Securing clean energy, outbreaks of infectious diseases, emergency responses to natural disasters… As it becomes increasingly difficult to raise funds for international aid, how should we address these shared, global challenges? More than 30 countries from the Global South have joined the Government Group on Global Public Investment and are seeking solutions.

The Government Group was launched at the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) in July 2025, co-chaired by Senegal and Colombia. Its first meeting was held in New York alongside the UN General Assembly in September of the same year, followed by meetings in Colombia in March 2026 and in Kenya in May. The group plans to convene again in New York in September.

This initiative is drawing attention not because it seeks to maintain or revive the existing system for financing development, but because it aims to rebuild international finance through a “bold and new approach.”

The need for this is clear when we look at the problems of current financing. For example, when intergovernmental efforts run into difficulties, governments often rely on the private sector. Yet this not only fails to adequately address common threats; it can also accelerate extreme inequality and risk ceding accountability and power to a small elite.

By contrast, “Global Public Investment (GPI)” seeks to strengthen mutual interdependence among countries and enable them to overcome crises on an equal footing. At the March 2026 meeting in Colombia, ministers and representatives from participating countries stressed a shift in thinking along three lines: (1) from charity to partnership; (2) from a donor–recipient aid relationship to shared responsibility; and (3) from isolated actions to joint investment.

The principles are also clear from the words of participating governments so far: “Recognizing the limits of the current model, placing people at the centre, and enabling us to move toward more inclusive, effective and representative international cooperation” (Mireya Agüero, Foreign Minister of Honduras); “Transforming the rules of international finance and development, making economies more shock-resistant, and dramatically scaling up financing” (David Commissiong, Barbados).

According to the Government Group, several governments are already “integrating GPI into their diplomacy and promoting regional and global cooperation.” There is an urgent need to give concrete form to this new financing.

Learn more about the International Conference on Financing for Development → “Leaving No One Behind”

Learn more about issues with Official Development Assistance → “ODA: Its Reality and Problems”

The 4th International Conference on Financing for Development, 2025 (Photo: UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) / Flickr [CC BY-SA 4.0])