US aid leadership changes and a controversial UN merger
About this episode
The episode discusses changes in US aid leadership and the potential merger of two major UN development agencies amidst budgetary constraints.
This week we discuss Jeremy Lewin’s departure from the U.S. State Department ’s foreign aid bureau to the White House. His transition to the National Security Council ends a controversial leadership marked by the retreat of the U.S. from its long-held role as the world’s leading bilateral donor. He is expected to be replaced by Andrew Veprek , who has pushed immigration and refugee restrictions at the State Department. As the United Nations continues to face budgetary constraints, we also analyze the potential merger of two major U.N. development agencies : the U.N. Development Programme , or UNDP, and UNOPS . While Secretary-General António Guterres sees this ambitious development reform as a way to overcome a yawning funding gap, UNDP chief Alexander De Croo and UNOPS Executive Director Jorge Moreira da Silva have butted heads over their vastly different visions for the future. During the conversation we also discuss our key takeaways from the Hamburg Sustainability Conference , including a new initiative that is designed to tackle debt, trade, climate finance, and multilateral reform to help reset the terms of global cooperation. To dig into these stories and others, Senior…
More episodes of This Week in Global Development
- Turning World Cup hype into impact, and governing AI for good
- Uncertainty over UNAIDS’ future and avoiding sexual abuse in Ebola response
- Special edition: Live from Hamburg: Can governments still invest in the future?
- Special edition: The blueprint for better lung cancer screening
- Live from London Climate Action Week
- Fact-checking US aid claims as the State Department continues to hire
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the This Week in Global Development podcast page.