Policy Updates

On September 20, 2026, Swiss FDFA confirmed Switzerland moving forward with plans announced earlier in the summer to reduce its priority partner countries for development assistance from 34 to 21 starting in 2029, with several middle-income countries losing support.

Nepal, Armenia, Georgia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, and Tunisia were reportedly among the countries from which Switzerland planned to withdraw development assistance. The SDC also planned to reduce the number of multilateral organizations it supported, from 24 to 18.

A foreign ministry spokesperson clarified that the official list included 21 priority countries, correcting an earlier report of 20. Outside of these priority countries, the SDC planned to maintain its commitment in six humanitarian contexts characterized by protracted crises.

In September 2026, the FCDO released new figures showing that the UK's ODA budget fell to 0.44% of GNI in 2025, with the world's lowest-income countries bearing the largest share of cuts under Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government.

The new figures showed that overall UK ODA decreased by GBP987 million (US$1.3 billion) in 2025, dropping from 0.5% to 0.44% of GNI. Funding to 'LDCs' and low-income countries fell by 6.7%, a reduction of GBP118 million (US$160 million), while higher-income countries saw their share of the UK's development budget increase.

On September 17, 2026, UN Women and the UN DESA released the Gender Snapshot 2026 report, warning that one in three institutions built to advance gender equality had their power eroded over the past two years, with funding for gender equality falling to its lowest level since 2021, and no single indicator under SDG 5 on track to be met by 2030.

The Gender Snapshot 2026 report found that around one in four gender equality institutions saw their operating budgets cut over the same two-year period, and nearly one in 10 lost control of their budgets entirely. Amid these funding cuts, 42% of UN entities reported a weakening of their gender equality efforts. Women held only 6% of corporate CEO positions globally and led fewer than 20% of the highest courts. Six in seven countries were led by men, with close to nine in 10 defense ministers and more than eight in 10 finance ministers being men.

On September 16, 2026, The World Economic Forum published the 20th edition of the Global Gender Gap Report, marking two decades of tracking gender parity across education, economic opportunity, political participation, and health.

The report provided global, regional, and economy-level analysis for 2026 alongside a twenty-year retrospective on progress in closing gender gaps. It found that while gender parity advanced steadily over the past two decades, no economy had yet achieved full parity. The report noted that progress had been slowed or reversed by major global disruptions, including a financial crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, and geopolitical volatility.

The 2026 edition also examined emerging challenges to gender parity, including the rise of artificial intelligence, a shifting geoeconomic order, and climate change. It presented new data on senior leadership representation, participation in AI-related roles, and representation in financial markets. The World Economic Forum emphasized that gender parity was fundamental to human development and to building resilient economies in the new era.

The Gates Foundation pledged at least US$1 billion over two years on September 15, 2026, to expand access to (AI) in health, education, agriculture, and digital equity, coinciding with the launch of its 2026 Goalkeepers Report.

The pledge came as the Gates Foundation released its annual Goalkeepers Report, which this edition centered on AI access and equity. Philanthropist Bill Gates framed the moment as a critical window to determine whether AI would primarily benefit those already advantaged or reach the most marginalized populations.

Gates had previously warned in a widely circulated essay that AI posed significant risks, including the potential to widen global inequality. The 2026 Goalkeepers Report reflected both that concern and the foundation's intent to act on it. Gates argued that AI could either serve as the greatest equalizer ever invented or deepen existing injustice.

The US$1 billion commitment represented the foundation's effort to steer AI development toward equitable outcomes, with investments directed across four sectors: health, education, agriculture, and digital equity.

The Trump administration paid the UN US$827 million in September 2026, covering the US 2025 regular budget assessment and a portion of its peacekeeping obligations, while leaving more than US$4 billion in total arrears outstanding.

On September 15, 2026, the US delivered US$725 million to cover its share of the UN's 2025 regular budget, which is funded through mandatory assessed contributions from all 193 member states. The payment came more than a year and a half late. On September 18, 2026, the US paid an additional US$102 million toward peacekeeping fees, specifically to cover a portion of its dues for UN missions in Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo, confirmed Stéphane Dujarric, the UN's chief spokesperson.

