growing fragmentation of the international system due to the proliferation of new and often duplicative funds focused on specific issues from climate to pandemic preparedness, according to the report.

“Donors tend to launch new funds as a political signal they care about an issue, but there’s often little financial follow-through. So, we see an ever-growing number of institutions competing for the same pot of money from the same dozen countries,” said Clemence Landers, an author of the report and a senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development.