Policy Updates

On April 7, 2025, Germany adopted the Amman-Berlin Declaration which aims to ensure that at least 15% of development projects globally promote inclusion at the Global Development Summit.

The summit convened 4,500 participants from 100 countries, including persons with disabilities, government representatives, and international organizations. Over two days, attendees engaged in more than 60 sessions focused on advancing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

In addition, over 800 pledges were made by participating governments and organizations to enhance accessibility and inclusion. The declaration marks a historic step toward measurable goals for integrating disability rights into international development.

On March 28, 2025, the US administration announced plans to merge USAID into the State Department, dissolving it as an independent agency and reducing staffing to a statutory minimum of 15 positions, and additionally detailed specific cuts to USAID grants and multilateral funding.

Congress must pass new legislation to officially eliminate the agency. The State Department will create an Office of Global Food Security to manage food security and humanitarian programs previously handled by USAID. The remaining global health programs will be supervised by the Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy. Other programs will be managed by regional bureaus within the State Department.

Deputy administrator of policy and programs at USAID Jeremy Lewin informed staff that employment contracts would be severed by July 1 or September 2, 2025. By July 1, 2025, the State Department will fully take over USAID’s remaining programming. By September 2, 2025, USAID’s operations will transfer to State or shut down completely.

The administration also provided Congress with documents listing 5,341 terminated USAID programs and 898 active ones, detailing that 86% of programs have been terminated, slightly more than the 83% cut reported on March 10, 2025. The total value of terminated programs is US$75.9 billion, with US$48.2 billion already obligated and US$27.7 billion yet to be assigned.

UN institutions and other multilaterals saw steep cuts, with terminated awards totaling US$4.1 billion to 14 UN agencies, the IBRD, and Gavi.

On December 17, 2024, Norway announced a new substantial humanitarian assistance package for Ukraine, allocating nearly NOK1 billion (US$91 million) to seven Norwegian humanitarian organizations.

This funding, distributed through the Nansen Program, will support the efforts of the Norwegian Red Cross, Norwegian Church Aid, Norwegian People's Aid, Caritas Norge, Save the Children, SOS Children's Villages, the refugee and civilian response force, and NORCAP.

These organizations, working closely with Ukrainian authorities and civil society, are providing critical assistance to vulnerable groups, including children, refugees, and internally displaced people. The funding will ensure access to essential services such as food, shelter, electricity, heating, clean water, sanitation, education, healthcare, psychosocial support, and protection against GBV.

On December 9, 2024, UK Minister for International Development Anneliese Dodds stated that economic growth is at the core of development, announcing measures to drive growth in Malawi and Zambia.

Anneliese Dodds plans to announce a package of educational support in Malawi and measures to drive green growth in Zambia. Funding will provide GBP39 million (US$50 million) over five years and will ensure every student has workbooks, teachers receive on-going coaching and learning is accessible to children with disabilities.

She reaffirms the UK’s commitment to the UK-Zambia Green Growth Compact with an aim to drive GBP2.5 billion (US$3.2 billion) of UK private investment into green projects in Zambia and commit to greater UK support to the Zambian energy sector.

Developing education will help to boost economic ties between the UK and Malawi and unlock the potential of women and girls to tackle inter-generational poverty and create their own businesses.

The program aims to accelerate learning, doubling the number of children with basic mathematics skills by age 10, and aims to reach 1,500 secondary schoolgirls with scholarships and mentorships.

On December 6, 2024, South Korea and UNICEF held the 20^th Annual Policy Consultation to explore more effective and strategic ways to work together to contribute to the common goal of child protection.

South Korean Director-General for Development Cooperation Jonghan Park announced that the government will increase its regular contribution to UNICEF in 2024 to US$15 million and provide an additional US$30 million in ACT-A support to UNICEF for children suffering from poor health conditions globally.

UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Kitty van der Heijden expressed her deep gratitude to South Korea for its increased contribution. She emphasized the importance of South Korea’s US$20 million contribution to ACT-A in 2023, which helped improve WASH standards for children in 22 countries. South Korea- UNICEF partnerships will continue to expand their contribution.

On December 3, 2023, US President Joe Biden pledged US$1 billion in assistance to address food insecurity and other needs of internally displaced persons and refugees across 31 countries in sub-Saharan Africa during his trip to Angola.

This announcement is part of Biden's 2022 commitment at the US-African Leaders Summit to help communities tackle food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa.

The assistance, along with previous commitments by the US, offers a range of services, including emergency assistance, health, WASH, education, and shelter. This additional assistance brings the total humanitarian assistance in FY2024 to nearly US$6.6 billion.

During the same visit, Biden announced that USAID is elevating its presence in Angola to a USAID mission.

On December 3, 2024, South Africa announced that Norway will continue as a guest country during South Africa’s presidency of the G20.

Norway has served as a G20 guest country this year as well, following an invitation from Brazil. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre expressed gratitude, noting that South Africa’s invitation reflects significant trust in Norway’s contributions to the G20 process. This recognition underscores Norway’s global engagement and highlights the strong partnership between Norway and South Africa.

The two nations co-led the global ACT-A initiative during the COVID-19 pandemic, working to accelerate the development, production, and equitable distribution of vaccines. They have also partnered on issues such as gender equality, UN reforms for peace and reconciliation efforts.

On December 1, 2024, the Norwegian government and the SV reached an agreement on the 2025 state budget with a notable focus on domestic issues, particularly climate initiatives and social welfare programs.

The ODA budget for 2025 is set at NOK53 billion (US$4.9 billion), marking a slight increase from the NOK52.9 billion (US$4.7 billion) proposed in October. Although the overall allocation for ODA remains relatively unchanged, there are modest increases in specific areas, including civil society initiatives, disarmament and nuclear safety efforts, peace organizations, and humanitarian initiatives.

Domestically, the SV achieved significant gains, securing NOK7 billion (US$644 million) in additional funding for social welfare programs and climate initiatives. The largest portion of this funding is allocated to increasing child benefits, reflecting the SV’s focus on supporting families. Importantly, these new investments are financed through increased use of oil revenues, avoiding budgetary cuts to other programs or services.

On November 26, 2024, Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Benjamin Dousa announced plans to end Sweden's bilateral development assistance to Yemen, and emphasized that the phase-out will be carried out responsibly, with Sida concluding operations in June 30, 2025.

Dousa expressed that the increasingly destructive security situation led to the decision to phase out development assistance. The situation hindered effective monitoring of the development initiatives.

The decision aligned with the Swedish government's ODA Reform Agenda, which emphasized long-term planning, transparency, and efficiency. Swedish development assistance to Yemen has totaled approximately SEK80 million (US$8 million) annually in recent years.

Sweden will remain a major humanitarian donor to Yemen, where millions continue to require urgent assistance. For 2024, Swedish humanitarian assistance to Yemen amounted to SEK287 million (US$28 million). Sweden provided substantial core funding to several UN agencies active in Yemen, including UNDP, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNFPA, WHO, and WFP.

On November 26, 2024, Unicef released a report asserting that the UK currently has no strategy to deliver assistance for children after years of spending cuts disproportionate to those inflicted on other sectors.

UNICEF criticized the UK and claimed the country has lost its position as a children’s rights and well-being leader after a decade of Conservative governments and massive 2021 budget cuts.

The report stated that the share of UK bilateral assistance focused on children fell from 30% to 18% between 2016 and 2022, while the proportion spent on education over the same period plunged from 11% to 4%.

The study, titled Leave No Child Behind: Analysing the cuts to UK child-focused aid stated that while children appear as beneficiaries within sectors such as health and education, there is no strategy for the UK’s work in this area.

The study forecasted that ODA would remain at the same levels as the Conservative government, keeping ODA at 0.5% of the GNI instead of 0.7%.