Philanthropy in an era of declining development aid

The end of international development?

Andrew Brooks’ critique of international aid offers an insight into the mechanisms of alleviating hardship around the world. Image: Shutterstock Andrew Brooks argues that long-term development aid was failing those it meant to help. But scrapping it without systemic changes will be disastrous Eight years ago, I published a book entitled The End of Development: A Global History of Poverty and Prosperity. It came out shortly after Donald Trump be…

Philanthropy in an era of declining development aid

WASHINGTON, DC: Philanthropy will never replace public aid, but it can be a powerhouse if we use it right. With global development funding under strain, European aid budgets being redirected toward defence and rearmament, and the United States rethinking foreign assistance altogether, the aid community has been left scrambling. The reactions so far have been of two kinds: calls for philanthropy to fill the gap, and moralising statements shamin…

The drastic cuts decided by the Trump administration aimed at Usaid, but also those announced by the European countries in their programmes, put at risk almost eighty years of policy combining solidarity and development. A never really disinterested aid. By Julien Bouissou (Le Monde, 2025) Hundreds of thousands of additional deaths of children, outbreaks of new epidemics, NGOs shutting down in dozens... The decline in development aid in the Unit…