The payments averted the risk of the US losing its vote in the UN General Assembly, which member states can forfeit after two consecutive years of non-payment, and temporarily eased a UN cash crisis. However, the US still owed US$1.635 billion in regular budget dues, including approximately US$800 million for 2026, and approximately US$2.89 billion in peacekeeping dues following the September 2026 payments, with total arrears surpassing US$4 billion.

On September 14, 2026, in a speech hosted by the New Economics Foundation, UK minister for international development and Africa, Kirsty McNeill, called for a 'mutual interest' approach to international development assistance .

McNeill argued that the concept of 'development' was outdated, and that universal challenges, including climate change, precarious employment, and violence against women, required the UK to work in partnership with partner countries rather than in a donor-recipient relationship. She said she would prefer her title to be 'minister for security through solidarity.'

She also reaffirmed the Labour government's campaign pledge to return UK ODA spending to 0.7% of national income, while declining to set a timetable, stating the government would work toward the target when fiscal circumstances allow. She also committed to building new 'agile partnerships' to address development challenges, and described herself as a strong believer in the quality of British development assistance.

After the September 13, 2026 general election, Sweden's center-left bloc, led by Prime Minister-designate Magdalena Andersson and her Social Democratic Party, won a parliamentary majority, narrowly defeating outgoing Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson's right-wing alliance by approximately 50,000 votes nationwide.

The center-left alliance - comprising the Social Democrats, the Left Party, the Greens, and the Centre Party - secured a three-seat majority in the 349-seat Riksdag over Kristersson's outgoing right-wing bloc. Kristersson subsequently resigned, allowing the speaker of parliament to begin formal consultations with party leaders on the formation of a new government.

Andersson now faces the challenge of building a workable coalition government. Significant ideological tensions within the alliance complicate negotiations: the Centre Party has stated it will not support a government that grants cabinet posts to the Left Party, while the Left Party has demanded ministerial representation. Should Andersson fail to form a viable cabinet, Kristersson could attempt to form an alternative government. Kristersson said he would respect Andersson's efforts and wished her well given the divisions within her alliance.

Coalition-building in Sweden has historically been a lengthy process. Following the 2022 election, it took more than five weeks to form a government; after the 2018 election, the process took nearly 20 weeks.

On September 8, 2026, the WB's WBL project, in partnership with Gallup, Inc., launched W-LEX, a new dataset built on surveys measuring how women's economic rights were experienced and perceived in everyday life across ten WBL topics in Bangladesh, Brazil, and Nigeria.

The newly launched tool captured women's self-reported ability to move freely, find and advance in employment, run a business, and prepare financially for old age. It also gathered women's and men's perceptions of women's access to equal pay, decision-making power, maternity leave, childcare, assets, and protection from violence.

The WB positioned the new dataset as a tool for research and policy, capable of identifying where legal rights remained disconnected from women's economic realities. In the associated policy brief, it noted some initial findings, such as that identical laws produced different outcomes in practice across the three countries, and suggested the dataset could guide the sequencing of future reforms.

On September 6, 2026, the far-right German AfD won the Saxony-Anhalt state election , securing 39 seats in the 83-member state legislature but falling three seats short of the absolute majority needed to govern alone.

The AfD, which Germany's domestic intelligence agency classified as "right-wing extremist," sought an outright majority to circumvent the so-called firewall, mainstream parties' longstanding refusal to enter into coalition with the party. AfD candidate for state governor Ulrich Siegmund stated the party would not pursue a minority government. Though the CDU, led by Friedrich Merz, does not appear to face an immediate threat, the election raises questions about its authority and the coalition’s ability to deliver its planned reforms.

The result reflects deep political and economic dissatisfaction in parts of Germany, extending beyond a regional outcome. Democratic parties, businesses, and CSOs face a growing challenge in responding to the shift. For international actors, the election signals a more difficult environment for defending international cooperation, development programs, and migration policies.